Raw Cacao Mint Thins

Decadent and rich and goes perfect with coconut ice cream

These cookies are super rich, easy to make and require no fancy equipment. The recipe below is for a whole sheet pans worth which yields a lot of cookies, but you could easily divide the recipe in half.

4 cups almond flour
4 cups raw cacao powder
1 1/2 maple powder (found here)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups coconut butter/oil, warmed to a liquid
2 tbsp peppermint extract
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, maple powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil with the peppermint and vanilla extracts. Then add this mixture to the dry ingredients and combine well to form a dough.

Press the dough evenly into a parchment lined sheet pan. Place the pan in the fridge or freezer to chill.

Prepare the chocolate oil:

1 1/4 cups coconut butter/oil, warmed to a liquid
1 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
5 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of sea salt

Mix all ingredients well until it forms a chocolate oil.

Take the chilled sheet pan out of the fridge and pour 1 cup of chocolate oil over the cookie dough, making sure that the oil covers the surface evenly. Return the pan back to the fridge or freezer to chill and set the chocolate.

Once chilled and hardened, grab the hardened cookie mixture by the parchment paper and flip over onto the pan, allowing for the other side to face up. Pour the rest of the chocolate oil evenly onto the surface and place back into the fridge or freezer to harden.

In about 10 minutes, remove the pan and with a sharp knife, cut into bars before the mixture has become too hard. Keep the bars in a covered container in the fridge or freezer. Makes 40-60 bars.

Recipe from Living Raw Food, by Sarma Melngailis.

Raw Mushroom Sweet Potato Sliders

Made from mushrooms, sweet potatoes and pumpkin seeds

Tasty and resonably quick dinner recipe. You do need a dehydrator but the dehydrating time is significantly less than most raw recipes. Easy to dress up how ever you like them.

Recipe can be found here.

Raw Oatmeal

Made from oats, almonds and dates

Quick, tasty and hearty.

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup almonds soaked overnight
1/2 cup dates, pitted
1- 1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp honey or agave
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp coconut oil

Place the oats, dates and the water in a food processor and soak for 15 minutes. Then remove the skins off the soaked alnonds and add to the mixture, as well as the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth. Garnish with cinnamon and chopped apple if desired. Make 2-3 servings.

Raw Buckwheat Biscuits

Buckwheat and flax biscuits, perfect for jam or pb&j.

These were a great snack to bring to work. Savory and a great base for almond butter and jam. Made from buckwheat which was sprouted and dehydrated and then ground into a flour.

I sprout buckwheat every week to make something out of them because it's a filling savory grain that has a lot of protein. You can make granola, bars, or these biscuits from it.

Recipe from Ani's Raw Food Essentials: Recipes and Techniques for Mastering the Art of Live Food, by Ani Phyo.

I modified the recipe by adding ground flax seed and replaced the water with coconut oil for a more buttery flavor.

Raw Lentil Chili

Sprouted lentil chili with onions and carrots

Tasty filling chili and pretty easy to make. Just soak lentils overnight and let sprout for one day. Recipe can be found here.

Raw Caramel Bars

Chocolate covered pecan caramel filling on a maple walnut crust

Luxurious and rich treat, I've bought these from One Lucky Duck and had to attempt making them for myself. Definitely need a dehydrator and a few days planning but the assembly itself is pretty easy.

Walnut Dough
4 cups walnuts
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt

Place the walnuts in a food processor and grind until they are in very small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients and process just enough to thoroughly combine into a dough. But be careful to not over process, as the nuts will become too oily.

Line 1/2 a sheet pan (or a cookie sheet with sides) with foil (and raise the foil on the open side to create a wall. Press the dough into the pan, creating an even layer. Place the pan in the bottom of a dehydrator (remove the bottom 2 or 3 trays to make room),  and dehydrate for 24 hours.

Caramel Filling
2 cups pecans
1 1/2 tbsp coconut butter/oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp agave
3/4 sup water

Place the pecans and the coconut butter/oil in a food processor and process until smooth. Then add the remaining ingredients and blend until very smooth.

Spread the caramel filling evenly over the dehydrated walnut dough and dehydrate for another 24 hours.

Refrigerate the bars until the surface is chilled. Prepare the chocolate oil.

Chocolate Oil
3/4 cup coconut butter/oil melted
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp raw cacao powder
2 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of sea salt

Blend all the ingredients in a blender or in a bowl with a whisk until thoroughly blended.

Pour the chocolate oil over the chilled bars and let it spread out evenly. Place back into the refrigerator to chill and harden. In about 5 minutes,  you can cut/score the mixture into bars before the chocolate hardens too much (it will crack if you wait too long). After cutting bars, you can place back into fridge to harden (about another 15 minutes).

Makes about 23 bars. Keep stored in fridge. Enjoy!

