Tag: cacao

  • Bliss balls with walnuts and honey

    Bliss balls with walnuts and honey

    An easy way to serve something special: bliss balls! These are nutrient rich, filling little snacks and they look wonderful.

    You can vary them endlessly. I happened to have pineapple juice and decided to boil that down to a syrup, but you could just as easily use honey, agave, rice syrup, apple juice etc. As long as it’s sweet and sticky it’ll do the job ?.

    Here’s the recipe for the ones I made today:

    Boil one cup of pineapple juice down to a syrup. Turn off the heat when the syrup is light golden; it is starting to caramelize.

    Add nut granola (crunchy muesli with nuts, leave big chunks out) and dried shredded coconut and mix well. Everything should be thickly coated with sticky stuff.

    Now part the whole bunch in halves and to one half add sesame seeds and to the other, add cacao. Bring to taste with salt if needed (I didn’t). Play with the ingredients (add dry or wet) so that you can form balls that stick together easily.

    Now roll the chocolate balls in coconut and the sesame balls in sesame.

    Serve with walnuts and if you have a sweet tooth, drip with honey or agave syrup.

  • 1-minute vegan banana chocolate ice cream

    1-minute vegan banana chocolate ice cream

    Here’s a cool trick: slice a banana and freeze. When you feel like having ice cream, put the banana slices in a blender with a spoonful of cacao powder, a couple of dates and a small gulp of thick cream like coconut cream or (vegan) cooking cream. Pulse a couple of times et voila..: this is simply delicious!!

    All-real ice cream, no added anything. You should try this, really, it’s great.

  • Blueberry banana overnight oats

    Blueberry banana overnight oats

    A new craze: overnight oats with topping. Dear friend Eva (check her out here: evennaareva.com) served it last week when we had breakfast together.

    The basics: soak oats overnight in water or some ‘milk’ (almond, rice, coconut). When using water, you may find that adding a bit of honey and salt or vanilla sugar may improve the taste. I like to add dried coconut and chia seeds as well and leave that in the fridge overnight.

    Good to know: oats contain phytic acid (fytinezuur), which inhibits the uptake of nutrients in your body. So phytic acid is not something we want. Actually, the whole idea of overnight oats is to pre-digest them, making them more beneficial for the body. Adding acids such as fresh fruits, a squeeze of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to your oats before soaking overnight will aid this pre-digestion and hence help you benefit more from the other foods you eat! Many overnight oat recipes skip this, but it is actually pretty essential to the whole thing ;).

    Next morning, add toppings to your liking. My favorites from this recipe: apple, banana, blueberries, nuts, raisins, flaxseed and pumpkin seeds. Super nice bonus: thick coconut milk. But I keep that one for extra special mornings :).

    Recipe for blueberry banana overnight oats:

    In the evening, mix together:

    • Oats
    • Chia seeds
    • Coconut
    • Water or veggie ‘milk’
    • Optional: salt/honey/vanilla/sugar/some syrup/cinnamon
    • Something acidic (I use lemon juice)

    Next morning, add:

    • Freshly cut fruits (apple, banana, blueberries)
    • Raisins
    • Seeds and nuts
    • Cinnamon
    • Cacao

    There are no measurements here as I truly don’t measure often. Just play around and you’ll be fine!

    When in doubt about the amount of fluid, here’s a hint: you can always add but it’s hard to discard (well and just a pity).

    Hmmmm ?

  • Firming Coffee Scrub with Coconut, Cinnamon and Cacao (DIY)

    Firming Coffee Scrub with Coconut, Cinnamon and Cacao (DIY)

    Sometimes, my kitchen efforts extend into the bathroom. Like with this heavenly chocolate, which turns out to be a great facial mask if you leave out the salt!

    And have you ever wondered what to do with used coffee grounds? Here’s a great one: use them for an authentic homemade facial and body scrub.

    The internet says the coffee has remarkable skin firming, anti-cellulite properties, and if the internet says it, it’s true. I did a tiny bit of research and now choose to believe it, too. As I wisely spend zero time checking my wrinkles and bumps in the mirror anymore, I honestly couldn’t tell you if it really works & I suggest you find out for yourself ;).

    One thing I know is this scrub does scrub and it smells great, too, especially if you like spicy coffee scents with a hint of chocolate. The base of this scrub is coconut and almond oil. Simply add freshly used coffee grounds, fine sugar, cinnamon and raw cacao powder and hop in the shower.

    The scrub will leave your skin richly nourished in coconut and almond oil. Ideal for scruffy winter times, just like the scent. Another great option is to use your favorite shower gel in stead of the oils and mix that with the coffee, sugar & spice, which would make it more of a cleansing scrub and less of a nourishing one.

