Tag: raw cacao

Raw Chocolate & Coconut Mousse

2 Comments

Chocolate Coconut Mousse

Pregnancy has got me craving something sweet after a meal (or all the time?!) and although I am totally happy with my 80%/20% lifestyle in which, during the 20% I allow myself to eat out, have the odd pizza or have a processed chocolate bar, I have to remember that my continued remission is not something to take for granted; it is a product of continuous maintenance on my part and that maintenance comes in the form of diet and homeopathy. If I get slack on either one I could see the arthritis coming back at any point and now, more than ever, with a baby on the way, I need to make sure that I stay strong and healthy, especially because carrying extra weight could also impact my joints if they are not kept healthy and supple enough. It is constant work, this keeping healthy business, but I can’t think of anything more worth it.

Sometimes people say to me, ‘we can’t afford to eat organic’ or ‘I don’t have time to make those meals’. In some cases this is very true, but a lot of people who say these things to me would happily go out on a Saturday night and spend £150 on a meal, or buy a new pair of shoes, or spend the evening in front of the TV. There is nothing more precious than our health and prevention is better than cure so ditch the dinner out and save yourself some money and put it towards buying organic, and spend an extra hour in the kitchen once or twice a week preparing fresh lunches and snacks like this one here. I have to sacrifice many things to be able to afford organic food, superfoods and my supplements, and it shouldn’t just be a case of ‘well that’s ok because you had a disease but I don’t’. Because if you ever get diagnosed with something, from arthritis to cancer or the millions of others that people suffer from, you will wish you did all you could to prevent it, for you and your children. There are ways around EVERY SINGLE HEALTH ISSUE, you just need to be willing to work hard enough and remember that a lifetime consuming the chemicals that are found in every single thing you eat or drink that isn’t organic, WILL lead to disease. Don’t do it to your bodies, not in this day and age when there are so many options. Enjoy an organic, superfood lifestyle! And if you need any help getting started, feel free to drop us a line so we can help.

Ingredients

Chocolate mousse layer:
Half cup pecans
1 frozen banana
Half an avocado
Half a cup of almond milk
1 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp maple syrup
Half tsp vanilla extract

Coconut mousse layer:
2 frozen bananas
The cream from the top of a can of organic coconut milk (save the watery part for cooking)

Optional toppings:
Raw cacao covered goji berries
Desiccated coconut

Method

You will need a high speed blender to make the ‘ice cream’ from bananas. I use a Vitamix.

Put the pecans in the blender and blend well until they form a fine meal. Then add the banana and blend until smooth, followed by the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Add this to fill just over half a small glass.

Wash the blender out then add the 2 bananas for the coconut layer until smooth but not melting, then add the coconut cream and blend quickly so combined but not melting.

Add this to the top of the chocolate layer then top with your choice of toppings. I used cacao covered goji berries and desiccated coconut.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as my husband and I will enjoy it after our dinner tonight!

Love,
Lauren

P.s. I had some leftover from the coconut layer so I used this as a milk / yoghurt replacement with my homemade granola this morning. Was lush!

Coconut mousse granola

Chocolate Maca Chia Pudding

2 Comments

Chocolate Chia Maca Pudding

People are constantly looking for healthy and easy to make alternatives to artificial, cardboard-like breakfast ‘cereals’ and toast. We are the biggest lovers of breakfast here at Two Kitchens! We have more breakfast recipes on our site than any other recipes.

This one is amazing for the whole family. It is packed with chia so it is full of bioavailable plant-based, organic protein, has maca powder in it so gives instant but long-lasting natural energy, the raw cacao is another source of plant-based protein, the almonds in the almond milk add calcium and you can add whatever fruit you like to it for more fibre and fruit intake. I added bananas but you can add strawberries or other berries too. The kids will honestly love this, you can send them off to school knowing they have been given the best start to the day and if you make enough, you can save some as a snack or even dessert for after dinner – so versatile!

Ingredients

1 cup almond milk
3 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp maca powder (I use Organic Burst)
1 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp organic maple syrup or other natural sweetener of choice
1 banana, sliced
Small handful organic vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Method

Put all the ingredients except the banana and chocolate chips into a saucepan and heat gently over a low heat. It will seem dry at the beginning but eventually it will all melt into itself, just keep stirring. You want it to heat but not boil as boiling chia seeds will take the goodness out of them but we still want them to soften and swell.

Once it’s ready, transfer to a bowl, wait for it to cool then leave in the fridge for half an hour. Alternatively you can make it the night before and leave in the fridge overnight. The chia will then swell even more and be softer.

