Posts Tagged ‘flax seed’

Raw Cocoa Bites

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!

ingredientsblended raw cocoa bites

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

Strawberry Tart

It totally hit me a few weeks ago that I’m about to be married to the love of my life in less than 3 months! I have no idea where all that time went but I feel like we still have so much to do. Especially since we want our wedding to be really hands on with lots of diy projects and lots of homemade treats.

I feel so lucky to have the friends I do too because earlier in the week they called and said what can we do to help, lets plan and get some of this stuff done. So over the weekend we all got together and started to really punch through a ton of the decorations and details.

I decided to bring over a dessert to reward all our efforts and keep us going through the day. I really wanted to make a rhubarb crisp to keep it simple and easy, but the lady I get my rhubarb from said Saturday morning, that she didn’t have any because it was resting. So my plans changed quickly to the small left over pint of strawberries I had. I didn’t think I would have enough to make a whole crisp, but I thought I might be able to make a tart, but it still had to be un-fussy and quick to make because it was really nice out that morning and I wanted to at least enjoy some of it.

This tart proved to be exactly that. Quick, easy, and so delicious. The shortbread-like crust had the perfect crumb texture and the slight nuttiness the whole wheat pastry four added was so good, everyone wanted the recipe just so they could make it into cookies.

The filling was mainly strawberries because I didn’t want to complicate things with any kind of batter filling and they were perfectly sweet all on their own with just a sprinkling of demerara sugar. I loved how the bright green pistachios popped off the redness of the strawberries too, plus they added a nice crunch.

I used whole wheat pastry flour but you could substitute all-purpose flour or even spelt flour for a wheat-free version. I also used an egg replacement mixture of flax meal and water, but I’m sure an egg would work fine as well. Honestly this tart looks fancier than the time it really takes to make. The crust comes together just like a stiff cookie dough that is easily pressed into the tart pan. If you don’t have the patience to layer and fan out the strawberries, than don’t, I think it would still work well even if you just threw them on top as long as they are in an even layer.

Strawberry Tart / serves 8
Adapted from C’estLaVegan

2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup cane sugar
1 tablespoon flax meal mixed with 3 tablespoons water (or 1 egg)
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
about 2 tablespoon demerara sugar (or brown sugar)
about 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
about 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Whisk together the flax meal and water, set aside for about five minutes.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add the flax meal mixture to the butter mixture, or egg if using, and stir until thoroughly combined.

Sift together the flour and salt, add to the butter mixture and mix until a stiff soft dough forms.

Lightly grease a 9-inch tart pan and press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. You may need to wet your hands if the dough is too sticky. Arrange the sliced strawberries on top of the dough and bake for about 30-45 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown (mine took 45 minutes).

Turn the broiler on. Sprinkle the lemon juice and about 2 tablespoons demerara sugar over the top of the tart and broil until the sugar is mostly melted. Make sure to watch that the strawberries don’t burn. Cool, and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios. Remove from the pan, slice and serve.

Can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Desserts + Sweets, Fruits, Summer