Category Archives: treats

Chocolate hazelnut Biscotti – Dairy Free, Gluten Free and yet more chocolate!

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As the end of chocolate week draws near I thought I’d finish with this little recipe which is another I’ve had for a while and not got round to posting. These do require double baking but it’s less of a faff than you think – honest! and it’s very much worth it!  I guarantee you won’t be able to tell these apart from “normal” (gluten filled, dairy filled) chocolate biscotti and they’re perfect with a cup of coffee over the weekend 🙂

I hope you enjoy it and do let me know if you try out this recipe and what you think of it (that goes for all my recipes!).

1/3 cup Almond milk
2 tbsp Ground linseed
3/4 cup and 2 tbsp Raw unrefined coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup Almond or Hazelnut oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Almond extract
1 and 1/4 cups Spelt flour (wholewheat or white) or Gluten free flour blend
1/2 cup Quinoa flour (if you don’t have this add more spelt flour)
1/3 cup Raw cocoa Powder
2 tbsp Arrowroot powder or Cornflour (also known as cornstarch in the US)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt
1 cup Whole, Raw Hazelnuts (these can be toasted first if you want really crunchy nuts!)

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and grease a large baking tray very well.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and ground linseed for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar, oil and extracts and stir until smooth. Sieve in the flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot or cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Stir to mix and just as the dough starts to come together, knead in hazelnuts. Knead very briefly to form a stiff dough.

Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and form it into a rectangle (approx 12 inches long and 3 – 4 inches wide). Push in the nuts if they pop out! Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. It will rise and get a bit puffy and the top may start to crackle. Keep an eye on it from 20 minutes onwards as it can start to burn. Obviously remove if it starts to burn (this can be hard to see because of the chocolate colour so give it a good sniff if in doubt!) 🙂

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes until very firm.

Turn up the oven to 375F/190C. Carefully transfer the baked dough to chopping board and using a serrated knife, slice 1/2 inch slices. Push the knife down in one go, don’t use a sawing action as you will find the biscotti crumble. They are extremely delicate at this stage so you need to be gentle. I ended up with a fair bit of crumbling and breakage but that’s not the end of the world, it just meant I had lots of bits to taste! 🙂

Place the slices on the baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes until brown and crispy. Don’t be tempted to over bake – they will still seem quite soft when you remove them from the oven but they will crisp up as they cool – I promise (Trust me, I’m a Dr 😉 ). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring the slices to a cooling rack. When completely cool, store in an air tight container and enjoy with a cup of your favourite coffee 🙂

Spicy chocolate chewy cookies – dairy free, gluten free goodness

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It’s grey and windy here in the UK at the moment (well it is where I live!) so it just makes me want to have lots of warming, spicy foods and we all know how well chilli and chocolate go together so I thought it was time I wheeled out this recipe. I actually made these ages ago but just never got the chance to post the recipe. It’s modified from the amazing Isa Chandra’s recipe

1/2 cup Almond oil

1 cup Raw unrefined coconut palm sugar

1/4 cup Maple syrup

3 tbsp Almond or Soya milk

2 tsp Vanilla extract

1 and 2/3 cup Spelt or gluten free flour blend

1/2 Raw cacao powder

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt

For the topping:

1/3 cup Raw golden caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease and line a baking tray (or 2!).

Put the oil, sugar, maple syrup and milk in a bowl and mix together using a fork. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and sieve in to the wet ingredients. Mix until you have a dough. The dough will be quite moist and sticky.

Put the topping ingredients on a plate and mix together.

Take small, walnut sized, balls of the dough and pat into the topping sugar to make discs about 2 inches across. Make sure they are well covered in sugar. Put them on to the baking tray with the sugar facing up. Cook for 10 – 12 minutes until they are crackly on the top and have spread a little. Allow to cool on the baking tray for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy! 🙂

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Chocolate week! the healthy (healthier) way… :)

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It’s “Chocolate week” this week apparently! Hurrah I hear you cry! 🙂

So in order to celebrate one of my favourite things I wanted to share some chocolatey goodness with you all. Sadly my kitchen is still in a state of disarray (tile dramas!) so I haven’t been able to create anything new but it offers the perfect chance to go back to some old favourites. So here, just for you all, are a few of my favourite chocolate creations:

These are naughty, but not too naughty…. They’re best served hot so the chocolate oozes out of them…. hmmmmmm

Chunky Cherry Chocolate Loaves

This has to come a close second. It was originally featured on the fab Pure Form Fitness Kitchen blog and it’s the Ultimate Chocolate Dessert. The spelt chocolate brownies (which are also used for the valentine Brownie Love Bites) are, in my humble opinion, out of this world, especially with the sauce on it (which you can make thicker and as more of an icing if you choose….)

