Raw Chocolate Nut Clusters

Category: Dessert

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Cardamom Pear and Cranberry Crisp

This crisp is a next level crisp. It’s your plain old apple crisp taken to the next level.

Sweet and tart, with the varied textures of rolled oats, tender pears, and juicy cranberries.

The original recipe called for lots of sugar and some flour too. I was genuinely too lazy to get out my flour – plus I couldn’t really imagine how it would elevate the crisp – so I left it out, and it was still damn good.

Like, crazy good.

Also, half the sugar (I used coconut sugar) and 1 drop of stevia will make this dessert a significantly healthier treat than your average indulgence (or should I say my average indulgence).

This is guilt-free dessert, people!

And can I just add that I really think all food should be guilt-free?! Eat as many veggies as you can, try out some new recipes, be open and learn what you can about how to take care of your health, and just do the best you can. Guilt has no place around our food, and certainly not with regards to dessert!

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CARDAMOM PEAR AND CRANBERRY CRISP – GLUTEN FREE AND VEGAN
serves 6-8 (though I could probably eat the whole thing by myself)

4 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup coconut sugar (original recipe calls for 3/4 cup, you could use even less)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup rolled oats
generous pinch of salt
3 pounds pears, cored and sliced (I used 6 pears)
1 teaspoon cardamom

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix the oil, sugar, and cardamom together in a bowl until smooth.

Stir in the nuts, lemon juice, and oats, until combined and crumbly.

Put the pears in an 8 or 9 inch baking dish and distribute the topping evenly over top.

Bake until the pears are tender, the filling is bubbly, and the topping is browning – about 40-50 minutes.

Enjoy!

*This post is part of The Food Matters Project – see the rest of the group’s takes on the recipe here, and the original recipe here.*

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Vegan Coconut Mango Flan

This is part flan, part panna cotta, part custard. Plus, it’s just really good. Instead of making the caramel for the top of the flan, I poured a little coconut milk over top, sprinkled some coconut sugar, and topped it off with some toasted coconut shreds.

I’m a creamy dessert lover. Creme caramel? Tapioca pudding? Yes and Yes. The trouble is, I often end up with a major stomach ache after consuming dairy… and I’m giving you the censored version.

So, I’ll jump at any chance to try out a non-dairy creamy dessert, and this flan didn’t disappoint.

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The recipe called for tofu, which I’m not the hugest fan of, so I wracked my brain thinking of other things that might be a good substitute and I landed on mango puree (mostly because I picked up a couple mangoes on sale the other day). I’m sure any fruit puree would work well in this recipe, just strain the seeds first if there are any. Strawberry Coconut custard is next on my list. Mmm.

Thanks to Lan for her choice this week as the host of The Food Matters Project. See what the others came up with here and see the original recipe for Coconut Flan (with tofu) at Lan’s blog.

VEGAN COCONUT MANGO FLAN
makes 4 3.5 inch tart shells

1 can (14 oz) full-fat coconut milk
1 cup mango puree (2 ataulfo mangoes)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp agar agar flakes

Prepare the mango puree by blending the flesh of the mangoes with 1 tbsp of water (how to cut a mango). It should be thick, creamy, and smooth.

Now combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Let the mixture cool a bit and blend it. Here you can taste it to see if you’d like it sweeter (I always find desserts too sweet, so you might like yours sweeter than I do) and if so, add some more maple syrup or coconut sugar.

Before it cools too much, pour it into your tart pans or ramekins and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Top with a sprinkle of toasted coconut and coconut sugar. Yum!

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Grain-Free Chocolate Walnut-Date Tart

This week for The Food Matters Project, Margarita chose Walnut Biscotti. Now, I’ve never made biscotti… and I’ve never been really drawn to it, I’m admittedly a chewy cookie kinda gal.

But the walnut part got me thinking.

And I’d seen this amazing chocolately-nutty-datey tart floating around in the internet recently, it just seemed like the right thing to do. And let me tell you… it was!

I made a grain-free almond crust, pureed the dates and walnuts together for the filling, and topped it off with a raw chocolate ganache.

This is a gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free, dairy free, vegan, (mostly) raw dessert that is actually delicious. I know, it’s wild.

It was really sweet. I could only eat half the tart, but don’t worry, I saved the other half for later.

