Crunchy Chocolate Fudge

The No Added Sugar Challenge that I am taking part in through Instagram (explained in my post below) has forced me to try out some new recipes which still taste good, while omitting all sugars - including natural sugars - other than a moderate amount of whole fruit. I am oh-so glad that it did :).

The recipe below is possibly the simplest I have ever made. It requires no baking, no particular sequence of ingredient additions, very little cooling time and only 5 ingredients!

This fudge is super firm and gives that satisfying crunch which makes it the perfect healthy substitute for chocolate for me! I wont pretend that it tastes exactly the same or that the texture is identical - it has a very natural and rich taste which is perfect for dark chocolate lovers as well as the course texture of very fine coconut. I will claim that it has a melt-in-your-mouth effect which is something that draws most people to chocolate in the first place!

Now for the recipe...

Crunchy (Paleo and Sugar-Free) Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

5 tbs coconut butter*
1 tbs coconut oil, melted
2.5 tbs cocoa
2tsp vanilla essence
2 fresh medjool dates, pitted

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.
Line a small loaf pan with foil and ensure that it is flattened to the bottom and sides.
Put mixture in the loaf pan then pack and flatten.
Place loaf pan in the fridge and wait for it to set!

Remove from loaf pan by lifting the sides of the foil carefully. It should be very solid so I don't think it's going anywhere : ).

Place the fudge on a flat chopping board and chop into squares!

The hardest part will be to try and not eat it all in one sitting :|

The good thing is;

Coconut Butter and Oil
Contain healthy medium chain saturated fatty acids which are resistant to storing within the body and instead promote the use of fat as the bodies primary source of energy. Coconut products also have a range of other benefits such as benefits for healthy skin and hair amongst many other things.

Cocoa
Contains magnesium
Reduces LHL cholesterol
Increases HDL cholesterol
High antioxidant content which can reduce the risk of Cardiovascular disease.

Vanilla essence
Believed to have anxiety reducing effects
Can regulate menstruation (sorry gentlemen)

Dates
High in fibre
Contain a range of vitamins and minerals
Contain Iron
Good source of potassium

...to name a few!

 

 

*Coconut Butter: You can buy coconut butter from many health food stores but firstly, I don't see it everywhere and secondly it seems to be fairly expensive. My way - grab a few bags of shredded coconut, place as much as will fit into the food processor and switch it on! You will have to leave it for at least 10 minutes but very possibly longer depending on the strength of your food processor, until it reduces to a buttery and creamy consistency. Voila! There are so many things that can be done with this : ).

Raw Paleo Chocolate, Coconut and Walnut Fudge

Raw Paleo Chocolate, Coconut and Walnut Fudge

 

 

 

 

I am a little bit of an Instagram addict and I find it one of my biggest motivators when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet. There are so many great people on there aiming for the same results; to be as healthy as they can possible be in the most natural and healthful way possible.

 

On Instagram I am currently taking part in the 'No Added Sugar' Challenge which has been set up by 3 extremely fit, healthy and focused IGers whom I encourage everyone to follow - @fitnessfoodandstyle, @tonedtannedandfit and @littlemissnutrition.

 

 

You can read about the challenge here.

 

I usually spend my weekends baking and creating new delicious healthy treats but I often use natural sweeteners such as stevia, honey and coconut nectar. For this 14 day challenge however, I have chosen to be a part of Team Fruits of Life, members of which are to omit these natural sweeteners from their diet to "Quit Sugar" completely. For the most part, these sweeteners are something that I will continue to consume as they are still natural however for the challenge I will try to refrain : ).

 

Instead, I will be only using whole fruit to sweeten anything I make, and trying to stick to a total intake of 3 servings of fruit per day.

 

Due to my craving for chocolate emerging on day 2 (!!) of the challenge, I decided to get creative with an extremely healthy chocolaty treat. Here goes!

 

Recipe makes approximately 17 pieces

 

You will need

 

2 cups shredded coconut

2 tsp cocoa

tsp almond butter

2 tbs coconut cream*

4 fresh medjool dates, pitted

1/2 cup raw walnuts

1tbs coconut oil - melted

 

Method

 

Place the shredded coconut in your food processor and process for approximately 10-15 minutes until it becomes a thick liquid. You will need to scrape down the sides every few minutes to ensure it all gets churned up. Once it is a liquid, you have Coconut Butter!! (which is generally really expensive to buy in health food stores : ).

 

 

 Once the coconut butter has formed add the cocoa, almond butter, coconut cream and 1 medjool date. Process until all combined and the consistency should be fairly thick but should stick together when pressed.