You can’t beat a bit of simplicity and these Raw Chilli Chocolates certainly fit the bill. They’re so easy and quick to make, full of antioxidants and simply divine!

Another recipe featured on Pure Form Fitness Kitchen, is my Chocolate Treat Bar. These are fab – full of goodness, full of chocolate but still healthy! These are my go to bar if I’ve had a big work out day or if I’m just having a chocolate craving! 100 times better than any pre-packaged cereal bar and you can use whatever seeds (or nuts) and dried fruit you like in them.

I’m going to leave it at that for now, before we all pass out from a chocolate induced high! But as it’s chocolate week ALL week I’m going to keep on posting a few more chocolatey delights as the week goes on so watch this space! 🙂

Chocolate Buckwheat Crispies – gluten and dairy free

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This will probably be my last ‘baking’ blog for a while as I’m now in Indonesia for 2 months working on my primate conservation project (to find out what I’m doing check out www.nancypriston.com). There may be some food posts but I definitely won’t be cake making! 🙂 I meant to post his before I left but ran out of time, so here goes!

I’ve been having a play with buckwheat lately! I haven’t had much success cooking it so was looking for other ways to use it. My friend Colette gave me a recipe for making buckwheat crunchies so I thought I’d use them in a chocolate-based snack recipe! I’m pleasantly surprised with the results! I’m still not too sure about the buckwheat but so far it’s the best I’ve come up with!

It’s fairly straightforward but first off you need to make your buckwheat crunchies. Purchase some raw buckwheat groats (grains/kernels/whatever they’re called!) from the local health food store. You need to soak these over night – use 3 times as much water as buckwheat. Rinse really well in the morning and drain. Then spread them out on greaseproof paper and either pop them in your dehydrator if you have one, or in the oven on low heat. They will need a couple of hours. When they’re done they will be crispy and crunchy.

You can eat these as they are (in fact I quite like them sprinkled on fruit and soya yoghurt for brekkie to give some crunch) but you can also use them to create these yummy chocolate treats!

I made two versions:

Chocolate topped crispie

1/2 cup Coconut butter (you need the proper butter, not the oil – you can get it here. Nb other brands call themselves butter but are actually the oil – you need one that uses the coconut flesh)

1/2 cup raw Cacao powder

2 cups Buckwheat crunchies

1/4 cup Cacao nibs

1/8 cup Chia seeds

squirt of Sweet freedom (adjust to taste)

For the topping:

equal quantities of cacao powder and coconut butter (to make enough to cover the crispies to whatever depth you want!)

squirt of sweet freedom (adjust to taste)

Gently melt the coconut butter in the microwave or in a pan until it is runny. Mix all the ingredients in together and stir well. Line a tin or tupperware box with greaseproof paper and push the mixture in to it to the desired thickness. Then in another bowl melt the coconut butter for the topping and mix with the cocoa powder and sweet freedom. Pour on to the top. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Almond Cherry Chocolate Crunchies

1 cup Buckwheat crunchies
1 cup raw Cacao powder
1 cup soaked Almonds (soak in water for as long as you gave time for – ideally overnight)
1/2 – 1 cup Coconut butter (not oil)
1/4 Sweet freedom (or less – to taste)
2 tbsp Pure protein powder (vanilla)
1/2 cup dried Cherries/cranberries/goji berries

Once you have the buckwheat crunches and soaked almonds ready it only takes a few minutes to make these. First blitz the almonds in a food processor – just a few pulses to chop them up a bit and place to one side. Then gently melt the coconut butter and add the cacao powder and sweet freedom. Mix to a paste and stir in the protein powder, buckwheat and almonds, finally gently stir in whatever fruit you are using. Line a tin or tupperware box with greaseproof paper and push the mixture in to it to the desired thickness. If you find the mixture isn’t holding together melt a little more coconut butter and pour over the top. Chill for 30 mins then slice and enjoy!

🙂

Honeybuns – delicious gluten free cakes

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Although I’m definitely a fan of making my own cakes sometimes it’s just not possible, so if you’re out and about and need a cake then I think I’ve found the perfect solution.

Honeybuns are a Dorset-based company that specialise in gluten-free (and some dairy-free) cakes, cookies, brownies and a whole range of other baked goods. I love this company – it’s what I aspire to become! The founder,  Emma Goss-Custard, started off cycling around town delivering her home-made cakes to local deli’s and cafés. Now it’s a thriving small-scale business, but still makes its cakes by hand using locally sourced ingredients where possible.