Transfer to a glass or any bowl of choice and top with your favourite toppings.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Coconut & Cacao Ice Cream

Leave a comment

Coconut Cacao Ice Cream

Yes it’s ice cream, but I had it for breakfast. Ice cream for breakfast?? When it’s healthy, why not? It’s simply bananas, raw cacao, coconut cream and a drop of maple. That’s it! Indulge why don’t you 🙂

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas (freeze the night before in slices
The creamy part from the top of a can of coconut milk (save the watery part for a curry or something)
1 tsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp organic maple syrup
Desiccated coconut

Method

Put all the ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Top with the coconut and enjoy.

Love,
Lauren

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Mousse Mini Pies

Leave a comment

peanut butter pies 2

These are a bit of a strange invention, I have to say! But they’re pretty decadent and yummy and I was totally happy with the outcome 🙂

You will need to prepare the day before by soaking the cashews overnight, putting the top layer of peanut butter in the fridge and putting the coconut cream in the fridge to chill. Read the recipe thoroughly before starting…

Ingredients

Chocolate Mousse layer bottom layer:
1 cup cashews (soaked overnight)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp organic maple syrup
1/3 cup ground almonds
5 tbsp almond milk.

Peanut butter cream middle layer:
The cream from the top of two tins of coconut milk or 1 can of coconut cream
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
1 tsp maple syrup

Peanut butter pies 1

Top layer:
Spoon about 10 tbsp peanut butter into a bowl and keep in the fridge overnight.

Method

Start by adding all the bottom layer ingredients to the blender and blend well. If it is too dry add some more almond milk. It will either go like a crumble or like a mousse depending on your blender, each is fine. Add more milk depending on your preference.

Place muffin cases in a cupcake baking tray and scoop out about a tablespoon and a half per muffin case. Once they’re all filled and the mixture is all finished up, place in the freezer for about 45 minutes or until fairly hard.

Once they’re in the freezer you can take the coconut cream out the fridge and whip it with an electric whisk until stiff, then mix in the peanut butter and maple. Put it in a bowl and place in the fridge until your bottom layers are ready to come out the freezer.

Once the mousse mixtures are ready, take them out the freezer and spoon a heaped tbsp of the peanut butter cream mixture on top of each one then put back in the freezer for an hour.

Once ready, wash your hands thoroughly then spread a bit of the peanut butter that has been in the fridge overnight over each of the pies.

Remove them from the cupcake tray and place them in a large container in the fridge. They will be too hard if you leave them in the freezer but the fridge will give them a mousse-like consistency.

Peanut butter pies 3

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Double Chocolate Cookies

1 Comment

Double Chocolate Cookies

It’s tough being pregnant and health-conscious! But what time could be more important than now to watch what I eat? The growth and health of my baby is solely dependent on me – that’s a lot of pressure! So I need to make sure I’m consuming only the healthiest, most nutritious organic produce but that’s not always easy; as we know, everything healthy takes preparation. I must admit, I have succumbed to the odd store-bought chocolate biscuit over the last few weeks as the serious chocolate cravings hit, but I try to make a batch of something sweet yet healthy once a week or once a fortnight so I have stuff on hand.

Today we looked after our 18 month old niece (good practice!) and while she had her afternoon nap I whipped up these bad boys, adapting from a recipe by Wholesome Patisserie. Not only did they 100% fully satisfy my craving (and I’m not lying, they really did – even more so than the store-bought processed stuff!) but my niece loved them too and we got to have them warm out the oven when she woke up. That’s what I call Sunday afternoon bliss! I hope you like them as much as we all did 🙂

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients:
1 heaped tbsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup almond butter
1 and quarter cups coconut palm sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp Himalayan or Oryx salt
3 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
2 tsp almond milk
Half cup dairy free (or your choice of) chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground flax and 3 tbsp filtered water and set aside for 2-3 minutes or until it has thickened up. Then whisk the flax egg one final time.

Now add the wet ingredients to the same bowl with the flax egg; solid coconut oil, almond butter, brown sugar, coconut sugar and vanilla. Beat the mixture until smooth and well combined.

Add in the baking soda, baking powder, salt and cacao, beat the mixture well. You may have to knead a bit with your hands to get it fully incorporated, then beat or knead in the buckwheat flour with the almond milk until smooth and well combined.

Now mix in the chocolate chips.

