Book reviews by Mobilism's Book Review team
Jan 31st, 2017, 3:22 pm
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TITLE: Pip and Nut: The Nut Butter Cookbook
AUTHOR: Pippa Murray
GENRE: Non-Fiction, Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet
PUBLISHED: December 29, 2016
RATING: ★★★★☆

PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon iBookstore
MOBILISM LINK: Read Here

Description: Nut butter is the new superfood. You're now as likely to see almond butter as peanut butter on supermarket shelves everywhere. It's a fabulous, high-protein option for those looking to avoid both dairy and palm oil, as well as tasting fantastic.

Pip & Nut is the fastest-growing nut butter brand in the UK and this trailblazing cookbook will show you not only how to make your own nut butters but how to use them in breakfasts, snacks, savoury dishes, dessert and bakes, and smoothies.

The recipes including Bakewell Tart Waffles, Nut Butter Slaw, Peanut Butter and Cacao Protein Balls, Almond Butter Matcha Smoothie, and Baked Peanut Butter and Raspberry Cheesecake, this is the ultimate cookbook for people looking to give a healthy, protein-fuelled boost to their diet.

Review: Julia Child said that "With enough butter, anything is good” but she referred to traditional butter - what about the new child on the superfood block, nut butter?

Nut Butter is a superfood loaded with many purported health benefits, from improving one’s breast health to lowering bad cholesterol. A Nut Butter is a spreadable food item made by grinding nuts into a paste. You can make nut butter out of various nuts such as almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. They all might not be real nuts in a botanical way but they are thought of as nuts in a culinary sense; their crushed spreads are called nut butters.

Pippa Murray is the woman behind healthy natural nut butter range Pip & Nut, launched in January 2015. Pip & Nut's products use only the best natural ingredients and never have added palm oil, refined sugars or additives, which was the reason she got into making her own nut butter in the first place. Pippa explains the story a bit in the introduction section of the book.
But what spurred me to start Pip & Nut? Well, it came about through my combined love of two things: running and nut butter. Bit random, I know, so let me explain the connection. I spend a large amount of my free time running, sometimes short runs, other times marathons, and I like eating nut butter as my post-run reward. Not only do I love the stuff, but the fact that it is high in protein means that it’s pretty good at giving me a bit more energy to help me run that little bit faster. Or at least that’s my excuse. However, when looking at the products available to me in supermarkets I noticed many had palm oils and sugars in there. Not being that happy about this, I decided it was time to bring something better to the table. Literally.”

I got my blender out, played around with different nuts and flavours and started taking my kitchen-table experiments to markets at weekends. Lots of samples and satisfied customers later, I decided to take the plunge and scale up to get the products to more people. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Pippa explains and gives us a bit of interesting history and biology on how all these nuts are grown; in fact, the book is thick with interesting facts and trivia. For example...
What’s so special about them? There are more than a whopping 1,000 varieties of pecan. Many are named after Native American Indian tribes, including Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee.

Fact! About 78 pecans are used in the making of an average pecan pie.

Pippa also explains similar spreads can also be made from seeds, considered not nuts in a culinary perception, such as pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds. Pip & Nut also explains the importance of good vs bad fats, and how those fats impact the body, with a chart about the same. Nut and seed butters have a high content of protein, fibre, and essential fatty acids, and can replace butter or margarine on your bread or toast.

The book includes recipes calling for every type of nut butter you can imagine, 80 recipes that cover the wide range of meals, from breakfast, savoury dishes, snacks, drinks, and baking. The nut butters are made from just roasted nuts and with a sprinkling of sea salt and nothing else.

Pippa provides and overview on how to make basic nut butters such as almond butter or peanut butter as well as fancy combo ones such honey cinnamon cashew butter, espresso almond butter and almond & coconut butter.
HONEY PISTACHIO BUTTER

• 200g/1½ cups shelled pistachios
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 tsp runny honey

Put the pistachios into a food processor and blitz until smooth and glossy (see diy nut butter). Add the coconut oil and salt, then blitz until fully melted and combined. Blitz in the honey 1 teaspoon at a time. If you find that it starts to dry up then just add some more coconut oil to loosen it.
Pour into an airtight container.

The recipes for her 3 Nut Brownie, Peanut Soba Noodle Salad, Virgin Pina Colada Smoothie and Cacao Protein Balls, Chocolate Almond and Banana Bread, and Vegan Almond Fudge look especially yummy.

Checkout Pip & Nut: The Nut Butter Cookbook if you want to have more fun with your nuts, even and make your own nut butter, whatever the flavour. I sure will make my own nut butters from now on!
Jan 31st, 2017, 3:22 pm