Category: Sweet Treats & Snacks

Raw Vegan Super Berry ‘Cheesecake’

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Raw Cheesecake 1

Need we say more?? We both have a real sweet tooth so come 3/4 in the afternoon, we are wanting something with our herbal tea and this is a perfect afternoon treat… We had made a massive batch of cashew yoghurt and had loads leftover so we thought, what can we use it for? And we came up with this. It’s easy to make, but takes some time because you have to do each layer separately.

We love using acai berries for their anti-oxidant powers so we wanted to make a super-berry topping, next time we’ll do chocolate!

Ingredients

Base:
1 cup almonds
Quarter cup pecans
6 dates
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
Pinch of Himalayan salt

Middle layer – Cashew cream:
1 cup cashews
1 and quarter cups purified water
2 dates
2 tsp organic natural maple
1 tsp vanilla essence

Top layer:
1 frozen banana
Quarter cup of freshly frozen blueberries (blueberries bought pre-frozen have too much water)
The cream from the top of a can of coconut milk
4 acai berry capsules (we used Organic Burst)
1 tsp organic natural maple syrup

Method

Before you start any of this, you must soak your nuts. Soak almonds and pecans for the base in one bowl, and the cashews for the middle in two separate bowls and leave to soak in purified water for AT LEAST 4 hours. Soak overnight if you can. Do not omit this step.

Once the nuts are ready, drain and rinse the almonds and pecans and put them in the blender with the dates, coconut oil and salt. Once combined, flatten this base layer into the base of a smallish springform cake tin and put it in the freezer while you make the middle layer.

For the middle layer, rinse your cashews then put them in the blender with the water and blend for around 7-10 minutes. You need it to go super smooth and creamy. If you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix, the mixture will heat up like a soup, don’t worry. After around 4 minutes of blending, add the rest of the ingredients and proceed to blend until completely smooth like a yoghurt. Leave it by the window until it cools then pour it over the base layer and put back in freezer. Leave it in the freezer for an hour

Now make your top layer by simply blending all the ingredients. Once the middle layer is firm enough, pour top layer on top and put back in freezer for the last time for around 45 minutes or until firm.

When you take it out, you may need to wait 15 minutes until it is ready to push out of the cake tin and you could use a sharp, thin knife to cut around the edges to help you.

Leave it to melt a little bit and serve straight away or put in fridge and serve from fridge once it’s a little softer.

Raw Cheesecake 2

We hope you love it as much as we do!

Love,
Lauren & Raine

Raw ‘Bounty’ Bars

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raw bounty bites

Well these certainly went down a treat in my house! Who doesn’t like Bounty?? It is one of my favourite chocolates and just like with most things, here at Two Kitchens, we like to create healthy variations for our favourite snacks.

These are completely free of gluten, refined-sugar, dairy and chemicals, and require surprisingly few ingredients!

Ingredients

Coconut filling:
Half cup desiccated coconut (unsweetened, organic)
A quarter cup coconut oil, melted over the hob
5 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Chocolate layer:
4 tbsp cacao butter
1 tsp coconut oil
4 tbsp raw cacao powder
2 tbsp organic maple

Method

Mix the coconut filling ingredients well in a bowl. Get an empty ice cube tray and portion the mixture into the little cube holes and push them in so they gain the right shape. Once you’ve finished the mixture, put this in the freezer for twenty minutes.

Meantime, melt the cacao butter and coconut oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted, add the cacao. Once combined, while stirring, remove from the heat and add the maple. It will bubble a bit so leave it off the heat while you mix it then when it calms down, put it back on the hob on a low heat for a minute, until fully combined.

Once the coconut bites are ready, remove from the freezer and from the ice tray and put them on a plate. Coat each one individually in the chocolate, then, leaving them to sit on a plate put back in the freezer for 10 minutes, remove, and repeat this step as the first chocolate layer will be absorbed by the coconut oil but the second layer will go on nicely. Leave for about half an hour, remove, and store in an airtight container in either the fridge or freezer for up to two weeks.

