Sweet, Salty, Melt in Your Mouth Rich Caramel Filled Raw Chocolates.
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paleo
Paleo Egg Rolls (vegan)
Petit Fours (paleo/gluten-free)
Jonny Freesh Cheesecake
The Freesh-maker, raw food rapper, and divine recipe creator, Jonny Freesh,is letting me giveaway 2 copies of his new ebook Raw Food Made Fun, Easy & Beautiful!! All you have to do to win a copy is comment below. I will randomly pick 2 winners on July 12th, and Jonny himself will then send you your copies of his new ebook! And then you can get to uncooking some of these gourmet recipes!
Sorry, Contest is Now OVER, to win a copy of Jonny Freesh’s ebook:
Raw Food Made Fun, Easy & Beautiful
It was a pure delight to make Jonny’s Raw Peanut Butter Cheesecake Recipe from his new book. These are AWESOME! Above you can see my version, which I made with almond butter instead of peanut butter (and decorated with edible flowers), and it came out so rich and decadent. These are the PERFECT treat to have stashed in your freezer for emergencies or to serve when a surprise visitor drops by! Below is a photo of the way Jonny Makes them, seriously decadent!!
Jonny’s book Raw Food Made Fun, Easy, & Beautiful is full of creative and refreshing Raw Food Recipes.
Check out this picture of his Savory Raw Sunburger & Fries, can’t wait to make these too!
And gotta say Jonny’s Raw Carrot Beet Salad looks Amazing too! This recipe is also featured in his new book!
Mini Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecakes
Tools
- 12 Slot Mini Cheesecake Pan – 2” Height by 1.6” Diameter (Note from Betty Rawker: I used a muffin pan lined with saran wrap)
- Blender
- Food Processor
Ingredients
Crust
- ¾ cup Desiccated Coconut ¼ cup Cacao Beans
- ¾ cup Dates 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
- ¼ tsp Salt 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Peanut Butter Layer
- ¾ cup Peanut Butter (Betty used Almond Butter)
- ¼ cup Irish Moss Paste (Betty omitted, didn’t have it on hand)
- ¼ cup Liquid Sweetener of Choice
- ¼ cup Coconut Water
- 2 ½ tsp Lemon Juice 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Salt ½ tsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tsp Light Miso (Betty used Chickpea Miso)
- 3 tbsp Coconut Oil
Chocolate Layer Additions
- ½ cup Cacao Powder
- 4 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 3 tbsp Liquid Sweetener of Choice
- 1 tbsp Coconut Water
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
Process
- Blitz Cacao Beans in food processor until meal consistency is achieved.
- Add remaining Crust ingredients and blitz until mix sticks between fingers.
- Wipe down cake pan slots with Coconut Oil.
- Set aside a tsp of Crust to use as garnish and press rest into bottom of pan cake slots. Evenly distribute between all 12 slots. Should be about ½ inch high.
- Blend all Peanut Butter Layer ingredients except Coconut Oil until smooth and creamy.
- Add Coconut Oil and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Set aside 3 tbsp of Peanut Butter Layer in bowl for swirling.
- Pour Peanut Butter Layer on top of crusts almost to the top of cake slots in pan. There should be about ½ cup of mixture left. Keep that in the blender. Put in fridge to set for an hour.
- Add all Chocolate Layer ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Pour Chocolate Layer on top of Peanut Butter Layer.
- Put small dollops of Peanut Butter Layer Swirl on top of Chocolate Layer and swirl with a tooth pick.
- Let set in fridge for 6-8 hours or freezer for 3-4 hour
2 Winners were randomly picked, using random.org and announced on Saturday, July 12th. Good Luck & Rawk On!!
See comments below to see who won.
To order your own copy of Jonny’s book click here.
Let’s Make Fresh Nut Milk!
They are finally here! Betty’s Nut Sacks, or also called Nut Milk Bags! They are my 2nd favorite kitchen tool/gadget ever, 2nd only to the Vitamix which will always be in 1st place. And these bags are like a BFF to the Vitamix, or any blender really. Click here to purchase your own Nut Milk Bag!
