Ingredients

6 sweet, organic oranges, cleaned
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
a 6 cm piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped
400 g rice malt syrup
250 g muscovado sugar

Makes 4 small jars.

Directions

Prepare the oranges by peeling them and discarding the white bitter skin. Save the peel. Chop the orange pulp -removing any seeds-, chop the peel and place the prepared oranges in a heavy steel saucepan. Add the vanilla powder, the ginger and toss. Stir in the rice malt syrup and muscovado sugar and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Change heat to low and simmer for around 40 minutes, or until the jam is rather thick. Stir constantly to keep the jam from sticking to the saucepan. When the jam has reached setting point, remove from the heat and fill the sterilized jars. Use a damp cloth to wipe the jar rims, let cool and seal with sterilized lids. Store the jam in the refrigerator or in another cool place.

Ingredients

2 kg extra ripe purple plums (I used the Italian variety), cleaned
1 cup (250 ml) filtered water
the juice of 1 lemon
100 g muscovado sugar
300 g rice malt syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
2-3 cm long fresh ginger root, peeled and grated

Makes about 4 jars, 300 g each.

Directions

Divide each plum in half, taking the stones out. Transfer the fruit in a large heavy-based saucepan. Pour the water and the lemon juice, add the sugar, rice malt syrup, vanilla and ginger and toss. Let the fruit stand there for a couple of hours, then start cooking over medium heat, stirring now and then. When the plums start to soften, change heat to low and simmer for around 40 minutes, or until the jam has thickened. Stir constantly to keep the jam from sticking to the saucepan. When the jam has reached setting point, pour it into individual, clean sterilized jars. Let cool before covering each jar with a tight-fitting (and sterilized) lid. Store in a very cool and dark place (you can keep it in the fridge).

Ingredients

For the apricots

700-750 g fresh and ripe apricots, cleaned, pitted and cut into thin slices
4 tablespoons rice malt syrup
the juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
half a teaspoon dried ginger powder
half a teaspoon cardamom powder

For the crumble

300 g almond meal
5-6 tablespoons muscovado sugar
a few pinches of cinnamon powder
1 large tablespoon cocoa powder
a pinch of whole sea salt
70 g pure cocoa butter, melted
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon almond butter

Makes 4-6 servings.

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the apricots, rice malt syrup, lemon juice, vanilla extract, ginger and cardamom powder. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

In a large bowl, combine the almond meal, muscovado, cinnamon, cocoa powder and salt. Add the cocoa butter, olive oil and almond butter and rub ingredients together using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

Remove the apricots from the fridge, arrange the crumble randomly on top of the fruit and serve cool.

Ingredients

150 g whole oatmeal flour
50 g semi-whole wheat flour
50 g whole kamut flour
a pinch of whole sea salt
half a teaspoon baking soda
80 ml almond milk, plain (unflavoured) and unsweetened
90 ml extra virgin olive oil
150 g rice malt syrup
60 g unrefined cane sugar such as muscovado

Makes 18-20 cookies.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180° C. In a large bowl, mix oatmeal, wheat flour, kamut flour, salt and baking soda. Whisk together almond milk, oil, rice malt and muscovado, using a blender or food processor. Stir the liquid into the dry mixture. Make sure that everything is well combined. Line a baking tray with parchment-paper, scoop up a spoonful of batter and drop it onto the tray. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Bake 15-20 minutes, until deep golden. Be careful not to overbake. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a glass jar.

Ingredients

For the cake

200 g semi-whole wheat flour
80 g wholemeal flour
120 g almond flour
40 g unsweetened cacao powder, sifted
50 g muscovado sugar
half a teaspoon vanilla powder
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
a pinch of whole sea salt
180 g barley malt syrup
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
200 ml almond milk, unsweetened and unflavoured
100 ml almond cream (or other vegetable cream, GMO-free)

For the chocolate sauce

300 ml almond milk, unsweetened
4 tablespoons rice malt syrup
2 teaspoons ginger juice
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 teaspoon dried ginger powder
a pinch of whole sea salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder, sifted
half a teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon filtered cold water

For the chocolate ganache

150 g dark chocolate (70% cacao), broken into pieces
200 g rice malt syrup
50 ml almond cream (or other vegetable cream, GMO-free)
half a teaspoon fine ground Himalayan salt

To complete

chopped candied ginger (candied with dark brown sugar), to taste
dark chocolate curls (made with a vegetable peeler dragged down one side of the chocolate block from top to bottom), to taste

Makes 16-20 squares.

Directions

Preheat oven to 180° C, lightly oil and flour a 20 cm square (stainless steel) cake pan, or alternatively, lay down a sheet of parchment paper on your cake pan. In a large bowl, sift together the semi-whole wheat flour, wholemeal flour, almond flour, cacao powder, muscovado, vanilla, cream of tartar, cornstarch and salt. Mix well.
Place the barley malt syrup, extra virgin olive oil, almond milk and almond cream in a bowl and stir well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is blended. Make sure everything is well combined. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for about 50 minutes. The centre of the cake should be firm but still a little moist (use a wooden stick to check donness). Let cool before removing the cake from the pan.

To make the chocolate sauce, place the almond milk, rice malt syrup, ginger juice, vanilla extract, ginger powder and salt in a saucepan and start cooking over low heat. Add the cacao powder while you keep stirring. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, then add the cornstarch and cook for another minute or until the sauce is slightly thick (don’t stop stirring while it thickens). Let cool for a few minutes but not too long as the sauce will thicken a bit further as it cools.

When the cake has cooled, remove it from the pan and cut into squares. Poke a few holes in the squares, using a fork or stick. Pour some chocolate sauce over them little by little and let it soak in. Set aside for a while, to let cool again and let the sauce make everything moist. In the meantime you can make the chocolate ganache. Place the chocolate in a saucepan together with the rice malt syrup, almond cream and Himalayan salt and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat as soon as the chocolate has completely melted and everything is combined. Let cool for a bit then pour the ganache over the top of  the cake squares and garnish with the candied ginger and chocolate curls.