Desserts + Sweets

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Pumpkin Pie Bars with Coconut, Chocolate & Almonds On Top

It’s true. I have a very hungry appetite for all things pumpkin-y and spice scented during the Fall. But my motivation for this recipe comes from my realization that I can count the number of decorations I own for one of my favorite holidays of the year, Halloween, on one hand. Actually, one finger.

It’s a small plastic jack-o-lantern (a name I, and probably many other Jacquelyn’s remember well. Totally not bitter about that one) that’s been spray painted gold. I received it as a prize at a friends Halloween party last year, after entering in the pie contest. Not pie eating, mind you, although I maybe would have entered had there been one : ) My only excuse for the lack of decor is that after moving from one apartment to the next, year after year, for a totally of 8 moves in 8 years, is that you really learn to downsize.

Now I’m in a place where moving is just not as easy an option the way it used to be, but I’m still holding onto the phrase in my head that says “does this object have more than one use, is it small, or do I really love/have to have it?” I’m sure many small space dwellers or non-clutter lovers can agree with me that sometimes decorations for certain holidays fall by the way side when this thought crosses your mind. Real pumpkins, the ones you pick out in a field, where you come home with mud on your shoes, those “decorations” are the ones we had every year, luckily. They’re the ones that will always fit into my requisite rules for what comes into the house.

When I told this to my mom, she insisted I take home a few of her pumpkin, ghost, and witch decorations. Which I did, but things were still feeling pretty sparse, so I baked a treat instead. Filled it with pumpkin, over an oaty cookie-like crust and topped with coconut, almonds, and chocolate. This one didn’t even make it through the weekend before being devoured.

Pumpkin Pie Bars with Coconut, Chocolate & Almonds On Top / makes 8
It seems like a lot of steps because I’ve broken everything down, but really they’re simple to make and you probably have all the ingredients already.

crust
3 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup muscovado or brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1-3 teaspoons cold water

filling
2 cups pumpkin puree or 1 14oz. can
1/2 cup muscovado or brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon clove
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup coconut milk

topping
1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds, lightly toasted
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and line an 8″x8″ baking pan with parchment.

Place the rolled oats in a food processor and whirl until the oats become oat flour. Add in the salt and sugar, give another pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until fully combined, mixture will be crumbly. Add the water 1 teaspoon at a time until the mixture comes together.

Press the dough into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool slightly while preparing the filling.

In a large bowl combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, spices, and cornstarch, stir well to combine. Pour in the coconut milk, stirring well to incorporate. In a small bowl mix together the almonds, chocolate chips, and shredded coconut.

Pour the pumpkin mixture over the oat crust, smooth out to evenly cover. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until set. Allow to cool completely then chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge before cutting into.

Desserts + Sweets, Fall, Gluten-Free

Trail Cookies

“Tell me what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
- Mary Oliver

We lost a friend to cancer in late July. She was an all around beautiful person that we saw nearly every week for the past two years over dinner among friends. She was way too young, but from it, I found myself taking away an even greater appreciation of life. I yearned to spend real time with my husband, friends and family. I actively decided that every moment is a chance to greater not just myself, but the people around me I care so much about. Online life exhausts me more than anything and taking the time to step away is so good for me personally.

Every weekend we seemed to find ourselves hiking or camping, with a couple mid-week surf sessions thrown in. The challenges in life always fade into the background when I’m in the outdoors. Each step I take towards the top of a steep trail or paddle into the next wave is met with that perfect wholeness I feel when given one solitary task. The outside world holds such great treasures; I can never resist taking them on.

To make up for my absence I decided to entice you with cookies and take you along with us up the Tatoosh Ridge Trail in the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest. The wildflowers and views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams were incredible, a must see if you are ever in WA during August. Making this video was new to us, but also very fun, so I’m hoping to take you all on more of our life’s little adventures in the future. It’s also my sneaky way of maybe teaching Scott a thing or two about how to cook, we’ll see.
Music by Loch Lomond

These could also be called one of those “everything but the kitchen sink” cookies. I’m still trying to get zucchini into everything, but shredded carrots or apples would be a great substitute as well (they’ll also make them a touch sweeter too), now that summer squash season is coming to an end. The cookies themselves are like homemade granola or granola bars; relatively healthy, oaty, lightly sweet, and something with a lot of staying power. They get a little softer after a day or two, but on the first day they have a great outer crust that gives way to a softer center, the almonds keep them crunchy.

And even though I haven’t posted lately, I’ve still been filling up on a lot of good food! Here’s a few tasty things from around the web I’ve been eating and enjoying this month:

This spicy little green bean number.
A ridiculously good lemon cucumber tofu salad, that is so refreshing.
Granola that tastes like banana bread. You definitely want to make this.
Sara and Hugh’s beautiful masterpiece.
I’ve been experimenting more with buckwheat flour after enjoying these buckwheat chocolate chip cookies.
Kimberly’s eating well on the road series seems to have summed up my summer. Minus the rice cooker, that was a new tip for me!
Gave myself the challenge of making my own sourdough starter after being inspired by Tara. Let’s just say I’m going to have to start round two next week…

Trail Cookies / makes about 2 dozen
You need 2 cups oat flour for this recipe, I’ve made the oat flour myself using a food processor, but you can buy pre-maid as well. And these are gluten free if you use rolled oats that are marked gluten free.

