Nutty Dessert

Posted on 14th December 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

This dessert is inspired by the spices in a Baklava but quite a bit lighter than the Turkish dessert. Easy to make.

Serves 4

200 ml chopped Almonds (blanched), Pistachios, Walnuts and Pecans (or, Low Fodmap – Macademia, Brazil, Pecan, Walnuts, Pine nuts and some Almonds – watch the nut servings per person).

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cardamom
1 tablespoon melted butter (or rape seed oil)
2 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tsp lemon juice
Dash of salt

2 tablespoons of blueberries

400 ml Greek yoghurt (or non-dairy alternative).
Blueberries and raspberries to decorate

1. Mix the chopped nuts and spices together.
2. Add the blueberries.
3. Spoon into serving glasses, alternating with the yoghurt.
4. Serve with berries on top.

Easy Berry Cake

Posted on 3rd August 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

This is not a very sweet dessert. More like a berry oven omelet – like the French Clafoutis, but a much lighter option. Very quick to make. And healthy!
The cake is dairy free. If you want it egg free you can try substituting the eggs with flax-gel and/or the soaking water from chickpeas.
I like to serve this with some whipped Greek yoghurt, possibly flavoured with some vanilla extract, or maybe with the Apricot Macadamia Crème (in the Apricot Pecan Bite recipe), I recently posted.

Serves 4 – 6 people depending on serving size.

250 g frozen berries (save some for decorations or use some fresh raspberries for this)
75 ml almond flour
1 tablespoon agave syrup
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
200 ml almond milk

Oven at 200C
1. Place the berries in a greased pie mold (1 large mold or 4 individual).
2. Whisk the eggs slightly. Add remaining ingredients and whisk to combine.
3. Pour over raspberries. There will be about 400 ml mix in total.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes (individual molds) or 40 minutes for large pie mold.
5. Place some raspberries on top. Let cool slightly before serving.

Serve with a whipped Greek yoghurt or Apricot Macadamia Crème.

Apricot Pecan Bite

Posted on 14th June 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

This week is quite busy, but I managed to make a wonderful apricot cream that I would like to share. Spread it on top of the Pecan Base (Raw Food Pecan Pie) which I posted in May (I am repeating the recipe below). Great afternoon snack or guilt free dessert!

APRICOT CREAM
150 ml pre-soaked (overnight) macadamia nuts
50 ml almond milk
2 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
Dried apricots, 30 g, chopped

1. Blend everything except the apricot until smooth and creamy. (This is a great cream base for other flavors too).
2. Add dried apricots
3. Blend again, it is OK to leaves small pieces of the apricot.
4. Set aside.

PECAN BASE:
(This recipe I posted already a few weeks ago but it is so yummy it really deserves to be included again.)
100 ml almonds
100 ml pecans
50 ml dried cranberries
50 ml pitted dates (about 5 pieces)
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
Dash of salt

1. Place all, except the oil, in a blender and mix until an even, creamy crumble.
2. Add the oil and blend another few minutes.
3. Spread the Pecan Base into a rectangular mold (using baking parchment or other non-stick sheet in the bottom).
4. Spread an equally thick layer of the apricot cream on top.
5. Refrigerate 1 hour minimum.
6. Cut into small, bite sized squares.
7. Serve chilled.

Raw Food Pecan Pie with Raspberry Cream

Posted on 25th May 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

This is a great raw food pie. Easy and delicious. The cashews (for the cashew cream) must be soaked for 12 hours so please don’t forget to place them in water a day in advance.
Serve with one of the two creams suggested below and any fresh fruit/berries of your liking! The cashew cream is a favourite with its subtle nutty taste and creamy texture. Please give it a try (a good blender is a must to achieve a smooth cream)! (In this photo I have drizzled dried raspberry on the plate).

