Category: Dessert

Recipe: Licorice salted chocolate mousse

Gaby MoraLeave a comment

I learned from a young age that salt accentuates sweet flavours (my grandma taught me to eat watermelon with salt). Later, in culinary school, I learned to always add salt to chocolate desserts – chocolate mousse included – and sugar to tomato-based dishes.

That’s why there was no doubt in my mind that Saltverk’s licorice sea salt would pair beautifully with a simple, rich chocolate mousse.

Licorice salted dark chocolate mousse

There are a million ways to make chocolate mousse. Classic ingredients include dark chocolate, eggs, butter and cream. Nowadays, there are lots of hipster versions using ingredients such as avocado, cacao powder (or even hipster-er: carob), coconut cream and cashews (of course, soaked overnight for that creamy texture).

I decided to go with a recipe that was given to me by a friend, which uses both water (Heston Blumenthal invented the chocolate + water mousse recipe) and eggs. I served it with a dollop of skyr to match the Icelandic theme. I haven’t tried real skyr so I’m not sure whether the ones sold in Australia are legit or not. Let me know in the comments if you do. Enjoy!

Licorice salted chocolate mousse




Mousse

  • 150gr dark chocolate (70% or darker, I used 78%)
  • 1/3 cup warm water
  • 2 eggs at room temperature, whites and yolks separated
  • 1/2 tsp Saltverk licorice sea salt

To serve

  • A few spoonfuls of skyr (such as this or this)
  • Fresh or frozen berries (optional)

Directions

  1. Break chocolate in pieces, place in a bowl with the warm water and melt over a pot of boiling water.
  2. Remove from heat, let cool down for about 4 minutes.
  3. In the meantime, whisk egg whites until firm peaks are formed.
  4. Beat egg yolks and salt in a small bowl, combine with cooled down chocolate.
  5. Using a spatula, gently add egg whites to chocolate mixture.
  6. Place mousse in glasses, cover with cling wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
  7. When ready to serve, remove from fridge, scoop a dollop of skyr on top and garnish with berries (if using).

Recipe: Anzac biscuits with protein

Gaby MoraLeave a comment

It’s that time of the year again, that time in between hot cross buns and Christmas pudding. That time when supermarkets display piles of tins of Anzac biscuits.

This is a variation of the recipe I shared last year: better (gluten-free) Anzac biscuits. As the previous recipe, it uses uncontaminated oats, which should be safe for people with gluten allergy/intolerance. You may also use other brands, such as Bob’s Red Mill, but keep in mind international standards for gluten-free products are less strict than Australian.

Uncontaminated oats

This recipe also uses a whey protein based product called 180 Nutrition Grass-fed Protein Superfood, which contains whey protein isolate, seeds, nut flour, coconut flour, psyllium husks and stevia. I’m pretty sure True Protein raw coconut WPC or WPI would work well, too.

Anzac protein biscuits

  • Servings: 9-10
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print



Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncontaminated/gluten-free rolled oats (see recommendations above)
  • 80g (about 3/4 cup) coconut protein powder (see recommendations above)
  • 1/3 cup coconut flakes or 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 75g butter
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C fan-forced (180°C regular).
  2. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  3. Mix dry ingredients in bowl.
  4. Melt butter and add to bowl. Add water and maple syrup, mix well with your hands.
  5. Form golf-sized balls and flatten between your hands. Place on baking tray.
  6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
  7. Let cookies cool down and enjoy.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 41.3g
Servings Per Container 9
Amount Per Serving
Calories 186.1 Calories from Fat 122.4
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13.6g 21%
Saturated Fat 9.2g 46%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol mg 0%
Sodium 73.9mg 3%
Total Carbohydrate 8.8g 3%
Dietary Fiber 3.1g 12%
Sugars 2.4g
Protein 6.8g 14%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Recipe: Gluten-free torta de galletas (biscuit cake)

Gaby Mora4 Comments

My aunties didn’t bake a lot, so when it was time for cake they often made torta de galletas, a layered biscuit “cake”. I have vivid memories of me helping make the icing in their vintage stand mixer and, most importantly, licking the icing off the beaters. Of course, I also helped assemble the cake and waited patiently until the next day, when the biscuits had absorbed all the moisture and the cake had a much better structure.

My auntie Sumi passed away a few weeks ago. She was a great cook and she was a very kind, loving auntie. It was hard to think of a particular dish that reminds me of her because I’m pretty sure she cooked the bulk of the food my sisters and I ate growing up. Then I remembered I had copied one recipe from her notebook before moving to Australia, the recipe for torta de galletas.

The original recipe uses margarine and 1kg (!) of icing sugar for the icing. It also uses regular caramel (made by boiling a can of condensed milk), which I figured would be way too sweet. I used butter and a more reasonable amount of coconut sugar for the icing, and made the caramel with coconut milk and pitted dates. I also used gluten-free vanilla biscuits, which I found out crumble a lot more than regular biscuits, making the assembly process a bit more fiddly. The end result wasn’t as good as my auntie’s but it did remind me of her.

