This is a special post for a friend who wanted some inspiration for a vegan Valentine’s Day treat for his fiancé. (Aww!) So I made it as easy as possible,  with this in mind this post is dedicated to all you guys who want to whip up a healthy chocolate treat (yes such a thing exists!)  for your girlfriend/fiance/wife, it doesn’t take much effort and tastes oh so good!

This recipe originally comes from Health goddess Ellie Krieger when I watched her make this on her show “Healthy Appetite’, it’s light and creamy but tastes amazingly decadent.  I know you shouldn’t mess with such a good thing but I did change some a few parts of the recipe but you can find the original Chocolate Mousse here.  So I used Rum instead of Brandy and I used vegan chocolate chips instead of sugar. And for the topping I used pistachios replacing the heavy cream.

Ingredients

½ pack silken tofu

¾ pack bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2  cup vegan chocolate chips

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon brandy/ I used Rum

Chopped Pistachios

Directions

In a blender or food processor, puree the tofu until it is smooth.

Put the chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, 1/4 cup water and brandy in a saucepan or heat-proof bowl fitted over a pot containing 1-inch barely simmering water. Stir frequently, until melted and smooth.

Add the chocolate mixture to the tofu and puree until smooth and well blended. Spoon the mousse into serving dishes, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

When ready to serve sprinkle the chopped pistachios on top.

I hope she likes! Enjoy!!

I made these Mince Pies last year, Christmas come around again so quickly! I thought I would ‘recycle’ the post for anyone who is looking for a  traditional recipe for this year. The mince meat is usually soaked for a week but you can soak it for 2/3 days as the orange juice and rum will infuse the dried fruits quite well within a shorter time.

Hi all! So after a week of soaking the MinceMeat and another week getting the pastry right, I finally made Vegan Mince Pies (They are pretty decent even though i say so myself!) I have actually never had mince pies even before I became Vegan because they contain meat, but they remind me of the Christmas Parties i have been to and seeing as Christmas is just around the corner, its the perfect little Vegan Bake, wouldn’t you agree?

To Make the Mince Meat you will Need:

1 Bramley Apple grated
1 Oranges Juiced
1 Lemon Juiced
2 cups of Mixed Sultanas, Currants, Glazed Cherries, pecan nuts and dried Cranberries and if you want dried Apricots
1.5 Tablespoons of All Spice
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/2 Teaspoon grated Nutmeg
1 and 1/3 cup Sugar
150ml Dark Rum

Mix all of this in a bowl and leave in a jar container for a few days in the fridge so all the flavors can come together.

 To Make the Pastry You will Need:

2.5 cups Plain Flour
1 and 1/3 cup Vegan Margarine or Butter
3/4 cup Sugar

Mix all in a bowl until it turns into a soft dough, you will not need to add any water or milk, this dough will become a moist flaky pastry for the pies (I tried many and I found this worked best)
I tend to tap the dough with my hands and place into the baking trays and mould into the cups rather than rolling out the pastry. (make sure the moulds are lightly greased with butter)
You can cut the roof of the pies with a stencil cutter (I cut with a knife, hence the weird star
Fill with the Mincemeat and place in a heated oven on about gas mark 3 for 25-30 mins and let cool for 5-10 mins before serving
I serve with Soya cream and chopped Hazelnuts and Cranberries

 Enjoy!

What to eat during these cold evenings! Sigh!  There is only so much soup I can take, if I have a bowl of soup for lunch I want to come home and make a good hearty meal for dinner and at the moment that consists of a shuffle between pasta and chilli but hey what do you get when you fuse the two together? A great meal of pasta chilli but for good measure and texture I throw in some Indian sweet potato which you can get from any Indian grocer. This potato Is not as orange on colour as the standard and the flavor far more subtle which is why it’s great to add as it won’t make the dish too sweet. Best of all it’s incredibly time savvy so you’ll have your feet up in half an hour! I usually take the leftovers for lunch the next day.