They very kindly sent me some samples to try so I thought I’d let you know what I thought of them.

I got to try:

Almond moon

Milk chocolate brownie

Snowy hills

Amondi

Sconeybun

Gosh, where to start! Think I’ll just make a cuppa…… 😉

Almond Moon

This is a polenta, cranberry and almond slice and oh my it’s good! As I’ve said before on here I am a massive fan of almond-based cakes so this was always going to be a winner with me! It’s lovely and moist with just the right amount of crunch in the base. The fruit is perfect and offsets the sweetness of the cake brilliantly. The texture is lovely too!

Milk Chocolate Brownie

This is possibly the best gluten-free, bought, brownie I’ve ever had. Too often they are overly sweet and too moist but this is just perfect. It’s dense but not too dense, moist but not too gooey and it tastes divine. It contains real coffee so there is a delicious hint of coffee flavour throughout which I love and naturally it goes brilliantly with a cup of the black stuff!

Snowy Hills

Wow, they just get better and better! This is a ginger and polenta shortbread with a lemon sponge topping and it is seriously good. The shortbread is lovely and crispy with  hint of ginger but it’s not overpowering. The sponge is fantastic – sweet, moist and just lemony enough! This is really really good!

Amondi

Another almond treat! This is like a macaroon but denser and moister and really very very nice indeed! It’s not light like an almond macaroon but I like that – you really feel like you’re getting plenty of cake for your money! It’s crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside just like it should be and it tastes fab! It’s also dairy free as well as gluten free.

Sconeybun

This is probably my least favourite of the 5 to be honest, but then it would be hard to follow all those wonderful flavours! The sconeybun is basically a cross between a bun and a scone and this one is dairy free as well as gluten free. It does what it says on the tin! It’s basically a dense, cakey bun. It’s nice but after the other 4 cakes I felt it was lacking flavour a bit, but then again I think toasted with some jam it would be just perfect! Plus if you’re looking for something  a little less sweet then this is definitely for you!

The best thing about all of these cakes is that you wouldn’t know they were gluten free (or dairy free) at all – they taste simply amazing and just like “normal” cakes.

So which is my favourite? hmmmm I’m not sure…it’s so hard to decide! I think if I had to choose it would probably be the Snowy Hills lemon cake or maybe the Almond Moon… or maybe the brownie …. oh I can’t decide – they’re all just too good!

Do check them out – they’re available at various cafe’s and shops but they also do an online mail order service too  – just take a look at their website 🙂

 

Pineapple Coconut Yoghurt Heaven

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Ok, I think I’ve found the perfect way to eat my Indonesian Inspired Pineapple Bites.. with this!

It’s divine! Creamy and delicious and totally dairy free! Only 193 kcals for a pot too!

It was so good I’d eaten half before I remembered to take a photo! 🙂

You can get the yoghurt at your local health food store (check here for more info)

 

 

Indonesian inspired pineapple bites

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I’m off back to Indonesia for 2 months soon so I thought I’d get in the mood with some Indonesian inspired flavour combinations! The pineapple- peanut butter-tamarind combo is a classic sweet/sour flavour explosion in Asia and I just love it!  I used a dehydrator for these but you can use your oven. I like them cooked or dehydrated for a long time so they go all chewy, but they are also delicious cooked for only 20 mins and served warm and juicy over yoghurt or booja booja ice cream… 🙂

 

300 g Fresh Pineapple (approx half a big pineapple)

4 tbsp Peanut butter (smooth works best)

2 tsp Tamarind paste

2 tbsp Almond oil (or other neutral oil)

Cut the pineapple in to thing rings and then slice into small pieces. In a separate bowl mix the other ingredients. Stir well until it forms a runny paste. You may need to add a little more oil if the paste is too thick. Pour over the pineapple and ensure all the pineapple is coated. Place on a baking tray in the oven or arrange on your dehydrator rack and dehydrate for 3 – 4 hours or until it’s as chewy as you want it. If you want juicy, warm pieces to put on top of ice cream then oven bake at 190 C for about 20 minutes. If you are dehydrating it in the oven just leave it in longer at a lower heat.

Once ready either put on yoghurt or ice cream, or if it’s the chewy stuff pop it in a pot and snack on it to your heart’s delight! 🙂

Fruit balls! (raw, dairy and gluten free :) )

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I’m back on the Pure Form Fitness Ultimate Fat Loss Programme so have cut out gluten, dairy and sweetners for the last 2 weeks (amongst other stuff!). It’s going great – I feel good and have lost body fat and kg already! You should definitely check it out 🙂 Whilst I’ve been on the programme I’ve been trying out a few healthy snack options and these two turned out pretty well so I thought I’d share!

