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Tag Archives: Sweets

Vegan Pancake Tuesday… Spelt & in Sweden!

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by Aissa in Savoury, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

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Pancakes, recipe, Savoury, Sweden, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

Hey guys! Long time no post! 😦 Here I am with another Vegan Pancake Recipe… but it is Pancake Tuesday back in Ireland and my sister is up in Nordic country for a visit … so here we are!

Vegan Pancakes- Spelt!

  • 1 generous cup of whole spelt flour (called Dinkel here!)
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder (as aluminium free as possible)
  • A quarter teaspoon of sea salt
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder
  • OR a teaspoon of extract in the wet stuff
  • 2 dessertspoons of org raw coconut oil melted
  • 1 and a half dessertspoons muscovado sugar
  • A cup and a few dessertspoons of vegan friendly milk (warm)

I used the Swedish “Oatly”, they have a version here for coffee that is richer … foams so all the cafes here use it.

Method

Sooo melt the said coconut oil on a medium heat. In a bowl… I used a cool green Swedish dish i found in the kitchen…you can use your own, no found Swedish dishes necessary. Where was I?

In a bowl mash your muscovado it is a soft packed sugar and tends to have clumps. Rapadura/sucucant would be fine too. Now pour in your coconut oil and mash and smush them together.

Put your Vegan friendly milk in the saucepan you melted your oil (so no waste!) and warm it up to finger temperature. Do do this, doing this is important as cold milk will make the coconut oil go hard again.

Whilst this warms… measure out the dry stuff. Flour, salt, baking powder and vanilla powder and mix together. If using vanilla extract add it to your warming milk.

Add the warm milk to the oil and sugar- mix mix mix mash mash mash- NO LUMPS PEOPLE! Grab a whisk like implement- being in a foreign country without my kitchen supplies I used one whisk from an electric mixer. Add in your dry ingredients and whisk everything together so no bits.

Pancake stuff Sweden style!

Pancake stuff Sweden style!

Leave to sit for sit least a half an hour, so it thickens up a bit.

Put a frying pan on a quite high heat and put a teaspoon of coconut oil in to melt. You will most likely have to sacrifice the first pancake to the pancake gods, but a good test is to put a tiny drop of the batter in the pan and if it sizzles and changes colour really fast it is hot enough.

This is a small non stick frying pan! ;-)

This is a small non stick frying pan! 😉

 

I had a small pan so I used only two thirds of a soup ladle per pancake. I like them thin too. Leave one side cook for over thirty seconds, until it turns golden brown at the edges, it should then be ready to flip. Then leave that side sit for a least thirty second before you try and move it. I had my sister supervising me so I did not give into my terrible impatience and interference with  the natural cooking order of pancakes… much more of a mix stick in oven  or fridge or jar to ferment person! 🙂

La Vegan Pancake, in a bowl.

La Vegan Pancake, in a bowl.

TA-DA! Et Volia! Vegan pancakes. I had mine with Oat cream, organic lemon and real Maple Syrup. Because I like the classics!

I have been baking since I got to Sweden, but nothing I felt good enough about to share, my last place the oven didn’t close correctly … weird bakes ensued! The odd batch of biscuits/cookies were okay but by ‘gum were the cakes a mess!! New season, new semester in college and new place- last biscuits I baked took… wait for it FORTY FIVE minutes 🙂  But I currently have a Beetroot and Red Cabbage Sauerkraut brewing do will share that next!

Jam Crumble Cookies Vegan & Gluten free

03 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by Aissa in Biscuits, Cookies, Gluten Free, Sweets, Vegan

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Biscuits, Cookies, Gluten free, recipe, Sweets, Vegan

Biscuits were required eating yesterday evening.. sometimes they are just necessary. I have made various versions of these over the years, sometimes with spelt flour sometimes with the addition of different nut butters. It is a flexible recipe. Since i planned to share the recipe I thought I would do my GF version! More egalitarian 🙂

You will need : A couple of bowls, measures and an 8inch pie or cake tin.

