chocolate

Coconut waffles with raw chocolate sauce

5th October 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

Oh hello there! I can’t believe it’s October already! Time is really flying this year and last month was the most hectic month yet. I now have two new kittens (Harry and Sushi) in my life and they are just about the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Have you ever tried to be in a bad mood with two tiny balls of fluff laying in your arms kissing each other? Well I have and it’s impossible. They definitely keep me on my toes. All I need to do now is train Sushi to stop climbing me like a tree when I’m about to feed her and we’ll be in crazy cat lady heaven. Life admin has taken over this month and I’ve been a bit behind with posts and photography but I’m ready to go again now, so expect some weekly updates for the rest of the year. I have a whole backlog of recipes I need to publish!

I am a true coconut lover, I think I have five jars of coconut oil at the moment, shredded coconut, coconut chips, coconut butter and coconut sugar. I also have coconut scented toiletries too, it never ends! It seemed only natural that I should indulge my coconut fantasies in the form of waffles. They didn’t disappoint. These coconut waffles are light and crispy and the raw chocolate sauce turns these beauties into something pretty special. You can keep the waffle batter for up to four days in the fridge, so this is a great recipe to make in advance for a lazy weekend. I added spirulina to the chocolate sauce, just to sneak some of my fave superfoods in. The recipe makes a lot of sauce, so you can make some raw chocolate with the rest (just pour it into a tray and set in the freezer), or just continue making waffles and chocolate sauce the whole week, which sounds like a great idea to me.

Coconut waffles

1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp water)
1 cup plain flour (can sub plain gluten free flour)
3 tbsp coconut sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Raw chocolate sauce

1/2 cup organic cacao powder
1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp Organic Burst spirulina (optional)

Make your flax egg by mixing ground flax seed with water. Stir well and leave to rest to form a gel while you make the rest of the waffle batter.
Add all waffle ingredients to a food processor and blend until combined. Add flax egg and pulse again. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add a little more water if you need to. Chill batter in the fridge while you make chocolate sauce.
Add cacao powder, coconut oil and maple syrup to a small pan and heat very gently until the coconut oil has melted. Take off the heat and stir through spirulina, if using.
Turn on your waffle maker and pour in chilled batter. Cook until golden on both sides, then top with raw chocolate sauce, toasted coconut chips and fruit.

Raspberry choc chip muffins

21st August 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

This week it was sunny almost every day, I managed to get a tan! Sadly, the sunshine didn’t last all week. As soon as Friday came, so did the rain, which only meant one thing- baking! Although I really enjoy sunning myself in the garden, I love nothing more than a day snuggled up in the house, with time to myself to try some new recipes, experiment with different flavours and indulge my culinary desires (usually in the form of lots of cooking shows and my favourite newspaper for inspiration). I set to work on these muffins as soon as I woke up on Saturday morning. The result is a soft, moist muffin that is light, tangy with raspberries and gorgeously chocolatey. Just perfect with a large Americano.

A lot of vegan muffin or cupcake recipes can be dry or dense, so I tried to make these as moist as possible with more than one type of egg replacer, which seemed to do the trick. I’ve been hibernating by myself all weekend and have almost finished the whole batch to myself. They are still as soft today as they were yesterday, so this recipe is definitely a keeper! They’re also vegan, refined sugar free and can easily be adapted to be gluten free.

Raspberry choc chip muffins (makes 10)

2 chia eggs (mix 2bsp chia with 6tbsp water) (I use Organic Burst’s ethically sourced, organic chia)
2 medium ripe bananas
1/2 cup plant based mylk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (sub gluten free if you wish)
1/2 cup rolled oats (can sub gluten free oats)
1/2 cup choc chips
1 cup raspberries

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and grease your muffin tin.
Prepare your chia eggs in a large bowl and set aside for a few minutes. Mix really well with a fork until no big lumps of chia remain.
Mix plant based mylk and cider vinegar in a small bowl. This will curdle in a minute or two to form vegan buttermilk.
To your chia egg, add bananas and coconut sugar. Mash together with a fork until a few lumps remain, you don’t want it totally smooth. Now add the buttermilk. Stir briefly to incorporate.
Add vanilla and coconut oil and stir again.
Add baking soda, sea salt, flour and oats to the wet mix and stir until just combined. Fold through choc chips and 3/4 cup raspberries.
Divide batter between your prepared muffin tin, I fill them to the top which makes 10 but you can make 12 smaller muffins if you prefer- just fill them 3/4 of the way to the top.
Sprinkle a few choc chips and your remaining 1/4 cup of raspberries on top and bake for 18-20 minutes, until the edges are just turning golden. Let cool for a few minutes and then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack. These will store well in a covered container at room temperature for several days.

