You can find these everywhere now–but they are definitely not over-rated. Super easy, and on the healthy-side for a little something to go with your coffee! Since being at home is the situation for now,  I made a batch with some bulk ingredients I ordered online. You’ll need: almonds, walnuts, dates, cacao powder, salt

In a high-speed blender (or food processor), add

• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1 cup dates (soak in water first to soften)
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• pinch of salt
• shredded coconut and gojis for deco

*make sure you check for seeds or shell that can sneak in to the packages sometimes! (your teeth will thank you!)

*try it out with other nuts like cashews, pecans and add any other dried fruits for fun!

Lay the finished “dough” on cooking paper, decorate with any ingredients of your choice and into the fridge for an hour! Cut them up and….devour 🙂

Sometimes you just have to work with the ingredients you have in the house. Luckily, I had some delicious matcha (used here) from my mom in Japan, and some almond flour–which became the base of this delightful green cookie! I’ll put the recipe below, but try getting creative with whatever is in your pantry! Other nuts, flours, oils as replacement may work–I always enjoy my worst-case-scenario at the end anyway! And if you do have the ingredients below, I promise you, you’ll love them!

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/6 cup maple syrup
• 1/6 cup melted salted butter
• 2 teaspoons matcha powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup melted dark chocolate

Mix EVERYTHING together! Use two spoons to make little balls, and shape them into any form you like. I place a pecan nut on each cookie and into the oven at 180 degrees for 12 minutes! Drizzle on some melted chocolate, and bon app!

When I took a bite of these after my first batch, I was in awe. Seriously, I did not expect them to be so delicious! Almond flour is one of my favorites to use and is fairly easy to replace for regular flour, but this is a keeper! I highly recommend buying a nice bar of chocolate to break up into large chunks (key!) and adding the walnuts as well. Enjoy!

• 2 cups of almond flour (blanched)
• 1/4 cup melted salted butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• a dash of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 chocolate bar (break them up with hands for large chunks!)
• 6 large walnuts

Mix everything (besides the chocolate and walnuts) together, while the oven preheats at 180 degrees. Add in the chunks of chocolat & noix and lightly mix. Lay out a sheet of cooking paper and with 2 spoons, create small circles–then use your hands to round them out and pat them down. Cook for 10 minutes and there you have it! The best…!

Coconut flour banana bread ‘Gâteau à la banane’

• 2 bananas
• 2/3 cup coconut flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/5 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mash the bananas, add all the ingredients, whisk it up into a smooth batter. In the oven at 175 degrees for 45 minutes! Moist and decadent, perfect with a cup of coffee.

Coconut flour cinnamon cookies “Cookie à la cannelle’

• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of melted salted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons almond flour

Mix up the dry ingredients, batter up the wet ingredients, blend them together, and in the oven at 175 degrees for 20 minutes! 

I love how they all come out soft and moist, perfect on a rainy day indoors–or any day!

Seeing all that chocolate in town made me motivated to debark on some original chocolate-making of my own. As I had a pack of non-opened hemp flour we had gotten on sale, some whole rice flour—and a bar of 90% lindts chocolate, I just needed some eggs and was ready to go. Here’s the line up of ingredients:

• 6 squares of 90% chocolate (melted)
• 1/2 cup of virgin coconut oil (melted)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
• A teaspoon of instant coffee powder
• 1/2 cup of hemp flour
• 1/2 whole rice flour
• 1/3 cup of unsweetened cacao powder
• a pinch of salt
• Almonds for topping

Mix up the coconut oil and chocolate first, add in all the ingredients, and voila! 18-20 minutes in the oven at 175 degrees.

Result? Well, not bad for healthy brownies, but they turned out a bit dry. Still need to improve on that fudge-y texture! Happy Valentines!

I’ve heard lots about avocado being used in chocolate recipes, but never really stepped into the game. It had been a while since I’ve spotted some good ripe organic avocados, so decided to give it a go! I still need to brush up the recipe—(chunks and taste of avocado lingers in the mouth…added a pinch too much of salt…I would add some maple syrup next time…) but overall I think we are heading in the right direction for a decadent chocolate truffle. Here’s the recipe below! Certainly wouldn’t be bad for a new take for Saint Valentin!

• Avocado (pitted, peeled and mashed)
• 1/4 cup of melted 90% chocolate
• 1 tablespoon, coconut oil
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of cacao powder

Mix the avocado, chocolate and coconut oil together until smooth (smooth as in no chunks–learned!) and add the salt, cinnamon and vanilla. Leave it in the fridge for 20 minutes. Create small balls with your hand and dip them into the cacao powder to coat. Voila! Into the fridge until dessert!

We popped into a magasin de bio (an organic shop) to find some nice medjool dates. These actually needed a good soak in water, but after that they were ready to use for a new recipe.  I took out randomly, all ingredients in our pantry that might be interesting for this recipe,  whipped them together, and I think I have a new favorite snack maison.  Here’s the recipe:

• 4 Organic Medjool dates
• A handful of crushed pecan nuts
• 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons of cacao powder
• 2 raw cacao feves crushed, or cacao nibs
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 2 pinches of salt (fleur de sel)
• 2 tablespoons of shredded coconut

Cut up the dates (soaked in water and drained), mash them up with a fork in a bowl. Add ALL the ingredients, mix them up, and spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper. Let it solidify in the freezer for 15-30 minutes, and voilà!, ready to cut into bar shapes of your preference!

Create the spice mix by blending the below ingredients:

• onion powder 3 tablespoons
• garlic powder 3 tablespoons
• dried coriander leaves 2 tablespoons
• Himalayan salt 1 tablespoon
• pepper 2 tablespoons
• cumin powder 2 tablespoons

Place the cooked chickpeas and cut carrots on parchment paper and spread the blend mix and olive oil evenly. Blend it all in with your hands and cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees. Bon apéro!