March 2015

I have always found it very interesting to observe how different people react on new things, when they hear great news, new opportunities arises or something good happens. Some go openly bonkers screaming and jumping from happiness, some start panicing and turn the good thing into something scary and intimidating and some swallow their joy and let just a slight smile escape through their lips even though they are dancing and moshing inside.

And then there are people like me who´s natural reaction for something good is to bake a cake. (After the going-publicly-bonkers-phase.) For me a cake represents a deep and intense joy and something ultimately festive. The whole procedure including designing, cooking, eating, food styling and photographing a cake is something that my soul finds very relaxing, joyous and gratifying. For me creating a cake is art on it´s best.

This weekend I have been celebrating with this phenomenal Stracciatella Chocolate Cake that was my reaction to one magnificent news I received on friday. It is born from pure happiness and bliss. When I served the cake people were just chewing it in total silence for a while, then they took a deep sigh and bursted into a praise. Like music to my ears.

I´m not going to tell just yet what was the thing that inspired me to make this super tasty and creamy and luscious piece of work, that I will announce tomorrow on my social media channels (Instagram & Facebook). Now I just wanted to share my happiness in the form of this cake and wish it can pass on some of my great mood and love to all of you!

V

STRACCIATELLA CHOCOLATE CAKE

Cake:

• ½ cup coconut flour
• ½ cup almond flour
• ½ cup raw cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp psyllium husk
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• ½ cup oat milk
• 6 organic eggs
• 5 tbsp organic honey or coconut palm syrup
• 5 tbsp cup coconut palm sugar

Filling:

• about 5 tbsp almond butter

Stracciatella filling:

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk (refrigerated overnight)
• ½ tsp vanilla powder
• 1 tbsp organic honey or coconut syrup
• 5 tbsp raw cacao nibs

  On top:
  grated raw chocolate

The pan diameter: 18 cm / 7 inches.

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit or 175 Celsius degrees. Grease the cake tin with coconut oil and cover the bottom with a piece of parchment paper so that the cake is easier to remove later.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat the eggs in another bowl with honey and coconut sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes). Mix the dry ingredients and egg foam. Stir in the oat milk.

Pour the batter into the cake tin. Bake in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. (In the meantime prepare the filling). Take the cake tin out from the oven and let the cake cool. Remove the cake from the pan and if necessary, help gently with a knife.

Stracciatella filling:

Take the coconut milk cans out of the fridge. Open the cans and remove all the solid coconut cream and scoop it into a bowl. Mix cream in a bowl with beaters until fluffy. Mix in honey or syrup, vanilla and cacao nibs. If the mixture gets too runny, place it in the refrigerator for a while.

Assembly:
Cut the cake in two parts. Spread almond butter on top of the first layer. Then add stracciatella filling. Add the second layer on top and spread stracciatella filling also on top of the cake. Decorate the cake by sprinkling on some grated raw chocolate. Serve and enjoy!

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Who ordered a super tasty grain-free and yeast-free pizza? Hold your tablecloths! Here comes your waitress with so jaunty dance moves that even the pale white pizza on my tray almost blushes.

But what can you do when you have created something so tasty and phenomenal – A delicious white pizza that is build on a gluten-free, yeast-free and vegan pizza crust and which is one amazing combination of a crispy pizza and and a rich savory pie – with a hint of flaky mouthfeel to it. It is simply a hit!

I first planned to post it on friday, which is a classcial pizza day, but then thought, screw that, I´m probably going to make it on every evening this week so I must give others the opportunity to do that also. And preparing this “pizza pie” takes less than 20 minutes so you could actually make it even on your lunch break.

And wait, before you run to buy the pizza ingredients I want to highlight also these two gluten-free Vanelja Pizzas, that you could also find interesting:

Butternut Squash and Sage Pizza

Cauliflower Pizza

Try these out and find your favorite!

