ORANGE CHOCOLATE FRUITY SPICE COOKIES

CHOCOLATE PICNIC SNACK BARS

Dark Chocolate Seed Bars recipe on http://www.bettybake.co.za .
Great for picnics and school lunches. This would also make a great present - cut into bars and pile high in a jar and dressed up with a wide ribbon. (would be so pretty)... Christmas maybe?

BAKED SWEET POTATO CHOCOLATE CAKE (GLUTEN FREE)

I wanted to bake a "healthy" chocolate cake and in cases like that I usually make a Beetroot chocolate cake. But on this very day I didn't have any beetroot in my fridge and so with some tweaking and hoping and substituting this cake was born - Baked Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake.

You know what - it turned out better than my beetroot version ... and so this is the NEW chocolate cake in our house! It is softer and sweeter - even though the same amount of sugar is used. This is because the sweet potato is baked in the oven till caramelized on the edges and it is naturally sweet.   

Not to say the beetroot chocolate cake is no longer good enough, if I can't get sweet potatoes then it will be back on the menu shortly but this cake has really stolen the show.

NOTES*** 
I have made this cake many times over the years - its still a winner and used at every birthday and everything in between! Some things have been tweaked and changed ---

SUGAR: I now use half a cup of sugar instead of a whole cup. But use as much as you think your sugar tooth needs.

WATER: I have found the cake batter has got quite thick and I now add between half a cup to 1 cup of filtered water at the end of the batter if I find its a bit to thick for my liking.

SWEET POTATO: Bake a large sweet potato with its skin on in the oven at 180 degrees celcius (turn half way through baking). Bake until soft when inserted with a knife and the outside yields nicely when pushed with a thumb. Some of the outside may look dark (brown to slightly black in places) on the outsides as the sweet potato caramelizes inside its skin. Allow to cool and then peel and mash with a fork.


INGREDIENTS (BROKEN UP INTO 4 PARTS)

STEP 1:

50g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa dark chocolate)
a tiny pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons of cream (coconut cream or dairy cream - your choice) 

 combine the 3 ingredients and melt in a baine marie - stir until smooth and put to one side.

STEP 2:

1 generous cup /200g/250ml Jaggery or Brown Organic Sugar (READ NOTES about how much sugar I now use*)
3 Free range eggs
100ml coconut oil (melted down to measure)
100ml olive oil

Beat/mix together with a stand or hand mixer in a large bowl until thickened and the mixture has lightened a little

STEP 3:

1 cup /250ml baked and mashed sweet potato (roughly 240g when cooked) *see note above*

add to the egg/sugar mixture above and mix in then add the chocolate cream and mix in until totally incorporated.

STEP 4:

3 heaped dessert spoons of cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarb
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 and a half cups / 375ml Gluten Free flour mix

Gradually add each ingredient above one by one beating after each addition to the mixture. See if you need water - (please see NOTES above the recipe)
Place mixture into 2 buttered/coconut oiled and floured medium cake tins and place in the oven at 155 degrees celcius for roughly 40 minutes - until the cake springs back to the touch and the knife inserted into the middle of the cake come out clean.

 
ICING:
I usually make a chocolate ganache for this cake  - I melt dark chocolate with coconut milk, allow to cool then pour over the cake. or alternatively I blend dates (pips removed) with coconut oil and a pinch of salt for a caramel type of icing.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE SQUARES - FLUFFY CHOCOLATE MALLOW AND COCONUT

 

  

So life throws you ingredients and I bake...

I was sent some products from Wellness Warehouse ( I always try to disclose when I get stuff for free) they were kind enough to chat to me about what I liked and didnt just guess what they thought I should have... So it was nice to say things like I use coffee beans instead of already ground coffee as I have a coffee grinder and like to grind mine fresh. :) See its the little things that count.

