Chocolate and almond ice cream

Wanted to make something more than just chocolate ice cream so I found this recipe from Paleonewbie.

Ingredients

1 can full-fat coconut milk (400ml)

1/4 cup maple syrup or rice malt syrup

1/4 cup almond butter

2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Add all above ingredients in a blender to combine.
2. Mix in blender for about 1 minute
3. Pour into electric ice cream maker
4. Takes about 20-25 minutes to churn before it's ready to eat (or freeze for later)

Chocolate chia puddings with caramelised banana

Found these chia puddings of taste.com.au and they were really easy to make. The caramelised banana was what made these super delicious though.

Ingredients
serves 4
60 ml chia seeds
270 ml coconut milk
2½ tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp water
60 ml rice malt syrup
1 tsp coconut oil
1 large banana, sliced
pinch of sea salt
shredded coconut, to serve

Put chia seeds, coconut milk, cocoa powder, water and 2 tbsp of the rice malt syrup in a blender and blend until almost completely smooth. Pour into 4 glasses (approximately 125 ml per serve) and place in the fridge to chill for about 2 hours.
Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the banana for approximately 30-60 seconds each side or until golden and caramelised. Remove from heat and sprinkle with sea salt. Drizzle with the remaining rice malt syrup and let cool for a couple of minutes.
Top the puddings with the banana and shredded coconut.

Soft and gooey chocolate brownie

I've been trying to find recipes of food, snacks and sweets that are good to freeze so that when the baby comes we can always just go to the freezer because we probably won't have the energy or time to cook every night and we don't want to get take-out all the time. So I'm trying to prepare as much as possible while I'm not working. I found this recipe on paleogrubs.com and it's a super easy recipe with not that many ingredients and it's pretty much like a normal chocolate cake/brownie.

Ingredients
makes about 10 brownies/1 round cake
240 ml almond butter
80 ml maple syrup
1 egg
2 tbsp melted ghee
1 tsp vanilla
80 ml cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond butter, maple syrup, egg, ghee and vanilla. Stir in the cocoa powder and baking soda gently.
Pour the batter into a 22 cm baking pan (I used a round one).
Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the brownie is done, but still soft in the middle.
Let cool and enjoy by itself or with some berries and cream.

Chocolate hazelnut cupcakes

I have found a new love for hazelnuts. They're just so delicious. I found this recipe on a Swedish blog and just had to try them because they sounded really tasty. They absolutely were!

Ingredients
makes 12
10 pitted dates
200 ml hazelnut flour
100 ml shredded coconut
50 ml melted coconut oil
4 tbsp cocoa
½ tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla powder
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin tray with coconut oil.
Mix dates, hazelnut flour and shredded coconut in a food processor. Pour in the melted coconut oil together with cocoa, vanilla powder and honey and mix again. Add the eggs and baking powder and mix until it's a smooth batter. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin trays and put in the oven for about 7 minutes. To get a sticky effect, keep them in the fridge for approximately 45 minutes before serving.

Served with coconut cream and strawberries

Chocolate, hazelnut and salted caramel tart

I've been wanting to make this tart for a few weeks now but I just haven't had the energy to do it until now. It was definitely worth it. I'm so proud of the result. Don't think I've ever managed to make something so pretty. The recipe is originally from the Merrymaker sisters' book but I've used the one on EatDrinkPaleo. It wasn't actually even that difficult to make and I've forgotten how good hazelnuts are.

Ingredients
For the crust:
360 ml almond flour
240 ml raw hazelnuts
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted or soft
1 egg
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the caramel layer:
150 pitted dates (soaked in boiling water for at least 10 minutes)
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted or soft
1 tsp vanilla essence
240 ml coconut cream (coconut milk is fine too)
1 tsp sea salt