I honestly can’t believe how much use I get out of this little nut sack! I use it a few times per week to make fresh almond & hazelnut milks. I also use it when on a juice fast, as I much prefer juicing with my Vitamix and this nut sack more than using my actual fancy juicer. True story! Read more here. I also use this bag for making fast & easy fresh cauliflower “rice”, and for straining my homemade soup stocks, especially my Raw Tom Kha.
I am now selling these handy dandy nut milk sacks direct! Just click here to get your own bag! Also included with each bag is a useful little guide with some of my favorite recipes! I have tried and tested many a nut sack, and I honestly truly believe these are the best sacks on the market! They are cut on the bias, so there is a natural give & gentle stretch to the fine nylon mesh when straining. They are industrial strength, machine washable (I have even run them through the dishwasher). For the most part I just rinse with water after use and hang dry, as they dry so quickly, and won’t harbor bacteria like a lot of other sacks on the market.
A Few Reasons why I ♥ DIY Almond Milk:
1. It is so decadent and delicious
2. It is the cheaper than anything store bought
3. There are no nasty stabilizers, preservatives, or gut irritants like carrageenan or guar gum added
4. The by product of making nut milk, is the beautiful like and fluffy nut pulp (wet flour) that is left over. It can be used in countless recipes (see below)
5. It only take a few minutes at most to make a fresh quart of milk
6. Raw chocolate hazelnut milk smoothies are the bomb!
7. It is truly a “raw” and vibrant milk unlike the processed stuff in the carton.
8. Cuts down on waste & packaging associated with the stuff made in a factory
9. Drinking freshly made milks make me feel good
10. I love sharing fresh nutrient dense smoothies with friends
11. There are no added sweeteners or refined sugars, you get to sweeten how ever you like!
12. You KNOW its Non-Gmo
13. Making things from scratch makes you appreciate them more
14. And most important, no creatures were hurt or suffering in the making of this milk!
Basic Almond Milk Recipe:
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 4 cups water
Ideally you want to soak your almonds for 8 to 12 hours in water at room temperature to activate the sprouting process. But if you don’t have time to soak you nuts, don’t sweat it, you can still make fabulous nut milk.
Blend almonds with 4 cups water on high in a blender. Hold the nut milk bag open with one hand over a bowl, and pour the almond milk into the bag. Twist the top of the bag shut, and gently squeeze out the fresh almond milk. Use the left over nut milk pulp in a variety of different raw recipes. Pour the fresh decadent almond milk into a quart jar and store in the fridge. Sweeten to your liking.
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Blog post also featured on:
Raw Paleo Snickers Bar
If you’ve been following me for a while you know that I used to blog as “Betty Rawker” you know, like a “Raw Betty Crocker”. My diet has always gravitated towards fresh fruits, veggies, and plant based foods, and for a substantial portion of my life I ate a vegan diet, starting at age 13. To make a long story short, in my late 20’s I was hit with a very aggressive and nasty autoimmune disease and I could no longer eat and properly digest the rice, beans, grains, and starches that were always a staple in my diet. For the first few years on my healing journey, I focused on a raw food diet, as I felt amazing going fully raw! But then a couple years into it, I didn’t feel as amazing, and I started craving fish and meats like nobody’s business. So I put the bettyrawker.com website on hold and started blogging at pureandsimplerecipes.com which evolved to forestandfauna.com this year. I chose Forest and Fauna because I am a little obsessed with foraging wild foods and I dream of writing a wild foods inspired cookbook someday. If you dig back into the archives, you will see I brought over a lot of the reader favorite raw food recipes from bettyrawker.com and now have them on this website. The most popular Betty Rawker recipe has been my take on the Snickers Bar. Below you will find my updated recipe. ♥
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Samoa Girl Scout Cookie – gluten-free
I used to wear my little Brownie uniform and sash full of badges with so much pride (pictured below)! I remember slinging those not so good for you cookies with my troop in front of supermarkets too. I also remember learning how to make raw style “no-bake” cookies, but oh, looking back, they had the worst ingredients! I recall crunchy peanut butter, non fat milk powder, refined sugar…ick!
