Healthy Coconut-Jam Slice Recipe
Hello everyone,
One of my many childhood memories is of watching the cricket with my family in England. I remember this not because of the cricket game that (being a five year old kid) did not take a slight bit of my interest, but because of the delectable slice my mum so brilliantly brought out for me to snack on. I called this slice a 'macaroon'. Lord knows why, but it was delicious and I love it to this day. It reminds me of being a kid, and that for some reason promotes affection in particular foods (an example of this can be seen in the fantastic kid's film "Ratatouille", when the food critic 'Anton Ego' is transported to his childhood when he tries Remy's ratatouille dish).
Apparently though, other people in the world do not in fact call this a Macaroon slice. So, ladies and gentlemen I present you with a healthy take on a COCONUT JAM SLICE. Guess what is in it? Coconut. And Jam.
Big surprise there. Obviously, you can tell I still prefer 'Macaroon', but- no matter. Enough banter, here it is:
HEALTHY COCONUT-JAM SLICE
Serves: 8-10 / Difficulty: slightly fiddly / Ready in: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
Almond butter base--
- 1 1/2 cups nut meal or LSA
- 100g softened butter
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1 egg yolk*
- 2 pitted medjool dates (optional) ***
Jam layer--
- 3 cups frozen raspberries
- 2 tbsp water
- Juice of 1/4 lemon
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
Coconut topping--
- 1 1/3 cups desiccated or shredded coconut
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence**
- 1 egg + 1 egg white*
- 2 drops liquid stevia or 1 tsp maple syrup (optional) ***
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Place nut meal and normal butter in a food processor and mix to combine. Add in olive oil, almond butter, egg yolk and dates (if using) and process further to form the slice base.
3. Press the base into a baking-paper lined 20 x 30 cm slice tin and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. When it is ready, take it out of the oven to cool.
4. Whilst the base is baking, place the water, raspberries, lemon and chia seeds into a saucepan over medium heat and stir until it forms a jam-like substance. Pour jam onto the cooled nut base and spread evenly.
5. In a bowl, mix the coconut, egg, egg white, vanilla and sweetener (if using) until combined. Sprinkle the topping over the jam layer and distribute evenly across the base, lightly pressing with fingers to cement the topping.
6. Place the slice back into the oven until the coconut topping turns golden, I found that was about 20 minutes. Take the tin out of the oven to cool before cutting into 8-10 squares (depending on size preference).
Serve cold by itself or heated with natural yoghurt. I love smashing a heated square in a bowl to form a crumble, and then mixing with greek yoghurt for a healthy dessert option!
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments below!
*use the separate white and yolk from the same egg for convenience and less food waste
**be careful when selecting your vanilla from the supermarket. Almost all extracts have added sugar or artificial sweeteners, including some with "invert syrup" (a tricky name for sugar). This is the case for the majority of vanilla essences too. If you're not scared of more expensive products, you can get vanilla powder. Otherwise I buy a slightly cheaper vanilla essence with no added sugar and a vanilla bean in the bottle- it does tend to be pricier than sugary vanilla flavours but a much better quality and better health option.
***if you are making this slice for other people as well or if you have a bit of a sweet tooth, these are some extra sweetness options to add. When using dates in the nut base, reduce the nut butter slightly as the dates count as another wet ingredient. I would recommend making this slice with an extra sweetness option first time round, but if you're not afraid of toughing it out with a not-so-sweet dessert than go full-health-freak ahead and make it without them, I did!
matterofthyme xx
This post was written by Dusk.