For the chocolate layer:
100 g coconut oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp cacao powder
2 tbsp crushed nuts of your choice for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a tart tin (mine was 26 cm in diameter but smaller should work as well).
Begin with toasting the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. Swirl around frequently so that they don't burn but get a nice brown colour on all sides. Remove and let cool for a few minutes.
Place the hazelnuts in a food processor and grind into a fine flour (should take about a minute). Add the almond flour, coconut oil, egg, maple syrup and vanilla. Process until the mixture comes together.
Scoop the mixture out and make it to a ball. Place it and flatten it with a rolling pin in between two sheets of baking paper. Roll out by starting from the middle and roll out to the sides in each direction until it's about a 3-5 mm thick. Peel the top layer of baking paper off and flip the base over the tart tin. It's quite delicate so be careful. Mine broke quite a bit so I had to fill in the gaps when it was in the tin but that worked fine as well. Make sure the area where the sides and base meet are filled properly, preferably they need to be a bit thicker. Place a round sheet of baking paper to cover the base of the crust and put on baking beads (I used uncooked rice since I don't own any baking beads). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, remove the baking paper with the beads or rice and bake for another 10 minutes or until it's golden brown. Set aside to cool in the tin.
For the caramel filling; Drain the water from the pitted dates. Place them in a food processor together with coconut oil and vanilla and process until the form a thick paste. Add the coconut cream and salt and process again until it's smooth (should take about a minute, scrapping down the sides as you go). Spread the caramel filling over the crust and place in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.
For the chocolate layer; place coconut oil, honey and vanilla in a double boiler (a bowl placed over a pot of simmering water) and melt until combined. Add the cacao powder and whisk until it's smooth, probably only about 30 seconds, make sure not to overcook it. Take your base out of the freezer and pour the chocolate mixture over the caramel and spread with a spatula. Sprinkle with the crushed nuts and place in the freezer for another 5 minutes or so.

Serve with some whipped coconut cream or berries of your choice.
Leftovers can be stored covered in the fridge for about 5 days.

Chewy double chocolate cookies

This cookies are sooo good and easy to make. I wouldn't say they're healthy considering they have quite a lot of coconut sugar in them but compared to the alternatives in the store they are much better. I love Paleomg for putting up the recipe for these beauties.

Ingredients
makes about 13-15 cookies
240 ml thick almond butter (make sure it's not too oily)
240 ml coconut sugar
1 egg, whisked
120 ml unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
60-120 ml chopped dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
In a large bowl, mix together almond butter and coconut sugar using a large spoon. Then add the egg and mix again until well combined.
Add 60 ml cocoa powder at a time. It's probably easier to use your hands from now on since the batter is quick thick. Add all the cocoa powder and completely combine.
Then add baking soda, vanilla, salt and chopped chocolate. Combine until everything is well mixed.
Scoop out around 2 tablespoons of dough and make into a round ball. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper. This dough will create about 13-15 cookies that size.
Use a fork to press the cookies down just slightly. Don't press them down too much because they’ll come apart when they bake so be careful.
Place them into the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and let them cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing them from the baking paper as they can easily come apart when they're hot.
Enjoy!!

Chocolate peppermint balls

This recipe is originally from The Merrymaker sisters and they have it labelled as a Christmas recipe. I agree that it is a bit Christmasy but considering I'm a huge fan of mint I decided to give them a try even though we're only in April now. The original recipe is without the chocolate coating but I decided to make it slightly fancier and coat them in some dark chocolate. If you want a 100% Paleo recipe you will have to skip that step. Also, you will need kitchen scales for this recipe.

Ingredients
makes about 15 (depending on the size of the balls)
200 g pitted dates (soaked in boiling water for at least 10 minutes)
200 g desiccated coconut
30 g raw cacao powder
50 g coconut oil
½ tsp peppermint extract (or 4-6 drops pure peppermint oil)
100 g dark chocolate (70% or over)

Soak and drain your dates.
Mix coconut oil and cacao in a food processor until fully combined. Add the dates, coconut and peppermint extract and mix together until you have a smooth paste. Roll to balls, the size that you want them to be. Put them on a tray lined with baking paper and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Melt the chocolate in a water bath and roll the balls in the melted chocolate until completely covered with chocolate. Put them back on the tray and once all are covered (or there's no chocolate left) put them back in the fridge until completely cool.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 10 days.