Happy bounty hunting!
Love,
Lauren

Simple Chia Pudding with Berry Compote

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Chia pudding

I keep trying to spread a message about breakfast… it really isn’t very hard to make nutritious, delicious, simple breakfasts for the whole family in order to be able to bin the horrible processed cereals. It can be very daunting when embarking upon this lifestyle, we think it’s going to be really hard but making this chia pudding was no harder than making a bowl of cereal or porridge. If you just change one thing at a time, make breakfast your first change, the kids will love these ideas – just check out all our other breakfast options!

It isn’t baby led weaning-friendly but if you’re happy with spoon feeding your baby / toddler, this really makes such a nutritious breakfast.

“Chia” is the ancient Mayan word for “strength” and these little seeds were prized for their ability to provide long-lasting energy. They provide high nutrition for low calories (almost all of their carbohydrates are in the form of fibre) so this is a great food if you’re trying to lose weight. They are high in protein, fibre, Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and antioxidants.

You can sprinkle chia seeds over your breakfast or add them to smoothies, but this is just another great way to eat them. When you soak these little nutritional powerhouses in liquid, they swell and absorb the liquid. The result is a creamy and delicious pudding. Great for breakfast or dessert… and who doesn’t love dessert for breakfast?!

Ingredients (one portion)

2-3 tbsp chia seeds
1 small cup almond milk
1 tsp organic natural maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the compote (completely optional as you can top the pudding with whatever you like):
4 strawberries
4 raspberries
6 blueberries

Method

The night before you want to eat this, simply mix the chia seeds in a bowl or glass or jar with the almond milk, maple and vanilla (both the latter are optional also, but nice for a bit of sweetness and flavour), cover and leave in the fridge overnight. When you first mix it, it will look like it isn’t absorbing but in the morning you’ll see how the seeds have swelled to look almost like passion fruit seeds (don’t worry, they’re much softer than passion fruit seeds).

Add the fruit to the blender and blend until smooth. Top the pudding with this and add any nuts, seeds or fruit you fancy!

You can also try Raine’s Chai Chia Pudding (a mouthful yes but the pudding works so well with the chai spice flavours)

Health and Happiness,
Love,
Lauren

Creamy Cashew Yoghurt

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Cashew Yoghurt

I love yoghurt and I think it’s one of the things I found I missed most when cutting out dairy. But don’t fret! We can make our own dairy-free version of course! And I used cashews here. Mainly because cashews go really nice and creamy and are also quite sweet so they make a great yoghurt. The magnesium content in cashews also helps keep our bones strong and are packed with flavanols which starve tumours and stop cancer cells from spreading, which is essential in this day and age with all the cancers around.

I added 2 probiotic capsules to this also, firstly to help keep my gut strong (read about that here) but also to help build yoghurt cultures in the yoghurt, so it’s not just a cashew cream.

In order for nuts to survive, nuts contain inherent toxic inhibitors that protect the plant from germination until the ideal conditions are present (nature is amazing!) It is not until they get wet and there is sufficient moisture that they germinate. It can wreak havoc on your digestive system if you don’t soak them because these protective enzyme inhibitors do not digest in our bodies, your body will fight them, so you must soak them to release these toxins. Not soaking nuts first will also inhibit the absorption of nutrients. I suggest soaking overnight but 4 hours will do it.

You can top this with anything you like, I used strawberries, sunflower seeds and hazelnuts.

Ingredients

1 cup cashews
1 and quarter cup purified water
2 dates
2 tsp organic natural maple
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 probiotic capsules

Method

First, you must soak your cashews in purified water for AT LEAST 4 hours. Soak overnight if you can. Do not omit this step. (See above for explanation). Once the nuts are ready, drain and rinse, then put them in the blender with the water and blend for around 7-10 minutes. You need it to go super smooth and creamy. If you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix, the mixture will heat up like a soup, don’t worry.

