Tag Archives: sweets

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! 🙂

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 gluten free, dairy free chili chocolates

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The Easter bunny was a bit late getting to my house this weekend but thankfully he did finally make it .. and look what he brought!

These are super easy and quick.

50g cacao butter

40g cacao  powder

1 – 2 tbsp sweet freedom/ Agave (to taste)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

Melt the cacao butter and then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a silicone chocolate mould and leave in the fridge to set. For the eggs you need to do each half separately then use a bit of melted mixture to glue the set halves together. These chocs don’t do well at warm temperatures so store them in the fridge until ready to eat!

Raw chocolate truffles! :)

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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

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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!