Dessert

Raw Chocolate Torte

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This is something you have to try to believe! Containing only raw ingredients and absolutely no dairy, soy or gluten – this is a dessert that can be enjoyed by nearly everyone (even those who are extremely restricted by their diets). Let me know what you think!

*Not my own recipe but I’m not sure where it’s from originally. If you know I would love to give credit where credit is due!*

Raw Chocolate Torte

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: intermediate
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Crust:

  • 2 c pecans (or pretty much any other nut combo you can think of)
  • 8-10 medjool dates – pitted
  • 1 T coconut oil
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • 1 pinch ground cardamom

In a food processor, grind the nuts until they are fairly well blended. Add the rest of the crust ingredients and process until well combined. Press into a deep dish pie plate and refrigerate while you make the filling.

Filling:

  • 1 c raw cashew butter
  • 1 small avocado (yes – I said avocado)
  • 1/2 c + 2 T raw cocoa powder
  • 1/2 c agave nectar
  • 1/2 c melted coconut butter
  • 1/4 c water
  • 1 T vanilla

Rinse out the food processor. In the food processor, blend all filling ingredients until smooth. Scrape filling into crust and chill for 3-4 hours.

This is torte great on its own or served with berries! Enjoy!

 

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Meal #5.5 – or dessert…

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Remember that rhubarb soup I mentioned earlier?? Well… it stayed soup. What do you do with liquid dessert? Make it look like you planned it that way! And that’s just what I did. So – this “soup” consists of chopped up frozen rhubarb, frozen summer strawberries, frozen raspberry puree and tapioca flour (one of the missing ingredients I mentioned earlier was any type of normal thickening agent). 
 
I patted my mixture of brown sugar, melted butter and flour into little ramekins and baked them for about ten minutes in the oven.

  Filled the ramekins with “rhubarb soup”, returned them to the oven for five minutes and… 
Voila! 
Happy children!
 
 

Minted Strawberry Fool(Proof)

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This delicious dessert recipe was most recently served at my parents 29th (Yay Mom and Dad!) anniversary dinner and it was the one thing I let the whole family try. Everyone loved it! I personally couldn’t get enough. Beware! If you like this as much as I do – it won’t feed six, it’ll feed maybe two…

 

Strawberry Fool is a traditional British recipe for a classic dessert of strawberries in a mix of double cream and Greek yogurt flavored with mint and liqueur. A very simple version is given here and because of the simplicity of this recipe, I’ve added the (Proof) to the name!


  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy/intermediate
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Ingredients

  • 1 lb strawberries (hulled)
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 Tbsp fresh mint leaves
  • 1 c heavy whipping cream
  • 6 oz plain yogurt

Save a few strawberries and mint leaves for garnish.

Puree berries, sugar and mint in a food processor or blender. Taste to make sure they are sweet enough and add more sugar if needed.

Whip heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Fold in yogurt. Fold in berry mixture. Chill until needed or serve immediately. Garnish with slices of strawberries and a mint leaf.

This dessert is perfect for the middle of summer – or just to REMIND you of summer when the rain seems endless and the sun refuses to shine…

Ayla’s Gluten Free Cookies

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My wonderful roommate Ayla invented these cookies last fall when she wanted a healthy alternative to the normal desserts that are packed full of refined, teeth-rotting sweeteners. Every couple of weeks she whips up a new batch for us to scarf down…
The recipe is as follows:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1/2 c. butter
2 Tbsp coconut oil (unrefined)
1 c. flax flour
1/2 c. tapioca flour
1 c. oats
1 c. shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 c. maple syrup or honey
1 tsp salt (preferable sea salt)
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips (the least healthy part of these cookies)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together until well incorporated. Drop by the spoonful (these don’t spread very much) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min. Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Ayla has also made these with many different combination’s of gluten-free flours, as well as adding peanut butter or whole flax seeds. (The peanut butter version was a big hit!)

