Tag Archives: coconut oil

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

I have not been shy about my love for the The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out cookbook.  Every thing I have made from it has been absolutely delicious  so when it came time for me to host book club, I knew exactly where I was going to search for a recipe to serve for dessert.

Finished pie.

Finished pie.

Our book club is fairly simple and until the last meeting not very focused on the book.  If you are the hostess, you are responsible for choosing the book and serving wine and dessert.  Until the last book club, we did not spend much time actually discussing the books we had read.  Most of our time was spent drinking wine and talking about what was going on in each other’s lives.  However, with this meeting, we decided the hostess would be responsible for having some questions about the book to help spark discussion.

I choose Me Before You: A Novel by JoJo Moyes and printed off a list of questions from the web.  This book turned out to be a great choice for our first meeting with questions.   It themes were so universal that even the people who had not read the book were able to participate in the conversation.  It sparked a lot of conversation about how you live your life and the choices you might make around death.  I highly recommend this book.

In the original The Oh She Glows Cookbook recipe, it calls for espresso powder to be used in the filling.  I was out of espresso powder so I decided to omit it from the recipe.  I am sure it would be super tasty with the espresso powder but I thought it was very yummy and decadent without it.  Even though this dessert is dairy and gluten free, it still wowed everyone at book club. It does, however,  take a bit of planning because you need to soak the cashews for at least 4 hours (and overnight is even better) before you can make the filling.  This planning is well worth the end result!!

Some of the yummy ingredients that make up this torte.

Some of the yummy ingredients that make up this torte.

To make the crust, you combine the hazelnuts, coconut oil, oats and maple syrup in a food processor and pulse until you get a coarse crumb.  This coarse crumb is then pressed into the bottom of a nine inch round pan and baked for about 10-13 minutes.

Crust before being pressed into the pan.

Crust before being pressed into the pan.

After removing the crust from the oven, allow it to cool before adding the filling.

Crust before baking.

Crust before baking.

I put all the ingredients for the filling in my Nutri Bullet and gave them a whirl.  I had to stop multiple times to scrap down the sides and add a little almond milk.  The Nutri Bullet worked awesome to turn those nuts, chocolate and other ingredients into a smooth, creamy, yummy  filling.

Filling mixture after being blended together.
Filling mixture after being blended together.

 

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

Ingredients

  • FOR CRUST:
  • 3/4 cup raw hazelnuts
  • 1/4 cup of coconut oil
  • 3 tbs of maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 cup gluten free oat flour
  • 1 cup gluten free rolled oats
  • FOR CHOCOLATE FILLING:
  • 1 1/2 cups of cashews soaked overnight or at least 4 hours
  • 2/3 cup of agave or maple syrup (I used maple)
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup cacao powder
  • 1/3 cup of melted dark chocolate chips
  • 2 tsp of vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp of espresso powder (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9 inch pie dish with coconut oil.
  2. TO MAKE CRUST:
  3. In food processor, grind the hazelnuts into a coarse crumb.
  4. Add the maple syrup, oat flour, salt and coconut oil until the dough starts to stick together.
  5. Add oats and process until begin to break up but you can still see them.
  6. Press mixture into the pie pan.
  7. Place in oven and bake for 10-13 minutes. (Until lightly brown.)
  8. Allow crust to cool while you make the filling.
  9. TO MAKE FILLING:
  10. Drain and rinse the soaked cashews.
  11. Place cashews and all other filling ingredients in your blender.
  12. Process the filling on high. Stopping to scrap the sides or add almond milk as needed to keep the blender moving.
  13. Once your filling is completely smooth, pour it into the cooled pie crust.
  14. Smooth filling so it evenly covers the crust.
  15. I garnished my pie with shaved dark chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. You can skip the garnish all together or add whatever ingredients appeal to you.
  16. Put uncovered pie in a flat spot in your freezer and freeze for a few hours.
  17. After a few hours, cover pie with foil and freeze for a minimum of 4-6 hours before serving.
  18. When ready to serve, remove pie from freezer about 10 minutes before slicing.
  19. To store pie, cut in individual slices, wrap in foil and keep in the freezer.
  20. Enjoy!
https://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/chocolate-hazelnut-torte/

Pie slice.

Pie slice.

This pie is really very pretty sliced.  (I know this pictured doesn’t do it justice.)  Unfortunately, my kids got a hold of the pie before I could cut a nice slice and take a picture of it.  Just one more piece of evidence about how delectable this pie is!

Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links.

 

 

Dark Chocolate Covered Seed and Nut Bars

Finished bars all ready to eat.

Finished bars all ready to eat.

It has suddenly gotten amazingly hot and sunny here in the Pacific Northwest.  I LOVE IT!  I am a total sun girl- everything seems better with a little  sun!  The only bummer is our house gets incredibly hot as the day goes on.  As the mercury rises, trying to avoid further heating of  the house with cooking becomes a consuming obsession.  Imagine my joy when I came upon these amazing raw seed and nut bars from This Rawsome Vegan Life while surfing Pintrest (you can find me here on Pintrest).

All the yummies that make up these awesome bars.

All the yummies that make up these awesome bars.

 

These bars have everything you could possibly need for a little pick me up in a busy day.  Healthy sugar from organic dates and raisins, omega-3’s from chia seeds, walnuts and flax seeds and protein from all those seeds and nuts.   Pumpkin seeds further contribute to the omega-3’s but they also give a much need boost of zinc (read here about the benefits of zinc.).The medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) in the coconut oil provide a blast of increase energy expenditure compared to the same amount of calories from longer chain fats.  And, of course, I couldn’t resist adding a dark chocolate covered topping to increase my antioxidant exposure.  (Read more about the benefits of dark chocolate here.

Dark chocolate squares melting in double broiler.

