Search Results for: chocolate

Hazelnut Butter-Chocolate Chip Muffins

I’m more a muffin than a cookie girl. Maybe because I can more easily justify eating muffins for breakfast…unless they’re my Apple and Raisin Oaty Breakfast Cookies that is- a recipe created especially for the first meal of the day! Breakfast aside, I still usually prefer muffins for some reason and it had been far too long since I’d made any.

A lovely friend who came to stay recently brought me a jar of this hazelnut butter as a “thank you for having me” gift. She clearly knows that food presents go down well around these parts! As much as I’ve been enjoying it slathered on sprouted grain toast with a spot of apricot jam, I felt it deserved to be used for something a little more special.

Muffins were the answer! Hazelnut Butter-Chocolate Chip Muffins! I love using nut butter in baking for the rich flavour and moisture it gives, which also means you can cut back or eliminate added oils. I had my fingers crossed when I shut the oven door as admittedly I’d cobbled this recipe together fairly quickly, but they turned out so tender with a lovely crumb.

Hazelnut butter is fairly widely available these days, but if you can’t find it it’s easy to make at home! Here is a simple how-to.

I couldn’t resist adding chocolate chips as everyone knows that chocolate and hazelnuts is a classic combination, but you could do chopped apricots or crystallized ginger and hazelnuts, or whatever sounds good to you.

This recipe makes only 6 muffins so you’ll probably want to double it!

Hazelnut Butter-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yield: 6 Muffins

Ingredients

3/4 C Light Spelt flour
1-1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/8 tsp Salt
1/4 C Apple purée (unsweetened applesauce)
1/4 C Coconut sugar
1/2 Tbsp Ground flax
3 Tbsp Hazelnut butter
1 Tbsp Oil (e.g. sunflower OR melted coconut oil)
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 C Almond milk
1/2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
1/4 C Chocolate chips
2 Tbsp Chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F, Line a muffin tin with 6 paper cases.
Stir together the first three ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
In a separate bowl whisk together apple purée through to apple cider vinegar.
Add wet to dry and stir just to combine.
Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts, if using.
Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cases and bake for approx 20 minutes, until lightly browned and firm on top, and a tester comes out clean.

Notes

* To make these gluten-free: Replace the spelt flour with 1/2 cup each of oat flour and 1/2 cup blanched almond flour and 2 Tbsp tapioca starch. Increase flax to 1 Tbsp and baking powder to 2 tsp. Omit oil.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/03/17/hazelnut-butter-chocolate-chip-muffins/

I’m submitting this recipe at the weekly link-up, Wellness Weekends.

Muffins or cookies?

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Almond, Cardamom & Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Almond, Cardamom & Dark Chocolate Cookies

You didn’t think I’d forgotten did you? Given the pink, hearts and chocolate everywhere I think it would be virtually impossible to ignore Valentine’s Day.

I don’t have that special someone in my life yet and I’d hope the many people who I do love know how I feel about them and don’t need a card or flowers to show that. All the same, it is quite nice to have an excuse to do something a little special, particularly if that involves chocolate!

Everyone knows chocolate is a sexy food but what you might know is that the aromatic Indian spice, cardamom, is also considered an aphrodisiac! (Check out the Arabian Nights and you’ll see it mentioned). It’s also high in cineole, which can increase blood flow to certain areas….!

I happen to love the taste of cardamom, and paired with chocolate, it’s obviously even more sensational.

You might not have the time to spend laboring over a fancy dessert for Friday night but these Almond, Cardamom & Chocolate Chunk Cookies take hardly any time at all, just one bowl and spoon, and are everything you could want from a sweet treat.

They’re gluten and grain-free as well as free from refined sugars so suitable for everyone, and the ground almonds they’re made from lend them that gorgeous melt-in-the mouth quality.

Almond, Cardamom & Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Yield: 12 small cookies

Ingredients

1-1/2 C Ground almonds (almond flour)
Pinch of salt
3/4 tsp Ground cardamom
1/4 C Coconut oil, melted
1/4 C Liquid sweetener (agave nectar/coconut nectar/maple syrup)
1 Tbsp Almond butter
40g/1.5oz Dark chocolate, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
In a medium bowl stir together ground almonds through to almond butter until fully combined.
Stir through dark chocolate chunks.
Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough (it will be relatively soft and oily. Don't worry!), roll into balls and flatten slightly with a fork.
Bake for 12-14 minutes watching carefully towards the end of baking time. They should be lightly browned on top but will still be very soft to the touch.
Leave on the baking sheet to cool fully and firm up before serving.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/02/11/almond-cardamom-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

I’m submitting this recipe to the weekly link-ups, Wellness Weekends and Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Do you have big plans for V day? I’ve got a friend coming to stay for the weekend so we can be single together!

