MINI PLUM TARTELETTES

OK, yes, I have recycled the raw chocolate cookie dough recipe yet again.  But can you blame me?  It's just too good. I wanted to show that you could make a fabulous fruit tartelette with it.  Next time maybe with some coconut cream. Yum!  Super simple and so delicious!

PLUM TARTELETTES

For the crust:
1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw almonds
1 cup dates
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
2 tablespoons raw agave or honey

Process the nuts in your food processor until finely chopped.  Add in the dates and process until the ingredients are mixed well and it starts to get moist from the dates.  Add in the cacao powder and agave or honey and process to combined.

Press into mini cupcake / muffin tray lined with mini cupcake liners.  Press dough firmly into the paper / tin firmly and refrigerate for 1 hour for freeze for 10-15 minutes. 


For the fruit topping:
Fresh  ripe plums sliced
Shredded coconut to sprinkle on top

After the tartelettes have chilled, top each crust with the plum slices and garnish with shredded coconut.  Now its ready to serve!

You can use many other fruits for the topping, such as strawberries and raspberries... The options are endless.

Enjoy!

RAW CHOCOLATE COOKIE DOUGH BITES

I love no cook simple raw desserts.  There's something so satisfying about them.  This is a recipe that literally could be tweaked so many different ways to give you many, many delicious treats.

I took my Raw Cranberry + Sweet Cacao Nibs Icebox Cookie dough recipe and just changed it up a bit.  It almost tasted like you are savoring some chocolate truffles or something.  I hope you love them just as much as I do.

RAW CHOCOALTE COOKIE DOUGH BITES

1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw almonds
1 cup dates
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
2 tablespoons raw agave or honey
Shredded coconut for coating

Process the nuts in your food processor until finely chopped.  Add in the dates and process until the ingredients are mixed well and it starts to get moist from the dates.  Add in the cacao powder and agave or honey and process to combined.  Roll the dough into bite size rounds and roll the balls in a plate of coconut shavings to coat.  Chill for about 1 hour in an airtight container and they are ready to serve!  So simple!

You can get creative and use other delicious goodies to coat your cookie dough bites.  Yum!

Bon appetit!

RAW BANANA CREAM PIE

 

Seriously you guys... its super delicious.  There's nothing like raw desserts for me.  The freshness and flavor you get with raw desserts is like no other.  Once your tastes buds adapt to it, you may not be able to take as much the artificial sweetness from other sugary desserts.

 

I especially love the raw crust with the creamiess of the pie.  The combination is fabulous.  I hope you enjoy it too.

 

 

For the Crust

 

1 cup macadamia nuts

1 cup dried, shredded coconut

10 medjool dates, room tempurature, pitted

 

Put the macadamia nuts and coconut into the food processor and process until it resembles crumbs. Then add in the dates and process until the dates are well combined.  The stickiness of the dates will kick in and it will hold together. 

 

 

For the Filling

 

1-1/2 cup cashews, soaked 8-12 hours, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup raw agave or liquid sweetener of choice

1/2 cup coconut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup coconut water from a young Thai coconut or coconut milk

1 cup packed coconut meat from a young Thai coconut

2-3 medium bananas, sliced (approximately 3 cups)

1 lemon, juice of

1-2 bananas sliced and dipped in lemon juice for garnish

 

Place all the ingredients except the bananas and lemon juice into a high speed blender. Blend until smooth. You will need to use the plunger or spoon and a little patience to get the mixture moving but it's well worth the effort... Transfer the mixture into a bowl.

 

Slice the 2-3 bananas and toss them with the lemon juice and drain, then fold them into the banana cream mixture.

 

 

To assemble, place the entire crust mixture in your favorite pie pan and press it down evenly all around.  Then, pour the cream mixture on top and spread evenly with a spatula and finally layer with thinly sliced bananas to garnish.  Chill for 1-2 hours and serve.   

 

Enjoy!