Dark chocolate squares melting in double broiler.

I put the dark chocolate squares on the stove in a makeshift double broiler while I started the grinding of the seeds and nuts in the food processor.  After the nuts and seeds resembled a course crumb, I gradually added the raisins and dates.  Mixing this all together required some time, with multiple stops to scrape down the sides of the food processor.  I used roughly 2 tbs of coconut oil but you will have to judge the stickiness of your own dough.  The moisture content of the dates and raisins seems to impact how sticky the dough becomes.

All the ingredients before being ground.

All the ingredients before being ground.

 

Melting chocolate for the topping.

Melting chocolate for the topping.

Bars with melted chocolate ready to go to the fridge to harden.

Bars with melted chocolate ready to go to the fridge to harden.

Finished bars.

Finished bars.

These were super easy to whip up and so tasty!  I think they might be my new favorite bar!

Dark Chocolate Covered Seed and Nut Bars

Ingredients

  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 1/3 cup chia seeds
  • 1/3 cup ground flax seeds
  • 1/3 cup hemp seeds
  • 1/4 cup cacao nibs
  • 1/4 cup coconut flakes
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup dates
  • 1-2 tablespoons melted coconut oil, if needed
  • 4 Dark chocolate squares for topping.

Instructions

  1. Melt dark chocolate over double broiler on the stove.
  2. Put all ingredients except raisins, coconut oil and dates in food processor.
  3. Process until you have a course crumb mixture.
  4. Add raisins and dates.
  5. Process until dough starts sticking together.
  6. Add coconut oil as needed to help with sticking.
  7. Put dough in parchment lined pan.
  8. Use your hands to press to uniform depth throughout the pan.
  9. Pour melted chocolate over top of bars.
  10. Spread chocolate.
  11. Put bars in fridge for about an hour.
  12. Once firm and chocolate hardens, take out and cut.
  13. Store in fridge.
  14. Enjoy!
https://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/dark-chocolate-covered-seed-and-nut-bars/

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This post was shared with Gluten Free Homemaker, A glimpse Inside, Homespun Oasis, The Nourishing Gourmet, Rock My Vegan Socks, Food Renegade,  Today’s Creative Blog  and Live Laugh Rowe..

Dark Chocolate Chip Gluten Free Cookies

 

photo 3 (2)As I have adapted my families diet, one of the biggest requests I still get from my boys is for some sort of “treat”.  To them, a “treat” means something sweet.  (Unfortunately, their definition of “treat” reflects the language I used with them as young kids.  How I wish I had realized that referring to apples and nuts and other healthy fair might have made them as excited to eat whole foods as they are to eat junk!)  To help combat this idea of “treat”, I am always looking for recipes for whole foods that are packaged like “treats” but contain some good for you ingredients.  It seems like  a never ending quest which is why I was so happy when my school introduced me to these super yummy gluten free, dairy free cookies.

photo 1 (2)These cookies contain oats filled with fiber, manganese, molybdenum, B vitamins and phosphorus.  They also have hemp seeds for a shot of omega-3’s and hazelnuts for increased fiber, folate, manganese and copper.

These cookies offer another health benefit.  Instead of using butter or margarine, they are made with coconut oil.  Coconut oil is a saturated fat, however, it is made of medium chain triglycerides not the long chain triglycerides found in cheese or red meat.  Medium chain triglycerides go straight to the liver from the digestive tract, where they are used as a quick source of energy or turned into ketone bodies.  These fats have been shown to increase daily calorie expenditure by about 5% a day.  Also about 50% of the fatty acids in coconut oil is lauric acid.  Lauric acid has anti microbial properties including killing bacteria, viruses and fungi.  Lauric acid has also been shown to increase HDL (the “good”)  cholesterol and reduced LDL (the “bad”) cholesterol.  When buying coconut oil be sure to buy organic, virgin coconut to enjoy all these amazing benefits.

photo 4

I made these cookies gluten and dairy free because these are two substances we are trying to reduce in our house.  However, if you don’t have these same restrictions, regular flour and non-vegan chocolate chips would be just as tasty.

Dark Chocolate Chip Gluten Free Cookies

Ingredients

  • DRY Ingredients
  • 2c GF all purpose flour
  • 1c vegan chocolate chips (could use chopped dark chocolate or regular chocolate chips)
  • 1/4 c unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1/4 cup of hemp seeds
  • ½ c hazelnuts chopped (could be replaced with walnuts)
  • ½c dried cherries
  • ¾c oats
  • ½tsp sea salt
  • ¾tsp baking powder
  • ¼tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8tsp nutmeg
  • WET Ingredients
  • 2/3c maple syrup or agave (I used maple syrup)
  • 2/3c safflower oil or coconut oil (melt first)
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
  • 3tb water

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl from the wet ingredients.
  3. Combine wet and dry ingredients together until well combined.
  4. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
  5. Scoop dough into equal size balls and place on oiled parchment paper or silicone baking sheet.
  6. Slightly flatten.
  7. Bake 12-15 minutes until slightly brown on the edges.
https://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/dark-chocolate-chip-gluten-free-cookies/

 

Dry ingredients.

Dry ingredients.

 

Wet ingredients before refrigeration.

Wet ingredients before refrigeration.

The ingredients might look and seem a little runny when first combined.  However, once the mixture spends 15 minutes in the fridge, the dough will stiffen up, making it easy to scoop into cookies.

Dough scooped out and ready to head to the oven.

Dough scooped out and ready to head to the oven.

 

Cookies cooling on the wire rack.

Cookies cooling on the wire rack.

 

Yummy! Yummy!  Cookies!

Yummy! Yummy! Cookies!

 

This post is part of a linky party on Rock My Vegan Socks, Tip Junkie and a Southern Fairytale.

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