Paleo Tiramisu

I love Tiramisu. It is one of my favourite dessert but it is not really Paleo, is it? 

There is the obvious choice to replace the Mascarpone to a custard made from coconut cream but I wanted to try something else. Something which is creamy and sweet itself like custard: the custard apple. 

It is a winter fruit - sorry, my Australian readers - and unless you have your own tree, it is quite expensive. However, you need one only. 

The best thing in this Tiramisu is that there is no added sugar in it. Not even a gram. 

Worth to try :)

Ingredients for the sponge cake

2 eggs

8 tbsp almond flour (almond meal from blanched almond)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

zest of a lemon

Preheat the oven to 180 C.  Prepare a 20x20cm baking tin with baking paper.
Separate the eggs and whip the whites and the apple cider vinegar with an electric mixer for about 10 minutes. Mix the egg yolks and add them to the hard egg whites gently so you don't deflate the egg white mixture. Mix the almond flour, the zest of a lemon and bicarbonate soda, then add gently to the egg white mixture. 
Pour the mixture to the prepared tin and bake it for about 15 minutes or until it is golden brown. 

Ingredients for the cream

1 custard apple (approx. 350ml mashed custard apple without the seeds)
1 egg white
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp gelatin dissolved in 50ml hot water

Cut the custard apple in half and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. Discard the seeds then make a puree of the flesh by a food processor. Pour the mash into a colander lined with cheese cloth and let it drain above a bowl while beating the egg whites.
Whip the egg white with the apple cider vinegar with an electric mixer for about 10 minutes. While beating, slowly add the dissolve gelatin to it. With a wooden spoon, mix the custard apple gently to the hard egg white.

Layering

150-200ml fresh espresso coffee or nescafé, cooled
splash of almond liqueur
sugar free cocoa powder, eg. Dutch cocoa

Cut the sponge cake to 15x100mm stripes. Lay half of them to a 12x12cm glass or ceramic dish.
Combine the coffee with the liqueur. With a spoon, pour some from the coffee mixture to the sponge cake.
Cover the sponge cake with half of the custard apple mixture. Repeat the layers one more, ending with the cream. Dust generously with cocoa then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Alternatively, you can use agar-agar or psyllium husk instead of gelatin. This case you have to add them to the custard apple instead of the egg whites.

Enjoy :)

Variations for wellbeing
Dairy intolerance: enjoy as is.
Gluten intolerance: enjoy as is.
Paleo: enjoy as is.

Stracciatella Ice Cream

The easiest and quickest ice cream on the Earth! If you have a banana in your freezer :)

As we had a very hot day today, I put some peeled and sliced bananas in the freezer early in the morning. 
When we finished our lunch, I just mixed them with coconut cream and diced chocolate and voilà! the ice cream was ready. 

Ingredients

3 bananas
270 ml coconut cream (I love Ayam)
30 g dark chocolate, min. 85 %, diced
1 tsp vanilla paste

Put all the ingredients to a blender and mixed them well.
That's it.

Enjoy :)

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: make sure to use dairy free chocolate.
Gluten intolerance: make sure to use gluten free chocolate.
Paleo: make sure to use dairy, gluten and soy free chocolate with high cocoa mass content. 

Carrot Cake

I love carrot cake. 
I remember when I got my very first cook book (still my favourite) how surprised I was to see that carrot cake really exists, not in jokes only. We didn't know it in Hungary, you know.
Then the first tea houses opened in the nineties and there they come the carrot cakes with. When I went there I always asked for one. Or, I should say, that's why I went there :)


I have tried lots of carrot cakes since that. I cannot tell which one is the best but I must say, this recipe is one of them. 
This time I made Teresa Cutter's recipe. If you don't know her, she's called the Healthy Chef in Australia. 
And, not at last, she's started to follow Paleo just recently. 

Ingredients


500 g (3 large) grated carrots
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups (300 g) almond meal
¼ cup (60 ml) macadamia nut or grape seed or olive  oil
¼ cup honey or 2 tbsp xylitol
1 cup raisins (you can use prunes instead)
2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

Please read the rest here.

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: enjoy as is.
Gluten intolerance: enjoy as is.
Paleo: enjoy as is.

Hot Chocolate

There is nothing better than a creamy, thick hot chocolate on a cold, winter night sitting next to the warm fireplace. 

It's not easy to make it without dairy and starch; not easy, but possible :)

Ingredients per cup
1 tbsp 100% cashew spread
1 tsp Duch cocoa powder,
1-2 tsp sweetener of your liking (eg. honey, stevea, Natvia, agave...)
approx. 1 cup hot water


Place the cashew spread, cocoa powder, sweetener and a few teaspoon of hot water into a sauce pan and mix them well. 
Pour the rest of the water while continuously stirring. Heat on medium-high temperature until it's creamy and thick. Pour more water if necessary. 


Enjoy :)


Variations
With vanilla: add 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence at the beginning. 
With cinnamon: add 1 tsp of cinnamon at the beginning.
With mint: add a few drops of mint essence to the mixture at the end. 
With chilli: add a little chilli powder to the mixture at the beginning. Be careful not to overdose it.

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: enjoy as is.
Gluten intolerance: enjoy as is.
Paleo: enjoy as is.

Coconut & Apricot Balls

The easiest treat ever! It's also gluten free, dairy free, nut free, sugar free, vegan and paleo. And yummy :)

Ingredients
300g dried apricot
desiccated coconut + some extra for rolling in
2 tbsp water or rose water


Place apricots in a food processor for a few minutes until chopped finely. Add water or rose water, then add coconut. Once combined well, scoop out a small portion using a tea spoon and roll into a small ball. Finally, roll in coconut. 
Alternatively, you can roll out and slice it to little squares. 
Store in fridge.


