fiona@saluk.net

Aquafaba Chocolate Pavlova (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

May 15, 2017 by fiona@saluk.net 27 Comments

Vegan Chocolate Pavlova (Aquafaba, Gluten-Free)

4.58 from 7 votes

Aquafaba Chocolate Pavlova (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

A vegan version of the popular chocolate pavlova cake using aquafaba. Naturally gluten-free this delicious dessert is a crowd pleaser!

Course Dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas
1 cup sugar (I've used white and coconut)
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp vinegar (I used ACV)
1 tsp vanilla powder
2 tbsp cacao powder (can sub cocoa) optional
1 pinch salt
1 can coconut cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 275 degrees and prepare a large baking dish by lining it with parchment paper. Combine the sugar and arrowroot powder in a small bowl, stir to incorporate
Pour the chickpea brine and vinegar into a large bowl and start whisking on low for a few minutes then high. You'll start to see soft peaks forming after about five minutes.
On medium-high if your electric whisk has that setting (otherwise keep it on high) add the sugar/arrowroot mixture two tbsp at a time, whisking until well incorporated after each addition and continuing until all the mixture is added. Add in the salt and continue to whisk.
Whisk on high for about 5 more minutes or until you see stiff glossy peaks forming.
When the aquafaba is whisked enough that you could turn the bowl upside down and it wouldn't move or fall out, whisk in the cacao and vanilla powder. Mixture won't look very dark, just speckled.
Using a soft spatula, create and fill three even circles with the whipped aquafaba on your parchment paper of about 7-8 inches in diameter each. You should use up all of the aquafaba from the bowl.
Immediately place in the oven and reduce temp to 250F. Leave them in the oven for 2-2.5 hours or until the outside is dry and the middle looks firm.
Turn off the oven and let the pavlova cool (in the oven if possible).
Make the whipped coconut cream: Scoop the cream into a medium sized bowl and whip for about 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add one or two teaspoons of powdered sugar if you'd like (I find it too sweet with the meringue), and put cream between each layer of meringue right away. If cream is left sitting out it'll become hard to spread, you may want to refrigerate and re-whip when ready to use. Top with whatever you'd like, nuts, fruit, chocolate shavings, and eat immediately!

Pavlova is a beautiful thing. Not necessarily beautiful to look at (unless you’re great at making perfectly even meringue layers), but beautiful to taste. The chocolate meringue is crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside, with enough sugar to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Between each layer of meringue is a healthy spread of cream, (coconut cream in this case to keep it vegan) and nestled in between the layers of cream and meringue you can hide all sorts of things, my favorite being fresh berries!

If you look closely you’ll see that this particular pavlova has a layer of my beet berry jam spread for an extra hidden veggie boost and a pop of color!

The first time I had a proper pavlova was in Croatia a few years ago. I won a free flight on a KitKat wrapper (story for another day) and so I hopped on the plane right after I finished college exams with my mom! It just so happened that our trip fell around her birthday so I made sure to contact the Airbnb we stayed in and asked the owner if she’d be able to have a birthday cake there for when we arrived.

You can probably guess that it was a pavlova cake and oh my god was it amazing! I still think about that cake today – I remember sitting outside in the sun in Dubrovnik taking in the old city architecture trying to not totally devour the delicious pile of meringue and cream and berries. Not sure if the cake or the city made more of an impression on me.

It was perfectly light and decadent at the same time, exactly what you want for a cake in warm weather!

Pavlova is a naturally gluten-free dessert and by using coconut cream in place of traditional heavy cream, the filling is vegan making it a winner for restrictive diets. Want to know my favorite part about this dessert? The meringues are made with aquafaba!! That’s right, those pillowy meringues are whipped up from chickpea brine – no eggs involved!

If you’ve been following my blog for a few weeks now, you’ve probably grown tired of my incessant droning on about aquafaba, but once I get excited about something cool I can’t stop talking about it!

Please go get a can of chickpeas, and pour the liquid into a bowl, whip it up and just watch the aquafaba magic happen if you haven’t already. Truly a genius vegan innovation.

This pavlova is chocolate because I had some cacao powder on hand when I was making it and am one of those chocolate lovers, but you can also keep it classic vanilla by removing the cacao powder, or you can experiment with a variety of flavors. If you want to keep the simple vanilla meringue base you can always add flavors in the coconut cream or using your favorite jams/spreads/fruit/nuts between each layer (nutella anyone??) to jazz it up a bit.

If you have never had one before or are turned off by all the time required to make the meringues, JUST MAKE IT! It’s worth it! This recipe technically takes a lot of time from start to finish, but most of it is just the meringue sitting in the oven, it’s verrrrry minimal hands-on time. You could do lots of things while it’s in the oven, you could read a book, paint your nails, water your plants, do some yoga, clean your room, it’s basically a great opportunity to do an at-home chore since it does tie you to your house for a couple hours.

Pavlova will always remind me of my mom and I will never forget the memory of my first bite of pavlova in Croatia (genuinely scary how much I think about that cake…). I hope you try this recipe and it brings you as much joy as my first bite of a pavlova cake brought me!

