Cookies and Treats

Most of the recipes in this section are tweaked to be something to add to your health rather than take away from it.

No Sugar Nutmeg Ladu Fudge

I am so happy to be able to share this recipe with you. I am truly proud of it. : D

So let’s talk. About the fudge.

It has no sugar, contains all healthy nutritious ingredients, is gluten free and could be vegan if you want it to be.

Also, you do not have to heat any fats and sugars together. All you gotta do is blend all ingredients place your “fudge” in the fridge.

Now bewares all you fudge fanatics out there – this is not actual fudge. It’s more similar to a stiff cookie dough or Ladu. Personally I think it is better than fudge – but if you are a fudge fanatic and yearning for some traditional fudge, then don’t make this. Make fudge. And then try this and tell me what you think. : ) Or pass the recipe along to a health head.

Having said that, my Dad and I ended up at the ‘fudge’ tub together one morning – and he said that one has to ration your self with ‘this stuff’. So, I think it’s safe to say that it passed the Dad test. : D

No sugar Nutmeg Ladu Fudge

What’s So Healthy About This ‘Fudge’

The reason why this fudge is healthy and contains no refined sugar is because it is made with chickpeas, coconut oil, dates, vanilla essence and honey. Oh and ground pecan nuts.

What I really like about this fudge – besides that fact that it is super more-ish – is that I can eat a square as a pick me up when feeling low on energy or my blood sugar has dropped. And I am not eating empty calories, because all of the ingredients are nutritious and good for me. : )

How to Make Ladu / Fudge

All you need to do is combine all ingredients in a food processor and combine very well. Spread the mix into a small baking pan and slide into the freezer.

So simple.

No sugar Nutmeg Ladu Fudge

By the way, apologies for publishing all my recipes together on a friday today.

The week got a bit jumbled up somehow, what with taking someone to court and my other work. And it didn’t help that in the midst of it I became fascinated with lobs. I could not concentrate until I had googled it and cut my hair. And accidentally dyed it purple in the process. I like it! I mean I like the lob, and I like the purple. I found out that I have a ‘cool’ skin tone, and that cool skin tones should not have yellowish hair. Which was going on with me. So after cutting my lob, I then decided to do a shampoo with some gentian violet to take out any yellow bits. Left it in too long and got some purple tones – which I also really like! Yay!

Have any of you gotten the ‘lob’ recently? If so did you like it? Let’s talk lobs : ).

Sorry, please note the person writing this has not cut, styled or paid their hair any attention in over a year. Hence the slightly silly excitement over a hair cut.

xxxx

No Sugar Nutmeg Ladu Fudge

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Ingredients

300 grams cooked/canned chickpeas
200 ml melted coconut oil
150 grams chopped dates
1 cup ground or powdered pecan nuts
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons vanilla essence
pinch salt

Instructions

If you have not done so already, melt the coconut oil at a low heat until it is in liquid form.
Then combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. If you have an electric coffee grinder, you can do the pecan nuts in this to get them really fine, and then add them to the food processor with the other ingredients.
Once processed fully, spoon into a small baking pan and flatten down with a spoon.
Place pan in the freezer and allow to stiffen.
Cut into squares and place in an airtight container store back in the freezer.
Enjoy!

No sugar Nutmeg Ladu Fudge

October 13, 2017 0 comment

Cookies and Treats Smoothies

Papaya & Coconut Smoothie Parfait

written by Daniela Klein

I thought it was about time for another sweet smoothie on the blog.

The previous smoothy I posted is a full on health bomb, packed with iron, protein and detoxifying ability! It is a green smoothy, with chili and apple cider vinegar as the flavor enhancers. If you like non-sweet smoothies with a kick of green chili, then check that one out.

However on the sweet side of things – for some relief from all the green I wanted to make a creamy treat kind of smoothy. And while I was at it, I decided to experiment with the power of coconut oil, to give you a bonus Smoothie Parfait from the leftovers!

Papaya and Coconut Smoothie Parfait

It goes like this. You make the smoothy. Then you put aside two ramekins worth, and combine this with extra melted coconut oil and honey. Pour into ramekins and pop into the fridge. Enjoy the smoothy through the day, and take out the two ramekins of smoothie parfait for dessert in the evening.

If you use coconut oil a lot, you will know how it solidifies under low temperatures. This makes it a great setting agent for things like fruit mousse and easy fruit ‘parfaits’! One of my all time favorite recipes on the blog is this Tamarillo Mousse. SO good! And so easy.

Anyways, back to the present. If you want to have more smoothie to drink, and more ramekins of parfait, double the recipe.

