Just when we thought it was getting cooler a heat wave has hit Toronto in time for the long weekend.  While I have heard many complaints about the unusually sizzling summer we have had, I personally love the heat.  Not only is it a lovely change from cold, cold Canadian winter, but gives me a chance to make some truly delicious, cooling desserts.  So, this long weekend I am whipping up some watermelon granita – its packed with water, sweetness helping to combat internal heat and dehydration.  Its also nice because I can’t have dairy, so this recipe helps me get over ice cream envy…and it requires no sweeteners!

Also, its a great way to be efficient with your fruit.  Nothing is more disappointing than bringing home what you think will be a delicious, juicy fruit snack – then when you crack it open, bite into it or peel it back, you find its a bit ick.  The other day I bought a watermelon – I knocked on it to see if it was hollow sounding, I tested its weight against the other melons, and I assessed the green-ness of its skin.  But alas, it was still over-ripe!  This recipe is a perfect solution to less than perfect fruit and I don’t only do this with watermelon.

I chopped it up and froze it.  Then I put it in the food processor and made Ben and I cups of watermelon happiness.

I was feeling so thirsty and hot last night and this really cooled me down and quenched my thirst.  Watermelon is anti-Pitta because it is both sweet and full of cooling hydration.  This pacifies the fire energy within us, and helping to soothe rashes, break outs, heat-related swelling and rosacea flare ups.  And what a yummy way to do it!

photo of my new chocolate tofu cheesecake (as you can see, I already ate a slice of it)

I am taking a macroeconomics course at night and my exam is tomorrow.  Somehow, I have made it my mission to do everything but study for it.  So what better way to avoid the banal, then bake a Chocolate Tofu Cheesecake?

Well, in my desperate attempt to distract myself from what I should be doing, I took my tried and true Lemon Tofu Cheesecake recipe and subbed lemon zest and juice for organic cocoa powder.  I also doubled the vanilla extract and used chocolate spelt cookies from Sha Sha Bread co.  Also, instead of agave, I used a mixture of maple syrup and coconut sugar – for some reason I felt like the richness of cocoa needed a classic sweetener like maple syrup.

If I do say so myself, it turned out pretty lovely.  I think citrus and chocolate are the some of the most overpowering flavors – and probably the only things which can kill the taste of tofu.  So, I can enjoy this dairy-free dessert without feeling like I’m sacrificing an ounce of pleasure.

Now, all I need to do is use this tasty treat as reward to get to the books.

This dessert is not for the faint at heart.  Sure its lightening-fast to make, its tasty and the ingredients are simple – but if you are like me, the pure cocoa powder can make you a little loco.

A few days ago, I was in the worst mood imaginable.  I was agitated, overly-emotional and feeling sorry for myself.  And while it a personal pet peeve when men attribute a woman’s mood swings to her hormones – in this case, they had something.  So, I found myself trying to find solace by rummaging around my kitchen for something bad to eat.  Unfortunately for me, my kitchen just ain’t really the place you’d find a tub of Ben and Jerry’s or left over lemon meringue pie.  I did find some pure cocoa powder (unsweetened, no dairy) and some silken tofu.  And in the name of self-indulgence, I decided to get creative and pull out my beloved food processor.

I dropped in a cake of silken tofu (350 grams), 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, a tsp of vanilla extract and about a 1/4 cup of agave nectar.  It could’ve been a little more or less, I didn’t measure – I just poured.  You can also use maple syrup, molasses or honey, whatever you have in your pantry that can add some liquidity and sweetness. The cocoa powder is literally nothing but pure cocoa so you’ll need a lift.

Lethal and delicious

I like my puddings firm so I refrigerated it to stiffen up a bit.  You don’t have to, but anything too runny reminds me Jello-puddings.  Yuck.  The only thing good about a Jello pudding pop is Bill Cosby.

The whole process took me less than 5 minutes – which was perfect because I was running late to watch Ben’s team play football.  But of course I didn’t leave before licking the deliciously chocolate-y spoon, lid and each corner of my food processor.  I even got in there with my fingers making a right mess of myself.  I actually thought to myself: would it be stupid to lick the blades?

Well, holy chocolate because I was hyper through their entire game.  I thought it was the excitement of the game (it was the finals), but I was wrong.