Things that are key for this chocolate vegan gluten-free pavlova:

You’ll want to make sure you have a great electric whisk as the aquafaba really needs to be beat like crazy in order to maintain good meringue form, otherwise a kitchenaid mixer will do the trick
You need coconut cream, not coconut milk, for the cream filling. If you can’t find coconut cream (available at most asian supermarkets), you can get a can of coconut milk and put it in the fridge for 24 hours. When you open it, the white part on top is the cream which you’ll want to scrape out leaving the liquid behind for another use
Don’t skimp on the time for whisking otherwise your meringues will not stay risen in the oven, they’ll get sad and droopy and no one likes a sad pavlova

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you buy something from a link I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. I only link to products I love and use, thanks for supporting Fiona’s Forbidden Fruit!

Spinach Lemon Cake (Gluten and Dairy Free)

May 7, 2017 by fiona@saluk.net 8 Comments

5 from 1 vote

Easy Spinach Lemon Cake (Gluten and Dairy Free)

A very easy gluten and dairy free spinach avocado based cake with oat flour and aquafaba fluff made in your food processor or blender.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 half avocado
3 eggs
2 cups fresh spinach
2 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups gluten-free oat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Add avocado, spinach, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and zest to blender or food processor and blend until pureed and there are no more pieces of spinach visible. It should be a solid creamy green mixture.
Add the dry ingredients to the blender or food processors (giving it a quick stir with a spoon to ensure it doesn't blow to the sides when you turn it on) and blend until combined. You don't really have to worry about over-mixing since it's gluten-free.
Pour batter into two 8" cake pans either greased or lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on how hot your oven is, insert a knife into the center and it should come out clean when ready.
Let the cakes cool on a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. I used this time to clean up and prepare my frosting.
For the frosting, I used 1/3 cup earth balance vegan butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla powder, a pinch of lemon zest and 1 cup of aquafaba fluff (you can find the link to the recipe in this blog post)

Spring is here! Can you feel it? Can you see it? Everything is green, the trees are sporting pretty little buds, the tulips are blooming, and the air has that spring-y smell in it that makes me sneeze!

Unless of course you live in a city in which case you are probably at that brief seasonal sweet spot in between sidewalks covered in questionably dirty snow and the air smelling faintly of hot garbage.

(City dwellers don’t be insulted, I love city-living and have many fond memories of my time in various ones, however, I am currently enjoying rural heaven with the salty sea air and the lush gardens I get to romp around in daily)

Whether you live in a concrete jungle or a real one, this recipe is a great way to usher in the spring vibes in the air thanks to its vibrant GREEN hue!

In the wake of St. Patrick’s day the internet was awash with green recipes to celebrate the shamrock-clad leprechaun who freed Ireland of snakes (that’s what the holiday is right?) jk I’m super Irish and know what St. Paddy’s day is all about.

One thing that struck me about all these recipes was that they were filled with green food coloring. I don’t know about you but I am no scientist and I certainly don’t understand what it is in food dyes nor do I have any inclination to ingest them. I have this imagery of eating something with food coloring and it turning all of my internal organs green which seems very unnatural and I can’t imagine my body would enjoy that.

I set out to find a way to make a naturally green cake and turned to my favorite green vegetable – spinach! Before you say ‘yuck!’, drop your computer, and run away from this webpage, I swear to you that you can’t taste it. Try to approach putting spinach in this cake the same way you might approach adding some spinach to your fave fruit smoothie. I made this for my brother’s birthday and didn’t tell him what the secret ingredient was until he ate a slice and he said it was tasty! The tangy lemon outshines anything else going on flavor-wise.

Popeye popularized the amount of iron in spinach but its health benefits don’t stop there, it is high in Vitamin A, K, and even calcium! You can put a decent amount in this cake without tasting it at all so throw in as much as your palette desires! One and a half to two cups is my recommendation to keep it on the sweeter side.

I am a huge spinach fan if you can’t tell. Maybe it is no surprise that I am a St Patrick’s day baby what with my love for all things green…

This cake doesn’t use just one green ingredient, it also includes the creamy goodness of avocado in place of any butter/oil. That was a nice little treat for you since I didn’t include avocado in the title of this recipe! Wasn’t that a good surprise?

Spinach, avocado, a few eggs, and some gluten-free oat flour – this cake is BASICALLY a salad, so go ahead and make it, then devour it.

Did I mention how easy this cake is to make? I didn’t. I can’t believe I didn’t say that right off the bat. This cake comes together in seconds as it’s all thrown into your blender or food processor then poured right into the pan! That’s right, minimal cleanup, healthy cake, seriously what is your excuse for not trying this right now.

For this cake I made a vegan vanilla frosting with earth balance, powdered sugar, and some aquafaba fluff I had leftover. If avoiding dairy isn’t your thang you can use your favorite buttercream frosting but this simple lemon vanilla one I made was pretty delish.

Now it’s time to go outside, take in a deep breath of that delicious spring air and run/bike/walk/drive to the store to get some spinach so you can make this cake tonight. I’m sorry to be so bossy but really you’re missing out if you don’t try this easy spinach lemon cake!