If you just want the smoothie, skip adding the extra coconut oil and honey. If you just want the parfaits, then simply add approximately 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and one teaspoon of honey per ramekin of parfait.

Enjoy!

Papaya and Coconut Smoothie Parfait

Papaya & Coconut Smoothie Parfait

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Ingredients

2 cups peeled papaya
1 peeled banana
3 tsp honey
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons coconut flakes for garnish
4 tablespoons coconut oil + 2 teaspoons honey (if you want to make the parfait)

Instructions

Combine all ingredients and blend.
Set aside two ramekins worth of smoothie.
Melt 4 tablespoons coconut oil, add to the left over smoothie and stir well.
Pour into two ramekins and set to chill in the refrigerator.
And there you go! A massive and yummy smoothie, and two ramekins of healthy papaya parfait for dessert tonight. : )

Notes

If you do not want to make the parfait, skip steps 2-4.

October 4, 2017 0 comment

Cookies and Treats

No Sugar Pecan Cookies

written by Daniela Klein

Hi.
I woulk like you to meet my favorite cookie recipe……

If You Have a Coffee Grinder

If you have a coffee grinder, you can use my little trick to make them extra flavorful and ‘melt in your mouthy’.

Of the required amount of pecan nuts, I take approximately 1/2 a cup and whizz them up in the coffee grinder. I add this in at the same time as adding the chopped nuts. This infuses the cookies with even more pecan deliciousness.

If you do not have a coffee grinder – you can simply leave this step out. They will still be good.

My ‘Baked Gift’ Recipe

These cookies are my number one for when I want to bake something as a gift. They look cute, taste decadent and perfect, are almost impossible to flop – and are healthier than the average cookie. ; )

I took a little batch of these the other day to my great godmother. She is now 92! And doing pretty well considering. But she does have down days where she feels like shit. And lots of things are hard for her, she can’t go for walks any more or read books.

She always says that we must not travel all the way just to see her – so we lie and say we had other things to do in the area. She was never able to have children, which makes me feel like my parents and I are her children even though we have not always lived close to her.

Lately I have been listening to Jessica Murnane’s One Part podcast, and one of the recent episodes is with Jody Day on childlessness. It’s crazy interesting because, this is the first time in known history that women have been able to use convenient and guaranteed contraception. And the spin off effect of this is that there are a lot of women who accidentally never had kids! And this is causing a lot of pain throughout the world. Like a mass global pain of women who are missing the kids they got to have.

It immediately reminded me of my great godmother. She never ever complains about not being able to have kids. But it must have been a huge thing in her life. And it just makes me realise once again how ‘hardcore’ the old generation is. Instead she always tells us funny stories about her past, and asks relevant questions about what we are up to.

I guess where I am going with this is – visit the old people! So if there is someone out there who you have been meaning to visit, MAKE THESE Cookies, and go see them. And if you want some accountability – instagram me(@rebelskitchenpics) a pic and it will make my day.

No Sugar Pecan Cookies

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Ingredients

210 grams butter
4 heaped tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons vanilla essence
2 cups flour
2 cups chopped + powdered (optional) pecan nuts
Pinch salt
Whole pecans for the top

Instructions

Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Or you can grease them.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream the butter and honey in a mixing bowl. For a really light cookie texture, beat for 5 minutes until very well creamed. That’s my other little secret to making these cookies extra awesome
Add the flour, salt, chopped pecans and powdered (optional) pecans.
Roll into approximately 1 tablespoon balls in your hands, placing the balls onto your baking trays.
Once the dough is all done, press a whole pecan onto each dough ball. This will flatten the cookies a little.
Place the trays in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cookies turn golden.
Allow to cool and then store in an airtight container.

Pin to save this recipe : )

September 26, 2017 0 comment

Cakes Cookies and Treats

Coffee Cocoa Olive Oil Cake

written by Daniela Klein

Hey guys! I am so excited to share this recipe. I developed it from scratch, and it is just the best.

It has no sugar – only 1 cup of cake flour, and you can use either butter or olive oil. I highly recommend the olive oil, the subtle flavor profile it gives the cake goes really well with the coffee and cocoa tones.

No Sugar!

The no sugar part… Well that is one of my old baking hacks, in the days when I really used to throw things together and break all of the rules. I had a lot (think a lot a lot) of flops and failures. But one of the really awesome things I discovered is sweetening cakes with blended raisins! And if you are about to leave my website completely after that last statement, hold on.

Processed raisins make one of the best natural sweeteners for cakes! Once baked, the signature raisin flavor almost disappears. And you get left with a sweet cake full of fibre, B vitamins, iron and potassium and all the rest that makes raisins so healthy.