Take a small piece in your hands and roll into a ball then flatten into a cookie shape and place on prepared baking tray. Make sure to leave enough room between each cookie as they will rise.

Put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes then remove them and leave to cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. After that you can either eat them warm or wait until fully cooled before storing them in an airtight container.

Enjoy the decadence!

Love,
Lauren

Raw Chocolate Tart

3 Comments

Raw Chocolate Tart

This is a favourite with my family and friends, and no one can ever believe what the main ingredient is… avocado! Don’t let that put you off – it is rich, creamy and delicious; everything you want from a chocolate tart. And it’s so simple and easy to make.

This year I made it for Pesach dinner (we don’t eat wheat during Pesach and our desserts always have to be dairy-free as we don’t mix meat and milk.)
Word of advice: don’t tell people that there’s avo in it until they’ve tried it!

Ingredients

Crust:
2 cups whole raw almonds
60ml raw cacao powder
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
150g fresh medjool dates
2 tbsp organic virgin coconut oil

Filling:
500g ripe avo flesh (about 4 or 5 avos)
180ml raw cacao powder
60ml organic virgin coconut oil
40g raw cacao butter, gently melted
180ml organic maple syrup
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
1/4 tsp organic stevia leaf powder
1 tsp organic vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp vanilla powder

Method

Remove the pits from the dates and chop them up. Place all the ingredients for the crust in a food processor and blend until you have a fine crumb that sticks together when pressed. If the mixture seems dry just keep processing until it’s sticky. Turn it out into a 23cm loose-bottom flan tin or glass serving dish. Press the crumb evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the tin, making sure that the top edges are straight and even. Refrigerate.

Place all the ingredients for the filling in a high-speed blender and blend until completely smooth, but be careful not to blend for so long that the mixture heats up.
Pour into the set crust and use a spatula to make swirly patterns on top or just smooth it out, as you prefer. Refrigerate overnight or minimum 4 hours.

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Chocolate Acai Cups

4 Comments

acai cups

Chocolate, and pink! What more could a girl want?! The contrast in the textures of the chocolate and the frozen acai smoothie is a bit strange, but the tastes go so well together. The raw cacao gives you heaps of plant-based protein and the acai, of course, is full of beautiful pink energy-boosting, anti-oxidant wonderfulness.

Ingredients

1 x chocolate sauce recipe
1 x acai berry smoothie bowl recipe

Method

Firstly, I would suggest making these on a day when you’ve made the smoothie bowl to have for breakfast and just keep half a cup of the smoothie back for these cakes as a whole smoothie bowl is way too much.

Simply make the chocolate sauce, then add about a spoonful of it to the bottom of each muffin case (which should be placed in a cupcake baking tray) and freeze for 30 minutes.

Once frozen, add a spoonful of the smoothie as the next layer, and freeze for a further 30 minutes.

Once this layer is frozen, add one more layer of chocolate to the top and freeze again.

Once ready remove from the muffin cases and place in a container. I would advise keeping them in the freezer instead of the fridge as the smoothie layer will melt otherwise.

Enjoy the yummy flavours!

Love,
Lauren

Chocolate & Puffed Quinoa Krispie Treats

3 Comments

quinoa crispy cakes

There’s nothing better than baking with your kids, but baking with healthy ingredients and teaching them all about it is even better. I remember as a kid we used to make Rice Krispie cakes but of course with melted Dairy Milk and actual Rice Krispies! This is a healthier take on that and you won’t feel guilty giving these snacks to your kids – they are full of goodness and are still yummy. The kids will be happy and their blood sugar levels won’t drastically drop like they would if you used artificial ingredients so it’s the best of both worlds. They are full of bioavailable plant-based protein – oh and they’re sooooo easy to make!

Ingredients

2 cups puffed quinoa (you can buy a box online or at your local health shop)
1 x chocolate sauce recipe

Method

First make the chocolate sauce as per above recipe.

Once it’s made and ready in the saucepan, add your puffed quinoa to a medium sized bowl and pour the chocolate over. Mix well until combined.

Place muffin cases in a cupcake baking tray and add a few spoonfuls of the mixture to each one (as much as it takes to fill them to the top) then simply place the tray in the freezer for about 45 minutes.