To make you will need:

1 medium onion chopped

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 green chilli de-seeded and chopped finely

1.5 tablespoons ground cumin

1.5 teaspoon paprika

1 green pepper finely diced

1 sweet potato cooked and chopped roughly

Half a cup conchigliette pasta boiled

1 390gm carton chopped tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans

1 tin black eyed beans

Chopped fresh coriander

Salt to taste

Directions

1. In a large pan, sauté the onions and garlic and add the chilli and green pepper.
2. Add the sweet potato, cumin, salt and paprika.
3. Stir in the tomatoes and beans and 50 mil water, cover and simmer for 10 minutes on a low heat. Add the pasta and stir well, heat for 2-3 mins.
4. Serve and garnish with coriander.

I eat some sort of fresh fruit everyday but apples are my daily staple, sometimes I rub a little salt and chili powder onto Granny Smiths and other times I have them with peanut butter or hummus. Last week I was on the phone to a friend and weirdly enough she says “I’m eating apples with Nutella, they are my daily mid evening snack, see I’m eating something healthy but a little Nutella makes up for the sweetness I crave”, which makes sense. After we finished our chat I got thinking about apples and chocolate and more chocolate! And I came up with the idea of Apple Cookies – Ok so not literally cookies but apples covered in dark chocolate, topped with chopped nuts and dried fruit.

The first batch came out quite well and with the fruit to chocolate ratio good enough to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth but not too overpowering that you feel guilty about having a few, I wondered whether they can be served as party food. With party season soon approaching why not fool your guests with some apple cookies!

To make you will need:

1 bag Dairy Free Chocolate chips – will cover approx 15 – 20 apple slices

20 Apple slices, use Granny Smiths for a slight tartness or Pink Lady for extra sweetness

Chopped hazelnuts, pistachios

Pine nuts

Flaked almonds, toasted

Dried apricots

Sour cherries

Desiccated coconut

You can use any other fruit and nuts you have or you want

Directions

1         Add water to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Place chocolate chips in a smaller bowl and place on top of the saucepan with the water. Melt chocolate chips until smooth.

2         Turn the gas really low but keep it on so that the chocolate doesn’t cool and go lumpy.

3         Dip the apples in and place them on greaseproof paper

4         Top the apples with your choice of chopped fruit and nuts or desiccated coconut.

Truffles

Talking of party food, I eyed up this truffle recipe a while ago and impressed with the ratings and feedback it got I wanted to make them but never got round to it so this was the perfect chance to experiment. This recipe comes from Chef Zeke Koch and they are truly gorgeous truffles, the raw cashew mix adds a different flavor to coconut milk which a lot of recipes use.  I covered them in the same toppings as I used on the cookies but there are so many different ways to coat them.

Other Coatings:

Cocoa powder

White Chocolate

Ground Pistachio

Ground Almond

Sesame seeds

Enjoy!

I am not a big drinker of coffee, I have an addictive tea habit but I love the smell of freshly brewed strong coffee, weird? Tell me it’s not just me!

I can’t take coffee on its own but I came up with a concoction that just about makes it as addictive but it is a little naughty as it’s full with lashings of Ice Cream, once in a while is perfectly fine!

I add a little nutmeg and cinnamon, it won’t over power the coffee but it will add another dimension to the flavors.

To Make You Will Need:

¾ cup fresh brewed coffee left to chill

4 large scoops soya vanilla ice cream, I use Swedish glade

1 teaspoon cocoa powder or a few blocks of chocolate

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

1/3 of a cup crushed ice

Directions:

Put all the ingredients into a blender and whizz till smooth and frothy

Pour into 2 glasses, if you wish you can add another half scoop of ice cream on top, with shaved chocolate or some nutmeg.

If you eat dairy you can substitute the extra ice cream with some whipped cream on top

Serve immediately. Enjoy!

I was flicking through The Kind Diet the other night and my sight fell upon these delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, I knew I would soon be craving them so I made up a batch.  These yummy melt in your mouth cups are flavored with lashings of crunchy peanut butter and smooth chocolate topped off with hazelnut and pecans.  Miss Silverstone, who I adore, did good with these!

The recipe says to use grain sweetened chocolate chips but I could not find them anywhere in London so I used regular non dairy chocolate chips and if you cannot find Graham Crackers, i would suggest using digestives.

Use whole Pecans for decoration.