Chocolate marzipan truffles

14th July 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

Chocolate and marzipan has to be one of my favourite flavour combinations, what a treat. I always used to have marzipan from the fridge when my Mum made wedding cakes (and icing too, oops). There was often a nice big chunk in there for decorating but I couldn’t help taking a little piece now and then (basically whenever I had the opportunity). I adore those marzipan bars you can buy in some health stores too, just a generous bar of marzipan, smothered in dark chocolate. Mmmmmm. I love the smell of it, almonds are so sweet and delicious. These babies are gluten free, refined sugar free and packed with healthy protein. You can omit the amaretto if you like, it just won’t taste as marzipan-y, is that a word?!

I got the basis for this recipe from the Lazy Cat Kitchen blog and in it Ania suggests tempering your chocolate, to get the ultimate snap and sheen to your little truffles. I’d never done it before, but now definitely recommend tempering for the best results. It wasn’t tricky, but you do need a thermometer- it’s all about using it at just the right temperature.

Chocolate marzipan truffles (makes 24 truffles)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups almonds
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup almond mylk
10 tsp amaretto
1 tsp lemon zest
Pinch of sea salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
250g vegan dark chocolate, broken into medium size pieces (use a sugar free dark chocolate bar to keep totally sugar free)
Small handful of almonds, toasted and roughly chopped

Blend almonds and cashews together in your food processor until finely ground, to a flour.
Add lemon zest, maple syrup, almond mylk, amaretto, lemon zest, sea salt and vanilla to a small bowl and whisk together.
Slowly add the mix, little by little, to the blender and pulse until combined. The mixture should be sticking together with your fingers. Bring dough together with your fingers and shape into a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and pop in the fridge.
Slowly melt 150g of your chocolate in a bain-marie (a bowl gently heated over boiling water), being careful to keep the water away from your bowl of chocolate (water is the worst thing that could happen to your melted chocolate, be careful).
When the chocolate has melted, take off the heat and gently stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to get things cooling. Chocolate fully melts at 46°C, but you want to cool it down to between 31 to 33°C. Add the remaining 100g of chocolate, this will increase the rate of the cooling process. Keep checking the temperature with your thermometer every five minutes or so.
While the chocolate is cooling, take your marzipan dough out the fridge and make into balls. I made a tablespoon of dough per truffle. When the chocolate has reached the magical temperature of between 31 and 33°C, you’re ready to dip! Dunk your balls into the chocolate and leave to dry on a cooling rack.
Put any remaining chocolate into a piping bag, or just drizzle on top of the truffles. Garnish with toasted chopped almonds. Try not to eat them all to yourself.

Mint choc breakfast pot

12th March 2016 by bos.kitchen 1 Comment

Today was the first day I’ve wanted to get outside. The sky was clear and the air was fresh. Reminded me of Wales. I’m missing it so much still! The sunshine makes up for it though, I can definitely smell spring in the air now. I whipped up this mint choc breakfast pot to celebrate the beautiful weather. This breakfast pot is full of energy and it kept me going until dinner!

Recipe

For the smoothie –

4 frozen bananas
1/2 cup almond mylk
1 tsp pumpkin seed butter (or any other seed/nut butter will do)
Small handful of broccoli
1 apple
1 tsp wheatgrass or other green superfood powder
4-5 drops peppermint oil

For the choc sauce-

2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp cacao

Blend all smoothie ingredients together until well combined and smooth.
Make choc sauce by mixing maple syrup and cacao in a small bowl. Keep stirring until smooth and runny.
Smear choc sauce round your jar with a spoon and now pour in your smoothie.
Top with dark chocolate, strawberries, granola and mint.