Baked Archives - Coconut and Berries

Maple-Roasted Nut Butter Brownies

I promised you chocolate and that’s what I’m giving you! I’m usually too lazy for baking, which is why I’ve been favouring raw desserts recently, but wanted to make something different for Chocolate Week. I also couldn’t think of a better way to spend a rainy morning than baking, even if it does require a bit more time and effort. That heavenly chocolate smell filling the house…and of course the seriously tasty result, were definitely worth it!

Who doesn’t love a brownie? I usually find chocolate cake a little disappointing and would always choose vanilla or lemon cake over chocolate, but brownies are another story.

These brownies are particularly irresistible, if I do say so myself…

I roasted chopped mixed nuts with a little maple syrup and flaky sea salt, folded some into the brownie batter for added texture and flavour and then blended the rest into a sweet, salty nut butter to spread on top. Oh, and then I drizzled the whole lot with chocolate for good measure!

I adapted the base brownie from Angela’s recipe in The Oh She Glows Cookbook. I wouldn’t call them “healthy” but they’re better for you than your average brownie by a longshot. I used my favourite gluten-free flours, almond and oat, ground from whole nuts and grains in my Froothie blender, and coconut oil and coconut sugar for the least-processed options. Most importantly to me, they’re still exactly what I look for in a brownie, with a deep chocolate flavour, fudgy texture and chewy edges.

Here are the bare brownies ready to be topped…

That’s better!

Definitely one to make this weekend! And please come back and let me know how you like them.

I’ve added weights as well as measurements in American cups to help my readers in the UK more familiar with metric, and also because I’m finding that baking, especially when gluten-free, requires more accuracy than cooking. Hope it’s helpful!

Maple-Roasted Nut Butter Brownies

Yield: 16 Brownies

Ingredients

250g/8oz (approx 2 C) Mixed Nuts, roughly chopped*
1 Tbsp Maple syrup
1 tsp Coarse sea salt
4 tsp Ground flax + 3 Tbsp Water
1 1/2 C (155g) Sieved Almond meal*
3/4 C + 2 Tbsp (85g) Sieved Oat flour
1/2 C (60g) Cocoa powder
2 Tbsp Arrowroot OR Tapioca flour
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt
75 g/2.5oz Dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) + Approx 25g/1oz for topping
6 Tbsp (80g) Coconut oil
1 C (150g) Coconut sugar, ground*
1/4 C (60ml) Almond milk
1/2 Tbsp Instant coffee (optional)
2 tsp Vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F, spread the chopped nuts on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for 3-5 minutes. Drizzle over the maple syrup, sprinkle with sea salt and stir. Bake for 3-5 minutes longer. Cool.
Lightly oil a 9x9" brownie pan and line with two sheets of parchment paper, going in opposite directions, for easy removal.
Whisk together ground flax and water and set aside to thicken.
In a large bowl, sieve together the almond meal, oat flour, cocoa, arrowroot, baking soda and salt.
Melt chocolate in a glass bowl over boiling water, along with the coconut oil. When melted, whisk in ground coconut sugar, almond milk, instant coffee (if using), vanilla and flax mixture.
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir well.
Fold in 75 g/2.5 oz (approx 1/3) of the roasted nuts and spoon batter into the prepared pan. Spread evenly with a spatula and smooth over the top.
Reduce heat to 180C/ 350F and bake brownies for 25-30 minutes. Leave to cool completely (at least 1 hr) before topping.
While cooling, add the remaining nuts to a food processor or high-powered blender and blend until you have a very smooth nut butter. Leave the motor running for a while as it can take a bit of time.
Spread nut butter over brownies (you may not need all of it) and chill for 10 minutes.
Place remaining chocolate in a freezer bag and put in a bowl of boiling water for 10 minutes to melt. Remove from water and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken slightly, snip a tiny corner off the bag and drizzle chocolate generously over brownies. Leave to set completely before slicing into squares.

Notes

* You can use any nuts here but I liked the flavour of the mix I used,which included brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and pecans.

* I grind my own flours using my Froothie high-powered blender which has a jug especially designed to be able to grind grains and nuts.

*I prefer to use ground coconut sugar for a better brownie texture. You can also substitute cane sugar.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/10/17/maple-roasted-nut-butter-brownies-vegan-glutenfree/

Enjoy the rest of Chocolate Week!

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Healthy Christmas Cookies 2013

Whoopee it’s nearly Christmas! Less than 2 weeks to go! Sweet treats are aplenty at this time of year but just because you want to eat healthier it doesn’t mean you have to miss out.

A group of lovely blogger ladies have come together to share their healthier cookie recipes with you-18 in total- so plenty to see you through the season!

