Avocado and Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients:

Serves two

• 1 avocado
• 150ml coconut milk
• 300ml soy milk (alternative milks work just fine as well)
• 2 tbs cocoa powder

Method:

1. Put it all in a blender and blend!
2. Serve with ice and enjoy

Vegan, Chocolate Flapjacks

No sugar, no dairy, high protein and packed with vitamins…

Preparation time: 10 – 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20-15 minutes

Makes about 20 flapjacks

Ingredients

• 360g oats
• 30g raw cocao powder
• 2 bananas
• 6 tbsp maple syrup
• 6 tbsp cashew, almond or smooth peanut butter (use organic)
• 4 tbsp coconut oil. plus extra for greasing

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C).
2. In a saucepan, mash the bananas with a fork then add the maple syrup (or honey), nut butter and coconut oil. Allow to simmer until a smooth paste forms.
3. Add the oats and stir well so that they’re fully covered.
4. Grease a baking tray with coconut oil and transfer the flapjack mix into the baking tray, pressing it down firmly with a spatula so that it’s very compact.
5. Bake for 15-20 mins until the top starts to brown.
6. Once it’s cooked, remove the tray from the oven and leave it to fully cool before slicing the flapjacks.
7. Serve with a nice cup of chai tea!

Christmas Yule Log

I just found this Christmas recipe in my ‘drafts’ from two years ago! It’s about time it saw the light of day.

I made a Yule Log this (two Christmases ago) Christmas, as only one out of four in the family actually like Christmas cake! This cake was yummy scrummy and I recommend making it!

I know the recipe looks difficult. But who doesn’t have some time to kill over the holidays…. okay, okay, I know not everyone, but trust me, this is worth it!

Ingredients

for the cake

• 6 large eggs (separated)
• 150 grams caster sugar
• 50 grams cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 teaspoons icing sugar (to decorate)

for the icing

• 175 grams dark chocolate (chopped)
• 250 grams icing sugar
• 225 grams soft butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350ºF.
2. In a large, clean bowl whisk the egg whites until thick and peaking, then, still whisking, sprinkle in 50g / ¼ cup of the caster sugar and continue whisking until the whites are holding their peaks but not dry.
3. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining caster sugar until the mixture is moussy, pale and thick. Add the vanilla extract, sieve the cocoa powder over, then fold both in.
4. Lighten the yolk mixture with a couple of dollops of the egg whites, folding them in robustly. Then add the remaining whites in thirds, folding them in carefully to avoid losing the air.
5. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment, leaving a generous overhang at the ends and sides, and folding the parchment into the corners to help the paper stay anchored.
6. Pour in the cake mixture and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Let the cake cool a little before turning it out onto another piece of baking parchment. If you dust this piece of parchment with a little icing sugar it may help with preventing stickage, but don’t worry too much as any tears or dents will be covered by icing later. Cover loosely with a clean tea towel.
7. To make the icing, melt the chocolate – either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water or, my preference, in a microwave following the manufacturer’s guidelines – and let it cool.
8. Put the icing sugar into a processor and blitz to remove lumps, add the butter and process until smooth. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and the tablespoon of vanilla extract and pulse again to make a smooth icing. You can do this by hand, but it does mean you will have to sieve the sugar before creaming it with the butter and stirring in the chocolate and vanilla.
9. Sit the flat chocolate cake on a large piece of baking parchment. Trim the edges of the Swiss roll. Spread some of the icing thinly over the sponge, going right out to the edges. Start rolling from the long side facing you, taking care to get a tight roll from the beginning, and roll up to the other side. Pressing against the parchment, rather than the tender cake, makes this easier.
10. Cut one or both ends slightly at a gentle angle, reserving the remnants, and place the Swiss roll on a board or long dish. The remnants, along with the trimmed-off bits earlier, are to make a branch or two; you get the effect by placing a piece of cake at an angle to look like a branch coming off the big log.
11. Spread the yule log with the remaining icing, covering the cut-off ends as well as any branches. Create a wood-like texture by marking along the length of the log with a skewer or somesuch, remembering to do wibbly circles, as in tree rings, on each end.
12. You don’t have to dust with icing sugar, but I love the freshly fallen snow effect, so push quite a bit through a small sieve, letting some settle in heaps on the plate or board on which the log sits.
13. If you are able to, make some marzipan mushrooms and other woodland items such as pinecones  (you can look up how on youtube, it really bring the piece together)

Chocolate and Coffee Cupcakes – Vegan

Vegan Chocolate and Coffee Cupcakes

 

 

I don’t even like cakes but these are amazing.

