For some people, carob is synonymous with the blander aspects of the seventies wholefood movement. Instead of tasting like a worthy alternative to something nicer involving chocolate, though, this vegan carob date crunch works well precisely because of the unique, sweet, earthy flavour of carob.
It’s an adaptation of a recipe that featured in the original Cranks cookbook and is on a par with flapjack in terms of how easy it is to make. Also like flapjack, what it lacks in aesthetic qualities it more than makes up for in texture and flavour.
The coconut makes the outside light and crisp, and the dates form a rich, sweet chewy centre.
Although carob’s always been on the fringes of our food culture in the UK, the carob tree has been cultivated for over 4,000 years around the Mediterranean. As well as being valued as a naturally sweet and nutritious food, it has numerous medicinal properties, which include aiding digestion, so perhaps we should be making more use of it.
If you usually run a mile from anything flavoured with carob, this might just be the recipe that makes you pull on your flares and get out the stoneware crockery.
vegan carob date crunch…
ingredients
- 100 g vegan margarine
- 2 tsp carob powder
- 100 g dates, stoned and chopped fairly small
- 70 g light muscovado sugar
- 50 g desiccated coconut
- 100 g self-raising flour
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
method
- Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and lightly oil and/or line a suitable baking tin. (The pictured carob crunch was baked in a 7″ square tin – you will need to reduce the baking time a bit if using a larger tin.)
- Melt the margarine and stir in the carob powder until there are no lumps.
- Add the other ingredients, stirring as you go, and sifting in the flour and bicarbonate of soda together last, to create a thick dough.
- Press the dough into the tin, and even it out with the back of a spoon (it doesn’t have to be perfect).
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until it has risen all over and is darkening at the edges.
- Remove from the oven and mark out squares or triangles while it is still hot. (The pictures show eight quite large triangles).
- Allow to cool a bit before cutting through and removing from the tin – it will crisp up more as it cools.
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