V

WHITE PIZZA

Crust:

• 2 tbsp chia seeds + ½ cup water (or 2 organic eggs)
• 1 ¼ cup almond meal
• ½ cup potato starch
• 2 tbsp psyllium husk
• a pinch of salt
• ½ cup olive oil

Filling:

• 5 oz mozzarella
• 5 tbsp feta cheese
• about 3 sliced artichoke hearts
• about 5 cooked green bean
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• green olives
• black pepper
• dried herbs

On top:

• Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit/200 Celsius degrees. Mix water and chia seeds in in a small bowl and set aside for about 5 minutes. In the meantime put all the other ingredients into a bowl and mix. Add the chia seed mixture (or 2 eggs) and stir. Place the dough on a parchment lined baking paper and press or roll the crust to be about half an inch in width. Bake for about 12 minutes or just until the crust starts to become a very light golden brown. Take out from the oven, add the toppings and put back for about 5 more minutes, or until the cheese is well melted. Take out from the oven, sprinkle some olive oil on top, serve and enjoy!

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These last days I have been so grateful for all the feedback and daily messages that I am receiving from the people who have bought my KIITOS HYVÄÄ -cook book (in Finnish) and who have cooked something that has blown their mind away and taken them to healthy treats heaven. That is absolutely the best thing for me as a cook book author. To success to inspire and give new ideas for clean eating. And to read, hear and see the reaction of the people when they notice how good, let´s say for example a raw blueberry cheese cake or raspberry candy sticks can taste or how delicious a Cherry Garcia ice cream made mainly from hemp seeds, raw chocolate and honey can be!

After my book was published in December it has been the best selling cook book (for 3 months already!) for example in this Finnish online book store. And that is beyond amazing! It says clearly that people are tired of that shabby, shitty and bloated feeling they get from the traditional pastries, and that they want to feel good not only when they are dropping that piece of cake into their mouths but also afterwards. And no-one wants to give up their pleasures and sweet treats! And actually no-one has to, you just have to pick better ingredients and maybe learn few new tricks.

At the moment I´m looking for a publisher in the US and in Europe so that I could get the book in other languages also, for aaaall you people with sweet n clean cravings out there! Many of you have been asking for an English version, and I also heard a funny rumor that such would be published any day soon. But as far as I know it is not happening just yet, although I took it as a sign, so maybe in the near future it will be not just a rumor but also reality. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime I will share one of the most loved recipes from the book – Sea Salt Toffee Candies aka Nut Butter Toffee! We also made a video of them sponsored by the great nu3.fi. CHECK IT OUT!

And because all the feedback that I have received from these I really have to give a word of caution: These golden cuties seem to be truly addictive stuff. They are super easy to make and they taste delicious. Before you notice you´ll be making another batch. And another, and another.
Regardless, please do try!

V

SEA SALT TOFFEE CANDIES

Approx. 15 pieces

• ½ cup of almonds and / or walnuts
• ½ cup of local organic honey
• 1 cup unsweetened almond butter or nut butter
• 2 tbsp grated coconut /coconut flakes
• a pinch of sea salt

Chop the nuts/almonds into small pieces, for example with a blender and set aside. Pour the honey into a pan and heat it on the stove over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to foam. After stirring the foaming honey for about 5 minutes, turn the heat low and add the almond or nut butter. Stir the mixture until it begins to thicken slightly. Remove immediately from the heat and add the chopped almonds/nuts and coconut flakes. Blend quickly until it becomes a smooth paste. Place the warm mixture into silicone molds or into a tin lined with baking paper. Smooth the surface and sprinkle sea salt lightly on top. Allow to cool and set in the fridge before slicing small pieces with a knife. Wrapped candies can be stored in the fridge. Eat within a couple of weeks.

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Everything easygoing feels now very tempting. Or maybe those kind of things always attract me like a light bulb attracts the fly. Light-hearted, bright and laid-back essence just feels the right way to be. Ask for example from golden retrievers, daisies or from these carefree little blondies!

So the recipe of the day is called Flourless blondies, Flourless Chickpea Blondies, to be exact.