Ingredients

Cake (Sorry it is in cups, you can convert it though)

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

Method

1. Mix it all together in no order!
2. Put into cupcakes or a cake tin
3. Bake on 200’c for about 15 minutes (cupcakes) or longer for a cake. – check with a tooth pick to make sure it is cooked.
4. Ice

Icing

• 180g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 75g vegan margerine or coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon strong filter coffee

Method

All together no order!

Stick it on top

For the icing flowers I used this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R8MsL-5oKA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vegan Chocolate, Strawberry and Coconut Brownie

Sunday night is date night.

Evie and I decided to have dinner together tonight, pooling together our ingredients we managed to make some pretty tasty stuff. We decided to make a healthy brownie and watch our guilty pleasure (Extreme make over – weight loss edition). Oh Evie is my friend, not a dog or bear I am weirdly attached to – that would be the seal, and her name is Sophie cause I am really adventurous.

So I made this recipe a long time ago when I was none vegan. Which basically had an egg instead of strawberries, and you know what, tastes just as good! Desert comes first cause if you died after your first course, you would have died not actually having what you wanted in the first place:

Vegan Brownie

Ingredients (makes 6)

• 180g (3/4 cup) Thick Coconut milk
• 60ml (1/4 cup) Almond/soy/rice milk
• 64g (1/2 cup) Cocoa powder
• 43g (1/2 cup) Wholegrain rolled oats
• 30g (1/4 cup) chopped strawberries
• 30g (1/4 cup) chopped strawberries (2)
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 150g Roughly chopped pecans (or nuts of your choice)

Method

1. Add all ingredients but nuts and one of the 1/4 cups of strawberries into a blender and blend until smooth
2. Mix in the the nuts and strawberries with a spoon
3. Spoon into a square container (I used a small 15×15 cm)
4. Bake for approx 20 mins
5. Leave to cook, cut and serve

 

 

Raw-Vegan Chocolate Pudding – HAPPY EASTER!

Now its Easter…. a holiday previously seen with me stuffing my face with copious amounts of chocolate that my parents had hidden from me, this time for my own pleasure, but sillyly enough left me clues as to where to find it. But say goodbye to the ‘unhealthy’ chocolate / pudding myth! Easter CAN and WILL be healthy, and not without chocolate!

I crave chocolate, like most people, but there is absolutely no need to blow the calorie bank whilst doing it! Being vegan, on a massive budget, restricts me from buying all these vegan chocolates and such, and buying stuff…. where’s the fun in that!

You can even get in two of your five a day with this recipe, or even more if you are really pushing the boat out! You could add blueberries (they don’t blend too well through so could be a bit grainy!) Raspberries would be divine in this recipe. When I try it out I’ll add it to the recipe if needs be!

Nuts can also be added to this recipe bumping up the cals and fat, but they’re good cals and fat, nothing better than a new nuts!

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 3 strawberries
• 2 tbs raw cocoa powder
• (some kind of sweetener if you want, but it really doesn’t need it!)

Method

1. Blend the strawberries and banana till a thick paste
2. Add the cocoa powder and blend in well
3. Serve!

 

You’ll never go back!

Brownie Pinwheels

Brownies, hazelnuts, marzipan, chocolate Pinwheels – Say whaaatttt?!

These are based on some pinwheels that I made previously >>Here<< , but this time combined with my low calorie brownie mix >>Here<< !!

I am entering these in a competition, so wish me luck!