    It can serve as a nice little present as well. One friend already wrote to let me know she loved it :).

    DIY recipe for Firming Coffee Scrub with Coconut, Cinnamon and Cacao

    Makes a little over 1 cup. Ready in 3 minutes.

    1/6 cup of coconut oil
    1/6 cup of almond oil
    1/3 cup of coffee grounds
    1/3 cup of fine sugar
    1 tablespoon of raw cacao
    1 tablespoon of cinnamon

    If you are in a cold climate like me right now, start by melting the coconut oil and then add in the almond oil to warm slightly. Don’t overheat, just melt.

    Meantime, mix up the coffee, sugar, cacao and cinnamon. Then, simply stir in the oils and combine thoroughly. Smell it, even taste it, and maybe play with the ingredients to adjust to your desired scent and consistency.

    That’s it, you’re good to go!

  • Fiery Chocolate Love Cake

    Fiery Chocolate Love Cake

    I was watching a movie last night: Chocolat. I saw it years ago, had always remembered it but probably hadn’t realized how much the film has affected my life.

    Here’s how it goes: Vianne is a French lady, a nomad whose South American mother used to perform sacred cacao rituals. Together with her daughter, she sets up a chocolatérie in a quiet and seemingly unwelcoming French village. She meets with fear and resistance in the villagers.

    Through her medicine bonbons though, and with help of her creativity, wisdom, warmheartedness and chocolate drinks, she ignites curiosity in the people and becomes a refuge for those who are open for connection and hungry for love.

    (Ahw, i love this story. There’s romance in it, too, but really the lovingly original shop, her open home, the medicinal delis and the eccentric clientele already have me all soft and happy inside.)

    A beautiful message in the priest’s sermon at the end of the movie:

    Here’s what I think: I think we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude.

    I think we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create and who we include.

    Recipe for Fiery RAWR Chocolate Cake

    So here i’m going to include YOU into my most recent love adventure with chocolate cake. It’s in three layers plus topping of chocolate sprinkles. It’s VERY nice and tasty, it will melt on your tongue and heighten your senses, boosting your love life.

    Extra tip
    Stock up on granola, raw cacao, extra virgin coconut oil, lemon, ripe avocados, vanilla extract, dates or honey, and cashews. If you have those, all you need is fresh fruits and you’ll have raw cakes to die for in no-time, always.

    Ditch the scale
    I’m really sorry if you need exact measures; i can’t give them. I hardly measure, i just splash around with foods. A standard-sized bag or jug of each ingredient will definitely do for one cake.

    Also, make sure your coconut oil and honey are nice and soft so that you can easily add them to your blender.

    For the crunchy bottom:
    Take any crunchy granola (cereal-nut mixture, with or without coconut flakes – have it just the way you like it) and mix it in a blender or herb chopper with cacao, honey, a good twist of salt and a few tablespoons of coconut oil. Spread out and put in the fridge. The bottom can be quite salty, it’s nice when the salt is in the crunch layer and not so much in the main filling.

    For the main filling:
    Follow this recipe for heavenly chocolate but as this is a fiery love cake, substitute the lemon rind for chili flakes and black pepper:

    Combine 2 ripe avocado’s, 1 cup honey or more, 1 cup liquid coconut oil or more, 80-100 gr raw cacao, a few pinches of salt, 1 ts vanilla & freshly ground chili flakes and 4 season peppercorns in a blender. Don’t hesitate to add more of anything :). All ingredients are essential, don’t skip any. The consistency should be a thick cream while in the blender. When cooled in the fridge, it will be fudgy.

    Add the filling on top of the bottom layer in your cake form and put back in the fridge.

    For the topping:
    Blend a handful of cashews with water until creamy, then add raw cacao, lemon rind and honey. You may want to make add some lemon juice for added freshness, just try how it goes with your version of fiery heavenly filling.

    Add the topping and sprinkle with chocolate or chili flakes.

    Endulge.

  • Heavenly chocolate

    Heavenly chocolate

    This chocolate just makes me want to shout THANK YOU to the whole universe.

    Recipe for 6-12 portions of heavenly chocolate

    6 if it’s just the chocolate. 12 if you’re dipping or joining with fresh fruits, cakes etc.).

    Combine

    • 2 ripe avocado’s
    • 1 cup honey or more
    • 1 cup liquid coconut oil or more
    • 80-100 gr raw cocoa
    • a few pinches of salt
    • 1 ts vanilla
    • grated rind of 1 lemon

    in a blender. Don’t hesitate to add more of anything :).

    All ingredients are essential, don’t skip any. The consistency should be creamy while in the blender. When cooled in the fridge, it will be fudgy.

    I absolutely love this chocolate goddess goodness flavor magic <3. Go have some, it’ll make your day.