Once again, a surprise ingredient! Peas. But you´d never guess by the delicious taste what they are actually made of. And that is because they get their genius side kick from banana, almond butter, honey and vanilla extract and maybe, if you will, from a pinch of cinnamon too. So good, I promise!

And I love the way how they are super easy to make, just blend all ingredients in a blender, pour into a pan and bake. Ta-daa! And the whole procedure takes less that 30 minutes from the moment you start having cravings until the moment you pop them out from the oven. My kind of darlings!

And speaking of darlings, I would love you to be one too and vote my blog at Saveur magazine´s annual food blog awards, in case you like my recipes, photos and videos or find this page inspiring! Nominations close on March 13 so you´ll have two more days to vote. Getting nominated would mean a lot to my work.

Thank you and have a lovely and light-hearted rest of the week!

V

FLOURLESS CHICKPEA BLONDIES

The dish size: about 8 x 6 inch or 20 x 15 cm

• 1 can (1 ⅓ cups) chickpeas, rinsed & drained
• ¼ cup almond butter (or nut butter or seed butter)
• 5 tbsp organic honey (or 5 fresh dates)
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (+ 0,5 ts cinnamon if you like)
• a pinch of salt
• ¼ cup raw cacao nibs or grated raw chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit / 175 Celsius degrees. Grease the pan or use baking paper. Add all the ingredients, except the raw cacao nibs into a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth dough. Stir in cocoa nibs and pour the batter into the pan. Bake for about 20 minutes until the sides get a nice light brown color. Allow to cool, serve and enjoy!

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Sunny summer greetings from the grey and rainy Finland! You dear blogger is totally in shining summer vibes here even though the weather gives us no reason to actually celebrate just yet.

The cause of my mental summer trip is that I´m preparing here one super nice surprise for you guys for the upcoming spring and summer. So inspired by that I have taken kind of a head start here, wearing floral pants, eating ice-cream and all that.

And speaking of ice-cream. I found this old recipe which is actually one of my most loved vegan ice-cream recipes that is maybe familiar to some of my Finnish readers who followed my old blog. Because it is truly a crime to hold this delicious recipe for myself I decided to put it online again and translate it of course also to english.

So here they are, my super delicious vegan ice-cream pops that are easily made with only just 3 ingredients. And when you add just a few bonus seasonings you´ll get yourself a really luxurious treat. I recommend to try them in both ways!

V

DAIRY-FREE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM POPS

1.Easy Ice Cream Pops:

(About 3 ice pops)

Ice-cream:

• 2 large ripe bananas
• 2 heaping tbsp almond butter or nut butter (for example peanut butter)
• 2 tbsp raw cacao nibs

Puree the bananas and peanut butter in a blender. Add cacao nibs and mix gently. Pour the mixture into ice pop molds and freeze. When the ice pops are frozen remove the molds. Serve and enojy!

2.Luxury Ice Cream Pops:

(About 5 ice cream)

Ice cream:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 heaping tablespoons almond butter or nut butter (for example peanut butter)
• a small handful of almonds
• ½ tsp vanilla powder
• 1 tbsp coconut syrup
• About ¼ cup oat milk (or almond milk or coconut milk)
• 2 tbsp raw cacao nibs

Chocolate frosting:

• ¼ cup raw cocoa mass
• 2 tbsp cold-pressed coconut oil
• 1 tbsp honey or coconut syrup
• a pinch of sea salt

(Or use melted raw chocolate or sugar-free dark chocolate for frosting)

On top:

• Crushed nuts or almonds or coconut flakes

Add bananas, peanut butter, almonds and a little bit of water into a blender. Puree until smooth. Do not add too much water so that the mixture does not become too runny, because then the ice cream can become grainy. Add honey or stevia, vanilla and raw cacao nibs. Stir softly. Pour the mixture into ice pop molds and freeze. When the ice pops are frozen prepare the chocolate frosting. Melt the cocoa mass and coconut oil in a warm water bath. Add syrup and salt. Stir. Take the ice creams out of their molds and frost them with chocolate. Sprinkle on some nut crust. Serve right away or store in the freezer.

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