Easter LOVE loaf recipe - inspired by EARTH, WATER & my Mama
I made these divine little goodies for my beautiful Mama as an Easter gift.
Traditionally she loves her special Easter hot cross bun with cinnamon and raisons. She is not typically a “sweet tooth person”. They remind her of her childhood.
She loved these Easter LOVE loaf slices just as much… in fact even more!
The best part is….
This Easter LOVE loaf recipe is a simple and delicious sweet treat. It is grounding, sumptuously sweet and satisfying. The best part is that it’s free of chemicals, such as baking soda and powder, refined sugar and eggs. That means NO consequences here! That’s right… with no refined sugars or excess ingredients.
It uses ingredients, spices and cooking methods that supports the agni/digestive fire (N.B: when eaten in moderation of course!). See the recipe below.
Ayurveda and the SWEET taste: TO BE SWEET or… NOT!
Let’s get something clear. When I refer to the sweet taste - I am NOT referring to SUGAR!
Oh no… by “sweet” I am referring to the Ayurvedic term for one of the six tastes that help cultivate a stable, healthy agni/digestive fire.
Healthy digestion = Healthy body AND mind.
Put it this way - if you can digest your food, you can far better digest your thoughts, feelings, emotions and experiences that impact on a daily basis.
More on SWEET
Sweet foods deliver a soothing post digestive effect on the gut, mind and system overall. The “sweet” helps to cool, augment and support the body’s replenishment. In Ayurveda the "sweet taste has a larger proportion of the EARTH and WATER elements.
This means they have the following effects:
HEAVY: they have a heavier quality to them (earth and water being the most dense elements). Therefore they can be helpful for those who feel flighty, unstable, anxious or who have issues sleeping.
PROMOTE LOVE & contentment: Yes! these foods promote love and satisfaction (N.B:when eaten in moderation)
Foods that are said to have a “sweet” digestive effect are:
Whole grains (ideally organic such as: all rices; wheats; millet; buckwheat; semolina; quinoa, oats etc)
Root vegetables (organic: beets, sweet potatoes/white potatoes; suede; cleric; carrots; zucchini; squash; pumpkin.
There are also some out of the box ones like: fennel; cucumber etc.
Most fruits: especially fresh dates
High quality dairy products: raw/unpasturised organic milk; ghee; buttermilk; fresh cheese
Natural sweetness: maple syrup; molasses; honey (also pungent and astringent); unrefined cane sugar (jaggery); unrefined coconut sugar etc
For more information around these foods you can review Myra Lewin’s book: Simple Ayurvedic recipes.
You can also book a one to one session with me to go through Digestive support and how balancing the six tastes as well as other factors can have a profound effect on your overall state of wellness.
And now for the Easter LOVE loaf recipe…
This typically serves 8-12 small slices
For BEST results: use organic, FRESH ingredients
For the LOVE loaf
2 tbs of chia seeds
2 cups of whole spelt or wheat flour (you can also substitute 1 cup of wheat flour for buckwheat or millet flour).
1 cup of fresh ground almonds (or flax seed)
3 tbs of ghee
a large handful of soaked walnuts and/or hazelnuts
45 ml maple syrup
a small handful of fresh soaked organic raisins
a handful of desiccated coconut
1 tsp of cardamom
1-2 tsp of mixed spice powder (cinnamon; ginger; nutmeg)
1 teas of orange zest (for the tangy hot cross bun taste)
1-1.5 cups of water
For the wickedly delicious Ghee and Date Butter topping:
4-5 fresh medjool dates (ideally that that have been left to soak for 1 hour in warm water)
2-3 tbs of ghee
1 tsp grated ginger root
Alternatively you can paste thick honey to add on top after baking (N.B: honey should never be heated or cooked! It creates toxins for the system AND mind according to Ayurveda).
And finally… here’s the HOW part
Soak the chia seeds in 1 cup of water for 10 min or until they become like a glue.
Chop up the nuts in smaller pieces and pitt the dates.
Combine the dry ingredients; wheat flour, almond flour, walnuts, coconut, spices and mix them with your hands.
Add in the rest of the ingrediens; soaked chia seeds, ghee, raisins, maple syrup and a bit of the water. Combine well until you have a sticky dough texture. Let it be sticky enough that its not going to dry AND dry enough that it’s binding and not gooey over everything.
Add into a glass or ceramic container. It needs to bake evenly so make sure it’s spread evenly.
Put in the middle of the oven at 375 °F (190°C) for 25 - 40 min or untill a toothpick comes out clean.
When it’s done- let it sit for 10-15 mins allowing it to cool. Generously paste the ghee and date butter over the top.
When to enjoy this deliciousness?
This might sound TOTALLY WEIRD but…
Try eating a slice with your main meal- yes along side your grains and legumes, veggies… you might be surprised!
In Ayurveda the sweet taste foods are the first ones the digestion recognises and can get to work on. It therefore makes sense to eat it with the main meal as opposed tot he way we are accustomed- at the end of the meal. Eating sweet at the end of the meal- means the heavy quality lands on all the food you have previously consumed int he main meal- and can leave you feel overly full and lethargic.
As a snack?
Yes… you can take a slice of this to work and have it at the 4 o’clock FLAG time.
Snacking 3-4 hours AFTER a meal and at least 2-4 hours BEFORE you next eat is mostly fine for the digestive capacity. However snacking 1-2hrs after eating or an hour before a meal is going to start to cause problems body AND mind. Ayurveda sees the digestive fire as a prime state of health If it is interfered with when trying to do its dutiful digesting (by snacking etc) it will weaken and can create long term issues that affect the whole system. Just look at what our society is today.., a snacking culture… with endless digestive and allergy issues. Endless mental health issues that are now slowly being related to the state of the digestive health. This is a BIG topic… not one to go on about here. Happy to discuss with you at some point.
N.B: This recipe has been adapted from three different sources. All wonderful Devi’s (goddesses) in the culinary department.
With thanks for the inspiration and deliciousness to: Myra Lewin @halepule; Lisa Akesson @areyouvedic; Chloe Coker/Round Table Cookery: @roundtablecookery