Enjoy :)

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: enjoy as is.
Gluten intolerance: enjoy as is.
Paleo: enjoy as is.

Chocolate Covered Marzipan Balls

Do you think it is hard to make marzipan? Not at all. It needs almond meal, water, rose water - and sugar.
Well, we don't eat sugar but there is a healthier solution.

Ingredients
150g blanched almond meal
100g xylitol
1 tbsp rose water
1 tbsp almond essence
100g 85% dark chocolate (eg. Lindt)


For the coating you will need toothpicks, aluminium foil and flat polystyrene. 


With a blender or a coffee grinder grind xylitol into a fine powder, the same consistency as icing sugar.
In a big bowl, mix almond meal and icing xylitol with rose water and almond essence and make a dough.
Take a teaspoon full of the dough and between your palms form a ball. Repeat it until all the dough is gone. Keep the balls in the freezer while you melt the chocolate but no longer.


Chop the chocolate roughly. On low temperature melt half of the chocolate. Remove from the heat then stir the rest of the chocolate in it. Leave it to melt.
Cover a flat polystyrene with aluminium foil. Stick a toothpick into a marzipan ball and swirl it around in the chocolate so that it's totally covered. Shake it a bit before you stick it into the polystyrene, so you won't waste too much chocolate. If the balls are cold enough, the chocolate will be hard very quickly. 
Once done, repeat till all your marzipan balls are covered with chocolate.

You should see something like this

If it's needed, place the balls into the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
When the chocolate coating is hard, you can cover the balls in coloured aluminium foil. 


Alternatively, you can roll the marzipan balls in Dutch (or raw) cocoa powder instead of the chocolate.  


Enjoy :)

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: make sure to use dairy free chocolate.
Gluten intolerance: make sure to use gluten free chocolate.
Paleo: make sure to use dairy, gluten and soy free chocolate with high cocoa mass content. 

Home made Raffaello

It's so easy to make it at home! And, I think it's also healthier than the original. Let's see what the ingredients are in the shop version: 

Ingredients: Desiccated Coconut (23.5%), Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Skim Milk Powder, Vegetable Fats, Whole Almond (8%), Wheat Flour, Whey Powder, Flavourings, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Rye Flour, Raising Agent (Sodium Bicarbonate), Salt. "Contains milk, almonds, gluten, soy"

So people with dairy or gluten intolerance cannot eat Raffaello. Unlike my home made version :)


Ingredients


1 jar (200ml) home made coconella 
approx. 16 almonds, blanched
desiccated coconut 


Put a teaspoon of coconella into your hand and place the almond into the centre. 
Bring together the outer edges. Make sure that the almond is covered completely, then roll in between your palms to form a nice ball. 
Put desiccated coconut in a small bowl and roll the coconut balls in it one at a time. 
Store them under 20 C. 

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: enjoy as is.
Gluten intolerance: enjoy as is.
Paleo: enjoy as is.

Coconella - coconut spread with vanilla

I always read product labels. Not only because of the ingredients I want to avoid but also because I might be able to make it at home myself.
I saw coconut spread the very first time at the local health food store. I was interested but found it quite dear. I read the label - and put it back to the shelf. So easy!

With paleo banana bread

Ingredients
200g desiccated coconut
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp honey or light agave nectar 
approx. 3-4 tbsp coconut oil, melted


Put desiccated coconut into a food processor and chop for about 5 minutes. Add coconut oil, vanilla paste, honey or agave and chop for another 1-2 minutes. It should be a smooth spread. You can add more coconut oil, if necessary. 


Coconut spread can be use the same way as Nutella: you can put in cakes or eat with bread. 
Or, you can make the most delicious, home made Bounty or Raffaello :)


Enjoy :)

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: enjoy as is.
Gluten intolerance: enjoy as is.
Paleo: enjoy as is.

Orange and almond cake

Despite of being a Jewish recipe this cake is widely and well known in Australia or at least, I should say in Sydney.
Nowadays, when more and more people are effected by some kind of  food allergy, mainly gluten or dairy, there is a strong demand in cafés to have healthy alternatives.  
This cake is a perfect choice: gluten AND dairy free. I changed just a little bit of the original recipe to make it even sugar free.
I have made it a couple of times in the last few weeks and it was always a huge success. It is moist, not too sweet and has a beautiful colour.

Ingredients
2 Navel oranges (it doesn't have seeds)
6 eggs
250g (2 and a half cups) almond meal (from blanched almond)
100g xylitol
50g Natvia (which is mixture of stevia and erythritol)
1 tsp baking powder

Wash oranges and place unpeeled in a pot of boiling water for 2 hours. Don't forget to top up the water as it will evaporate. Change the water after 1 hour. 

Drain the water and allow the oranges to cool. This can be done ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Break 6 eggs into a mixing bowl or blender. Add xylitol and Natvia and blend together.
Chop the two unpeeled oranges in a food processor to achieve a smooth consistency. Add it to the egg mix then blend together. Add the almond meal and baking powder and blend.

Lay baking paper into a  20 cm spring form baking pan.

Pour batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden brown.

Enjoy :)

As an Easter cake, dusted with icing Xylitol

If you bake it as mini muffins, you'll have approx. 40 muffins.

Variations for wellbeing

Dairy intolerance: enjoy as is.
Gluten intolerance: enjoy as is.
Paleo: enjoy as is.