Cinnamon Coconut Squares with Chocolate Topping

Yum, another coconutty treat.  :D  The original name for this recipe is raw bounty squares, but since we don't even get those around here, the name says nothing to me about what it is . . . so the re-name.

Coconut base

2 cups desiccated coconut, unsweetened
165ml coconut milk (2/3 cup + 1 tsp)
3 tbs melted coconut oil
3 tbs coconut blossom sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

•  combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix with a fork until well combined
• pour mixture into a glass dish lined with wax paper - press the mixture down firmly
• place in freezer for an hour to set

 Chocolate topping

5 tbs coconut oil
3 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs coconut blossom sugar

• combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir while melting over a pot with hot water
• pour over coconut mixture and place in fridge for 10 mins to set

I decided to put everything in a pot and melt it directly on the stove, except the coconut blossom sugar didn't melt at all, so I added a few squirts of honey but that didn't mix into the coconut-chocolate mixture, so finally I took it off stove and sieved the mixture into a bowl to get rid of the unmelted sugar and globs of honey - I pressed it through the sieve with a spoon and most of the honey went throught but it wouldn't blend in nicely with the chocolate mixture, BUT oh well, I poured it over anyway and it's good.  Maybe I should read properly and follow the recipe next time, I think the coconut sugar burned, since it does burn easily.  Ish.  Of course the honey makes it non-vegan, so keep that in mind if you want to keep this recipe vegan.

These should be kept refrigerated.

They are really tasty though, a keeper for sure. :)

Recipe credit to Make and Bake from Scratch.

Chocolate Fudge in a Bowl

This is really GOOD.  Really chocolatey.  And for the average person, this tiny portion of a few teaspoons is actually enough.  Even for me, and I'm not the average person when it comes to my extreme sweet tooth (or teeth) - I made a double batch once and I must admit it was more than enough.

And you can go from zero to chocolate heaven in about 2 minutes.

3 tbs cocoa powder
2 tsp melted coconut oil
2 tsp honey

• combine everything in a little bowl and mix with a spoon until completely combined and smooth
• eat

I melt my coconut oil by putting the oil I need in a glass, boiling some water and pouring it in a bowl and placing the glass in the bowl - stirring the coconut helps melt it quicker.

This is just really good, that's all there is to say about it.

There's more that can be done with this though, I'm sure of it - soon I will experiment and see how I can incorporate this delicious yumminess into something . . . bigger.  :)

Recipe credit to The Rawtarian.

Banana Chocolate Fudge

I've decided to post this recipe only because banana-choc recipes seem to be popular on the net, so there must be folk out there who like it, but after trying a few banana-choc recipes, and being disappointed each time, I've decided I'm not a fan of this combo.
That being said, there's nothing really wrong with it, so those who do like the banana-choc combo may well really enjoy this, so here's to y'all . . .

They DO look YUM though, don't they!

160g very ripe banana
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tbs coconut flour
1 1/2 tbs coconut blossom sugar
1/8 tsp himalayan salt
1/4 cup + 2tbs cocoa powder

• place all ingrediets in food processor and blend until well combined 
• grease a glass dish with some coconut oil, press mixture into dish and refrigerate for a few hours until set
• cut into slices and enjoy! Keep refrigerated.

Recipe credit to Chocolate Covered Katie, with some adaptations of my own.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Brownie Dessert

This is a brownie that's best munched as a pudding, it's very soft . . . and has a sort of fresh taste to it, I think it has something to do with the sweet potato and coconut oil - maybe you'll get what I mean when you try it.

When it comes out the oven it's super soft.

And it's incredibly moist, very pudding-y.

1 3/4 cups peeled, cooked & mashed sweet potatoes (I steam mine for about 25 minutes)
1/4 cup greek yoghurt
egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs
2 vanilla powder or pure vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut blossom sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 tbs coconut flour

•  in a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well
• grease a glass dish with some coconut oil, pour mixture in and bake at 175C for 30 minutes - it should be firm but it will be very soft to the touch, and gooey inside
• allow to cool and serve - dish up with a spoon, you'll have to eat this brownie dessert with a fork, it's that soft

You can also refrigerate it for a few hours until it firms up a little more - I left it in over night, then cut into squares and serve - you'll probably still need to munch it with a fork though:

Fruity Oat Bars

I was once again looking for recipes where I can use up bananas that I otherwise couldn't use in time before they turn totally brown & mushy, and came across this one.  They're good for snacking or lunch boxes, as well as part of a quick breakfast when you're in a hurry. 