Personally I don’t really like the taste of raisins. Except in porridge. I find it difficult to eat the on their own – and I often feel guilty that I do not make use of their super potent source of iron! That is why baking them into a cake, where the taste disappears, just makes me happy all over. If anything, they land a toffee / caramel like flavor!

Coffee!

Which brings me to the next aspect of this cake – the coffee flavor. YUM! You can use brewed filter coffee, or 3 flat teaspoons of instant coffee. Up to you. I actually liked the instant coffee final taste better!

And if you do not like coffee flavored cakes, then you can leave it out completely.

Coffee Cocoa Olive Oil Cake

Olive Oil

Did you know that olive oil is use extensively in mediterranean baking? I thought it was some trendy fad – you know, one of those that sounds great on paper, but is yucky in real life: S -but it is actually a traditional ingredient. What is more, olive oil is quite a celebrated baking item because it creates a ‘superior crumb’.

Please don’t think I am a baking fundi because I said that – it’s just a sign of too much cake research.

Olive oil is also supposed to give great flavor (???) to cakes. Crazy right?

Well, I had to try it to see what all the fuss was about. And hey – it’s good. Really good actually. The olive oil flavor effect is spot on. I guess it’s one of those weird flavor things like chilli and chocolate, or salt and chocolate. Or in this case olive oil and chocolate!

If however the whole idea is just unappealing, or you have tried baking with olive oil and hate it, then you can totally swop out the olive oil quantity below for butter. I have made this cake both ways, and it is fine either way. Just the amount of butter/olive oil varies (will include both amounts in recipe).

How to Get a Fluffy Texture Using Olive Oil In Baking Instead of Butter

One of the big things I hear with baking with olive oil is that it does not really cream as well as butter. Creaming butter aerates it and incorporates tiny air bubbles into the butter which helps to lighten the cake.

Beat the Egg White Well

Because olive oil is not ‘solid’ like butter, this does not work as well. So, to make up for this, you need to beat the egg whites really well – separately to everything else. Beat them until the cows come home and they form stiff peaks.

When folding these lovely stiff egg whites into your batter, do it gently and slowly, so as not to loose any of their precious puff.

Use Fresh Raising Agents

Anybody who does much baking will tell you that you must always make sure that your raising agents are fresh, otherwise your cake will not rise – and be dense and heavy. Anybody who has seen me operate in baking mode will know that positive thinking and optimism will not help to raise a cake without fresh raising agents.

Nope. I have tried this dear readers – using ancient baking soda, and telling myself enthusiastically that all will be well and the baking pro’s have it all wrong.

But alas, they have it ALL right, and fresh baking soda and bicarb are really essential to getting a nice fluffy cake after baking. Especially if you are using a non aerating fat such as olive oil in your recipe.

Coffee Cocoa Olive Oil Cake

Topping

So, that about tops it off… except for the topping! I used tamarillo mousse to top it. I really like the contrast between the flavors! However the Troll did not like the tartness from the mousse… So I am including a quick recipe for a alternative topping, which is the same in flavor as the cake – coffee and cocoa.

What Do You Think?

I want to start a system, where I schedule new posts to come out on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. I was thinking that if I am unknowing gaining readers who come and check back to see if there are any new recipes, it would be nice for them if there were set days on which recipes came out. Is this a thing, or am I imagining it? I get super amped to check my favorite blogs to see if there is a new post, and I love the ones where I know what day it is – but maybe I am the only nut out there!

Coffee Cocoa Olive Oil Cake Recipe

Coffee Cocoa Olive Oil Cake

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Serves: hmmmm Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup raisins
1 cup coffee (instant or filter)
1 1/4 cup olive oil (or 1 cup butter)
3 large eggs
1 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon salt (if you are using butter instead of olive oil, and it is salted - omit this salt)

Instructions

Prep Steps

First off, take out your raisins, and make a cup of coffee : ). Combine the coffee and the raisins. You can do this the night before, to fully hydrate the raisins and make them soft for blending – or just do it first thing, and by the time you need to blend the raisins and coffee they should have softened a little.
If you are choosing to use butter instead of the olive oil, then you must get it to room temperature before beginning to assemble your cake. If you are using the olive oil, you can of course skip this. What I do, if I forge to take the butter out before hand (which is about 90 – no- 100% of the time) is to cut it up thinly and spread the butter slices onto a plate. This I put into the sun, and it usually softens within 15 minutes. But hopefully you are trying the olive oil method, because it is just so yummy!

