Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Cocoa, Chocolate, Walnut Cookies

by

Note: I was so happy to find out that my blog was nominated as the Best Healthy Cooking Blog category for this year’s The Kitchn Homie Awards. If you agree the nomination, a vote or two would be great & much appreciated (voting ends March 2nd, 2012 at 11:59pm EST). Thank you so much! 


So my blog is nominated as healthy cooking blog and I’m posting a cookie recipe. 🙂 But! There is only 1/2 cup cane sugar in 32 yummie cookies. This is sweet enough for me. I think we can call them healty cocoa, chocolate, walnut cookies. 
There’s peanut butter and 70% cocoa content chocolate chunks in the batter. Yum and gulp. It’s best to eat them when they are lukewarm. We shouldn’t be ashamed to have two or three at once.
Or four.
If noone sees us, maybe five.
  
Cocoa, Chocolate, Walnut Cookies
(Recipe inspired by Bakerella)
Ingredients (makes about 32 cookies)

– 1 cup white spelt flour, sifted
– 1/2 cup whole wheat spelt flour, sifted
– 1/2 cup cocoa (unsweetend), sifted
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 cup butter, softened
– 1/2 cup cane sugar
– 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
– 2 organic eggs
– 100 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa content), roughly chopped
– walnut, chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C (350F). Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In another bowl cream butter with cane sugar, then stir in peanut butter and mix until fluffy and light (you can also taste it, it’s so yummie :)).  Add vanilla, eggs and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate and the walnut.

Take two teaspoons of the dough, form a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten the ball slightly, then repeat with the remaining dough. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 170C (350F).

Shakshuka

by

I was inspired by Nicole’s recipe, she calls this baked eggs. I rarely eat eggs but the moment I saw Nicole’s photos I knew I was going to make it. A fellow Hungarian food blogger told me that this meal is called shakshuka. 
Shakshuka is believed to have Algerian and Tunisian origins. It is a staple of Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan, Algerian, and Moroccan cuisines, and is also popular in Israel. The eggs are poached in a sauce of tomatoes, onions, herbs and spices. You can add vegetables, cheese to it like I did. Be brave and add anything to the meal you would like. It’s great for a lazy weekend breakfast or for a light lunch during the week. We ate it with garlic toast but you can serve it with cooked rice, millet, bulgur wheat or quinoa.

Shakshuka

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 1 can tomato
– 2 organic eggs
– 1 mozzarella (ball)
– 1 small zucchini, cubed
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– fresh thyme
– 1 teaspoon chili flakes
– salt, pepper
– olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C (350F). Tear mozzarella into small strips.

In a baking dish add the can of tomatoes, mashed the tomatoes with a fork, then season with salt and pepper. Add the cubed zucchini, garlic and mozzarella. Crack the eggs on top of the sauce and season with the thyme and chili flakes. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons olive oil on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 170C (350F) until the eggs are cooked and the mozzarella melted.

Vegan Applesauce Cookies

by

I posted my last cookie recipe on the blog last August. It’s high time to share a new one. I baked so many vegan cookeis during Christmas time but I didn’t have time to take photos of them. I’ll bake them again (because it’s always great to have homemade cookies at home in case of emergency, isn’t it?). 
I found this recipe on Julie’s blog. I veganized the recipe and I omited raisins. I don’t like them in cakes and cookies. These comforting cookies are great for breakfast but also go well with your afternoon tea, coffee or hot chocolate. 

Vegan Applesauce Cookies

Ingredients (makes about 40 cookies)

– 120 g coconut oil
– 120 g dark cane sugar
– 250 g apple sauce, unsweetend
– 150 g white spelt flour
– 150 g whole wheat spelt flour
– 1 teaspoon aluminium free baking powder
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 teaspoon cinnamon
– 90 g walnuts, chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C (350F). Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a bowl mix together coconut oil with cane sugar and apple sauce. Mix until smooth then set aside. In another bowl mix together flours, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients to the dry + walnut combining just until mixed. Take two teaspoons of the dough, form a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten the ball slightly, then repeat with the remaining dough. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 170-180C (350F) until the cookies are golden brown.

