Recipe Request for Classic Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies

You asked for it!

Hi all *waving*

I have decided to share one of the recipes for my future ebook, as some of you have requested it...and I don't want to leave you hanging. Sharing is fun and something I love to do as much as I love making raw goodies ;) In return I hope you would be so kind as to leave me some feedback (through a comment or send me an email )that way I can revamp the cookie if needed.

Classic Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes 15-16 hearty cookies

Chocolate Chunks
3/4 cup cacao powder
*1/4 cup cashew flour
**1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, melted (in hot water bath)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt

*Grind cashews, coconut, and oats in a coffee grinder until flour consistency is achieved. **Hot water bath: Place coconut oil in a bowl, then place that bowl into a larger bowl filled with a little hot water. (Careful not to put too much hot water in the bowl or it will overflow into the coconut oil and you don't want that)

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Do not over blend or the oil will begin to separate from the mixture. Take a plate and cover with a sheet of parchment paper. Pour chocolate on top of parchment paper, about 1/4" thick. Work quickly before the mixture begins to harden.
Place in freezer until hard. Approximately half hour or so.

Cookie Dough
*2 cups cashew flour
*1/4 cup coconut flour
*1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup of cashew nuts
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla or 1/2 of a vanilla bean, scraped

*Grind cashews, coconut, and oats in a coffee grinder until flour consistency is achieved.

In a large bowl mix cashew flour, coconut flour, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, mix and set aside.

Next in a food processor add cashew nuts and coconut oil. Process until a creamy 'butter' consistency is achieved. Next add in vanilla and maple syrup until smooth. Pour this mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix (I used my hands - put some extra love into it) until well combined.

Take out chocolate from the freezer and and remove from parchment paper. Cut or break chocolate into chunks. Work quickly so that the chocolate doesn't melt. Reserve 1/3 cup of chocolate chunks and fold remaining chunks into batter. Save the extra chunks as an ice cream topping or melt and add to a smoothie or use as a quick chocolate sauce OR just snack on them.

Spoon out about 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and drop onto a plate, gently shaping them.
Try not to handle these cookies to much and work quickly or else the chocolate chunks will start to bleed into the dough mixture. They will still taste yummy, but they won't be as pretty.

Refrigerate of freeze until firm. They should be ready to eat after 15 minutes in the freezer.

I hope you love these as much as we do. From my heart to you!

Celebrate a Mexican Stay-cation...with Ice Cream!

I'll start with the best part.....dessert, because there are no rules ;)

So, the weather outside is frightful and I'm dreaming of a warm vacation, but...it's just not going to happen. How about celebrating a stay-cation with a typical summer dessert that has a warming spice? Sign me up! I just have to share this recipe with you peeps...it is sooo yummy *licking lips*. It is the best chocolate ice cream that I have ever had. I was making some almond milk today and then I had this brilliant idea to make ice cream...in the winter, so perhaps what I really wanted was a summertime dessert to celebrate a stay-cation, yay! Chocolate seemed like a good choice because, well, it's chocolate! Plus a little extra richness is perfect for the colder season. Would it be possible to have an ice cream that was not only delicious and cool BUT could warm me up...ABSOLUTELY! I just have to share this recipe with you all. I hope you like it as much as B and I do...did ;)

WARNING! Not for the chocolate faint of heart!!!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Crunch Ice Cream

Almond Milk Base
2 cups of soaked almonds
2 cups of water

Put almonds and water in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour Almond Milk Base into a nut milk bag or the panty hoe stocking (it's what I use).
Reserve pulp for raw unbaking, add it to your porridge or compost, but it's not welcome in the ice cream ;)
Pour the Almond Milk Base back into the blender.

To the blender containing the Almond Milk Base add;
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 soft medjool dates
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 tablespoon of vanilla or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt (this really is essential)
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne powder (leave out for regular chocolate ice cream)

Blend until smooth.