Assembling the Cake

Heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).
Line a 9 inch baking tin with parchment paper and butter and flour the sides. I love to use the ones with the detachable sides!!! Never break a cake again trying to get it out of the tin. : )
Separate your eggs. Drop the whites into a container in which you are beat them. Drop the yolks into a large bowl.
Beat the eggs until the are form stiff peaks. This could take 8 – 10 minutes.
Now add the olive oil to the egg yolks. Beat this for 4 minutes. You won’t get that much aeration, but it is just as well to well combine the yolks and the olive and try to cream it a little.
Now blend the raisins and coffee. I use my trusty stick blender. But I think you can use a regular blender or food processor. Try to process them down to a creamy consistency.
Add the creamed raisin mix to the big bowl. Combine.
Now sift in the dry ingredients.
Fold in.
Pour out 3/4 cup of milk and dissolve into it the raising agents.
Add this to the mix and combine.
Now fold in the egg whites. You can do this 1/4 at a time. This will help to lighten and leaven the cake.
Now pour into your pan, and place into the oven.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a skewers, knife or toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. If the tin is cool enough to handle, pop out the cake and leave to cool for another hour on the wire rack before covering with a topping.

Toppings

If you live in a place where there are tamarillos, you can try out the tamarillo mousse topping. If you prefer a more cozy tasting topping, then go for this coffee and chocolate one below. We tried it and it is awesome

No-Sugar Coffee and Cocoa Mousse Icing

Soak 1 1/2 cups raisins in 1 cup coffee for 2 hours.
Pour off any excess coffee.
Add 3/4 cups coconut oil.
Blend thoroughly.
Stir in 4 tablespoons cocoa. You can also leave the cocoa out, makes a nice contrast with the cake! If you find that you want a stronger coffee flavor, and you have instant coffee, add in a little at a time until it is the strength that you want it.

Coffee Cocoa Olive Oil Cake Recipe

April 25, 2017 0 comment

Breakfast ideas Cakes Cookies and Treats Gluten Free

Gluten Free Poppy Seed Breakfast Cake

written by Daniela Klein

The other day my Mom was telling me about being a young computer programmer, before she met my dad (and became a pirate). She was living in a small German coastal town in Namibia called Swakopmund, in a little house on ‘Rue de Alie’ by the beach, earning more than she quite knew how to spend. A thing that she loved to do on her days off was to go to a place called Cafe Tref, and order a slice of their famous poppy seed cake, or in German, Mohnkuchen.

While she was telling me all this – I started to get really amped to recreate that poppy seed cake for her. Like a blast from the past on a plate!

So, with a bit of googling and whatsapping to Oma I concocted a recipe. And after a few re-bakes and adjustments – I got exactly what I wanted.

A poppy seed cake literally jam packed full of poppy seeds, with a good texture, and not overly sweet. Yummy!

My Mom was in poppy cake heaven – and I think I just found a new favorite cake recipe. There are so many things to love about it!

Poppy Seed Breakfast Cake Recipe

What I Love About This Poppy Seed Cake

Awesomely, this poppy seed cake is naturally gluten free, paleo, low carb, high in protein and can count as a superfood recipe!

Poppy seeds are pretty packed with nutrition and contain a hefty whack of minerals, fibre and protein. What gets me super excited is that they have lots of zinc – which is great for your skin. So with bite I think to myself that I am feeding my skin!

If you are following a gluten free or low carb eating plan, then this recipe ticks those boxes without your even needing to think about it.

I called it a breakfast cake – because it’s the kind of cake I can easily eat at 11 in the morning with some coffee. That’s the method my folks, Nick and I used to polish off my testers… But you can honestly eat this cake at any point. Top with cream or some sauce, and you can serve if for dessert. As well as stuffing one’s face with it at all other intervals or course.

Gluten Free Poppy Seed Breakfast Cake

Another reason for the breakfast cake name is that I used a cup of oat flour. Oat flour has a fancy ring to it – but you can easily take some normal oats, and turn it into flour if you have a food processor, high power blender or an electric coffee grinder.

In addition I have brought down the sugar quantity to make this into a cake which can stand as a breakfast substitute.

Lastly, on a technical note, I used a pretty detachable ring pan for a baking pan, as it gives that lovely old fashioned feeling! You can use any kind of pan – it does not need to be patterned! – but one where the sides are detachable is great for easy extraction once baked. I hate breaking cakes when trying to take them out of a pan!

Poppy Seed Breakfast Cake Recipe

Poppy Seed Breakfast Cake

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Prep Time: 20minutes Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups poppy seeds
1/2 cup butter (room temperature works best)
1 cup oat flour (or oats)
5 separated eggs
3/4 cup milk (you can also use water)
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Making the Oat Flour

As I said above, if you do not have any oat flour – you can easily turn some oats into oat flour if you have a food processor, good blender or electric coffee grinder.

