Raw Vegan Brownies

I’ll be posting individual recipes when I get a chance, but for the moment I thought I’d post photos of the variety of raw vegan brownies that are currently filling my freezer. I spent about 7 hours making nut butters and raw cookies and raw brownies last Friday, and today I felt like making a few more. I’ve become a raw vegan dessertist!

Raw Vegan Brownies, made with the classic raw combination of walnuts, dates and cocoa powder. Ive layered it with my favourite raw vegan icing; coconut butter, agave, vanilla.

Raw Vegan Brownie, this time made with almonds so a bit of coconut butter and coconut oil was needed to help it bind together. Same excellent icing as before.

I wanted to make a nut-free version of the brownie so this one is made with sunflower seeds! Topped with red cocoa powder.

These little bites are zippy and minty, made with the addition of peppermint extract and fresh mint in both the brownie and the icing.

 

Raw Lemon Cheesecake

I’ve now tried the raw cheesecake at Rawlicious several times and it’s been fantastic every single time… though slightly frozen on two occasions. Raw cheesecake does require time in the freezer to help it to set but it’s much more delicious when allowed to come back down to a regular temperature in the fridge.

I used this recipe as a framework for my first attempt.

I have a small spring form pan that I find handy for just Geoff and I and up to two other people, so I reduced the recipe to fit the smaller pan. I also adjusted to my own tastes.

My interpretation of “Just Like Cheesecake” from Emily Lee Angell.

***Please note that my variations are to make a small version of the cake. To make a regular sized cake, please follow the original recipe and if you’d like to add the lemon curd, use my recipe for that X 4.

You will need:

1. Spring Form Pan (very small, or use the original recipe for a regular sized pan)
2. Food processor

 

Crust:
1 cups raw almonds
.25 cup dates, pitted
2 tbsp dried coconut

Cheese:
2 cups chopped cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup honey (for vegan use light agave)
6 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp coconut butter* (dried unsweetened coconut liquified in the food processor)
.5 teaspoon vanilla (I use raw organic, alcohol free)
dash of sea salt (optional)
dash of lemon extract (optional)

Lemon Curd:
juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp coconut butter (dried unsweetened coconut liquified in the food processor)
agave to taste, about 2 tbsp (I like it tart)
dash of sea salt
lemon extract (optional)

Topping:
Fresh raspberries
Lemon zest

Directions:

1. To make the crust, process the macadamia nuts and dates in the food processor. Sprinkle dried coconut onto the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch springform pan (found in Target). Press crust onto the coconut. This will prevent it from sticking.
2. To make the cheese, blend the cashews, lemon, honey/agave, room temperature coconut oil, vanilla, sea salt and lemon extract (if using). Blend until smooth and adjust to taste. Pour the mixture onto the crust. Remove air bubbles by tapping the pan on a table. Place in the freezer until firm. Remove the whole cake from the pan while frozen and place on a serving platter. Defrost in the refrigerator.
3. To make the lemon curd, first use a zester and reserve the lemon zest from the lemon to sprinkle on top of the cake later. Combine lemon, coconut butter, agave, salt, lemon extract in the food processor. It’s difficult to get it to come out completely smoothly, but it’s tart and delicious! Spread over the top of the cake.
4. Top with fresh raspberries and lemon zest.

*I had added the coconut butter to help thicken the cheese since it was going to sit in the car for a while before serving it at his mother’s place. Next time, if I plan to serve it directly from the fridge, I could skip the coconut butter and just use 2 more tablespoons of coconut oil as the original recipe suggested. However, for a portable option, the coconut butter was the way to go. It came out of the spring form pan easily and wasn’t too delicate to slice.

Well I think that this came out pretty darn deliciously for a first attempt. I served it to Geoff as an early birthday cake and to his mother as well and they both really enjoyed it. Sugar-free, vegan, gluten-free… where has this recipe been all my life!? I guess I just hadn’t known where to look.

Raw vegan cheesecake for the win!

Falling in love with RAW

For several weeks now, I’ve been falling in love with raw food. This is quite a jump from my love of baking to no-heat food prep… or is it? As it turns out, raw food centres around a few of my very favourite ingredients; nuts and dried fruit. So maybe it’s not such a stretch after all.

I had read a lot about the raw food movement and was particularly curious about the various raw dessert recipes. If you haven’t googled raw dessert recipes, you’re in for a pretty incredible visual treat. Here are a few sites that dish up some serious raw eye candy; Sweetly Raw, The Raw Dessert (hasn’t been updated since the holiday season but still awesome), Bit of Raw, Rawmazing, just to name a few.

My first real attempt at raw was the raw cashew icing from this recipe which I paired with a pumpkin cake for our one year wedding anniversary at the end of November. I thought it came out great and my curiosity was definitely peaked. But it wasn’t until the end of January when I finally checked out Rawlicious in Toronto that I finally experienced the full power of RAW.

