I’m rather surprised I haven’t shared a similar teff porridge recipe on the site as it’s a staple in our house. Teff’s unique nutty flavor and ability to cook up creamy makes it the perfect porridge grain. If you’re unfamiliar with teff, it’s akin to quinoa in that it’s actually a seed but typically consumed as a grain. Teff has a natural undertone akin to chocolate which makes it the perfect partner. This porridge feels a bit on the indulgent side but a quick look at the ingredients will show that it’s a wonderful way to start your day. Read more and see the recipe.
The post Chocolate Teff Porridge appeared first on Naturally Ella.
Being a recipe developer means grocery shopping almost every day. On my way out the door I always ask my husband if he would like anything from the store, and more often than not he says: “a treat, please”. Now, he doesn’t mean a lovely bag of blood oranges or a pint of juicy strawberries – he means a chocolate bar. Not a healthy chocolate bar. A low-vibe, sugar-laden, not-real-food chocolate bar. But I do not judge him. I just buy the thing and pick my battles (toilet cleaning and garbage disposal rank higher on my list).
Recently, standing near the cash register and cruising the candy bars like a very reluctant weirdo, I actually experienced a pang for one myself. That rich and total over-the-top decadence is not something I am often drawn to, but for whatever reason the Snickers and the Twix bar spoke to me like long lost friends. And that was the exact moment I decided that I was going to makeover my two favourites with the best whole food ingredients I could find, that would deliver both total satisfaction and nutrients. A healthy chocolate bar to end all healthy chocolate bars. Could such a dream be realized? Oh yes, the universe loves us and wants us to be happy.
The Colossal Healthy Candy Bar is three tasty parts. First, the bottom biscuit layer inspired by Twix, is a mildly sweet, vegan and grain-free cookie made with coconut flour. It is crisp when it comes out of the oven, but goes pretty cake-y once it is combined with the other ingredients. Delicious nonetheless, and a pretty important counter-point to all the richness of the other layers.
Second, the caramel-and-nut layer inspired by Snickers, but with a twist: instead of just using dates in the caramel, I balanced out the sweetness by adding a healthy does of hazelnut butter. Wowzers. This was a very delicious decision. The caramel became far more complex, rich-tasting, and it is essential to note that this would make a fantastic spread or topping all on its own. If you do not have hazelnut butter, I recommend almond or cashew in its place (click here for instructions on how to make your own nut butter). Instead of using peanuts, I used roasted hazelnuts to sink into the top of the caramel for awesome texture and crunch – almonds could also be used here.
Lastly, each bar is enrobed in luscious, raw, dark chocolate. I usually use coconut oil in my raw chocolate recipes, but after reading the (incredible!) new cookbook Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman I was convinced that using solely raw cacao butter was the way to go. It delivers a crisper finish and creamier texture. If you want to make things simpler and faster, feel free to use a ready-made bar of chocolate in this recipe instead of making your own. Raw chocolate is of course the healthier choice, but if you’re pressed for time or ingredients, this is a good shortcut to take.
Coconut Flour Power! With so many diets and lifestyles focusing on gluten-free and grain-free eating, coconut flour is wonderful option for many people. Made entirely from dried coconut flesh that is pulverized into a soft, fine powder, coconut flour is a nutrient-dense alternative that is increasingly available at health food stores and even supermarkets. Score!
There are several benefits of coconut flour, my favourite being that it is remarkably high in protein and fiber. Translation: super filling and satisfying! It is low in sugar and digestible carbohydrates, and scores low on the glycemic index, so it a perfect choice for paleo eaters and diabetics. It’s also nut-free and non-allergenic.
The flavour of coconut flour is slightly coconut-y, but not overwhelmingly so. I like it in things like these chocolate bars where there are many other strong tastes going on that overshadow the taste of the flour. If you want to compliment and enhance the flavour of the flour, use coconut milk as the liquid portion of a baked good. Seriously yummy.
What’s the catch I can hear you asking. Well, there are a few downsides to using coconut flour, mainly due to its density, dryness, and lack of elasticity. It’s certainly not a flour to experiment with if you’re looking to replace wheat flour for instance, as the two behave completely differently (that goes for using coconut flour in place of almost any other flour, whether grain, seed, or nut-based). Coconut flour is also crazy-absorbent and needs quite a large proportion of liquid to solid to avoid crumbly results (I’ve read the comments below and it seems like a lot of you are struggling with this factor!) Most recipes I’ve found online remedy this by using a lot of eggs, but I used applesauce and flax seeds instead with good results. Once you get the correct ratio down it’s pretty easy to work with, but I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best to use tried and true recipes with this finicky ingredient!
