Double Chocolate Coconut Cookies

 It must be the healthiest recipe for chocolate cookies. It is gluten free, vegan and very delicious!

If you love chocolate desserts than those cookies are definitely for you! They are crunchy on a first day. On a second day they become beautifully chewy, but still delicious! Also it is very easy to make, one-bowl recipe.

Double Chocolate Coconut Cookies

For about 30 cookies :

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 cup desiccated coconut (dried unsweetened shredded coconut)
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup tapioca powder (or cornstarch)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 cup maple syrup
• vanilla (optional)
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 350F. Lay parchment paper on a two large baking sheets.

- In a bowl, combine all ingredients except maple syrup and vanilla.

- Add maple syrup and vanilla, mix in until stiff sticky dough forms.

- Use a cookie scoop to place dough pieces on a baking sheet. Because dough is very sticky, cover cookies with plastic wrap and flatten dough to about 1/2 inch with your palm.

- Cook in a preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes. 

- Enjoy!



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IN PICTURES

I actually forgot to add vanilla and it turned out very flavorful anyway. Perhaps next time I won't add it intentionally. What the point? Let's give vanilla a break :)

Place wrap on top of dough scoops - you will have no trouble then to flatten your cookies with your  palm.

No-Guilt Rugelach

Popular rugelach is not guilty pleasure anymore! This recipe for no-dairy, no-butter, no-oil, no-egg rugelach will make you and your loved ones happy. Did I mention it's gluten-free for those who care?

- Regular recipe for rugelach calls for butter, cream-cheese, eggs and other stuff I don't eat now. If you are vegan or whole-food plant based (as yours truly) then you will love this recipe.

- Rugelach is great as a Christmas cookie option, looks festive and usually disappears first.  

- You won't miss real butter flavor of regular butter-based cookie dough because this recipe uses mostly almond flour which gives our rugelach maybe even better flavor than that buttery one ;)

- If you want even healthier version of rugelach, replace sugar with date paste and consider nut/dates mixture for filling.

- As egg replacement I use ground flax seeds, which is a really healthy ingredient as it is the main source of Omega-3 among plants.

- If you don't have tapioca flour (it's actually readily available in a most groceries these days), you can replace it with corn of potato flour. I didn't try it yet but it should work.

Healthy Rugelach

For about 24 rugelach :

• 4 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups almond flour
• 1 + cup tapioca flour (or corn or potato flour)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• apricot and black current preserves (or other your favorite preserves for filling)

- Preheat oven to 350F.

- Make replacement for eggs by mixing ground flax seeds with water and vanilla. Set aside.

- Mix remaining dry ingredients, add flax mix and make a dough. Transfer dough onto mixing surface sprinkled generously with tapioca flour. Continue to knead dough incorporating some tapioca flour until dough is pliable and no longer sticky.

- Roll the dough in 4mm circle. Use pizza cutter to cut it into 3"x3" squares.

- Spoon a little bit preserves in a center of each square. Use thin metal spatula to transfer dough square on your palm. Fold opposite corners, lightly pressing in a center for corners to stick together. If corners are unfolding, use a drop of water to moisten them to stick together. It was not necessary for me to do this, they were staying in place just fine.

- With a spatula transfer rugelach on a baking sheet, covered with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated to 350F oven for about 15 minutes until lightly gold-beige in color. 

- Enjoy!



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IN PICTURES

Ground flax mixed with water. Here I'm adding vanilla to it. My choice of vanilla is liquid vanilla mix from Mexican grocery, it gives really great flavor, better than any other vanilla, including crazy expensive real vanilla bean.

Dry mix. This recipe takes a fare amount almond flour, which is not cheap. I buy my almond flour in a big bag in Costco.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together.

It seems too dry, just continue to mix.

It's pretty sticky dough at first impossible to roll out, so keep kneading and mixing in tapioca flour.

Now dough looks good to roll it out.

Pizza cutter is great for this type of work.

I perhaps overfilled it a bit ;)

If you don't like tapioca flour on a dough, just brush it lightly with damp brush. It's not necessary though.

I new I put a little much filling. Also some preserves tend to become too runny in an oven. Anyway, cookie looked great on a plate and disappeared before I took a picture of them on a plate ;)

Healthy Banana Bread

The healthiest Banana bread ever! And perhaps the tastiest :) 

It's vegan, whole food, plant based, no oil, vegan version of banana bread. Not a vegan? Is it enough not to try this guilt-free recipe? I don't think so. Easy to make (one-bowl recipe!), delicious, this banana bread is a great snack, breakfast or dessert option for anybody. 

Notes

- I've chosen to mega-flavor my banana bread with lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla. You can choose any combination of those or maybe something completely other flavor such as almond essence (one of my favorite flavorings), or something exotic such as pandan drops (oriental version of flavor).

- I like to use my mini-loaf silicon baking pans for this. Try not to use large pans as it should be baked through well to balance out oat moisture- keeping qualities. Silicon baking muffin cups are perfect as well as mini-loaf pans.