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Chocolate Pumpkin & Cranberry Muffins (GF)

Congratulations to Nicola who is the winner of the “tibits at home” cookbook, selected via a random number generator. Thanks to everyone who entered! There are more giveaways coming up, so hold tight and you might get lucky next time.

There’s a festive feel in the air! While the Americans are gearing up for Thanksgiving, here in the UK we’re jumping ahead and getting ready for Christmas already. It’s not much more than a month to go! The Christmas lights were turned on in Bath last week, mince pies and advent calendars are appearing and late night Christmas shopping has begun.

These muffins felt rather in spirit to me. Pumpkin is of course a seasonal classic, well not really here but I read a lot of blogs where there’s a bit of a craze for all things pumpkin (!). After making Dreena’s fantastic Pumpkin Pie, I’ve decided we definitely need to work pumpkin into our Christmas traditions somehow.

Everything’s been about chocolate for me lately so I added a dose of cocoa along with a handful of chocolate chips to the batter and studded them with fresh cranberries for that sparkly touch.

I haven’t done a lot of gluten-free baking up to this point but I like to challenge myself in the kitchen and I’ve been learning more about gluten-free baking from Ricki Heller’s “Naturally Sweet & Gluten-Free”- a gorgeous vegan baking book whose recipes are exclusively gluten-free, as well as free from refined sugars.

When I saw that Ricki was holding a recipe contest to find 5 recipes to be included in a a special winter supplement to the new cookbook, I jumped at the opportunity to try something new. In keeping with the recipes in the book, submissions had to be vegan, gluten-free and use only lower glycemic sweeteners.

I did some research and then got to work. I used an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix along with psyllium husk as a binder and the muffins came out lovely and soft with a nice springy crumb and decent rise. They were no more difficult to make than typical gluten-filled baked goods either.

Chocolate Pumpkin & Cranberry Muffins (GF)

Yield: 6 medium-size muffins

Ingredients

1/2 C Pumpkin Purée
3/4 C Non-dairy Milk
2 Tbsp Psyllium Husks
3 Tbsp Melted Coconut oil (or other neutral oil)
1/3 C Coconut Sugar
1/4 tsp Liquid Stevia (optional, for extra sweetness)
1/2 tsp Vanilla
3/4 C All-Purpose Gluten-free Flour Mix
3T Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda/Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 C Dairy-free Chocolate Chips OR Unsweetened Carob Chips
1/3 C Fresh OR Frozen OR Dried Cranberries (If using frozen do not thaw first)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Lightly oil a 6-hole muffin tray or line with paper cases.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the first seven ingredients, pumpkin through to vanilla.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just to blend. Do not over-mix. Gently fold through the chocolate chips and cranberries. The batter will be very thick.
Using a lightly oiled cookie scoop, distribute batter evenly between the muffin cups (they should be about 3/4 full). Smooth tops a little if necessary.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2013/11/21/chocolate-pumpkin-cranberry-muffins-gf/

Are you an experienced gluten-free baker? Any tips to share with the rest of us?

What’s putting you in the festive spirit right now?

If you try these Chocolate Pumpkin & Cranberry Muffins and are on Instagram, I’d love it if you shared a picture! Please tage me #coconutandberries and @coconutandberries so I don’t miss it. Thank you!

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Chocolate-Orange-Goji Cookies

Hurrah, it’s Friday!

I’m dropping in with an easy, tasty cookie recipe for you to make over the weekend.

This was inspired by The Raw Chocolate Co’s award-winning Goji & Orange Raw Chocolate. I was lucky enough to sample a whole load of their products recently and fell in love with this flavour in particular. Chocolate-orange is a classic of course, but the addition of goji berries adds a little something extra to these cookies.

Even if you’re not too sure about gojis on their own (I’m not!) they really are yummy here, trust me on this one! The Raw Chocolate Co’s Chocolate-covered Goji Berries are also pretty delicious.

These Chocolate-Orange-Goji Cookies are made from all good-for-you ingredients, are gluten-free, and can be either raw or baked! They have a lovely chewy texture, rich chocolatey taste with fruity undercurrents from the orange and gojis. I know you’re going to love them!

Chocolate-Orange-Goji Cookies (*No-Bake or Baked):

Yield: 7-10 small cookies

Ingredients

1 C Nuts (I used 1/2C Walnuts, 1/2C Almonds but most should be fine)
1 Tbsp Ground flaxseed
2 Tbsp Cocoa
Zest of 1 large orange
1/4 C Brown rice flour
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/8 tsp Salt
2 1/2-3Tbsp Agave nectar
3 Tbsp Goji berries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a food processor, process nuts, ground flaxseed, cocoa, orange zest, flour, baking soda and salt until a fine meal. Careful not to over-process though. Add the agave nectar, starting off with 2 1/2 Tbsp. Process again until the mixture holds together when squeezed between your fingers. If it still looks a little dry (will depend on the variety of nuts used) add the remaining 1/2 Tbsp of agave and process again. Finally, add the goji berries and pulse two or three times to incorporate.
Roll balls of dough with your fingers (approx 1 heaping Tbsp each), flatten into a cookie shape and place on your prepared baking sheet about 2” apart.
They should look like the below picture- not too wet, not too dry.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are dry on top. Allow to cool completely before removing from the baking sheet (they firm up as they cool).