Back to the candy bars. Which are insane. These truly colossal creations have everything you could ever want: tasty cookie, ooey gooey chewy caramel, crunchy roasted nuts, divinely rich chocolate, and tiny salt kisses. I am so darn proud of this recipe, and I can’t believe that such a decadent thing can exist without making me feel lousy after eating it. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that I feel colossally healthy after eating one. Or two. Stop looking at me like that.
The Colossal Healthy Candy Bar Makes 16 bars
Coconut flour cookie bottom 1 ½ cups / 175g coconut flour ¼ tsp. fine sea salt ½ cup / 125ml unsweetened applesauce 2 Tbsp. ground flax seeds 1/3 cup / 85ml coconut oil, melted 2-3 Tbsp. maple syrup, as needed
Date and nut caramel 1 ¼ cup / 325g pitted soft dates 1/3 cup / 80 ml nut butter (I used hazelnut) seeds of 1 vanilla bean ½ tsp. sea salt
Roasted nuts ¾ cup /115g raw hazelnuts or almonds
Raw chocolate coating 8.8 oz. / 250g cacao butter (not coconut butter or coconut oil) 1 ½ cup / 150g raw cacao powder ¼ cup / 60ml maple syrup pinch of sea salt Note: raw chocolate can be substituted with two 3½ oz. / 100g bars of dark chocolate (minimum 70% cacao).
Directions: 1. Start by making the cookie bottom. In a small bowl stir the applesauce and the ground flax together. Set aside and let gel for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. In a large bowl sift together the coconut flour and sea salt. Stir in the melted coconut oil, two tablespoons of maple syrup, the applesauce-flax mixture and blend until the mixture holds together when pressed. If not, add the remaining tablespoon of maple syrup and stir to combine.
2. Line a brownie pan with baking paper and firmly press the mixture into the pan, especially around the edges. Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are beginning to turn golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool at room temperature.
3. Lower the oven temperature to 300°F/150°C. Spread the nuts out in a single layer on baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes until fragrant and slightly darker in colour (a good way to check is to cut one in half and check the colour in the center. Instead of cream, it should be golden). Remove from oven and let cool completely. If you are using hazelnuts, rub them together to remove as much of their skins as possible. Roughly chop and set aside.
4. Make the nut caramel. Add the pitted dates to a food processor and blend until creamy. Add the nut butter, vanilla bean, and sea salt. Taste and adjust according to your tastes.
5. Spread the nut caramel in an even layer over the cooled cookie bottom. Cover the caramel with the chopped toasted nuts, and press them down so that they are slightly sunken, reserving a few for garnish. Place the pan in the freezer to firm up for at least 4 hours (frozen bars are easier to cut and coat with chocolate).
6. Prepare the chocolate. Melt the cacao butter in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Remove from heat, stir in the maple syrup and salt, then sift in the cacao powder. Whisk together until smooth.
7. Remove the brownie pan from the freezer and pull up the edges of the baking paper to remove the filling. Place on a cutting board and slice into 16 equal bars.
8. Roll each bar in the melted chocolate, then pick up using a fork, allowing most of the excess chocolate to drip off. Set on a wrack and let harden. Take remaining chocolate and drizzle across the width of the bar to create a design (this step is optional, but it makes the bars look really beautiful). While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts and let set. Place all bars in the freezer to firm up. Store in an airtight container in the freezer, and remove 10-15 minutes before serving. (Note: these are okay outside of the freezer, but if you’re using raw chocolate they will be relatively soft if left at room temperature).
I hope you guys find as much satisfaction in this recipe as I have. It’s pretty rad to have a stockpile of candy bars in your freezer for when the urge strikes, and to keep you out of the chocolate aisle on your next trip to the store! For the record, if you see me there, I’m buying treats for my husband…since I’m really bad at sharing.
Show me your candy bars on Instagram: #MNRchocolatebars
The post The Colossal Healthy Chocolate Bar appeared first on My New Roots.
