Healthy No Bake Red Velvet Cookies

Last week I gave a food demo, my second one, at the San Francisco Public Library. It was a Valentine’s Day themed demo, with “Heart Smart Treats”.  I took classic desserts and put a healthy spin on them. Each dessert is packed with nutritional value including protein, antioxidants, and vitamins. You could pretty much eat each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

The first dessert was a tofu based Cheesecake. Dish number two was a beet based No Bake Red Velvet Cookie Dough. And lastly, an avocado based Chocolate Mousse. I am going to split the desserts up into three blog posts.

The first one I’m sharing is No Bake Healthy Red Velvet Cookie Dough! I ditched process sugar, flour and food coloring to give you this good for you doughp dough! Beets are a great source of antioxidants, potassium(essential for nerve and muscle function), an anti-inflammatory, and so much more.

Ingredients:unnamed-8

1 beet (*see below)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups oat flour (*see below)

3 tbsp coconut/almond flour

Method:

  1. Roast the beets, no oil, no seasoning. (So there is a little oven use, but if you do this on a meal prep day, you can roast a couple of beets and use throughout the week in salads/other main dishes!)
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. When the beet is done, let cool. Add to the food processor with about 2-3 tablespoons of water, and puree until smooth.
  3. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients and ONLY HAlF A CUP of the beet puree!
  4. Add the wet ingredients to dry and mix with a wooden spoon(or use your hands and get a bit dirty!) until throughly mixed until it is the consistency of cookie dough. You can also do this step in the food processor!
  5. On a sheet of parchment, roll dough out to 1/4 inch. Using cookie cutters, make different shapes!

*Slowly add more than the half of a cup of beet puree for a raw cookie dough texture

** Slowly add more than the 2 cups of oat flour for more of a shortbread texture

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High Protein Cookie Sandwiches

These are really rich, but packed with the good stuff to recovery after a workout! The Cashew Buttercream was just what these cookies needed, as they’re very much a dense cookie otherwise.

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Ingredients

Protein Cookies

1 cup of nut butter (I mixed half a cup of Tahini and half a cup of Almond)

2 scoops of your favorite Chocolate protein powder

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 large egg OR use flax egg*

Optional-walnuts or chocolate chips

Cashew Buttercream

1 cup of cashews*

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons maple syrup

 

Method

*Soak cashews for at least 30 minutes in a bowl of water.

*To make a flax egg: Mix 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons water, let sit for 10 minutes

To make the Cookies: Preheat oven to 375F. In a bowl, stir together the protein powder and cocoa powder. Mix in the nut butter until no trace of powders. Then add in the egg, mix well. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips. It will look just like cookie dough, but the texture will be a but more stiff. Roll dough into balls(about a tablespoon or two) and gently press/flatten down when you place on trays(you can use a fork to make the criss cross pattern). Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cashew Buttercream: After soaking the cashews in water, put them, along with vanilla and maple syrup in a food processor. Blend until smooth–be sure to scrape the bowl while blitzing to get all of it smooth!

 

 

Saintly Rocky Road

I am back in San Francisco (for a little while) after living in Ireland for the good part of just about three years! I hummed and hah-ed about moving home, but now that I’m here I am so happy I packed up and moved back! I’m excited to try all the cafes and restaurants I’ve been craving as well as reading about-pretty spoiled for choice here in SF. I am also just so happy to spend time with family and friends.

Rocky Road is a pretty popular treat in Ireland. I had the duty of making about four slabs daily at a bakery I worked in– up to triple that amount during the holiday season! When it’s made with dark chocolate, it’s really dreamy.

Below I am sharing a cleaner alternative to the traditional Rocky Road: it’s sugar free and vegan friendly. There’s also no baking/ melting chocolate involved with this recipe, all you need is a trusty food processor or blender.

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Carmel’s Saintly Rocky Road

Ingredients

14 dates

Small handful of almonds

Half a cup of your choice of nut butter

Teaspoon of vanilla extract

A couple of drops of water

2 heaped tablespoons cacao powder

Method

Soak the dates and almonds in a bowl of warm water for about a half hour. Then blitz all ingredients together, but NOT until it’s completely smooth. The dates act as the marshmallows, and the almonds act as the hard m&m candies or malt balls typical used. Line a bread tin with parchment paper and press mixture into it. Before pressing it into the bread tin, or casserole dish, you can fold in dried fruits or even more nuts if you fancy. Freeze for about two hours, or even better, overnight.

Keep in the freezer for a more firm texture! If left in the fridge it gets more soft fudge, which would actually be a great sauce for ice cream when warmed up!

Keeps for about a week in Tupperware.

Easy and guilt free treat!

 

Maple white chocolate chip cookies

c.hall 2015
c.hall 2015

A twist on the classic, these should come with a warning because they are ADDICTIVE! They are also another quick and easy bake.

Maple white chocolate chip cookies:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

approx 1/2 cup maple syrup

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Optional: add 3/4 cup toasted walnuts for extra crunch

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup until well combined — the mixture will have the consistency of wet sand. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips (and walnuts if adding); stir until just blended. Put the dough in the fridge for about 20 minutes. After the dough is a chilled, drop about a tablespoons about two inches apart from one another on a parchment lined baking tray. (or you can roll the tablespoons of dough in your hands and flatten each a little with your hand). Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.