Award Winning company Savvy Spreads recently contacted me to ask if I would like to taste test their range of 100% natural ingredients spreads. Based on traditional Mediterranean preserve recipes and made with only the finest pure, natural ingredients (and organic where possible), I was happy and curious to try them out. Curious because I wondered just how these sweet spreads would taste like when one of the main ingredients is tahini!
Recommended as a great new alternative to jam, chocolate spread and nut butters, Savvy spreads are marketed as a tasty and nutritious topping for toast, crackers, baguettes, pancakes and ice-cream as well as a sweetener for porridge. But they can also be used to replace sweeteners and fat in recipes. There's a delicious looking recipe for oat bars using the date and sesame spread as an ingredient over at Self Sufficient Cafe and there's a very inviting recipe for Christmas Snowball Truffles on the Savvy website, and trust me, these beauties are definitely not just for Christmas!
"The ingredients in Savvy are stupendously healthy. Sesame, carob, date, honey, agave and cocoa each contain several notable health-benefiting nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins that are essential for wellness."
I like the simplicity of the ingredients in these spreads because I like to know what I'm eating! I was a little concerned that the flavour of the tahini would dominate but surprisingly it doesn't. It's the flavour of the dates which shines through in the rich tasting Date and Sesame Luxury Spread which won Best Sweet Preserve at the Yorkshire’s Finest Taste Awards last year. It reminded me a little of caramel and be warned, it's very sticky. Actually I found it a little too sweet but that didn't stop me from having a second and then a third helping on my crackers. My husband has now claimed the jar and it's just about all gone now!
The Carob Wildflower Honey Spread has a mild yet rich, almost milk chocolate flavour with a little kick and I'm incredibly surprised to discover how addictive it is! I haven't tasted carob in a long while and I don't remember it ever tasting as delicious as this! The blend of carob, honey, tahini and spices is fantastic just straight from the jar. I sampled it lavishly spread on raw apple slices though I'm sure it will taste equally as fine on toast! But my favourite of the three spreads is the Chocolate Super Spread!
I've never ever bought chocolate spread of any sort, none of us have ever fancied chocolate on toast or chocolate sandwiches. However, this luscious, rich, dark chocolatey (but not too sweet) spread is the perfect partner for sweets and desserts. Drizzled over ice cream or cakes and muffins, it's a far superior alternative to sugary sauces and icings.
So I made some grain-free biscuits and sandwiched them together with the chocolatey goodness - perfect!
Coconut Chocolate Creams GF
100 g ground almonds
25 g organic dessicated coconut
3 tblsps extra virgin olive oil
60 ml (¼ cup) honey or maple syrup
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
Savvy's Chocolate Super Spread
- Set the oven to 150⁰ C.
- Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Measure the ground almonds, organic dessicated coconut, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix with a fork.
- Measure the extra virgin olive oil and honey or maple syrup into another bowl and beat lightly with a fork.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.
- Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture, squeeze it together and roll into a ball in the palm of your hand - the mixture may seem like it won't stick together but it does.
- Place the balls of mixture on the baking tray and flatten them slightly with a fork or your fingers and remember they spread while baking.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.
- Cool on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling tray.
- Sandwich the biscuits together with the Savvy Super Spread.
I made 12 biscuits from the mixture. When baked, the biscuits are about 2.5" in diameter so they're quite a generous sized treat when sandwiched together with the chocolate spread!
More information about these spreads is available on the Savvy website and if you're interested in buying them, there's a list of stockists here.
Disclosure: I received these products from Savvy Spreads for review purposes. All opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.
