We’ve picked out four amazing vegan dessert recipes to bring you a mouth-watering Easter weekend – part three of our Healthy Indulgence Fortnight
If you’ve behaved yourself all the way through Lent (and even if you haven’t) and if you’re looking to unleash your inner chocolate monster, then we have the recipes to help. We’ve picked out four delicious recipes from brand new Pana Chocolate, the Recipes: Raw, Organic, Handmade, Vegan cookbook. The best bit? All of these recipes are raw and vegan – enjoy!
MORE healthy indulgence: 7 best nut butters that will change your life
Sticky date brownie
This raw sticky date brownie is full of crunchy walnuts and smothered in a thick butterscotch sauce. The refreshing coconut ice cream provides a little lightness and balance to this sweet and lavish dessert.
Serves: 4–6
Time
25 minutes preparation, plus 12 hours dehydrating time
Equipment needed
food processor, 20 cm × 20 cm (8 in × 8 in) brownie or cake tin, dehydrator with mesh tray
Ingredients
50 g (13⁄4 oz/1⁄2 cup) desiccated coconut 61⁄2
desiccated coconut
6 1⁄2 medjool dates, pitted
50 ml (13⁄4 fl oz) filtered water
1 tablespoon lacuma powder
pinch of Himalayan pink salt
4 tablespoons nut flour
2 teaspoons cacao powder
25 g (1 oz/1⁄4 cup) activated walnuts, roughly chopped
To make
Line your cake or brownie tin with baking paper. Blitz the desiccated coconut in a food processer until very fine and then set aside.
Pulse the dates, water, lacuma powder and salt in a food processor or high-speed blender, leaving the mixture slightly chunky.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the blitzed coconut, along with the nut our and cacao powder. Massage together with your hands until all ingredients have been incorporated, then fold through the chopped nuts.
Press the mixture into the tin to mould it into shape. Pop the mixture out of the tin and place it on a mesh dehydrator tray. Dehydrate overnight at 40°C (104°F). Cut the brownie into four to six portions and serve with coconut ice cream and butterscotch sauce.
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Chocolate Queen of Tarts
You can’t go wrong with a classic chocolate tart, and our version hits all the right notes. This recipe makes rich, individual tarts, perfect for a glamorous afternoon tea or an impressive evening dessert. For an extra hit of flavour, incorporate your favourite Pana Chocolate bar to make the soft mousse centre even more delicious.
Makes: 5 tarts
Time
50 minutes preparation, plus 1 hour setting time
Equipment needed
food processor, five 11–12 cm (41⁄4–43⁄4 in) round tart tins, bain-marie
BASIC TART SHELL
120 g (41⁄2 oz/11⁄3 cups)
desiccated coconut 125 g (41⁄2 oz)
nut flour 50–75 ml (13⁄4–21⁄2 fl oz)
coconut nectar
2 pinches of Himalayan pink salt
coconut oil, for greasing
To make
Blend all the ingredients except the coconut oil until the mixture comes together. Grease the tart tins with the coconut oil, and place baking paper on the base. Press an even amount of the mixture into each tin.
Press the mixture firmly to compact it, only allowing the shell to come about 1 cm (1⁄2 in) up the sides of the tin. While you are compacting the mixture, you will notice the oils releasing – this is a great thing! Freeze to firm up a little, then pop the shells out. Keep the tart shells refrigerated until needed.
CHOC-MINT FILLING
45 g (11⁄2 oz) bar of Pana Chocolate Mint
3 teaspoons coconut oil
50 g (13⁄4 oz) coconut butter, melted
120 ml (4 fl oz/1⁄2 cup) coconut cream
1 tablespoon coconut nectar
pinch of Himalayan pink salt
To make
Melt the chocolate and coconut oil over a bain-marie. Pour the melted chocolate and oil into a bowl along with all other ingredients and fold gently to combine. Pour equal amounts of the filling into each tart shell, then return the tarts to the fridge to set for 30 minutes. Garnish with chocolate shavings.