When I got home, it was only natural to celebrate their victory with my yummy pudding cups, but it would keep my heart pounding for the next few hours.  Now, I am pretty sensitive to caffeine.  I have been known to get anxiety attacks from Iced Tea, and on my sixteenth birthday my mother got me a cake called “Death by Chocolate” which subsequently made me feel like I had taken LSD.  When I was eighteen I had my first and only vodka redbull (oh to be young again), and I woke up the next morning hyperventilating.

So, if you are one of  those people who can drink a cuppa Joe and go right to bed, get your spoons out because this is a pretty healthy, clean dessert with so few ingredients!  If you are like me though, maybe use 1/3 cup of cocoa powder instead -it won’t hurt the taste.  I personally like the bitterness of dark chocolate but Ben thought it could be toned down a bit anyway.

Hey, at least I wasn’t in a bad mood anymore – I was bouncing off the walls.

They are lightly crisp on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.

I made these goodies to snack on during our flight to California today – unfortunately they were so good that they are all gone by now.  These cookies have no flour, no dairy and no sugar.  I actually used coconut sap sugar for the first time and it turned out great!  Coconut sap sugar is has a low glycemic index and comes in a sugar-like granular form making it the perfect sweetener for me.  I have made this recipe in the past before with peanut butter and used brown sugar, but I found them too sweet (just my own opinion).  I have also used agave nectar during another trial with this recipe and they came out like blobs (you need the dry/ firmness of a crystallized sweetener).  This time around they turned out perfect – and I added unsweetened dark chocolate I had left over from the black bean brownies I made which gave it a decadent touch.  If you want these cookies a bit sweeter, you can also use semi-sweet chocolate.  Though I brought these to the office and it was unaymous that they were a hit and that the level of sweetness was just right.  The best part is that they take no time and I actually made them while making baked tofu.  One oven was going making dinner and dessert – and saving me precious time.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted almond butter (I looked carefully for one without evaporated cane juice)
3/4 cup coconut sap sugar (found easily at any health food store)
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder (the recipe called for baking soda)
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 oz dark chocolate roughly chopped

Instructions:
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Dropped heaped teaspoons formed into balls onto a lightly greased pan (about an inch and a half in diameter).
3. The will melt down a bit but not a lot so then push them lightly down with a fork.
4. Put into a preheated oven at 350 Fahrenheit for approx 12 minutes (when they begin to brown).

Delicious with no dairy, no sugar. Its modest look doesn't live up to its tastiness

This recipe is the kind of healthy dessert dreams are made of.  I would go as far to say that its better than the real thing – and I promise that I am not clouded by my own crunchy granola alter-ego.  My proof is that Ben (the most skeptical health dessert reviewer) can’t get enough of it.  He is my royal taste tester because doesn’t care if its made with the purest ingredients, it just has to taste great (usually I refuse to tell him what he’s eating until he has given me the verdict).  And him loving this healthy treat is even better because when we go back to England, Ben dreams of nothing more than a Sunday roast dinner ended off with his mum’s famous Lemon Crunch Pie (lemon cheesecake) – so I was determined to give him this experience in Canadia with a Holistic Vanity twist.  Its just a perk that its super easy.  His sister is a gluten-free veggie (we’re gonna be a happy picky family!) so I am planning on just making the filling and serve it as a custard when she comes to visit.

Filling Ingredients:
3 packs silken tofu (349 grams each)
1 cup agave nectar
2 eggs
4 tblsps fresh lemon juice
2 tblsps grated lemon rind
2 tblsps canola oil
2 tsps pure vanilla extract

Base Ingredients (you can half this but I like a lot of crust):
3 cups cookies (I admit I used regular graham crackers in the photo above bc Jean had extras left from when she was making a cheesecake.  But you can use gluten-free cookie crumbs.  I’m going to try blending spelt ginger cookies by Sha Sha in my food processor)
3 tblsps lemon juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup organic vegetable-based margarine – unhydrogenated source of cours! (You can use a plethora of other types of oils and fats.  Coconut oil would be interesting to try out but could make it taste too coconuty – and lemon and coconut don’t sit right with me.  I have also used ghee as it gives a buttery taste but without lactose and less fat).

