vegan nut butter truffle balls

I promise these are way better for you than they look! These also happen to be extremely quick to make and are a pretty rewarding dessert to serve and enjoy. Inspired by that crazy vegan coconut mousse I made for valentines this year I decided to play off that formula to create these coconut milk and peanut butter chocolate truffle balls.

vegan quickie 4 your lover

And who doesn’t love a quickie on Valentines Day?

I whipped these uber-super food loaded chocolate coconut milk mousse’s off in about 5 minutes. Lickety-split. Your lover will swoon. Or maybe you cozy up by your self and feel ZERO guilt for eating the whole batch on this hallmark holiday.

Remarkably I was driven to make something nice for my family today even after doing a mega baking stint in the bake shake at the local cafe pimping out the bakery cooler with Valentines Sweets…Did I say pimping? I all out loaded the cooler with dozens of sinful sweets; I pulled out some of my old favorites, but everything got a valentines spin, adored with chocolate hearts, pinked-up with beet root powder galore (which made for a huge pink mess to address) and berry buttercream blissmass-ed.

no flour hemp almond cake

The other day my friends hubby showed up late in the evening requesting a delicious birthday cake for his wife for the next day, so I leaned on my old stand by gluten free nutella tort, but this time I made some great changes which yielded a denser fuller cake thick and rich and not too sweet at all, I would say it has stepped from tort-dom to cake dom with these additions.

pre heat your oven to 350

In a double boiler gently melt:

100 g of dark bittersweet chocolate

along with 150 g of good quality organic veggie oil (grapeseed or canola is best)

mix well and set aside to cool somewhat.

Meanwhile separate 6 eggs

whip the whites to soft peaks

In a large bowl combine:

egg yokes

100 g finely ground almonds

50 g hemp seeds finely ground

2 tbsp homemade nutella

2 tbsp vanilla

a pinch of fine sea salt

Stir in the melted chocolate and stir until smooth.

Then gently fold in egg whites, until you have a well mixed fluffy chocolaty mixture

Prepare a 2 piece tort pan (9-11″) by greasing it well (I like to use butter for this, but if you are keeping this recipe lactose free try coconut oil or vegan natural buttery spread

Pour batter into pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the centre is firm.

Allow to cool before removing tort shell pan, then glaze with a chocolate gnache, fruit spread or just drizzle with melted chocolate. serve and enjoy!

truffle kissed chocolate mousse

If your in the mood for a little chocolate love this week, this milk chocolate mousse will defiantly do the trick! These are actually very easy to make, and most of the time invested in them is in allowing them to set up. Easy and pleasing… what more could you ask for on this hallmark holiday?

In a double boiler start by warming:

4 large egg yokes

1/4 cup can sugar

pinch of sea salt

small squeeze of vanilla

Using a whisk combine ingredients and warm for about 3 minutes over rapidly boiling water, until the mix is bubbling just a little and feels warm to the touch.

Remove from heat add add

100g of good quality dark chocolate finely chopped.

Allow chocolate to settle into the mix for just a minute before stiring, then combine until silky smooth. Set aside to cool somewhat.

In a stand mixer beat

3/4 cup of whipping cream to soft peaks

Gently fold whipping cream into chocolate 1/3 at a time.

Pour mousse into nice glasses or bowls, and allow to set in fridge uncovered for at least 4 hours.

Before serving garnish with fresh grated chocolate, a handmade truffle or a dollop of fruit sauce… whatever floats your boat.

Enjoy the mousee and the oohs and awe’s that come along with serving this!

lemon ginger meringues

aka pillows of heaven (as my daughter has dubbed them)

So for our solstice dinner tonight we decided to celebrate our abundance of eggs, and make another batch of home made pasta, which we added fresh parsley and grated garden garlic into the dough. The noodles will be part of a prosciutto carbonara our festive ode de oeuf ! As with all my adventures in pasta making, today called for a egg white dessert coupling. My daughter skilfully separated 12 egg yokes from their whites, which netted a GIANT HUGE BATCH of lemon ginger meringues (you may want to half this recipe)

you’ll need:

12 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups of organic cane sugar

1 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

In a stand mixer:

Whip egg whites to soft peaks, then add cream or tartar and sugar, continue whipping to hard peaks before adding lemon juice and ginger, whip for 1 minute longer.

spoon mixture into piping bag with large star tip, squeeze into dollops on a parchment lined pan. then bake at 250 for about 30 minutes, or until just golden brown.

cool and enjoy quickly as they won’t stick around long!