Join the discussion!
Do you have a favorite raw pie or cake recipe? We'd love to hear what if is. Please share in the comments below. Links are welcome!

NUTTY COCONUT CRANBERRY BARS



 

 

Many of you know that we love homemade bars here at A Simply Raw Life, this time though, I wanted to try one that was slightly different. I was inpsired by these bars I saw on Ascension Kitchen.  These looked so good and they turned out to be more versitile than I thought. Thanks Lauren!  Super delicious... Check it out...



NUTTY COCONUT CRANBERRY BARS

 

Note:  Remember that it's is preferrable to soak the almonds and cashews first and then dehydrated until they are dry to activatge your nuts and seeds, which give you added nutritional benefits.  Of course, if you don't have time or do not have a dehyrator, this recipe still works just as fine.

1 cup of raw almonds
½ cup of shredded coconut
1 cup of cashews
½ cup of dried cranberries
¼ cup of hemp seeds
¼ cup of chia seeds
¼ cup of coconut butter
¼ cup of raw honey
4 tablespoons of coconut oil
4 Medjool dates
pinch of sea salt
Zest of one lemon

 

In the food processor, chop up the almonds for a quick second to chop them into smaller pieces.  Add the coconut, cashews and chopped a little more for a few seconds.  Transfer the mixture into a large bowl.  Add the hemp and chia seeds.

 

In the food processor add the coconut butter, honey, coconut oil, dates, salt and lemon.  Mix together unitl well combined into a nice paste.  Now combine this mixture to the dry mixure and and fold it in with your hands combining it well.

 

Press the mixture well into a 8" x 8" baking dish that is lined with parchment paper and chill in the freezer for 1 hour.  Now it's ready to be cut and eaten!  Makes about 10 bars.

 

Store the remaining bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

 



I also have used these bars as grawnola and crumbled it on top of a smoothie bowl, ice cream, and fruit.  In the photo above, I topped it on my Chocolate Almond Milk Ice Cream.  So delicious!

Enjoy!

Join the discussion!

If you have a favorite dairy free ice cream recipe, feel free to share it in the comments below. Links are welcome!

 



RAW BANANA CREAM PARFAIT WITH MACADAMIA NUT CRUMBLE

Seriously... I mean seriously!  When I went to a raw food party my friend had with Stacy Stowers we devoured a raw banana cream pie that we so delicious.  Way better than any I had before I went mostly plant based and raw.  I mean, you can just taste the creaminess and the freshness of the dessert.  I also had a friend at work taste test this who is neither vegan nor raw, but she does eat both occasionally and she LOVED it!  Next time I will make this into a pie or cheese cake form, but for now, these were delicious and easy to put together.  Raw desserts are really my absolute favorite thing.

Some people have commented to me that there are too many nuts in raw desserts, but if you take a look at the measurements, there really is not much more than you would use in many other regular desserts.  The ingredients are fresh with no processed sugar added.  Pure love, if you ask me.  This dessert is a must! 

RAW BANANA CREAM PARFAIT WITH MACADAMIA NUT CRUMBLE

Crumble

1 cup macadamia nuts

1 cup dried, shredded coconut

8 medjool dates, room tempurature, pitted

Filling

1-1/2 cup cashews, soaked 8-12 hours, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup raw agave or liquid sweetener of choice

1/2 cup coconut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup coconut water from a young Thai coconut

1 cup packed coconut meat from a young Thai coconut

1 medium bananas, sliced (approximately 3 cups)

1 lemon, juice of

For the crumble, put the macadamia nuts and coconut into the food processor and process until it resembles crumbs.  Then add in the dates and process until the dates are well combined into the nut mixture and crumbly.  

For the filling, place all the ingredients except the bananas and lemon juice into a high speed blender.  Blend until smooth.  You will need to use the plunger or spoon and a little patience to get the mixture moving but it's well worth the effort... Transfer the mixture into a bowl.

Slice the bananas and toss them with the lemon juice and drain, then fold them into the banana cream mixture.