- I use store bought oat flour for this recipe, but, if you don't have it, make your own by blending regular oats in a food processor.

- If using other than medjool dates, just make sure you are taking enough quantity - we like our bread somewhat sweet, right ;) Also make sure you remove woody cap on a top of date, sometimes dates are sold with those.

- Ground flax seeds are required for this recipe. Soaked in a little water, they usually play role of eggs as a binder. It's besides all health-beneficial qualities of flax seeds. Sure you can use, two eggs instead, but flax seeds are so much healthier IMHO.

Healthy Banana Bread

For about 3 mini-loaf pans:

• 2 very ripe bananas
• 8 large medjool dates, pitted, tiny seed cap removed, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp of ground flax seeds + 6 tbsp water (let it stand for about 10 minutes)
• zest of one lemon
• 1-2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups oat flour
• 1/3 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 cups roughly chopped walnuts (it's a lot but I like it)

- Preheat an oven to 350F.

- In a large bowl, with a fork, mash bananas, add soaked ground flax seeds, lemon zest, chopped dates, cinnamon and vanilla. Mix well.

- Add remaining ingredients, mix. You'll get very thing batter. Distribute it evenly between three mini-loaf pans.

- Bake in a preheated to 350F oven for 40 minutes until golden-brown and baked through completely.

- Remove from an oven, let it cool down for about 30 minutes, then remove from forms.

- Enjoy!



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IN PICTURES

 All action going in one big bowl on a left. You will need just two supplemental bowls, one for flour,  one for flax seeds. Ground flax seeds, soaked in water are great binding ingredient (at bottom right)

 When baking I always pre-mix soda or baking powder into flour.

Mixing my wet ingredients.

Adding dry ingredients.

 Batter/dough is ready, it's very thick.

 Ready to go into an oven.

 Done!

 Pieces of walnuts, chunks of dates, lemon zest - awesome texture, delicious and flavorful!

 Yeah.. gluten-free if you care :)

Healthy Banana Bread

Black Bean Brownies

Prepare to be pleasantly surprised by this brownie recipe. If there is such thing as healthy brownies then here it is - made of oats, coco powder, date syrup and ... wait.. black beans! Yes, it is delicious just like your regular 'bad' one version.

I was very skeptical until I tried this recipe.  You would never tell there are beans in there. It's also quick, one bowl recipe. Did you notice there is no eggs, dairy and fat in this recipe? 

Notes

- Choose topping to your liking. I used chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. It could be raisin, almonds, pistachio or any other nuts, or chopped dry fruits or berries, or even some peanut butter swirls or marshmallow.

- If you don't have date syrup, use 1.cup of maple syrup (it's less sweet than date syrup) or black-strap molasses. Also, maple syrup is thinner so you may want to add extra spoon or two of oats to get the right consistency of batter. 

- I use quick oats for this recipe, but, I'm sure old-fashioned rolled oats can be used as well. Do not use steel-cut one though. Also, if you like your brownies denser, add extra couple tablespoons of oats.

- You will need kitchen processor to make the batter and silicon baking pan. 

Black Bean Brownies

For about 9" silicone pan :

• 1.5 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup date syrup (see notes above for replacement)
• 3 tbsp raw cane sugar (or your choice of sugar)
• 1/4 cup plant-based milk
• 1/2 cup quick (or rolled old fashioned) oats
• 1/4 cup coco powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
• vanilla and, optionally, almond extract
• 1/4 c chocolate chips
• 1/4 c chopped walnuts 

- Preheat an oven to 375F.

- In a kitchen processor, blend together first 4 ingredients (beans, syrup, sugar and milk) for minute or two until smooth.

- Add remaining ingredients and continue to blend for about two minutes until you'll get semi-smooth batter. Piece of advise - place coco powder first and then cover with oats and other remaining ingredients. It will save you from coco powder getting airborne :)

- Place silicone pan on a metal baking sheet and pour batter into your silicone pan. Top with a chocolate chips, chopped walnuts and bake for about 35-40 minutes.

- Remove from oven and let your brownie cake to sit until it cools down completely. It will sink down but don't be alarmed by this. When it cools down completely, place plate on top, flip it over and then place serving plate on top and flip again to have your cake sitting pretty with topping side up.

- It can be kept on a counter, uncovered, for a couple days. It should be good for a several days, if you keep it in a fridge, but I never tried it. Usually it was gone by next day :)



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IN PICTURES

 It's not optical illusion - yes, it's beans and I'm making brownies :)

On a left, it's close-up of oats, flax and baking powder.

 I mixed coco powder in with a spoon first to avoid coco "cloud"

 You won't get perfectly smooth batter, but that's ok, it should add to a texture.

 Before going into an oven

 Done!

 Just perfect moist brownie texture and so yummy!

Slightly warm with a chocolate chips still melted. Pure pleasure.