Tag Archives: raw

Banana Cookie Dough Blizzard

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Do I have to say more?

You can’t imagine how excited I was when I thought about my own twist on the traditional blizzard. Big chunks of cookie dough. A creamy base made from frozen bananas and even more cookie dough. Heaven.

I’ve had some trouble to explain to my not American friends what a blizzard actually is though! Might have been the hardest part of making my own blizzard (you see, making your own blizzard is really easy!). I started to describe it as something like a milkshake with big chunks of something, like cookie dough! The consistence is somewhere between soft serve and milkshake. It’s a little to thick for a milkshake and the cookie dough chunks are a little too big for a milkshake. It is a… well, a blizzard! (That was the point where I just gave my friend a blizzard for test tasting. He liked it.)

It’s that good. I had it for breakfast…

Banana Cookie Dough Blizzard
2-3 servings 

  • 3-4 frozen bananas, very ripe
  • about 2 tbsp Almond milk
  • 1/2 batch cookie dough

Put the frozen bananas in your blender or food processor.  Process bananas, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. (When you make this in a vita-mix, use the tamper). Finally, add some cookie dough and process until combined. (I used about 6 cookie dough balls. It depends on the size of your cookie dough balls though. Use as many as you like!). You should have a soft serve type consistency when done. If think the mixture is still to think, add some almond milk and process again. Pour the blizzard into a glass and stir in your desired amount of crumbled cookie dough. Crumble some cookie dough on top, too!  Serve your homemade blizzard with a spoon.

I never thought making my own blizzard could be that easy!

All the cookie dough goodness!

On a personal note: I created a facebook page for this blog and I’d be glad if you like it! =)

All lovin’ no oven!

23 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Who doesn’t love cookie dough? I mean, seriously! I never quite understood why some people actually bake cookie dough! As I didn’t grow up with cookie dough treats, I’ve told you about my excitement when found out about cookie dough ice cream before…

And isn’t cookie dough the most playful food ever? You make any shape from dough, using your hands or cookie cutters and eating half of the dough while doing so…

Yes, you can do really exciting, creative shapes… or you can just form balls like I did. Yummy, rich, buttery cookie dough balls. Not your average cookie dough though! This is a healthier, almost raw version! But as delicious.

RAW Cookie dough 

  • 2/3 cup cashews
  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 2 tbsp agave
  • 1 tbsp whole cane sugar (for the typical cookie dough flavor. Can be replaced by brown cane sugar or more agave)
  • dash natural vanilla powder or a piece of a vanilla bean
  • optional: chocolate chips

Put all the ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a heavy duty blender (use the tamper) or a food processor and mix. Once all the ingredients are combined, you can either add chocolate chips by hand or put them in your blender / food processor and mix for a few more seconds.
Form the cookie dough into any shape you like. Don’t forget test tasting!

Want something more special? What about cookie dough banana sandwiches?

Trust me, it’s a perfect combination.

It’s delicious. Take care. You might have to share. Maybe double the batch? You could also dip either the cookie dough balls or the sandwiches in chocolate! (I wasn’t feeling like chocolate though. Plain cookie dough is as good as the chocolate ship version though!)
And stash some bananas away! There will be a new twist on banana ice cream later this week…

RAW Frozen Hot Chocolate – Serendipity in a glass

19 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Finally, summer arrived where I live! We have a few really hot days right now, and I am happy to enjoy them with my exams being over by now!

And the best part: hot summer days are the perfect time for frozen treats!!!
Delicious frozen treats melting away in your mouth… or in your hands, if you don’t eat them fast enough!

So, I have some really exciting news: RAW frozen hot chocolate!
Do you know Serendipity in New York? It might be the one place every chocoholic has to visit once in their life… Long ago, I tried some from a chocoholic friend and I had to admit that it was really delicious! In fact, I’d have loved to eat (or drink?) one myself… if it was not winter. I am a cold blain, I would have been cold all day! But know it’s summer! I could have a frozen hot chocolate! Okay, New York is  not close and Serendipity is not vegan… so… I make my own frozen hot chocolate! A RAW vegan frozen hot chocolate! However, frozen hot chocolate always reminds of New York City. So that’s why I put the little statue of liberty next to it!

