Raw Chocolate Delights

These are like chocolate truffles, but better. And good for you. And they are filling, so you won’t want many at a time 🙂

1 cup dates, soaked for a few hours or over night, drained.

1/4c cocoa

2 T coconut oil

2t honey

1/4 t vanilla

pinch of good salt 

1 cup pumpkin seeds, whizzed to a flour.

Whiz pumpkin seeds into a fine flour, set aside. Whiz dates up, then add everything into the whiz bowl and process until you can roll into balls. You may need to add a dash of water, depending on how well soaked/drained the dates are.

Try variations such as a pinch of cayenne, or using prunes instead of soaked dates. Different brands of cocoa (or using raw cocoa) will give different results as well. You could also try different essences like peppermint, orange, etc.

You can roll in coconut, cocoa powder, candied citrus peel, or just leave plain.

Feijoa and Ginger Muffins

I was once given a bag of feijoas and at the bottom of the bag were a few that were on the turn and a bit small for eating anyway. But I didn’t want to waste them. I couldn’t find a recipe I liked the sound of, or had all the ingredients to hand for, so I made this one up:

300 – 400 g whole feijoas

125g butter

2 eggs

1/4c milk

3/4 c soft brown sugar

1  3/4c self raising flour

knob of fresh ginger (or a good teaspoon of ground ginger, depending on how much you like the ginger flavour)

pinch of mixed spice

Whiz feijoas and ginger together. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, sift in dry ingredients and fold in milk and feijoa and ginger mix. Spoon into muffin tins and cook 180 10 -15 min.

Raspberry Semifreddo

I am not a fan of ice cream, but I like the idea of a cold  dessert. When I found this semifreddo last christmas I had to try it.  I added pumpkin seeds to get a green contrast to the red raspberries, so it was a slightly more festive semifreddo. You could try pistachios or green jelly beans or anything that tickles your fancy really.

1 cup mascarpone

3/4 c cream

1 1/2 T icing sugar

1t vanilla essence

pinch of good salt

2 T runny honey

1 c frozen raspberries

nuts, seeds, other dried fruit to taste

Extra berries for serving

Line a standard sized loaf tin  (or two smaller ones) with cling film, leaving enough hanging over the sides to cover the top. 

Mix everything except the raspberries together, gently fold through the berries at the end.

Pour into lined tin and gently shake or wobble so it all settles in and any air bubbles disperse. Set in freezer for a few hours until firm. Thaw 10 minutes before serving with extra berries.

I haven’t tried this but if you wanted to you could make up a jelly with half the standard water (so it’s very firm set) and chop up chunks of that to stir through instead of the berries – or even to layer in to give an interesting colour effect.

Spicy Coconut Dhal

This is a really flavoursome, quick meal that can be made in one pot. Aren’t they the best? So little clean up! Once it’s in the pot, you can leave it to its own devices for the most part while it simmers.

2 fresh lemon grass stalks

1 large red onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 green chilli

100g red lentils

200ml coconut milk

400ml vege stock

Coriander, red chilli, lime for garnish

Using the base of your knife or end of a rolling pin, bash the lemon grass until it’s stringy and fragrant. Finely chop, along with garlic, onion and chilli. Soften on low heat.

Add lentils and coconut milk, and then slowly add the stock.

Simmer 20 – 25 min until lentils are cooked.

Serve with lime and garnish. If red chilli is a stretch too far, you can use goji berries instead for the colour (and flavour!)