And don’t forget to check out the biscotti successes over at The Food Matters Project. I may just be swayed over to the biscotti side yet, especially after all the great things the group had to say about the recipe… and biscotti can be dipped in chocolate, so that’s a huge +1 in my books.

RAW CHOCOLATE WALNUT-DATE TARTS
Adapted from the beautiful blog Gourmande in the Kitchen
makes 5 3.5 inch tarts (or 1 9 inch tart – I made 4 of the 3.5 inch ones and had some leftover that I put in a small dish)

For the Crust – combine the following in food processor until it is finely ground and crumbly, press into tart shells (with removable bottoms)
2 cups almonds
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp maple syrup (not technically raw, you can use honey but it’s not vegan)
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
a few drops water if needed to help it come together

For the Walnut-Date Filling – combine in food processor until creamy, then stir in walnuts and scoop into tart shells
8 Medjool dates (or 10 of the dried, baking dates) soaked in 1/3 cup warm water
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (stir in after processing)

For the Chocolate Ganache Topping – stir together and spoon onto tarts
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 drop stevia (or 2 more tbsp maple syrup)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw cacao powder

Top tarts with chopped walnuts (1/4 cup) and chill in fridge to set for 30 mins before digging in.

*note* This is a very rich dessert, and while it doesn’t contain any refined sugar, wheat flour, butter, and milk products, it is by no means a freebie treat. It’s got lots of coconut oil, nuts, and maple syrup, so that means it’s also got lots of calories. It’s still better than your average processed dessert, but it’s best enjoyed in moderation and with a great big smile on your face!

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Peppermint Coconut Sugar Cookies

These tasted like shortbread. Do you know what that means?

That means I at a lot of them.

I really love shortbread and its smooth, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth flavour and texture… but I don’t really eat it anymore, mostly because it’s typically loaded with sugar and butter – and if you buy it from the supermarket then who knows what else might be in the ingredients list. Binders and gums, high-fructose corn syrup and other corn derivatives, chemicals I can’t pronounce. The types of things I’d really rather not have in my cookies, thank you very much.

On top of that, I hadn’t figured out a way to make it without sugar and butter. I mean a way that tastes good, at least. So when these came out of the oven, I was very, very pleased.

I found them on Shauna’s site along with a post about how to make your own gluten-free all-purpose flour. I tolerate wheat alright, but I personally feel like it is a bit of a franken-crop (having been hybridized and changed so much from it’s original self), so I do my best to choose alternatives. Here are some great references for going wheat-free or just starting to explore consuming less wheat (and soy and corn).

And of course, there is the added bonus that the recipe calls for coconut oil as the fat and coconut sugar to sweeten – one of my favourite sugar substitutes as of late.

But back to the cookies.

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Flourless Almond Ginger Molasses Cookies – Gluten-Free & Vegan

Alright. I did it. I made something gluten-free and vegan and it worked.

It worked!

Maybe it’s because it doesn’t have any flour, but that doesn’t matter. It worked. These are good cookies. Tasty cookies, crisp on the outside chewy on the inside cookies, cookies that make me feel sneaky for having a sweet treat… until I remember that they are about as healthy as a tasty cookie can get.

The healthier a cookie gets, the less tasty it tends to be. I’ve noticed this.

I’ve had lots of people ask me for the recipe since I made these and offered tasters to friends in return for their feedback. That is a good sign. These are not your buttery, gluteny, sugary ginger molasses cookies. Nope. But even so, people still want the recipe. Try them out for yourself, you won’t be disappointed. It’s as guilt-free as a cookie can get!

**RAW NOTE** – these can totally be made into RAW cookies. Just skip the oven and dehydrate the final product for 8 hours for a chewy cookie, longer for a little more crunch to the outside. I will absolutely be doing this next time!

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Nectarine Upside Down Polenta Tart

This was supposed to be a cake. I was supposed to use sugar and all purpose flour.

That didn’t happen.

This week for the Food Matters Project, Jen chose an Apricot Polenta Cake (You can see everyone’s creations here and the original recipe here).

I went in with the thought that I was going to make this recipe straight from the book, but make it gluten-free. And vegan. I had some of my gluten-free flour mix that I made for the tomato tart leftover in the fridge, I’d swap out the eggs for some flaxmeal or something, and I would switch out the refined sugar for coconut sugar.