Notes

*Note: For no-bake cookies, omit the baking soda and, either roll into balls and refrigerate or press into a container, refrigerate, and cut into squares.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2013/10/25/chocolate-orange-goji-cookies/

I’m submitting this recipe to the weekly link-parties, Wellness Weekends and Healthy Vegan Fridays

What’s cooking in your kitchen this weekend?

My followers on instagram get sneak previews of blog recipes so if you’re not following me over there yet, please do (@coconutandberries)! Let me know who you are too so I can follow you back and if you make these cookies share your pics with the #coconutandberries so I can see them!

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Chocolate-Sesame Biscotti

I shared pictures of these on instagram (@coconutandberries), google+ and facebook on Saturday and feel a little mean for not having shared the recipe until now… but hopefully you’ll forgive me when you make them!

I do love raw sweets, but sometimes turning on the oven just feels right.

I didn’t actually bake a lot with my Mum growing up, I think our repertoire was limited to fairy cakes and rice krispie squares…but when my brothers and I went to stay with our grandparents, it was a different story. Rainy days were instantly designated as “Baking Days,” something my brothers and I all enjoyed.

After a long spell of sunshine the rain finally came at the weekend and I thought of Granny and our baking . One of my lovely readers had put in a special request for biscotti so the timing seemed even more perfect.

If you’ve never had biscotti before you’re truly missing out. They are hard and crunchy because they are twice-cooked (‘bis’ is Italian for twice and ‘cotti’ means cooked) and perfect for dipping in a cup of tea or coffee (although apparently true Italians only dip them in Vin Santo, a sweet dessert wine, not coffee). In any case, when I was 19 I spent 6 weeks studying art history in the magical city of Florence, and, although I didn’t pick up the Italian espresso habit, I definitely got into biscotti!

The original recipe is made with almonds and is NOT vegan as it contains eggs (but no butter interestingly). I have made more traditional biscotti in the past but decided to try something different this time, opting for chocolate and sesame. I love the richness that tahini brings here, a perfect pairing with chocolate. I also added sesame seeds to amp up the sesame flavour and for texture, and a few chocolate chips for a little fun too.

Biscotti-making is not a complicated process and the only real difference to making other cookies is the shaping of the dough into a log and the twice baking.

Chocolate-Sesame Biscotti:

I made a small batch as I wasn’t sure how popular these would be at home, but perhaps I should have doubled it as they were gone in a flash!

(Adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar)

3/4C Light spelt flour (or other flour of your choice)
1/4C Cocoa
1/8t Salt
3/4t Baking powder
1/2C Coconut sugar ( I like to use coconut sugar in my baking as it’s less processed than other sweeteners, it’s also less sweet than refined sugar so these are more chocolatey than super sweet, perfect for this chocolate lover)
2T Tahini
2T Oil (I used rapeseed, but any neutral oil is fine)
1T Ground flaxseed
1/4C Non-dairy milk (You might need 1 or 2 extra tablespoons of milk if your tahini is very thick. Mine is very runny)
2T Sesame Seeds
2T Chocolate Chips (or more! That’s all I had left!)

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Sift together flour through to baking powder in a large bowl and stir in the coconut sugar. Whisk oil, tahini, ground flax and milk together in a small bowl. Combine wet with dry ingredients and combine with your hands to form a thick dough. Stir through sesame seeds and chocolate chips and shape dough into a ball, pressing chocolate chips back in if they pop out.

On a baking tray lined with parchment paper shape the dough into a rectangular log approximately 4” by 6”. Flatten and square off edges as best as you can. Bake for 25-30 minutes until log is puffed and firm. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and leave to cool for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven (again) to a slightly cooler 160C/325F.

Carefully slide the log off the baking tray onto a chopping board. With a sharp, heavy knife, cut the log width-wise into slices, on a diagonal if you like (I forgot!). Carefully return the slices to the baking tray, standing them on their sides (see wire rack picture below). Bake slices again 10-15 minutes on one side, then flip gently and bake a further 10-15 minutes on the reverse side. 15 minutes will give you a slightly crunchier, more authentic biscotti texture, 10 minutes will leave them a little softer. Allow the biscotti to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then carefully remove to wire racks to complete the cooling. Warm biscotti can be fragile! They should store well in a covered container, if you don’t eat them all!

Makes 10-12