3 large ripe bananas
2 cups oats (the gluten-free kind if you want to be sure it's gluten-free)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup chopped dates*
1/4 cup chopped cranberries*
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

* You can add more of these fruits if you wish, or add raisins as well.  These bars were tasty but I would add some more fruit next time - it really "spices" up these bars.

• preheat oven to 180 degree C, line a 16 x 25 cm glass dish with baking paper (extend over the sides so you can pick it up easily) and grease baking paper really well, else it'll stick to the bars - as me, I know
• mash bananas until smooth, then add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined
• pour mixture into prepared dish and press down evenly
• bake for about 30 minutes (until it starts to turn a little golden), cool completely then cut into bars

Vegan Coconut Ice

Here's something to satisfy your coconutty cravings.  I love coconut ice but all the bad kind of sugar in there from the condensed milk and sugar makes me not want to make it anymore.  This one does contain some agave but in total much less sugar than the original coconut ice.  I found this recipe, but it was called white chocolate which is what tempted me to make it in the first place, but to me it's nothing like white chocolate and everything like coconut ice. 

3 cups desiccated coconut
1/4 agave nectar (I'm sure maple syrup will work as well, and honey)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

• place coconut into food processor and process for about 5 minutes until it's chopped up finely
• add remaining ingredients and process for about another 5 minutes
• press mixture into a glass dish and freeze for about 30 minutes so that it can set.  Aftewards it's fine if you keep it in the fridge, but if you keep it at room temp they're go soft 

Lucky for me my husband, who's not a huge desiccated coconut fan, didn't like this at all so it was ALL MINE, hehe.

Homemade Condensed Milk

This is completely opposite to anything resembling a healthy delight . . . in fact it's a sinful delight, but it's sooo yummy and tastes just about exactly like canned condensed milk.  If you're like me and you do, once it a while, crave a can of condensed milk, this is the recipe for you.

This recipe is actually bad news, because it's WAY too easy to make. :)

1 cup powdered milk
1 cup sugar (I used light brown sugar, but white works too)
1/2 cup boiling water

Place everything into a food processor and blend away until the sugar is dissolved - it may take about 5 minutes at least.  And voila, believe it or not, there's your condensed milk!  As you can see, it makes a good coffee cup-sized portion.

It's quite liquidy though, so if you want it a bit thicker like the canned version, just place it in the fridge for a while.

Note: I accept no responsibility for any weight gain, tighter jeans or ruined diets as a result of posting this recipe.

Soft Banana Coconut Cookies

These are pleasant little high-fibre cookies to snack on.

You know how you always have those extra bananas lying around, no longer in their prime, waiting for you to find something to do with them, and you swear you'll go google up on banana recipe ideas tomorrow . . . and how those same bananas always end up going black and then you're so relieved to be able to throw them away now and have that weight of finding a recipe finally lift off your shoulders? . . .  No?  It's only me then?

Well I've found another way to use up that banana before it expands the fruit fly population in my kitchen.

10 pitted organic dried dates
1 soft banana
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut (not sweetened)

• throw all ingredients in a food processor & process until smooth
• the mixture should be a little moist, but not gooey or too dry - just right to shape into little balls & hold their shape - add more banana if too dry, or more coconut if too wet
• take large teaspoon sized portions & shape into little balls (or something resembling a ball), press slightly flat, place on a buttered baking sheet
• bake at 165 degree C for about 10 mins.  The cookies should be soft

Raw Chocolate Cookies

I'm completely addicted to chocolates & cakes and things, so I'm looking & searching & SEARCHING some more for healthy treats to satisfy my unhealthy cravings, and then I found these cookies - when I first tried them I thought "uhhhh, they taste like coco powder", but then the more I munched 'em, the nicer they became and now I'll definitely be making them again.  So bottom line, these may take a little getting used to, but they do satisfy a chocolate craving, and they ARE tasty.

In fact, my husband does our shopping every week, and he'll always get us a slab of chocolate for the weekend, and this week I told him not to get me one, 'cause I'm gonna make me some 'a these cookies instead.  A proud moment for me.  :)

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup raw cacao powder (I'm using normal store bought cocoa powder for now, but I'll be making the switch to the raw one soon)
2 tbs liquid sweetener (maple syrup, honey, agave, I used organic rice syrup)
4 tbs + 1 tps organic coconut oil, melted

• put all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix to combine well
• take teaspoon sized portions, roll into little balls and squish em flat to form a cookie shape
• place in a glass dish & refrigerate for about 1 hour until "set"                                              

NOTE: if you use coconut oil in it's semi-solid state, the recipe will still work, but the batter will be reeeeally crumbly - just take teaspoonfulls of mixture and press into shape, it will hold together.