Aquafaba Fluff (Vegan)

April 30, 2017 by fiona@saluk.net 11 Comments

5 from 5 votes

Aquafaba Fluff (Vegan)

A vegan version of marshmallow fluff that is naturally gluten-free using aquafaba in place of eggs.

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas (just the water)
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp vinegar (apple cider works great)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla powder (optional)

Instructions

Combine the sugar and arrowroot powder in a small bowl, stir to combine.
In a large mixing bowl add the aquafaba and vinegar and begin to whisk.
After about 5 minutes of whisking on low, when mixture has started to get frothy, add sugar mixture a few tablespoons at a time, allowing the sugar to fully incorporate before adding more.
While adding in the sugar mixture, begin to whisk on high for about 8-10 minutes until the texture has reached stiff white glossy peaks and you can turn the bowl upside down without anything sliding or falling out!
If you have the vanilla powder, whisk it in at this point for about 15 seconds until visibly distributed.
Enjoy right away and keep any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container, it should keep for about 10 days!

I cannot speak enough about the cool properties of aquafaba and the amazing things it can do in vegan baking! You may have already seen it appear in this chocolate tart I made a while back, or you may have heard about it while scouring the internet for vegan baking trends.

When designing a vegan recipe, one of the biggest challenges for me is usually figuring out how to replace the egg in a baked good. Sure, the ever-popular flax or chia eggs are great, but they require grinding down the seeds, AND mixing with water, ANNND you have to let it sit in the fridge for a while, ANNNNNND even with your best efforts it can still yield a gritty texture depending on the quality of your grinder.

Also, with flax and chia eggs you have to wash the grinder after using it – who has time for that. I’m all about simple and easy and the less cleaning required the better.

Aquafaba however, is a wonderful solution! It has the appearance and consistency of egg whites to the point where I truly believe that anyone would be fooled if they saw some poured into a bowl. (This could be a fun experiment to play on someone who isn’t vegan)

How exactly do you get aquafaba you ask? It’s simple. (Actually, there are two ways, one is less simple, but I’m only going to mention the simple one.)

SO! Simple version step one – buy a can of chickpeas. Open the can of chickpeas and using a sieve or colander, drain the can over a bowl and reserve all the liquid, putting aside the chickpeas for some other use (chickpea peanut butter blondies anyone??). That’s all it takes, boom, done, voilà, you’ve got aquafaba!

Now, to turn that aquafaba into marshmallow fluff requires only a few additional simple ingredients and about 15 minutes so go ahead and get that peanut butter and bread ready because your fluffernutter is not far off.

Aquafaba Fluff (Vegan)

A teaspoon of vinegar (I like apple cider vinegar) provides acid to relax the protein strands in the aquafaba and allows them to trap more air when whipping up into your marshmallow magic. Trust me, you can’t taste the vinegar in the finished product!

Be sure you have a great electric whisk on hand (this one is awesome) because I honestly don’t know how long this would take to do sans electricity (then again I’m just a weakling so maybe your arm muscles are more than able to use a hand whisk), you have to whip it for about 10 minutes to really get that fluff-like texture.

Sometimes I think about baking in the olden days and have such respect for bakers then because whipping is such serious business and they certainly did not have electric whisks. I swear they should add whisks to Crossfit gyms because it is such an insane arm workout that doesn’t require any machines or weights to get those muscles moving. (ps I have never done Crossfit can you tell?)

Other than the vinegar all you need to add is a tablespoon of arrowroot powder and some sugar! Just whip whip whip until you can whip no longer and you’ll have a giant bowl of mouthwatering delicious vegan fluff.

Please don’t confuse this with a healthy recipe, this is mostly sugar and I cannot advise you to eat it more than occasionally. However, if you are looking for a homemade and less processed version of marshmallow fluff that is vegan then this is it.

Try it out, and be amazed as the water from your can of chickpeas whips up right before your eyes into a vegan delight!

Beet Berry Chia Jam

April 7, 2017 by fiona@saluk.net 10 Comments

5 from 4 votes

Beet Berry Chia Jam

A quick and easy jam of beets and berries using chia seeds with no added preservatives.

Course Breakfast

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 12 minutes

Author fiona@saluk.net

Ingredients

1 cup Grated Raw Beet
1 cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
2 tbsp Chia seeds
2 tbsp Coconut sugar (or white)
1/4 cup Water

Instructions

Heat a small pot over medium heat with water
Immediately add berries and beets to pot and turn heat to low, stir occasionally as the pot simmers for about 5-7 minutes until mixture softens
One the mixture is soft to the point where the berries no longer hold structure (you can't see a whole berry), add the coconut sugar and continue to stir
If a smooth and less 'rustic' jam is desired, use a handheld blender to blend in the pot, or add to a food processors and pulse for about 30 seconds until smooth
Add in chia seeds and stir for about 30 seconds, then let sit for about 5 minutes until jam is firm
Pour mixture into desired container and let cool for about 30 minutes. Seal and store in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

In my imagination, making homemade jams and jellies has long been the pastime of French housewives and peoples grandmother’s who have bountiful fruit and berry harvests in their quaint rural gardens. Jam has never been something that particularly appealed to me or that I was anxious to experiment with. This beet berry creation was somewhat of a haphazard creation.

