Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Today I had a very happy accident! I started to make my green chocolate smoothie for the kids for morning tea, but decided to change it around a bit (as I do), but before I could add the water, THIS happened...

 

Creamy, chocolate deliciousness! How? What?? I couldn't believe it! I grabbed a spoon out of the drawer and popped some into my mouth, and started to squeal and do happy dances all over the kitchen... it's amazing!!!

 

It's like chocolate cream only creamier. It's a mixture between a mousse and a semifreddo. The flavour actually reminds me of the Milo ice-cream I loved as a kid, only better! (Did you love that too?) So don't be put off by the quirky ingredients and lack of sugar - even the fussiest will love this one... unless they find out it has avocado in it - shhhh. ;-) And no, it's not just the usual vegan chocolate mousse made from avocado and cacao powder. You'll see.

 

I made it twice today, because the first time I was just chucking things in willy-nilly, intent only on getting some raw spinach and avocado into my 9 year old, and I didn't really take much notice of how much of everything I used. So when it became the most awesome chocolate concoction ever, I decided I'd better make it again and write down the amounts. So here it is, after much teasing on Facebook and Instragram - my deliciously decadent, sugar free, dairy free, egg free chocolate mousse! (And don't worry, I didn't add the spinach, so it's not as scary as you may have at first supposed.)

 

 

 

 

{P.S. Some would argue that it's not really 'airy' enough to be a 'mousse', and maybe I should have called it a Vegan Semifreddo... but I was in too much of a hurry to eat it to worry about the perfect name. I'm sure you understand.}

 

 

Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse

 

{Serves 6}

 

1. Grind up the raw cashews in the Thermomix on speed 9 for 10 seconds:

- 150g raw cashews

 

2. Add ice and grind on speed 9 for 20 seconds:

- 350g ice cubes

 

3. Scrape down bowl with spatula; add vanilla, cacao and dates, and grind on speed 9 for 30 seconds:

- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

- 30g raw cacao powder (I used Loving Earth cacao powder & it's very strong - if not using Loving Earth brand, you may need 35g)

- 100g dates (or to taste)

 

(I used regular dates which were semi-frozen, and I think the texture of these contributed to the thickness of the mousse. If you use fresh dates, it may turn out a bit softer, but you can add more ice to thicken it if you need to.)

 

4. The mixture will be a bit lumpy at this stage, especially if you are using dried dates instead of fresh dates. Scrape down the bowl and lid with the spatula, and keep blending on speed 9 until you get a smooth, creamy mixture. It will take at least another minute.

Chocolate mixture after blending, and before adding the avocado

5. Scrape down bowl again, and add avocado. This is actually optional - without the avocado, you'll still have a lovely, thick, chocolate cashew cream as in the photo above. The avocado does make it thicker and creamier though, so don't be afraid to try it!
- flesh of 1 ripe avocado (make sure the avocado is a nice one - no bad spots, or it'll have a slightly bitter taste)

Note: If you find your mousse is not thick enough (it won't stay swirled up into a peak), add another handful of ice and reblend on speed 9 for 1 minute, until smooth.

6. Spoon into small dessert bowls and enjoy! You can freeze this for later - half frozen it tastes like the most divine soft serve ice-cream ever... If you freeze it until it's solid, you'll need to thaw it a bit before using again.

 

Strawberry Milk (dairy free)

Strawberry milk and chocolate cake for afternoon tea

 

Okay, here's a really quick recipe for those of you who miss strawberry flavoured milk since you got healthy and stopped buying the sugar-filled fake stuff! This is my healthy, dairy free, sugar free version. It's so simple it's hardly even a recipe at all. But I decided to post it here instead of just on my Facebook page since I haven't posted anything on my blog for about three weeks - eek!! And also because I keep getting hassled for the recipe. ;-) Keeping it simple tonight, had a big day, so here it is...

Oh, by the way, the cake in the photo above is also dairy free - and gluten free, egg free and naturally sweetened... here it is here: Gluten Free Chocolate Banana Cake.

1. Grind in your Thermomix for 20 seconds on speed 9:
- 100g blanched almonds or raw cashews

2. Add ice and grind for another 10 seconds on speed 9:
- 2 or 3 big handfuls of ice cubes

3. Add remaining ingredients and blend for 1 minute on speed 9:
- 1 punnet strawberries (250g), hulled
- 30g pure maple syrup or other sweetener, to taste
- 500g filtered water

That's it! Enjoy :)

Note: if you just have frozen strawberries, skip the ice and grind up the strawberries in step 2, then add water and sweetener.

