BLUEBERRY BARS

I've been experiencing a lot trying to come up with the perfect raw-bar.

If you are wondering what the hell a raw bar is, it is a snack that is made according to raw food principles; all un cooked natural ingredients. I got hooked on chocolate raw bars when I was pregnant and since they are pretty much the perfect snack (or sweets) I consume quite a lot of them still. And since they are rather expensive to buy I have been trying out variations of my own. Although all raw sweets are ridiculously expensive to make at home too, all those fancy nuts and super food ingredients… Most that are grown on the other side of the world. Sometimes I even get annoyd at maca this and lucuma that. Not that I don't think that those so called "super foods" wouldn't be good for you - but do I really need a root from Peru in my snack bar? We can get true superfoods over here too; the berries that grow in our woods!

So, this is a how-to  for healthy snack bars with blue berries. (And some stuff from the other side of the world too.) Being able to make the perfect raw bar in setup and consistence is not easy and I get different results every time, sometimes they turn out too mud cake like (nothing wrong with that, but I don't always want them to feel like candy), sometimes too nutty, sometimes too moist. I usually always use raw cocoa or raw chocolate, but in this version I'm just going for a purple berry bar, chocolate free.

Use about one part dates and one part nuts.  And some seeds of your choice.

I took mostly cashews, plus some almonds and hazel- and para nuts (next time I'll go for this without the para nuts though) and linen seeds (from our farm, keeping up the local theme). Put the seeds and nuts in water to soak for a little while, about ten minutes is enough.

If  the dates are fresh you don't need to soak them, but as I used very dry ones I had them in water over night.

Then you'll need this: blueberry powder, as in dried and ground blueberries!  I've also done this with dried blueberries which turns out great, even better perhaps, but then again you'll need a lot and that is really not to be considered everyday luxury as the price per kilo is quite scary for such.

I have a small  blending bullet for this which fits about half a handful at the time, and for such an amount of dates and nuts I put one tea spoon of blueberry powder.

So, then you mash it all in your blender/mixer/bullet and put the mix in a bowl. You can sweeten it with honey or agave if you like, but for me the dates makes it sweet enough. Add some cold pressed coconut oil. I also put in some hemp seeds as they taste great . 

Flatten the paste out in a mold and put in the fridge for at least a few hours before eating. If the mix feels very moist you can dry it in the oven on very low heat for a while before storing cold. 

Cut into bars and store them in a plastic box in the fridge. They will stay fresh about up to 4-5 days. I out half of mine in the fridge.

These  make a perfect breakfast or light lunch -which for me nowadays most often  are the same thing- together with a smoothie (and some nice magazines).

THE MAGIC CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

This set here:

You know how you sometimes wish there could be something that's really really good in the yummy sort of fatty sense, but that could still some magical way be healthy? And you know what? There actually are such foods and dishes available -like this raw chocolate mousse! It's an avocado based dessert that has a super luxury chocolate feel to it, and is very easy to make. It's not calorie free, but just full of good calories. But who counts calories these days anyway - it's mostly about the quality of the food nowadays.

For about two persons you will need:

One avocado

5 dried dates, if the bigger kind (medjool). If smaller ones double up.

1,5 dl cocoa powder

2-4 table spoons of agave syrup

1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil (optional, I often leave it out)

Now for the how-to:

Soak the dates until they are soft and moist. Mix the dates with the avocado and agave (and coconut oil if you added it) to a smooth mousse. Today I also added a couple of dark dried apricots to the mix. Sometimes I've tried it with a few soaked raisins in there as well. If you don't have agave you can use honey instead, or perhaps try with maple syrup. (Agave is however available from most bigger stores over here nowadays and it's not totally un-affordable.) Add the cocoa to the mix and stir. Add more agave if the mix is not sweet enough for your taste. Then it's ready to serve!

The mousse is rather heavy; I feel it's best enjoyed with some fresh fruits or berries.

You can try some variations, like adding cocoa nibs or coconut flakes to the mousse, or a dash of cinnamon or chili. I once made this with a little less cocoa powder but some bits of melted raw chocolate instead (cocoa butter + raw cocoa powder).

