How to turn hazelnuts into a brilliant flour for cakes recipe | Waste not

"Each recipe in my cookbook Eating for Pleasure, People & Planet includes optional whole food ingredients such as rapadura sugar, emmer wheat and flaxseeds to boost nutrients and flavour, while also keeping things adaptable so you can use up what you already have in the cupboards. Writing a plant-based cookbook taught me new ways to save waste, and confirmed my belief that zero-waste cooking is whole food cooking."

"Aquafaba (the liquid from a tin of chickpeas or other beans), for example, is a powerful emulsifier that can replace eggs, especially when whisked with ground flaxseeds or chia. It's a brilliant way of turning what we'd usually pour down the sink into cakes with remarkable lift and texture. Pear, hazelnut and chocolate torte When I was writing the dessert chapter of my cookbook, I wanted every recipe to offer new ways of making cakes more nourishing."

"Here, I use aquafaba with omega-rich flaxseed, and blitz hazelnuts into flour instead of using ground almonds (though I would encourage you to use ground almonds if they are what you have). Seasonality is core to how I cook, not least because I find it such a joyous and economical approach to home cooking that connects us to the rhythm of the seasons."

Recipes incorporate optional whole-food ingredients like rapadura sugar, emmer wheat and flaxseeds to boost nutrients and flavour while allowing substitution from pantry supplies. Plant-based technique emphasizes zero-waste cooking by repurposing ingredients such as aquafaba, the liquid from a tin of chickpeas, as a powerful emulsifier and egg replacement when combined with ground flaxseed or chia. Aquafaba and flaxseed produce lift and texture in cakes, turning what would be discarded into baked goods. A pear, hazelnut and chocolate torte uses aquafaba with flaxseed and hazelnut flour, recommends seasonal pears, suggests slight underbaking for a brownie-like centre, and advises serving warm with yoghurt; the recipe lists a 23cm flan dish and specific ingredient measures.

Read at www.theguardian.com