Spiced Date Balls

These are SO yummy, and what's even better is that they're absolutely healthy so you don't even have to feel bad no matter how many of 'em you munch.  :)

They're sugar-free, gluten-free, vegan, and raw, so NO nutrients were harmed in the making of this healthy delight.

1 cup (packed) organic dates, pips removed
1/2 cup gluten-free oats (not the instant kind)
2 small carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
unsweetened dried desiccated coconut for rolling in

Throw all the ingredients (except coconut) into a food processor and blend until mixed but not totally smooth or pasty.

Roll teaspoon sized portions into little balls, roll in coconut to cover, and they're good to go!  You can chill them in the fridge first if you like but it doesn't make that much difference in the end.  You get out about 24 balls.

I've actually been looking for healthier foods & treats that I can make for baby (and ultimately the rest of family too!), so I'm chuffed at having found something that I find divine too (and extra happy that it's so much healthier than cake hehe).

Date Truffles

These date truffles are beyond divine, they're one of my all time favourite sweets EVER.  Little bites of what I image must be the kinds of treats found in heaven. :D

This makes a really small portion (well, small to ME - it fills a side plate), so double, tripple or quadrupal it depending on how many people you want to serve.

125g pitted dates, chopped as finely as you can (I used organic ones without any nasty preservatives)
62.5ml butter
30ml sugar
25ml egg (beat an egg with a fork and then pour out 25ml)
2ml vanilla essence
10 (or 1/4 packet) marie biscuits, very finely crushed (put 'em in a packet and crush them with a rolling pin)
desiccated coconut to roll in

• melt butter in pot and add dates
• beat together sugar & egg until creamy; add to date mixture & mix
• add vanilla & mix
• add biscuit crumbs & mix, remove from heat
• let cool & roll into little balls, then roll in coconut
• cool in fridge

I want to try a sugar-free (& egg-free) version - that way I'll more readily make this treat, knowing that it's healthier!  Not sure how to replace the sugar filled marie biscuits, but I'll do some research.  :)

Fruity Ice Pops

I thought I'd try make some healthy ice pops - actually my first ice pops too! 

I made watermelon & pineapple ice pops.  I juiced the watermelon in a juicer because I didn't want any seeds in the pop, but for other fruit I would use my blender/smoothie maker.

I did the watermelon first and let it freeze for about an hour before I added the pineapple.

I must say the fruit loses a bit of their flavour when frozen, mostly the watermelon but even the pineapple too, so next time I'd substitute watermelon for other fruits with stronger flavours, like mango or kiwi and see how they turn out.

These are good for a hot day. :)

After making banana icecream, I would even try a layer of banana in the ice pops, and the banana doesn't lose any of it's flavour at all when frozen.

Banana Ice-Cream with Banana Whipped Cream

It's Aidan's 1st b'day next month and I've been searching for a healthy birthday cake idea for him.  I haven't introduced any sugar to him yet and am trying to give him the healthiest meals I can.

Well, I just couldn't find a cake that met my criteria - either they had sugar in them, or I tried to substitute the sugar for something else healthier and it didn't work out, or I tried a sugar-free cake and it didn't turn out good, so I was disappointed that I couldn't find a healthy b'day cake!

Then I found someone online who made banana ice-cream - I tried it and it turned out really well. :D  And then elsewhere I found another recipe for banana cream - all I changed here was to sub stevia for sugar and leave out vanilla essence because I didn't have one without some nasty ingredients in it, and it's so tasty. :)

So here's my practice round for Aidan's b'day "cake" . . .

How cute is that? :D

All you do is freeze a ripe banana - just don't use an overly ripe one whose skin has already gone black - the ice-cream will taste bitter (I used such a banana 'cause I was so impatient to try out this ice-cream to see if it works, that I used the only banana I had on hand).  The recipe also said not to use a green banana, because it will make for a "green" tasting ice-cream.

