Purple carrot wins, and losses

Johanna should have a prize for her smoothie ingredient guess of roast carrots.

The ingredient list didn't include roast carrots, but it did include purple carrots.

Unfortunately, though, the story of this smoothie is a sad one.

You know those times when kitchen creation is driven purely by imagination? By an idea that sticks in your mind, an ingredient list that wafts to you, and a method that just comes together seemlessly?

Those kitchen moments can be magical.

But here's the thing. The magic is a bit dependent on the resulting product/s turning out. Otherwise it's somewhat of a let down - you have a delicious dish in your imagination, but not in front of you.

No one wants that.

For several weeks, I have been thinking about making soft carrot cake biscuits (cookies). Not just any carrot cake biscuits, though, but purple carrot cake biscuits.

I had such grand plans for them. They were to be beautifully purple, slightly sweet, suitable for breakfast or snack time, and firm and chewy all at the same time.

The ingredient list came to me in stages, as is right and proper for imagination-based cooking. It included coconut flour. Oats. Puffed millet. Chia. Purple carrots, of course. Pineapple juice and some crushed pineapple, almond milk, vanilla, mixed spice, agave, baking soda.

The mixture was dazzling in its purple-ness.

 The pre-baked biscuits were a bit odd, but still held promise.

But then.

This happened.

I know. I'm laughing too. Green purple cookies did not enter my imagination.

Worse than the colour (which could be viewed as odd but interesting) was the texture. Rather than firm and chewy, I had something that was both crumbly and too moist. Who knew that could happen?

In hindsight, making up a recipe and playing with a new flour (coconut flour) may not have been the wisest combination.

The taste also fell short of my dreams. These biscuits were edible but they weren't quite sweet enough, and they sat at the intersection between savoury and sweet in an unappealing kind of way.

I guess magic can't happen every time. Lesson learnt: never count your biscuits before they're baked.

On the plus side, the leftover purple carrot gave me a great smoothie, and my imagination has something to keep pondering. I also had some purple carrot success (thank goodness!) when I adapted Min's recipe for carrot, nut and date balls.

I followed Min's recipe closely but used one small orange carrot and one small purple carrot, instead of one medium orange carrot; added a couple of extra dates (14-15 instead of 12); omitted the coconut oil; and added a few tablespoons of oats.

Thankfully, the outcome was good enough to go some way to reducing the biscuit disappointment. These balls were enjoyable from the fridge and even better from the freezer, and I will definitely be making them again.

The biscuits, on the other hand...not to be repeated in a hurry.

Any recent flops in your kitchen?!

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