You can also put this in the freezer for a few hours and it turns into chocolate ice cream, sort of. You need to take it out and stir a couple of times to fluff it up in between.

Note that the avocado batter is hard to get off bowls and such if it dries so make sure to wash your utilties up as soon as you have emptied them.

I know for some the words vegan and raw before something you eat will be an immediate yuck-factor. Or a question mark. But that is only if you are not familiar with such foods (and/or have an attitude). There are lots of things that are vegan, and also raw, that everybody eats, without thinking that much about it. No yucks there then. Also the thought of having avocado in a dessert may freak some people out, but it is actually a very useable fruit due to it's consistence and mild taste. Avocado is a perfect "smoothifier" in smoothies and milkshakes too, as well as (raw) pie fillings.

I cook a lot of vegan and raw recipes, but I also enjoy traditional -vegetarian- cooking (as in warming up my food and having bread, I love bread :) and traditional desserts. Man I love cake. But now as I am aiming to get as close to my pre-pregnancy waist as possible I have been more strict and it's been less cake and lots of raw food in different forms instead. (So far I've lost 15 kilos -or maybe ten, as I guess around five came out with the baby- so I'm getting there. 10 centimeters to go!)

FRESH APPLE CAKE WITH CINNAMON

Then apple season came and went by. We picked apples and I made apple mash and apple marmalade and apple cakes... and then decided I wanted to try out something different and new - which turned into a raw food apple cake!

I used almonds and sunflower seeds for the crust but you can make this with just either one, or hazelnuts and walnuts for example. I used one of this dried pressed packs of dates (250g) that I soaked in water; 2/3 for the crust and 1/3 for the filling.


For the curst:
4dl almonds
2 dl sunflower seeds
200g  dates
a handful (about 0,5dl) dried apple bits, soaked

Filling:
2 dl cahsews
3-4tsp cinnamon
1tbs melted cocoa butter or 2-3tbs coconut oil
100g dates
7 small apples

The apples on our trees over here are rather small so 2-3 equals one store bought regular sized one.


Mix the nuts and add the dates and the apple bits. Press the curst out in a cake mold (I put baking paper underneath to get it out easily), then proceed to make the filling.


Mix the cashews smooth. You can add a few drops of the water you soaked the dates or dried apple in, (or some apple juice) after a while for easier mixing. Then, add the cinnamon and the dates in small portions. Pour in the cocoa butter (or coconut oil; you won't taste the coconut); this will firm the filling once you let it cool afterwards. Chop the apples (peeled or unpeeled, your choice) and add the bits to the mixer. Pour the filling in the crust, smooth out and let the cake cool for an hour or two before serving.

Enjoy with a cup of fruity tea or coffee. Or some apple lemonade!

RAW CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

I had the idea to use the "magic chocolate mousse" for a cake for a long time, and this summer I got around making one first version of it!

The cake did not turn out super-perfect,  but it was one step int he right direction, and was highly approved by the ones sharing it. A bunch of kids also had this and they were totally fooled, thinking they were eating “conventional” chocolate cake. Ta-da!

I make a lot of raw food cakes and bars and goodies. I do bake a lot of sweets in the oven too, somewhat healthy and then not so healthy, vegan and non-vegan as well. With raw food I like the fact that you can make something taste totally chunkadelic while it is still basically full of only healthy ingredients. (Raw food cakes are of course not light in calories, with lots of nuts and seeds and dried fruit, but you also tend to eat less of those as they are rather heavy. And, for most people they still don’t make you feel as stuffed as after having ‘normal’ cake). Sometimes healthier versions of the "real thing" mostly taste good only because you tell yourself it does, but with raw sweets I don't think that is the case; they taste just as good, sometimes in their own way, sometimes in the same way as with butter and sugar.