Serves 4
Pie base:
100 ml almonds
100 ml pecans
50 ml dried cranberries
50 ml pitted dates (about 5 pieces)
25 ml coconut oil, melted
Dash of salt

1. Place all, except the oil, in a blender and mix until an even, creamy crumble.
2. Add the oil and blend another few minutes.
3. Press thinly into in portions sized pie molds or free hand rounds.
4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Serve with one of the two creams below and mixed berries:

1) Raspberry Cream:
200 ml cashews (that have been soaked overnight)
50 ml water
25 ml lemon juice
25 ml almond milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt

50 ml frozen raspberries (fresh works too but frozen will keep the temperature down in the blender)
Mixed berries (to serve with the pie)
1. Blend all (except the raspberries) until completely smooth.
2. Add the frozen raspberries
3. Blend a bit more until desired consistency.
4. Pipe the cream on top of the portion sized pies.
5. Serve with mixed berries on top.

2) Raspberry Crème Fraiche:
200 ml crème fraiche
50 ml fresh berries
Mixed berries (to serve with the pie)

1) Whisk the crème fraiche fluffy
2) Add the raspberries, whisk to combine and slightly crush the berries
3) Pipe the cream on top of the portion sized pies.
4) Serve with mixed berries on top.

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

Posted on 5th April 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

This is a very quick and (almost) healthy recipe for a great chocolate mousse! The creamy avocado provides the thick, fluffy consistency in this mousse. A must try! Also, this recipe is dairy free, vegan and low fodmap (if you eat maximum 1/4 of the whole dessert).

Serves 4 (small servings)

300 ml coconut milk
3 tbsp cacao
1,5 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ ripe avocado
Dash of salt

Decorations:
Blueberries, raspberries, cacao nibs, banana, orange slices…

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and thick.
2. Refrigerate minimum 2 hours before serving.

Variations:
Add some chili flakes to the blender or some crushed licorice candy (gluten free) after the choco mix has been processed.

Toasted Buckwheat Granola

Posted on 2nd March 2017 by EvaH — 1 Comment ↓

To make your own granola is easy and you’ll get the exact flavor you prefer! Therefore, take this recipe as a guide and make any additions or substitutions from any other spices or nuts/seeds/grains. Keep it in a glass jar and serve as a healthy dessert, a wonderful breakfast or just a quick snack. Here I’m serving it as a dessert with a coconut yoghurt and berries (plus some bee pollen sprinkled on top).

200 ml buckwheat groats
200 ml gluten free oats
50 ml roughly chopped almonds
50 ml pumpkin seeds
50 ml sunflower seeds

100 ml maple syrup
50 ml coconut oil (or other neutral oil of your choice)
1 tsp cinnamon
A pinch of salt

2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp lime zest
1 tsp vanilla extract

100 ml raisins or dried cranberries/lingonberries/chopped apricots (you can also add in some coconut flakes at this point).

Serve with: Berries, coconut yoghurt and some bee pollen sprinkled on top.

1. Oven at 175 C
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, buckwheat, nuts and seeds
3. Heat maple syrup, coconut oil, cinnamon and salt in a pan. Let simmer a few minutes, take off heat and add the lime and the vanilla extract. Let cool.
4. Add the syrup mix into the oat mix, stirring well so that everything is well coated.
5. Spread thinly on a baking tray covered with baking parchment and place in over to roast for about 30 minutes. Stir from time to time. (Or, you can toast the muesli in a pan over low heat, constantly stirring until the muesli is dry).
6. Take out of the oven, let cool. Break up any clusters.
7. Add the raisins or other dried fruit.
8. When completely cool, put into large, clean, dry glass jars.

Sweet and Sour Kiwi Soup

Posted on 15th February 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

Don’t know what to do with your overripe kiwis? This recipe makes for a light and delicious dessert soup. If you can get hold of yellow/golden kiwis, they are really good in this soup.

Serves 2

2 kiwis, scoop out the flesh
Zest from ½ lime
Juice from ½ – 1 lime
Dash of salt

1. Run all ingredients in food processor
2. For a creamier taste, add a bit of coconut milk – about 50 ml – optional.
3. Chill
4. Serve with dehydrated strawberry slices, finely diced strawberry pieces and grated coconut.