Peppermint chocolate sticks

As previous post stated I've been trying to get more into the Christmas spirit and by baking things that reminds me of Christmas from when I was little I think I can achieve this. Yesterday I decided to make some delicious chocolate and mint sticks. Recipe taken from livinghealthywithchocolate.com

Ingredients
makes about 15 sticks
6 tbsp melted coconut oil
4 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp almond butter
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp peppermint extract
pinch of salt
60 ml shredded coconut
60 ml pecans or walnuts

Stir together coconut oil, cocoa powder, almond butter, honey, vanilla, peppermint extract and salt in a large bowl. Heat up the mixture slowly over a pot of boiling water for about 5-10 minutes until mixture is completely combined.
Chop the pecans coarsely in a food processor. Add the nuts and coconut to the chocolate mixture and stir together. Pour into an ovenproof dish about 20 x 15 cm lined with baking paper.
Put it in the freezer and freeze until the chocolate has set. Cut into sticks. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Chocolate coffee chia pudding

This is a super easy thing to either have as dessert or for breakfast instead of yoghurt or something like that. It's very easy to make and you can just make it the night before and it'll be all done the next morning. The recipe is from paleomg.com.

Ingredients
serves 2
120 ml brewed coffee, chilled
120 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp cocoa powder
60 ml chia seeds

Mix coffee, coconut milk, almond butter, vanilla, sweetener and cocoa powder together in a blender. Place the mixture in a large jar with lid and then add the chia seeds. Mix around with a spoon or put the lid on and shake the jar a couple of times. Place in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Enjoy!

Cashew butter cookies

These cookies looked so simple to make and seemed very tasty as well. Luckily they actually were as well. I found the recipe on kristensraw.com. Unfortunately mine didn't turn out quite as nice as hers though because for some reason I didn't pay attention when putting them on the sheet. I thought they would float out a bit more once the dough got warm in the oven. It doesn't really matter though, they still taste delicious.

Ingredients
makes 10 cookies
1 egg, room temperature
240 ml cashew butter
60 ml xylitol (or other sweetener)
½ tsp vanilla powder
2 pinches of salt
10 squares of Green & Blacks Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
Beat all the ingredients except for the chocolate together with an electric hand mixer until completely combined. Use a tablespoon and scoop the cookie dough on to the baking tray.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Let the cookies cool a little bit then push one square of the chocolate on the top of each cookie.

Paleo chocolate chip cookies

These cookies turned out great. Although I think I made them a bit too big so they didn't quite get that cookie crunch but the they're still delicious. The recipe was for 12 cookies but I only got 10 because I made them so big. The recipe is from The Food Lovers Kitchen.

Ingredients
makes 12 cookies
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
175 ml semisweet chocolate chips (I used 85% chocolate and chopped it up)
60 ml coconut oil
60 ml cup maple syrup
1 egg
350 ml almond flour

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.
In another mixing bowl beat eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
Melt the coconut oil and pour into the batter. Continue to blend until combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips. On an oven tray lined with baking paper, drop balls of cookie dough, about a tablespoon in size. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Banana and cashew butter brownies

Today I had an extremely unproductive day at work and I felt so unmotivated to do anything. So, I had a look on the internet for some recipes with cashew butter since I knew I had some at home and it's been there for quite a while and I wanted to finally use it. I found this recipe on http://www.cleanfoodcreativefitness.com

Ingredients
makes 8 pieces
80 ml cocoa powder
60 ml almond flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup cashew butter
2 eggs
1 mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla powder
2-4 tbsp cashew butter for decoration

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Combine your cocoa, almond flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
Using a hand mixer add in the ripe mashed banana, honey, 60 ml cashew butter and eggs.
Lastly mix in your vanilla.
Once blended pour into a greased 20x20 cm baking pan.
Drop your remaining cashew butter by the teaspoon on top of your batter. Use a knife to swirl into the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Chocolate mud balls

I am one of those weird people who is not a massive fan of chocolate. I do like it but put a fruity dessert and chocolate one and I will most likely choose the fruity one. That said, these chocolate mud balls are delicious. Found the recipe on fastpaleo.com

Ingredients

makes about 12

80 ml coconut flour

60 ml tapioca flour

80 ml unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt, fine

5 eggs

80 ml honey

60 ml coconut oil, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

300 g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and grease a 20x20 cm square baking pan with coconut oil.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine coconut flour, tapioca flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sea salt, blend together well. 

Add eggs, honey, vanilla and coconut oil to flour mixture and using an electric hand mixer blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the baking pan and place on the center rack in oven. Bake 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Using a small circular cookie cutter or an ice cream scoop, scoop out cake pieces and place on baking paper. Put a bowl over a pot of boiling water, add the chocolate and melt it, stir constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth. Dip the cake pieces into the chocolate using a fork. Make sure it's covered all over and place back on the baking paper. Cool in the refrigerator and allow to harden.