Since the popularization of chia seeds, I have become increasingly curious of the gelatinous coating they develop when exposed to liquids, and after experimenting a fair amount with the ever-popular chia puddings, I figured there was opportunity for further exploration! Who needs pectin when you’ve got chia seeds

Having done a social studies project in eighth grade on Miep Gies (notable aid to Anne Frank and her family), I was briefly introduced to ‘pectin’ which was the key ingredient in the homemade jam-making kits that the Frank family’s business sold.

Needless to say eighth grade me was not so much inspired to make jam after this research but rather was confused at how complicated it sounded since Miep’s job was to field all the customer complaints when their jam-making didn’t go to plan. This was her full-time job so I’m pretty sure there must have been a lot of confused aspiring jam-makers out there.

Turned off by the seemingly complicated world of pectin and jams, I turned in my project and didn’t wonder about making jam until many moons later.

This jam comes together in about ten minutes and is made with beets, blueberries, and raspberries. If you have other berries on hand definitely use those, this was what I had in the fridge and are also favorites of mine. Keep in mind that some berries are sweeter than others so you may have to alter the amount of coconut sugar depending on how sweet you like your jam.

This is perfect on a slice of toast with a cup of tea or coffee as a mid-morning snack, or is equally as satisfying combined with equal parts peanut butter for a healthier take on the classic PB+J. It’s a great way to sneak veggies into what’s usually a sugar-based spread. Beets do have a fair amount of natural sugar, but it’s certainly a healthier alternative to many of the products available at the supermarket with huge quantities of added sugar.

For real though, many popular jams and jellies contain about 13 grams of sugar per tablespoon. Assuming you put about two tablespoons on your toast or PB+J, that’s 26g of sugar. To compare, a can of coke has 39g, so two pieces of toast would be more sugar than a can of coke. Trying to eat healthy is trickier than it seems!

Some of the sugar in jam is of course naturally occurring in the fruit but more often than not popular jams are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other forms of sugar which leads to that insulin spike, sugar high and subsequent sugar crash we all have felt at least once.

It’s definitely enlightening to take a glance at the ingredients or nutritional facts on seemingly healthy items like fruit jams and jellies as more often than not extra sugars are snuck in there to make them extra sweet.

That being said, the beets in this jam definitely have an earthy flavor, and if you are not a beet fan because of that potent geosmin taste of freshly plowed earth, you maaaaay want to adjust the ratios of beets to berries in this recipe.

Even if you make just a berry jam, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by being able to control the amount of sugar in the jam and also you can experiment with your favorite fruits to see which combine into a tastier flavor! Not to mention all the added fiber and omega-3 fatty acid benefits you’ll be getting from those chia seeds!

Black Bean Chocolate Truffles

February 23, 2017 by fiona@saluk.net 10 Comments

5 from 4 votes

Chocolate Black Bean Truffles (Gluten-Free)

A gluten-free decadent chocolate truffle made from a base of black beans, cocoa powder, and chocolate for a truly fudgey treat.

Author fiona@saluk.net

Ingredients

1 15 oz Can Black Beans rinsed and drained
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
2 tsp Coconut Oil
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tbsp Coconut Sugar
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 pinch Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 cup Dark Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Chocolate (for melting)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper (or grease the pan if you don't have parchment paper)
Rinse and drain can of black beans, add to blender or food processor.
Add maple syrup, oil, and vanilla and blend/process for about 60 seconds until well combined.
Add eggs and blend again about 30 seconds until well incorporated and very few black flecks from the beans remain.
Add dry ingredients (baking powder, cocoa powder, salt, coconut sugar) and blend again for about 20 seconds until smooth.
Pour batter into prepared baking pan scraping the batter from the blender/processor, add 1/4 cup chocolate chips and gently mix in with a wooden spoon.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, removing them when the center appears firm and the edges aren't burnt. You don't want gooey brownies for this so keep them in longer if you're unsure if they're done.
Remove from oven and let cool about 15-20 minutes.
Once cooled, using a melon scooper or a small spoon, scoop out balls of brownie and roll into a ball about the size of a fresh cherry and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Once all the balls have been formed, freeze them for about 15 mins until hardened and cold.
Melt chocolate of your choice in the microwave or using a double boiler (I used dark but you can use milk or white if you prefer), and dip each ball into the chocolate just long enough to coat it in chocolate and return to the baking sheet.
Once all the balls have been dipped in chocolate, sprinkle with a garnish of your choice (I used Himalayan salt, you could use crystallized ginger or orange, sprinkles, a small edible flower, etc) and freeze again for about 10 minutes or until visibly hardened. Enjoy!!

Do you love surprises? Surprises can be great. I love to surprise people. Which is interesting because I don’t think I like being surprised, I prefer to know what’s going on. (Perhaps there’s an underlying issue with control there…)

One way I’m constantly surprising people is by putting vegetables into yummy desserts! It’s fun to see someone’s expectations totally thrown off, they see the chocolatey delight sitting on the counter, take a bite and when I tell them they are made from some sort of healthy base there is disbelief and sensory confusion (vegetables + sugar = ??). What better surprise is there than learning that eating dessert can help you meet your vegetable daily requirement!