For more of a crunch, you can also add a toasted mix of chopped almonds, sunflower seeds and coconut. Combine the three in a dry pan and toast with some salt. Let cool.

Coconut Chocolate Treats

Posted on 1st February 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

These little treats are quick to make, not too sweet and not only gluten free but also dairy free and low fodmap. Don’t forget to refrigerate the coconut cream 24 hours before whipping.

Makes about 25 small treats

Base:
200 ml oats
75 ml cacao
25 ml maple syrup
50 ml rice syrup
50 ml grape seed oil (or other neutral oil to your liking)
pinch of salt

1. Combine the above ingredients.
2. Drop (using 2 teaspoons) small heaps onto a baking sheet covered with baking parchment.
3. Bake in 200C over for 8-10 minutes
4. Take out and flatten the base slightly, let cool

Whipped Coconut Cream:
1 can of coconut cream (or milk)

1. Refrigerate the coconut cream 24 hours. Do not shake the can.
2. Scoop out the separated, top creamy layer. Whip into a fluffy cream
3. Place into piping bags and pipe onto the little chocolate bases.

Sprinkle with cacao powder.

Creamy Chocolate Chili Tofu Ice Cream

Posted on 19th January 2017 by EvaH — 2 Comments ↓

Before you turn away thinking that Tofu ice cream sounds disgusting, let me tell you that it makes for the creamiest, most delicious ice cream ever!! My family loves it and many prefers this ice cream to “normal” ice cream. And – it is so easy to make!
The recipe is, apart from gluten free, also low fodmap, dairy free and vegan.
My daughter found the inspiration for this recipe on-line and I have only made minor adaptations.

Ingredients:
250 ml unsweetened almond milk
200 ml maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla extract
75 ml raw cacao powder
A pinch of salt
500 g plain tofu
3 tbsp melted coconut oil

Chocolate sauce and chili flakes

1. Combine all the ingredients (except the oil) in a blender. When using a blender, always add the solid ingredients after pouring in the liquids, it blends much better this way.
2. Run until completely smooth.
3. Lastly, slowly add the coconut oil, do not overblend.
4. Pour into an ice cream maker (or, into a container you place in the freezer and take out and stir every 20 minutes until solid) and continue according to the ice cream maker’s instructions.

Serve with a citrus/raspberry sauce (see recipe two weeks ago), bananas and chopped nuts or, as I have done here, chocolate sauce (use search bar to find chocolate sauce posted earlier) and chili flakes.

Fruit Tagliatelle

Posted on 6th January 2017 by EvaH — Leave a reply

Maple Coconut Tagliatelli

Delicately flavored “tagliatelle” makes for a light and fruity dessert. In the photo above, I served this dish with a chocolate sauce but then felt that the chocolate was a little too overwhelming. Instead I would recommend a citrus/berry sauce which balances nicely against the tagliatelle. Please find recipe below.
This recipe is gluten and dairy free. It is low foodmap too if you keep the serving to less that 1/4th of the recipe (60 ml coconut water is considered low fodmap).

Serves 5-6

The base:
400 ml Coconut Milk
200 ml Coconut water
75 ml maple syrup
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 tbsp agar agar

1. Combine the agar mix in a saucepan.
2. Boil 5-6 minutes.
3. Pour into small round bowls. Do not pour too much into each bowl as this will make the tagliatelle too wide.
4. Chill in refrigerator.
5. When set, remove from bowl and start shaving into tagliatelle (see photo).

Berries:
100-150 ml mixed berries
A little maple syrup
Juice from ½ lime

1. Marinate the berries in the syrup mix for a few minutes.

Sauce:
150 ml frozen berries
1-2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
50 ml water

1. Slightly thaw the berries
2. Run the ingredients for the sauce in a food processor

Decorations:
Lime zest

Tips for making agar spaghetti noodles

Posted on 15th December 2016 by EvaH — Leave a reply

Tips for making the noodles:

Make the syrup according to the recipe. Add some syrup into the syringe, fit the tube (long tubes are the best) on the syringe and push to fill the tube.