 

Lime, apricot and pistachio balls

100g Pistachios

185g Dried apricots

1 tbsp freshly squeezed Lime juice

A few more pistachios and some dessicated coconut to roll them in

Finely chop the pistachios for rolling the balls in and mix with the coconut and place to one side. Put the apricots and lime juice in a processor and blend until it forms a smooth-ish paste. Add the nuts and pulse to combine. I like to leave the nuts so they’re not pulverised too much! Once mixed use damp hands to roll them into balls and then roll them in the pistachio-coconut mix. Can be eaten immediatley or place in the fridge to chill.

Cherry-almond fig balls

125g Almonds

125g Dried figs

40g dried Cherries

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tbsp freshly squeezed Orange juice

a few Almonds and some dessicated coconut to roll them in

Finely chop the almonds for rolling the balls in and mix with the coconut and place to one side. Put the 125g almonds and cinnamon in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Add the figs and orange juice and blitz again until the mixture forms a sticky dough. Add the cherries and pulse until mixed. Once mixed use damp hands to roll them into balls and then roll them in the almond-coconut mix. Can be eaten immediatley or place in the fridge to chill.

They shouldn’t need it but if you REALLY wanted to you could add a squirt of sweet freedom or agave to the mix.

Raw Fruit and Nut Protein Bars

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I’m currently doing the amazing 28 day Ultimate Fat loss Programme from Pure Form Fitness. It’s a fantastic eating programme with natural supplements and education and involves eliminating various allergens from your diet for the first 14 days. So as a result there’s been no baking this weekend but I was inspired by Gabby’s recipe at the veggienook and decided to make a programme friendly snack. It’s a combination of my raw cocoa-orange balls and Gabby’s recipe and it’s delish! I was sort of making it up as I went along so I’m sorry for the measurements but to be honest you can just adjust these as you like until you get the texture and taste you like – if you like more apricots throw some more in, if you are a nut fan up the nuts! simple! 🙂

handful of raw cashews

handful of raw almonds (normal or blanched – your choice)

5 – 8 dried dates

small handful of raisins

small handful of dried, unsweetened apricots (the nice juicy ones!)

A good handful of shelled hemp

I – 2 scoops of Pure Protein Powder (vanilla)

a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Pop all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until it forms a sticky dough/paste. Adjust the quantities if necessary – if it is too moist add some more nuts and shelled hemp, if too dry had a date or two, or an apricot. I tried to make this into bars – they’re a wee bit soft but they work ok! Line a tupperware box with clingfilm and then press the mixture in to it. Place in the fridge and then cut and eat whenever you need an extra protein boost, or just a nice yummy snack!

Lemon Chia seed cookies (dairy free, low gluten)

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I know I know – not ANOTHER lemon and chia seed recipe but I’m really loving this combo at the moment and having fun trying out some recipes with them 🙂

This cookie recipe is a departure from my normal suite of ingredients as I’m using some Soya yoghurt. I’ve seen it in recipes before but never used it so thought I’d have a go! It can be substituted for silken tofu if you can’t have soya though.

These need to be flattened out really thin before you bake them otherwise they end up cakey and not crispy (but if you like your cookies like that then go for it!)

1 1/4 cup Coconut palm sugar/ raw unrefined sugar
3/4 cup Olive oil
3/4 cup Soya yogurt (natural or lemon flavoured works best)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 1/2 Cups Spelt flour or gluten free flour blend
3/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt
3/4 tsp Bicarobonate of soda
Zest of 1 large Lemon (plus juice of half a lemon if desired)
1/3 cup Chia seeds

For decoration: Raw golden icing sugar and a few drops of lemon juice

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees.

Mix the oil and sugar together until well combined. Add the Soya yoghurt and vanilla extract and stir well. Sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well. Finally stir in the lemon zest and chia seeds, and the lemon juice if you like your biscuits lemony!

The batter will be quite sticky and not like a traditional biscuit dough but don’t worry. Drop small spoonfuls onto a greased baking tray. Using the back of a fork flatten these out until they are only a few mm thick (unless you like your cookies cakey in which case don’t!). Bake in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them, if they start to puff up then just flatten them a bit with a fork. Bake until they are golden brown. Remove and allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once cool you can ice them if you want to – just mix up the icing sugar with a few drops of lemon juice or water until you get a thick consistency then pipe over the biscuits 🙂