 

Mint cookies

For the people who know me, they would most likely know that I'm a huge, huge fan of everything with mint. So when I browsed through http://fastpaleo.com on Friday picking out what I was going to make over the weekend, I was very excited when I found the recipe for these mint cookies. Sure they're not mint slices but then again these are not packed with processed sugar.

Ingredients
makes about 12
240 ml walnuts
240 ml pitted dates
240 ml shredded coconut
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 tbsp maple syrup
100 g 70% dark chocolate

Put the walnuts in a food processor and chop until a fine meal is made. Add the dates to the food processor until they are all chopped finely.Add the remaining ingredients and mix until it's all combined.

Roll in to balls and flatten into biscuits. Place on a lined baking tray and put in the freezer for 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes, melt the chocolate in a small but deep bowl. Using a fork dip the biscuits into the chocolate and put back on the tray. Put back in the freezer until the chocolate is set. Store in the fridge.

Chocolate balls

So I've made similar things previously, well at least they look the same. I got the recipe for these of http://undervarttak.blogspot.se. The original recipe says it makes 30-35 balls but I must have made really big ones or something because I only got 20 balls. I guess it doesn't really matter. They're prefect to have in the freezer for those moments when you just feel like something sweet.

Ingredients
makes 20 medium sixed balls
200 g dates
100 ml walnuts
100 ml almonds
100 ml pecans
100 ml pumpkin seeds
100 ml desiccated coconut (+ a bit extra to roll the balls in)
4 tbsp raw cocoa
1 tbsp cinnamon
80 ml coconut oil
1 tbsp coffee

Chop the nuts and pumpkin seeds in a food processor. Put them away.
Mix the the dates and the shredded coconut in the food processor.
Add in the nut mix to the food processor together with the cocoa and cinnamon.
Add the coconut oil and the coffee until you have a smooth mixture.
Make little balls and roll them in desiccated coconut.

Raw sticky chocolate cake

Recipe from http://undervarttak.blogspot.se
Am really happy with the result of this. We served ours with some whipped coconut cream. The original recipe has hazelnuts in it but I didn't have any at home so I used a mix of pecans and walnuts instead.

Ingredients
250 ml hazelnuts
150 ml almond flour
5 large pitted dates
100 ml brewed cold coffee
50 ml raw cocoa
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 pinch of salt
shredded coconut for the dish and a bit to put on top

Mix all the ingredients together in a food processor until its a creamy mixture.
Put a bit of shredded coconut on the bottom of your dish. Add in the mixture and spread out to an even cake. Let the cake sit in the fridge for a few hours. Serve with your favourite toppings.

Protein snack balls

I always struggle with easy and healthy snacks to take to work. I always end up with either carrot sticks, a banana or a few nuts. I'm getting a bit bored with it so I decided to make something which is very easy to just take with you and they will ease your cravings and hunger for a little bit longer. I found the recipe for these on http://healthyyumyum.com.au.

Ingredients

makes about 15 balls

360 ml raw almonds

2 tbsp protein powder

2 tbsp raw cacao powder

12 fresh dates, pitted

1 tsp vanilla powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Water and/or coconut oil

Ground almonds and shredded coconut

Add the almonds, protein powder, cacao and cinnamon to the food processor and blend until a crumbly mixture. Add in the dates, vanilla and process again. Then slowly add a small amount of water or coconut oil and blend so the mixture comes together. Roll about 2 tbsp of mixture into a ball, then roll in a mixture of coconut and ground almonds. Store covered in the fridge.

Chocolate cake

So last weekend we felt like some kind of chocolate treat for our dessert. I found this recipe of a delicious chocolate cake at http://paleospirit.com. We served it with some whipped cream and raspberries. It's definitely one of the best chocolate cakes I've made in a while.

Ingredients
serves 6-8
10 dates, pitted
1 ripe banana
3 eggs
120 ml coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
120 ml coconut flour
120 ml unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
120 ml strong brewed coffee

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Place the dates in a food processor and pulse until completely pureed.
Add the banana and continue to pulse until pureed and combined with the dates.
Add this to a bowl then add the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and coffee and mix with a hand mixer on low-medium speed until well combined.
Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low-speed until you have a smooth batter.
Grease a 24 cm round cake pan with coconut oil, pour the batter in and smooth it out with the back of a spatula. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.