Chocolate Archives - Enhance What's YoursEnhance What's Yours

Posted on November 12, 2014

Flourless Chocolate Cake

recipes

Since my homemade Nutella recipe did so well, I decided to share another healthy chocolate treat for you. This flourless chocolate cake is rich, fudgy and free from refined sugars and flour . It only takes 5-ingredients to make and it’s definitely more decent than most cakes out there!

So here’s what you need…

Ingredients:

110g baking chocolate
3 whole eggs
105g coconut oil, melted
20g cocoa powder
255g of honey

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 190C and then grease a 8″ pan with coconut oil.
Put the chocolate in a safe-oven bowl and melt in the microwave until completely smooth.
Combine the melted chocolate with the cocoa powder, honey and eggs and then whisk well until you have a smooth batter forms.
Pour the batter into the greased pan, and then smoothen the top of it with a spatula.
Bake at 190C for 20-25 minutes. Once the centre looks firm, remove it from the oven and then allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
Remove the sides and allow to cool completely before serving.
Enjoy!

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Posted on November 5, 2014

Homemade Nutella

How To/ recipes

All you Nutella fans are probably reading this with disgust and thinking ‘How could any homemade chocolate spread compare to the one you buy in the shop – especially to Nutella.‘

Believe it or not, it is possible to find a good recipe for a homemade chocolate spread that tastes even remotely like the store-bought stuff. If you ever dared to search for a recipe online, you’d find that there are more than just a few floating around the net that don’t quite cut it.

This recipe however, is probably the closest you’d get to the real stuff and best of all, it is dairy-free and refined sugar-free too!

What you’ll need:

225g hazelnuts
120g coconut sugar
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp cocoa powder
6 – 8 tbsp water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 150C, then arrange the hazelnuts on a lined and rimmed baking tray.
Toast the nuts for about 20 minutes and once the skins begin to crack, remove from heat and allow to cool.
Remove as much skin from the nuts by rubbing them in a clean kitchen towel – don’t worry if you don’t manage to get it all off!
Put the peeled nuts in a food processor and then process until creamy. You can stop to scrape down the sides if needs be.
Once you have a smooth butter (usually takes about 5 – 6 minutes with a decent food processor), add the coconut sugar, cocoa powder, coconut oil and 3 tbsp of water and blend, blend, blend!
Taste the mixture once it is well combined and add tbsp of pure maple syrup if it isn’t sweet enough for your taste buds. It will also give your chocolate spread that glossy look Nutella has (as if it isn’t irresistible enough as it is, right?)
Keep processing the mixture until it reaches your desired consistency. If it’s too thick, add one tbsp of water at a time (5 tbsp are usually enough).
Store the finished spread in a sealed container in the fridge for no more than a week.
Enjoy!

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Healthy homemade Nutella
73
Today was a very productive day: I made my very own Nutella.That's right, I made a thick and gooey hazelnut spread with a touch of cocoa that tastes very much like the much-loved 'breakfast' spread, Nutella itself. Now I know it doesn't look like the most appetising chocolate spread out…
Tags: tbsp, spread, coconut, hazelnuts, blend, add, cocoa, water, sugar, remove
Healthy peanut butter cups
49
This 3-ingredient peanut butter cup recipe is to die for! These chocolatey treats are thick and gooey (in a good way) and just melts in your mouth at every bite. They also taste much better than the store bought versions and as always, they’re much healthier too! Ingredients: 2 tbsp natural…
Tags: butter, tbsp, add, smooth, oil, powder, coconut, taste, mixture, minutes
Dairy-free Maple Pecan Glaze
42
Most seasonal baked goods call for processed dairy, white sugar and all those things we try our best to avoid over the holidays, but fail –every single year. This maple pecan glaze isn’t something that will make you feel bad for enjoying: pecans are full of vitamin E and maple…
Tags: water, tbsp, coconut, oil, add, mixture, smooth, sugar, dairy, homemade
Egg-free protein pancakes
34
A few months back I got a food intolerance test done for my skin. I was told I needed to avoid eggs, wheat and yeast to prevent my breakouts. It came as such a shock to me because there was a time in my life where I couldn't imagine going…
Tags: oil, coconut, tbsp, mixture, add, powder, water, spread, butter, food

Posted on May 19, 2013

Not so guilty pleasure: Dark Chocolate

Guilty Pleasures/ Nutrition

I never thought I’d ever see the day I’d praise something that I don’t even enjoy eating! It’s not very like me to recommend the things I don’t like, but I guess I’d have to be fair once and a while so my promise to you is that I will not impose any of my personal feelings towards dark chocolate in this post (not intentionally anyways), instead, I will just give you cold hard facts on the benefits of consuming dark chocolate!

Just so we’re on the same page, I must say that if you really want to enjoy the health benefits of dark chocolate then you would have to be looking at the ones that contain over 70% cacao; the darker the chocolate, the less sugar and milk it contains and the closer it is to cacao, the secret behind it’s health benefits.

Cacao is probably one of the main sources of health benefits from the consumption of dark chocolate. The reason being that it produces neurotransmitters in the brain such as dopamine and serotonin which are associated with feelings of well-being and happiness…..

Do you see where I’m going with this???

It’s a natural anti-depressant! So don’t be afraid to indulge yourself with a bit of 70%+ if you’re feeling kinda down!

Alright so now you’re thinking, ”it might help me with my mood and I wouldn’t feel as down if I take a few squares of it, but what about the fat? Isn’t it as fattening as all the other chocolates out there???” I’m afraid not!! The fat that is in dark chocolate comes primarily from plants so it would be a lot healthier for you. It contains the fatty acid that is also found in olive oil and this promotes antioxidant activity and also prevents heart disease. So as long as you look for a dairy-free bar (which would contain more of the bad fat), I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about if you’re taking these in small doses!

What about the beauty benefits?

Dark chocolate contains an antioxidant called flavinoid which are usually found in plants such as the cacao plant. These bad boys are associated with the anti-aging effects in the skin and the flavinoid found in dark chocolate are greater than the antioxidants found in some berries. So if you’re feeling guilty about passing on the fruit salad the other day, you can forgive yourself!

Lastly, these flavinoids also absorb UV light which helps protect your beautiful skin from the sun. It also increases blood flow to the skin which improves your complexion and keeps your skin well hydrated.

Now that you know that dark chocolate isn’t all that bad, you no longer have to make this a secret pleasure. Just remember, the more bitter the chocolate, the higher the cacao content and the better it is for you! 🙂

If you’re not convinced, here’s a few more articles that you can read:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/benefits-of-chocolate

http://www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/3-health-benefits-of-dark-chocolate/

http://www.naturalnews.com/031959_dark_chocolate_antioxidants.html

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