Anyway one of the things I thought would be cool to try was cacao nibs - I have been dying to try these for a while but haven't forked out the money because I wasn't sure if I'd like them. Well now was my chance to get my hands on some.
I am happy to say I love them and will purchase them again when mine run out. Cacao nibs are filled with antioxidants and are healthy for you.
On a side note: cacao nibs should be paired with a NATURAL sweetener to taste good - they are bitter! But with some sweet natural almonds (or sugar) it becomes super yummy as they balance each other out.

Anyway I decided to bake a double chocolate cookie bar from scratch and placed a whole bunch of ingredients on my kitchen counter that I thought I would need and worked from there.. tasting and mixing as I went along. 

This biscuit/ cookie bar is what I came up with and is made in 2 parts - but is quite quick to whip up - just a little patience is needed at the very end when they sit in the oven to cool! but they are worth it. You could try eat them straight away but they are better if you do wait :)


COOKIE BAR BASE (PART 1)

INGREDIENTS
3 Tablespoons coffee (liquid -brewed and cold)
6 heaped Tablespoons Gluten free flour
1 Tablespoon cocoa -sifted
3 egg yolks (the topping uses the whites)
5 heaped Tablespoons xylitol (or another sweetener- eg organic brown sugar/honey)
Half a cup dessicated Coconut
2 teaspoons vanilla essence or a 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 heaped tablespoon cacao nibs (if you have - optional)

METHOD
Separate the eggs and place the yellows in a bowl with the xylitol (or sweetener of choice) and beat on medium high until pale and thick.
Add vanilla ess, coconut, cacao nibs and cocoa and mix.
Add half the flour and mix
Then add the coffee and mix.
Add the rest of the flour and mix again.
Spread in an oiled baking dish and smooth out until about 1.5 cm thick (i used coconut oil and squished the mixture into a ceramic rectangular dish about 20 x 30 cm - it didn't fill the whole dish)
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 8 min



TOPPING (PART 2)

INGREDIENTS
3 egg whites
6 heaped tablespoons Xylitol (or organic brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder - sifted
1 Tablespoon coffee (liquid - brewed and cold)

METHOD
In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until soft peak stage.
Add  xylitol (or sugar) and beat until smooth and slightly glossy
Add the cocoa and stir in
Add the coffee and stir in

*When the biscuit base is finished baking take out and turn the oven temperature down to 145 degrees celcius.
Smooth the topping over the base
Place in the oven and bake for 15 min and then turn the oven off and leave in there to get cold ... well leave in for as long as you can resist but for atleast 1 and a half hours - 2 hours.

Cut and serve or place in an airtight container. Will keep for a few days.

NOTES: Next time I may try agave syrup or sugar in stead of the xylitol to see how it turns out. I felt the xyltiol was ok but sugar or another source would have made these cookies AMAZING!

Also omitting the flour out of the base maybe interesting... Will need to report back on this one!

Wellness Warehouse also sent me some gluten-free flour (which I found kind of sticky) but it would probably make yummy pancakes.
They have an online store for your foodie health fix and other things too ;)

MOIST CARROT CAKE WITH LEMON CREAM CHEESE ICING

I found this recipe on Nook eatery's website and immediately after changing some things and making it I wanted to share it with everyone. But I have a no stealing recipes policy and so I immediately emailed Jessica from Nook Eatery and said to her I wanted to write a blog post and share my version of the recipe (gluten-free and other tweaks). Jessica was very kind and said sure :) she is lovely, isn't she?
So thanks to Nook Eatery and Jessica for allowing me to take their recipe, turn it upside down and make it my own and share it with you. Some bloggers would argue that I had changed it enough that it could be my recipe now but I got the idea from reading their website and from their recipe - so give credit where credit is due. The bones of the recipe is definitely theirs - but when serving it to family and friends I will claim I made it (baked it) so I get the credit ;)

This carrot cake is incredibly moist and was still moist 4 - 5 days later, so its a great cake for a party or dessert that you can make ahead and keep (especially if you have lots to prepare - the more you can get done in advance the better)
Even though I made the sugar less in this recipe next time I will add even less as I thought it was still to sweet.