To assemble, place a layer of the crumble in the bottom of the glass, then the cream mixture, then more crumble.  Top with more shredded coconut and nuts and and a little sweet syrup, if you so desire.  I only used one layer of cream since the glasses I used were on the larger size, but if you use skinny glasses you can definitely construct several layers to build your parfait.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Bon Apetit!

 

RAW: APPLE CINNAMON MACAROONS

 

 

 

I think most of you are on the same page as I am where we just love the fall season for its pumpkin and apple desserts.  I am adding a new staple to my natural foods pantry this fall - dried apples! 

You can make your own with a dehydrator, or you can buy them already dried.  I got this batch from my local Trader Joe's.

 

I came across this recipe from Fragrant Vanilla Cake and had to try it.  Amy makes the best desserts!  Just amazing!  And its really easy to make.  This recipe is adapted from Fragrant Vanilla Cake's.

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

3/4 cup dried apples
4 medjool dates, pitted
2/3 cup almond meal
a pinch of sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1 Tbsp maple syrup

Place dried apples, dates, almond flour, sea salt, and cinnamon in the food processor and process until finely chopped and well combined. Place the mixture in a bowl, and knead in the coconut and maple syrup. Form the mixture into 12 balls, and place on a dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate for about 12 hours at 115 degrees, or until they are dried, but not so much so that they are not a little chewy in the middle.

 

These are so good that I need to make some more right away!  This recipe makes 1 dozen.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



LEMON-COCONUT TOFU BARS

Lemon-Coconut Tofu Bars

Howdy Britney here!  Well one thing that you should know about me is that I am a lover of all things citrusy and tart!  And one thing I sometimes miss are lemon bars.  So when I stumbled upon this recipe I knew I had met my match.

What I love about this recipe is that the crust is savory and rich, the lemon filling is smooth and creamy.  And with hints of the lemon zest it’s a perfect combination of savory, sweet and tart.

This is the original recipe from Whole Living.

*please see my note, because I changed a few things from the original recipe. 

The Components

LEMON-COCONUT TOFU BARS

 

THE CRUST

1/2 c. coconut oil, melted, plus more for brushing

1/4 c. cane sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp coarse salt

1 1/2 c. whole-wheat pastry flour

THE FILLING

1/2 c. silken tofu

3/4 c. cane sugar

1 Tbsp grated lemon zest

1/4 c. lemon juice

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp whole-wheat pastry flour

THE PROCESS

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Brush an 8-inch square baking dish with oil, then line with parchment, leaving an overhang, and brush parchment with oil.  Set aside.  

Make crust: Stir together 1/2 cup oil, sugar, vanilla, and salt.  Add flour and stir until just combined.  Press dough into prepared dish and bake until pale golden-brown, about 20 minutes.  

Meanwhile, make filling: Process tofu, sugar, lemon zest and juice, baking powder, and flour in a high speed blender (I used my Vitamix) and process until smooth.  Pour onto baked crust and bake until set, 25 to 30 minutes more.  Let cool completely, then sprinkle with coconut flakes.

**NOTE:  Ok, so I made a few alterations to this recipe.  First for the crust I used raw sugar.  The first time I used raw sugar in the filling as well as the crust.  This gave a more caramel hue to the filling instead of a more lemony yellow color I was going for.  So the second time I used raw sugar for the crust, and cane sugar for the filling which gave the bars a bit more of the lemony yellow hue I was going for.  Also the crust was thick and was about 1:1 with the filling.  I don’t know about you but I can’t get enough of the filling so I doubled the filling to give me a better crust to filling ratio!  (I understand I probably sound ridiculous talking about crust to filling ratio, but it is important to me :)  Also I let it bake about 35 minutes instead of the suggested 25-30 minutes since I doubled the filling.  And then instead of dusting it with confectioners’ sugar I opted for some shredded coconut.  And last thing is that I like my lemon bars on the cold side so I freeze them, and then keep them in the fridge.

That's it can you say DELISH?