How is the holiday season treating you so far? Hopefully great. I honestly can’t believe it’s December 11th. What a whirlwind season. I just finished another round of book edits and now I’m currently in the midst of planning next week’s photoshoot for my next cookbook. Some of you might remember in The Oh She Glows Cookbook, we had various lifestyle photos throughout the book. Well, the second cookbook is going to have all new photos so I’ve been planning around 15 unique shots, all the recipes that will be featured (and what I have to prep in advance, what needs to be made the day of, etc), and everything in between (such as, what the heck am I going to wear). It’s been a bit of a hot mess around here, but I’m so excited for next week’s shoot! Hopefully it’ll all come together. My dear cousin Alannah is coming to help on the shoot days, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have her help.
In other news, you can now find me on Snapchat! I used to think Snapchat was just an app for sharing questionable content among teens, but apparently it can be used for other things too. New techy things intimidate me and “for dummies” tutorials confuse me so the fact that I’m currently using Snapchat (and loving the heck out of it) probably means it’s not even cool anymore. But, I love how easy-breezy it feels. (After I finally figured it out, that is.) Want to write all over the picture and make a hot mess? Sure. Want to snap some random, poor lit shot? Go for it. It’s feels fairly real as far as social media goes, and it’s fun to get snaps throughout the day of someone’s day to day life. Oh, and I somehow got my mom to follow me. She’s hip, I tell ya! I think she’s just holding out for more Adriana pics though…
So, if you are down for some “riveting” behind the scenes footage over at casa OSG, then follow along. My username is angelaliddon. I’ll be sharing day to day things, cooking videos (so fun – yesterday I did my homemade nutella), behind the scenes blog stuff, travel, as well as some blog/book/life sneak peeks. Odds are you will probably see it on Snapchat first because it’s just so fast to share things.
Here are a few random things I posted over the past week:
Like I said, hot mess.
Also, let me know if you are on it too!? I’m only following like 6 people right now which definitely makes me look a bit like a stalker. Ok, a lot like a stalker.
The second piece of news I have to share is to tell you that I’m back to shooting the photography on Oh She Glows! I know some of you have noticed this over the past month. The change is due to a couple reasons, one of which is that I miss shooting the photography greatly. I didn’t realize just how much I would miss this aspect of blogging after 8 years of doing the photography day in and day out. I still don’t have a proper photography set up and I rush through all my shoots since Adriana was born, but I hope to find a better system in the future. I will be bringing on a team member to OSG in the near future, and I hope that this will help me find a better balance with everything.
If you saw my snaps yesterday you probably spotted this hot cocoa in the making. It was all I could do not to bathe in this stuff, and it features my Homemade Mocha Nutella for a nutty twist on traditional hot cocoa! If you’re looking for a warming treat on a cold night, look no further.
A nutty, plant-based twist on traditional hot cocoa. This recipe features my homemade nutella nut butter which makes this drink so creamy and decadent! I also love adding 55-60% dark chocolate into the mix for even more chocolate flavour. For a luxurious twist, try stirring in a bit of full-fat coconut cream into the hot cocoa, or serve it topped with some vegan marshmallows.
Yield 4 (1/2 cup) servings
Prep Time 25 Minutes
Cook time 5 Minutes
Total Time 30 Minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups unsweetened almond milk (homemade or store-bought)
50 grams 55-60% non-dairy dark chocolate
1-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, to taste
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup Homemade Mocha Nutella (recipe linked below)
Break up the chocolate into chunks. In a medium pot, add the almond milk and chocolate pieces. Increase heat to medium-low. Whisk occasionally until all of the chocolate is melted.
Whisk in the maple syrup, cocoa powder, nutella, and salt until super smooth. If you can’t get the hot cocoa smooth enough by whisking (this will depend in large part by how smooth your homemade nutella is) you can transfer it into a blender (with lid ajar) and blend until smooth.
Adjust the sweetness to taste, if necessary. Serve and enjoy! Leftovers will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for 2 days or longer.
Tips: 1) For my Homemade Mocha Nutella recipe, see here. 2) For my Homemade Almond Milk recipe, see here.
Oh, and if you are interested in a impromptu video on me making my homemade nutella, check out this video I uploaded to Instagram.
If you are looking for all my holiday recipes, see this link!
If there’s one thing that might be apparent, we have a slight addition to peanut butter and chocolate in our household. I’m more of a 3 parts chocolate to one part peanut butter ratio while M is the exact opposite: a lot of peanut butter with just enough chocolate to be noticed.