Enjoy

INGREDIENTS
225ml Buckwheat flour
400ml Gluten-free Flour (brand of your choice)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarb
2 generous teaspoons cinnamon
3-4 large carrots peeled and then grated (when grated filled up a measuring jug to 500ml pressed down)
4 eggs
1 and a half cups brown sugar (organic if possible)
350ml sunflower oil (or oil of your choice)
zest/ grated skin of 2 small oranges
a handful of pecans (roughly chopped)
a handful of raisins(optional)

METHOD
Place the flours, baking powder, bicarb, cinnamon and grated carrot into a large bowl and stir to mix.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs and brown sugar until pale then add the sunflower oil and beat until incorporated
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until mixed through
Now carefully zest/ grate on fine the rinds/skins of your oranges into the mixture then add the pecans and raisins (if using)
Mix all together and pour into a well buttered and floured tins (i think mine are about 18cm)

Bake in the oven @170 degrees celcius for +/- 40 minutes or the edges start to pull away from the cake tin and is nice and brown on top

Remove from tins and allow to cool
Top and fill with lemon cream cheese icing 

Enjoy the carrot cake :) let me know how it turns out :) 

 

added to Bloom designs link party

APPLESAUCE JELLY SWEETS

So I made these as a healthy "sweets" for my daughter as she can't have any gluten or corn (most sweets contain corn syrup or glucose syrup which is often made from corn). Go ahead read the sweet packaging - you'll find corn, maize, corn syrup, glucose syrup or wheat in almost EVERYTHING! *sigh*

Anyway I had seen this idea around the web last year. Bloggers were using cooked fruit and gelatine to make jelly fruit squares. I have not used anyone's recipe but storing this idea at the back of my head but never really using the idea until now. I just tried to make them how i thought the recipe should go and did not use anybodies recipe as a guide. So this isn't copied or stolen but the original idea isn't mine.
These aren't like sweets so much as they are like cooked sweetened apples in jelly form. Easy to put in lunch boxes and healthy. A nice snack.


INGREDIENTS
apples - 3
pears - 2
vanilla pod
water
2 -3 Tablespoons Agave Syrup (you could use sugar instead)
1 Tablespoon Honey
a sprinkle of cinnamon
2 - 3 teaspoons agar agar
1/4 cup of water
a small amount of coconut oil
sugar

METHOD
Make sure you buy organic fruit - wash and place all of them in a pot that they can lay in a single layer in the pot. I removed the stems from the apples and pears and cut out any spot or blemishes. Then add water till about 3 cm high in the pot.
Split open the vanilla pod with a knife and scrape out the seeds into the pot and place the empty pod in the water too.
Turn on the stove and allow to come to a slow simmer with the lid on.
Simmer for 20 minutes then take the lid off and allow the fruit to continue to simmer slowly turn the apples and pears so that the hardest parts are moved into the water and whatever is soft and fleshy is above the water.
Squish down with a back of a large spoon every now and then.
After another 30 minutes start to check that the mixture isn't starting to stock or  burn at the bottom. Watch as the fruit becomes really soft and almost all of the water has evaporated.
Turn off the stove and allow to cool.
Push all the fruit through a sieve into a clean pot and discard the seeds and bits that won't go through the sieve and the vanilla pod.
Pour in the agave and the honey - sweeten to taste as it depends how tart your apples are and how sweet you would like it to be. You can use sugar if you prefer. (I wanted the sweets to be as healthy as possible)
Add a sprinkle of cinnamon to taste. 
Stir and add 2 teaspoons of agar agar and a quarter cup of water.
Stirring slowly bring the heat up and keep stirring
After a few minutes of thick bubbling liquid place a saucer in the freezer and put a teaspoon of the mixture on it and leave there for a bit. Check to see if the mix has set by pushing it around the saucer with your finger - if it isn't squishy and hard add another teaspoon of agar agar to the pot and stir and boil for another 5 minutes. Continue this process every 5 - 10 minutes adding more agar agar and testing in the freezer until your mixture sets nicely. (if you add to much agar agar it will go very hard! but is still edible)