After around 4 minutes of blending, add the rest of the ingredients and proceed to blend until completely smooth like a yoghurt. Add more water if it’s too thick.

Store in a sealed container in the fridge (once it has cooled) for up to four days and enjoy with your favourite toppings.

Happy weekend everyone!
Love,
Lauren

Three Variations of Homemade Ice Cream

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I kid you not, homemade ice cream is the easiest thing to make! You need to have a good, high-speed blender like the Vitamix, and some fruit. That’s literally it!

Freeze bananas the day before, then add them to the blender. The super high speed turns the frozen bananas into cream without actually putting any cream in there, that is how simple it is!

Variation 1:
Just frozen bananas, topped with Chunky Monkey Cookie Dough Chunks

Variation 2:
Frozen bananas with two dates to make a banana caramel ice cream, topped with Raw Cacao Cookie bites

Variation 3:
Simple sorbet – frozen strawberries and raspberries topped with some raspberries.

You can top with date syrup, nuts, seeds, fruit, desiccated coconut – anything you like. My parents came over for dinner tonight and couldn’t believe it was completely and totally plant-based and guilt-free!

Happy ice cream eating!
Love,
Lauren ❤

 

Book Club Bakes

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Most book clubs are known for their wine drinking more than talking about books. At my book club it’s more about eating! And when I’m hosting, my fellow book-clubbers expect some tasty treats and today I hope not to disappoint!

I’ve posted the recipes separately and you can find them here – Raw Cacao Chia Cookies & Chunky Monkey Peanut Butter Cookies – but I just wanted to put up this post to show that if you are hosting, whether it be a book club or simply having the girls round (or guys), you can offer your guests some of these quick, easy, healthy and nutritious treats.

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Happy reading!

Love,
Lauren

Chunky Monkey Peanut Butter Cookies

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I’m obsessed with peanut butter. As far as I’m concerned, every meal could have peanut butter in it and I’d be happy! So when I decide to make cookies I usually have peanut butter in there somewhere.

I made these especially for my book club tonight and everyone has different dietary requirements so I wanted these to be vegan, gluten & wheat free, dairy free and sugar free. So guess what I used instead of flour? You’ll never guess… OK I’ll tell you… Chickpeas! Those versatile, brilliant little bean-like things. I also gave them an energy boost with some Maca powder so you’ve got the protein from the chickpeas and the peanut butter and extra energy from the maca. They taste like heaven…

Ingredients

1 normal sized can of chickpeas
Half cup organic natural peanut butter (either make your own by blending peanuts in a Vitamix or buy it. I like Meridian)
1 tbsp maca powder
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 tbsp organic natural maple syrup
1 heaped tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
Vegan chocolate chips – optional

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Method

Preheat your oven to 180.

First drain and rinse the chickpeas, then pat them dry with a paper towel.

In a food processor,  combine all ingredients (except the chocolate chips). Really make sure all the ingredients are combined and blended fully.

Put in the chocolate chips and pulse for a few seconds just so they get round the whole mixture.

Line a baking tray with baking paper then grab a chunk from the mixture and spoon them down but leave them quite thick as they’re meant to be chunky. You may need to wet your hands so the mixture doesn’t get stuck.

Once they’re all on the baking tray, put them in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. You want them to be moist and soft, not hard at all. No, I’m not kidding you, it really is that simple!

Serve warm or leave on a wire rack to cool then store in an airtight container.

Happy cookie eating!
Love,
Lauren

Raw Cacao & Chia Cookies

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I’ll admit, I left these in the oven a little too long as I was running all over the place yesterday with a million things to do and still made two batches of cookies, soup and dinner… plus I don’t have the world’s best oven so it’s hard to know when things are done. So I apologise for the burnt edges but I can assure you they taste yummy!