Most of the time when I cook and bake I add things a little so-so, making it up as I go along or working from memory. I think it works well especially for raw food sweets, as it is the texture that counts, and dried fruit may vary in consistence. But lately I’ve been trying to write down amounts as many don’t like to play around with measurements the way I do. Here’s how this version turned out and what it consumed:

I made a crust using nuts, seeds and dried prunes(plums).

3 dl of sunflower seeds and 70g of nuts (I had walnuts) and 12 plums.

I like walnuts in the crust for raw food pies, they make a good base.)

Sunflower seeds give a full, kind of butter-like feel to the dough. I have made raw brownies using only sunflower seeds as I was serving it to a person with nut-allergies. it works very well.

Most raw food sweets contains dates in different form. If you grow tired of them you can try using other dried fruit instead, plums, figs or apricots etc. I love dates, but sometimes change them, mostly just for variation in recipes. These plumes were not very sweet so I added a spoon of coconut sugar.

Then in with 1,5dl of coconut oil and 2dl of cocoa powder. -personally I think regular powder works as well as raw - and a little hint of good salt.

I personally think this recipe will work better with cashews tor almonds han walnuts, as cashews are more mild. So I will opt for such in the version to come. The cocoa together with the walnuts made it rather bitter;  I came to the conclusion that  walnuts works better in a crust without cocoa. I will also try to make the next version with dates anyway, or a mix of dates and plums for more sweetness. But many will prefer a less sweet version, so stick with the plums and walnuts then. 

Press out the crust in a non-stick cake mold (or place a baking paper underneath).

Put it in the fridge to firm up while you make the fillings.

The first filling will be the instant marmalade. I made mine of raspberries, red wineberries and dates. About 1,5 dl of berries and 3 dates.

Mash and mix it together and spread it over the cake.

The second fill/ topping is a variation on the magic chocolate mousse, the whole idea of the cake. I have started to add half a banana to it, as sometimes the avocado tastes trough and makes the mousse taste too “green”. For an even smoother mousse I also add creamed coconut.

Here’s what goes in it:

1 ripe avocado

1 ripe banana

20 dates

8 tbs cocoa

1-1,5dl creamed coconut

Creamed coconut is not the same as coconut cream; it is firm as a paste.

Spread the topping out on the cake and put the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Raw cakes are said to not, like many other cakes, not get ay better by waiting over night or so, but in this case I still felt the cake tasted better the second day!

I might try this with a pale crust (dates and walnuts), no berry filling and fresh fruit on top instead the next time. And then I am sort of dreaming of making a triple chocolate version with a dark crust, this chocolate mousse filling but sans the coconut cream, saving that for the third topping; he coconut-chocolate one I used for my raw muffins.  But we’ll get back to those once the experiments have been conducted!

INSTANT STRAWBERRY MARMALADE

Here's a very quick and easy sort-of-marmalade /jam/fruit mash that works with most berries (frozen or fresh; raspberries works especially well for example).

 Take some berries - I hade a some bstrawerries over from a bunch of fresh organic ones which I refrigerated and cooked jam on.

 
And some dates, the more the sweeter (of course). Here I am using fresh dates but I actually think that those drier stickier ones work best for this - if they are very dry they need to soak in some water first though. (If you are tired of dates in everything you can try it with other dry, very sweet fruit, like I did with the raw apricot-coconut cookies, using apricots for the marmalade.)

Mash them together with a mixer or a hand mixer.
And that's it!

Serve on pancakes, scones, your peanut butter sandwich or as cake filling (like here with the raw chocolate pastries filling) or anything else you want to jam up.

RAW CREAMY BERRY YOGHURT

Here's an easy recipe that once started out as a thick smoothie that I then later started making thicker into a sort-of-yoghurt. Maybe one could call it rawgurt.
(Not sure how inviting that sounds though.)

You will need an avocado, (preferably) frozen berries of your choice - I have red wineberries from our garden- , soaked cashews and some fruit juice (I like apple best) or water. I also added a few strawberries that are missing form the pic.

I have a little less tha half a coffee cup of cashews and one coffee cup of berries.