Gluten-free torta de galletas (biscuit cake)
Yield: about 16 servings

Torta de galletas

Icing:

  • 250g butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp cacao powder (or coffee or liquor) diluted in boiling water
  • 1 egg

Caramel:

  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 3/4 to 1 cup pitted dates
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Layers:

  • 150g shredded or dessicated coconut
  • 250g chopped walnuts
  • 1 kg vanilla biscuits
  • 2 cups of milk (any type)

Directions

Icing:

  1. Whisk all ingredients together (you can use a mixer, food processor or do it by hand).

Caramel:

  1. Soak the dates in boiling water for 10 minutes.
  2. Drain well and blend with coconut milk and vanilla.
  3. Heat in a saucepan until thickened to a spreadable consistence.

Layers:

  1. Count the biscuits and divide the total by 6 or 8. The result will be how many biscuits you will use per layer.
  2. Form a layer of biscuits soaked in milk.
  3. Spread caramel on top of the biscuits, topped with walnuts and coconut.
  4. Add a layer of biscuits soaked in milk.
  5. Spread icing, topped with walnuts and coconut.
  6. Continue until you have 6 to 8 layers of biscuits (should end with icing).
  7. Refrigerate overnight to allow the biscuits to absorb the moisture.

Recipe: Chapana (Peruvian cassava dessert)

Gaby MoraLeave a comment

This is not a super well-know Peruvian dessert but is as authentic as it can get. In fact, apparently it’s been around for way longer than the popular desserts that appeared when we were a Spanish colony.

I’m usually biased toward chocolate when it comes to sweets, but this is an exception. I think this is in part because there are childhood memories attached to chapana. I recently learned this is one of my father-in-law’s favourite desserts, too. I guess we have more in common that what I thought 🙂

Frozen grated cassava

Chapana is made with grated yuca (cassava), chancaca (basically cane sugar that has been boiled and solidified in a block) and aniseed. It’s wrapped in banana leaves and after cooking it acquires a chewy consistency. Grating cassava is a pain in the ass, so when I found frozen cassava in an ethnic shop (can’t remember which) I bought it immediately with cassava in mind. I used coconut sugar instead of chancaca for a hipster version (and also because I don’t know where to buy chancaca in Sydney!), adjusted the ratio (usually 1:1) to make it less sweet and did my best in wrapping the parcels (I’m very sloppy with that kind of things).

Chapana

Chapana
Yield: 4 servings

Chapana

Ingredients

  • 450g frozen grated cassava
  • 200-225g coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp aniseed
  • banana leaves
  • kitchen twine

Directions

  1. Thaw cassava in the fridge overnight.
  2. Wipe the banana leaves clean.
  3. In a bowl, mix cassava, coconut sugar and aniseed.
  4. Divide mix in 4 parts and wrap each in banana leaves in a rectangular pillow-like parcels, wrapping the leaf over itself in 2-3 layers without breaking it if possible.
  5. Tie the parcels with kitchen twine.
  6. Fill a pot with enough water to cover the parcels and bring to a boil.
  7. Pop the parcels in the pot and boil for 30 minutes.
  8. Fish the parcels out of the water and let cool down enough to unwrap and enjoy.
  9. Chapana is usually eaten warm, although some people enjoy it cold or at room temperature.

Recipe: Better (gluten-free) Anzac biscuits

Gaby Mora4 Comments

It’s been ages since I’ve eaten Anzac biscuits because they are definitely not gluten-free. I know there are several paleo recipes floating around on the interwebs but oats are such an important ingredient in this particular cookie that IMO they don’t deserve to be called Anzac biscuits at all.

Back when I reintroduced oats in my diet to follow the Chinese doctor’s nagging recommendations, I tried a few brands of gluten-free (by US standards, which are less strict than Australian) and uncontaminated oats. I didn’t have any issues with any of those so I use them regularly. For this recipe I used this brand of Australian uncontaminated oats. To learn more about oats, gluten and contamination click here.

I also bumped up the protein content by adding some whey protein powder and used a relatively low amount of unrefined sweeteners (coconut sugar and maple syrup), hence the name “better Anzacs”. Don’t be fooled though, these are still treats!

Hope you’re having a great Anzac Day!

Better (gluten-free) Anzac biscuits
Yield: about 14 medium chunky cookies

Better Anzac biscuits

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

  • 1 cup uncontaminated oats
  • 1/2 cup plain whey protein isolate
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda

Wet ingredients

  • 75g butter
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C (fan-forced works best).
  2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
  3. Mix wet ingredients in a saucepan and melt on the stove (or place them in a bowl and melt in the microwave).
  4. Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
  5. With your hands, make golf-sized balls with the batter, pressing firmly to make sure everything sticks together. Place on a tray lined with wax paper and flatten with your hand.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on your taste (20 minutes will yield darker and crunchier cookies).
  7. Let cool down and enjoy.