Chocolate Chilli Chai {dairy free}

My daughter India and I love making chai in the Thermomix with cashew milk -

it's gorgeous! So creamy. (I ♥ cashew milk! Especially vanilla cashew milk...)

Creamy vanilla cashew milk - just add some vanilla bean paste (or the seeds from a vanilla pod) to your cashew milk. Drink it chilled, or heat and froth in the Thermomix to add to cappucinos, hot chocolate, or chai. Make a batch of vanilla cashew milk before you make the chai if you like, so you can drizzle a little into the cups of chai and swirl through to make it look pretty.)

The other day I decided we really needed to add some chocolate and chilli to our chai for a change. It was so good. Although I admit I added a little too much chilli the first time - I didn't mind it, but the kids had to keep adding cashew milk to their cups to tone it down - oops! So the next day I made it again for friends, and used half the chilli - they pronounced it to be just right. I think it's better to not use too much chilli, or you just get a numb mouth and can't appreciate the chocolatey, spicey flavours. :-)

There are so many possible variations when making chai. I started with the Chai Masala Tea recipe in the Thermomix cookbook, 'Fast and Easy Indian Cooking' (yes, I write all over my cookbooks as I tweak, don't you??) adding and substracting spices to taste, as well as grinding up raw cashews and chocolate to make a creamy chocolate milk base. I ended up with a big mess, on a day when I was supposed to be madly cleaning the house, but the results were worth it!

(And I must say here a big THANK YOU to Lucy, who sent me a whole pack of organic New Guinea vanilla beans - so lovely of you, and very much appreciated!)

So here's my recipe, but feel free to change and tweak it to taste - use more or less chilli or cinnamon, maybe some coriander seeds roasted in the Thermomix bowl and ground up with the other spices - there's plenty of ideas in the Indian cookbook recipe, so have a look and tweak to your heart's content. The purpose of a recipe is to give you a starting point - you don't have to stick to it. I never do. Not even my own. ;-)

Enjoy! ♥

Serves 6

A whole nutmeg

1. Make sure your Thermomix bowl is very dry. Turn the speed dial to 7, and drop a whole nutmeg onto the blades through the hole in the lid (quickly popping the MC in place) and let it grind for 30-40 seconds. Remove to a small dish. (The reason you grind the nutmeg separately is because it needs to be added in the last minute as it loses flavour quickly when heated.)

- 1 whole nutmeg

Spices ready to grind

(a bit too much chilli in this batch - I used half a chilli in the second batch)

2. Roughly grind remaining spices in Thermomix bowl on speed 7 for 10 seconds. (You don't want them ground too fine, or else the 'bits' will get through the strainer.)

- 1 cardamom pod
- 2 large or 3 smaller sticks of cinnamon
- 2 whole cloves
- 5 peppercorns
- 1/2 a dried red chilli
- 1 vanilla bean, cut into a few pieces
Set spices aside in a small bowl.

3. Add to Thermomix bowl and grind on speed 8 for 10 seconds:
- 80g raw cashews
- 80g dark, dairy free chocolate, broken in bits (eg. Green & Black's 70% cocoa, or a 65% cocoa chocolate if you like it a little milder)

4. Add water and blend for 30 seconds on speed 9:
- 1200g water

5. Carefully push strainer basket down into the chocolate milk in the bowl, and add the ground spices (except the nutmeg), tea, fresh ginger and sweetener. Cook for 10 minutes at 80C on speed 4.
- ground spices (except nutmeg)
- 5 teabags of organic black tea (or 5 tsp loose tea leaves)
- 3 or 4 thin slices of fresh ginger
- 40g Rapadura (or other natural sweetener, to taste)

[Note: you may get a bit of foam coming out of the hole in the lid, but it shouldn't be enough to be a problem. Just take the MC off and it'll be fine.]

6. Add nutmeg through hole in lid and cook for 1 minute at 80C on speed 4:
- a couple of pinches of ground nutmeg, to taste

7. Remove basket from bowl (carefully - can get messy!), squeezing tea bags against sides with spatula.

8. Pour the chai through a strainer into a jug. (Not a fine mesh strainer, as it'll take too long and drive you crazy!)

9. Pour into cups and add a little hot, frothed cashew milk and swirl through (optional), then grate over a little more chocolate for decoration.

Banana Carob Thickshake (Dairy Free)

We love dairy free banana thickshakes around here - they're creamy, delicious and filling. And living in Far North Queensland, we have plenty of bananas all year round to use in thickshakes and smoothies. I buy bananas by the bag full when they're over-ripe and marked down at the grocery store, for $1 or $2 per kilo. I peel them, chuck them into a plastic freezer bag and pop them in the freezer. Then whenever we want a smoothie, banana ice-cream, or a thickshake, I just slice some off while they're still frozen, throw them into the Thermomix and whiz it up! 