Jam Crumble Cookies

  • Three and a half dessertspoons of org coconut oil
  • Two dessertspoons of a nut or seed butter *
  • One dessertspoon of real maple syrup
  • Scant half a cup of coconut blossom sugar
  • A quarter cup of buckwheat flour
  • Two big dessertspoons of gram flour/ cornstarch
  • Two thirds of a cup of gluten free flour **
  • Almost half a cup of ground almonds
  • Two big dessertspoons of fine maize meal
  • A good pinch or eighth of a tsp of himalayan pink salt / sea salt
  • A dessertspoon of vanilla powder/ paste / extract
  • Three to six dessertspoons of almond milk
  • Roughly half a cup of no added sugar jam- I used apricot

*I used a sunflower cashew one I had made

**I used a brand called Doves which is a mix of rice, buckwheat, tapioca and potato

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F. Rub a bit of coconut oil on your pie/tart dish or line a metal cake tin with paper.

Grab a bowl and mash your coconut oil and seed / nut butter together. Add in your maple syrup and mash mash mash some more, make sure to press out any lumps of coconut oil that may be hiding in there.

Coconut oil and Sunflower cashew butter

Coconut oil and Sunflower cashew butter

Add in your coconut sugar. Yes you guessed it! More mashing, biscuit exercise, working on that upper body strength! Again make sure it is blended properly so it has all become one colour.

Plop all your flours, the ground almonds, vanilla powder and salt into another bowl. I don’t bother sieving .. but if you are not using gram (chickpea) flour and choosing cornstarch you should sieve the cornstarch alright.

Put your dry ingredients into the wet. It will take a bit of pressing to get them pressed together. If you find it is looking more floury than bread-crumby (see pic) you may need to add a dessertspoon or two of almond milk. Start by sprinkling one spoon of milk over the ingredients and mix and press again. If still dryish add another spoon. It should just hold together when pinched. If you are happy with its crumbliness take a generous half a cup plus a dessertspoonful out and put it aside.

crumble

crumble

Add another two spoons of almond milk and mix again. It should turn to a doughy texture when you squeeze it with your hand. Grab your prepared pie/ cake tin and press the mixture in – evenly.

The stickier dough

The stickier dough

Next the jam! Usually half a cup will do but always good to have a spare spoon to make sure the base is properly covered.

what unevenly spread jam looks like ;-)

what unevenly spread jam looks like 😉

Next get the crumble you had set aside. Sprinkle the crumble over the top making sure no jam is visible!

pre baking

pre baking

Pop it in the centre of your oven (slightly to left in mine as right side of my oven is hotter!). It took 35min in my fan oven so I ‘reckon it could take 40 in a non fan.

Posing for it's close up

Posing for it’s close up

If you used a square tin you could cut little squares but mine is round so it is tart slice style biscuits for me!

Hope you try it or make your own version of it! Xs Aissa

Footnote:

I was inspired by a multitude of jam crumbly recipes when scouring the internet but special kudos mention to “Have Cake will Travel” recipe as inspiration.

It is also lovely made with raspberry or blueberry jam! It is also very easy to make nut free- use a seed butter, use fine maize meal instead of the ground almonds and use a non diary milk not made from nuts! Problem with coconut? Use vegan butter instead of coconut oil and use rapadura / sucucant sugar instead of coconut sugar!

Homemade Oat & Cashew Milk! Vegan ( gluten free if you use the right oats! )

07 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

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energy smoothie, Gluten free, Homemade, medjool date, oats, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

I was out and about yesterday and bought lots of organic salad leaves and yummy stuff at the farmers’s market. Walked home on a warm but extremely windy June day. All sorted for a my big salad for dinner. All my food shopping sorted, until I realised I forgot to get dairy free milk! Which would be okay but I really wanted it for my forever evolving Not so smooth energy smoothie for breakfast! Necessity is the mother of invention, or prevention of procrastination, as I have intended to make my own for ages.

Vegan milk on my windowsill!

Vegan milk on my windowsill!

You will you need to leave to stuff soak over night if you want it for your break-ie !

Homemade Oat & Cashew Milk – makes over : 600ml / a pint / 2.5cups

  • Half a cup of organic fine rolled oats (Gluten free if you like!)
  • Three dessertspoons of cashews / cashew pieces
  • Less than an eight of a teaspoon of pink himalayan salt or sea salt
  • Generous Two and a half cups of boiled water- leave to cool for a minute
  • Half a medjool date
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder
  • Some extra water to so you can have it thinner if you like
  • Optional: I think a pinch of cinnamon could be lovely too!

