A tribute to 3 ingredients in my pantry that I cannot live without!!!! To think though that for YEARS I put all oils in the same category of “fat” (they’re all SO DIFFERENT and olive oil in particular has wonderful health benefits) and did my best to minimise eating any of them and well chocolate, that relationship ended when I was 13 and didn’t start again until I was about 28? It was ‘bad’ food in my eyes.
What changed?
Well I educated myself for one, so I understood what made one fat stand apart from the next and why the good fats such as extra virgin olive oil can be so beneficial for our health.
And as far as chocolate goes, to be honest, I confronted a component of a long term battle with food and my self esteem and stopped putting it in the ‘bad’ / ‘guilty’ food category and enjoyed it in moderation along with lots of other wonderful foods.
Sea salt – well we’ve always been good mates.
And so my friends let me give you one of my latest choc chip cookie creations with 3 of the best ingredients to have in your pantry – go forth and bake.
OLIVE OIL CHOC CHIP SEA SALT COOKIES
Makes 10 big cookies
Dairy Free : Vegetarian
1/2 cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup (75g) coconut sugar
1 free range egg
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
good pinch sea salt
1 cup (150g) spelt flour
1/2 cup (60g) rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (130g) dark chocolate pieces, roughly chopped (you need some chunky factor in there!)
Heat oven to 180C and line a large baking tray with baking paper. In a large mixing bowl whisk together extra virgin olive oil, coconut sugar, egg, vanilla and sea salt until creamy. Add flour, oats, baking powder and mix until just combined, then add choc chunks and mix to form the dough. Take a heaped tablespoon and roll into a ball with wet hands as the dough is quite sticky and place on lined tray with plenty of space between them. Repeat with remaining dough. Cook in oven for 14-16 minutes. Cool completely on tray, sprinkle with extra sea salt and serve.