Grease a dish with coconut oil or oil of your choice
Allow you mixture to cool a bit and pour into your dish
Leave to set in the fridge and then slice with a knife

*optional roll in powdered/icing Sugar or granulated sugar and serve immediately

Can be kept in the fridge for up to a week covered

CHOCOLATE AND COCONUT TRUFFLES

 

I originally posted this recipe on my blog when SPAR Cape Quarter asked me to write some recipes and blog about it - They paid me in yummy vouchers to buy all the ingredients in their store. (to read the original POST go here).

With Easter coming up soon I thought I would re-post it.
These truffles are beautiful and sweet but healthier than your regular chocolate truffles (especially if you swop out the glace cherries for some soft dried fruit). They do contain chocolate and the higher percentage of cocoa in the chocolate you purchase - the healthier they will be. So don't go buy a regular milk chocolate but a dark 70% or 85% cocoa bar.
My understanding of how it works is, if you buy a 100gram bar of 85% cocoa chocolate then 85 grams out of the 100 gram bar is cocoa leaving only 15% for sugar and cocoa butter etc... Yes it will be more bitter as there is less sugar in the bar but I assure you I have added beautiful sweet dates and dessicated coconut and raw sweet almonds to sweeten it up naturally. With no bad sweeteners but healthy natural ingredients. You could always add a dash of honey if it really isn't sweet enough for you.

Adding the maraschino cherries in the middle or the glace cherries to the mix is not healthy at all so if you go that route - then it is only for a very special treat and the truffles won't be healthy (just FYI)

INGREDIENTS
50grams Raw almonds
7 fresh Dates (pips removed)
a generous handful of Glace Cherries (roughly 17) +/- 100grams (I now would opt to have soft dried fruit like PEARS or APRICOTS instead)
50g 70% dark Chocolate (I used Lindt) (roughly chopped)
1/2 cup fine coconut
70- 100grams dark chocolate (or chocolate of your choice)
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
OPTIONAL a few marachino cherries on stalks

METHOD
Grind the almonds until fine in a blender and then take out and set aside.
Place dates in the blender and blend slightly and then add the glace cherries OR soft dried fruit. (much better option).  Blend a bit more and then add the dark chocolate and blend until  very well mixed, chopped and kind of smooth. Add the ground almonds and mix again. Now add the coconut little by little until you reach a pliable consistency. Then roll into balls or mold around marachino cherries---> OPTIONAL and not as healthy!
Melt the chocolate and oil in a baine marie or a glass bowl balanced on top of a pot with a little water boiling below (the glass bowl mustn't touch the water below). Stir until melted. Dip the rolled cherry and coconut balls in the chocolate and spoon over more melted chocolate with a spoon and then place on waxed paper to set. There will be a little melted chocolate left over but if you use less you wan't be able to spoon the chocolate over the balls - so spread the left over chocolate on a separate piece of wax paper and sprinkle with cherries, almonds or raisins or water you fancy in your chocolate and leave to set - break into pieces and enjoy.

Enjoy your lovely Chocolate and coconut truffles or wrap up and package in a pretty box to make a beautiful and delicious gift.

BANANA AND YOGHURT MUFFINS {HEALTHY & GLUTEN-FREE}

So I have been trying different alternatives for the kids lunch box (from baking all sorts of Gluten free bread to baking muffins) And I am finding the bread to be SUPER hard by day 2, and by day 5 it is worth using as a rock and you could actually hurt someone! So in my search for a bready alternative for the school week I decided to look at muffins.

Last week I made the batch on Sunday night - baked them ALL and put them in a sealed container (much the same as the bread) and by day 2 they were also quite hard. Then I read a recipe somewhere for a batch of muffins that you could keep the batter in the fridge and bake fresh every day!!! Why hadn't I thought of that?