During pregnancy, these no-bake cookies (minus the espresso) were pretty much my life saver when I was craving something chocolatey. However, I wanted to make something that was a little more easy to keep and freeze (and a bit more along M’s line of acceptable peanut butter to chocolate ratio). These granola bars are a culmination of granola bar recipes of past, no bake cookies, and a rice puff treat from a local co-op that’s base is peanut butter and brown rice syrup. The result is this bar that comes together easily, isn’t overly sweet, and can easily act as a satisfying dessert.
One of the things I love most about cookbooks is the near instant gratification I get after cracking open the book. There’s no reading the first chapter or reading the end of the book before reading the middle (I was guilty of this as a child). One quick look of the recipes can usually tell me whether or not a book belongs on my shelf.
I picked up Cheryl’s Yogurt Culture book in anticipation of her coming to Sacramento for a book party. I cracked it open and upon a couple flips, landed on these chocolate yogurt pots. To say I became excited is a bit of an understatement. I love chocolate mousse but it’s a rare treat because it feels a bit more decadent than the average week deserves. These yogurt pots, after being chilled, have a similar texture that leaves one feeling like they’ve eaten the richest dessert when really, it’s just yogurt and melted chocolate.
M and I are a bit addicted to the peanut butter/chocolate combination so I altered her recipe slightly to include a fluffy peanut butter center. I think almond butter would also be amazing. However, if you’re just a straight chocolate fan, make Cheryl’s recipe as is- you won’t be disappointed.
My friend Adam is a serious health-foodie. He teaches sprouting workshops, is part of a vegetarian soup club, and appreciates a good sourdough as much as I do. He’s also quite fearless in the kitchen, combining tastes and textures I would never dream of, most often successfully. There was that one time however he put peppermint oil in a batch of his granola, and it tasted like breakfast and toothpaste all at the same time. I admire his gumption, but he will never live that one down.
One day while I was over at his place, I was really craving a cookie. He lives near a very high-vibe bakery so I was nearly out the door when he said, “wait! I have something you should try”. He proceeded to tell me that his experimental cookies were flour-free, grain-free in fact, and contained only six ingredients. I was scared – this sounded like a treat from wrong town. But when I took my first skeptical nibble, I was shocked. This cookie was everything I had ever wanted: rich, moist, not-too-sweet and deeply satisfying. Then he told me that it was just almond butter, eggs, maple syrup, chocolate, baking soda and sea salt. Um, what?! No flour? How was this even possible? Inexplicable, culinary wizardry at its best, that’s for darn sure, and an experiment gone absolutely right.
After googling almond butter cookies, I discovered that this kind of recipe had been floating around the interwebs unbeknownst to me. Anyway, I got Adam to make them for me again this past summer at his cottage, posted them on Instagram, and many of you asked for the recipe. I tinkered with them a lot to make sure they were just right, changing up the nut butters, using different sweeteners, various add-ins etc. (it’s a tough job, I tell ya). Then it dawned on me: what if I put the dough into a pan and made blondies?! For the win.
Now I don’t know about you, but I take my indulgences seriously. When I crave something sweet, I definitely don’t mess around with mousses, flaky pastries or light-n’-airy items. Heck no. I want to sink my teeth into something substantial, for it to announce its presence to my stomach with a fulfilling thud, and feel like I actually ate something. These blondies are just that. Aside from their incredibly rich, satisfying flavour, the texture of them is ultra chewy and have that dense brownie quality I love so much. It still baffles me that there isn’t any flour in the recipe, since it just feels like there is, from a “this-must-be-really-bad-for-me perspective. Like I said, there is some serious alchemical conjuring taking place, proving that the universe loves us, so don’t ask any questions.
Being choosey about your Chocolate Yes, yes, we’re talking about blondies here, but don’t all blondies have chocolate in them? I’m no expert, but I do believe this is a necessary addition. How do we go about choosing our chocolate though? Is there really a difference between cocoa mass percentages? Does organic really matter? Does milk chocolate count? Here are my top four tips for making sure your chocolate isn’t total junk food.
4 Tips for Choosing the Healthiest Chocolate
Choose dark chocolate varieties. The darker the bar, the higher the cocoa mass percentage will be. When a bar says it is 70% cocoa that means it has a relatively high concentration of health-promoting compounds, like polyphenols and antioxidants. It also means that there is less room for schwaggy stuff like refined sugar, processed oils, and flavourings. Always choose a bar with a minimum of 70% cocoa solids for maximum benefits. If the chocolate bar does not list a cocoa percentage, don’t buy it.