• peel banana, chop banana into bite size chunks (I used 1 1/2 banana for this single size serving)
• freeze for 2 hours
• put in a food processor and blend until it turns creamy

When you start blending it will look all crumbly, but eventually (less than a minute) it suddenly turns creamy and ice-cream texture-y.  If it sticks to the sides of the food processor, just scrape it down back onto the blades and keep blending.

Then it's basically ready to eat!  It's so creamy, and really good actually.  This must be one of the healthiest ice-creams ever!

I put the ice-cream into a mini silicone mould though, 'cause I wanted something that looks more like a "cake" with some shape instead of a bowl of ice-cream, so I froze it for another few hours - I accidentally forgot about it and so don't know how long it was in the freezer for, but I froze it until it was quite hard.

To get it out I loosened the edges of the mould and ran the bottom of the mould under warm water to get it loose, and it came out easily.

Next time I'll just make sure to press the ice-cream down nicely into the mould, but it doesn't matter, it's getting covered by cream. :)

As for the cream, here's what you need (this is WAYYY more than you need for a little baby dessert, so use less if you don't like to eat the cream throughout the day). :)

1 cup fresh cream
15 drops liquid stevia
1/2 banana, mashed REALLY well until it's almost liquid with no chunks in it (add more banana if you want it more banana-y)

• add stevia and whip until stiff - make it as stiff as you like it
• mix in banana by hand, or for just 1 second mix it with your blender - you don't want to over-whip the cream
• scoop into ice-cream

Serve immediately.  Hope it turns out this good on his b'day!

A cute little "cake" that baby can make a yummy mess with. :)  You'll probably have to feed the ice-cream to him with a spoon though.

Chewy Peanut Butter & Honey Oatmeal Squares

WOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm proud to say that this is the first GOOD recipe that I've invented all on my own!  My husband really likes it too, so that really has to mean something...hehe.

It's exciting because I'm not very good in the kitchen...even when I follow a recipe to the letter sometimes, a flop occurs in the end product.

To be honest, what sort of inspired this adventure were these rice crispie squares, but mine's much healthier! :)

Anyway, what's good about this sweet treat is that I think it can be classified as a healthy delight. :D  I was wanting to come up with a sweet snack that's actually good for you, and I believe this one is - it contains no sugar, no processed foods and lots of nutrition and fibre.  Since this was an experiment, I made a tiny portion, so next time I'll tripple the ingredients and see if that works out, then I'll amend this recipe.  Here goes:

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup organic sugar-free peanut butter
1/4 cup uncooked oats
1 tbs sunflower seeds
1 tbs sesame seeds
1 tbs molasses bran
1 tbs ground flax seeds
1 tbs digestive bran
1/2 tsp sweet molasses (see also blackstrap molasses)

• warm up the honey & peanut butter on the stove on low heat and mix to combine (don't "cook" it or heat it up unnecessarily long), remove from heat, mix in molasses
• add all other ingredients and mix well - it's quite a stiff mix!
• place in a greased glass dish and press down to even out the top.  I wet a spoon with a couple drops of water and used that to press down the mixture - it's quite sticky
• set in fridge for at least an hour, cut into squares and munch!

The tiny portion

 

Mmmmm - chewy (not SO sticky actually) peanut butter and honey yumminess. :D  Needless to say that it's already finished.

Peanut Butter Rice Crispie Squares

Obviously this isn't a healthy treat, but it's healthier than the usual rice crispie squares because there's no white sugar in it!  No marshmallows are used, which also means that it's vegan. :)

These were so tasty, but they tended to fall apart quite easily (especially once they started warming up once taken out of the fridge)...not sure why...maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I was watching the recipe show on tv, she didn't let us know how much peanut butter to put in!  So I had to take a guess from what I saw how much she added.  Either way, they turned out pretty good!

I also used organic sugar-free peanut butter which I think is a good move in making this recipe just a tad better for you.

6 cups rice crispies
1/2 cup honey (the poury kind)
1/2 cup peanut butter (my guess)
2/3 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped (she used dried cherries but this is what I used)

• Add honey & peanut butter to a pot on the stove and warm them up (just need to warm it up slightly so that they become soft and mix together, no cooking needed).  Stir to combine.
• Add rice crispies and mix until rice crispies are all coated with honey mixture.
• Add cranberries and stir to combine.
• Place into greased baking or glass dish and press down to even out the top.  The layer should be about 1 inch thick (I wouldn't go thinner otherwise I think they'll break apart very easily).
• Set in fridge for about 1 hour.

And that's it!  This was so easy and really quick to make...JUST my kinda recipe... :D