But the recipe i was looking at contained WAY to much sugar and didn't seem healthy at all! It was more like eating a cupcake for breakfast minus the icing (and it wasn't gluten-free either). So I set about trying to make my own recipe. So the recipe I threw together last week was very sticky and chewy so yesterday I set about swopping ingredients and changing quantities and it seems to have come out quite nicely (if I do say so myself) I made 3 muffins immediately after whipping up the batter last night (Sunday) to test and taste - YUMMY. They took roughly 15 minutes to bake. Then I placed the entire batch of batter in the fridge in a large bowl with a lid.

This morning (day 1) I woke up half an hour early, stumbled through to the kitchen turned on the oven to preheat and placed the large bowl of batter on the counter and then went back to bed to doze. Once the alram went off I got out of bed at the usual time went through to the kitchen placed batter in 6 cupcake cases in a muffin tray and put them in the preheated oven. I carried on making lunches as usual , slicing up cucumber. peppers etc... Since the batter was cold I noticed the muffins took 20-25 minutes to bake but rose just as nicely and tasted yummy and fresh! Yay hard rock-like lunch for the week sorted! - AS LONG AS I GET UP AND PREHEAT OVEN otherwise I will run out of time before The Kid and Husband run out the door.

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup Coconut oil (or a neutral oil like sunflower oil)
2 rounded Tablespoons Honey
4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 cup yoghurt
2 cups Gluten-free flour mix
1 cup Buckwheat flour 
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Bicard
2 Bananas
1/3 cup Water
1 cup Raisins (optional)
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
3 Tablespoons Agave syrup (or use honey)
1/3 cup Sunflower seeds 
a small handful extra dried fruit (optional) I used dried peaches

METHOD
In a large bowl mix (on low if using a mixer) together the coconut oil, honey, sugar and butter until smooth and pale.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the yoghurt, mix may seem likes it going to curdle (don't over mix - just stir in)
Mix in the flours, baking powder and bicarb adding a bit at a time until all is incorporated - The dough will be thick.
Mash up the bananas with a fork and mix into the batter
Add the water and mix until nice smooth consistency
Add the raisins (if using)
Then add the cinnamon, agave syrup, sunflower seeds and any dried fruit (optional) you like.
Mix until everything is evenly distributed.
If you are baking immediately place batter in cup cake liners and in muffin trays, Sprinkle with a tiny bit of brown sugar and bake for roughly 15 minutes until well risen and brown.
If keeping in the fridge place in a seal-able container until needed. I am gauging that the batter should be ok for 5-6 days.
 
Enjoy in your lunch box or with a morning cup of coffee

UPDATE BELOW PIC (scroll down)

UPDATE:
SUNDAY: I manage to make 3 muffins on Sunday night when I whipped up the batter.
MONDAY: baked 6 in the morning
TUESDAY: baked 6
WEDNESDAY: baked 6
THURSDAY:baked 6
FRIDAY: baked 6 (2 of them were very small)


TOTAL so far: 33 (cupcake size) Muffins

NOTES:
Thick Mixture: If you find your mixture is getting very think after sitting in the fridge over night (dried fruit seems to suck up the liquid) add a little water in the morning when you take the bowl out the fridge and stir in. keep adding water until you get to a nice thick cake batter dropping consistency.

Cupcake cases sticking to my muffins: I find that when I eat the muffins hot that some of it stay on the cupcake cases. I simply brush the inside bottoms of the paper cases with coconut oil before filling them up.


Oven Temp and Time: I have been baking my muffins at a lower temp of late. at about 160 degrees celcius for about 18 mins. I have a thermo fan oven.

VANILLA CAKE GLUTEN FREE

Here is the typed out version from the recipe: Vanilla cake in my you tube video. A big thank you to all who have viewed it. I hope it keeps spreading and being viewed - YAY!

It really is a VERY easy and Yummy cake :) Its one of those cakes that you can make in 1 bowl and whip up and place in the oven while supper is being prepared. It is THAT easy!

Scroll to the end of the post to see how yummy is is all finished and filled with cream.