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Ice cream pops
Is there anything more tantalising on a hot summer’s day than the cool, sticky hit of ice cream? We love it too, so we’ve created our own mini ice cream pops. You can make these using our coconut ice cream recipe (page 184), our orange ice cream recipe (page 101), or a store-bought alternative. Make them special with a crisp Pana Chocolate coating, and stud them with nuts, berries or coconut to give them extra wow factor.
Makes: 20–25
Time
10 minutes preparation, plus 2 hours setting time Equipment: tray, toothpicks, bain-marie
Ingredients
coconut ice cream or another flavour of your choice
45 g (11⁄2 oz) bar of Pana Chocolate Raw Cacao, broken into pieces (or use an essential oil chocolate for a hit of flavour – try Orange, Mint, Rose or Cinnamon)
garnish of your choice – nuts, berries and/or coconut
To make
Before you start, place your tray in the freezer to chill. Scoop small portions of ice cream with a tablespoon, or use a mini ice cream scoop to help! Working quickly, roll the ice cream portions into balls using your hands. Place the ice cream balls on the cold tray and insert a toothpick inside each ball. Freeze until very hard. Melt the chocolate slowly over a bain-marie, then dip each ice cream ball into the melted chocolate. Roll the balls in your chosen garnish, then refreeze.
Mini Lamos
Pana Chocolate’s mini lamos use components of the traditional lamington – think a raspberry mousse, a layer of chocolate and a dousing of desiccated coconut. For this perfect bite-size treat, we use coconut and cacao to create a delicious mousse texture. You can top with fresh raspberries for extra zing.
Makes: approximately 15
Time
25 minutes preparation, plus 4 hours setting and 20 minutes assembly time
Equipment: food processor or high-speed blender, bain-marie, 13 × 9 cm (5 × 31⁄2 in) brownie or cake tin, chopstick (or similar)
raspberry jam
dessicated coconut
1 teaspoon coconut oil
3 × 45 g (11⁄2 oz) bars of Pana Chocolate Raw Cacao, optional
To make
Return the raspberry purée to the blender along with the cashew butter and all remaining ingredients except the coconut oil. Blend the mixture until smooth, then add the melted coconut oil and blend the mixture again.
Pour the ganache into the cake or brownie tin. For perfectly square bites, the mixture should reach approximately 2.5 cm (1 in) up the side.
Set in the freezer, then turn the ganache out onto a cutting board and portion it into 2.5 × 2.5 cm (1 × 1 in) pieces.
Use a chopstick to make a hole in the centre of each piece, being careful not to poke through the bottom. Twist the chopstick gently to make the hole a little larger. Place the ganache onto a tray and into the fridge until you are ready to assemble your mini lamos.
To assemble
Pipe raspberry jam into the hole in each ganache square until full. Fill a bowl with desiccated coconut. Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie. Add a little coconut oil (approximately 1 teaspoon) to the chocolate to give it an extra smooth consistency. Using a fork, dip each ganache square into the chocolate.
Tap the fork against the bowl to remove the excess chocolate, then drop the ganache square into the coconut. Shake the bowl to cover the square completely in coconut. Repeat for all squares, then refrigerate until needed.
RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE
170 g (6 oz) fresh or frozen raspberries
60 ml (2 fl oz) coconut oil
150 g (51⁄4/1 cup) cashews, soaked
90 ml (3 fl oz) coconut nectar
GANACHE
4 tablespoons cacao powder
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped
pinch of Himalayan pink salt
To make
Blend the raspberries in a high-speed blender until smooth, then strain to remove the seeds and set aside. Melt the coconut oil over a bain-marie. Blend the cashews in a food processor, scraping down the sides regularly, until the oils are released and the mixture has achieved a butter-like consistency.
Pana Chocolate, the Recipes: Raw, Organic, Handmade, Vegan (Hardie Grant) includes over 70 indulgent recipes that cover the spectrum – from breakfast Chia Pudding with a Kick and No-Nuts Breakfast Bars, to kids’ party treats of Cacao Crackles and traditional desserts such as Raspberry Ginger Trifle, Royal Raw Gateaux and Butterscotch Apple Crumble. This book redefines the boundaries for vegan desserts and offers the ultimate raw chocolate experience for home cooks without the guilt of modern additives.
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