These cookies stay soft for at least a week. Not that I think they’ll last you that long…

Tony O Rama Bars and Job Hunting

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Job hunting makes me SCREAM! I’m just tired of filling out applications with all of the same information that’s on my resume, chatting with people that “ooh” and “aw” over my resume, and then never getting a job.
So what do I do? After another afternoon of filling out applications and turning them in – I drove to the downtown Bellingham Co-Op and continue my search (and blog writing) with the wonderful help of a gluten free Tony O Rama Bar! I don’t know why they call it that – it’s a coop thing.
This bar is like nothing I’ve ever had! I haven’t attempted to duplicate the wonderfulness yet – but I will.
The ingredients are simple: chocolate chips, peanut butter, powdered sugar, vegan (blegh) butter, coconut, brown sugar. It’s pretty much this slab of peanut buttery, coconuty heaven with another slab of coconut chocolaty goodness on top! Words can not describe. And the great thing about this bar is NO GLUTEN! So other than that 1/4 pound of sugar I just inhaled – there’s no guilt! Not that I usually have any type of guilt when I’m eating – but since Hannah and I ate most of a huge loaf of bread on the way home from the store yesterday, I’m working on cutting back on the wheat today 🙂
So the lesson to be learned here is: if life hands you something frustrating – chocolate, coconut and peanut butter will fix it!

Perfect summer dessert!

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Ayla and I were graciously invited to the Tyler’s home for lunch yesterday! Linda Tyler made a wonderful tasty meal and a fabulous dessert. I pressed her for as many details as she could give me so that I can attempt to duplicate it 🙂 Her instructions are as follows:

Make and bake and cool a buttery Graham Cracker Crust. For the filling take part of a block of cream cheese (for a 9×13 she used not quite a full thing), mix together with some whipped cream until well incorporated. Add whatever flavoring you want (she used a little almond, but says she has done lemon, orange, chocolate, etc. in the past) and add some powdered sugar to lightly sweeten. Fill crust with filling. Top with fresh blueberries and slightly press them into the filling to help them stay there. Maybe sprinkle some almond flakes. Cook and cool some more blueberries and poor over everything to kind of hold it in pace. Sprinkle a few more almond flakes. Serve and enjoy!

I realize these instructions are not specific at all – but I’m sure you can figure it out! The filling was a very light fluffy cheese cake type filling (although even Ayla liked it ’cause you couldn’t taste the cream cheese). This desert was perfect for summer because it was cool, slightly rich, and the blueberries were allowed to shine!

Thank you Linda for your hospitality and wonderful dessert!

Moving Frustrations…and cookies!

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I was going to write a post about how frustrated I am with the way our new land lords have been handling this whole moving situation… or about the fact that our move in date keeps getting pushed back because they are still painting… and then I decided that it isn’t great to dwell on the negative…

Instead I am going to expound upon the virtues of these – Flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies – created by the Gluten-Free Girl.

After having my mom and roommate continually forget that I wasn’t eating wheat or dairy during the last two weeks – it was a joy to discover one of my favorite cookies in a wheat and dairy free form! Plus – anything from Gluten-Free Girl is bound to be wonderful, including her writing and photography. I highly recommend her blog and book to anyone who enjoys food – whether or not you are trying to go gluten-free. They are both a joy and an inspiration to read! Check out her blog here.

Christmas Dinner

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Phillip and I spent all of Christmas day cooking food, mixing drinks and watching movies. Then around 6:30 we headed over to the Saunders for Christmas dinner… we brought the appetizer and dessert and here is what we(I) made!

Tomato Bruschetta (recipe from The Old Post Office) (we cut this recipe by about 3/4ths)

-about 20 Tomatoes (4lbs) diced and drained
-1/3 cup minced garlic
-12 oz diced red onion (about 1 1/2 large onions) diced very small
-1 1/2 cups basil leaves, chopped
-1/2 cup chopped parsley
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper
-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
-1/4 cup red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup olive oil

combine ingredients and serve with a sliced baguette or serve on crostini and top with grated Parmesan cheese and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Yum Yum! This recipe is very light and refreshing – and not to filling!

For dessert I made a recipe that the Co-op is considering making. It was very fast and easy to make, and oh so tasty!

Chocolate Fruit Purses – Preheat oven to 400

-1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (or any other berry/ fruit that goes well with chocolate)
-2 Tblsp sugar
-1Tblsp cornstarch
-1/2 cup semi-sweet choc. chips
-1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted

Combine fruit, sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Cook on low heat, stirring often – until it thickens (5 min). Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips.

On a lightly floured surface, unfold the puff pastry. Stretch lightly (or roll with a rolling pin) to form a larger square. Cut into quarters to form four squares. Mound 1/4 of filling in the center of each square. Lift the four corners up and over filling and twist together to form a small topknot. Pinch each side seam to seal pastries.

(I actually turned this into a more personal pastry by cutting each sheet of puff pastry into nine smaller squares and putting a spoonful of the filling in each one. If you go with this method you can actually begin before the pastry is totally thawed out, although it is very helpful to roll the pastry out so you have more dough to work with.)

Place on a baking sheet and bake until puffed and golden – about 20 min.