 INGREDIENTS
100 grams Brown sugar
2 eggs
120 grams Gluten Free flour (you can use regular flour - just use a bit less)
1 and a half teaspoons baking powder
1 vanilla pod or a generous teaspoon of vanilla essence
1/4 - half a cup of milk

VANILLA SPONGE CAKE - GLUTEN FREE & ON YOUTUBE

 After Many hours I finally have a recipe video on You Tube - hooray!

Enjoy the EASY and Gluten Free Vanilla Sponge cake. Feel Free to share this video - go nuts and tell everyone - even your grandma. She'll love it to!...

To go directly to the link and to see it in a much bigger screen go here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbt0pfH1_ZM

Thank you to my 2 egg actors who were super cute and very willing to try anything ;)

A BIG THANK YOU to Matthew Mole for allowing me to use his cute and fun snappy song. You can down load his music for free here

And for my husbands patience I owe him another cake ;)

DOUBLE HONEY ALMOND TRUFFLES

INGREDIENTS
100grams Raw Almonds
6 Tablespoons Honey
2 Tablespoons water
pinch of salt
125ml cream
100grams 85% Dark Chocolate (eg Lindt or other good quality chocolate)
2 tablespoons cocoa for dusting

METHOD
Grill/ roast the almonds in the oven until light golden brown (watch it or they will burn). You can store them in an airtight container for a day or 2 or carry on with the recipe.
Transfer the almonds to a frying pan with 3 - 4 tablespoons of honey, water and a tiny pinch of salt. Simmer and stir and leave on low till nice and thick and darker golden brown. Make sure that you don't burn the honey!
Have a tray ready with buttered foil or  buttered wax paper!
Spoon the honey almond mix onto the buttered foil/paper and allow to cool and go brittle.
In a Bain Marie (eg glass bowl over a pot of simmering water) place cream and chocolate.
Stir until melted and smooth.
Stir in 2 Tablespoons honey
Cut/crush the brittle honeyed almonds with a sharp knife until you have course crumbs and stir into the melted chocolate mixture.

Place in the fridge for a few hours to firm up.
Once firm (I left mine over night but think 2 hours should be fine) scoop out a rounded teaspoon at a time and roll very lightly in your hands and the place in sifted cocoa.
Shake off lightly and place on tray or place and place back in the fridge to firm up
I managed to make 20 small truffles

They were moreish!
Enjoy!

LEMON CREAM CHEESE ICING / FROSTING

Cake garnished with blueberries and dripping smooth lemon cottage cheese icing

It the time of year for festive happiness and Christmas cheer :) and what better to cheer you up than some zesty and sweet icing or frosting for your cakes.
Super easy and simple to make.

INGREDIENTS
Icing Sugar (+/-250 grams)
1 lemon
Cream Cheese or Smooth Cottage Cheese
Milk

METHOD
Depending on weather you use cream cheese or smooth cottage cheese will depend on how much icing sugar you need. Start by placing your cheese (which ever you pick) in a medium bowl. Beat the cheese until soften slightly then sift over icing sugar a bit at a time and mix in until smooth.
Cut your lemon in half and squeeze some of the juice into the bowl - taste and add as much as suits your taste. If your icing is too thick add a little milk until it is the desired thickness. The same applies if it is to runny, add more sifted icing sugar until thick enough.
Then ice / frost your cakes

Happy tea time

enjoy

BANANA LOAF

for a cute dessert bake in little bowls and pour custard on top just before serving.

This was my Granny's recipe that I got out of her hand written recipe book. A book with her scrawling hand writing, some pages with stains and marks on the recipe as they were well loved and used often. This is one of them. And it really is a very good recipe. I have adapted it to be gluten free.