1/2 cup almonds
3 cups rolled oats, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 400F.

Place almonds on a lined baking sheet and roast for about 10-12 minutes, until fragrant and roasted smelling. Allow to cool, then roughly chop. Turn oven down to 350F.

Meanwhile, place 2 cups of the rolled oats into a food processor (if using oat flour you can skip this step) and process until the oats become oat flour. Toss together with the other 1 cup rolled oats, baking powder, sea salt, coconut, and roasted almonds.

In another bowl combine the coconut oil, honey and egg, stirring well, then add in the zucchini. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring until everything is just moistened. Stir in the dried cherries and chocolate chips. The mixture will be very moist and sticky, place in the fridge for about 30 minutes if you’d like it to firm up a bit, but it’s not necessary.

Using your hands form the dough into rounded mounds and place on a lined cookie sheet. The cookies don’t spread so you can get about 12 to a pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are just slightly golden. Cool cookies on a wire wrack until completely cool. Store tightly covered and enjoy on your next adventure.

Desserts + Sweets, Gluten-Free, Grains, Vegetables, Video

Mini Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cakes with Chocolate Mousse

Scott and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary this past week. We didn’t have anything special planned; after being on the road and eating out for over a week, all we wanted to do was be home. I did however manage to keep our tradition of eating bundt cake going. Last year’s was a Peach Maple and this year I came home to quite a lot of large zucchini, so I went with chocolate and zucchini bundt cakes in mini form and topped them off with a decadent chocolate mousse and a few raspberries I froze before leaving.

The cake is simple and not very sweet, but the chocolate mousse topping is what really makes these into a decadent treat. It’s actually a very strange technique I’ve been wanting to try for awhile now, so when Green & Black’s sent me a few of their chocolate bars I couldn’t hold back any longer. When making this version of mousse it’s very important that you use a high quality chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids. There is no cream or eggs in the recipe and actually, other than water, there is nothing else you need but the chocolate, so you can see why quality is really important. Green & Black’s harvests organic and fair trade cocoa beans that provide the perfect intense and pure chocolate flavor I was looking for in this mousse.

I used a giant zucchini when I made this. Two cups went into the cake batter and the rest was made into zucchini butter (a must make for anyone who has a lot of zucchini on their hands). I spread it on top of toast, sprinkle on a bit of basil and top it with fresh tomato slices; makes the perfect lunch. I also have already made 2 loafs of zucchini bread and plan on making brown butter zucchini corn bread again too. Not to mention I’ve already given or made plans to give a ton away soon. This is my first year growing squash in a raised bed, before I always had them in large pots, but now I’m coming to know the true meaning of having too much zucchini on your hands!

Mini Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cakes with Chocolate Mousse / serves 6
Mousse adapted from Herve This via Cafe Fernando

You can add up to 2 tablespoons of sugar to the mousse recipe if you want your chocolate to be a little sweeter. Add it in when you’re melting the chocolate.

cake
2 1/2 cup light spelt flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup muscavado or brown sugar
1/2 cup melted coconut oil or neutral oil of choice
1/2 cup almond milk
3 tablespoons flax meal mixed with 9T. water (or 3 eggs if non vegan)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini, drained

mousse
3.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
1/4 cup water
raspberries for serving, optional

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 6 serving mini bundt cake pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a smaller bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, almond milk, flax eggs, and vanilla. Stir in zucchini until well incorporated. Gently stir in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated.

Pour even amounts into each budnt form, it should come up to about 3/4 of the way, and smooth it all around.

Bake for about 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes before inverting and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Just before serving, prepare the chocolate mousse.
Fill a small bowl with ice and cold water and set a large bowl on top, making sure the bottom of the larger bowl touches the ice.

Place the chocolate and water in a small saucepan and melt the chocolate over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Pour the melted chocolate into the reserved mixing bowl and start whisking with a wire whisk until thick. Watch the texture as you whip and make sure not to over-whip as it will make the mousse grainy. If it does become grainy, transfer it back to the saucepan, reheat until half of it has melted, pour it back to the mixing bowl and whisk again briefly.

Divide evenly into the center of each cooled cake, top with raspberries (if using) and serve. Best eaten immediately after mousse is finished because the texture is perfect. However, we didn’t mind eating them cool from the fridge the next day, the mouse hardens up a little, but still maintains it’s airy and light consistency.

*Full Disclosure: Green & Black’s provided me with samples of their chocolate. All opinions, text, and images are my own.

Desserts + Sweets, Grains, Summer, Vegan, Vegetables

Raw Apricot & Cherry Jam Tart

Two raw food desserts in a row… it must be Summer. Looking back in my archives I noticed I have a record of making a lot of raw or almost raw desserts and salads this time of year. Besides the fact that there is an incredible amount of fresh produce at our fingertips in the Summer, I think my reasoning for cooking more raw, is that the days are warmer and food just tastes so much better in its natural state. Not to mention that less cooking also means more free time outside, who doesn’t want that?