There are a lot of surprises in the kitchen – and many of them are bad surprises. You can work really hard on a recipe researching various weird ingredients and trying out new appliances and the finished product looks like a delicious pan of brownies, but then you try it and it just tastes bad. It makes you frustrated and sad because you just spent the afternoon creating and gently mixing the batter, after spending money on quality ingredients hoping that it would come out well, and even though it seemed like you followed all the right steps for a successful finished product it just didn’t work. And then you think about all the other things you could have done with your afternoon now that you’ve wasted your creativity, time, ingredients, and effort on these bland brownies that are definitely not blog-worthy!

It’s frustrating and annoying when hard work doesn’t pay off because it makes you question all those aphorisms ingrained into your brain from school “practice makes perfect”, “there is no substitute for hard work”, “all roads that lead to success pass through hard work boulevard”, and then I start to wonder about the people who create motivational posters and how successful that was as a sustainable business idea.

Failed recipes are just a bummer, they deprive you of motivation and make you question why you bother to make recipes at all! It’s a form of rejection from the kitchen for your sub par baking skills and you get stuck in a rut of not making tasty treats when they don’t turn out delicious all of the time.

Often it’s the most complicated recipes you spend the most time on that don’t work and the worst part is there are so many steps to them that you don’t know at which point you made the error. The mere thought of trying it again is exhausting! You can’t help but re-read all the steps, and do an overly careful analysis to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Not to mention you have to take photos before cutting into a cake or pie so the time spent on the photo shoot is often wasted if it doesn’t taste good, or if the photos didn’t come out well!

It’s for this reason there is so much appeal to create ‘one bowl’ and ‘blender’ recipes that take less than 10 minutes to do before popping in the oven. The less effort you have to put into it the better you feel if it doesn’t work out well. I suppose it’s the classic risk-reward trade-off.

I have worked on recipes that take almost a whole day to create (including time chilling, baking, and ‘resting’) that are so tasty that it’s worth the effort to me. But I have definitely spent just as much time on an all-day recipe that comes out tasting just okay, and I know it needs more work before publishing.

Food blogs are digital portfolios of successful recipes and photos. What many food bloggers don’t discuss is the amount of failed recipes they have to make before creating the post-worthy one. It is truly following a passion to pursue something that has such a low rate of success. The feeling when it works out and you are able to successfully surprise someone with a vegetable-infused treat is worth it!

It’s crucial to have a blender or food processor for this recipe, here is the blender I use, and the food processor I use!

This recipe was inspired by fellow blogger Sarah over at LiveEatLearn who also has lots of tasty healthy recipes! I used her black bean brownie recipe as inspiration for the base of the truffles.

Mint Chocolate Brownies (Gluten-Free, Paleo)

December 19, 2016 by fiona@saluk.net 8 Comments

5 from 3 votes

Mint Chocolate Brownies (Sweet Potato)

Sweet potatoes makes these gluten-free brownies a healthy tasty treat!

Course Dessert

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 12

Author Fiona Saluk

Ingredients

2 oz unsweetened dark chocolate
¼ cup almond butter
1 cup sweet potato mash/puree
½ cup coconut sugar sub white sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk room temp
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
⅓ cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp coconut flour
½ tsp baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate chips
cup optional: 1/4 mint chips
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a square 8" baking pan with parchment paper
In a saucepan over low heat, combine the unsweetened baking chocolate and almond butter, stirring, until melted and smooth, then remove from heat
Stir in the sweet potato puree, coconut sugar, and peppermint extract and beat well.
Beat in the egg and yolk until well incorporated.
Sift in the the cocoa powder, coconut flour, baking soda and salt (still in the saucepan) until just combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly. Batter will be lumpy but try to smooth as much as possible.
Put the pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan completely before cutting into squares and serving.
Drizzle melted chocolate on top if desired!

Brownies are one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Chocolatey, decadent, fudgy and delicious! Typically they’re made with lots of chocolate, butter, flour, and sugar – aka everything most healthy eaters try to avoid or eat in moderation. This version instead relies mostly on sweet potatoes which I promise you cannot detect!

Sweet potatoes definitely live up to their name in that they’re delightfully sweet and the perfect swap for blood sugar raising high-calorie regular old white sugar. They add a real punch of fiber and B vitamins to this traditionally unhealthy treat so feel free to take a second one (or a third)!

Sweet potatoes are a truly awe-inspiring ingredient in my mind, so versatile, healthy and delicious! You’re absolutely doing yourself a favor by indulging in one of these brownies.

I love the mint chocolate combo but if you are one of those crazy people who doesn’t like the light refreshing zing of peppermint to cut the richness of the chocolate, you can always swap the mint extract for vanilla to keep it purely chocolatey.