INGREDIENTS
125g butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 ripe bananas
2 cups gluten free flour
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarb
1/2 cup of milk

METHOD
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
Beat in the eggs 1 by 1 until thoroughly incorporated.
Add the vanilla pod or essence.
Mash up the bananas well with a fork on a separate plate and then mix into the mixture.
Sift into the mixture the flour, salt and baking powder.
Mix the bicarb with a little of the milk and add to the mixture.
Now add the rest of the milk gradually and then beat the mixture thoroughly
Put into a greased and floured loaf tin (you can use a round cake tin if you don't have a loaf tin)
Bake at 180 degrees celcius for roughly 1 hour (check near the end)

Take out the oven and turn out of the tin after 10 min.
Leave to cool and then slice

Enjoy spread with butter and a cup of tea

CHEESE CAKE AND CHERRY, COCONUT TRUFFLES AND SPAR CAPE QUARTER

The SPAR challenge - So I was contacted by SPAR Cape Quarter and they asked me if I would like to do a recipe bake-off of some kind. All I had to do was come up with a recipe or two and they would supply the ingredients. Mmmm now this could be interesting...
The deal was I had to get ALL the ingredients from the Cape Quarter SPAR. Darn it! - there goes Peruvian dark chocolate truffles and any other exotic thing I could think of. Well boy was I wrong! The owners of this particular SPAR decided they needed to have a large variety of imported chocolates *drool* and I decided my husband had to see all this deliciousness with me ;)

So I had to take (drag) him along on a Saturday when he and our daughter could both accompany me. Also I wanted to bounce recipe ideas off the husband (as the recipes were driving me crazy running around my head). Much to his delight - NOT! He kept asking me on the drive there - why is that you need me with again? Its a Saturday you know... Can't you shop on another day? like by yourself? I politely told him I needed him to be with and I just got back blank stares.

AT CAPE QUARTER SPAR....
Walking up and down the many aisles I reached the chocolate aisle - or should I say area. and that was the end of me - blank stare, *drool*.
Husband: Are you talking to yourself?
Me: ignoring husband - you are a pretty chocolate...mmm.
Eventually the husband literally dragged me to another aisle filled with wine and olive oil and shook me...
Me: Yes babe?
Husband: you can't invent a whole recipe out of chocolate you know.
Me: Oh really? watch me!
Husband: you need other things too - like this, this... randomly looking for things, um olive oil!!! (ok he didn't pick olive oil - but he did seem to look at me in a crazy way)


More shopping and aisle walking - clip clop, clip clop..
Husband: why am I here again?
Me: to help me - remember... what do you think? this awesomely huge chocolate - where I take these slabs and just melt them into this giant chocolate so it will "seem" like a recipe? or this other silly recipe of... um milk tart (trying to make it sound yuk and uninteresting)?

The poor man, if you have seen the variety of interesting things they stock - like marmalades from Great Britain and olive oils from various places in the world - you understand how I drove him crazy that day. and so the shopping proceeded:
Me: look babe at the this Marmalade it's from Great Britain.
Husband: Yes honey
Me: and this olive oil it's from Spain
and so the shopping trip went...
Me: look at this.. and that ..and this..
Husband: Yes sweetie (blank stare)
But near the end of the shopping trip when I had eventually talked myself (with the husbands help) out of getting 10 slabs of imported chocolate at R37 a slab -the husband just couldn't understand that spending R370 on 600grams of chocolate (yes they are only 60grams a slab) wasn't decadent AT ALL!!!
I did buy him a cheese cake from the bakery and some camembert cheese and biscuits. He walked out of there a happy man - and my shopping was complete. And Yes I did get some chocolate ;)

*And just so you know - they do stock local ingredients too but clearly I LOVE chocolate!

Lemon Zest Baked Cheese Cake

 

I got the base from the Planet Organic Cookbook by Renee Elliott and Eric Treuille. Cheese cake filling is all mine :)


INGREDIENTS FOR BASE:
150grams Almonds (blend in a processor/electric blender until fine-ish like course sugar)
4 rounded Tablespoons butter at room Temperature
4 Tablespoons Brown organic Sugar (you can use whatever sugar you have - just not icing sugar)
tiny bit of salt

METHOD FOR BASE:
Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer (or by hand) until nicely combined.  Press into a buttered and double lined cake tin and bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 10 -15 minutes. Or until very pale brown. Take out and let stand while you prepare the filling.