Next add;
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 tablespoon of lecithin

Blend until completely smooth.

Stir in
3/4 cup of cacao nibs

Poor into an ice cream maker (and follow manual instructions) or if your like me and do not have an ice cream maker, do it old school (you will need to be home for a few hours). Pour ice cream into a shallow container and freeze. Every one to two hours stir the ice cream. When the ice cream is frozen you are ready to eat!

A little bit of love in every bite.

Note: If you have children that will be eating this ice cream or if you are sensitive to caffeine you can definitely replace half of the cacao with carob. I am certain it would be just as yummy.

If you guys decide to make this, I would love to know what you think.

For lunch I whipped up a quicky soup. It looks so pretty and it's green...my fav food hue!

It was a combo of coconut milk, cilantro, lime juice, cucumber, carrot, curry, garlic, ginger, chili, and salt. Since it was a quicky I don't have exact measurements. It was quite tasty. I just love raw soup, so nourishing and simple to digest.

Have a great weekend and thanks for popping by!

Raw Gourmet Kitchen Marathon

I have been busy making some raw gourmet goodies the last few days. Here are some yummies that I prepared through the week and weekend, but first let me introduce to you my little kitchen helpers...


Donald & George!

I love my green smoothies and juices for breakfast, but sometimes it’s nice to have a heartier treat on the weekend. Porridge is always an appropriate breakfast choice, especially in the cold winter.

Almond and Chia Porridge
Makes 2 servings


Almond and Chia Porridge
•1/2 cup almond pulp
•1/4 cup of chia soaked in half cup of water (for a 15 minutes or up to a few hours)
•1 apple diced (or pear)
•1 1/4 cup of almond milk (use more if needed)
•3 tablespoons of agave
•1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
•1 teaspoon of cinnamon
•Pinch of salt

Put all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and stir. Transfer mixture to two bowls. Top each bowl with chopped almonds, a drizzle of agave and a few pinches of cinnamon.
Chia is not so photogenic, but very tasty.

Black Raspberries
Since berry season is far from near, I was examining all of the different berries in the freezer section of our local health food store. I came across heirloom black raspberries and decided to make some desserts based on these little gems. They are sweeter then raspberries and really rich in flavour, I just love them. They have the strongest staining power, wow. My hands were stained a pretty purplish-navy hue...not so attractive on the skin ;)

Black Raspberry Cream


This is so good. It’s simple, and has the most delish flavour!

Black Raspberry Cream
•2 cups of black raspberries ( I used frozen ones thawed at room temperature)
•1 medium avocado
•4 medjool dates
•2 tablespoons of agave (or more)

Blend in a high speed blender or food processor.

Eat with fresh fruit or layer in a parfait. I made my parfaits with a layer of buckwheat crisps (dehydrated sprouted buckwheat) and chopped nuts, a layer of chopped mango and a layer of Black Raspberry Cream. Repeat till glass is full. Mmmmmm! Eating this dessert give you natural deep purplish lips :)

Black Raspberry Cream Pie


This pie flavour turned out amazing! Definitely one of my favourite desserts. The consistency could have been a little firmer in my opinion, so some tweaking is still needed. But taste wise, yum! The crust reminds me of rich, buttery shortbread cookies, a definite keeper.

I wanted to make a special dinner tonight for Brenty-Boo and I. In the mood for a creamy quiche with a flaky crust, I searched for some recipes, but I did not have many of the specified ingredients on hand, so I opted to come up with a hopefully tasty recipe based on what was in my fabulous fridge. Brenty-Boo has never been a fan of quiche and I have only made it once before, but it was cooked, still vegan though. He said that it turned out delicious and that no tweaking was needed, sweet!

Cheesy Broccoli and Kale Quiche


I think the recipe needs tweaking...but once it seems close to perfect I will gladly share it with you ;)

A Light Dinner And Rich Dessert!