The cashews should soak for a few hours or over night. Rinse them and put everything in a blender with a little liquid to start with and add some more as you mix, a little at a time so that the texture stays fir enogh.
(Almost impossible to get a nice picture of this stage)

Mix until rather smooth.

If the yoghurt feels too sour you can add something to sweeten it up - I added a soft date but a little bit of honey or coconut sugar etc will also do, or some sweet enough fruit.

Enjoy as it is or with seeds or granola on top, or served with fruits.

Next I think I'm going to start trying out chia seeds in puddings and fresh porridges! I've only had them in snack bars so far.

***
Edit: all berries we have here are rather sour. Well I suppose most berries in general are sour with a high acidity (or so). If you however use very sweet stuff you might wang to add a little dash of lemon or lime to get they "youghurty" sour feel to it!

THE BEST BITES

If you never got around making your own raw goodies or if you have not tasted a lot of them, you may find the ingredient list somewhat monotonous: dates and nuts, nuts and dates. You might think there can only be so many combos of said main ingredients. But the thing is you can create an endless amount of different tastes, depending on what you choose to add along. If you think about it, a regular cake also (mainly) has the same base; eggs and flour and sugar and it's the rest that then defines it.

These yummy snack-cubes turned into my favourite for the moment! Inspired by a bar at the health store with vanilla and berries, mine also has cocoa and hemp seeds in them. The berries give a nice sour taste  and hemp seeds of course contains lots of nice fatty acids and proteins and what nots, you name it.

You will need:
Sunflower seeds, cashews and hazelnuts. About the same amount of each.
Real vanilla
Coconut oil (can be left out, or changed to a small amount of cocoa butter)
Raw cocoa powder, regular works just as well (this is also optional if you make a non-choco version)
Dried soft dates
Dried berries of your choice
Hemp seeds

As usual the amounts are a little so-so. Some people like their bars sweeter and stickier, some more dry and some more oily. I like mine perfect. Hehe. This is mostly for an idea of what to blend in that you can then use to make your own version of. As my usual way of doing thins, I just pour in and measure with the eye. I will however try and mention how much I used of everything for those of you less adventurous out there.

I mixed about 100grams of sunflower seeds and hazelnuts and a little more cashews in a mixer to a semi smooth texture. Add ground vanilla according to your own taste preferences along, same goes for  the cocoa powder. I put in some 3 tbs.

I scoop in about a tablespoon of room temperatured (=soft) coconut oil. Someone will always complain about the use of coconut oil in everything, and you can leave it out if you want to, although this is a good way to incorporate this healthy oil in your diet, plus it gives a nice add to the consistence of the mix. You may change it to a little but of melted cocoa butter or melted raw chocolate instead.

Then add the dates one by one until the texture feels nice and firm. I used about half of those cardboard boxes of dates. (Btw If you make a big batch like I did of 300grams of nuts you might have to divide the batch in two at this point so that your mixer won't overheat).

Finally add some dried berries and a handful or two of hemp seeds to the mix - you can work the in by hand. I had a mix of dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries and goji berries  (put in about 100g), but pretty much anything will do. Put the dough on a working surface, flatten it out and cut into cubes (or bars).



Yum yum, enjoy!
Store them refrigerated and well sealed.

LIME-COCONUT BREAKFAST ENERGY BALLS

Inspired by one of my favourite ready made raw snack-bars these energy balls are a little less sweet and with an edgy hint of lime.

Made of
Sunflower seeds & Almonds (50/50)
Soft or soaked dried dates & apricots (about 2/3 dates & 1/3 apricots)
Lime peel & lime juice
Coconut oil & Coconut flakes

Mix the almonds and sunflower seeds in a mixer, about the same amount of both. You don't have to mix them flour-or butter smooth; leave some texture. Add a little bit of cold pressed coconut oil and the peel of one lime.

Put in the fruit bit by bit until the crumble somewhat sticks together when you form a ball. In other words you don't want it to be too compact and chunky.

Squeeze some lime juice in so that the crumble easily can be rolled into balls. (If you feel the mixture got too wet you can add some coconut flakes to suck up the extra moisture).