Recipe: Lúcuma coconut mousse v2.0

Gaby Mora1 Comment

This is a revamped version of the lúcuma coconut mousse I posted a while ago, this time with the added benefit of the probiotic cultures in CO YO and the collagen in gelatin.

Lúcuma coconut mousse v2.0
Yield: 4-6 servings

Lúcuma coconut mousse

Ingredients

Base

  • 1 cup (100g) almond meal
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 50g salted butter
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Mousse

  • 1 400g tub plain CO YO
  • 2 tablespoons lúcuma powder
  • 2 teaspoons maple syrup
  • 4 teaspoons cold water
  • 1 teaspoon gelatin (grass-fed recommended)

To serve

  • a few squares of dark chocolate (85% recommended)

Directions

Base

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  2. Melt the butter and mix with the rest of ingredients.
  3. Line a small loaf pan with wax paper, spread the mix and bake for 10 minutes.
  4. Let cool down.

Mousse

  1. Sprinkle gelatin on water and let hydrate. Melt over a pot of boiling water and let cool a bit.
  2. Mix coconut yoghurt, lúcuma powder and maple syrup with a whisk or mixer. Add hydrated gelatin and mix well.

To serve

  1. Line glasses or ramekins with pieces of the base, spoon mousse and top with grated chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Recipe: Coconut affogato

Gaby Mora4 Comments

Who doesn’t like affogato? Besides people who don’t like coffee. Or ice cream. Or cold coffee. Well, you get my point.

Because I have no desire of consuming regular ice cream any time soon (the dairy and sugar combo just kill me), I’ve been making my affogato with frozen coconut cream. I haven’t added any extra flavourings yet but I suspect it would be equally delicious with a dash of vanilla or almond essence, or a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Coconut affogato
Yield: 2 servings

Coconut affogato

Ingredients

  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 2 – 4 shots espresso

Directions

  1. Put the can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight.
  2. Open the can carefully (do not shake it!) and scoop the solidified top layer of cream out of the can. Reserve the liquid for curries, etc.
  3. Give the cream a quick whisk with the spoon you used to scoop it, divide in two portions and place in small containers, ice cube trays, plastic bags or cling wrap (I use silicone egg poachers). Chuck them in the freezer until completely frozen.
  4. Prepare the espresso with your weapon of choice (I’m using a press these days) and pour over the frozen coconut cream.

Recipe: Chocolate coffee bites

Gaby Mora4 Comments

There are only a few things that can mess with my willpower and usual tendency to eat sensibly. One of the biggies: dark chocolate-covered coffee beans. That’s the reason I (almost) never buy them.

One night I was studying and I felt like I *needed* my cacao-caffeine fix, but all the shops were closed. I came up with this super simple, quick and dangerous alternative.

Chocolate coffee bites
Yield: 6-12 units, depending on size

Chocolate coffee bites

Ingredients

  • 100 grams dark chocolate (min 70% cacao, 85% recommended)
  • 1 tablespoon ground coffee (coarsely ground for plunger recommended)
  • 1 tablespoon cacao nibs

Directions

  1. Break chocolate in small pieces with your hands, place in a bowl.
  2. Boil some water in a pot, turn the heat off and place the bowl over the pot to melt the chocolate, stirring with a rubber spatula.
  3. Mix in the coffee and cacao nibs.
  4. Pour in an ice tray (I make mine in a lemon slice-shaped silicone tray that yields 6 big portions). Alternatively you can use a small rectangular tray and chop it up before serving. Cover with cling wrap and place in the freezer.
  5. Wait patiently until set and enjoy.

Recipe: Dairy-free crema volteada

Gaby Mora4 Comments

Another dairy-free version of another Peruvian classic dessert: crema volteada (our take on crème caramel). This is my mother-in-law’s and my sister Gloria’s favourite dessert. The original version uses evaporated and condensed milk, and is served with caramelised sugar on top. Yes, it is very sweet. I used coconut milk and cream and just enough honey to make it slightly sweet. The texture was very similar to the original version but was paler in colour because there were less protein and sugar to react with the heat.

Dairy-free crema volteada
Yield: 8 servings

Dairy-free crema volteada

Ingredients

  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 cup coconut cream
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
  • honey or maple syrup, to serve

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 170°C.
  2. Get a small square or rectangular oven-safe dish (I use a 20cm x 20cm Pyrex) and a larger baking tray with high rims. Line the oven-safe dish with baking (wax) paper. Line the baking tray with paper and place the oven-safe dish on top.
  3. Boil a kettle of water.
  4. Crack eggs in a medium-sized bowl and whisk with an electric mixer.
  5. Add coconut milk and cream, honey and vanilla essence and whisk until frothy.
  6. Pour mixture into oven-safe dish. Place in oven and carefully pour the boiling water in the baking tray, until the water has reached at half of the oven-safe dish height.
  7. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until set.
  8. Let cool down and chill in the fridge.
  9. When ready to serve, place a platter on top of the dish and invert carefully.
  10. Cut in portions and serve topped with honey or maple syrup.