Recipe from Living Raw Food, by Sarma Melngailis, page 293, modified slightly.

Raw Granola

 Sprouted buckwheat groats, sesame seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, and dates

Heading into the dehydrator

Simple and tasty recipe for raw granola, goes great with hemp milk. Full of protein, fiber, omega 3's and antioxidants. The sprouted buckwheat groats add a great crunch.

2 cups raw buckwheat groats, soaked over night, then sprouted for 1 day

3/4 cup raw sesame seeds

3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

3/4 cup raw goji berries

1 cup raw dates

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 tsp cinnamon

In mixing bowl, add the sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and goji berries and fill bowl with water and soak for 30 minutes. In another bowl, soak the dates for 30 minutes as well. After 30 minutes, drain the first bowl and add to rinsed and sprouted buckwheat. Then strain and rinse the dates and mince into pieces. Add dates to main mixture along with the cinnamon and melted coconut oil and mix everything together.

Spread onto 2 dehydrator trays with teflex sheets on them and dehydrate for 6-8 hours at 104 degrees. Store in fridge, good for a couple weeks.

Curried Kale and Red Lentil Salad

 All raw

Soak the lentils overnight and let them sprout for 2 days before use.

SUPER GOOD and pretty easy to make if you plan ahead. Once you have sprouted the lentils a couple days ahead, you whip up a curry sauce and mix in with the lentils, chopped kale, tomatoes and green onions. Tasty and filling. Recipe found here.

Raw Chocolate for Molds

Raw chocolate bar

It's easy to make good tasting raw cacao sauce, but it's tricky to make raw cacao that will solidify into a nice even texture or hold the design of a mold.

I was resorting to using coconut oil and agave in my raw chocolate recipes but even though I was mixing the sauce evenly, it would never solidify completely. The agave remained a liquid after everything else solidified or the chocolate would melt instantly in my hand. Instead I decided to give cacao butter and powdered maple syrup a try.

Cacao butter (cold pressed oil of the cacao bean) is more dense and remains a solid better than coconut oil. The taste of it really lends to a deeper overall cacao flavor as well. The maple syrup powder is a great powdered sweetener that lends for a nice smooth solid chocolate bar and I like the flavor of it too. Other great options for powered sweeteners are stevia or xylitol, depending on your dietary needs or flavor preferences.

The recipe:
2 tbsp raw cacao butter, melted slowly
3-4 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 - 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
sprinkle sea salt

Melt the cacao butter slowly, place in a mixing bowl, add in everything else and mix well. Pour mixture into a chocolate mold or you can cover a plate with wax paper and pour on that. Place in fridge and wait for it to solidify. Chocolate should shrink a tad and separate from the mold and be easy to pop out. If you are just pouring on wax paper on a plate, just break up the chocolate into pieces. Makes around 2 chocolate bars using this mold. Keep chocolate stored in fridge.

This recipe is easy to multiply or add flavors to. Add 1/8 tsp of peppermint extract for mint chocolate or other extracts like orange or lavender  Other flavor additions could be shredded coconut, nuts, cacao nibs, coffee, ginger, dried fruit etc.

 Sea salt, mint, and coconut almond

HAVE FUN

Raw Almond Butter Mousse

Raw Almond Butter Mousse

CRAZY good. I used an online recipe found here and substituted in almond butter and agave for peanut butter and maple syrup. Takes a few fancy ingredients but it's so worth it. Throw on some raw cacao nibs and go to town. Makes 2-4 servings.

Raw Jicama Chili Cheese Fries

Raw Jicama Chili Cheese Fries

Fun and tasty recipe from Amanda Nicole Smith's raw blog. You can find the recipe here. I really like the chili and the cheese sauce. The jicama is a little tough to eat a lot of as it was so tender and chewy but I would make the beans and the sauce again just to put on salad.

Marinated jicama going into the dehydrator

Raw Chocolate Chip cookies

Delicious and easy to make!

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup agave
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4-1 cup cacao nibs

In a mixing bowl, first mix together the flour, coconut, and salt. Then add in the coconut oil, agave and vanilla,  mix well and then mix in the cacao nibs.

Scoop out 1 tbsp sized balls and place on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 6 hours. Then store in fridge, good for up to 7 days.

yuummmzzz

Upgraded!

After many months of saving, help from loved ones, dreaming and hoping, I have finally bought myself a Vitamix blender. And let me tell you its worth it. Especially if you make smoothies everyday like I do.

I got the Vitamix Pro 300, because it's shorter (but wider) to fit under cupboards, and it's 40% quieter than older Vitamix styles. This matters to me living in a apartment building with a moderately sized kitchen. It's definitely quieter in general, especially compared to two other industrial strength blenders I've used in the past. And it makes EVERYTHING smooth and creamy, I've returned to blending kale and it is glorious. No more giant chunks of greens all over my teeth all day, everyday.

SWEET BLISS