Roll the balls in coconut flakes -or cut into squares/bars and sprinkle coconut on top.
Store cool in an air-tight jar.

 Dag likes his. Well actually he snatched one while I was still taking pictures.  ("Cake" he says.)

 Or two actually, one for each hand, so that he would not miss out.

And there's just enough left for me still.

FOR YOUR VALENTINE

I'm keeping my tradition to post something heart shaped here on Valentine's Day.
This year it'll be in the form of food:

Valentine's Day Salad
raw, vegan

You'll need
a small cauliflower
some handful of fresh spinach leaves
an apple
a handful of radishes
one pomegranate
a handful of fresh strawberries
optional:
fresh parsley and/or any other fresh herb of your preference
pre-cooked quinoa
feta cheese

For the vinaigrette:
oil and vinegar or balsamic of your choose
lemon juice
apple juice

I love strawberries in salads, and they go so well with a lot of things, especially with something salty and sour. It feels a little odd with fresh strawberries in february (over here at least), but then again it's only Valentine's once a year. And the ones I got were surprisingly tasty!

Chop  the cauliflower, spinach (and herbs), apple and radishes and blend together. Add pomegranate seeds and diced strawberries and pour the vinaigrette over. I used pomegranate vinegar and olive oil in mine.

Too raw for you? Add quinoa for more fullness.
This salad also tastes great with some pieces of strong feta mixed in!

And for dessert -


Apricot Hearts with Strawberry Marmalade
raw, vegan, gluten free
12 dried apricots (the dark, natural ones)
1 tbs agave syrup (or honey)
4 tbs almond flour / finely ground almonds
4 tbs hazelnut flour / finely ground hazelnuts
4 tbs fine coconut flakes

For the marmalade:
5 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
2 dried apricots
some real vanilla powder

I wanted to make a set of raw sweets that would not use dates. Instead I went for dried apricots. The ones dried without sulcate are sweet and very rich in taste. I  made these raw cookies without the use of a kitchen mixer, just a hand mixer and then fork, as I used ready almond and hazelnut flour. If you are patient enough you could probably make it with no electrical equipment, just the fork.

Soak the apricots (for the cookies as well as the ones for the marmalade) in water until they are soft and squishy.  Squeeze out the extra water and mash them into a somewhat smooth paste together with the agave (or honey) by using a hand mixer or fork. Add the flours spoon by spoon, blend in with a fork. Add the coconut flakes and keep on mixing with the fork or knead by hand. If you have a proper kitchen mixer you can just throw everything in there and press the button. (If you use nuts instead of ready flour,  start the other way around by adding nuts first and grinding them into flour before you add the apricots!)

Press the dough out as thin as you can on a non sticky surface and take out hearts with a gingerbread cutter. Place the cookies on a plate and set aside while you make the marmalade.
You can also dry these in an oven at low heat for some hours. Or, they can also go bye-bye raw food and be baked, give them a try in a 200C oven for a few minutes.

For the marmalade, mash the apricots, add sliced strawberries and mash them quickly together with some vanilla powder.

Serve the cookies with the marmalade and a cup of mint tea!

As usual there's room for variation. Allergic to nuts? Try it with coconut flakes and rolled oats instead. One of those persons that just can't do coconut? The coconut flakes do add quite a lot to these cookies, but if you must then skip them and use more of the flours instead.


Happy Valentine's Day!

GINGERBREAD TRUFFLES

Room for some sweets still? I've never been too eager on making any Christmas dishes myself (I let others do them for me for when I come over, hehe), apart from sweets. For New Year's I, as many others, like to eat something fresh and not really related to the season. But when it comes to the extras I prefer to still go for Christmas,  as I do like the holiday scents an tastes, sweet and spicy. 

Here's a recipe for gingerbread truffles, to serve with coffee for or after dessert or to place on the table among with the other sweets you've gathered around yourself for this time of the year. I'm sure you could get pretty awesome truffles by just adding gingerbread bits to a regular truffle batch, or by rolling truffles in gingerbread crumbs (>note to self: try). But these here are not that kind of truffles.