So with Girl Scout Cookie Season in full swing right now, and a suggestion from a friend, today I made a simple “no bake” grain free Samoa Cookie, to honor Gluten Free, Dairy Free Girl Scouts Everywhere!!
Samoa Girl Scout Cookie - gluten-free
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8 to 12 cookies
Ingredients
- Base Cookie:
- 1 cup dried coconut
- 1 cup raw walnuts
- 2 pinches sea salt
- 2.5 Tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
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- Coconut + Caramel Layer:
- 8 medjool dates
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 2 Tablespoon coconut oil melted
- pinch sea salt
- 1/2 cup dried coconut
- Tablespoon optional: 1 carob powder carob boosts the sweet caramel flavor!
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- Chocolate Icing:
- 4 Tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 4 Tablespoons raw cacao powder
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
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Base Cookies: Blend dried coconut in food processor alone for 60 seconds. Add in walnuts, sea salt, blend into a fine meal. Then blend in melted coconut oil and maple syrup. Roll dough out in-between 2 layers of way paper so that it is about 1/4” thick. Put in freezer to firm up. Once firm, remove from freezer and use a round cookie cutter to cut your cookies. Should make 8 large cookies or 12 average sized ones. (Or a simple idea as suggested by Chris is to make one large square cookie, and later cup it up into smaller bars ♥)
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Coconut + Caramel Layer: Blend medjool dates with water in a food processor, add in coconut oil. Add in sea salt, and carob powder. Add in a little more water if needed to get caramel to mix better. Then blend in 1/2 cup dried coconut. Pat down a layer of coconut caramel onto each cookie then sprinkle a garnish of dried coconut.
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Chocolate Icing: Stir together coconut oil, cacao powder, and maple syrup. Pour into a little bag, and carefully snip off a little corner of the bag, so you can pipe the chocolate in strips across your cookies. If chocolate is too warm it will be really runny, just find the balance between melty and firm to get a nice even strip.
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**Optional: For an extra chocolaty taste, spoon a little of the chocolate icing on the base cookie layer before adding the coconut caramel layer! Just let the chocolate cool and firm up before adding the coconut/caramel layer. Pictured below is an example of a cookie with the extra chocolate layer!!
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Be sure to store these in the fridge or freezer!! These are so great served right out of the freezer too! Such chewy goodness!!
Also, if I were trying to go nut free on these, I would likely sub in 1 cup sunflower seeds for the walnuts, but I haven’t tried that yet!! Or maybe try some 1/4cup ground flax, and 3/4 cup sunflower seeds if you have to omit the walnuts? Also, feel free to use any nuts in the base, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, macadamia….. ♥
Shared at: Savoring Saturdays + Happy Healthy Green Natural Party Blog Hop + Allergy Free Wednesday
recipe updated February 23, 2016
Raw Raspberry Bliss Bar
This bar freaking tastes just like a jelly filled donut, in a grain free, raw vegan sorta way!
I used a base similar to the raw donut hole recipe, spread on a layer of raw raspberry jam, and topped with crumbled walnuts, dried coconut & cacao nibs. There is also an optional icing you can drizzle over the top, but totally not necessary ♥
Base Layer:
- 1 cup dried coconut
- 1 vanilla bean scraped, or 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch sea salt
- 1 cup raw walnuts
- 9 medjool dates, pitted (about 1 cup)
Blend coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, & sea salt together in food processor for 30 to 60 seconds. Add in walnuts, blend. Then add in 9 pitted medjool dates. Press mixture into a wax/parchment lined pan. Set in fridge to firm up.
Raspberry Layer:
- 1.5 cups frozen raspberries, thawed, drained
- 4 medjool dates, pitted
- 2 TBS chia seeds
Blend only raspberries and dates until dates are well combined. Pour into a bowl, and stir in chia seeds. Let set for 15 minutes, stirring on occasion. It will thicken into a nice raspberry “jam”. If not thick enough after 15 minutes, stir in a little more chia until you have the right consistency. Spread over base layer.