Making your own frozen hot chocolate is easier then you might think! Your freezer does most of the work…

RAW Frozen Hot Chocolate

  • 50g (just under half a cup) Cashews
  • 50g (just under 1/2  a cup) Almonds
  • 450ml (2 cups) water
  • 3-4 tbsp cocoa powder
  • stevia, agave syrup or any other sweetener to taste
  • tiny dash of salt
  • 2 tbsp nut milk (store bought or just keep a few tbsp from the nut milk you will make for this recipe)

Put the nuts, water, cocoa and salt in a blender an mix. Strain the milk through a nut milk bag (a laundry bag, a cheese cloths or even a kitchen towel works, too! I always use a laundry bag!) This is like heavy chocolate cream made from nuts! Sweeten the milk. It should be slightly oversweetend, the finished product will be less sweet. Put in ice cube trays, ice cube bags or flat containers and freeze! Once it’s frozen, put the ice cubes in your blender (your blender should be able to crush ice), add 2 tbsp nut milk and mix again! I used a vita-mix and pushed the mixture into the knives with the tamper. This will yield the best results… however, I guess this will also word with any blender that can crush ice!

You will be rewarded with the most delicious frozen hot chocolate ever.

 

All right… this is serious food porn. It’s as delicious as it looks, I promise! It’s rich but not too heavy. And it’s healthy! Plus it’s a nice change to all those banana soft serve treats… (I do like bananas. But I don’t want everything to taste like bananas!)

 

Talking about frozen treats melting away…
As I found out, it’s really not easy to take photos of a frozen treat when it’s about 100 degrees and you don’t have an air conditioner… I would have loved to take more photos… to play around… but the Frozen Hot Chocolate had to be eaten before it melted, I hope you understand!

Make dough, not war!

16 Thursday Aug 2012

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Once upon a time, there was a war torn kingdom. The greedy king always wanted more land, more treasures. But when his soldiers came to the land of raw dough…

 

The land of raw dough was different though. There were no treasures they could fight for. But there were fearful figures like…

 

… rabbits. Yes. Don’t laugh. Compared to a lego figure, it is big. If you met a rabbit that’s bigger than you, you’d probably be afraid, too!

 

Once our little soldiers noticed that the rabbit wasn’t as dangerous as they thought, there was no reason to fight anymore. The rabbit was made from dough, after all. As everything else in this country. So, what to do?

 

Well, isn’t it obvious? Make dough, not war! Have your dough and eat it, too…

Raw dough
– The basic two ingredients recipe! 

  • 1 cup dates
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • optional: vanilla powder and / or cinnamon OR Indian Chai spice
  • optional: cocoa powder

This is as easy as it could be… first, grind the walnuts in your food processor or heavy duty blender (I use a blender). Once, they are powdered, put in the dates and mix until the mixture turns into a smooth dough! If you are using a blender, you have to push everything down with your tamper. It will only take about 3 minutes (or less, if your kitchen is more tidy than mine…) and you will have delicious raw dough! Form into balls… or use cookie cutters for any other shape!

Don’t ask about the rabbit. I just like rabbits, that’s all. I came up with this recipe while learning for my exams. I have a friend who always tells me to eat walnut when I have to learn. They are supposed to be good for your brain. Sounds reasonable. They look like brains, after all. So I decided to make a delicious raw dough from walnuts and dates. Brain food!

I added cocoa powder to one half of my dough. Both versions turned out great! I rolled some of the balls in sesame, some were dipped into self made chocolate and some were left plain.

Self made chocolate?

  • 1 tablespoon native coconut oil
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • about 10 drops stevia (or 2 packets)

Melt the coconut oil, stir in the cocoa powder and stevia – that’s it. Life can be so easy.

Here’s the three versions I made.

 

And here are some more scenes from the land of raw dough…

 

even the evil knight preferred dough over war…

 

One more. Just because I like it.

Wicked Spaghetti

21 Saturday Jul 2012

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Green spaghetti! Homemade. Raw. And… did I mention green? Greenified?

All right, I have some Wicked songs stuck to my head. The musical.

Doesn’t the witch look like Elphaba? And those noodles come from Emerald City…

“One short day in the Emerald City…”

“Defying Gravity!” But I gonna have some noodles first!

I know, the idea to make zucchini noodles is not new. What you need to know: you don’t need a special spiral vegetable cutter. A simple potato peeler will do the job. And it’s much less expensive!

Raw Spaghetti

  • half a zucchini
  • one big carrot

That’s it. Just peel them with the potato peeler. And don’t stop until nothing is left anymore.

Toppings

Cashew Cheese Topping

Mix one or two hand Cashews in your food processor. Add one or two dried tomatoes, a dash of salt and some pepper. Stir in some herbs, like basil, thyme and oregano.

Spaghetti aglio olio

Mix one or two tbs native olive oil with salt, pepper, half a squeezed clove of garlic and herbs like basil and oregano.

Avocado Spaghetti

Mix one avocado with some lime or lemon juice, salt, pepper and (optional) some granulated garlic.

If you don’t necessary what it raw, you could also mix some vegan cream cheese with hot water!

Put seeds like sesame, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin (…) on top of your spaghetti! You could also add some nutritional yeast, it will taste like parmesan!