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

• 150g plain flour
• 150g strong white flour
• 250g salted butter
• 2 eggs

Brownie Mix

 

• 180g  Low fat yogurt (I used soy)
• 60ml Skimmed milk (or almond/soy)
• 65g Cocoa powder
• 45g Wholegrain rolled oats
• 65g any natural/stevia based sweetener that pours like sugar
• 1 free range egg
• 1 tsp Baking powder Pinch of salt

Sprinkle

• Marzipan
• Hazelnuts
• Chopped chocolate (what ever type you like, milk, dark, white)
• Plums

Method

1. Make the puff pastry (I use the video of Paul Hollywood, make sure you have enough time to refrigerate over night)
2. The next day, make the brownie mix, by blending all of the ingredients together.
3. Chop up all of the “Sprinkle” ingredients
4. Roll out the puff pastry till about a cm.
5. Spread the Brownie mix all over it and sprinkle the sprinkle over it.
6. Roll up the puff pastry into a log (using the longest side to roll up)
7. Cut into 2 inch lengths and put on baking paper. Brush the outside of the pastry with egg.
8. Put in a preheated oven at 200’c for 15 minutes, or until all the pastry is puffed up and the brownie mix has darkened.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and eat!

Low (er) Calorie Truffels

Yum Yum in my Tum Tum!

I have just finished these Truffles for a surprise for my lovely boyfriend. The are lower in fat and calories than normal, but to be honest, they’re still pretty devilish!

My Recipie

• 100g chocolate (I used one with hazelnuts in)
• 50g extra light soft cheese
• 70g icing sugar
• Extra cocoa powder and iceing sugar for rolling (I also gave shaved coconut a go or an extra kick!) You can also roll in crushed nuts, chocolate flakes, melted chocolate and much more.

Method

1. Beat the soft cheese and icing sugar in a bowl until smooth.
2. Melt the chocolate (remember, don’t place it directly into the saucepan, but melt in a water bath placed ABOVE a pan of boiling water).
3. Blend the chocolate and icing sugar mixture together and if you want to add any liqueur or other flavouring, now is the time!
4. Place the mixture in a small bowl and refrigerate for 45 minutes, or until the chocolate is stiff enough to work with, but not completely set. Bear in mind that with added flavourings it may need longer.
5. Using a teaspoon, scoop out lumps of the mixture and roll into balls in your palms. I have put down 15 as a rough estimate but it could be anything between 10 and 20 depending on the size you prefer.
6. Finally, roll in any coatings you want.

Containers.

Finish off the truffles by presenting them nicely such as below..

1. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/158604/cheaters-chocolate-truffles

Chocolate, Marzipan, Hazelnut Pinwheels

These are the best things I have ever made in my life (I know I say this a lot, but they really were fabulous). My friend Rosie and I were bored and decided to make something a bit naughty.We went off to the shop to buy the ingredients and it was worth the extra effort! This was a very cheeky make, but I couldn’t resist.

Ingredients:

Pastry

• 250g Flour
• 250g Butter
• Water (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2403/roughpuff-pastry-)
• (or ready made Puff Pastry)

Filling

• 2 tablespoon butter, melted
• 3 tablespoon brown sugar, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped marzipan
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts (or chop up a hazelnut chocolate bar for convenience)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten for egg wash

Instructions:

1. Make and roll out pastry. Brush puff pastry with melted butter.
2. Sift brown sugar and cinnamon on top of puff pastry.
3. Sprinkle the chocolate (cut up into small pieces/drops), marzipan (small pieces), and the hazelnuts (if not already in the chocolate)
4. Starting from the bottom, roll pastry into a log. Brush top edge with egg wash to seal log. Brush egg wash all over log.
5. Slice log into 1/2 inch pieces for pinwheel. Place pinwheels on parchment-lined bakes sheet.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until puff pastry cookies turn golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Note: Cookies are best consumed right after they are made. (I’ll be surprised if they make it through the day)

Related

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1k3tk4/www.endlesssimmer.com/2012/04/13/chocolate-and-toffee-pecan-pinwheel-cookies/#

Low Calorie, Low fat Chocolate Cake

In an average chocolate cake there is 250-350 calories per slice. And everyone loves chocolate. So here is my alternative!

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• ¾ cup  flour
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup boiling water

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch round or 8-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and until well combined.
3. Add the eggs, milk, oil and beat until very smooth.
4. Stir in the boiling water. (The mix will be quiet thin.)
5. Pour into your prepared pan.
6. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and cool in the pans set on wire racks for 10 minutes and then remove the cakes from the pans and set them on wire racks to cool completely.
8. I have served with 0% yoghurt.

(Alternatives, exchange the oil and the egg for yoghurt however this makes more of a squishy brownie consistency)

Estimates Per Serving

(1/12th of cake): 156 calories

6 g fat

26 g carbs

1 g fiber

2 g protein