Take a cup of oats and process it in one of the above appliances until it forms a smooth powder.
Check to see if it has made a cup of flour. If not, do a little more to make up the shortfall.

Making the Cake

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).
Combine the poppy seeds and the milk (or water). Using a stick blender, process them for 5 minutes. This will break up the poppy seeds a little and result in a nice texture in your cake. You can also use a coffee grinder for this – just be careful that you do not turn them into a powder, and then leave out the liquid from the maceration process.
Add the oat flour to the poppy seed mix, stirring to incorporate.
Place the butter in a large bowl and beat.
While the beater is running add the egg yolks one by one. Continue beating for 2 minutes after adding the last yolk.
Add the sugar and continue to beat for another few minutes.
Clean your beaters with hot water and soap. Give them a rough dry.
Place the egg whites and pinch of salt into a medium sized bowl.
Beat these until the they form soft peaks.
To combine all ingredients, fold in a quarter of the stiff egg whites into the yolks/butter/ sugar mix. (This divided combining helps with the texture)
Fold in the remaining whites.
Lastly fold in the ground poppy seeds/oat flour mix and the vanilla essence.
Scrape the batter into a greased baking pan. I like to use a pan where I can detach the sides, as the cake is apt to break when dropped out of an inverted pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a inserted knife or toothpick comes out mainly clean.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes, and then remove from the pan and leave to cool further on a wire wrack.

Serve plain, spread with honey, or topped with cream or another topping or your choice.

Notes

As mentioned earlier, this is a semi sweet cake. If you wanted a sweeter version - then you can either up the sugar quantity (it will not adversely affect texture), or top with honey, syrup, jam etc after baking or per serving.

Gluten Free Poppy Seed Cake Recipe

April 21, 2017 0 comment

Breakfast ideas Cookies and Treats Vegan

Tangy Tamarillo Mousse

written by Daniela Klein

This mousse. Is so good!

I am tempted to just not say another word – because the quicker you make this mousse and eat it the better for everyone concerned.

But! I think some background info is in order.

What Are Tamarillos?

First up – tamarillos are a drop shaped fruit with a red skin – prevalent in the southern hemisphere. They grow practically wild, and bear buckets upon buckets full of fruit every season.

The skin is pretty bitter, and many people get put off of them by biting into the fruit whole. Don’t do this. It is the insides you are after.

How to make Tamarillo Mousse

How to Use Tamarillos?

Usually we eat the tamarillos from the farm just as they are. For breakfast!

But there are so many – I felt that it was my absolute duty to come up for a recipe which would really utilise their tangy flavor. First up I did a smoothie bowl. YUM! Creamy, tangy, tart, sweat… I will post it soon – but I just had to get this mousse recipe to you immediately, no delays.

Usually people make tamarillo jams, chutneys and preserves and use them in sweet and sour flavored meat dishes. But none of these were rocking my boat.

So after the smoothie success I did some mental scheming, and came up with this what you see here. Just go and make it. If you can get your hands on some tamarillos – just do it.

xxx

Tangy Tamarillo Mousse

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Serves: 2 Prep Time: 10 mintues Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

30 tamarillos
5 heaped tablespoons coconut oil
4 teaspoons honey or maple syrup

Instructions

Halve the tamarillos.
Squeeze out the centres into a bowl.
Add the coconut oil and honey.
Blend all ingredients together well. I used my trusty blender stick. You will probably be left with some remains of pips. These you can sieve out if desired.
Once you have finished blending and sieving, spoon or pour into ramekins.
Refrigerate for about 45 minutes or until set.

Serving suggestions:
To jazz up these mousse ramekins, you could serve them as a dessert with whipped cream. Or enjoy plain as a breakfast treat! : )

Notes

You can adjust the the honey quantity up or down depending on your taste. I preferred it on the tart side, but if you are a sweet tooth, then a little extra honey will merely act to heighten the flavor and sweetness.

How to make Tamarillo Mousse

April 12, 2017 0 comment

Cookies and Treats

10 Minute Vegan Messy Mousse (No sugar)

written by Daniela Klein

May I present you with a monumentally accidental and valuable discovery. A ‘mousse’ which is ready to eat in 5 minutes, and happens to be vegan and sugar free.

The secret? Bananas.

I stumbled upon this the other day while busy making up a bowl of batter for a batch of No Flour Baked Brownies. It was the morning of Pa Russy’s birthday. I had been scratching my head wondering what we could possible get him that he did not already have (it seems to get harder and harder to find nice presents for men as they get older – simply because they have accumulated all the things that they need or want already!). I feel that giving someone a gift which they have to now use and look after, when it is not something they actually wanted, is just absurd. So I decided that No Flour Baked Brownies were the best option, as they would not take up space for that long – and were sure to be enjoyed.