Now all you have to do is make sure there is no fighting over who gets to lick the bowl!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Chocolate Birthday Cake with Berry Chia Jam & Chocolate Mousse Icing

Leave a comment

Chocolate Birthday Cake

For my son’s first birthday I made a cake without refined sugar but still used stoneground wheat flour and organic butter. Last year for his second birthday I was determined to come up with a completely clean cake recipe, so I began The Cake Trials (which you may have seen if you followed my old Instagram account @unsinfully_divine.) I must have baked about 10 cakes in the month leading up to his birthday, and finally came up with the perfect recipe!
This cake was so good I made it again this year for his third birthday. You would never guess that it is so healthy… it’s rich, moist and has a good crumb (very hard to do with gluten-free baking!) Berry chia jam and my awesome Chocolate Mousse Icing finish it perfectly.

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
70g raw cacao paste
150g pitted fresh dates
180ml boiling water
150ml organic maple syrup
200g organic virgin coconut oil
4 eggs
1/2 tsp organic vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of himalayan salt
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup almond flour
60ml raw cacao powder

For the Chocolate Mousse Icing:

320g mature coconut flesh and 1 1/2 cups hot water, OR 2 cups organic coconut cream
80ml raw honey
pinch of himalayan salt
1/4 tsp organic vanilla powder or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5ml agar agar powder (not flakes – they require different measurements)
40ml organic virgin coconut oil
90ml raw cacao powder

For the Berry Chia Jam:

1 cup frozen mixed berries
1 tbsp raw honey
1ml organic vanilla powder
small pinch of himalayan salt
2 tbsp chia seeds

METHOD

Set aside the frozen berries to allow them to defrost.

Firstly make the icing. If using fresh coconut to make your own cream, blend the coconut and hot water in a high speed blender for 30 to 60 seconds. Strain through a nut milk bag. Allow it to cool slightly before squeezing so that you don’t burn your hands! Return the coconut cream to the blender, along with the honey, salt, vanilla, agar agar and coconut oil. Blend until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for three minutes exactly and then remove from the heat. Boiling activates the agar agar, allowing it to set, but over boiling will destroy it, so use a timer. Refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 160 C. Line two 20cm cake tins with baking paper or silicone liners.

In a clean, dry blender, grind the oats until you have a fine flour. Sift together with the almond flour and 60ml cacao powder. Set aside.

Place the cacao paste, dates, boiling water and maple syrup in the blender. Blend until completely smooth. Add the coconut oil, vanilla and salt, and the eggs one at a time. Blend until the mixture is smooth, thick and glossy. Add the bicarb and blend just to disperse it thoroughly. Pour the mixture onto the sifted dry ingredients and fold them together. Pour into the cake tins, dividing the mixture evenly, and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

While the cake bakes, make the jam. Blend the berries with the honey, vanilla and salt. You can make it smooth or leave it chunky, as you prefer. Pour into a bowl and stir in the chia seeds. Refrigerate until needed.

Once the icing has set, blend it again with the 90ml cacao powder. Agar sets much firmer in comparison to gelatine, but blending it breaks up that glassy texture, giving you a smooth and creamy end result. Refrigerate again to firm up.

Once the cakes have cooled, turn them out. Use the berry jam to sandwich them together and then top with the icing.

My son asked for a Maleficent cake. I made two 20cm cakes and two 10cm cakes, and sandwiched them together with the jam. I then used coloured cardboard and ribbon to decorate, rather than using fondant icing which is full of refined sugar and chemical colours which are so bad for kids! Once the cardboard was on, I carefully piped the icing ontop, and placed a Maleficent figurine we got from the toyshop on the top of the cake.

Maleficent Cake

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Chocolate Chai Baobab Smoothie Bowl

Leave a comment

Chocolate Chai Baobab Smoothie Bowl

You all know how much I love a smoothie bowl, but up until now I hadn’t posted a chocolate one and let’s face it, everyone loves chocolate for breakfast! This way you don’t even have to feel guilty. The raw cacao is a sensational way of getting plant-based protein. I wanted to add some chai flavouring as I just love the taste and thought it would go well with this and it really did… The best ingredient in here is the Baobab. I’m a big fan of superfoods and have a cupboard where I keep spirulina, acai berries, maca, lucuma, cacao and now baobab. Read up on Raine’s explanation of Baobab here…

Ingredients

1 frozen banana
Quarter cup boiling water
1 chai tea bag
Quarter cup almond milk
1 tbsp almond butter
2 dates
1 tbsp raw cacao
1 tsp baobab

 

Method

Before starting, boil the kettle and pour a quarter cup boiling water into a mug and let the chai tea bag steep in it for ten minutes. Put it next to a window so it cools down.

In the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients into a blender. Once the tea is cool, add this to the mix and blend well.

Pour into a bowl and add toppings of choice.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren