If your dates are stale, soak them in water for up to 30 minutes and dry to make sure they’ll blend.
Add the cocoa butter and coconut oil into a food processor and blend until soft and emulsified. Add the dates and sweetener and continue to process until the dates have formed a paste. Add in the cocoa powder and blend until mixed.
Move to the refrigerator for 10 minutes to stiffen the mixture. Once it’s cooled, scoop and roll the chocolate into 1-inch balls, and roll in a plate of cocoa powder to dust. Keep these at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Mix all the ingredients except for the almonds until it becomes moist. Form into 8 rectangular bites, about 1 tablespoon of mixture. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place 8 coconut bites on the paper. Place 2 almonds on each bite, and refrigerate overnight or 1 hour.
Dip/pour chocolate sauce over the bites and refrigerate until hard.
For the chocolate sauce:
Place all ingredients in a blender and mix well. This sauce can be used for dipping, for chocolate-covered almonds, over ice cream, etc. If refrigerated, melt over warm water bath.
Cut the bananas in rounds. In a deep skillet, heat unsalted butter. When the butter melts, add in the brown sugar. When the sugar has dissolved in the butter, toss in the banana pieces and coat them well.
When the bananas are cooked and glossy (this only takes a few minutes), add in shredded coconut. Blend it in well, then take the bananas off the heat and set them aside to cool.
Now on to the ice cream part. I decided a Sweet Lassi Rose Ice Cream would be great with the bananas. This is what I did:
In a large bowl mix cane sugar and buttermilk. Whisk it together well until the sugar is blended in, then add in whipping cream, rose water, and salt. Pour everything into an ice cream maker and process as usual. Put it into the freezer until you’re ready.
Next we make something called Sirkhand. Take the yogurt and place it in a yogurt strainer suspended over a glass. Let it drain for at least 4 hours, or until it’s slightly thickened. Mix in a bit of powdered sugar to sweeten it slightly.
Putting It All Together
On the bottom of a small, slender glass place a spoonful of Sirkhand. Add a sprinkling of finely chopped pistachio nuts, 3 pieces of the cooked coconut-coated bananas, 2 scoops of Sweet Rose Lassi Ice Cream, and another small sprinkle of chopped pistachio nuts. Repeat the process in other glasses until everything is used up.
There it is. When a spoon is dipped in, one gets all the flavors of a banana split, without the traditional shape. With the butter and coconut flavor, a small dessert goes a long way. It’s rich but not heavy. So this is my version of a Banana Split.
Beat together butter and coconut peanut butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar, honey, baking soda and baking powder. Beat together for 30 seconds. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and shredded coconut and mix until all combined.
Roll out 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet (line with parchment paper is needed). Press with fork and sprinkle with sugar if desired.
Bake for 7-9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.
This is a great quick and easy dessert for those “oh-my-goodness-I-need-to-make-a-dessert-and-I-have-less-then-an-hour-to-make-it!” moments. Its prep will be done in five minutes, chill time can be as quick as half an hour or less (stick it in the freezer) and it’s no bake, no cook, rich, creamy, and naturally dairy free and gluten free. Sounds pretty good huh?
The texture is great: a lot like fudge. Firm and silky, yet it melts in your mouth as soon as you take a bite. It’s very creamy too; you’d never know it didn’t have a speck of dairy in it.
The crust is a nice touch. I like using pecans. It adds a tiny bit of crunch, and the strong nutty flavor of the pecans stand out, yet infuses nicely with the strawberry vanilla cream. When making this part, be sure to blend just until it turns into a meal (the video will show you how). If you blend too long you could end up with a nut butter!
With all that said, I’ll admit that I do NOT like nuts. So this is saying a lot. It doesn’t taste like cashews at all.
The taste of the pie is all in the quality of ingredients you use. Use raw, unsalted organic cashews, high quality alcohol-based vanilla extract, and fresh, perfectly ripe organic strawberries and Tropical Traditions’ creamy raw honey and coconut oil and (Gold Label for a coconut taste, Expeller Pressed for no coconut taste). Don’t skimp on anything here; use the highest quality stuff you can get.
And last but not least, let the video take you through the recipe step by step, and enjoy a slice of the pie yourself. You’ll have to make it, of course. I’m not sharing.
Sarah:)
Dairy Free and Gluten Free Strawberry Cream Pie
Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy
These are a 3 ingredient, 5-minute, no-bake wonder! They’re healthy as cookies go; filled with good fats, filling yet light, not too sweet but sweet enough…I really enjoy them!
Grind flax seeds in a food processor or blender. (I used toasted flax which will gave the cookies a slight peanut buttery flavor, even though there’s no actual PB in the recipe).
Add remaining ingredients except raisins. Blend/Grind Again
Take out and mold into 4 cookies
Optional: Drizzle with syrup and garnish with raisins!
Other options include: garnishing with nuts, fresh or dried fruit, chocolate or carob chips, nut butter, cashew cream, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batch, you name it, go for it…
And if you make a double-batch, they wrap up realllly well for out-n-about snacks. Enjoy!
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8 X 8-inch baking pan with extra coconut oil and set aside.
2. Place the black beans in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, oil, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, coffee (optional), baking powder, and salt and process until smooth. Add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times until the chips are broken up a bit.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before slicing. They taste even better after sitting in the fridge over night!
I honestly don’t know what exactly I was expecting when I baked these, but they weren’t what I thought they’d be. They totally surprised me.
The texture is light, almost creamy, very coconutty, and moist. The “bite” and overall texture is like a wheat brownie. The appearance even, is just like a wheat brownie. Even the top baked up shiny and flakey. What’s more, they popped right out of the glass pan without any fuss. I like that.
The batter will mix and come together easily if you soften the Coconut Cream Concentrate to peanut butter consistency first. It also helps to bring the eggs to room temperature as well. Depending on how warm your CCC is, you may or may not end up with stubborn little lumps that will refuse to totally mix in. Don’t let it get to you. They’ll still be delicious.
Mine have little lumps. And they’re delicious.
I haven’t tried the blondie version yet but I can assure you it’s just as delicious as the brownies.
Which one will you make?
Sarah:)
Gluten Free Coconut Brownies (or Blondies)
Gluten Free Coconut Brownies
Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy
1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees (300 for convection oven). Grease a 9×9 or 12×8 pan.
2. In a large bowl measure out all ingredients and mix until combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes. Try not to over bake; the top will be slightly crispy and the middle is fudgey.
* I usually use 2 eggs to achieve a silky, ribbon-y look, but sometimes I have to use 3 eggs to completely emulsify the batter.
** I prefer a less sweet brownie, especially since I always put chocolate chips into my brownies, so I actually only use 1/3 cup of honey, but I find that when I bake for others they are used to a sweeter baked good.
***For Blondies, omit cocoa. This will have a stronger coconut flavor than the brownies.