I wanted to make some quick, simple and healthy cookies for my book club so I started with these and added cacao, chia and quinoa flour for extra protein.

Ingredients

1 cup almonds
1 cup pecans
1 cup quinoa flour
1/3 cup pure maple or agave
About 7 medjool dates
3 tbsp raw cacao powder
3 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp coconut oil – melted
1/4 cup water

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Method

Preheat oven to 180.

Place the almonds and pecans in a food processor and blend until they turn into a flour.

Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend again until all the ingredients are well blended and it is a sticky dough-like consistency.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and take a large tablespoon full of the mixture and flatten it into a cookie shape using a spatula. Repeat this until the mixture is used up then bake for twenty minutes – no more or yours will burn like mine did! 🙂

Serve warm or leave on a wire rack to cool then store in an airtight container.

Happy baking!
Love,
Lauren

Raw Caramel

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Creamy, gooey, sweet caramel… it must be unhealthy, right? Not this one! And it’s super easy to make too – no more standing over the stove forever to get your caramel just right. This goes wonderfully with No-fry Chocolate and Maca Pancakes, drizzled over slices of apple, as a centre for raw chocolates or just by the spoonful!
I like to make up a batch and keep it in a glass jar for whenever I might need it. Keep refrigerated in very warm weather as it will melt and separate, otherwise in the pantry is fine.

Ingredients

50g organic virgin coconut oil
70g raw almond butter
100g runny raw honey or 85ml organic maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt

Method

Place all the ingredients into your blender and blend for a couple of minutes. You want everything to melt together into a creamy consistency, and the mixture will change colour as you do this. It’s important to blend for long enough, as opposed to just mixing everything together, to get the right consistency. If it doesn’t look right yet just keep on blending!

Health and happiness.

Love,
Raine

Buckwheat Blueberry & Poppy Seed Muffins

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Buckwheat Blueberry Muffins

Firstly, we both want to thank you all for the amazing response we’ve had to our blog after only going live yesterday – we appreciate it so much!

I really went out on a limb here today. I wanted to make blueberry muffins for my husband for the weekend as he loves them but I’ve never made buckwheat muffins so I decided to really experiment which is sometimes risky as it can go wrong and you end up throwing away a bunch of good ingredients! Thankfully though, these turned out perfectly!

Buckwheat flour is the perfect substitute for wheat flour because, although you may think buckwheat is a grain, it is in fact a fruit seed so it’s a great replacement for wheat. Buckwheat also helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and contains lots of phytonutrients that act as anti-oxidants to fight fight disease. Blueberries are also brilliant anti-oxidants. I also used poppy seeds in these because they are a good source of B-Complex vitamins and I’m trying to increase my B-Complex intake to help my nerve pains, something I still suffer from as a by-product of having long-term arthritis.  Poppy seeds are in fact extracted from the pods of the opium poppy, we just don’t get the same side effects with them (!) They are high in oleic acid (a mono-unsaturated fatty acid) so they help lower cholesterol and they are high in fibre. And guess what? They’re also anti-oxidants!

Ingredients (these are gluten free, dairy free and refined-sugar free)

2 cups buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Half tsp Himalayan salt
1 ripe banana, mashed
2 eggs (for vegan, substitute with 2 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 5 tbsp water, mixed and left to set for 20 mins)
Quarter cup almond milk
Quarter cup agave or maple
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1-2 tbsp poppy seeds, depending on your preference

Method

Preheat the oven to 180.
Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the mashed banana, then add the almond milk, agave and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. It doesn’t matter if there are a few lumps from the bananas but make sure you mix in all the flour from the bottom of the bowl. Then add the blueberries and poppy seeds.
Place around 9-12 muffin cases in a cupcake oven tray and using a large spoon, spoon in the mixture into each one, filling to nearly the top.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden and fairly moist.
Enjoy warm or cooled.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love,
Lauren