 

 

 

Line a small loaf pan/small slice pan with foil and make sure it is as flat as possible. You will need to foil to lift the fudge out of the pan without difficulty later on. I used my loaf pan as my slice pans are too big and for the amount of mixture, the loaf pan gave me the right thickness.

 

Empty mixture from the food processor into the lined pan and flatten. You should notice that the mixture is shiny when flattened and I could see some oil from the coconut emerging as I pushed it down.

 

Place bottom layer in the fridge.

 

Clean up your food processor and add the remaining ingredients (3 dates, walnuts, coconut oil) and process until combined which should only take about 30 seconds.

 

Place this mixture on top of bottom layer and flatten. Return the mixture to the fridge (or freezer if you're in a hurry). Once hardened, which should take no longer than 10 minutes, remove the fudge from the pan and slice.

 

 

 

Now I would have taken a nice picture of the "one" I ate on the plate... but I didn't put it on a plate because it didn't make it there and I didn't exactly eat just one either :| :). The good thing is.. These are so wonderfully guilt free (the real kind of guilt free) that having more than 1 is not doing me anything but good :) .. happy taste buds included.

 

 

 

 

*Place a tin of full fat coconut milk in the fridge for a few hours or overnight (I tend to always have one in there in case I want to use it), open the tin and scoop the cream of the top which will have separated from the coconut water. You will now have a thick creamy coconut cream to use!

 

Mel x

Paleo Banana Bread

Paleo Banana Bread

This beautiful recipe has been adapted from the amazing and talented Teresa Cutter who is also known as The Healthy Chef. Teresa was my first and still is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to healthy, wholesome cooking. I was first introduced to her cooking the first day I met my wonderful boyfriend. He sent me off to work with a freshly baked Muesli Muffin made following a recipe of Teresa's. Since that day, I have gradually found my own feet through  reading the blogs and recipes of other healthy bakers, researching foods and ingredients and the way they work together, learning and loving the Paleo way of eating and experimenting (sometimes with failures) with my own ideas. The ingredients used in a lot of my cooking and baking are often less tried and tested than standard ingredients hence the need for experimentation. Luckily, almond meal subs into many cake recipes - and certainly banana bread recipes, almost as if standard processed flour was used. Personally I think that almond meal gives a nuttiness and moistness that flour does not.

This recipe has such a beautiful banana flavour and is somewhere in between the texture of a banana bread and a banana cake. The lack of refined flour and sugar along with the inclusion of heart healthy fat (from the almond and macadamia nut oil) makes this bread not only delicious as a morning or afternoon tea treat but also provides our bodies with goodness that you certainly don't find in store bought banana breads which are generally loaded with sugar and refined grains/flours. Enjoy this bread knowing that you are doing yourself a load of good.


Original recipe can be found here. I reduced the honey and the oil and added the apple sauce.

Ingredients  

4 medium sized bananas - preferably heading towards over-ripe (not too ripe).
3 eggs
1 tbs vanilla essence
30g honey
30g macadamia nut oil
2 tbs apple sauce
Juice from half a lime
tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp baking soda
2 cups almond meal
30g chia seeds
Handful of walnuts (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C

Spray loaf pan with spray olive oil or spread oil of choice with scrunched up baking paper.
Combine 3 bananas, eggs, vanilla, oil and apple sauce in a bowl.
Add baking powder and lime juice - combine
Mix in almond meal and chia seeds.
Pour mixture into prepared loaf tin, halve the remaining banana and place on top as pictured if desired.
I have also topped the bread with some walnuts which I broke into slightly smaller pieces just with hands - these are optional and can also be added to the mixture if you wish to have a little extra crunch!

Bake for 45 min - 1 hour depending on oven and basically until the top has browned and a skewer comes out clean. This bread is fairly moist when cooked and especially when warm so it is important to let it cool completely before removing from the pan.

....If you are impatient like me, you could quite well lose the bottom of the loaf :|.

If you would like a drier loaf, I would recommend covering the top with foil to avoid over browning and letting it cook for a further 10 minutes or so. I have not tried this though so tread carefully! The moistness of the above recipe and method scored rave reviews from all of my trusty testers : ).

Yum : ).

Paleo Choc Chip Cookies

Paleo choc chip cookies

Wheeeooowww.. wasn't the success of these just one of those special moments where you realise (or have it reiterated) that food is amazing and that HEALTHY food can be the most amazing. Also realised in this moment was that someone is a genius and unfortunately, that someone is not me. Today I have to thank and recognise the skills of Gina who writes "Running to the Kitchen" for this perfect recipe.

I have a cookie loving boyfriend whose cookie infatuation is sometimes the motivation to eat food that is on the not-so-good-for-you list (we don't actually have a list) and regret it later. So one day.. I was on a mission to make cookies that satisfied three categories. 1. They would satisfy my growing love for the Paleo way of eating, 2. would be easy to make with easy to source ingredients and 3. would not taste "healthy" in the way that some healthy baked goods so clearly taste "healthy". I am always disappointed when my baked-goods loving boyfriend is only 'kind of pleased' with my experiments. He tries to pretend he loves them, but I see through it : ).

On this day, I went googling and found many recipes for paleo choc chip cookies.. some of which sounded great but were either too complicated for a rushed night after working all day and some that I just was not sure would satisfy my criteria for lacking healthy taste. Gina's recipe caught my eye not only because of the simplicity of the recipe but the long list of great reviews stating that "you would never suspect that they are healthy" and that "they couldn't help themselves but eat the whole batch straight out of the oven". Bingo.

So far I have made these three times and reduced the amount of coconut oil used each time which made for a crunchier outside and a chewier (less soft/squishy) inside. The original recipe is here and my very similar recipe is below. :)

Paleo Choc chip cookies
Makes 12-15, depending on size.

3 cups almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
6 tbs honey
6 tbs melted coconut oil
4 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbs almond milk
100g very dark chocolate (I used this one.)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
Combine the almond meal, baking soda and sea salt in one bowl - mix to combine.
Combine the honey, melted coconut oil, vanilla essence and almond milk in another bowl - stir well to combine (a fork should work fine!)
Mix wet and dry ingredients together.
Roughly chop dark chocolate into small-ish pieces. There are no strict rules with the size of the chocolate chunks but the dough holds together a little easier if the chunks are smaller.
Combine with the mixture.
Separate the mixture into about 15 small balls of dough - I used my hands to shape them to make them nice and smooth :). You will want to flatten them slightly as they do not spread out much when cooking.
Place dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper
Place in the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes or until golden.

They will be soft when first removed from the oven to be sure to let them cool a little before trying to move them. In saying that... if you do not care about maintaining their shape, they do taste delicious straight out of the oven : ).



Over the last few months since I have been an advocate of the Paleo Diet, my views have dramatically changed when it comes to my attitude toward counting calories. The Paleo way of eating has little regard for the Calorie/Kilojoule content of foods and rather focus' on the actual content of the foods and whether the foods we consume are "real". Many amazingly nutritious foods such as Avocado's, almonds, salmon and many others are high in energy (Calories/Kilojoules) and provide a much greater benefit to our bodies than something known to be low in energy such as low calorie/kilojoule jelly. Unfortunately it is the case that many people who are "dieting" and trying to lose weight, will gladly restrict higher energy foods such as the nurtitional powerhouses above and replace them with refined, processed, artificially sweetened and chemical laden foods without thinking twice.

Unfortunately, the notion that cutting calories from the diet is the best way to reduce our body fat percentage and to lose weight is very likely damaging our bodies. This idea is so wide spread however, through decades of emphasis on calorie restricted diets that many people miss out on consuming a wide range of nutrients for fear of high energy foods.

Despite this ^, some people still like to keep track of their energy intake, so as requested I have calculated the nutritional information for my Paleo Choc Chip Cookies.

Please note that while these cookies contain Saturated Fat, which is also often considered the enemy, Saturated Fat coming from coconut products (in this case, coconut oil) have a chemical structure that causes them to actually promote fat loss and discourage fat deposition.

Know that by eating these delicious cookies, you are consuming nothing but real food, created by nature.

Nutrition Information

Per Cookie - Large (If mixture yields 12)

Calories -              193cal

Kilojoules -           810.8kJ

Fat, Total -            14.5g

Fat, Saturated -     8.5g

Carbohydrates -    14.3g

Sugars -                12.2g

Protein -                2.5g

Sodium -               118mg

Per Cookie - Small (If mixture yields 15)

Calories -              154.5cal

Kilojoules -           648.7kJ

Fat, Total -            11.5g

Fat, Saturated -      6.8g

Carbohydrates -    11.4g

Sugars -                 9.7g

Protein -                2.02g

Sodium -               94.6mg



Even better Paleo Chocolate Cherry Cake

Even better Paleo Chocolate Cherry Cake

 

So, I jumped the gun and got excited too soon. After making my original Paleo Chocolate Cherry cake, I found myself volunteering my cake making services to make a birthday cake for my friends next birthday only to realise a few hours later that his birthday was in 3 days time!