Read the ingredients. High quality chocolate should only contain three to four ingredients: chocolate, cocoa butter/ cocoa mass, and/or cocoa liquor, plus sugar. If the bar contains any oil, milk or milk products, soya lecithin, emulsifiers, ‘natural flavour’, or preservatives don’t buy it.
Buy Organic whenever possible. Cacao plants are some of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world. As pesticide residues can end up in the final product, choose chocolate that has been made from organically grown beans.
Learn about the process. Although it will require a little reconnaissance work, finding out how your chocolate was manufactured is important in determining how healthy it is. Drying cacao beans in the sun instead of roasting them preserves many of the chocolate’s delicate nutrients. Make sure that their processing temperature is not over 110°F. Avoid chocolate whose processing includes “Dutching”, an alkalization method that actually removes the polyphenols, as they lend characteristic bitter flavour to the finished product.
I also encourage you to purchase Fair Trade Certified chocolate whenever possible, as it makes a huge difference to the lives of cacao farmers and their families. Fair Trade is an international certification that ensures that farmers are guaranteed a minimum price for their product, decent working conditions, and that the processes they use protect the natural environment.
The blondies are not overly sweet, which I appreciate. If you like your desserts on the more saccharine side, I believe that swapping out ¼ cup of coconut sugar and replacing it with maple syrup would work very well. This would also help keep the blondies moist on the second and third day (although they won’t last that long. Trust.). You could also choose a chocolate with a lower cocoa mass, such as 70%, but don’t go lower than that, as the sugar in it will outweigh the health benefits of the chocolate itself. I chose a bar at 85%, which tends to be a little bitter, but I find it pairs well in this dessert.
As far as nut butter goes, anything goes. I used a homemade almond and hazelnut butter blend in these, which was unreasonably delicious (for a blended nut butter recipe, check out my post here). Because my nut butter was a deep caramel brown, my blondies turned out more like brunettes (tee hee), so the colour of your finished product depends on the nut butter you use. I tried a homemade sunflower butter in my experiments and it worked really well. I would also like to try tahini and pumpkin seed butter, although I know the colour in that case may be a little weird! I have a feeling cashew butter would taste out of this world, and pecan or walnut as well. And I definitely recommend roasted nut butter over raw for depth of flavour, and because you’ll be baking these anyway.
I will say that I really tried making these darn things vegan, but guys, it just didn’t work! Eggs in this case are crucial because they not only bind the ingredients, but they give the blondies air and volume. Using chia and flax works to bind, but you’ll end up with a tasty puddle. If that’s okay with you, go for it! I obviously ate all of my experiments, and quite happily indulged in many yummy, almond butter “pancakes”. I did not try vegan egg replacers though, and that may work better. If you have success in this arena, let me know.
And can we take a minute to talk about my favourite part of all? The corner pieces. If you actually own one of those funky all-corners brownie pans, you get where I’m coming from friend, and this is the time to use it. The edges are extra dense and chewy, slightly crisp and oooohhhhh my goodness I can’t even write about this anymore. On to the recipe.
Grain-free Chocolate Chunk Nut Butter Blondies Makes 20 blondies
Ingredients: 2 large, organic eggs 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup unsalted nut butter (I used almond-hazelnut) ¾ cup / 100g coconut sugar 1 tsp. baking soda ¼ tsp. fine grain sea salt 3.5oz / 100g dark chocolate (70% or higher), roughly chopped a pinch flaky sea salt (such as Maldon), optional
Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 325°F / 160°C. 2. In a small bowl whisk eggs and vanilla extract together. Set aside. In a measuring cup, combine coconut sugar, ¼ tsp. fine grain sea salt, and baking soda. 3. Measure out the nut butter and place in a large bowl. Add the egg mixture, stir thoroughly to combine. Add the coconut sugar mixture and fold together. The dough will be very thick. Add about half of the chopped chocolate, using your hands if necessary to incorporate. 4. Press the dough into a parchment-lined 8×8″ (20x20cm) brownie pan. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate over the top and press each piece slightly into the dough. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt and place in the oven. 5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the blondies are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan completely before cutting.
Seeing as it’s February and we’ve been so very behaved since the first of January (right…?) I thought it was time to pull out the big guns and celebrate with these ladies. I hope you drop everything you are doing right now and go make them. It’s true, blondies have more fun!
