Chocolate peanut butter cookies

The secret ingredient is lentil flour! You can get this in the flour section at Woolworths (hopefully) if you can’t get you can replace with most other flours, spelt, gluten free, etc

What I loved about these is only a few ingredients, very quick to prepare and bake, and the texture was so good, you get that slight chewiness :)

In my practice you see people looking to improve the nutrition content in their diet and by making little changes like these biscuits (they will have biscuits no matter what!) instead of people buying biscuits that have calories and little nutrition to swapping for home made and improving the nutrient profile smile emoticon

You don't need to go without cookies!

Lentil flour has 25g of protein per 100g and 16g fibre! That’s pretty cool!

Lentils are an excellent food source for molybdenum too!  (1 cup of cooked lentils has 330% of your RDI!)

The main known function of molybdenum is to act as a catalyst for enzymes and to help facilitate the breakdown of certain amino acids in the body. Molybdenum combines with sulfite oxidase to catalyse sulfur-containing amino acids that are crucial for human health.

Did you know that peanuts are a fantastic source of biotin? (B7)

Yep, per 1/4 cup they have 88% of your daily intake.

Biotin is involved in blood sugar regulation and also in skin, hair and nail health

Yes they have sugar but as far as cookies go they are healthier than most due to the protein and fibre content, plus other vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients

½ cup of lentil flour

½ cup of peanut butter

½ cup of granulated sugar such as panella

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cacao powder

Method

Preheat oven to 160 c fan forced or 180 c normal

Mix together and roll into tbsp sized balls and place on a lined baking tray. Flatten the balls with slightly damp fingers or the back of a damp fork and bake for 10 minutes. Keep in an airtight container.

Raspberry, coconut and chocolate slice

Ingredients

1 ½ cups of desiccated coconut

1 ½ cups of rolled oats

1 tsp of baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup of frozen raspberries, I used half raspberry half blackberry

100g butter or coconut oil

¼ cup of honey

2 tbsp- 1/3 cup chocolate chips, white/dark/milk

Method

Preheat oven to 160c fan forced or 180c normal

Line a 20 x 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Scrunch the paper up with damp hands this makes the paper sit in your tin better.

Melt butter and honey together.

Add butter mix to all the other ingredients and mix until well combined. Press firmly into your tin, sprinkle with chocolate chips, press down and bake for 15-18 minutes, should be golden brown on top and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin and when cool cut into squares, Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Double decker brownie cheesecake

If you are dairy free you can still make the bottom brownie bit and swap the butter for coconut oil, dairy free chocolate and leave the top layer out.


Brownie Base
200g dark chocolate
125g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 tbsp coconut flour
Pinch of salt

Salted caramel cheesecake top layer
250g full fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
6-7 medjool dates, pitted
½ tsp vanilla extract
Salt to taste- you can leave out if you prefer

Method

Preheat oven to 160c fan forced oven. 180c normal oven

Line a 20 x 20cm square cake tin.

Melt butter and chocolate together in a pot

When the chocolate mix is cooled a little add, eggs, vanilla, salt and coconut flour. You may have noticed there is no add sugar in the brownie mix. You can add some honey if you like just taste you mix and see how you like the taste. Spoon into your lined cake tin, spread evenly.

For the top layer blitz up the ingredients for this until smooth and then spoon this on top of the brownie base. Bake for 25-30 minutes, will be a little golden brown on top. When cool cut into squares/rectangle or whatever tickles your fancy. Store in the fridge.

Chocolate almond loaf

Ingredients

1 cup of nut pulp –this is what is left after squeezing out the liquid when you make nut milk, I have used almond here.

 2 eggs

¼ cup of cacao powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp honey or maple or similar

125g butter, melted

Method

Beat everything together then put in a loaf tin and bake at 180 c for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Serve with cream/ice cream as a dessert or have with some butter.

Hazelnut and chocolate tart

This is gluten/grain/dairy/egg free- check your chocolate to make sure it doesn’t contain the ingredients you want to avoid.