Straight away.. the pressure was on. While I was super happy with my original Chocolate Cherry Cake, immediately I started wondering whether its good enough to serve to a party full of non-paleo (and potentially not-healthy-at-all) people, some of whom I have never met in my life. I realised that I would need to get back in the kitchen. First of all to make sure that the recipe is replicable and also to test out my theory that loads of fresh cherries through the batter would give it something extra ordinary.

 

Behold........

The new and improved recipe!

 

I made this one as a single layer as it was simply to test the texture and taste of the cake. I also made it in a larger cake tin (this time springform) and basically doubled the ingredients.



Even better Paleo Chocolate Cherry Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup coconut flour

3 tsp baking powder

4 tbs natvia

1/2 cup apple sauce

7 fresh medjool dates pitted

2.5 cups fresh cherries - halved and pitted

2 tbs black cherry jam (100% natural) - can also use raspberry or blueberry 100% natural jam.
2 tsp vanilla essence                                     

8 eggs

 

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius
 

Combine cocoa, coconut flour, baking powder and natvia in a large bowl
 

Combine apple sauce, 1/2 cup cherries, dates, jam and vanilla in a food processor and process until smooth
 

Add processed mixture and whisked eggs to the dry mixture
 

Beat with cake beaters until smooth
 

Fold through the remaining cherry halves (2 cups)
 

Pour into a lightly oiled (with olive or coconut oil) cake pan - springform is easiest - and place in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
 

For a double layered cake simply repeat the whole process with another lot of ingredients.
 

This cake is topped with a chocolate ganache that I made from 70% dark chocolate and coconut cream. I combined the two on the stove on low heat and then ran the mixture over the cake (I used more coconut cream than usual) rather than spreading as I normally would which allowed it to dry in a nice thin layer. I do think that when making a layered cake though, I will make a thicker ganache and spread a layer in the middle.
 

You could also spread some 100% natural black cherry jam between the layers to keep with the cherry theme! 

 

UPDATE!

See below the results of the birthday cake I made for my friend last night!

The best cake I have ever made :).. which was a relief because I was unable to taste it before I gave it out to people like I usually do! Extremely rich and chocolaty and sweet - super happy!

 

Coconut Milk mint chocolate chip ice cream

Paleo Friendly, dairy free and 100% sugar free with the goodness of coconut and fresh mint leaves!

After wanting an ice cream machine for SO long, I finally bought one with a voucher I was given for my birthday. I knew EXACTLY what I would first make and was devastated when I realised that I would have to freeze the bowl completely before making my first batch!

So.. I prepared the mixture in the evening, chilled it over night and it was not until I got home from work the following day that I could churn my ice cream! : ) The drive home could not have been more exciting.



 By using fresh mint in this recipe rather than mint flavouring, not only does the ice cream have a beautiful fresh and real flavour, but we recieve all of the wonderful health benefits of this delicious herb. Mint leaves can aid digestion by soothing the digestive tract, eliminate toxins from the body, aid settle skin irritatations as well as being a good cleanser for the blood.


Coconut cream, coconut milk and I only recently became friends. It was not until I did a lot of my own research regarding the benefits of these products and the truth about the saturated fat contained in them that I have become comfortable with eating them liberally. Known to be high in saturated fat, and due to the widespead vilification of saturated fat in the distributed modern day nutrition data, of course someone wanting to be heatlhy would cut out coconut products. Saturated fat is the worst thing you can eat right? Wrong.

I will compile what I have found in a separate post very soon for those of you interested in looking into it, but in the meantime... eat this wonderful ice cream. Its 100% natural and its good for you and thats all you need to know... really : ).

I adapted this recipe from a recipe by Kristen from The Endless Meal! In her recipe she uses dairy cream, whole milk and sugar which I replaced with coconut cream, coconut milk and stevia. I don't think my measurements are the same for the milk and cream simply because I worked in "cans" rather than in "cups". It turned out just fine but the wonderful instruction on how to infuse the mint into the milk through heating and leaving to stand then straining was invaluable so I will follow the same method here!

Coconut Milk mint chocolate chip ice cream

Ingredients

2 x 400ml cans of coconut milk (See note below)
1 400ml can of coconut cream
5 egg yolks
1 bunch (approx. 2 cups worth) of fresh mint leaves - washed and removed from stems
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup natvia (brand of stevia) - more or less to taste (note: the mixture will be less sweet once frozen)
50g VERY dark chocolate - chopped finely (I used Green and Blacks 85% Organic Dark Chocolate)

Method

Heat 1 can of coconut milk and the can of coconut cream in a saucepan with the mint leaves until steam appears. Do not let the mixture boil. Remove from the heat and let the mixture stand for approximately 1 hour so that the mint flavour infuses through the milk.

