This is something I came up with when I was making Yoghurt coconut lemon pie. It’s actually made out of pie crust recipe but tastes so good that can be eaten on it’s own. And it’s a delicious pre-workout energy treat!
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Raw yoghurt coconut lemon pie or how to make a fake cheesecake vol. 2.
Making desserts without using any sugar in whatever form it comes can be a tricky thing. Even more with cheesecake. Whether you’re using curd, ricotta or cream cheese, you always need a lot of sugar to balance the acidity of the cheese. The recipe I came up with is actually a lemon ”cheesecake”, but doesn’t contain any sweetener. Where’s the trick?
The secret ingredient is coconut flour. It is sweet enough to balance the acidity of yoghurt and lemons. Besides, it’s packed with dietary fibers and good fatty acids. Also, one of the main properties of coconut flour is that it will soak up all the excess water, so you don’t have to use any firming agent, like gelatin or vege gel. So yes, it’s gluten free and vege friendly.
When you mix all the ingredients you will get a sort of light and airy yoghurt coconut lemon mousse. If you’re in a hurry, you can always combine it with fresh berries or peaches and make some lovely verrines. If not, make a coconut date walnut crust to add a hint of sweetness to this light and fresh summer dessert.
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Yes, It’s peach week. Can’t help it. You have to eat them when’s the season. So, I was thinking of making an easy dessert. In autumn we usually make baked apples or apple crumble. I wanted something similar, with a summer twist. With peaches.
Since I’m trying to make desserts without any sugar, peaches are pretty great. They’re so sweet you don’t have to add any sugar at all. It’s a bit more complicated when it comes down to making crusts. But a couple of dates will help. When finely chopped, they get sticky enough to bind all the ingredients. And they add a wonderful caramel flavor when baked.
Rolled oats and coconut work great together. The oats add a lovely rustic flavor and texture, and coconut reminds you of summer.
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Besides their amazing taste, strawberries are a good source of antioxidants and vitamin C. They also have a high fiber and water content, so they will contribute to a better digestion. They’re delicious in any form, but to preserve all their benefits you should enjoy them raw.
Since I had diabetes, classic jam is a big no no for me because it contains too much sugar. Great way to preserve all the nutrients and avoid adding sugar is raw chia strawberry jam. Mashed strawberries mixed with chia seeds make a fairly homogeneous mixture and thanks to chia gel you will get approximately the same texture as with classic jam.
Raw strawberry jam
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Strawberries work wonderfully with coconut or milk products. Top some greek yoghurt or ice cream with it…
… or make a really delicious vegan alternative to butter and jam in the morning: avocado strawberry sandwich…
Avocado and strawberry jam sandwich
Coconut carrot cake upgrade Nº3: coconut carrot mi-cuit
Mi-cuit comes from french and literally means half cooked. When ordering a dessert in France, you’ll opt for mi-cuit au chocolat. It’s a chocolate cake whit a liquid chocolaty middle part. It is baked really quickly so that it gets crust on the outside but stays liquid on the inside. Since my carrot cake is really moist and dense and contains no eggs you will get juicy carrot mi-cuit.
Chia will do the trick!
Chia has high fiber and protein content and is rich with omega-3 fatty acids. What’s even better: it has binding properties. When combined with water, It forms a gel that can be used as an egg replacer.
The main formula is: 1 egg = 1 Tbsp chia seed + 3 Tbsp water.
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Coconut carrot cake upgrade Nº2: raw cupcake with coconut frosting
For this recipe I was actually inspired by raw lemon cupcake prepared by Barbarella – green chef that I’ve tried at Open kitchen – food market in Ljubljana that’s open every Friday when the sun comes out. I’m sure my recipe has nothing to do with hers, but those flavors were so remarking that I just had to try something similar on my own.
Frosting is a must!
The cupcake itself is pretty dense, so you need to balance it with something light. The best is to use coconut whipped cream. When I was preparing this, I didn’t have any so I’ve mixed some greek yogurt with coconut oil, left it in the fridge for couple of hours and what came out was simply delicious.
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Carrot cake upgrade Nº1: coconut carrot bites
I love coconut balls, but usually they’re made of butter or coconut oil, sugar, powdered milk and coconut flakes. I wanted to try something else. Healthier and more fresh. And since too much fat blows up my sugar, I wanted something without any additional fat. After many tries I finally came up with the recipe I adore. It’s actually raw coconut carrot cake upgrade.
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Light delight for hot sunny days: raw coconut carrot cake
The last thing you need in those hot summer days is to spend your day cooking and heating up the house. Fresh, light and raw, full of vitamins and water to rehydrate your body. That’s what we should enjoy in the summer.
This cake was actually created in wish to find an alternative to classic cheesecake, which I adore but I wanted something low carb and without any milk products. The texture has nothing to do with it, but the taste gets pretty close.
There’s no need to remind you how healthy carrots are but usually all that peeling and grating just turns you off eating them. For this recipe I’m using a blender or if you like Vitamix. It’s so easy to prepare them that you have no more excuses for not doing it anymore.
Since there’s a lot of lemon juice in the mixture, you have to balance it with something sweet. Applesauce is great for that. It’s pretty low carb and adds some sweetness. That allows you to reduce overall sugar content.
And coconut… it’s a summer thing par default. If you’re not by the sea, it will sure get you there. What I’ve discovered since I started using coconut in my recipes is that it comes in many different forms. Apart from the raw thing, what you can get in the supermarket is coconut chips, coconut flakes and coconut flour. I’m using different coconut flours. The one from Amanprana has more strong taste, so I use it when baking. It goes well especially with chocolate. The one from Vegalife is mild in taste and more neutral, so I use it mostly in raw recipes. Coconut flour is also great because it has really high fiber content. The one from Vegalife has approx. 40 g of fiber per 100 g. It also contains a lot of good fats, but you should keep in mind that there’s approx. 60 g of fat in normal coconut flour or flakes. That means that you don’t have to add that much additional fat to your recipes. I often add coconut flour to my post-workout smoothies. There I prefer using fat reduced coconut flour from Vegalife that has only 17 g of fat per 100 g.
What I like about his recipe is that it can be used in so many ways and always turns out delicious. To find out more go to the upgrades:
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This time I’m not giving you the precise instructions how to make it. It’s pure gold. It’s physalis. It’s fleur de sel. It’s chocolate. Free your imagination. Be passionate and you will find the balance that works the best for you. It’s gotta pop up in your mouth when you eat it!
Fleur de sel or salt flower is esteemed for its color, traditional production and of course flavor. Not even one is the same as the shape of crystals is largely dependent on the specific weather conditions. I’ve got mine from France, Ile de Ré to be precise. Fleur de sel works really well with sweets, like caramel, and it enhances the flavor of chocolate. And yes, there is a huge difference in flavor in comparison to ordinary industrial salt. When using it in chocolate, even if it look nice if sprinkled on top, I find the flavor better if mixed in the chocolate. It’s more smooth and the flavor itself develops gradually.
Cacao butter. Really healthy stuff. If it does good to your skin, imagine what it does to your body from the inside than! You can make your own, raw chocolate by combining it with raw unsweetened cacao and some sort of sweetener. Since I’m a diabetic, I like to cut my carbs intake, so I use stevia extract or sucralose, which is derived from corn. But agave syrup, coconut sugar or honey can be more healthy alternative. If you’re running short on time, high quality dark chocolate will do either.
And physalis berries, golden berries, with its slightly sour note balance so well the sweet and salty…
Phisalis barries with dark chocolate and fleur de sel
lolita bopa 