And so I cheerfully started to put the batter together. It looked so yummy I couldn’t resist licking some off of a teaspoon. It tasted so yummy that I couldn’t resist taking another teaspoon full to the Troll. He then told me, can’t we just eat this? After a little thought, I packed away the baking things.

As so was born the easiest dessert I have yet to make.

All you have got to do is whizz up bananas, cocoa powder and coconut oil until it is smooth and creamy.

For pizzaz I chose to also chop up 2 pears into thin slices, toast some pecan nuts, and layer messily in brandy tumblers.

I am not a huge fan of dessert and sweets, but even after an enormous birthday meal I managed to tell myself I had space for some Messy Mouse. : )

The Taste

The banana flavor does come through a little, so if you are not a fan of bananas, perhaps try increasing the cocoa quantity. However if you like a hint of banana, then the cocoa called for should be just right for a creamy chocolaty taste which is not too bitter.

The texture is perfect – stiff but still smooth and creamy!

10 Minute Vegan Messy Mousse Recipe

10 Minute Vegan Messay Mousse Recipe

10 Minute Vegan Messy Mousse

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 mintues Cooking Time: 0 minutes

Ingredients

6 bananas
2 1/2 cups cocoa powder
1 cups coconut oil
3 teaspoons vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
3 small pears
1 cup pecan nuts

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except the pears and pecan nuts, in a bowl. Blend with a stick blender, or in a blender or food processor until mousse consistency is reached
Toast the pecan nuts in a pan with some oil or butter.
Thinly slice the pears.
Take a nice deep breath – think a happy thought. Start layering the mousse and pear, scattering pecans as you go.
Serve!

Get Ingredients on Amazon:

Bananas
Coconut oil
Vanilla essence
Pecan nuts

10 Minute Vegan Messay Mousse Recipe

March 4, 2017 0 comment

Cookies and Treats Fast Healthy Meals Gluten Free

Easy Chocolate Flourless Pancakes (or chomlets)

written by Daniela Klein

A couple of days ago, while I was working out how I wanted to do my Stuffed Pumpkin Pot Recipe and trying out a Failed Cheese Spread Recipe – I got really hungry.

And all I could think of were chocolate pancakes! To the top of my brain floated Shay’s yummy sounding flourless pancakes from Living Chirpy…

And I just had to give it a go! So in between my pumpkin adventures (we won’t talk about the cheese spread), I whipped up a bowl of flourless pancake batter. With a chocolaty twist!

All I used were four eggs, two bananas, 1 cup cocoa and 4 tablespoons of sugar. The cooking of these pancakes were slightly less effortless, but at the end of the batch I had it down. Let me share my tips.

At first turning the pancakes was tricky. They were browning too fast at the bottom, but were not quite cooked enough to turn. I found that lowering the heat was the best way to get the pancakes to a cooked consistency for turning. I also used a cake lifter instead of the spatula for the flipping.

Beware, the pancakes come out incredibly dark. As long as you have the flame on medium low, then they are probably not burnt. The cocoa gives a very dark color to begin with, and banana browns very quickly – so don’t freak out and think that the pancakes are not worth serving. Trust me they are!

Once I had finished the batter and had a nice big stack of pancakes piled up, I chopped up a juicy pear. I plunked the slices on top, and looked around for something to use as cream. No cream on hand, so I decided to implement a little brain wave I discovered in December.

I took out some coconut oil, and beat it in a jug with a small amount of water. This causes the fat to emulsify, back into cream! I think one could do it with butter and water as well, but I must still try that one. I love this hack, because there are some situations where cream is absolutely necessary. Like for chocolate pancakes. But I am not one of those cultured souls that have a container of cream as a permanent feature in the refrigerator (sometimes I wish I was).

The other thing that I love about ‘making my own cream’ from coconut oil – is that it is vegan!

Anyway, I plopped a large dollop on top on my pancake pile, made a pot of coffee and called the Troll. We sat down on the veranda and proceeded to gobble down the chocolate pancakes.

Flourless Chocolate Pancakes

The Troll pronounced them very good, and asked me what was in them. When I told him that they were flourless, then he said ‘So they are basically just eggs and cocoa?’ to which I replied ‘Yes, with two bananas.’

He said that that was weird, and it meant that we were practically eating a chocolate omelette. Which I couldn’t argue. However he soon forgot about any weirdness and finished the pile with gusto. With me helping of course. At some point we decided that we should really call these low carb chocolaty pancakes chomelletes!