Recently I received an exciting package in the mail from The Australian Carob Co.,* and now I have a new favourite ingredient to add to my banana thickshakes - carob syrup! Wait, don't go away - I know carob gets a bad rap from chocolate lovers, but this carob syrup is like nothing you've tasted before! It's naturally sweet (the only ingredients are carob and water, which is a BIG plus for me) and it has a lovely flavour - not overpowering, just deliciously silky smooth and subtle. You can use it in drinks, as a syrup over ice-cream (banana ice cream would be good!), instead of sugar on your porridge, drizzled over pancakes, in cakes and carob brownies - it's delicious. My sister got hold of it and made a few hot carob drinks with it before I managed to get it back off her - she's on the Failsafe diet and can't have chocolate, so she loved this syrup. The Australian Carob Co. also produces raw carob powder, roasted carob powder and carob kibbles, and I was excited to hear that soon they'll also be bringing out a carob 'chocolate' which is said by taste testers to rival the best brands of chocolate in creaminess and flavour, and has no added sugar. Great news for Failsafers! Oh, and they're insecticide and pesticide free too, which is great. I'm pretty sure their carob powder would go well in my 'Almost Raw' Chocolate, if anyone wants to try their hand at making their own carob 'chocolate'...

So here's my thickshake recipe - it doesn't have a strong carob flavour, just a hint, and an extra bit of natural sweetness. Try it! I'm sure you'll love it as much as we do. And maybe even as much as our bird does...

It's very simple. First grind up some nuts on speed 9 until finely ground - I use a handful of raw almonds and a couple of handfuls of raw cashews. The cashews make it smooth and creamy, but you can use all almonds or all cashews if you like. (My measurements are approximate - alter to taste!)

Grind on speed 9 until fine:

- 50g raw almonds

- 100g raw cashews

Add the remaining ingredients and whiz it up on speed 9 for about a minute:

- 2 or 3 raw pitted dates (or dried dates will do)

- 350g - 400g frozen bananas (chopped in inch size pieces)

- 60g carob syrup

- water to cover (depends on how thick you like it)

Optional: For an extra carob-y thickshake, you could also add 20g of raw carob powder.

 

Amigo trying desperately to taste my thickshake!

* Note: This was not a paid post - although I did get a free sample, which was lovely of them... I just wanted to share what I thought about these products with my many health-conscious readers as I'm sure many of you will be interested to know about insecticide free, Australian carob products! To find a stockist near you, click here, or go to their Facebook page and ask there.

Yep, this thickshake is a favourite of the whole family -

even our Rainbow Lorikeet!

Gooey Chocolate Icing (dairy free, sugar free, vegan)

Here we are, a couple of days into our (mostly) grain free, sugar free, dairy free challenge, and I realize I'm going to have to make a birthday cake for my youngest that will not make her want to live permanently at Grandma's house! What to do? She had asked for a plain chocolate cake, which I quickly agreed to a few days ago, thinking I'd just whiz up our favourite, quick chocolate cake in the Thermomix (Cyndi O'Meara's Chocolate Cake from her "Changing Habits, Changing Lives Cookbook", made with spelt flour and rice-almond milk). Sigh. Couldn't do that, has grains in it. I thought about making the Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies in a cake tin, but I didn't have any hazelnuts. I couldn't make the Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake because it has lots of chocolate in it - too much sugar. Torte Caprese? No, way too much sugar! Hmmm... So I decided to make a chocolate cake based on my Flourless Pecan Cake recipe instead. 

I had some leftover ground almonds, so I chucked them in, added some pecans and started grinding them up... then realized I didn't have any coconut cream! And so a new recipe was born. It has some pretty cool changes - a couple of surprise ingredients which help to cut down the Rapadura to 40g, and keep it moist and rich. I'll share the recipe soon, as I'm still tweaking it, because I want to be sure it's 'just right' before I post it for you all to try! (You never can have too many chocolate cake recipes, right?)

Anyway, I digress. What I wanted to say was after making this grain free chocolate cake, I decided it really would be better with some icing. And surely my eight year old wouldn't argue if I put some icing on her 'plain chocolate cake'? I'd been meaning to work out another dairy free, sugar free icing that didn't involve margerine (ick, one of my pet hates!) or chocolate pieces (because you don't always have chocolate on hand, especially if you have a husband like mine who steals it and leaves the empty packet in the fridge so you don't realize!)... and anyway, I couldn't use chocolate unless it was my healthy homemade one, because we're avoiding sugar. So, with some internet research and a bit of imaginative tweaking, I came up with this simple, delicious recipe! Hope you like it as much as we did. (Yep, it's all gone. At least it will be when I get back into the kitchen. :D )

Makes enough icing for one 20cm round cake (spread thickly!)