Strain the mixture into a bowl, and using the back of a spoon against the mesh squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the mint leaves.

Return the mixture to the saucepan, add natvia and heat until dissolved (should not take more than 1-2 mins)

Beat egg yolks in bowl and while continually whisking, pour mixture back into the bowl

Return entire mixture to the saucepan and heat over low heat until it begins to thicken. Stir regularly in order to prevent the egg yolks burning to the bottom and after about 10 minutes, strain mixture, place back in bowl and refrigerate.

Refrigerate overnight or until the mixture is chilled as this will produce best results when placing in ice cream maker. Once chilled, follow your ice cream makers instructions to churn ice cream. ...and Voila! 

Notes:

Full fat coconut milk and cream will give you a creamier consistency and is less likely to contain artifical fillers to stabilise the product. Low fat or "light" versions may not be 100% natural but will also be lower in Kilojoules/Calories - so it really depends on your personal health focus. (Personally, considering the benefits of the fat in the full fat product, I would recommend using these and avoiding the artificial additives).

Dont throw away your egg whites! When I made this and any other time I only use the yolk in a recipe I have an egg white omelete for breakfast the next morning. A 5 x egg white omelette with avocado, boiled sweet potato and broccoli is one of my favourite mixtures! : ) 

Paleo Chocolate Cherry layer cake

*Follow this link for a new and improved version of this cake (trust me).

Hey everyone!
As the weekend draws to a close, I have some deliciousness to report about! By slightly tweaking my recipe for Paleo Chocolate Orange muffins, I have managed to create a very food porn-ish cake (i believe :D).

Paleo Chocolate Cherry layer cake to be precise!!

  

This image is something I have had in mind for a long while.. and I have also been waiting for a long while for cherries to become available! Today was the day. While I have had cherries in the fridge for quite a few days now, I had not yet had time to even think about what to do with them. Even now... by the time I got to making this cake, I had eaten probably almost half of the cherries I had, just in passing. Now, I was left with not quite enough cherries to use in the cake batter but instead got to test out my new all natural, sugar free Black Cherry Jam! Next time.. the cake will be FULL of cherries.. and will hopefully surpass this already amazing kind of paleo blackforest cake : ).

Ingredients

Note: This list of ingredients makes ONE of the layers. I baked each layer seperately one after the other but it would be possible to simply double these ingredients, make one cake and if you still want the layer of ganache in the middle - slice the cake in half. I dont believe that slicing the cake perfectly even would be overly easy though : ) - hence my baking the layers seperately.

Cake

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1.5 tsp baking powder
4tbs Natvia (brand of stevia)
4 eggs
1/4 +3tbs apple sauce
2tsp vanilla essence
5 fresh medjool dates pitted
1.5 tbs black cherry jam
Approximately 10 fresh cherries - seeds removed and chopped into spall pieces
Some extra jam to add when serving

Ganache

150g good quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa with the least sugar possible - aim for a naturally sweetened product)
4tbs coconut cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C
Grease (with olive or coconut oil) and line round cake tin with baking paper
Combine coconut flour, cocoa, baking powder and natvia in one bowl - combine
In a separate bowl whisk eggs
In a food processor add dates, apple sauce, jam, vanilla essence and process until mostly smooth
Add to eggs and combine all wet ingredients togetherAdd wet ingredients to dry ingredients and beat with cake beaters until smooth
Pour batter into cake tin and place in pre heated oven for approximately 25-30 minutes or until firm to touch and a cake tester comes out clean.

Repeat for second layer and let both layers cool.

To prepare Ganache

Gently melt chocolate in a saucepan over low heat
Add coconut cream and vanilla essence
Stir to combine

Assembly

Place bottom layer on serving plate and spread a layer of ganache on top
Sprinkle with half of the chopped cherries and add some dollops of jam as desired
Place second layer on top and repeat ganache, cherries and jam

All that is left now is to slice a piece of and EAT! : )

As with the Paleo Chocolate Orange Muffins, I recommend trying a slice of this cake after refrigeration! The ganache will set and something happens to the batter to make it amazingly delicious.

I would also recommend rerfigerating this within a day or so of making (unless of course the cake is devoured before you have a chance :D) to keep it fresh for as long as possible. I find that he lack of preservatives in my baked goods causes them to spoil quicker than unnaturally sweetened and processed products.

Serving suggestion:

Try serving a slice of this cake with some freshly whipped coconut cream or some home made coconut ice cream! Mint-Choc chip coconut ice cream recipe coming soon! : )

Goodnight everyone - Have a great week!

Mel x