Makes 1x 25cm based tart

Ingredients

220g hazel nuts, I used macadamias as well because I didn’t have enough hazelnuts, you could use any nuts

40 g raw cacao powder, you could use cocoa powder but you will need to use more of it and a little more oil too

40 shredded coconut

40g coconut sugar or other granulated sugar, I reckon you could leave it out completely if you wanted.

2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil

A pinch of salt

1 x 400ml can of ayam brand coconut cream

280g dark chocolate, check your chocolate to make sure it is dairy/gluten/grain free

Fresh berries to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 25cm based fluted tart tin.

In a food processor blitz your nuts and coconut until it is a fine meal, add your cacao powder, sugar and salt. Blitz briefly then add your coconut oil until it forms a ball, it should hold together when you pinch it. Press it into your tart tin and bake for 10-15 minutes. Take out and leave to cool. In a small pot put your coconut cream in, when nearly to the boil add your chocolate and melt in then whisk until smooth and glossy. When your tart shell is cool add your chocolate mix and put in the fridge to set about 2-3 hours. Serve straight from the fridge as it softens quickly and the base becomes a little more crumbly. Serve up with your favorite fresh berries. If you wanted to add some liquor like baileys, kahlua, frangelico, that would be nice :)

adapted from "nourish" magazine, thank you to Vegie Head

Chocolate Mousse

 Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, you could use white or milk
chocolate
4 eggs, room temperature, separated

300ml thickened cream or pure cream, it has to be whipping cream

Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl; melt in short bursts in the microwave, stirring every few seconds. Alternatively put in glass bowl over a pot of simmering water stirring until chocolate is melted- cool slightly then add egg yolks one at a time, (the yolks should not go in cold), beat well. If the mixture hardens put in microwave for a few seconds. In a large bowl whip cream till soft peaks form. Gently fold chocolate mixture into cream. In a clean bowl beat eggwhite until soft peaks form. Lightly fold half the eggwhites into the cream and chocolate mixture. Gently fold, and then add the other half of the eggwhite. Lightly fold until well combined. Spoon into individual dishes or 1 big bowl. Serve with some fresh berries.

Makes 6-8 serves

 

Free form, blueberry and dark chocolate tartlets

Gluten free-check your chocolate for gluten/grains, grain free use arrowroot/tapioca flour in place of the rice flour.

Ingredients

½ cup of rice flour

½ cup of blanched almond flour (should be white-no skins)

25g butter

3 pitted medjool dates (60g) you can use other dates

1 egg

¾ cup approx. of frozen blueberries, you could use fresh, raspberries, strawberries, diced pear would be great too.

8 squares of dark chocolate, you can use your favorite flavor here-milk, white, fruit ‘n’ nut etc…

Method

Preheat oven to 180C

Put flours in a food processor with the butter and dates, blend until dates are mostly blended. Add egg and pulse until the dough come together to form a ball.

Divide into 8 and roll into balls. Place on baking tray lined with baking paper. Flatten each ball with your hand to form a circle 4-5cm across. Then bring the outside of the circle up to form a lip so you can put your berries and chocolate in the middle. Put 7-8 blueberries in each one and then put in a square of chocolate. You can sprinkle some raw sugar over the blueberries if you want. Bake for 12-15 mins until the dough is golden brown. Serve with a dollop of cream or coconut cream if you like.

Chocolate brownie bites

Gluten-free

Makes 16

 Ingredients

 

½ cup rice flour

½ cup gluten free flour blend

¼ tsp baking powder- make sure it is a gluten free one

150g dark or milk chocolate- check to make sure it is gluten free

100g butter

2 eggs at room temperature

2 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

Method

Preheat oven to 180C, or 170 fan-forced

Lightly grease 16 spots in your baby muffin tray-these come with 24 muffin holes.

You can make bigger sized ones but will take longer to cook. You can make one big one as well. I have not added extra sugar as I think they are sweet enough. Taste your mix and add sugar if you need to.

Melt butter and choc together, beat then add your room temp beaten eggs in a stream into the chocolate mix. Sift the flours, cacao, baking powder and salt. Pour in the choc mix and beat until well combined. Then using a spoon fill 16 muffin holes with the mix. Bake for 5-6 minutes, they will be gooey in the middle, but get a little less gooey as they cool. If you don’t want them gooey cook for 7-8 minutes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.