I contributed my Chocolate Orange Goji Cookies to the party. if you haven’t made these yet, now’s the time. Or, if these don’t peak your interest there are many more to choose from…

Sugar-free Sugar Cookies, Raw Gingerbread Men, Anzac biscuits with Cranberries, Chocolate Mint Tea Cookies…You’re sure to find the perfect cookie for you

Here’s the full list:

1. Sugar-Free Sugar Cookies - Gluten, Dairy, Egg and Sugar Free from Candida free Candee

2. Dark Chocolate Truffle Cookies – gluten free and dairy free from Tessa Domestic Diva

3. Macadamia Coconut Cookies – gluten free, sugar free, with dairy free and vegan option from Candida diet Plan

4. Christmas No-Bake Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies – gluten free, grain free & super versatile from Gluten free Cat

5. Jungle Balls – quick, raw & vegan from Carrie on Vegan

6. Raw Gingerbread Men – Raw, grain free, and vegan from Om Nom Ally

7. Chocolate-Orange-Goji Cookies (No-Bake or Baked) – gluten free from Coconut and Berries

8. Spiced Orange Cookies - gluten-free, vegan & oil-free from Stir, Sift & Savour

9. Gingerbread Men who like to be healthy – gluten free, dairy free & vegan from Including Cake

10. Quinoa Raisin Cookies – gluten free from Simply Sugar and Gluten free

11. Gingerbread-Cookies – Gluten free, dairy free and egg free from Sandi’s Allergy free Recipes

12. Flourless Triple Nut (or Seed) Brownies - gluten free, grain free, vegan & paleo from Gluten free Easily

13. Hazelnut and Cherry Carob Truffles - vegan and wheat-free from Bitesized Thoughts

14. Double Chocolate Paleo Hazelnut Cookies – gluten free, grain free & dairy free from the Tasty Alternative

15. Healthy Peppermint Oreo Cookies – vegan & gluten free from The Healthy Maven

16. Chewy Molasses Cookies – gluten-free and sweetened with date sugar – from Queen of Quinoa

17. Anzac Biscuits with Cranberries – from Green Gourmet Giraffe

18. Chocolate Mint Tea Cookies - refined sugar free from Spiced Curiosity

Plus a few useful conversion tips how to use Stevia & Xylitol in Baking instead of sugar.

Go check them out and share with friends and family.

A big thank you to Sandra of Candida Diet Plan for hosting!

What’s your favourite holiday cookie?

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Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake)

I imagine most of my readers aren’t familiar with Castagnaccio. I certainly wasn’t until a couple of years ago. It’s a traditional Italian dessert/snack, common in Liguria and Tuscany. It’s made from chestnut flour and olive oil and has no raising agents so is dense and rich, rather than fluffy like the cakes you’re probably used to. It’s also very subtly sweet with most of the sweetness coming from the nuts and dried fruit added to it.

I was introduced to Castagnaccio by a lovely friend, Giovanni: a charming seventy-something year old Italian who lives very near our family home. As a retired psychologist he spends most of his time reading and cooking, and his great joy is feeding people delicious food! He started bringing us little food parcels- coffee-soaked dates and Italian chocolate cake, a divine Caponata along with a white bean dish (fagioli all’uccelletto), sesame snaps, crunchy cookies (whose name I’ve forgotten), and of course Castagnaccio. I fell in love with this naturally-vegan treat and wanted to learn to make it myself.

With being rather busy studying for my finals earlier this year I didn’t have a lot of time for cooking (Giovanni provided me with snacks hand-delivered to my university pigeon hole!) but took a couple of welcome study breaks to spend some time with my friend and cook with him at his house. As a typical Italian, his approach to cooking is rather laid-back, sort of a “little of this, a little of that” kind of affair. I did make a mental note of everything though and now have the details perfected so I can pass the recipe on to you.

I decided to make two small cakes this time- one the traditional way with rosemary, walnuts and raisins, and one my own way replacing the walnuts and raisins with hazelnuts and chocolate chips.

Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake)

Yield: 6-8 Servings

Ingredients

1-1/2 C Chestnut flour
1 Tbsp Coconut sugar (or other granulated sweetener)
Pinch of salt
1-1/2 C Water
2 Tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 C Raisins OR Chocolate chips
1/4 C Walnuts OR Toasted, peeled hazelnuts (I made two small ones so used half the amounts of dried fruit and nuts in each)
1 Large sprig of rosemary, leaves removed from stem

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200C/400F, lightly oil the edges of a pie dish (or 2 small ones)
Whisk together chestnut flour, sugar, salt and water until smooth and runny.
Add the olive oil to the prepared dish/dishes and place in the oven to warm up for a minute. Remove from oven, pour in the Castagnaccio batter, swirl the olive oil through the mixture and scatter with the dried fruit/choc chips, nuts and rosemary. Return to oven and cook for 15-25 minutes until the surface is dry and cracked. Cooking time will depend on the size of dish you used.
Enjoy warm or cold. I like it as is but it’s sometimes served with ricotta and a drizzle of honey, so for a vegan version you could try non-dairy yogurt or cashew cream, and a drizzle of maple syrup or agave nectar.

http://www.coconutandberries.com/2013/11/29/castagnaccio-italian-chestnut-cake/

Now, I know chestnut flour isn’t exactly something you see everywhere but it can sometimes by found in health food stores amongst the other gluten-free flours.

If you’re in the UK, you can also order it from Goodness Direct, where I tend to buy a lot of my flours, grains, beans, nuts etc.
If you’re elsewhere you can buy it through Amazon.

I’ve used it in the crust of my Herby Courgette Galette for a pleasant nutty flavour and think it would make a batch of rather special cookies. I also have a very vivid memory of a delicious chocolate brownie I had in a restaurant in Paris, which I was told was made with chestnut flour too. Lots of room for experimentation!

Have you had Castagnaccio before? Or other dishes made using chestnut flour?

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!

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?

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