Place the filled tube in ice cold water a few minutes to chill and set.

Take an empty syringe, fill with air, attach the chilled tube and slowly push the noodle out of the tube.

This step takes a bit of practice… If the gel is too soft it won’t hold its shape and you need to reheat the liquid with a bit more agar. If it is too hard when it comes out, then you must dilute the solution with some more juice. Thanks to the agar, the solution may be reheated many times over.

To empty the tube is the difficult part. It will be quite hard to get the gel to exit the tube at first, but then, with all the pressure, it may come out too quickly and thus break. If you have a lot of problems exiting the noodle from the tube, you can prepare your tube (before inserting any fruit/berry mix) by putting a few drops of oil in your syringe, insert syringe into the tube and let the oil flow through. Fill the syringe with air and push through the tube in order to remove excess oil.

Another possibility to improve texture is to refrigerate the spaghetti overnight, then reheat by immersing them in warm water. This will add some stability and elasticity to the noodles.

There are many fun dessert ideas with these noodles, why not decorate a yummy cake? Or just make a berry salad with a nice marinade and noodles?

Coco Fruit Salad

Posted on 30th November 2016 by EvaH — Leave a reply

A festive dessert! Maybe not a fruit salad in a traditional sense but a mix of persimmon, mango, coconut and kiwi. Best served cold in a small glass. If you can’t get persimmon, why not try another fruit, nectarine maybe? Great for breakfast, snack and desserts! Delicious and healthy! Slightly less healthy, but probably really, really good, would be to add one tablespoon of Malibu liqueur in the coconut/yoghurt mix…

Makes 4-6 small servings.

Ingredients

1 mango
Zest of a lime
(chili flakes – optional)

2 kiwis

4 tbsp coconut cream
8 tbsp pureed persimmon (about 1 fruit)
Dash of salt

75 ml coconut cream
75 ml Greek yoghurt
dash of salt
1 tsp agave syrup

Chopped pistachios

1. Cut the mango into pieces and puree in a blender (or handheld mixer). Add the lime zest and, if you want to experiment with a spicier version, add some chili flakes. From a small spoon, drop piles on a sheet of baking parchment and, using the back of the spoon, flatten into thin rounds. Dry in a food dehydrator on 45-50C or in an oven for 10-12 hours.
2. Puree the kiwis and pipe them onto a sheet of baking parchment and dry them as well.
3. Cut the persimmon into chunks, run in a small blender (or a hand held mixer), combine with the coconut cream and salt and pour into serving glasses.
4. Combine the coconut cream, Greek yoghurt, salt and agave. Place in a plastic bag and pipe the mixture on top of the persimmon cream.
5. Place in the fridge to chill.
6. Serve with chopped pistachios and some of the dried fruit pieces on top.

Tricolore Ice Cream with Frozen Choco Air

Posted on 9th November 2016 by EvaH — Leave a reply

This dessert is more on presentation than actually cooking. On the web, I found some beautiful photos of this ice cream which formed the inspiration to this dish.
The ice cream is wonderful on its own but the addition of the frozen chocolate air adds a lot to the presentation.
Normally, foams/airs should be strong in flavour as it has a lot of air in them (with no flavour). But for the frozen air, don’t use any stronger chocolate than 70%.

Ingredients:
2 kinds of ice-cream (or sorbets), slightly thawed. As per the original recipe, I used mango and vanilla flavours.