So put your oats in a sieve and give them a rinse. I put them a big jug but you could soak them in a bowl. Add in your cashews and salt and stir them together. Add in the hot water. Leave to sit over night.

Next day.

You will notice everything will have swelled up. Now you want to pour it all through a sieve. Over a bowl or straight into your blending contraption. I blended mine in a jug blender, would work in a food processor and as long as you don’t leave lots of cashews in a hand blender would work too.

Use a spatula to press the mixture in the sieve. You will see thick creamy liquid coming through. Keep pressing until you are bored or it looks like you have gotten as much out as you can. I picked out the cashews as I went and threw them into the liquid to make the milk extra fabulous. If you are having porridge for breakfast you can cook the soaked oats up with the rest! Soaking your oats pre cooking is a good idea anyway as it helps break the phytates down and makes the oats more digestable.

Onwards!

Add in your halve medjool date and half a teaspoon of vanilla powder. Blend as if you are making a smoothie. I tasted it and found it lovely and creamy but a little rich for me ,so I added in another third of a cup of water. I gave it another blitz just to mix it up. Et Volia! Ta-Da! Homemade oat and cashew milk! 

Ready to be smoothie-d! :-) Breakfast is saved!!!

Ready to be smoothie-d! 🙂 Breakfast is saved!!!

Hope you try it! It was super easy! Xs Aissa

 

Raw/No bake “Intensely Dark Decadent Cacao Fudge”- Vegan & Gluten Free

03 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Aissa in Chocolate, Gluten Free, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

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Tags

Cacao, Chocolate, chocolate fudge, Gluten free, No bake, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

Fair warning- this is a decadently intense chocolate experience. That said a little spoon of this dark fudgey goo hits the the chocolate/cacao craving nail right on the head! You will need a food processor or blender to make it as is. You could use ready prepared ground almonds chop some walnuts to a dust like consistency but you will get a lighter more of cake like version.

Anyone thinking that person spelled cocoa wrong? Cacao is raw cocoa, it has a slightly more complex flavour and a lighter colour. In it’s raw form more of the nutrients survive (esp antioxidants & magnesium) so you get all the fabulousness of cocoa with an extra health kick!

This Fudge is Filled with Filling nuts so is almost like protein chocolate fudge, if the richness doesn’t get you the amino acids will 😉

Intensely Dark Decadent Cacao Fudge

  • One cup of whole almonds
  • Half a cup of walnuts
  • Half a cup of cacao powder
  • Four dessertspoons of dark raisins*
  • Two and a half dessertspoons of raw coconut oil
  • A quarter teaspoon of good quality sea salt
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ a pod
  • One dessertspoon of pure maple syrup
  • One dessertspoon of water kefir/ water**
  • Zest of an unwaxed organic orange- hold half a teaspoon back
  • Five walnuts chopped
  • A dessertspoon of desiccated/ shredded coconut

Method:

Ready your machinery and pop in the nuts with half the raisins and the coconut oil. Blend / pulse until they are chopped a bit. Add in the rest of your ingredients bar the last three.

Nearly raw fudge!

Nearly raw fudge!

It may seem like it it is not going to come together, gradually add in the water kefir/water. The texture will begin to change, you will prob just be pulsing it a bit at this stage. Transfer the fudgey-ness to a bowl add in the orange zest and mix it through. Keep half a teaspoon of the orange zest back, as you will be putting it on top later.

OOooOoo look how dark it is!

OOooOoo look how dark it is!

I used a 15cmx15cm (5.9inc x5.9inch!) perspex container. I gave it a little wipe with coconut oil to make it easier to remove the fudge. No-one wants delayed access! Plop half the goo in the middle and spread evenly. Add on your chopped walnuts and gently layer more of the fudge on top. Decorate with your orange zest next. Finally sprinkle on your desiccated coconut, press this into the fudge so it can’t go anywhere. Cover and put in the fridge for ten minutes. Take it out and use a knife to cut your little squares of dark delight! Pop back in the fridge and leave to set for another forty five minutes or so.