Oh sorry, my spelling has been corrected – apparently its chomlets. Much more chic in Troll Universe.

Anyway, last thing before I leave you with the recipe, don’t leave out the pear! It was the bomb. ; )

Chocolate Pancake Recipe

Chomelette Recipe

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Serves: 2-3 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 large bananas
4 eggs
1 tablespoon flax seed powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar (you could probably also use honey)
1 cup cocoa
4 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
One pear sliced for topping

Instructions

Cream the eggs and the sugar. Add the raising agents and vinegar.
In a separate bowl cream the bananas and coconut oil together. Add the cocoa and flax seed powder to this.
Combine the two bowls, gently folding in the egg mixture.
Heat up a pan with a small amount of oil.
Pour in your first pancake.
Turn the heat down to medium low.
To help the pancake firm up for flipping, you can place a large pot lid over the pan.
Once firm enough to flip, turn the pancake and cook for half a dozen moments on the other side.
Remove from pan and repeat until the batter is finished.
Top with sliced pear and cream of your choice (vegan or regular) and drizzle with honey.

Notes

If you are struggling to turn the pancakes, then try using a cake lifter instead of a spatula. It works well.

Chocolate Pancake Recipe

February 8, 2017 0 comment

Breads Cookies and Treats

Pearana Bread

written by Daniela Klein

Haha! I am sure you are wondering what in the heck is Pearana Bread…

The other day I had the yen to bake a banana loaf. No, there weren’t heaps of fly covered old bananas yet – but I was moved to never the less.

In order so that it could be eaten by the ‘Off The Sugar’ crowd (Pa Russy and my Troll), I decided I was going to leave out the sugar completely and make it with brown flour. As I was putting the mixture together I got a sudden feeling of panic that the bread wouldn’t be at all sweet, just taste vaguely of banana – and be some sort of bland non descript bread without a proper identity. Noooo!

And then a beam of inspiration hit me. Quickly – grate a pear into it! Grabbing a large pear, I did just that.

Into the oven went my banana (and pear) loaf.

About and hour or so later the Troll and I sampled it. Y.U.M. It’s so great when one comes up with a new recipe that really rocks – and meets special dietary requirements!

Just in case you are wondering exactly what the pear adds to this loaf – let me wax lyrical quickly. The pear gives the loaf quite a lot of lightness surprisingly. It of course adds in a bit of sweetness, and I found that the bread was beautifully crumbly. This I think is partly due to the grainy texture of pears.

Another thing I added in, was a couple left over blocks of my Vegan Chocolate Bark. It melted in gorgeously, and yielded up delicious chocolaty spots! If you want to do this too but do not have the chocolate bark, you could use regular chocolate.

In case you were wondering what the other loaf in the pics are – that is a variation of my Last Minute Soda Bread. I hate heating up a whole huge oven for one measly loaf, so I try to double up when baking. These two actually make a great combo in the oven. Often when trying to bake two things at a time – the prep times are different, and you end up practically baking them separately anyway. Fortunately the Pearana Bread (hehe: P) and Soda Bread are so easy to put together you can do the mixes simultaneously no problem.

Anyway, enough me talking, the quicker you try this loaf the better for all concerned. : D

Maybe it was the leftover wine from Sunday Lunch I was sipping on while baking which brought the stroke of pear genius! : P

Pear and Banana Bread Recipe

Pearana Bread

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Serves: 4-8 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 large bananas
11/2 cup brown flour
1 large pear
1/2 cup coconut oil
3 tablespoons ground linseed (for extra fibre - optional)
4 heaped tablespoons coconut flour (if you do not have just add in 2 tablespoons extra flour)
3 eggs
dash of salt
Cinnamon
3 squares of chopped up Vegan Chocolate Bark (you could use regular chocolate if you want, just use a few more squares)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Dash powdered cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

Beat the eggs on high until they are light and foamy.
In a separate bowl beat the banana and coconut oil together until well combined. To this you can add all of the other ingredients except the vinegar and raising agents.
Now dissolve the raising agents and add the vinegar into the beaten eggs.
Combine the two bowls, and the chopped Chocolate Bark or regular chocolate. Fold gently to combine.
Pour into a well greased and floured bread pan.
Set to bake in the oven at 356 degrees Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celsius) for about 25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the loaf.
Once done, turn out and leave to cool on a wire wrack.