INGREDIENTS FOR CHEESE CAKE FILLING:
2 x 250gram cream cheese
250ml cream
4 eggs
1-2 Lemons = of which you will need 4 Tablespoons lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Bulgarian Yoghurt

METHOD FOR CHEESE CAKE FILLING

Beat together the cream cheese and cream until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the bowl every now and then to incorporate. Beating slowly add one egg at a time on slow. Add the Lemon juice and lemon zest and beat in. Add the sugar and beat again. Now add the yoghurt and beat in. Pour onto the prepared base and place on the center shelf of a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius. Bake for +/- 50 min until the edges have puffed up and started to golden and the center is still a little wobbly. Open the oven and take the cheese cake out and let some heat escape for a minute then place the cheese cake to cool in the oven with the door closed for 30 - 40min. Then place the cheese cake in the fridge for 3 hours or over night.
Garnish as you desire and serve. Best cut with a wet sharp knife.

Cherry and Coconut Truffles

INGREDIENTS
50grams Raw almonds
7 fresh Dates (pips removed)
a generous handful of Glace Cherries (roughly 17) +/- 100grams
50g 70% dark Chocolate (I used Lindt) (roughly chopped)
1/2 cup fine coconut
70- 100grams dark chocolate (or chocolate of your choice)
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
OPTIONAL a few marachino cherries on stalks

METHOD
Grind the almonds until fine in a blender and then take out and set aside.
Place dates in the blender and blend slightly and then add the glace cherries. Blend a bit more and then add the dark chocolate and blend until  very well mixed, chopped and kind of smooth. Add the ground almonds and mix again. Now add the coconut little by little until you reach a pliable consistency. Then roll into balls or mold around marachino cherries.
Melt the chocolate and oil in a baine marie or a glass bowl balanced on top of a pot with a little water boiling below (the glass bowl mustn't touch the water below). Stir until melted. Dip the rolled cherry and coconut balls in the chocolate and spoon over more melted chocolate with a spoon and then place on waxed paper to set. There will be a little melted chocolate left over but if you use less you wan't be able to spoon the chocolate over the balls - so spread the left over chocolate on a separate piece of wax paper and sprinkle with cherries, almonds or raisins or water you fancy in your chocolate and leave to set - break into pieces and enjoy.

Enjoy your lovely cherry and coconut truffles or wrap up and package in a pretty box to make a beautiful and delicious gift.

 
 
p.s placed in the Friday Link up at http://www.whipperberry.com/

CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CAKE

This cake was originally inspired by Ross Burden's Beetroot Choc Cake - having seen it on the internet I gave it a look through and then proceeded to do a re-hash (kind doing my own thing) - Gluten-Free of course 

INGREDIENTS (BROKEN UP INTO 4 PARTS)

STEP 1:

50g dark chocolate (I used 70% lindt)
a tiny pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons of cream

 combine the 3 ingredients and melt in a baine marie - stir until smooth and put to one side.

STEP 2:

1 generous cup /200g/250ml Brown Organic Sugar
3 Free range eggs
180/190ml Sunflower Oil

Beat/mix together with a hand mixer in a large bowl until thickened slightly and the mixture has lightened a little

STEP 3:

1 cup /250ml cooked and pureed beetroot (roughly 450g when raw and peeled)

add to the egg/sugar mixture above and mix in then add the chocolate cream and mix in until totally incorporated.

STEP 4:

3 heaped dessert spoons of cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarb
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups/ 500ml Gluten Free flour mix

Gradually add each ingredient above one by one beating after each addition to the mixture.
Place mixture into 1 buttered and floured  ?? cm cake tin and place in the oven at 155 degrees for roughly 48 minutes - until the cake springs back to the touch and the knife inserted into the middle of the cake come out clean.

 
Ice as desired - I used a chocolate ganache :)