On Thursday night I arrived home after our usual dinner time. I was full of creative juices and antsy to craft a raw dessert. For dinner I settled on a simple dish, Avocado Caesar Salad accompanied by a simple green juice. I was inspired by Cafe Gratitude’s Peppery Avocado Caesar Dressing. I made some modifications; adding less water, less salt, more lemon and a good helping of flavourful pungent garlic, yum! I topped it off with my Garlicky Parmesan Cheese. Apparently I was really in the mood for the strong and unique taste that garlic can offer. That being said you can definitely over do it with raw garlic, so starting with less is always a better option because you can add more if you want. But once you have added to much raw garlic to a recipe....there’s no turning back and your recipe may be doomed! This dish would have been extra superb with some crunchy croutons to add texture and dimension, but I did not have any on hand.

Avocado Caesar Salad


Salad Base
•2 small romaine hearts
•1/2 of a red onion thinly sliced (soaked in water for a few minutes to cut bitterness)

Avocado Caesar Dressing
Inspired by Cafe Gratitude's I am Grateful
•1 avocado
•Juice of 1 lemon (approx. 2 tablespoons)
•1 clove of garlic
•1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
•1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon of salt (depending on preference)
•1-2 tablespoons of cold-pressed olive oil
•1/2 cup of water

Wash and thourally dry the lettuce so that the dressing sticks to the lettuce. Place romaine, red onion and dressing in a large bowls. Top with garlicky parmesan and a sprinkle of pepper.

Garlicky Parmesan
•*1/8 cup brazil nut flour
•*1/8 cup cashew flour
•1/8 teaspoon salt
•**1 small clove of garlic, made into paste

Mix ingredients together. Store extra garlicky parmesan in a sealed container and put in the fridge.

*Grind nuts in a coffee grinder until a fine powder is achieved.

**Finely chop garlic. Sprinkle with salt and press garlic into the cutting board with the back of your knife, pulling the knife towards you, gently! Perfect paste! No chance of biting into a chunk of raw garlic.



Voila, garlic paste!


Now, for the best part, dessert!
I wanted something with berries and chocolate, so I settled on a blueberry chocolate cheesecake. It turned out quite nice.

Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecake


Crust:
•1 cup shredded coconut
•1/2 cup Brazil nuts
•1/2 cup medjool dates (about 4 dates)
•1/8 cup +1/4 cup cacao nibs
•1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
•2 pinches of good quality salt (I use Himalayan)
•1 tablespoon agave

Place coconut, Brazil nuts, dates, cacao nibs, cinnamon and salt into the food processor. Process until the mixture becomes crumbly and sticky. Add agave, and pulsing until combined.

Tightly pack crust mixture into a 7 inch spring form pan and place in the fridge.

Filling:
•2 cups of frozen blueberries (thawed)
(Reserve excess juice to use instead of water or for a smoothie)
•2 cups of cashews (soaked in water till soft – 1 to 2 hours)
•1/2 cup cacao powder
•1/8 cup + 1/4 cup of agave
•1/4 cup of lemon juice (approx. 2 small lemons)
•1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil (softened)
•2 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
•2 pinches of salt
•*1/8 cup water (or juice from thawed blueberries) ONLY if needed

Blend above ingredients except oil and water until silky smooth. Add oil and blend again until creamy.
*ONLY use the water or blueberry juice if needed. I do not have a good quality blender; therefore I needed this small amount of water to blend the filling to a smooth consistency.

Remove the spring form pan containing the crust from the fridge. Pour the chocolate blueberry filling on top of the crust.

Place in the freezer until firm, approximately 2 hours)

Sweet Blueberry Sauce:
•1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen, thawed blueberries)
•3-4 tablespoons of agave
•1 soft medjool date
•1 heaping teaspoon of coconut oil (softened)
Blend ingredients until smooth.

Cut a piece of Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecake and pour Sweet Blueberry Sauce all over!


Indulge!