butterfly bakery blog

“Ever tasted one of Mrs Beans famous nutmeg ginger apple snaps?”

After watching Fantastic Mr Fox I’m sure we have all dreamed about tasting Mrs Beans famous cookies, and I have finally created the perfect recipe!

PS. these are actually more like chewy cookies rather than snaps

The dough is filled with warm flavours – ginger, cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. My recipe is fully vegan, gluten free, and refined sugar free so everyone can enjoy 🙂

If you truly want to be a fantastic fox, you can serve these cookies with a glass of fresh apple cider 🍎

JUMP TO:
• What you’ll need
• The history of fantastic mr fox
• Recipe

What you’ll need

• Apples – I like to use mini red apples as they are my favourite. You can never go wrong with a red apple with stars on it.

• Vegan butter – I use flora, but you could also use coconut oil or regular butter.

• Sugar – Coconut sugar is my favourite as it has a lovely caramel flavour. You can also use brown sugar.

• Almond flour – My version is gluten free, almond flour has natural oils keeping the cookies soft for ages!

• Corn starch – This helps the structure of the cookie as we don’t use any flour or egg. Arrowroot power works too.

• Cashew butter – This makes the cookies extremely rich and chewy. You can sub this for another nut/seed butter, but be careful with those that have lots of flavour (like peanut butter) as it will affect the cookies flavour.

• Flax egg – This is a vegan ‘egg’, to make one combine 1tbsp flax meal and 2tbsp water. You can also use a regular egg or 3tbsp aquafaba.

• Baking soda – This is needed to allow the cookies to spread. If you are all out, use baking powder but double the amount (so for this recipe, use 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder instead of 3/4 tsp baking soda)

• Salt – Essential for flavour, I like to top my cookies with extra flaky salt!

• Spices – As Mrs Bean’s recipe suggests, we add ginger powder and ground nutmeg – I prefer to use freshly ground for extra flavour but ground will work well too. I also add in a dash of cinnamon for some extra warmth.

EXTRAS:
• I use a little bit of maple syrup to glaze the apples after baking to make them shiny and sweet.
• I roll the dough balls in crunchy sugar for added texture.

The history of fantastic mr fox

The novel was published by Roald Dahl in 1970, featuring the Fantastic Mr Fox who stole food (including the nutmeg ginger apple snaps) from 3 farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Roald Dahl was inspired to write the book by a tree near his home, where he told his children stories about foxes who lived under it, just like the fox family in the novel.

Wes Anderson directed the stop motion of Fantastic Mr Fox in 2009, which became a nostalgic childhood movie for many of us.

The story of the Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps comes from Mrs Bean’s kitchen and Beans apple farm. She bakes her famous cookies and serves them with a side of apple cider – as Fantastic Mr Fox puts it, it “tastes almost exactly like pure melted gold”. His son, Ash, and his nephew, Kristofferson, go on a mission and find themselves in front of a glorious plate of glistening cookies… which then get devoured.

Fantastic Mr Fox
Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps
prep time: 15 mins / serves: 6 / cook time: 11 mins

Ingredients:
see the ‘what you’ll need’ section for more info + subs

• 45g vegan butter, or coconut oil
• 45g cashew butter
• 80g coconut sugar
• 1 flax egg, 1tbsp flax meal + 2tbsp water
• 5g cornstarch
• 135g almond flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 6 apple slices
• maple syrup for glaze, demerara sugar for rolling, flaky salt for topping

Method:

• To a large bowl add the butter, cashew butter and sugar. Whisk until fluffy.
• Add the flax egg and whisk again to fully combine.
• Add the almond flour, corn-starch, salt, spices and baking soda. Fold to fully combine.
• Let the dough chill for 30 mins in the fridge.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180c (160c fan oven). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Scoop the dough into 6 balls and optionally roll in demerara sugar.
• Top each with a thin apple slice, I cut mine with the apple on its side to get a star shape in the middle.
• Bake for 11 minutes until golden.
• Glaze the apples with maple syrup and top with flaky salt.
• Let cool and enjoy with a glass of apple cider!