Black Forest Cookie Tarts topped with Greek Yogurt

These tarts were an absolutely delight. If you love chocolate with fruit, this is your kind of dessert! The cookie crust is what makes it extra fun. They are completely grain-free and are even topped with healthy greek yogurt instead of whipped cream!

cherry immersion

pretty please! with a cherry on top?

Crust:
1 cup almonds, ground
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp honey
Salt

Filling:
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (melted)
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp honey (or more to taste)

Fresh cherries, halved
Greek yogurt (add honey to sweeten)

Combine ingredients for crust, spoon into muffin tin, pat around the sides until tart/cookie cup is formed, bake 350F for 8-10 minutes.

Mix filling ingredients, pour into cooled cookie tart crusts, drop 2 cherry halves into filling. Refrigerate until filling set (a few hours). Once set, spoon greek yogurt over tarts and top with cherries and cocoa powder!

Makes 6 sweet little tarts!

The yogurt looks exactly like whipped cream!

You could make so many different kinds of tarts with this recipe! Try substituting the cherries for bananas or making a chocolate chip cookies crust by subbing flour for the cocoa powder.

Choco-Peanut Butter Banana Puddings! (No cook + vegan!)

These were kind of made by fluke. We originally set out to make whipped coconut cream that was sturdy enough to stand on its own. But since we didn't have an electric beater, I beat it by hand with a whisk. It worked! We didn't have the stiff peaks we wanted, but the billowy cream was perfect for puddings!

We were melting chocolate for delicious (and vegan!) Black Forest tarts (recipe posted soon). So we added that in along with some coconut sugar and peanut butter and presto - pudding!

1 can full fat coconut milk, whipped with whisk to best of ability
3 tbsp coconut sugar
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate
Dash of vanilla
Dash of salt
Bananas and chocolate chips for decoration

Whip coconut milk (we used Thai Kitchen and believe it to be the best brand to use to make whipped cream, all the others seemed a little pulpy). Take out 4 ramekins or small containers. Fill each to the rim with pudding mixture. Place in fridge to cool and set (overnight preferably but a few hours would do fine too.) We decorated ours to look like mice (originally they were supposed to be bears but just ended up looking more mousy, we added tails made out of chocolate chips and peanuts!)

 

These would be perfect for kids, not that we're saying adults can't eat these too, I mean who doesn't love adorable puddings.

Moroccan Granola

Jenn and I absolutely LOVE these flavours together! We were inspired by our Pistachio Orange No-Bake cookies which is probably our favourite no-bake treat we've ever made. It actually came to me in a dream oddly enough! So it must be good right?

If you haven't tried orange with pistachio, you definitely should! Either by making this moroccan inspired granola or Pistachio-Orange No-Bake cookies. We also have delicious and creamy Moroccan Tahini Balls featured in our Simple Sweets ebook. 

2 cups large flaked oats
1/2 cup shredded medium coconut
1/3 cup good quality honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup sesame seeds
5-6 chopped medjool dates (or 12 cooking dates)
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
Dash of salt
Zest of 1 orange

Mix all ingredients together, spread evenly onto parchment lined tray. Bake 350F for 30 minutes or until golden. Stir twice throughout baking. Once done, let cool. Store in jars or ziploc bag! Goes great with greek yogurt or on sliced bananas and oranges!

 

 The best part about this granola is you get those big granola-y chunks!

Snickerdoodles + Beneficial Drinks!

Snickerdoodles have always been an enigma for us. Our mom never made them when we were kids, I only had my first snicker doodle at a Christmas party last year. I guess it's more of an American thing? I'm not quite sure why lol.

Anyways if you haven't tried these cinnamon-y delights, it's high time you do!

The thing with these cookies is you probably already have everything you need in your cupboard, no special, or expensive ingredients.

I used whole wheat flour, but you could use spelt, or a gluten-free flour as well! Check out our gluten-free blend formula here, it seems to magically work in any baked good we put it in so I'm positive it will work perfectly here.

The recipe was inspired by Oh She Glows, but as always we adjusted a few things willy nilly such as adding both brown and regular sugars, as well as subbing Earth Balance butter for coconut oil, and using an egg-egg instead of a flax egg.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar (this gives them their "signature" texture)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp evaporated cane juice
1/3 cup + 1 tsp organic brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut oil, semi-melted
1 tsp vanilla

Cinnamon sugar (cinnamon and evaporated cane juice, for rolling)

Melt coconut oil, cream with sugar, vanilla and egg. Add flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and cinnamon. Stir until combined into a cookie dough. Shape into 1.5 inch balls, roll in cinnamon sugar and flatten with palm on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 375F for 10-12 minutes (12 if you want it crispier). Makes 20 cookies!

These cookies are really crunchy if you're a crispy cookie fan as opposed to chewy. I find most homemade cookie recipes end up chewy for me for some reason, but these are anything but., and the cinnamon sugar makes a hard candy coating, Jenn and I ate a whole plate in one day…how else would you behave around homemade cookies. 

……..

These drinks you see below are indeed, Apple Cider Vinegar drinks. When we eat something sugary such as an entire plate of cookies...it's always good to be mindful of balancing your glycemic index so that, you won't reach for even more sugar and just to alkalize and balance your whole system. 

There's a bunch of ways to do this, protein powder (mellows sugar spike), probiotics (eats harmful bacteria that multiplies when you eat sugar, therefore balancing PH- or something like that :P), and Apple cider vinegar! Which is our favourite way to combat that junk food hangover feeling, and to just generally help you feel a little more balanced. (It's all the things you want in your body: anti-viral, anti-bacteria, anti-inflammatory, ant-acid! Just…it's good for you.)

But despite how good it is for you, it's kind of a pain to drink, hence vinegar. But we've found a way to make it totally delicious!

2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar (unfiltered)

3-4 cups water

Pinch of stevia, to taste (I like a lot of stevia, some people only like a little bit)

Dash of cinnamon OR grated ginger

Shake up, and store in fridge for 3-4 days. 

Basically you can add in anything that goes well with apple and it will taste pretty darn good. And I find if I make a bunch of these they're always ready to drink and it just makes you think about one less thing in your day. 

Left: Ginger…. Right: Cinnamon