For about 18 pieces you'll need:
180 grams of almonds
2 tbs of honey
8 dates (or fewer, if you use very big ones)
Ginger bread spices

Grind the almonds in a mixer. They don't have to get as smooth as flour, keep a little texture. Add the honey, and then the dates one by one. (If you want to do a vegan version trade the honey into one spoon of agave, or just use about one or two dates more.)

The mix should be a rather fluffy, nutty crumble, that will stick together easily when you roll it into a ball. If you put in too many dates it will turn soggy, so check before adding the last ones. Put in the spices last and blend. I use 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and one each of ginger and clover. As I like cardamom a lot I put a teaspoon of that too.


Form into balls and roll them in a mix of cocoa and cinnamon (or if you so prefer, just either one).
Keep cold for an hour or two before serving, and if you for some reason are left with any over, store cold in a plastic box.

No food processor at home? If you use soft enough dates you can do this with just a hand mixer too, with pre-ground almonds (or almond flour). Or mash the dates with a fork for the hand-only version.

You can do several variations on these:

The obvious - cut into cubes instead of rolling them into balls,  or form a roll and cut thin slices. Dust cinnamon or coconut sugar on.

The more created variations:
Press the dough out rather thin and use small gingerbread forms to cut out shapes.
Roll the truffles around a piece of dried apricot or dark chocolate.
Dip the gingerbread balls in melted chocolate, leave as they are or sprinkle chopped almonds, cinnamon or nonpareils on.

You can also bake these. Then they of course will no longer be truffles but turn in to sort-of-gingerbreads.  The raw way would be to keep them in oven on low heat until they dry, some hours in just 40C. The inpatient way I'd go for is a very hot oven for just a minute or two.

Or, if you are among those who like gingerbread dough shut ike that, skip all rolling and just eat right out of the bowl!


PS. these are also healthy! And raw. Child-friendly sweets with no sugar. Haha!

BROWNIE MUD CAKE SNACKBAR CHOCO THING (AND RAW AND VEGAN AND HEALTHY TOO…)

(…which I kind of dread writing out because that will scare some lesser knowing people away. Well, their loss!)

This is a sort of raw brownie that I make for dessert, as a snack or to go in small bits together with a smoothie for breakfast. I make a big set of it to last all trough the week.  It's so yummy so you fell all "Hallelujah! I will  never need to eat chocolate cake again" when you have it. That is, until you actually have a pice of mud cake and realise butter ad sugar does have it's point too. Well I have a version for that too, but that cake will be for later. Now it's raw brownie-thing time!

You will need:

125g of natural cashews
about the same amount of sunflower seeds
16-22 soft dates (depending on their size and how sweet you want the result to be)
3 tbs chia seeds (optional)
3tbs coconut flakes
3-5tbs of -raw or regular- cocoa powder (depending on how
3 big tbs  of virgin coconut oil
some real vanilla powder
1 tbs lucuma (optional)
1 ts maca root (optional)

Grind the cashews in a mixer semi roughly and add the sunflower (and chia) seeds, blend smooth.

Add all the other dry ingredients. If you didn't add chia seeds you can put an extra spoon of coconut flakes or two. I use five big spoons of cocoa powder, but if you prefer your brownies less dark you can go for a little less. I use lucuma which is sweet and tasty and just put in a little macs because it will go unnoticed and vitamin things up, you you can leave it out or add some other booster if you so prefer. Add the coconut oil, which should be room temperatures; soft and fluffy.

Pit the dates and add them one by one for requited texture and sweetness. If you used less cocoa powder you can manage with a few dates less and vice versa. 

 Your dough should look like this, quite firm and chunky.

 Form the dough into a loaf.
Or, if you prefer a cake, you can press it out into a round mold, or of course roll it ito balls too.

Wrap the loaf in plastic and wait an hour or two before serving.

Cut into bars/slices and enjoy as it is or with some fresh fruit.  And a cup of black coffee. Or strong tea.

The brownies stay well when kept in the fridge for a week at least. You can also freeze slices to take out for later.