Intensely dark fudge :-)

Intensely dark fudge 🙂

It is fast and easy to make and will keep fantastically in the fridge or freezer. So can be made well in advance or be an emergency chocolate store! Xs Aissa

*Footnotes*

* I used these fab organic Black Beauty raisins from Uzbekistan! I was gifted them 🙂 they had no oil and were really juicy. I think a good substitute would be Jumbo Chilean Black raisins or Muscatels

**Water kefir, why not get some live bacteria, good yeasts and enzymes in your fudge? Kombucha might work too…

Cacao Nut Bites – Vegan & Gluten Free

13 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by Aissa in Chocolate, Gluten Free, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Cacao Butter, Chocolate, Gluten free, No bake, organic coconut oil, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

These are mainly nuts and seeds, as a result they are high in protein, healthy fats and are super filling. Be great to bring if you were going on a big hike, mine was mainly from the kitchen to the couch while going back and forth for more! People think making your own raw chocolate is some complex mystery. It is actually really easy and it means you can control the flavour, sugar content and get all those lovely antioxidants and minerals in the cacao too! Hmmm chocolate.

You will need a strong food processor or blender to follow the recipe exactly, I will give alternatives in the footnotes if you are with out these contraptions. I used a 15cm x 15cm (almost 6inc x 6inc ) perspex dish, so it made nine good sized Cacao Nut Bites. They are very fast to make and the joy of raw vegan baking is you can taste everything along the way. 🙂

Cacao Nut Bites

The Base*

  • 125g/ three quarters of a cup of whole almonds
  • Twelve whole brazil nuts
  • One flat dessertspoon of organic coconut oil
  • One teaspoon of vanilla powder
  • An eighth of a teaspoon of fine Himalayan pink salt or good sea salt
  • One dessertspoon of good quality maple syrup

The Sprinkle layer

  • Three dessertspoons of sunflower seeds
  • Approx. twenty organic dried mulberries

The Topping

  • One dessertspoon of organic coconut oil
  • Roughly one and a half dessertspoons of organic cacao butter
  • Roughly three dessertspoons of organic cacao paste
  • One teaspoon of organic cacao powder
  • Less than an eighth of a teaspoon of good fine sea salt
  • Two dessertspoons of good quality maple syrup

The very simple Method

Starting with the base, through everything into your food processor and blend until it starts to get a bit sticky. I find you still need to work it a bit with your hands, in order to help it all stick together. Just press it into your container- as evenly as possible.

Base ingredients

Base ingredients

Sprinkle your sunflower seeds and mulberries on top and put it all in the fridge while you make your raw chocolate!

Avec toppings

Put a saucepan half filled with water on to your hob. Bring it to a simmer and pop a perspex bowl (that will fit ) on top. The water should not touch the base, or it will be too hot and burn the precious chocolate. Melt the cacao paste and butter and coconut oil, take off the heat for maybe thirty seconds (something about cacao crystals realigning) . Put back on the heat and add in the cacao powder, salt and maple syrup. Mix and melt together.

melting

Take your base out of the fridge. Using a oven glove or tea-towel grab your bowl of melted goodness and pour it over everything. You may have to move your mulberries a bit after to make sure they are evenly spread. Put back in the fridge to set. It would probably be a good idea to take it out after five minutes and score the top in the way you plan to cut it. The chocolate sets quite hard!

hmm melted chocolate

hmm melted chocolate

Hope you try them, I found the brazil nuts bring something more interesting to the flavour. Who knew sunflower seeds and chocolate would be such a good combination?

Xs Aissa

*Footnotes

No machine? No fear! You can use ground almonds instead of the whole ones. You can use a big dessertspoon of brazil nut butter or cashew nut butter instead of the other nuts. Finally add barely an eighth of a teaspoon of natural almond extract to your coconut oil. Mash the oil, nut butters, maple syrup, almond and vanilla extract together first. Add in the ground almonds and salt, mix and press it altogether.

Sweet Coconut Cashew Wonders! Vegan Gluten free & No bake!