1. Grind cashews for 10 seconds, speed 9, until fine:

- 100g raw cashews*

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix at speed 6 for 30 seconds, scrape down, add a little more water if needed, and mix another 30 seconds until smooth:

- 3 fresh pitted dates

- 20g raw cacao powder

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 20g pure maple syrup

- 20g filtered water

Spread the icing thickly on your cake and enjoy, guilt free!! 

* Next time I'll try soaking the cashews for half an hour first, then grind up all the ingredients at once. This might make a smoother icing. I was too impatient to try it this time!

Creamy Citrus Smoothie

Sorry I've been out of touch for a couple of weeks - been moving house, and I was sick for a week too!  I can still barely see the floor for boxes, but we're getting there :)  Here's a quick recipe that I hope you'll enjoy...

In winter there's plenty of citrus fruit around - isn't it great when friends give you great big bags of oranges and mandarins off their trees!  Here's a delicious alternative to the usual orange juice - the nuts turn it into a calcium-rich fruit 'milk'!  Sometimes I call it 'orange milk', or 'orange smoothie', but you can really use any citrus fruits in it - mix and match: grapefruit, mandarin, lemonade fruit, and bush lemons - and I often add some kiwi fruit too.  As you can see from the photo, I leave a bit of skin on the fruit, as the bioflavinoids in the skin help you to better absorb the vitamin C - and the Thermomix does such a good job of blending it, your kids will never know it's there!  (Use organic fruit if possible, especially if you're including peel.)  See below for some more great variations and tips.

I don't measure amounts, so just make it to taste...

Place in Thermomix bowl and blend on speed 9 for 1 minute, or until smooth:

- a mixture of 3 or 4 oranges/mandarins/grapefruit/bush lemons/lemonade fruit/kiwi fruit (get most of the seeds out, and most of the peel off - just leave a little bit of peel in there)

- a spoonful or two of raw honey (to taste)

- ice cubes, to about the 1.5 litre mark

- a good handful each of raw almonds and raw cashews

- water to barely cover (add more if needed to thin it out)

Here's a few more tips and variations from my friend Barbara...

"As a little extra – if you want to ‘mellow’ the stronger citrus taste because of the lemon and or grapefruit, include a washed and quartered apple. Depending on the relative quantity of citrus, one or two apples will do. Leave the skin on and the core in – more bioflavonoids in them. If you want to make it creamier and a little thicker, drop in one or two bananas. A handful of mint if you have it and/or 2cm of washed fresh ginger – sliced roughly - makes it extra refreshing and healthful for coughs, colds etc. Finally – the most daring is a chilli added at the beginning of the blending or a good shake of cayenne pepper in each glass then a quick stir. It is very warming when slightly under the weather! "

Thanks Barbara!

Baked Chicken with Cashew Satay Sauce

This is my favourite 'satay' sauce ever - it's so quick to make, and very tasty! If you don't have time to bake the chicken, you can just add the cashew sauce to stir-fried chicken and veges, or even just veges (and leave out the extra chicken stock).

1. Place chicken skin side up in roasting pan & brush with butter/oil:
- 1 large chicken, cut into pieces, or chicken thighs/breasts
- 2 Tbspns melted butter/ghee/olive oil

2. Bake for about 2 hours at 180° (350°) while preparing sauce.

Cashew Satay Sauce

3. Grind up in Thermomix for about 30 seconds on speed 7:
- 130g raw cashews
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled

- 2 inch piece of fresh red chilli (or to taste)
- 1 large bunch cilantro / flat leaf parsley / coriander (or mixture)
- 1 Tbspn extra virgin olive oil
- 40g Tamari
- 40g rice vinegar

- 1 Tblspn chicken stock paste (or some chicken stock powder - eg. Massel brand)

4. Add and blend on speed 8 for 10 seconds:
- 400ml coconut cream/milk

5. When chicken is baked and golden, remove to a pre-heated platter and keep warm. Add to roasting pan and scrape bottom of pan to remove drippings:
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 Tbspn gelatin (optional)
6. Pour juices into Thermomix (with cashew sauce) and cook for 5 minutes at 90 degrees, speed 4. Season to taste.

7. Serve chicken on rice with cashew sauce poured over, and stir-fried veges, steamed veges, or salad on the side.

[Note: picture shows sauce which is not as green as usual as I only had a small bunch of coriander - make it as 'green' as you like!]