The sweet potato provides the bulk of the dough and moisture meaning you don’t need any oil or flour! Can you believe that? None! There are two tablespoons of coconut flour as the only ‘grain’ in this recipe meaning these are technically paleo friendly for those of you adhering to the caveman way of life. (Which frankly still confuses me, the fact that the paleo diet claims to imitate the caveman diet but I struggle to picture a caveman baking with coconut flour.)

These are perfect for using up leftover sweet potatoes if you have any lying around. If you don’t have any leftovers, you can do a quick-baked potato by putting one in the microwave (be sure to poke some holes in it first) for about 5 minutes until soft.

These don’t have quite the same crackly top and chewiness of your standard box brownies but I promise they are filled with chocolately goodness and should satisfy a brownie craving without compromising your desire to eat healthily! And for real you can’t taste the sweet potatoes I swear. Try it you’ll see!

This recipe was inspired largely by Paleo Running Momma over on her healthy blog!

Pumpkin Pie (Dairy and Gluten Free)

December 4, 2016 by fiona@saluk.net 9 Comments

5 from 3 votes

Pumpkin Pie (Dairy and Gluten Free)

A lightened up version of pumpkin pie with a gluten-free crust and a dairy-free pumpkin filling.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Author Fiona's Forbidden Fruit

Ingredients

CRUST
1/2 cup shortening or butter fridge temp (dairy-free as needed)
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3-5 tbsp very cold water
1 1/3 c gluten-free flour I used Bob's Red Mill
FILLING
1 oz can pumpkin puree 15
1/2 cup almond or coconut milk
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt

Instructions

Cut the shortening/butter into the flour and shortening/butter until it resembles coarse crumbs (I use my hands, you can use two knives or a pastry cutter to do this)
Add the apple cider vinegar and 3 tbsp water, and stir gently until it forms a dough.
To roll the dough, find a clean counter space or use plastic wrap on a table and lightly sprinkle with flour.
Place the dough ball in the middle of the surface, sprinkle it with flour, and starting from the middle, roll it outwards in a circle of about 12". Keep sprinkling the dough with flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin, or put another layer of plastic wrap on top of the dough and roll over that.
Place the dough in a greased 9" pie tin.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Combine all the filling ingredients in a medium bowl using a wooden spoon or electric beaters, then pour in the prepared dough and place in the preheated oven for 15 mins.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes. The pie will set after removed from the oven, it is cooked through when a knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean.

Thanksgiving got the best of me this year. All the entertaining seems to have worn me down because Igot the worst cold ever just a few days afterwards.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. (Don’t worry no germs were spread in the creation of this pie). I swear that I hate being sick more than most people. It derails plans like nothing else. I feel like a train in constant motion, sometimes knowing where the next stop is, sometimes just plugging along before all comes to a screeching halt at the sign of a cold. I was supposed to go on a hike with a friend, I was supposed to make soap with another friend, I was supposed to try out a new recipe, I was supposed to hang out with my sister who’s in town from LA, but NO all I could do this weekend was nothing thanks to the monstrous cold.

People say getting sick is your body’s way of telling you to slow down or get some rest or blah blah blah. I think it’s just bad timing and encountering too many germy people. An endless need for sleep paired with the inability to actually sleep because of terrible headaches and coughs and sneezes is simply the worst feeling. Sure, I started watching Shameless with my sister while quarantined to the couch and enjoyed the fact that there’s a Fiona character on it, but was it the way I had hoped to spend time with her? No!

I did make one excursion out on the town to the farmer’s market where I had a bowl of soup. For breakfast. I felt terrible for being ‘that coughing person’ in public that I usually hate. I guess it’s just bad karma getting me back for usually having so much distaste for contagiously sick people in public.

Dairy is one of those things that just seems completely unappealing to me whenever I have a cold. Not sure if there is any scientific evidence proving that dairy aggravates colds but I swear it makes me feel worse. A diet of tea, soup, and lots of sleep is the only thing I’m interested in when illness strikes.

Luckily this recipe was made without any dairy so consuming a slice of pie here and there was completely acceptable. Pumpkin is one of those really good for you vegetables that we don’t consume enough of too! This sumptuous orange treat is filled with Vitamin A, fiber and beta carotene, not to mention that it’s packed with cinnamon, an anti-inflammatory powerhouse. That means this dessert should help you stay fuller longer, reduce inflammation and potentially improve eyesight if that Vitamin A = good eyes theory holds strong.

Sounds like you’d be doing your body a disservice by NOT having a piece of the pie.

Perfect with a dollop of whipped coconut cream on top (or regular whipped cream if avoiding dairy isn’t your thing).