19 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

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desiccated coconut, Gluten free, No bake, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

These are filling, sweet, a little fruity and they melt in your mouth. I added some exotic treats to enhance the nutrition factor. I’ve included the antioxidant packed acai powder and the wonderful ashwagandha powder which is said to have adaptogenic properties amongst other things. I added a couple of teaspoons of vanilla rice protein to make them more substantial. If all these goodies are not normally on your shopping list you can leave them out, they will still taste just good, just up your ground almonds a little!

Sweet Coconut Wonders!

  • Two dessertspoons of cashew nut butter- raw if you like
  • One dessertspoon of organic raw coconut oil
  • Three and a half dessertspoons of good quality maple syrup
  • The zest of half a lime
  • A cup of ground almonds
  • Two dessertspoons of desiccated coconut- for in them
  • And Three dessertspoons of desiccated coconut- for rolling them in
  • A little under an eighth of a teaspoon of himalayan pink salt or sea salt
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder or inside of one pod
  • A quarter teaspoon of ashwagandha powder
  • Half a teaspoon of acai powder
  • Two teaspoons of vanilla rice protein

Mash your cashew nut butter, coconut oil and lime zest together make sure they are well combined- no lumpy coconut oil bits! Add in the maple syrup and mix again.

cashew coconut lime

cashew coconut lime

Mix all your dry ingredients- except the three spoons of coconut that you will be rolling them in! Add the dry to the wet, begin by mixing with a spoon. Once it is a bread crumb texture get in there with your hands. Press the mix together until it forms a ball.

dry stuff!

dry stuff!

Get a plate and put your three spoons of desiccated coconut on it. By the teaspoonful roll the mixture into little balls and roll them in the coconut. That is all you have to do. Fast and simple to make!

Coconut sweet making!

Coconut sweet making line!

Hope you like them. Xs Aissa

Easy peasy lemon squeezy- Buckwheat Pancakes- Vegan & Gluten Free

17 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Savoury, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

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Gluten free, Savoury, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

It is Pancake Tuesday- let the crepe craziness commence! Oddly in my family we actually only ended up eating pancakes once a year! As a grown up I may even partake bi-annually! OooOOo. Having concocted this simple recipe I may do so more often. I made these a couple of weeks ago with the idea of keeping them as wraps- but I just ate them all with tons of maple syrup and lemon instead!!!

Easy Peasy Buckwheat Pancakes!

  • One tablespoon of ground flaxseed
  • Three tablespoons of water
  • One cup of buckwheat flour
  • A eighth teaspoon of sea salt or pink Himalayan salt
  • Two teaspoons of sieved arrowroot powder
  • Half a teaspoon of baking powder-sieved
  • A cup and a quarter of unsweetened almond milk- have some spare incase the batter thickens too much
  • Organic coconut oil for frying

Topping Suggestions

  • Organic banana with peanut butter
  • Maple syrup
  • Vanilla powder
  • Cinnamon
  • Tahini
  • Freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • Vegan ice-cream…yum!
  • Fresh berries and coconut yogurt
  • Melted vegan chocolate on that vegan ice-cream!!!
  • Go crazy with savoury have hummus and salad-y bits!
  • Treat it like a tortilla and fill with a bean chilli sauce!

Method!

Mix your tablespoon of ground flax/ linseed with the three spoons of water. Leave to one side to thicken. This is called a flax egg- as it replaces an egg gelling capacity in a recipe.

Mix your dry stuff- I always sieve my arrowroot and baking powder incase of lumps.

Add your “flax egg” to your almond milk and give a stir.

Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients, pour in the almond milk flax mix and gently whisk it all together.

Put some coconut oil in your pan, set to a medium high heat. I actually did mine in a wok. Let it melt so it coats the pan. Pour in a ladle full of your pancake batter, swirl the pan a little so it is evenly spread. Leave it alone for a minute or two so it cooks. Peep under a corner to see if it browning, only then attempt The Flipping!!

Buckwheat pancake - the first flip!

Buckwheat pancake – the first flip!

They cook quite fast as they are not thick- like a pancake crepe hybrid!

