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Singer and actor Liv Austen has turned a health issue into a passion for cooking, by taking control of every ingredient that goes in to her meals. Every week she shares something she has learned from cooking from scratch, and goes through a recipe she loves, so you can cook alongside the podcast. Cook from scratch - your body will thank you.
My husband was on his way back from work, and I messaged to ask if he fancied some snacks for the evening. I totally just needed an accomplice (which he knew, of course). He replied with the dreaded “I’m okay, actually.” Gah! I hate when you feel snacky and the person you hope will be backing you up has to be the voice of ultra-processed reason. Now, I could have played the new mum-card and complained that I’d had a tough day and “get me some friggin SNACKS!”, but of course he was right. As I have talked about myself before on here, cravings can be controlled by noticing them and recognising that you don’t have to give in to them just because they appear. A bit like thoughts that pop up when you meditate, you can watch them come and go.
But those cravings were reaaaally strong for me that day. So I made what I think was a pretty good compromise. I decided, in true The From Scratch Body-fashion, that if I made them myself, I could have some snacks. But that obviously required for me to have the ingredients, and I wanted it to be something quick and easy. Shortbread! I made one batch of regular shortbread and one with cocoa, and it totally did the trick. And instead of something super sugar or salt heavy (I have to limit salt due to my high blood pressure) with a whole range of weird ingredients that you wouldn’t naturally find in a kitchen and that my body definitely didn’t need, I had a nice, sweet snack and plenty of leftovers that could be stored away.
There and then I made myself a new “rule”. It’s not really quite right to call it a rule, but rather a solution that I try to go for when the cravings hit next time. Only Snacks I’ve Made Myself. I find personally that when I make an overall rule for myself at a time when I’m thinking more clearly, it’s easier to stick to that when the Monkey Brain kicks in with its more spontaneous desires. It’s also a much more positive spin than denying myself any kind of snack and then feel awful if I give in and have something “I shouldn’t have”.
Making your own snacks has a lot of benefits, in my opinion. The main one is of course avoiding ultra-processed foods, and sticking to food which is made from scratch where you know all the ingredients. Ultra-processed food is created to encourage overconsumption, so you are likely to eat way more than you would if you made a similar thing at home. I think this is strengthened by a couple of factors that come with homemade snacks; firstly, you’ve put effort in! It doesn’t feel right to eat 8 out of 10 cookies that you mixed, shaped, baked and waited to cool (at least for a few seconds) in one go, right? You want to save some, or share with others so they can try them too! But 8 cookies for £1 from the corner shop? Yeah, they don’t hold any pride or emotional connection to you. So you may as well just gobble them all up.
Secondly, and I have spoken about this before, the visual information you get when you make something yourself. I honestly don’t mind if you make a super indulgent, sugary, salty, fatty snack at home. You will see what you are putting in there, right in front of you. And that will be, to an extent, in your conscious when the snack is finished and ready to eat. Now this is not some shaming, diet-type trick - not at all! Make those snacks and enjoy them. What I mean is that again, with those cheap cookies from the shop, there is no connection, no real knowledge about what’s in them. So you may as well eat them all. Do we even enjoy that kind of snacking? Often I find it much more “mindless” and less satisfying. Another thing you gain from homemade is the skills of making something yourself (if you try something new and it’s a huge hit, you can make it again and give as a gift!), not to mention lovely smells in your house if you bake something, and nice little tasters on the way to the finished product (lick that spoon!).
You can create some future shortcuts for yourself too. Linking back to my thoughts on batch cooking, you can make extra - and if, let’s say, you make cookies for example - you can make little cookie dough balls and freeze them, ready to go in the oven on another day. Maybe when you have friends or family coming over - you can greet them with the smell of freshly baked cookies as they walk through the door, even though all you did that day was take the remaining dough out of the freezer and turn the oven on! All because you felt snacky a few days earlier. What a bonus!
Have I stuck to my Only Snacks I’ve Made Myself rule? No. I’ve bought some chocolate, and even gave in and had some crisps recently (my worst vice). But it has definitely stopped me buying snacks on many occasions where I normally would have, and I’m also now incredibly quick at making shortbread - so hey, new skill unlocked!
Not just for Christmas
You may have read my blog post on making a “rule” to only eat snacks that I made myself. What I made when I first decided that was shortbread, and for two very good reasons; it’s 1. quick and 2. yummy as hell.
Shortbread was traditionally associated with big life events like christenings, weddings and Christmas family gatherings, according to the most famous shortbread brand Walker’s, but are now more and more common to have at any time of year. However, as I’m writing this right before Christmas, it does feel like the absolutely perfect time to have them - they’re perfect with a cup of tea on a chilly day, and a great snack to make quickly for when you have family coming over.
This is a great snack to get kids involved in, or just to do as a nice family or friend activity. You need absolutely no equipment other than a bowl, and just a bit of patience and the willingness to get your hands a bit dirty. Once you’ve tried making these once, it’ll be a super safe go-to recipe that you’ll probably be able to remember without even having to return to this site for the instructions.
I wanted to try to make a chocolate version too. I found quite a few chocolate shortbread recipes online, but they all seemed quite complicated. I thought, surely, just replacing a bit of the flour with some cocoa would do the trick? I have tried both 20g and 30g, and I’d say both work but more than 30g would be pushing it and possibly get a bit too dry. But the cocoa does create lovely, light and chocolatey shortbread. You don’t need to make it more complicated than that!
So here are two shortbread recipes, I always make one of each and bake them together - highly recommended. Enjoy - whatever time of year you’re doing this!
Regular Shortbread
150g plain flour
100g cold butter, cubed
50g sugar
Chocolate Shortbread
120-130g plain flour
Replace 20-30g of the flour with cocoa powder (so make sure you have a total of 150g flour+cocoa)
100g cold butter, cubed
50g sugar
Making shortbread is honestly sooo wonderfully easy. Chuck all the ingredients in a bowl (you don’t even have to wait for the butter to soften!) and start mixing it together with your hands. Have faith, it feels like it’ll be too dry at first, but eventually you’ll get a lovely, slightly sticky ball of dough. You can do just one of these (regular/chocolate), or as I always do, one of each at the same time. When you’ve worked the dough into a smooth ball, put it in the fridge to cool (important!) for 15-20 minutes.
Take the dough out of the fridge and preheat your oven to 170ºC (150ºC fan heated), about 340ºF. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (this will be quite tough to begin with as the dough is cold, but it’s important that it is, otherwise it’ll get too runny in the oven!) until it’s about 1/2 cm in thickness. Cut into fingers with a plastic utensil, or use a glass or cookie cutters to make desired shapes. Bake on a lined baking tray for about 15 minutes (all ovens are different!) and take out and let them cool. Letting the biscuits cool is important as they will be very fragile when they first come out but will harden to the perfect texture after a little while, so handle them carefully!
You can do more festive or indulgent versions by sprinkling with sugar or even drizzling some white chocolate over them, you can add a bit of ground ginger to the mix or really, do whatever you want to do to mix up this recipe. I’d love to see your results, so post on Instagram and tag me!