At Nourish we are always dreaming up new recipes that combine healthy eating with delicious indulgence and these are our latest creation. If you want to avoid refined ingredients or are following an autoimmune paleo diet, or you just love all things coconut (as we do), then why not try these coconut biscuits – they’re crispy on the outside but lovely and chewy in the middle, really simple to make and include healthy fat, lots of fibre and unrefined sweetness from an Indian ingredient called palmyra jaggery, which gives the biscuits a lovely caramel sweetness. They’re fun to make with kids and suitable for school (and adult) lunch boxes. You can even use the mixture as a healthy gluten-free crumble topping!

Crispy coconut biscuits – makes 10
70g desiccated coconut (sulphite free)
2 tbsp coconut oil
2.5 tbsp coconut milk
2 tbsp palmyra jaggery (or coconut sugar)
2 tsp coconut flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. In a medium mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together until well combined. Form the mixture into 10 balls and flatten them with your palm to form a biscuit shape about 1 cm thick.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray until they have firmed up a bit then transfer carefully to a cooling rack (they are quite crumbly when warm but they will harden up as they cool).

Enjoy!

We tried this recipe out on our WaistWatchers group, who liked it. To enjoy it, you have to put aside your preconceptions of crispy pizza bases! This has a firm and delicious base.

We all love a biscuit with a cup of tea or coffee, but let’s face it, most biscuits are full of refined flours, bad fats and lots of sugar which cause cravings, unsettle energy levels, clog our arteries and add pounds to our waistlines. Our WaistWatchers classes started again last week, and I decided to dream up a recipe for a healthy alternative that still delivers that biscuity joy without the added helping of guilt afterwards. These almond and vanilla biscuits are a doddle to make, but best of all they are seriously nutrient dense while also being sugar free. Eggs deliver top-quality protein, ground almonds provide protein, fibre, vitamin E, folate, zinc, magnesium and calcium, and coconut oil is a super-healthy anti-inflammatory fat rich in lauric acid, known to have anti-viral, anti-bacteria and anti-fungal properties. The sweetness in the biscuits comes from the natural sweetener, xylitol, which is kind to teeth and blood sugar levels. All in all, a delicious, healthy and satisfying snack to keep you on an even keel until your next meal.

Spring has well and truly sprung here in Bath this weekend, and all those daffodils and chirping birds made me feel inspired to cook myself a suitably green, fresh and delicious lunch today. I am a real fan of putting oniony flavours with vegetables and salads, it really livens them up and adds a healthy dose of sulphur which is good for the liver. I regularly sweat finely sliced onions or shallots, leeks and garlic until soft, then combine them with peas, broccoli or watercress. Today, I did just that, and added a grilled mackerel fillet on top. This combination of ingredients is packed with vitamins, minerals (including calcium), healthy fats and blood-sugar balancing protein. It really was a delicious, light, yet satisfying lunch that I urge you to try.