Chunky Cherry Chocolate Mini Loaves


This is another one of Isa’s recipes – it sounded so good I just had to try it and it definitely doesn’t disappoint! You don’t have to use mini-loaf tins for this, you could just use muffin tins but loaves taste better for some reason! You can get the tins here.

I won’t waste anymore time talking about these – just get stuck in! 🙂

1/2 cup Apple puree

1/4 cup Almond butter

1/3 cup Cocoa powder

1/3 cup Almond milk/soya milk/any non-dairy milk

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp boiling water

3/4 cup Coconut palm sugar/ unrefined raw sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tsp Chocolate extract (if you don’t have this then use another tsp vanilla extract)

1/8 tsp Almond extract

1 1/2 cups Gluten-free flour mix (or spelt flour if you’re not worried about gluten-free)

3/4 tsp Bicarbonate soda

3/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt

4 oz Chocolate chopped into chunks (use vegan chocolate if you want to keep this dairy free – my favourite vegan recommends green and black’s)

1 cup chopped Sweet cherries

Preheat oven to 175 C and boil the kettle (no, not for tea – though that wouldn’t hurt!).

Put the apple, almond butter, milk and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Add 1/3 cup boiling water and mix quickly with a fork to make a thick chocolate sauce. Add the sugar and extracts and mix well. Sieve half the flour, bicarbonate soda and salt into the mix and mix gently. Add 1 tbsp boiling water and mix again. Add the rest of the flour mixture and another tbsp boiling water and stir until smooth. Go gently – don’t over mix. Finally add the chocolate chunks and cherries and fold in to the mixture.

Pour into the tins (this recipe will give approx 8 – 9 tins) and put in the oven for 25 – 30 mins.

Fresh out the oven

Check they’re done by sticking a skewer in the centre, if it comes out clean they’re done (bear in mind you may hit a cherry or chocolate when you do this so you’re looking for a lack of cake dough on the skewer – chocolate or cherry juice is fine!). Allow to cool in the tins for 10 mins then take out of the tins and cool on a wire rack. They really need to be eaten warm so the chocolate is all melty! 🙂 Yum Yum Yum! 🙂

 

Munchie buster! Raw Cocoa-orange balls!


These are a perfect snack if you want something chocolatey but a little more filling. You can use orange zest or natural orange flavouring – whichever (or both if you like it really orangey). You can also leave out the orange altogether and just have them plain chocolate. They are around 158 cals per ball, but it very much depends how large you make them of course! This recipe makes approx ten.

IMG_7965

You will need:

175g cashews

200g Medjool dates, pitted

20g rasins

30g cocoa powder (plus a little extra for rolling)

Zest of 1 orange or natural orange flavouring 

Pop the cashews food processor and pulse until they’re in small pieces.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the processor and pulse until you have a sticky dough. 

It’s very sticky at the moment so scoop it out into some cling film and pop in the freezer for around 20 mins. 

Once it’s a little firmer, remove and roll into small balls. Roll the balls in cocoa powder and then store in the fridge in an airtight container. 

Enjoy 🙂

xx

Raw chocolate truffles! :)


As it’s valentine’s day I just had to give this recipe for raw chocolate truffles a try. I modified the recipe a bit – I subsituted the honey in the original recipe with Agave and because they tasted a bit sweet to me I added in a tablespoon of carob powder too. They’re not half bad for a healthy truffle and very easy to make!

a perfect post dinner treat

This will make loads! I cut the ingredients down by a third and it made 10 decent sized truffles, but I’ve put the original amounts here so you can decide for yourselves how many to make! 🙂

3/4 cup Raw Cacao Powder

2 cups of Ground Almonds

1/2 cup Agave Syrup

3 tbsp Carob Powder

1 tbsp Coconut oil

Dessicated coconut for rolling

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. If the coconut oil is too solid you may need to soften it first in the microwave. Once combined roll into truffles and roll in dessicated coconut. They can be eaten immediately but are best if chilled first – either in the freezer or fridge for as long as you can wait! 🙂

Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding Truffles


As indulgent as any bought truffle and full of goodness!

This is another of my recipes featured on Pure Form Fitness Kitchen. It’s a modified version of a fab chocolate pudding from there and it works really well for making individual little truffles. I’m a chocolate monster so I need my chocolates and these totally hit the spot. You can get creative and add whatever flavours and fillings you like 🙂

 

1oz Cocoa butter

3 tbsp Cocoa powder

2 tbsp Pure protein powder (vanilla)

½ Avocado

Agave syrup to taste

A few drops of Valencian orange extract, peppermint extract or cinnamon, cayenne pepper etc

Chopped roasted hazelnuts, dried cherries, dried apricots, dessicate coconut, roasted almonds, etc (anything you want to put in them!)

Melt the cocoa butter gently on the hob or in the microwave. Mix the cocoa in until well combined. Add the avocado and blend until smooth (a wand blender works best). Mix in the protein powder and agave to taste. A your flavours and  nuts or dried fruit to taste. Combinations that work well are – hazelnut and dried cherry (rolled in chopped hazelnuts), cranberry and orange extra (rolled in dessicated coconut), roasted almonds rolled in cinnamon sugar, cayenne pepper (rolled in cocoa powder), peppermint extract, or just plain!  When smooth roll into small balls and roll in a coating if you want – it will seem very soft at this point but as the cacao butter cools they will firm. Leave in the fridge to cool, then enjoy!