I no longer eat a 100% raw diet but will always love my raw desserts. As I’m sure you can tell from my previous post, I’m on a bit of an ice cream kick lately. Nearly all of the desserts I did at the restaurant involved one key component- ice cream or sorbet. I’ve been doing this for a while now but it still amazes me that you can create something so rich and luxurious from such simple, healthy ingredients. Yes, it’s still a treat (I wouldn’t sit down to eat a pint of this in one go) but to me, raw ice cream is the essence of healthy indulgence…ok, maybe raw chocolate too but more on that later

For this recipe, I took a pure classic- vanilla ice cream- and dressed it up a bit. It’s the kind of ice cream I would’ve done for that restaurant in New York and would be equally impressive at any dinner pary…whether a party for many or just for one

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Gingered Cherries

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream:

1 c water

3/4 c raw cashews

1/4 c raw honey

1 T xylitol powder* or lucuma powder

4 drops vanilla stevia

4 drops Medicine Flower vanilla essence (or use alcohol-free vanilla flavoring)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

1/4 c melted coconut creme

1 T melted coocnut oil

Gingered Cherries:

1/2 c dried golden cherries

1/2 c water

1/4 tsp vanilla powder

1/4 tsp ginger powder

Blend all ingredients except coconut creme and coconut oil in a high speed blender until smooth. Add the melted creme and oil and blend again. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions or freeze in ice cube trays and blend just before serving. For the cherries, mix all ingredients in a bowl and place in the dehyrator at 115 degrees for 1 hour (best to do 1 hour before serving so the cherries are a bit warm). If you don’t have a dehydrator, simply mix in a bowl and place on the counter to sit for 1-2 hours. The cherries will still absorb the liquid, they just won’t be warm. Serve the ice cream topped with the cherries and enjoy

*Xylitol powder is simply xylitol (widely available online and at Whole Foods) ground down in a coffee grinder, spice grinder or Magic Bullet. Lucuma powder is delicious as well, the ice cream just won’t be quite as white.

This past weekend we did another Whole Foods demo…which meant another simple, delicious recipe to share with everyone and lots of smiles and oooh and ahhhs at our demo table. I love it. This recipe is such a winner! I was originally going to do a simple chocolate chia pudding but kicked it up a notch (thanks Emeril) and made the most luxurious chocolate mousse. It’s kinda like the perfect black dress- you can dress it up for your fanciest dinner party or just have it for a casual dessert or  snack…and it’s so healthy with all of those good fats from the chia and coconut oil…you could even have it for breakfast! Hello lazy Sunday mornings

Ok, so I’ll stop raving and get right to it

Chocolate Chia Mousse

Chocolate Chia Mousse
[serves 1 or 2- 2 for an elegant dessert]

2 T chia seeds

1 c water

1.5 oz cacao paste, melted*

2 T coconut oil

1.5 T raw honey or more to taste

4-6 drops Vanilla Creme stevia (I used Wisdom Naturals brand)

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

1/8 tsp salt

First, soak and stir the chia in the water until the chia expands and becomes gelatinous (about 5 minutes). Pour the soaked chia into your blender and add everything but the cacao paste. Blend well until smooth and the chia is broken down. Add the melted cacao paste and blend again to incorporate. Taste and adjust sweetness if necessary. Feel free to add some cool spices or seasonings as well and blend again. This is amazing as is but would be great with cinnamon, ginger, maca, almond extract, or any other flavor essence you love. Try a different combination every time! After blending, pour into your serving dishes and chill for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight (would be great to make the night before a dinner party, just multiply the recipe). Top with raspberries and cacao nibs or topping of choice and be prepared for compliments

*This recipe produces a sweet milky chocolate mousse. For a darker, more intense chocolate flavor, increase the amount of paste.

Choco-Goji Bites

Choco-Goji Bites

(makes approximately 30-40 balls)

8 oz goji berries

8 oz mulberries

16 oz cacao nibs

8 oz green hemp seed meal

2 T lucuma

1 c coconut oil, melted

1/8 tsp salt

3 T yacon syrup

Cacao powder, maca, or additional cacao nibs for rolling (optional)

Ridiculous amounts of laughter and love

Grind cacao nibs in food processor until well broken down (close to a powder) and set aside.  Grind goji berries to coarse powder in food processor (approximately 30 seconds).  Add mulberries and grind more (another 30 seconds).  Add green hemp seed meal and pulse to combine.  Add ground cacao nibs, salt and lucuma and pulse more until evenly combined.  Add coconut oil and yacon and mix well to form dough consistency.  Form into balls and gently roll in the palm of your hands after balls are formed to smooth if desired.  Serve as is or roll balls in desired superfood or superfood powder (cacao powder, maca, cacao nibs, etc.)….Chill to harden or serve soft and see if you can resist eating more than just one!