Method:

1. Mix all “Base Ingredients” together.  Take this crusty paste-like mixture and press it into a lightly greased spring foam pan (I used a 9 inch) with a fork.
2. Put all filling ingredients into your food processor and blend until smooth.  Taste (this is good to do as you may want more lemon juice or more sweetener.  Orig recipe called for less lemon and more sweetener…well actually it used plain sugar (eew!).  You can also use 1/2 cup agave and 1/2 coconut sugar or regular sugar.  I like to use total agave but it the cake does start to slightly weep so you should keep it on a plate with a lip.  When you use half dry sweetener and half syrupy sweetener this does not happen)
3. Put in the oven at 200 degrees Farhenheit for 1 hour.  * Depending on the dish shape it can take up to 1 hour and 45 mins* - You’ll know its ready when the cake is firm but has a bit of wobble.  Don’t worry, its hard to overcook this cake.
4. Refrigerate overnight, then serve.

I have experienced my share of dessert disappointments. Growing up with my health nut of a mother, I remember getting sugar-free whole wheat apple pies instead of birthday cakes.  One year she iced the bottom of a plate to say “Happy Birthday Kristen” and placed it on the pie yet wouldn’t let me lick the icing.

But now as an adult I am free to eat as many birthday cakes as I like – and while I have adopted the ideals of clean eating I grew up with, I refuse to choke down some of the icky “substitutes” I used to have to.  Now, anyone who knows me I am a picky eater – I do not consume dairy products or red meat and I hard-core avoid gluten and sugar.  So as I have been on a baking kick, I thought I would do a few posts about delicious but healthy desserts.  But while you may think I that on my diet that my recipes involve faux-eating, spooning mouthfuls of air into my gob (an emperors new clothes for food) — you will see that my recipes are both healthy and decadent.  This weekend I brought these brownies to a dinner party and my friends demanded I post this recipe first thing this week!  They are divine – AND dairy-free, flour-free and sugar free!  I think its success is two fold: one – the flavour of cocoa blankets everything, and two – black beans make this cakelet creamy (which most dairy-free desserts lack).  I made some changes to the original recipe which I found in Clean Eating Magazine - you know you’re picky when you modify modified desserts.

Ingredients:

2 oz dark chocolate (70% or higher cocoa – and sugar-free.  I used the Baker’s brand – all the fancy Whole foods one had cane juice in them.  The original recipe had 1 oz – I doubled it for more fudginess)
2 eggs
1 egg white
2 tbsp canola oil + whatever you need to lightly grease the pan.  The orig recipe called for olive oil, but I have ruined enough desserts with this oil.  Its too olivey.  Coconut oil would also be excellent – its the best oil to cook with and lower cholesterol.
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce ( you can easily make yours from scratch – I didn’t.  You have to preplan to do this, but if you make it for breakfast – bake these that night)
1/2 Agave nectar (the orig recipe called for honey, but in Ayurveda cooked honey is toxic.  Maple syrup is another option – I wonder how molasses would work)
1/4-1/2 Chopped Walnuts (optional – but delicious)
1 1/2 cups of soft cooked black beans rinsed and drained (if you are like me and try not to use canned goods, you can make a black bean dinner than pull some out for this recipe.  Again, you have to be uber organized)

1. Melt the dark chocolate on a low heat.  I added a few tablespoons of water to help the pot from staining.
2. Add this to a food processor with all the other ingredients and blend.  Pour this into a lightly greased cake pan.  I used the only cake pan I own which is a 10 inch round.  I don’t think it matters – just check the brownies to make sure they don’t burn or get too hard.
3. Cook at 350 Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes.  Its ready when the edges begin to pull away from the sides.  I also pressed the top with the spoon and made sure it didn’t leave an imprint.

4. (optional) – melt some more dark chocolate and add a dollop of agave – and ice the top.  I was trying to sell this brownie to Ben so I brought out all the marketing tricks. My brushed on icing defintely gave some value-add.

Store them in the fridge (making them fudge texture).  I put some in the freezer and they were hard as a rock but were fine when I put them back in the fridge to thaw them out.  I cook intuitively and sometimes my experimentation ruins a good thing.

Another view. Mmmm.