The berry sauce:
250 g blackberries (frozen berries work well too).
75 ml concentrated black current juice
3 tbsp gin

Frozen Choco Air:
100 g dark chocolate, chopped
250 ml water
½ tsp soy lecithin

1. Process the ingredients for the berry sauce in a blender until smooth. For a completely smooth sauce, pour the sauce through a strainer/cheese cloth. Reserve some of the sauce for decoration.
2. Line a shallow casserole dish with baking parchment. Alternate spoonfuls of the two ice creams at the bottom of the dish, add the berry sauce in the gaps between the spoonfuls. Make two layers. You want to avoid any air bubbles. Place in freezer for 2-3 hours.
3. Bring the water for the Frozen Choco Air to a boil. Add the chopped chocolate. Remove from heat and stir until melted. Cool.
4. In a shallow dish, add the soy lecithin to the chocolate mixture and using an immersion blender, incorporate as much air as possible into the foam. The best way of doing this is to tilt the dish slightly and keep half of the blender outside the mixture while blending. There will be splatter so keep the bowl partially covered with cling film.
5. After 4-5 minutes you should have some foam. Spoon the foam (no liquid, just foam) onto a tray covered with baking parchment. Form little piles. Continue blending to make some more foam and then spoon that foam as well onto the tray.
6. When done, place in freezer for 1-2 hours.
7. Serving: Cut the ice cream into squares. Using a spatula, take some spoon and place on top of ice cream. Do not touch the foam with your hands as it will instantly melt. Placing it on top of the frozen ice cream allows the foam to stay in shape for a longer time. Decorate with the reserved sauce.
8. Serve immediately. If you decide to omit the foam, please find below some alternative plating ideas.

Cinnamon Ice Cream with Coffee Reduction

Posted on 5th May 2016 by EvaH — Leave a reply

Dairy and gluten free – how about this as a substitute for your cup of coffee and cinnamon roll? The ice cream will take a bit of time to make but the sauce is quick and easy and divine! A large scoop of this ice cream is a low fodmap dish (the full recipe needs about 55 almonds and as 12 is the limit you may eat 1/5th of this batch). The almonds needs soaking 24 hours so you need the start this ice cream a day ahead. The coconut needs to be young with soft meat inside.

Ice Cream:
100 ml almonds (about 55 whole almonds), blanched
100 ml young coconut meat (about one small coconut)
Pinch of salt
1,5 tbsp ground cinnamon
50 ml almond milk
50 ml rice syrup
2 tbsp melted coconut oil

Coffee Reduction:
1 dl espresso coffee
2 tbsp maple syrup
A few drops of vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

1. Soak the almonds in some water for 12 hours, change the water and soak for another 12 hours.
2. Using a meat cleaver, crack open the coconut and scoop out the meat.
3. Place all ingredients (except for the oil) in a blender and process until smooth.
4. While still processing, slowly add the oil. Do not over process as then the mix may separate.
5. Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze. If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can pour the mix into a plastic container and place in freezer. Take the container out of the freezer every hour and stir.
6. Combine the ingredients for the coffee reduction.
7. Over low to medium heat, let simmer in small sauce pan until reduced to desired thickness. Cool. Do not reduce it too much as it will thicken some more while cooling.

Lollipop Crunch Apples

Posted on 9th March 2016 by EvaH — Leave a reply

A small ball of apple on a stick, dipped in creamy caramel and rolled in a seed or a nut crunch. Heavenly! The apple may also be substituted for a piece of banana – maybe even frozen?

1-2 apples, make little balls using a “melon baller”

Caramel:
10 medjool dates, pitted and soaked in water for 30 minutes
50 ml maple syrup
75 ml coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp water (and possibly some more later on)
(+1 tbsp mesquite powder, optional – Provides a slight molasses-like flavour.)

1. Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add some more water to make the right consistency for dipping to apples.
2. Set aside.

Crunch:
75 ml pumpkin seeds (or any other seed or nut you like)
2 tbsp coconut sugar (or the equivalent of raw sugar)
Seeds from ½ vanilla pod
Salt

1. Scrape out the vanilla seeds from the pod.
2. Briefly blitz all the ingredients in a blender until forming a coarse (not fine) mix.
3. Put into small bowl.

Assembly:
1. Using a small skewer, dip the apples (or banana pieces) into the caramel batter followed by rolling them into the seed crunch.
2. Place in the refrigerator until serving. (or, if using bananas, maybe in the freezer until serving).

The Gluten Free Gourmet

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