Tasty enough to have with just maple syrup!! Num num num

Tasty enough to have with just maple syrup!! Num num num

Hope you have a happy crepe day! Xs Aissa

No Bake Salted Chocolate Banana Loaf. Vegan & Gluten Free

30 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Aissa in Chocolate, Gluten Free, No bake/ Raw, Sweets, Tart, Vegan

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cacao, Cacao Butter, Chocolate, Gluten free, No bake, Sweets, Tart, Vegan

Raw Chocolate, banana, walnut and coconut make such a sweet melody of flavours. Do not be afraid of the amount of salt, it really is key to the recipe. As with a lot of raw recipes it takes a little planning but then it is quite simple to bring it all together. You need to soak the cashews and apricots over night so that they will blend easily. I was lazy almost every evening so I actually did this over three days!

I really want to start mastering the art of stevia use. When I first got into vegan baking stevia was not available in Ireland, due to a very weird ban! I actually bought it Berlin on a college trip! It was a disaster, I used far too much. I learnt my lesson so feel safe to trust the amounts I have used here.

You will need a blender- hand-held will do. A loaf tin, I used silicon, if using an actual tin one make sure to line it with paper so it is easy to take out.

No Bake Salted Chocolate Banana Loaf

Fudgey Apricot Almond Layer

  • Seven Un-sulphered Apricots soaked over night (use to less for a dryer texture)
  • Zest of a unwaxed orange
  • Two dessert spoons of tahini raw if preferred
  • Half a dessertspoonful of organic coconut oil
  • Four or five drops of a liquid stevia
  • One and a third cups of organic ground almonds, grind yourself for a raw version
  • One and a half dessert spoons of raw cacao powder
  • An eight of a teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt or sea salt

Method:  You will need to get the blender out at this point. I have an immersion hand-held blender and it does okay but if you have a jug better it will come together even better.

soaked apricots

soaked apricots

Smush your tahini, coconut oil, stevia and orange zest together. Chop your soaked apricots and add to the tahini mix. Now blend them a bit. In another bowl put your dry ingredients together i.e. ground almonds, salt and cacao. Add half to your wet mix and blend again. Add the other half. It is a bit dry for my blender at this point so I mix the second half through. Now press into your lined or silicon loaf tin and pop into the fridge.

Banana Cashew Coconut Layer

  • Half a cup of chopped cashews soaked over night. (make sure they are covered by the water as they will swell )
  • Two ripe bananas very well mashed
  • Two drops of stevia
  • One dessertspoonful of pure maple syrup
  • A teaspoon of vanilla powder/ two pods/ tsp of vanilla bean paste*
  • A third of a cup of desiccated coconut, roughly ground raw flakes for a raw version
  • Keep a rounded dessertspoonful of the coconut back for sprinkling

Method: Mash mash mash your bananas, add the vanilla, stevia, maple syrup  and mash again! Now add the cashews. Using your blender and blend! Spread this on top of the fudgey layer. Cover and pop back into the fridge.

Pre the chocolate layer

Pre the walnut layer

Toasted Walnuts and Raw Chocolate Salted Layer

  • Eighteen walnuts chopped (allowing two for tasting to see if toasted)
  • A quarter teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt or good sea salt
  • ————————————————————–
  • A third of a cup of cacao paste chopped
  • Just under a third of a cup of cacao butter chopped
  • One and a half spoons of organic coconut oil
  • Five dessert spoons of rice syrup
  • Two dessert spoons of maple syrup
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ one pod/ paste
  • An eight of a teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt of good sea salt

Method: You will need two saucepans. Pick one to put hot water so you can melt your chocolate over it in a perspex bowl. Put it on a medium heat so the water simmer. Insure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl or it will be too hot. Put your cacao paste, butter and coconut oil into melt.

Avec toasted walnuts

Avec toasted walnuts

When your cacao-y mix is melted add the syrups and mix through. Add in the vanilla and salt next. Take off the heat. Leaving it off the heat for a bit before warming it up again helps the cacao butter crystals align and makes for a better chocolate. They say ten minutes but it was more like six or seven when I did it this time.

melty cacao-ness

Meanwhile put another saucepan on a medium high heat and start toasting your walnuts with the salt. They are done when they change colour a little, they inside become a little more yellow. Be careful not to overdo them, hence the tasting!

