KITCHEN ALCHEMY AND RECIPES WITH PURE ESSENTIAL OILS

If you follow my blogs regularly, you will already know that I do occasionally extend my trade to cooking with the culinary essential oils. And as we are coming up to a much food-centred celebration, it seems like the perfect time to explore a little fragrant alchemy in the kitchen.

Anyone who likes a cozy kitchen filled with delicious, fresh-baked aromas (and who doesn’t?) is in for a treat here. My daughter and I have been experimenting with my favourite classic recipes by adding some amazing therapeutic (of course) essential oils to the mix.

Benefits of using pure therapeutic essential oils in your favourite baking recipes

Now, I know you want to get to the yummy part but let’s just take a minute to check out why pure essential oils can make such a huge impact on your baking success.

• No artificial anything
• No hidden chemical nasties
• Perfect natural molecules for intense aroma and flavour
• And intact natural compounds with full, health-promoting properties

Food-grade essences and oils are created at hygienic standards but that is about all you can say.

Commercial, high-volume production means synthetic ingredients, intense farming methods, fast production techniques, and low-cost packaging and transportation. This might leave recognizable flavor but it removes any therapeutic potential from the natural plant ingredients.

When you make the choice to include a pure organic essence with its original molecular functions still intact, you are accessing an entirely different level of flavor and aroma – one with the power to positively influence your natural physiology, even as its full natural intensity plays melodies on your taste buds.

Seasonal Recipes For Baking With Pure Essential Oils

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT SLICE

What happens when you take the quintessential confection of chocolate and peppermint, and upgrade it with the purest essence of aromatic organic Peppermint oil?

Pure Peppermint essential oil is cleansing, healing and revitalizing by the very molecules that deliver those same distinctive impressions to the palette. This is concentrated pure essence, so just a few drops transform everyday baking with an extra wow factor on the flavour scale and promotes natural wellbeing from the inside out.

 

The base:

225g soft butter, ½ cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup caster sugar, 1 large egg, 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup dark cocoa, ½ cup desiccated coconut.

Fresh mint cream filling:

3½ cups icing sugar, 50g soft butter, 1/3 cup cream, 5-10 drops pure Peppermint Essential Oil, depending on taste – start with less and check as you go.

Chocolate topping:

100g dark chocolate (50% or more cocoa), 1/3 cup cream, 1 cup icing sugar.

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease a slice tin.

For base: cream butter and sugars together, beat in egg until well mixed. Sift in flour, cocoa and coconut, mix until combined - like sticky cookie dough. Put it into tin, spread evenly. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and cool in tin.

For Mint Cream: beat icing sugar, butter and cream until very pale and fluffy (5-8 minutes). Add the Peppermint essential oil and beat to combine. Spread over cooled base.

For the Topping: break up chocolate and melt with cream in a bowl over pan of gently simmering water. Sift in icing sugar and whisk. Cool slightly, then spread over Peppermint filling. Cover with cling film, set in fridge for 1 hour.

CINNAMON LEAF RUSSIAN FUDGE

Pure Cinnamon leaf essential oil brings a distinctive warm, clean-spice aroma for both depth and accent in your baking. At pure therapeutic power, it is tonic for circulation and digestion with potent cleansing and healing qualities. In this recipe it gives fullness to a traditional Russian fudge that offers up familiar favorite textures with a comforting seasonal twist.

Ingredients: 3 cups of sugar, ½ cup milk, ½ cup sweetened condensed milk, 125g butter, 2tbs golden syrup, 4 drops pure Cinnamon Leaf essential oil.

Method: Put sugar and milk into a saucepan, heat gently, stir until sugar dissolves. Add condensed milk, butter, golden syrup. Stir until butter melts. Bring to boil, boil until soft ball stage (115ºC), stir 3-4 times. Remove, cool slightly, add Cinnamon Leaf essential oil, beat until thick. Pour into buttered tin, cut when cold.

GINGER CRUNCH

 

Pure Ginger essential oil brings rooted, cleansing energy that translates into a surprising, exotic taste with the potential to lift the spirit and awaken the body. It contains tonic, life-dynamic compounds that reach beyond the taste buds for an expanded sense of delicious.

Base: 115g butter, 56g sugar, 2tsp fresh Ginger,1tsp ground Ginger, 1 cup flour, 1tsp baking powder.

Method: cream butter and sugar, add dry ingredients, mix well. Press into well greased tin, bake for 15-20 mins at 175ºC.

Icing: 4tbs icing sugar, 1 ½ tbs butter,  5 drops Lemon essential oil, 1tsp ground Ginger, 2tbs golden syrup, 3 drops pure Ginger essential oil.

Method: Gently heat all ingredients except Ginger Oil until the sugar has dissolved. Add Ginger, mix well then pour over the base while still warm. Cut when cold.

Healthy, happy holidays and much success and well-being for the New Year

Let us know how your recipes turn out at customerservice@absoluteessential.com and we would especially like to hear of any new recipe ideas that you create with pure essential oils in your own kitchen alchemy.

From all of the team here at Absolute Essential, we wish you a very merry holiday season, with great health and happiness and delicious celebrations.

Medicinal-grade Therapeutic Plant Oils must be 100% pure. At Absolute Essential, we use certified organic or wild grown (sustainable) plants to produce our oils and all extraction processes are strictly controlled to produce the best quality oil with a maximum purity and therapeutic value.See more at Absolute Essential.