3 Healthy Valentine’s Day Recipes
Spoil your loved ones with these nourishing and not-so-naughty sweet treats for Valentine’s Day.
Teresa Cutter shows you how to treat your loved one this Valentine’s Day, without the guilt. Unlike traditional chocolate recipes that use butter, cream and added sugar, these purely delicious recipes use healthy wholefood ingredients your body loves, and are high in antioxidants for the ultimate chocolate indulgence.
RAW MYLK CHOCOLATE
Makes 2 sheets of chocolate.
125 ml (4 ½ fl oz / 1/2 cup) melted cacao butter*
185 g (6 oz / 1/2 cup) cashew butter, room temperature
60 g (2 oz / ½ cup) raw cacao powder
2 tablespoons organic maple syrup or raw honey
½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
pinch of sea salt
Garnish
roasted or activated hazelnuts
freeze-dried raspberries
Combine melted cacao butter and cashew butter in a bowl.
Mix well using a small whisk until the cashew butter is emulsified into the cacao butter.
Add cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt.
Mix well using your small whisk for about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy.
Pour onto 2 sheets of baking paper that you’ve layered out onto a marble slab, baking tray or bench top.
Smooth out the top of the chocolate, just enough to form wafers, but not too thin.
Decorate with your choice of roasted hazelnuts, freeze-dried raspberries or other yummy superfoods such as flaked coconut or bee pollen.
Cool at room temperature until set. To set the chocolate quicker, just pop it onto a lined tray and into the fridge until set.
* Notes and Inspiration Place finely chopped cacao butter into a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Stir slowly until melted. Use carob in place of cacao if necessary.
RAW CHOCOLATE CAKE
This delicious no-bake, one-bowl cake is bursting with feel-good nutrients and powerful superfoods. The perfect cake to make on Valentine’s Day or any special occasion for the ultimate guilt-free chocolate indulgence.’
What’s great about it
Walnuts are a delicious source of omega-3s which are critical for good heart health. They are also high in the amino acid tryptophan which helps to make serotonin – the feel good hormone responsible for feelings of wellbeing and happiness. Cacao is also rich in a compound called resveratrol, the same that’s found in red wine. Resveretrol helps to control inflammation and protects your brain as well as calm the nervous system. Research also suggests that resveratrol can support mental health by increasing the brain’s production of feel-good endorphins and serotonin. Dates are rich in vitamin B6, B5, niacin, magnesium, manganese, copper and potassium, all the important nutrients needed for a healthy metabolism.
Cake
500 g (16 oz) raw walnuts
4 heaped tablespoons raw cacao
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
20 fresh medjool dates, pitted
zest from 1 orange + a little juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting
2 ripe avocados, skin and stone removed
6 fresh dates, pitted or ¼ cup organic maple syrup
½ cup cacao powder
60 ml (2 fl oz / 1/4cup) water or almond milk
60 ml (2 fl oz / 1/4cup) cold-pressed coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract
pinch of sea salt
Combine walnuts, cocoa powder, cinnamon and sea salt.
Process until ground and add dates, orange zest and vanilla.
Process again until combined and spoon into a mixing bowl.
Add the juice of half to one orange then mix through until combined.
Press cake into a 15 cm (6 inches) small round baking tin – spring form is the best. I normally line the cake tin with baking paper or plastic wrap first so I can easily remove the cake afterwards.
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Remove cake from the tin.
Combine chocolate frosting ingredients together in a high speed blender until creamy.
Spread over the cake and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
+ Notes and Inspiration Fold through freeze dried raspberries before pressing into the cake tin.
SPELT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
If you ever need a staple cookie for those impromptu moments when friends drop in, this is the recipe to make! They are the perfect combination of sweet and nutty, as well as being low in refined sugar.
Makes 24
125 g (4 oz / ½ cup) soft butter
2 tablespoons coconut sugar or unrefined brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 organic egg, room temperature
120 g (4 ¼ oz / 1 cup) wholemeal spelt flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
225 g (7 ¾ oz / 1 ½ cups) chopped pecan nuts
250 g good quality 70 per cent dark eating chocolate, cut into chunks.
Preheat your oven to 160°C fan-forced (320°F).
Combine butter, sugar and vanilla into a mixing bowl fitted to a stand mixer.
Beat well for 10 minutes with the paddle attachment until light and creamy.
Add egg and mix through until combined.
Combine spelt flour and baking powder then add to creamed butter and mix through lightly.
Add pecan nuts and chocolate then mix through until combined.
Spoon out the cookie dough onto a lined baking paper.
Roll out roughly into a large log then place into the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Remove from the fridge and divide the dough into portions.
Form into cookies and arrange onto a serving tray lined with baking paper, leaving room between each one
for spreading.
Bake for 30 minutes until golden.
Remove from the oven and cool.
+ Notes and Inspiration Use walnuts in place of pecans. Add the zest of 1 orange when beating the butter for a touch of citrus flavour.
All recipes are from Teresa Cutter’s new cookbook, Healthy Baking.