Vegan Orange Chocolate Cake

by

I love chocolate cakes and I like veganizing cake recipes to make them healthier. Sometimes it’s really hard to control my sweet touth with all the mouthwatering cakes’ photos I collect in my Pinterest album. If I could I would bake everyday something sweet, something with cocoa or chocolate. There are so many wonderful recipes on fellow food bloggers’ sites. I found this one on Chinmayie blog. The cake’s recipe is the same but I made a different kind of frosting.

This was our Christmas Eve dessert. We loved it so much. The chickpea flower makes it a bit crunchy and if you buy a gluten-free oat flour the cake is gluten-free. The rich chocolate cream or frosting on top of the cake is so yum and makes the cake moist. The date syrup is thick, luxurious nectar taken from the fruit of the date palm tree and gives a kick to the cake. Don’t hesitate to try this recipe! 🙂

Vegan Orange Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

For the cake
– 1 cup chickpea flour
– 1 cup oat flour
– 1/2 cup unsweetend cocoa powder
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 cup date syrup (you can use honey or agave/maple syrup)
– 1/3 cup raw cane sugar
– 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
– 6 tablespoons water
– 1 orange’s zest
– 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
– 1/4 cup olive oil
– 1 tablespoon orange marmalade

For the frosting
– 3/4 cup coconut milk
– 1 cup chocolate (70-80% cocoa content)
– 1 tablespoon coconut oil
– 1 tablespoon honey
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

In a small bowl mix together flaxseed with water and set aside. It will get thick and gelatinous. (Using flaxseeds in place of eggs is a great vegan trick for baking. Flaxseeds are a nutritional powerhouse and sneaking some into baked goods is an easy way to get some of their wonderful nutrients into your diet.)

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

Sift all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder) in a bowl and mix them together. In another bowl whisk together all the wet ingredients (date syrup, cane sugar orange juice, olive oil, marmalede, orange zest and the flaxseed mixture) then pour into dry and mix until combine. Line the bottom of a 22 cm (8.6″) round cake pan with parchment paper and pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes on 180C (350F) and 20 minutes on 170C (340F). Remove from the oven when a cocktail stick just comes out of the cake cleanly. Cool somewhat before removing from the pan.

To make the frosting in a saucepan, combine coconut milk and oil, honey and vanilla.  Whisk over low heat until they become just warm.  Remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate with spoon, continuing with the stir until all chocolate is melted and it becomes smooth.  Cool before use.

To assmely simply pour the frosting on top of the cake. Decorate it with orange slices.

Vegetarian Christmas – Vegan Stuffing

by

Stuffing is very traditional on Thanksgiving in the USA and Canada. Vegan stuffing is a key element in a vegetarian or vegan Thanksgiving dinner. This stuffing doesn’t cook inside a bird, it’s rather a casserole dish. The sweet apple, the crunchy sourdough bread and the sour capers contrast nicely with the herbs: parsley and sage. This versatile stuffing is good on its own or stuffed into winter squashes, or green or red bell peppers. Go on and give it a try!
Vegan Stuffing
Ingredients (serves 2)
– 150 g sourdough bread, cubed
– 1 large onion, chopped
– 2 apples, peeled and diced
– 1 and 1/4 cups vegetable broth
– 1/4 cup capers
– 1 small bunch parsley, chopped
– 10-15 sage leaves, chopped
– salt, pepper
– olive oil
Method
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and start by sauteing the onions for 3-4 minutes, then add apples. Once the onion and apples are beginning to soften, add parsley, sage, bread and capers. Season with salt and pepper (capers are salty so be careful!). Stir and and spoon it all into a baking dish. Pour the vegetable broth over the mixture and stir well to combine. Bake in a preheated oven at 170-180C (350F) for about 30-40 minutes. You want the top to be golden brown and crunchy. 

More vegetarian Christmas recipes:
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Orange Juice & ZestCheesy Leeks
Mashed Pumpkin Potatoes with Rosemary
Cranberry and Pistachio Nut Roast
Pumpkin Pie