Walnut Chocolate Brownies

They say friendships change when you become a parent. For me, its an opportunity to meet more new friends who are parents. Asher have been attending gymbaroo since he was around 8 weeks young. From there, I met a few other mums whom I click with. One of them is also from Singapore and her husband is from Malaysia!

Our sons are only born 2 weeks apart. We started meeting fortnightly for play dates and hosting lunches at respective homes. It's so cute to see the boys watching one another and playing with toys. Of course, they are not at an age where they would play with each other but they appeared to be curious about each other's presence.

I made Elana's Pantry's Walnut Chocolate Brownies for this lovely mother. By the way, she cooks such nourishing lunches for me after knowing how I eat (think pan fried salmon with asparagus with corn, pumpkin soup, and a grilled chicken tenderloin with a side pumpkin and goats cheese salad). That said, she said these brownies were a hit with her family and can't believe it has no gluten and minimal refined sugar in it.

Walnut Chocolate Brownies (I cut it to 24 small bites)
100 grams of dark chocolate chopped roughly (I used lindt)
1/4 cup of coconut flour
2 eggs
pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup of coconut oil
2 tablespoon of honey
1/3 cup of crushed walnuts
handful of chopped dark chocolate

Preheat Oven to 180C. Line a brownie tray with baking paper.
Using a food processor, pulsed dark chocolate. Add in all other dry ingredients first. Pulse till it is well mixed. Then add in all other wet ingredients except the walnuts and handful of dark chocolate.
Pour mixture into pan. Sprinkle crushed walnuts and chocolate over the mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Salted Coconut Chocolate Bark

This must be one of the most addictive chocolate snacks ever! I certainly do love my chocolate- I have a weakness for dark varieties. Pairing it with coconut butter though, it create this creamy chocolate chips that I have to will myself to stop eating. 

I mentioned before that I generally follow the paleo way of eating. PaleoOMG is probably one of my favourite bloggers who posts such gorgeous treats that I'm tempted all the time. She posted this for Christmas and I knew I had to make it.

And I'm not sure if it was the best thing to do or was it a mistake. I had to ration portions and give them away as gifts together with some of my bliss balls. I placed peppermint essence to the coconut butter instead of chocolate as I find that it seizes the chocolate a little.

Oh well, at least they are clean. ;)

Salted Coconut Chocolate Bark
1 cup of coconut butter
100 grams of dark chocolate
pinch of salt
2 tsp of peppermint essence

Melt coconut butter and add peppermint essence. In a separate jug, melt chocolate too. Line baking paper on a cookie tray, spread coconut butter on the tray. Drizzle and spread dark chocolate on it, swirling along. Sprinkle salt to it.

Gluten Free Healthy Christmas Cakes

Counting down to our first Christmas with Asher. I LOVE Christmas. Celebrating the birth of Christ, presents and sparkling lights- what not to love? So far, we bought him a little outfit, did up our tree and bought a Christmas ornament with his name and year on it.

Oops- except I nearly left him off my Christmas list for presents from us. Ha! Talk about mummy brain. Lucky Asher probably wouldn't remember much for his first Christmas. At least there is still time to get something by the time I remembered.

I'm a little stingy as a mum. Truth be told, I really think that babies do not need that many toys before they turn 6 months. We have a play gym, a few gifted rattles and a swing (also 2nd hand)..and oh perhaps 2 toys which keeps him entertained when doing his tummy time. Often, I find that hubby and I are his entertainers as he prefers looking at us making funny faces and talking to him.

After 6 months though, I think children do need some form of stimulation but oh mind! The range is mind blowing. What a find balance between not going over the top versus trying to select the right toy for him. Finally, we decided that he can have 2 outfits and a small pram toy as his gifts. We did decided on n activity table but that will only arrive a few weeks later.

Every year, I try to make edible gifts for some friends and family. I think muesli one year and roasted nuts last year. This year, I decided to do a mixture- grabbing every precious hour that I can get in between Asher's play time. This is one of them.

This is actually my favourite. Christmas cake. Yes, it is a fruit cake during other times of the year but it is a Christmas cake in my books in december. I soaked mixed fruits in DOM a week before and got on with it. Teresa Cutter is my inspiration as usual as I mix and match my own version of this little gift. I reduced the fruit amount (to reduce sugar content), and added baking powder to create a lightness. Hers is certainly more dense than mine but I'm a fan of hers all the same.

Gluten Free Healthy Christmas Cake (Makes 30 mini cakes)
800 grams mixed fruit (I used a mixture of raisins, cherries, cranberries and sultanas)
1.5 cups of DOM alcohol 

6 eggs
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 orange juiced and zest
2 tsp of vanilla paste
3-4 tsp of cinnamon (Because I love cinnamon at this time of the year)
2 tsp mixed spice


4 cups of almond meal
1/2 cup of mixed nuts
2 tsp of baking powder

50 grams lindt dark chocolate melted

Preheat Oven to 180C. Line muffin trays with liners. Marinate mixed fruits at least 3 days, but a week will be better before making the cake.

Mix fruits, eggs, oil, juice, vanilla paste, cinnamon, mixed spice together. Fold in almond meal and baking powder. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 35-40 minutes till brown.

Cool little cakes. Melt chocolate and use a fork to drizzle chocolate over these little cakes.

ps- do not waste chocolate. I like to roll strawberries or cherries onto the sides of the jar i use to melt chocolate in! ;)

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Indian Spiced Nuts

In 2012, I found a new love with munching on nuts. I have always been a fan, but eating clean also means I avoid eating processed snacks. Nuts is such a good source of protein and fat- one that keeps me full and happy.

This post is probably a little late as I made this for some friends and colleagues for Christmas. It turned out to be pretty popular with my FIL and guests at our Christmas party. That's not to say this little snack can't be done through the year too- I think it's pretty handy to have some in the pantry from time to time!

Indian Spiced Nuts
1 cup of cashews
1/4 cup of brazil nuts
1 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of macadamias
1 tablespoon of curry powder
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of turmeric
1 tablespoon of cumin
2 tablespoon of coconut oil
tsp of salt

Pre heat oven to 190C. Toss nuts with all the spices and coconut oil. Toast in oven for 15-20 mins! Cool and eat!