This is my restaurant review, as posted on Urbanspoon.com, which captures my first true raw experience:

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Move over Fresh, Rawlicious is my new go-to!

 

Yesterday my father and I hit Rawlicious for the first time and we shared the most sensational, vibrant, flavourful meal possible. We hit the Junction location and it was so cozy and inviting. Really charming. The food – sensational!

 

We started with the nacho platter to share which was a generous sized platter of raw “chips” served with a fresh tomato salsa, guacamole and an amazing coconut sour cream. We loved it! I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to eat for my entrée since I intended leave room for the raw desserts I’d been craving, so we each ordered a wrap. My father had the taco wrap and I had the caesar wrap. I secretly wanted the taco wrap too but thought I should order something different and boy was the caesar wrap good! It came wrapped in a collard green which was super cool and the nut loaf and dressing inside the wrap were so flavourful. I’ll be hard pressed to try something different on the menu the next time because I’m looking forward to having that wrap again.

 

Finally dessert… this is what desserts are meant to be. I follow several raw dessert blogs online so this is the part I was really looking forward to. I had the cheesecake which was a chocolate mint, and my father had the pecan pie. Wow. They were both incredible. The cheesecake was so smooth, velvety, rich yet light at the same time. Absolutely fantastic. And the pecan pie was rich and sweet on the bottom with the wonderful crunch of the pecans on top. A very generous portion and completely yummy and satisfying.

 

What really floored me was the price. All this plus my beverage for $54! It was a real feast, and could easily have been priced higher and been worth it. I can’t usually get out to the Junction so I’ll be hitting the Yorkville location next time, and regularly I’m sure. Go check it out!

 

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Since that post, I’ve been frequenting Rawlicious (their second location is conveniently located 60 seconds away from my studio and I hadn’t known it) and I’ve also paid my first visit to Live Organic Food Bar, also a fabulous experience. Live serves both raw and cooked options which might be a nice option when going out with less adventurous eaters, and the raw brunch that I had there was fascinating and fabulous! I’ll definitely be back.

 

Am I now a raw foodist? Well, no. But I’m quickly becoming a raw dessertist and all around raw enthusiast. I’m starting a category for raw recipes here on this blog and I’ll be posting frequently in that category in the coming months.

 

I am completely hooked on raw!

 

How to make your own coconut butter

I use coconut butter in most of my raw vegan dessert recipes. It’s a really handy ingredient. Not only is it delicious but it helps to solidify and give texture to recipes that would otherwise be too liquid and soft. Many people use cashews in a similar way for their raw recipes, but I far prefer the flavour and texture of coconut butter which holds it’s shape better and doesn’t interfere with the flavours of the recipe.

I’ve been to potlucks where people’s dishes have completely melted and collapsed in to goo. I’ve never ever had that problem and it’s because of the coconut butter that I use as a foundation for my desserts.

You can buy coconut butter in a jar but it does get rather expensive. If you have good equipment of your own, I really recommend making it yourself. I bough one or two jars a few years ago but have been making my own since I realized it was possible to do at home. A really excellent food processor or Vitamix is required. I always use my Cuisnart food processor for this, though I do have a Vitamix, it’s fussier for this because it’s so deep.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN COCONUT BUTTER

To make the equivalent to one 450g jar of coconut butter, you’ll need to use approximately 5 cups of fine raw dehydrated coconut. You’ll also need some high quality coconut oil, about 1 to 4 tbsps.

Add 2 cups of dehydrated coconut flour and approximately 1 tbsp of coconut oil and blitz in the food processor.

This may take a few minutes. After about 2 minutes, stop and check on your coconut. Scrape the edges and blitz again. If it hasn’t started to produce any moisture, add more coconut oil. It may take 5 to 10 minutes to make smooth, liquified coconut butter.

Once the coconut starts to “cream” and become smooth, add the rest of your dried coconut and a bit more coconut oil. Blitz again. The use of the coconut oil will depend on how quickly your coconut takes to creaming.

STORAGE

You may pour your freshly made, soft coconut butter (currently more of a cream) into a jar and keep it on a shelf at room temperature and it will solidify into a solid form that you can use in recipes, or add it directly to your recipes immediately.

PRO TIPS

**Your equipment must be completely DRY for this to work. Even a drop of water can prevent your coconut from creaming.

Create single servings of your coconut butter by pouring the fresh liquifide cream in to small silicone molds or an ice cube tray for individual servings that you can pop out once solidified, later.

Whenever I’m making a recipe that requires coconut butter, I make the coconut butter first before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. No need to clean the food processor before moving on to the rest of the recipe.

Here’s a handy blog post from Oh She Glows about making your own coconut butter.