Pumpkin Banana Cake (Dairy Free)

November 18, 2016 by fiona@saluk.net 8 Comments

3 from 2 votes

Pumpkin Banana Cake (Dairy-Free)

A deliciously moist dairy-free pumpkin banana cake with a date caramel.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 16

Author Fiona Saluk

Ingredients

CAKE
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
3/4 cup melted coconut oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 ripe banana mashed
5 medjool dates chopped
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 oz can pumpkin 15
1 cup almond milk
FROSTING
1/3 c coconut oil shortening
3/4 c powdered sugar
DATE CARAMEL
1 c almond or coconut milk
8 chopped medjool dates
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300°F. Using a non-stick spray of your choice, grease 3, 8-inch round cake pans.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix coconut oil and sugar (recommend electric beaters), until well incorporated. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla, banana and pumpkin, add in the chopped dates. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk.
Divide batter while pouring into the greased pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife in the center comes out clean.
While the cakes cool, heat the ingredients for the date caramel in a small saucepan over low heat. Simmer and stir for 5-10 mintues until the dates lose their shape and the sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat and let cool.
Combine the shortening and sugar in a small bowl and mix until combined (frosting will be stiff). Spread on one of the cake layers Divide the date caramel up in half and spread on top of the other two of the layers.I used a little leftover date caramel on top of the regular frosting around the rim, this is optional!

Fate is a tricky thing.

Whether or not you believe in everything having a certain path or reason, it’s undoubtable that when things fall into place you get a wonderful feeling of satisfaction. Fate can bring things together that may have otherwise forever been apart.

There is plenty of speculation and frustration over whether or not we have control of our own fate, or if there is some kind of higher force that picks and chooses the things that end up together and the things that don’t. If two things are meant to be together, sometimes it’s clear to just one person, and is an oversight of everyone else.

Sometimes when I need a real ego trip, I go to the kitchen and I look at my ingredients and instead of making the same old usual recipe with them, I play with fate and forge a new path, cross-breeding desserts in some kind of mad scientist way to find a new and delicious combination.

This creation is the product of just that, I took bananas, that are usually fated into banana bread and pumpkin, that often becomes pumpkin squares, and brought them together to create one magical delicious dessert – pumpkin banana cake.

This delectable treat has all the wonderful moisture of pumpkin squares and the caramelized sweetness of banana bread brought together to delight your taste buds in what I think is safe to say a cake that can be had for dessert or breakfast!

While this is made with all-purpose white flour, contrary to my usual forays into gluten-free baking, it’s a very simply recipe and you probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen already!

A good thing to note is that because this is made with a gluten-full flour you have to be careful when mixing the batter not to over-stir, as this causes excess gluten formation and can yield tough and chewy baked goods. (One of the perks of gluten-free baking is not having to worry about that!)

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice handy, I would highly suggest buying some as it is probably my favorite spice for fall baking (and all year round baking if I’m being honest with myself). If you are just so inspired to make this right now and can’t wait to buy some online, you can make your own version by combining cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger (I would do 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 ginger and 1/4 each of nutmeg and cloves) or you could simply combine allspice and cinnamon which delivers a similar warm and spicy taste.

Have you been searching for a cross between banana bread and pumpkin squares? Look no further, this recipe combines the best of both in a date-sweetened, moist, pumpkin-spiced delight.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes (Vegan and Gluten-Free)

November 11, 2016 by fiona@saluk.net 5 Comments

Running into people from high school who you find out have been living in the same town, hanging out with the same people and haven’t left a certain radius around their homes since high school seriously stuns me. How can you not want to go see the rest of the world? Or even the rest of the country you live in?? Or try meeting new people? Maybe I’m at the other end of the spectrum where I don’t stay in one spot long enough.

Commitment has long been an issue of mine. I’m not talking about infidelity, I’m not talking about loyalty, I’m talking about making decisions to do something and sticking with it and following through to the end.

I guess that is often cited as a millennial trait so perhaps I’m just as indecisive and flaky as my peers, but I definitely feel like after doing something for a not so long period of time I get that itch to stop doing it and go somewhere or do something new. Maybe this is just wanderlust? Curiosity? Not sure, but in the wake of the strange environment and mood permeating out of TVs, social media and the news this week I definitely have the urge to stop everything I’m doing and run off to Thailand to sip fresh coconut water and do yoga out in nature. Anyone else with me?

Running off to escape the current social climate is probably not the best or most responsible approach to dealing with frustration and impending adversity, but it sure sounds appealing!

This week when absorbing all the crazy things going on the world and all the things happening directly to me in my small little world, I have been doing some serious contemplating. When the contemplating gets to be too serious though I retreat to the kitchen which is where I created these yummy pancakes.

I’m not a perpetrator of the idea that food should be the thing you reach to when you are feeling emotionally charged (I guess that’s where ‘comfort food’ comes from), but healthy food can certainly be fulfilling and satisfying. There’s comfort in the reliability of having something healthy, you know that when you eat something nutritious (like these pancakes!) you’ll feel satiated, energized, and happy that you’re feeding your body yummy healthy things.

So while dreaming about the unknown feeling of enjoying fresh fruit on a Southeast Asian island after a sun salutation or two, I’ll try to find some comfort in the certainty and stability of the familiar fall foliage outside my window as I enjoy these warm pumpkin pancakes snuggled up on the cozy couch.

These are made with gluten-free oat flour, my favorite is Bob’s Red Mill which has a great consistency and works well for these pancakes.

This recipe is simple, can likely be made with ingredients you already have on hand and is perfect to warm up these cool autumn mornings. Or you can make pancakes for dinner because why not!

