Chocolate Fondants

So yesterday was a bit hectic...my first article in the national press. Scary... exciting... I can't figure out which I felt more of to be honest! I was asked to write an article for the Irish Independent outlining a bit about my background, why I chose to eliminate grains & sugar from my diet and provide a recipe to highlight that eating real food doesn't necessary mean eating boring food.

I approached the article in the exact same way I approach GLBTK, directly, without a whole load of statistics or scientific facts. Honestly, science was never really my strong point so if that's what you're looking for... you're definitely on the wrong page. I make myself very accessible to people who engage on Facebook and Twitter. I like people. I like knowing that people are reading the blog and actually using the recipes to feed their family or friends.

If you have a question or a recipe request, all you have to do is ask and I'll always do my best to help you out. My point is... GLBTK is a community for anyone who wants to eat/cook really good food....

So... the article.. I needed a recipe! I wanted something that was a bit 'WOW'... that people would be surprised it was healthy, that is inexpensive and really quick and easy to make...

I made these chocolate fondants over the weekend, and believe me.... you need to try them!

For the fondants:

• 150g butter 
• 60g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp Irish honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 4 large eggs
• 60g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder

Preheat oven to 160d (fan oven). 

Melt butter, cocoa powder and honey together in a heatproof bowl set over gently simmering water.

Whisk in vanilla & peppermint extract. 

Add eggs, one at a time, whisking well between each addition.

Finally gently fold in ground almonds & baking powder until well combined. 

Pour mixture into 6 non-stick ramekins or pudding bowls (approx 2/3 full). 

Place moulds on a roasting tray. Pour 1/2 an inch of boiling water into the roasting tray to prevent burning and create steam.

Bake for 13 minutes until risen and firm. Cakes should have a slight wobble in the centre, which gives the fondants their delicious warm chocolate sauce.

Serve immediately with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt. (When you're turning them out of the moulds, run a knife quickly around the edge to loosen the fondant, and invert on a plate quickly... just go for it! If you do it slowly, or overly cautiously the puddings will break. That's ok too.... they'll still taste amazing!)

Chocolate Tart...

I'm sorry... I do try to be modest, but sometimes I come up with something that's so goddamn awesome that I just can't help getting excited about it...

Lots of people think that once you decide to live a healthier lifestyle, that's the end of interesting food. They're so far off the mark it's not even funny. Think about it... we've all got that friend, you know the one.... they go on the 'I'll eat a cube of cheese when I'm about to faint' diet.... then they can't take it any more and they eat ALL the cheese, and the cakes, and the Mars Bars and soon they've regained any weight they've lost and some more! 

Why does that happen? Because their diet plan wasn't sustainable.

The reason the 'Real Food Diet' is sustainable? Cos you can eat anything once you're creative and experiment with foods you've never tried before, or you've never dared to eat because you were busy avoiding red meat, eggs and anything else that contains fat. Realistically you're going to want dessert or a cookie at some stage in your life, why not make it one that's full of ingredients that are good for you! (Ok and as a disclaimer before you read on... I know dark chocolate isn't strictly Paleo, but the higher the cocoa content, the lower the sugar content.. just make smart choices,don't eat it all the time!) 

So...let's make some awesome desserts... 

Chocolate Tart (or 'Tart au Chocolat' if you're showing off... which I am!)

For the pastry case: 

• 200g almond flour
• 100g unsweetened dessicated coconut
• 50g melted coconut oil 
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• water 

Preheat oven to 160d (fan oven). 

Add all the ingredients except the water to a large mixing bowl. 

Stir together to form a stiff, dry dough. If the dough is crumbly, you may need to add some water. (This depends on the almond flour you're using so you'll just need to go with your gut). You want a firm but not too sticky dough, but not so dry that it's going to crack & crumble. (I know that's not really helpful!) 

Press into the base & sides of a loose base 9" flan tin. This should be simple enough if your dough is the correct consistency (think firm cookie dough). 

You need to bake the dough blind to prevent it burning (almond flour burns easily when the natural oils are released during cooking). This just means placing a sheet of baking parchment into the pastry case, and holding it down with ceramic baking beans, uncooked rice, lentils or even 2 knives in a cross shape! Improvise if you have to!! 

Place the case into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. When browned and firm, remove the parchment & baking beans & set aside to cool.

For the filling: 

• 1 large avocado, mashed
• 50g cocoa powder
• 100g dark chocolate (I used chocolate with 91% cocoa solids) 
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp raw organic honey
• 400g Greek Yoghurt (ideally Fage... but Tesco do Greek yoghurt too. Just don't use Greek 'style'... it's not the same thing at all, lots of sugar and it's nowhere near as thick so the tart won't set)

Add the mashed avocado, cocoa, vanilla & honey to a bowl. 

Melt the chocolate & coconut oil together, and set aside to cool. 

Add the chocolate mixture to the avocado etc. 

I used a hand blender to purée the mixture so it was totally smooth & there were no lumps of avocado remaining.

Next fold in the Greek yoghurt. Make sure the chocolate mixture is 100% cool or the yoghurt will melt & separate. 

Pour into cooled pastry case. Spread evenly with a palette knife.

Decorate with fresh berries or nuts of choice. Leave to set in fridge for at least 2 hours before removing from tin & serving.

