Coconut Haystacks

This is a very quick (if you have an electric hand mixer), very simple recipe here that I got from the book The First 40 Days.

This is my first time making coconut haystacks the more traditional way as I have been making the raw version, that I call Rawcaroons, for years now.  I have a basic version, the almond rawcaroon, a lemon one, raspberry flavor, and there are probably a few other flavors in my recipe repertoire as well, if you are up for the search 🙂 I have definitely made many more flavors just cannot remember if I have blogged about them all.

While I LOVE the raw versions, they can be heavy on the digestion and they take so much longer to make. Since I am still in my early post partum days I am continuing to be mindful of my digestion and choosing foods that feel gentle and not to heavy.

These were wonderful! They don’t hold up as nicely as the rawcaroons as they are more fragile, but so worth it! I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 6 large egg whites
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 TBS pure vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
• 2 or 3 drops rose water (optional)

Steps:

• Preheat over to 350*F
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites until a stiff peak forms (this is my first time using my hand held mixer with eggs whites, and oh man was it easy and quick!!)
• Gently mix in all other ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix!
• Drop tablespoons of the batter on to a greased or lined baking sheet
• Bake for 8 minutes and check. They need to be slightly golden brown. The book says 8-12 minutes here, and I did mine for almost 20 before they started to brown on the top! They got crispy on the bottom and I actually liked that as it added a little caramel flavor 🙂
• Remove from oven when done to your liking and let cool 5-10 minutes.

 

 

These are the perfect snack for me to have around the house for a quick pick me up or little treat with my tea.

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Lemon Chia Pudding

This pudding is light, sweet and simple. Just a few ingredients away from a nice treat. I just scored a huge box a deliciously fresh figs so I topped this pudding off with them and it was a perfect edition, but I think any fruit will do 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk)
• 2 soft medjool dates
• 4 TBS chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 4 figs for topping
• drizzle of chocolate sauce for extra decadence

Steps:

• put the milk and dates in a blender and blend on high until well incorporated
• add chia seeds and lemon zest and blend on low just enough to mix the chia seeds but not too much as to break them down, you can also do this by hand
• IMPORTANT: let sit for a few minutes and blend on low for a couple seconds, do this a few times. You’ll start seeing the chia seeds floating around in the milk and staying there, that’s what you want. If you skip this step you will end up with a pile of chia seeds at the bottom of your dish and the milk on top.
• pour in desired cups or bowls and put in fridge to set for at least 2 hours, or overnight is great too
• top it off with fruit and chocolate sauce if desired

Pate d’Amandes Carob Squares

These little squares delight me. There are just the right amount of sweet in a tiny little inch square bite. I wasn’t intending on making these. This creation came out of a screw up. I was planning on making raw almond butter in my vitamix and the texture was too dry. I started adding things to see what I would get, and the end result was this super tasty, sweet, nutty almond paste, the kind we use in almond croissants, or Galette des Rois in France at this time of year, but without all the nasty refines sugars. After letting it sit in the fridge for a couple days trying to think of what I could make with it, I had the idea of making little squares and dipping them in chocolate. Because, well, chocolate just helps any screw up taste better 🙂

But I’m out of raw cacao!! I have been running out of a lot of favorite staples. At first it was just a lack of time to get to the store, and then it turned into a challenge: what can I still create with what I have at home? I have some carob powder that I very rarely use as I much prefer cacao. So I decided to dip the squares in some carob.

I’ve always been a huge carob fan. It has a unique flavor and I find it delicious. I became really into it 10 years ago, before discovering raw cacao. So everything “chocolatey” I made back then was made with carob. Unlike cacao, carob has a natural sweetness to it which makes it that you can get away with much less sweetener for other sources when using it.

Carob has some great nutritional value to it. It is rich in calcium (good for bones, as well as preventing blood clotting), a good source of selenium (great for thyroid function and defending your body against oxidative harm and infection), and like cacao it is rich in antioxidants (helps protect the body from free radicals and toxins from the environment). Another good reason to use carob instead of chocolate is if you are someone who is highly sensitive to the energy boosting properties in raw cacao (I’m not one of those people, I can eat chocolate at any time of the day or night!), and you want a chocolate substitute for your nightly sweet cravings, carob will do the trick.

But if you are not a carob fan, you can make these with cacao instead (I know I would have if I had it on hand!) Blessing in disguise as I love carob and am happy to be “forced” to use as of late 🙂

Ingredients for almond paste:

• 3/4 cups raw almonds
• 2 medjool dates (I use medjool because they are so juicy and sweet)
• 2 TBS coconut butter
• 2 TBS water

Steps:

• Put everything in a high speed blender
• Scrape down sides as often as needed until the mixture forms a thick paste
• put in fridge at least 1 hour to have to contents harden

Ingredients for carob dip:

• 3 TBS carob powder
• 3 TBS coconut oil

Steps:

• Melt coconut oil in a double boiler or a small saucepan
• Take off heat and mix in carob powder
• set to the side to let it cool a bit so it will thicken, stir occasionally

• In the meantime make little 1 inch squares or balls with the almond paste
• Dip them in the carob (I dipped them once, then put them in the fridge for about 5 minutes, then dipped them again)
• Put in fridge to set about 10 minutes, and gobble up!

Store these in the fridge.