I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that our backyard came with a fruiting cherry tree. A very huge, old cherry tree. The cherries are just now starting to turn a bright red, (most at the top 25-foot canopy) but we tested one out the other day and it’s some kind of sweet variety. It needs some major pruning and cleaning up, from years of neglect, but we’re hoping to harvest some of the cherries for ourselves before the birds get to them. In the mean time cherry and stone fruit season in Washington has been a little earlier than usual, so I’ve been picking up what I can from the market.

Like many people, I don’t usually get quite as excited about apricots as I do peaches and nectarines, but I just couldn’t resist. I picked up a couple pounds and brought them home, soon realizing I was going to need a way to prepare them that was going to use them up in quantity because they were perfectly ripe and ready. Inspiration came when I saw the last bit of cherries left over in the fridge, not enough to make a whole dessert, but not quite as plump and beautiful as they were the day I purchased them to enjoy eating. I thought I could make a sort of jam by pureeing the cherries and combining them with chia seeds, and it worked. For some reason the photos don’t show the chia seeds as much as in real life, but they really helped to gel the cherries and when topped with fresh apricots and drizzled with a mint honey glaze, it became not just a dessert, but a decadent breakfast as well.

Raw Apricot & Cherry Jam Tart / serves 6-8

The cherry jam in this recipe is not really a traditional jam. The chia seeds act as a pectin gelling the blended cherries together. If you happen to have a jar of real cherry jam you can probably use that too, however it most likely won’t be completely raw.

for the crust
1 cup raw unsalted almonds
3/4 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
pinch of salt

for the filling
4-5 fresh apricots
1/3 cup cherry jam, recipe below
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint

cherry jam
1 full cup fresh sweet cherries (I used Bing), pitted
1 tablespoon honey
1-2 teaspoons chia seeds

Place the almonds in a food processor and blend until they become a coarse crumble, but no large bits left. Add the coconut and salt, then while processor is still running add the dates one at a time until the dough pulls together into one mass. It should all be well blended and there maybe a few slightly larger pieces.

Press the almond mixture into a 7 or 8-inch spring-form or tart pan (line the bottom with parchment first for easy removal, but not necessary). If using a spring-form pan, estimate about a 1/4-inch to 3/16-inch lip up the side to hold in just enough jam and the apricot slices. Place the crust in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You can also make the day before.

For the cherry jam place the pitted cherries, honey, and chia seeds in a small food processor and blend until smooth. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Combine the honey lemon juice and mint in a small bowl. If honey is not runny enough to blend, warm slightly with the lemon juice in a small saucepan until you can easily mix together, then stir in mint, set aside. Cut the apricots in half, remove the pit and slice into 1/4-inch thick wedges.

Remove crust from the fridge, spread in the cherry jam right up to the edge, you’ll have some left over. Arrange the apricot slices in a spiral starting from the outside. Using a pastry brush, top the tart with the honey mixture. Place tart in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so and serve chilled. Best on the first day, but will keep in the fridge for several days or you can prepare the crust and jam ahead of time and assemble before serving.

Desserts + Sweets, Fruits, Gluten-Free, Proteins, Summer

Raw Cocoa Bites

Raw Cocoa Bites, aka little energy nuggets. Seriously, pop a couple in your mouth before heading out for a hike, or any type of exercise you’re planning, and you’ll have a lot of energy, more than enough to get you to the top. Plus they’re lightweight and easy to pack. You’ve maybe seen something similar around the web or wrapped up in pretty packaging and sold at health food stores, either way, if you haven’t made or tired them yet, you’re missing out.

We’ve been working long weekends and traveling quite a bit for work this month and I always pack a batch of these. I’ve been playing around with different variations, but I always come back to the ones with cocoa in them, I just can’t break my chocolate habit! Plus now that summer is here, they’re a great alternative to cookies because you don’t have to heat up the oven. My tip for trying your hand at your own flavor combos would be to have an equal ratio of dried fruit to raw nuts. Then start with a tablespoon or two of added flavors, like coconut flakes, seeds, or cocoa, and season with a few extras like, cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa nibs, or even fresh herbs (mint perhaps?). Have fun with it!

Raw Cocoa Bites / makes 12-14 balls

1 cup pitted dates, soaked for 10 minutes and drained
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup dried unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup cocoa or cocao powder
1 tablespoon flax seed

Place the almonds in the bowl of a food processor and blend until crumbly, just before it gets to almond butter stage. Add the walnuts, coconut, cocao powder, and flax seeds and blend until just incorporated.

Next add the dates. You can add them all at once or drop them one at a time through the feed tube, depending on how powerful your food processor is. Blend until the mixture starts holding together and becomes almost a whole mass. The flax seeds will still be whole, but the rest should be well mixed in.

Shape into about 1-inch balls (they may feel a little oily from the nut oils released, this is normal). Place on a plate and set in the fridge to chill, about 15 minutes. You can also place them in the freezer too, they don’t harden to much.

Breakfast, Desserts + Sweets, Gluten-Free, Proteins

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