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes (Vegan, Gluten-free)

5 from 1 vote

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes (Vegan and Gluten-Free)

These Vegan and Gluten-Free pumpkin pancakes take hidden vegetable breakfast to a whole other level. A simple recipe with ingredients you likely have in your pantry.

Course Breakfast

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 8

Calories 194 kcal

Author Fiona Saluk

Ingredients

1 c pumpkin puree
1/3 c milk of choice
2 tbsp coconut oil melted
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar disregard if using buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 chia eggs room temp
1 cup oat flour GF as needed
½ tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients (pumpkin, milk, coconut oil, ACV, chia eggs) .
In a medium bowl, gently combine the oat flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
Make a well in dry ingredients bowl and pour in the wet ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, stir just until combined, don't overmix. If too sticky, add more milk until a more batter-like consistency is reach (batter will be thicker than regular pancake batter) Let the batter sit for 10 minutes.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium-low heat, lightly grease the pan with your favorite cooking spray or oil (this is to ensure a crispy pancake exterior, but you don't have to grease the pan if it's non-stick and you don't want that crunchy texture on the outside).
Once the surface of the pan is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles on it, pour ¼ cup of batter onto the pan, using your wooden spoon to spread it evenly if batter has thickened and won't settle. Let the pancake cook for about 3 minutes, until bubbles begin to form around the edges of the cake.
Once the bottom is lightly golden, flip it with a spatula and cook for another 90 seconds or so, until cook to desired doneness.

Inspired by the Pumpkin Oat Pancakes over on the Amazing Cookie and Kate‘s blog!

Vegan Carrot Cake

November 3, 2016 by fiona@saluk.net 5 Comments

It comes as no surprise that this recipe contains hidden veggies. In fact, I might go so far as to say that carrot cake may be the original hidden vegetable dessert!

Finding a version that is vegan isn’t always easy though, as they’re often laden with butter and eggs, but this one is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

The crowd pleasing aspect of this recipe was truly tested as it was one of the desserts I made for my dad’s 60th birthday celebration. It was so popular that not everyone was able to try a piece! (or maybe I just didn’t make enough….sorry hungry guests)

If you aren’t concerned about eating vegan or dairy free, feel free to try this with your favorite cream cheese frosting. The cashew cream, maple syrup and apple cider vinegar combine wonderfully in this recipe to make a light vegan cream cheese-like frosting that I think compliments that cake quite well.

You really do get a healthy dose of carrots in this recipe as it calls for a whole pound! These tasty orange veggies really do pack a nutritious punch. Growing up my mom put carrots in my lunch box for school every day and promised me that eating them would improve my eyesight. There was even talk of being able to see in the dark if I ate enough!

A few thousand baby carrots later, this ended up being my introduction to the harsh reality of false advertisement because at age 12 I got my first pair of glasses, despite my daily carrot intake. (I still eat carrots quite frequently though, probably with some subconscious notion that maybe my eyes still can improve)

Carrots do have a healthy dose of beta carotene and vitamin A which has been linked to eye health…They are full of fiber and antioxidants so feel free to tell yourself that a slice of cake is akin to a daily vitamin.

(I am 100% not a Doctor or any kind of medical professional so please don’t throw away your vitamins and replace them with cake based on my hyperbolic suggestions).

Carrot cake is one of those fun customizable recipes that everyone seems to have their own secret addition for. This recipe is just a basic no frills recipe, but feel free to add a handful of walnuts, raisins, or both if you’d like!

This recipe calls for chia eggs, if you haven’t used them before don’t be frightened, they are really quite simple. I buy these chia seeds and then put them in a cheap coffee grinder to grind them down to a powder and mix 1 tbsp ground chia with 3 tbsp water, refrigerate for 15 minutes. Be sure you don’t use the same coffee grinder for your coffee beans. I recommend having a separate one just for baking and you can use for chia seeds, flax seeds, etc. They’re usually $10-$20 and definitely worth not having bits of chia seeds in your morning coffee.

5 from 2 votes

Vegan Carrot Cake

Cuisine Dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 15

Author Fiona Saluk

Ingredients

CAKE
2.5 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1-2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice depending how spicy you like it
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 pound carrots peeled and grated
1 c white sugar
1 c light brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 chia eggs
3/4 c coconut oil
FROSTING
3/4 c soaked raw cashews
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1/4 c maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F and grease 2 9" pans with coconut oil spray (or your favorite cooking spray)
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, salt, together until incorporated
In a food processor, combine white and brown sugar with chia eggs until bubbly and combined, about 30 seconds
Add in the coconut oil (may need to soften in microwave first if oil is too cold) and continue to process until mixture appears to become one color and no streaks of oil remain
Transfer the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and incorporate without over mixing (too much mixing the flour makes it chewy).
Divide the mixture between the two pans and bake in the oven for 25-30 mins or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
While the cake cools, combine all the frosting ingredients into a blender or food processor and combine until creamy and smooth.
Add about 2 tbsp to the middle layer and spread with a spatula, pour the rest of the frosting on the top layer for a dripped frosting look. (frosting is not hard like a traditional buttercream)
Optional: top with chopped walnuts or pecans

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