Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Cocoa, Chocolate, Walnut Cookies

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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).

Vegan Orange Chocolate Cake

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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.

Vegan Beetroot Chocolate Cake

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I found a beautiful video about beet cake on Vimeo. After I had seen it I knew I had to bake it. I only wanted to bake it in a more healthier way so I changed sugar into honey and maple syrup, butter into coconut oil and eggs into oat milk + vinegar. The cake is almost sugar free only the chocolate contains a little bit.

Last time I baked it for my grandmother’s 88th birthday. I was a bit afraid how she would like this modern, vegan cake but she loved it. It was a big hit! Everyone from my family begs me to bake it again. 🙂

Vegan Beetroot Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

– 2 cups cooked beetroot, mashed
– 1 cup whole wheat spelt flour
– 1 cup white spelt flour
– 1/2 cup honey
– 1/2 cup maple syrup
– 1/2 cup coconut oil (you can use sunflower oil too)
– 1 cup oatmilk (you can use rice milk, soy milk too)
– 100 g chocolate (70-85% cocoa content), melted in a heat-proof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, not boiling!
– 2 teaspoons apple vinegar
– 2 teaspoons baking powder
– 2 teaspoons baking soda
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

Sift all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in a bowl and mix them together. In another bowl whisk together all the wet ingredients (oat milk, coconut oil, honey, maple syrup, apple vinegar and vanilla). Add mashed beetroot and melted chocolate to the wet ingredients then pour into dry and mix until combine.

In the meantime preheat the oven to 175C (350F) and line the bottom of a 25 cm (9.8″) round cake pan with parchment paper, oil and flour it with cocoa powder.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes on 175-180C (350F). Remove from the oven when a cocktail stick just comes out of the cake cleanly. Cool somewhat before removing from the pan.

Vegan Peanut Butter-Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

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I’m addicted to peanut butter. I always liked it but now I’m an addict. Peanut butter is not as popular in Hungary as in the USA. It is very difficult to buy it, you can not get it in every store. And actually it is quite expensive. A month ago it was on sale in a supermarket so I bought a few jars just to make me happy. 
These cookies are very easy to make and you don’t even have to bake them!

Vegan Peanut Butter-Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

– 1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
– 2 cups rolled oats
– 1/2 cup coconut oil
– 1/2 cane sugar
– 1/2 cup oatmilk
– 2 tablespoons unsweetend cocoa
– 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

In a small pan combine oatmilk, coconut oil, cane sugar and cocoa. Heat the pan over medium-low heat until boiling while stirring continuosly. Remove from heat then quickly add peanut butter, oats and vanilla. Combine until smooth. 
Place parchment paper on a big tray. Drop spoonful portions onto the paper and flatten them with the spoon. Leave the tray in a cool place or in the fridge until the cookies begin to harden (1-2 hours). These cookies are a bit soft, moist and gooey but definitely so yum. From this quantity I made 18 cookies so I suggest you should make double portion for the first time. 🙂

Vegan Coconut And Brazil Nut Brownie

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I learnt this recipe from Maki Stevenson who is the owner of the Makifood Cookery School in Budapest. She makes healthy, vegan sweets – I love all of them. This brownie is soft, not too sweet and very easy to make.

Ingredients

– 1/2 cup whole wheat spelt flour, sifted
– 1/2 cup white spelt flour, sifted
– 6 tablespoons cocoa powder, unsweetend, sifted
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/4 cup (or if you like it sweeter 1/2 cup) cane sugar
– 1/4 cup maple syrup
– 2 tablespoons rice syrup
– 1 cup coconut milk
– 1/4 cup coconut oil
– 1 teaspoon apple vinegar
– handful brazil nuts, roughly chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix together the wet ingredients: sugar, maple syrup, rice syrup, coconut milk, coconut oil and vinegar. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until smooth. Add chopped brazil nuts.

Grease a baking pan (25 cm * 17 cm) and line it with parchment paper. Pour batter into pan and spread evenly. Bake it on 175-180C (350F) for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven when a toothpick just comes out of the brownies cleanly. Let cool completely on a rack. Cut brownies on a cutting board (remove paper) into squares.