Honestly... this is incredible! Don't forget... these desserts are still only for treats, but they're super tasty & healthy :) 

Crepes (Grain free)

Sometimes I'm disorganised.... sometimes I find myself with very little food in the house & it throws my plans into disarray, I'm hungry and want something NOW...This is the reason why you shouldn't keep bad food in the house. If you find yourself hungry, you'll more than likely reach for that *insert poor quality food of choice here*. 

Instead of having bad food in the house, I always have emergency supplies for when I don't make it to the shops and still need to eat well. Choose foods that you can store without worrying they'll go off in a matter of days...My emergency supply always includes tinned fish, nuts, frozen berries and eggs. These are all perfect snacks and are 100% better than the alternative snacks you had in mind! 

Last night, I found myself running low on basically everything & had no meat defrosted so had to be creative to make sure I had a decent meal with lots of protein... so I made dessert! 

Low carb crepes for dinner..... Remember, eating clean doesn't need to be restrictive, you can eat whatever you want, once you're a little inventive :) 

Crepes:

• 3 eggs 
• 2 tsp Keen Almond Butter 
• 1 tbsp coconut flour (or sub with 2 tbsp almond flour)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:

• 50g raspberries
• 25g flaked almonds
• 100g Fage Greek Yogurt 

Whisk all the ingredients for the crepes together until well combined. 

Melt a little coconut oil in a large pan. 

Once hot, pour in the crepe mixture and cook until slightly bubbling on top. 

Add your filling, fold over & serve! Simple :) 

It's really easy to eat good food. Keep eggs in the fridge at all times, and you'll never need to eat badly! 

Orange Chocolate Mousse..

I've never really understood why we eat Christmas pudding (the heaviest dessert in the world) after what is generally the biggest dinner of the year... Wouldn't it be nice to actually feel good after your Christmas dinner this year with the added bonus of knowing that your dessert hasn't set your progress back?

Instead of feeling like a Christmas pudding this year, why not try something different? Here's a great recipe for Orange Chocolate Mousse which just happens to be dairy & refined sugar free AND it tastes just like a Terry's chocolate orange bar :)

• 1 can full fat coconut milk (refrigerated overnight to help it solidify & separate from the water) 
• 2 tsp Keen almond butter*
• 1 tsp coconut oil (melted)
• zest of 1 large orange
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 egg whites
• 1 tbsp raw organic honey

Start by scooping out all the solidified coconut milk from the top of the can (you don't need the water, but it would be great added to a smoothie)

Add the almond butter, melted coconut oil, orange zest & cocoa powder to the coconut milk. Whisk all the ingredients together until they start to thicken (an electric whisk will be better for this but you can use a hand whisk if you're patient!) 

In a separate heatproof bowl set over simmering water, whisk the egg whites & honey together until you have stiff & glossy opaque peaks. You need to whisk this mixture constantly or you'll end up with scrambled eggs! 

Remove from the heat. 

Begin adding the egg whites to the coconut milk mixture, 1/3 at time. Adding the egg whites slowly makes it easier to incorporate fully & prevents over mixing which will leave you with a heavy mousse. 

Once you have full mixed in the egg whites, you can spoon into serving dishes. Garnish with flaked almonds. 

You can serve this straight away, or allow it to chill overnight. 

*I always use Keen almond butter because it's nice to support Irish businesses, I'm too lazy to make my own & a lot of the other popular brands have salt or palm oil added... I've no problem with the salt, but it doesn't usually work in sweet recipes..

Gooey raspberry brownies

I'm slightly addicted to the Great British Bake Off, and now that there's an Irish Bake Off too... I've got baking on the brain. I even rescheduled my training session in the gym to make sure I'm home in time to watch it... that's dedication! In fairness, that's dedication to both training and cake... I don't like to neglect the important things in life :)

I had an hour to kill this afternoon, and decided to bake brownies...a girl can never have too many brownie recipes after all... In my book, brownies are supposed to be fudgey rather than cakey, and have slightly chewy edge (that's why you always, always go for a brownie cut from the corner of the tin..they're the best!) These brownies are all that, and more... they're rich, chocolatey and best of all, they're grain, dairy and refined sugar free.. 

Brownies:

• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tbsp coconut flour (you can replace this with 1 1/2 tbsp almond flour)
• 75g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp almond flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 50g walnuts, chopped coarsely
• 50g fresh raspberries

Raspberry jam: 

• 50g fresh raspberries
• 1 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce

Preheat oven to 160d. Line an 8x8" square cake tin with greaseproof paper. 

Start by making raspberry jam. Simple add raspberries and apple sauce to a saucepan and cook until you have thick raspberry purée. Set aside to cool. 

Whisk liquid brownie ingredients in a large bowl. 

Add in dry ingredients, mix well. 

Next add walnuts and raspberries.

Stir until combined. 

Pour brownie mixture into lined tin. 

Finally drizzle raspberry 'jam' over the brownies and swirl into the mixture with a skewer. 

Bake in preheated oven until just set (approx 15 minutes). Since ovens vary, I suggest you keep an eye on them to make sure they don't over-bake. 

You'll get 12 brownies from this recipe, and since they freeze well, you have no excuse for eating them all!!