Today’s guest blogger is Nisrine. Nisrine is a cookbook author and food blogger. Her blog Dinners and Dreams features easy, healthful Mediterranean recipes. She was born in Morocco and now lives in Florida with her husband and daughter.
Nisrine’s Tip: Say NO to sugar
Nisrine’s Recipe: Blackberry Almond Torte
I was shocked at how much sugar flavored milk contains when I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution video. A wheelbarrow full of sugar is what each school child consumes yearly just from flavored milk. That should be a wake-up call to every person concerned about his/her health. We consume exorbitant amounts of sugar in ways we don’t realize especially from processed foods. It is important to eliminate or at least reduce our sugar consumption.
Tip: Say NO to sugar
It is easy to think that life without sugar is impossible or at best painful. It is further from the truth. I used to be one of those people who couldn’t imagine a good cup of coffee or a delicious warm tea without sugar. After drinking my coffee and tea unsweetened for the past three years, I have realized that not only I’m enjoying my drinks much better that way but am also unable to go back to sweetened drinks, which are now too sweet and unappealing to me. It truly is a question of habit and forming good habits is only a question of consistency and determination. Recently, I have started experimenting with sugar-free baking and love it. Sweeteners such as honey, stevia, date syrup and maple syrup taste great and are easy to blend into batter and dough. Even if you have to use sugar for baking, use moderate amounts, bake at home and avoid packaged desserts which tend to contain much more sugar than necessary.
8 servings
1 cup blackberries
1 ½ cups almond flour
2 tablespoons millet flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ stick unsalted butter, softened
½ cup honey
3 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch nonstick cake or tart pan.
In a large bowl, mix the almond flour with the millet flour and salt. Stir in the butter, honey then mix in the eggs and almond extract. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and disperse the blackberries in the batter, pushing them lightly in. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes.
Wow, what gorgeous little tarts, Nisrine! Now I'm especially hoping that the blackberries will be ripe when we visit our mountain property this weekend. 🙂 Can't wait to try this recipe … and hopefully with some of our bees' fresh honey. 😉
The sugar thing has been a struggle for me, but slowly, but surely it's working. What I thought tasted just right for sweetness two months ago is now way too sweet for me. So my taste buds are changing. We really desensitize ourselves to the taste after a time so it takes time to get the true taste back. And, the negatives of sugar are just so huge.
Thanks for your post, Nisrine! BTW, every time I think about making your falafel, I'm out of chickpeas! I just love them so much that they go quickly. It will happen eventually though. 😉
Shirley
This recipe would taste even more amazing with freshly picked berries and your own bee's honey. How lucky are you to have access to such products!! Don't worry if your berries are a little tart. Mine were too. Tart berries with the sweet amond batter make a refreshing contrast.
These look simply delicious. Is it really as quick and easy to make, as it sounds? I think it's just what I need for a party this weekend. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
This looks delicious! I will definitely be trying this. I am not eating grains right now so I'll have to see how it works out without the millet flour.
thanks!
Those look amazing. It seems like almond flour really enhances the taste and texture of those naturally sweetened desserts. Here is a blog that uses date syrup instead of sugar for many dessert recipes – http://www.101usesfordatesyrup.wordpress.com but I imagine you could also use other sweeteners as well.
What a beautiful tart! I've yet to make a birthday treat for myself since I was out of town for my b-day yesterday, but when I get home I'm enjoying a big slice of this! 🙂
I agree about cutting sugar. It seems impossible at first, but you adjust. While I still have sugar on occasion, it's usualy only a few times a month. The rest of the time, it's stevia, agave nectar, honey, or something like that. And even then it's a treat. These tarts look great! I love almond flour – it does wonders for making me feel satisfied when I use it in baked goods. (normally sugar-laden, grain-based baked goods are very moreish for me…which is tough!)
This looks delicious!
Thanks Megan!