HA! This is apparently how my brain works. “Oh, I’ll follow the recipe to a T, I’ll just change this and this and this…”

Well, it turns out I had used up the GF all-purpose flour in a cornmeal pancake recipe, but I did have some sprouted spelt flour kicking around. Okay, so that turned my ‘cake’ into non gluten-free. That’s fine. But once I had prepared the polenta and mixed everything but the flax eggs in… I panicked. This didn’t look anything like any cake batter I’d ever seen before. It was lumpy and wet, really wet.

I crumbled under the pressure and cracked two eggs into it. Then I added some more spelt flour and tossed it in the oven. Away with you, cake thing. Hopefully you magically bake into something edible.

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Raspberry Peach Sorbet – Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free

This week’s Food Matters Project recipe was a Raspberry Cabernet Sorbet. I had some fresh, local fruit from the market and I thought it would be a nice treat to add peaches to the raspberry sorbet. I opted for a raw version, as I just couldn’t bear to cook that delicate, fresh fruit, and I’m glad I did because it turned out great!

Good luck not eating most of it straight out of the ice cream maker.

Check out the original recipe here and see the rest of the fantastic creations from the Food Matters Project here!

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Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream (Dairy and Refined Sugar Free)

A few years back, I bought a bread maker. I was insistent that I would use it to assist in the kneading/rising process of many artisan loaves. Our kitchen would overflow with a bounty of freshly baked bread.

I used the thing once. ONCE!

For shame.

So when I told Reid I wanted an ice cream maker, he was skeptical. And for good reason. I could see where he was coming from, wondering if we were really going to use another appliance, but he really enjoys his ice cream so he was pretty easy to convince. Especially after taking a look at the ingredients on his tub of store-bought stuff. Yuck. I want control over what is in my food – no binders, gums, processed sweeteners, or preservatives in my treats, please!

I had a major craving for strawberry ice cream, and this totally hit the spot. I wanted it really strawberry-flavoured… less creamy, more sorbet-y. Does that make sense? You can play with the ratios of coconut milk to fruit for a more creamy ice cream-style dessert.



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Sugar Free Rhubarb Applesauce

Here in the Pacific Northwest, when spring arrives, rhubarb is one of the first things you see. It’s an exciting time. This bright, tart, detoxifying vegetable signals for me that warmer weather is on the way.

I can never resist the thick, bright red stalks and they end up in sauces and jams and as spreads of all sorts. This years first crop ended up paired with apples for a delightfully sweet and tart rhubarb applesauce.

It was a welcome addition dolloped generously on top of porridge in the mornings, added to homemade granola with yogurt, enjoyed (by one of us) on top of ice cream, and savoured standalone as a guilt-free dessert.

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choco nut clusters

Raw Chocolate Nut Clusters

Reid likes to bring home the occasional junk food. He usually has to hide it from me, but last night he came right out and sat next to me while eating his chocolate bar. I grabbed for it to check the ingredients… milk, milk products, milk milk milk, sugar, sugar hiding behind another name, safflower oil, blah blah blah.

Great.

Now I have someone eating chocolate right in front of me, the day after I’ve finished my cleanse, and I can’t eat it. I mean, I guess I could, but that might defeat the purpose of doing a cleanse in the first place… on top of the fact that milk makes me physically ill.

I flew into the kitchen in a frenzy. I dug out the raw cacao and rigged up a makeshift double boiler (a pot with a small plate inside and a bowl on top of the plate, the pot filled with water up to the middle of the bowl).

I spent the next 10 minutes making the most deliciously satisfying dark chocolatey treats that you ever did taste. Way better than some junky chocolate bar – real whole food chocolate treats! I’ve been eating them 2 at a time because one is never enough.

Raw cacao powder has loads of antioxidants and because it’s raw, you get all the goodness of active enzymes. If you can’t find raw cacao (really try though, it’s so good!) then regular cocoa powder will do. Cacao butter can be hard to find too, and it’s pricey, but it lends such a silky smoothness to the chocolate and stays more firm at room temp compared to coconut oil. You can still replace all the cacao butter with coconut oil and have a supremely delicious treat. Don’t fret, it will all work out… we’re making chocolate after all!

Decadent, indulgent, I-ate-one-at-breakfast-and-don’t-feel-bad-about-it chocolate. Bring it on.

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