Notes

If you find the mixture slightly stiff, you can add a small amount of water or milk. Do not overdo it however. : )

Pear and Banana Bread Recipe

February 6, 2017 0 comment

Cookies and Treats Vegan

I ♥ You Cupcakes

written by Daniela Klein

It’s so tough watching people who love sweet treats not being allowed to have sugar! You might hate me forever after this – but I am not the biggest sweet tooth. But give me a plate of oily chips and I am drooling at the mere thought…. So although I do not relate to sugar cravings – I can imagine if someone told me that french fries and chips were to never be eaten again, I would be devastated!

The Troll has taken the whole no-sugar diet very well. But then again he is usually on another planet anyway (it’s a wonderful place that planet – I sometimes wish that I could dwell there too!), so I do not think he notices the deprivation much.

Pa Russy however is slightly different. While he has been absolutely stalwart in his resolve, one realises that it is hard won, when he tells up of all the cookies he noticed being eaten by people at the farmer’s market on Saturday.

And so I decided to try out a reduced sugar cupcake recipe – with ‘icing’. And to add to the challenge I had set myself, I thought I’d make it vegan too boot. I didn’t tell Pa Russie that though, otherwise he might have thought I was trying to bake broccoli or something into these cupcakes. : )

I also wanted to dye the cupcakes naturally pink with some beet water (the water that one has cooked beets in).

Thankfully (to Ma Elizabeth!)I had some xylitol to get me going. Xylitol is a form of sugar which is classified as ‘crystallized alcohol’ and has a much lower glycemic index and calorie count than regular sugar. And then because I am not a cupcake expert I went online and looked for a nice vegan recipe. I chose Dana’s funfetti recipe from The Minimalist Baker.

To start off I combined the sugar with coconut oil and creamed the heck out of it. On the side I dissolved the raising agents in some coconut milk with a little vinegar. Then I combined the two bowls, a dash of the beet water and the dry ingredients all together, folding away. Once combined the batter went into a muffin pan and in to bake.

An unshaven Troll in his lair eating pink cupcake batter is a funny sight.

While it was baking I was scratching my head as to what to do about the icing. Of course for pure vegan purposes you can just make regular icing but with vegan butter. But I did not want to flaunt all of that sugar laden icing in front of people who are Off The Sugar.

As I was cleaning up, I spotted my can of coconut milk. As is often the case with coconut milk, the top part had hardened into a cream. I had only used the liquid milk underneath for my baking. So I grabbed this, and added some sugar, and a little beet water. I creamed this until the sugar had dissolved. It was so pretty and pink!

Thankfully I did this pinking of the icing, because when the cupcakes came out of the oven they were not one bit pink. Boo! I will try this again, and make the batter a darker pink. I’ll let you know the results..

To add a touch of confectionary flair I decided to ‘pipe’ the icing over the cupcakes. Because I am not a real baker, I do not have one of those thingys that make those beautiful poufs of icing. So I grabbed a small plastic baggy, and cut off a small hole from one corner. I then filled the bag with icing and started carefully piped my swirls. Not 100% classy perfection, but definitely cute – and really healthy!

Tip: Midway through my piping, I think the heat of my hands was making the coconut cream too runny. So, knowing the nature coconut oil to firm at the drop of a hat, I popped the baggy into the fridge for a few minutes and had some of my coffee while I waited. When the bag came out I could pipe perfectly!

Needless to say the cupcakes were a hit otherwise they would not be here! Even I thought there were yummy; ).

I Love You Cupcakes Recipe

I ♥ You Cupcakes

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Prep Time: 25 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup coconut milk from the can (you will use the top solidified part for the icing)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup of xylitol sugar ( you can use regular if you want)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt
Beetroot water to color the icing + extra sugar to sweeten it

Instructions

Cupcakes:

Combine the coconut milk and vinegar.
Cream the coconut oil and sugar until smooth.
Sift in the dry ingredients to the second bowl.
Add the raising agents and vanilla to the first bowl.
Combine the bowls and fold together.
Spoon into a muffin tray and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius) for about 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Once baked remove from the oven and let cool on a wire wrack.

Topping:

Combine the hardened top of the coconut milk in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of sugar and a little beet water. Beat this until it is smooth. You can add more beet water if you want a darker pink. Remember we are talking a matter of drops here, beet color is potent!
Once done, spoon into a small sandwich packet or other plastic bag. Put this into the fridge until you are ready to top the cupcakes.
Remove the bag from the fridge and cut a small hole at one corner.
Apply pressure and ‘pipe’ your topping onto the cupcakes.

Notes

If the coconut milk which you are using does not have a harder layer of coconut cream at the top - then you might want to try your hand at manufacturing you own. I have had success creaming coconut oil with a little water to form a cream. If you try this and it comes out sloppy, you can cool it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so and it will stiffen up!

I Love You Cupcakes Recipe

February 3, 2017 2 comments

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