Topping:
- 1/3 cup dried coconut
- 1/3 cup raw walnuts
- pinch cinnamon
- pinch sea salt
Pulse topping ingredients together until a nice crumble is formed. Sprinkle over raspberry layer. Garnish with cacao nibs, set in fridge to firm up.
Garnish:
- 2 TBS raw cacao nibs
You have just created the perfect blissful breakfast bar. Makes 8 medium sized bars! Or 6 large ones.
Totally Optional:
Coconut Icing:
- 2 TBS coconut oil,melted
- 2 TBS coconut butter, softened
- 1 TBS maple syrup
Mix together, drizzle over breakfast bars
OR
Raw Chocolate Icing:
- 2 TBS coconut oil, melted
- 1.5 TBS raw cacao
- 1 TBS maple syrup
Mix together, drizzle over breakfast bars
Shared at: Savoring Saturdays
Raw Vegan Donut Holes!
Three Words: Yum. Yum. Yum.
These raw grain free paleo donut holes are better than the real thing! I promise. For a “nut-free” AIP Paleo version made with “tigernuts” (a tuber, not an actual nut) see my recipe for AIP Paleo Donut Holes.
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes
- 1 cup shredded dried unsweetened coconut
- 1/3 cup almonds (if you have time:soaked overnight, skins removed)
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped, or 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 4 medjool dates, pits removed
- 2 TBS coconut nectar, maple syrup, or honey
Coating:
- 1 TBS Coconut Palm Sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 TBS shredded unsweetened coconut
Add dried coconut to food processor, and process alone for 30 sec to 1 min to release oils. Add in almonds, vanilla, cinnamon, sea salt, process until all mixed & fine. Add in dates process, and then add in honey.
Form into balls with your hands. Roll in coconut sugar & cinnamon coating.
You can eat the as is, freeze, or dehydrate at 115*F overnight.
ENJOY!!
♥
This recipe is adapted from a recipe by Brandi Rollins found in a free menu plan from Raw Foods on a Budget.
And thank you to “And Love it Too” for featuring this recipe in this gluten free recipe round-up here and shared at Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural Party Hop and Meatless Mondays and Allergy Free Wednesdays and Gluten Free Fridays
Hazelnut Truffles
These hazelnut truffles are the answer to:
“I just made hazelnut milk, but I have no idea what to do with the left over pulp?!”
You will likely find that your intake of raw vegan hazelnut milk goes up as you fall in love with these light little truffle balls, and you will be looking for any excuse to make more!
These truffles would also make great “raw cake pops” as they could easily be stuck onto sticks & served.
Recipe:
- 1 cup roughly – left over “wet” hazelnut pulp (hazelnut milk recipe below)**
- 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
- 1 cup medjool dates (8-10) pits removed (can be soaked 20 minutes)
- pinch sea salt
- 2 TBS maple syrup
**can also use 1 cup hazelnuts in place of hazelnut pulp
In food processor, blend hazelnut pulp and cacao powder. Add in dates, pinch sea salt, blend. Add in a little maple syrup to help “stick” together. Roll into balls, and then roll into chopped hazelnuts. Drizzle with raw chocolate. Chill. Serve!
Finish with:
- 1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
- optional: raw chocolate drizzle (recipe below)
Raw Chocolate Drizzle:
- 2 TBS coconut oil, melted
- 2 TBS cacao powder
- 1 TBS maple syrup
Mix ingredients together, melt in food dehydrator, or double boiler. Drizzle over chilled truffles, place in fridge to “set”. Coconut oil chocolate drizzle firms up nicely when chilled.
Raw Hazelnut Milk Recipe:
- 1 cup raw hazelnuts
- 4 cups water
Blend nuts & water in a blender. For best results use a Vitamix. Once nuts & water are blended well into a milky liquid, strain through a Nut Milk Bag. Pour “milk” into a mason jar to drink later, or blend with 1 date or 1 TBS sweetner, and a vanilla bean, and enjoy! Use leftover “pulp” in truffle recipe above.
Shared at: Happy Healthy Green Natural Party Blog Hop