Choco-Goji Bites coated with cacao nibs, maca and cacao powder

…AAAAND most of these ingredients can be found in our Top 10 Superfoods Kit as well!

Other delightful variations:

Choco-Goji Bites Tart
Press dough into shallow tart tin with scalloped edges and top with chocolate icing, drizzle with chocolate sauce or serve as is with a side of raw ice cream or whipped cream

Choco-Goji Bites Cookies
Form dough into patties instead of balls and drizzle with chocolate icing or melted lucuma vanilla coconut creme or scoop softened (not melted) lucuma vanilla creme onto one cookie and top with another to make sandwich cookies…yum!

Super Power Choco-Goji Bites
Add 2 T-1/4 c Healthforce Vitamineral Green, raw protein powder (Warrior Food or other sprouted rice protein), and/or spirulina (remove equal amount green hemp seed meal if necessary) and roll finished balls in Spirulina Crunchies.  Serve soft or chill to harden and enjoy!

Sorry to have been gone for a bit! Life has been abundantly busy here in the Vivapura aWarehouse. Lots of orders to ship, lots of product to bag and lots of beautiful customers to converse with on the phone. That has left very little time for recipe development or blogging. I decided to start up again with a beautiful recipe just in time for Valentine’s Day. Also, if you would like to get some cacao ingredients to make chocolate at home we have a coupon available for web orders. Order any cacao product (nibs, powder, paste or butter) from our site and use coupon code “cacao20″ for 20% off your cacao purchases!

I made these little heart chocolates a few weeks ago, inspired by my new silicon heart ice cube tray and curious about some sweetener a friend had dropped off for me to try, Palm Sugar. I’ve heard lots about Palm Sugar but have yet had a chance to use it. It worked ok in this recipe but I never could get it to really dissolve in the chocolate so it left a crispy sort of texture. I was a bit distracted by it but all of my taste testers were raving about these so I decided to share them anyway. You could play around with other sweeteners as well.

Chocolate Hearts with Super Berry Filling

1 cup strawberries, chopped
6 drops Valencia Orange Stevia

Place both ingredients into a high-speed blend and blend until smooth. Leaving the puree in the blender add the following:
1/4 cup Barberries
1/4 cup Goji Berries

Stir these into the puree in your blender and allow to soak for 15 minutes. Blend again until puree is mostly smooth but some texture remaining.

2 cups Cacao Paste
1/2 cup palm sugar
1 tsp. Cacao Paste
1 tsp. Super Maca
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
pinch mineral rich salt

Fill a bowl or pan with boiling water, find another bowl or pan that sits on top of the bowl filled with boiling water. Place cacao paste in the top bowl and stir until it melts. If your water cools too much you may desire to add more hot water to the bottom bowl. Once the cacao paste is melted add each of the other ingredients one by one until everything is well-combined.

You can use chocolate molds, silicon baking or ice cube trays or a baking dish. You want to use half of your chocolate in whatever sort of mold you are using. Swirling it around the edges ever so slightly so there is a bit of a coating around the edges. Place your mold in the freezer and allow it to set until firm.

Next your are going to spread the Super Berry Filling on the first layer of chocolate.

Make sure to not spread the filling right to the very edge of the chocolate layer, this will ensure that the filling becomes totally enclosed. Also, be sure to keep the filling as low profile as possible so that the top layer of chocolate can fit. You may have leftover filling (it tastes great added to smoothies, used in cakes or spread on any sort of bread).

Finally, cover the filling with your additional chocolate. Trying carefully to cover the filling so that none peaks out. If you choose to garnish your chocolates be sure to do that now. I used Barberries on mine.

Now allow the chocolates to set once more. Once they have hardened you need not store them in the freezer, they will keep fine in the refrigerator. Since the filling uses some fresh fruit be sure to not let them sit more than a week or so before gobbling them up. Who am I kidding? These couldn’t last a week in anyone’s refrigerator before being gobbled up!