I picked my salty walnuts out and sprinkled them over the banana layer. I wanted some of the salt but not all, which is why I didn’t just pour them over it.

Put your chocolate back on the hit and give it a stir. It will become lovely and shiny after a minute or two. Using an oven glove or towel grab your bowl and pour the chocolate over the walnut layer.

hmmm yum

hmmm yum

 

Leave for a few seconds. Bang it flat on the table/ counter once or twice to leave air bubbles out. Now put in the fridge to set. I left mine for an hour and a half, but I imagine it would be ready after an hour. I think that after twenty minutes it would be worth taking it out and scoring the top where you plan to cut slices. I will do this next time to make it easier to cut.

close up

close up

It is fudgey, gooey, crunchy ,sweet and salty taste experience. I had mine with Irish salt caramel vegan ice- cream. Sooo good. It is super filling with all the almonds and walnuts so a little goes a long way!

Salted Chocolate banana Loaf

Salted Chocolate banana Loaf

I recommend storing it in the fridge so the banana gooey layer does not melt, though it is cold enough here enough that it would be fine! e.g. see below…

Yesterday's snow

Yesterday’s snow

O and this…

It's an Organic Lime Fish!

It’s an Organic Lime Fish!

Anyhooooow let me know if you try it out! Xs Aissa

 

 

 

Functional Sweet Treats with reishi!

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Aissa in Chocolate, Gluten Free, Natural Health, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

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Gluten free, medicinal mushrooms, Natural Health, No bake, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

Functional Sweet Treats

Functional Sweet Treats

These are packed with good stuff! They taste pretty amazing too, if I don’t say so myself. Tomorrow I am helping to give a demonstration to nutrition students, it is on how to use medicinal mushrooms ( I did this morning, it went well 🙂 ). I am bringing along sweet goodies made with reishi mushroom powder. Reishi has been used for thousands of years. It is one of if not the first medicinal food to be written about, in China roughly 2,000 years ago!Paul Stamets is a good name to look up if you want know more about these natural powerhouses, his Ted talks are a good intro.

Savoury is generally they way we go when it comes to mushrooms but why not with cacao? Or blueberries? Think of the antioxidant levels! Picture the immune boosting! Discover their adaptogenic properties!! Imagine the tastiness!

Here we go Functional Sweet Treats

    • Two dessertspoons of goji berries. Soaked over night in just enough water to cover them. I used water kefir.*
    • Half a ripe avocado- should a bit of give to it when pressed and be going a dark sap green colour.
    • Two big dessertspoons of blueberries
    • A flat dessertspoon of organic coconut oil
    • Two generous dessertspoons of raw dark agave/ date syrup / maple syrup. Whichever you prefer.
    • A generous cup plus two dessertspoons of ground almonds
    • Two generous teaspoons of raw cacao powder
    • A sachet of reishi powder which includes mint, licorice, star anise and stevia. Great for those adrenals. *
    • Optional: Half a teaspoon of pre-gelatised maca powder
    • A half teaspoon of vanilla powder or the scraped inside of one vanilla bean.
    • A quarter of a teaspoon of good quality sea salt or himalayian pink salt.
    • A third of a cup of organic desiccated/shredded coconut. For sprinkling on top or rolling in.

*This is about double the goji needed. I do more incase some stay a bit hard and eat the left overs. Yum.

*If you are using reishi capsules make sure there are not tons bulking agents, these could change the flavour. One capsules may do, go by taste.

Grab your soaked goji berries. It really is up to you what you would prefer. I don’t want goji lumps on my cacao reishi fantasticalness so I cut or shred my softened gogis. If you like big hits of the gogi then just chop them in two. Put them to one side for use as a topping later.

Mash your avocado and coconut oil together. Add your one dessertspoon of the blueberries and mash again. Should be a creamy paste.

Add the liquid sweetener and Mash MASH mash… again. Add the other spoon of blueberries and mix through. I press this less, as I like having more whole pieces of blueberries too.

Colourful even in the orange light of my kitchen diner.

Colourful even in the orange light of my kitchen-diner.

