Salted Caramel Fudge

Confession: I'm not a trendy food blogger or food photographer. And the photos I capture of the food I make are certainly not insta-worthy. Yes I know you eat with your eyes, and I for one admit to spending hours poring over food porn in my spare time. But I do like making food that tastes good, and has the added bonus of being good for you. This salted caramel fudge recipe is a riff on a traditional sugar laden version. It's gluten, dairy and refined sugar free, and contains healthy fatty acids from coconut oil, proteins from the peanut and nut butters and added boost of collagen powder (the building block of healthy hair, skin, and nails) and it tastes downright delicious! Beware though it's highly addictive.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (360g) crunchy peanut butter

1 cup (250g) nut butter of choice (cashew, almond, ABC)

2/3 cup (227g) maple syrup

205g coconut oil

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

150g collagen or protein powder (I used Gelpro brand)

sea salt flakes

Method:

Add both the nut butters, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla essence to a pot and set on low heat, whisking until the coconut oil has melted and the nut butter is smooth. Take off the heat and add the protein or collagen powder and stir well. Pour into a large tray or deep pan lined with baking paper. Place in freezer until set (usually a few hours). Sprinkle with sea salt before cutting into squares. Store in freezer and try not to eat all at once!

This recipe makes a pretty big batch of the fudge, you can always cut it in half or even thirds if you only want a small batch. I'm not a "half measures" person so like to make a big batch which keeps really well in the freezer and makes a richly satisfying and fulfilling snack anytime of day!

Raw Snickers Cake

I love cooking, I don't however enjoy baking and quite frankly I suck at it. I once tried to make pavlova and I am positive the egg white discs could have been used at Olympic level discus throwing. Raw is more my thing. Moreover raw, and refined sugar, dairy and wheat free. Like this snickers cake which actually used hazelnuts and not peanuts. I doubled the recipe below to make a super decadent and LARGE cake for a dinner that we divided with a ruler at the end of the night to ensure fairness to all. If you like me double the recipe for maximum WOW factor use one of the high 30cm loose base tins as the ingredients will take the cake right to the top (this includes taking the base right to the top of the tin).

BASE INGREDIENTS: 155g cashew nuts, 60g shredded coconut, 2 tbsp cacao powder, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 3 tbsp coconut oil melted, 1 tsp vanilla extract, pinch salt

SNICKERS FILLING: 240g macadamia nuts soaked for 2 hours then drained, 250ml almond or coconut milk, 125ml coconut oil melted, 12 medjool dates pitted, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 70g hazelnuts toasted and lightly crushed, 50g cacao powder, pinch salt

TOPPING: 125ml coconut oil melted, 3 tbsp cacao powder, 75g almond butter (or nut butter of your choice), 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 60g hazelnuts toasted and lightly crushed, cacao nibs or grated dark chocolate to serve.

Step 3 (I need to find more photos!!)

METHOD:
1. Line your baking tin with baking paper (both base and rim).

2. Place all BASE ingredients in food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Press this into the base (and if doubling ingredients) all the way up to the rim of the cake tin, making sure the layer is even. Freeze for 10-15 minutes.

3. For the filling pulse the macadamia nuts, milk, coconut oil, dates and vanilla in food processor to a fine paste. Pour half of this into the base, and spread the hazelnuts over the top - re-freezing the mixture for 20 minutes.

4. With the remaining BASE filling, add the cacao and pulse again. Remove the tin from freezer and pour this layer over the base and hazelnut layer. Return to freezer to set.

5. For the TOPPING place the coconut oil, cacao, nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract and salt in food processor and pulse until it's smooth and creamy.

6. Remove the cake from the freezer and pour the chocolate topping over the top of the cake in one layer. Scatter the top with the hazelnuts and cacao nibs or grate dark chocolate over the top. Chill in fridge or freezer until read to serve.

7. Remove from freezer 20-30 minutes before you serve, and from fridge around 10 minutes.

This keeps really well in freezer for at least 1 month. Probably best to cut into slices at the time you are serving it before re-freezing though as it's awfully hard to cut frozen.

No Cook Choc-Coconut Balls

I am becoming obsessed with the raw food movement. It started with green smoothies and has progressed to raw treats. I do not know where it will end, but what I DO KNOW is that making these snacks just got a whole lot easier since I got my THERMOMIX. Wow. What a life changing little piece of kitchen gadgetry that is.

Making these raw treats in the thermomix is a snap, but a food processor does the job just as well.

Makes around 20 balls.

Ingredients
1 cup pitted medjool dates (soaked in water for 10 minutes to soften)
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1 tbsp chia seeds
25 grams organic coconut flakes
100 grams rolled oats
150 grams of nut butter (I use Mayver nut and seed spread)
100 grams raw almonds
1-2 tbsp coconut sugar or honey (but only add this if you like a sweeter treat)

1/2 cup shredded coconut to coat balls.

Process the raw almonds until they resemble crumbs. Add the oats, and continue to blend until the oats and almonds are both ground. Add the dates, cacao powder, nut butter, coconut oil, coconut flakes, chia seeds and coconut sugar. Continue to process until the mix comes together.

Place mix in a bowl, and shape into walnut size balls, and place on a tray. In a separate bowl add the shredded coconut, and then roll each Choc-Coconut ball into the coconut until well coated.

Place the tray in the freezer so the balls firm up. You can then pop them in the fridge (will keep for around 3-5 days) or do what I do and place in a snap-lock bag and keep in the freezer for on-hand snacks when the sugar cravings hit!

Another variation is to add a raspberry into the centre of each ball, so that when you bite into the into it you get a tart raspberry hit to offset the rich chocolatey goodness.