In another bowl combine all the dry ingredients (except for the coconut, that is for on top). Make sure there are no lumps of ground almonds or cacao. Sprinkle the salt in so it is evenly dispersed.

Dry goodies

Dry goodies

Add the dry things to the omega rich, mct containing, antioxidant abundant….stuff. Mix, stir, combine and merge the ingredients. Pressing the mixture to make sure the fats are taken up well.

Here is the one I used

Here is the one I used

My preferred Option A: You can roll them into teaspoon size balls. Prepare a plate with your gojis and one with coconut. Roll the balls in goji and then roll them in the coconut. Pop them on a dish and stick them in the fridge to set. They need to live in the fridge (and die in your tummy) as they will go squidgy when left unchilled.

Option B: Get a 7.5 inch cake tin/ tart dish and spread the mix a one centimetre deep. Ah the mixed measurements! That is 20cm cake tin and a quarter inch thick! 😉 You can the sprinkle and press the goji and coconut on top. Pop in the fridge for fifteen minutes. Take out and cut into one inch (2.5cm) squares. Put in the freezer to set. It is happier in there all the time really. It gets shy and melty at room temperature.

Hope you like these!Xs Aissa

P.S. There is a wealth of info on line but here are a few of links about reishi!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stamets/reishi-mushrooms_b_2200808.html

http://www.alive.com/articles/view/17705/reishi_mushroom

And for a bit more of the nitty gritty science bit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92757/

Fluffy Red Velvet Aduki Truffles

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Aissa in Chocolate, Gluten Free, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Gluten free, No bake, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

These are fluffy with a gentle sweetness; as a result they are easy to eat. Don’t be deceived by their soft melty-ness they are super filling. The aduki beans and almonds mean one are two are more than enough at a time. I store them in the fridge or freezer to keep them firm.

You will need a cup for measuring, a plate, a bowl and some sort of blender. I use a hand held one which works fine.

Fluffly Aduki Cocoa truffles or Red velvet Aduki Truffles?

Fluffly Aduki Cocoa truffles or Red velvet Aduki Truffles?

Fluffy Red Velvet Aduki Truffles 

    • Nine unsulphered dried apricots
    • Optional: A spoon of dried mulberries

Soak these in a some water for at least an hour and then chop them.

    • A generous mug of cooked aduki beans roughly 240g. If you used canned ones make sure they are well drained.
    • Two dessertspoons of date syrup. If you are more used to normal sweets you may want to add a spoon of agave/maple syrup too!
Adukis and syrup

Adukis and syrup

Mash these together with a fork, you will be blending it so don’t worry about squashing every bean.

Dry Stuff

    • Half a cup of ground almonds
    • A quarter cup of cocoa or raw cacao
    • A dessertspoon of raw carob
    • A teaspoon of vanilla powder/ scraped insides of two vanilla pods*
    • A pinch of salt about a quarter of a teaspoon
    • Optional: Half a teaspoon of maca powder
    • Optional lovely extra: Orange zest

*If you want to use vanilla essence don’t! Vanilla bean paste in sugar would be fine but alcohol based extracts aren’t so good in raw sweets.
Mix the dry ingredients together, pressing out any lumps.

    • Two thirds of a cup of desiccated (shredded) coconut
    • Twenty four organic almonds, finely chopped

Put these on a dinner plate. You will be rolling the mixture in them.

almonds etc

Put your chopped fruit into the adukis. Give things a mix. Stir in your dry ingredients.

Grab your hand blender and start blending! Use a low setting at first, it is better for your blender. The ingredients will get quite fluffy and a pinky chocolate colour. Should have called them Red Velvet Aduki Truffles 🙂 You know I will, they were called fluffy aduki cocoa truffles.

Rinse your hands in cold water. If your hands are too warm handling the concoction you may find it all melting to goo. By the dessertspoonful gently roll the aduki truffles into the nuts and or the coconut. It was a warm day here and I found everything going a bit squashy. So work quick if you are having good weather!

Put them in the fridge or freezer to set for half an hour. I store mine in the fridge as they are lovely cold and it keeps them firm. I am a messy chef so while they are setting I try and get the mix off my hands, the cupboards and every surface. Works up the appetite anyway!

Xs Aissa

 

 

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