Strawberry Smoothie and Raw Cacao Hot Chocolate (Dairy Free)

These are the cold and warm beverages that I make up using almond butter from my previous post. My daughter is the advocate to try out my new beverage recipes.  I have been giving this strawberry smoothie to her every morning during her exam period to boost up her immune system.  While my husband and my son both get sick from the cold, she has been strong sailing through her study.

I love the raw cacao hot chocolate during cold winter days.  The almond butter has given it an extra creamy texture. I prefer to add raw sugar than honey as raw sugar make it tastes closer to the traditional hot chocolate.  After traveling to France and drinking hot chocolate from a soup bowl, my daughter prefers the traditional hot chocolate than the raw cacao one.  Surely, I understand the reason, it is very hard to beat the taste of traditional hot chocolate!

Spring is already arrived and school holiday is commencing, life is good!

Strawberry Smoothie
(serve 1)

10 small or 5 large strawberries
1 heap teaspoon chia seeds
1 small banana
1 cup sweetened almond milk
1 heap teaspoon almond butter

Put all ingredients into the blender and blend till smooth. Enjoy!

Note: You can add half of a mango and a small handful of blueberries to enhance the flavour

Raw Cacao Hot Chocolate
(serve 1)

1 cup sweetened almond milk
1 heap teaspoon raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon raw sugar or honey
1 heap teaspoon almond butter
a little cold water

Put the cacao powder, sugar and almond butter into a glass, make a smooth paste with a little water.  Heat up milk in a saucepan and pour over the mixture.

Alternatively, you can froth the milk and pour over the mixture. Enjoy!

Homemade Almond Butter

My frist time making almond butter was more liked making a coarse paste as I really didn't know what "oil comes out" meant.  After reading detoxinista step-by-step instructions, I finally get a success making smooth almond butter.  I was only using an old model of blender and it worked well even I was a little worry when steam came out after 20 minutes of blending.  It's a stage of the heat generated cooking the almonds and the whole process takes about 30 minutes. So be patients and the final product  is delicious as a dip for crackers or put into beverages.

Almond Butter

Ingredient:

2 cups raw almond kernels

Method:

Put the kernels into the blender with the S blade, blend until the oil comes out and smooth. You may stop the blender in between to scope down the side and let the blender has a little rest.

Getting ready

Pour almonds into the blender

After 15 seconds, coarse almond meal formed

5 minutes later, almond meal starts to form into a rough paste

10 minutes later, a thick paste is formed, you also notice the butter is heated with little steam

10 more minutes, the butter is nearly ready to form a smooth, light texture

5 more minutes, the butter is ready

Happy Father's Day - Espresso Brownie Cupcakes

This is the second time I make these cupcakes, my family likes the strong flavour of these cakes. My husband reckons anyone like coffee would like them. It's very muddy and bitterly kind if chocolate taste so I would recommend to serve it with some fresh cream or/and ice-cream with strawberries.

This Sunday is Father's Day in Australia, why not show your appreciation to bake your dad a sweet treat instead of buying him a box of chocolate? It's also the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) on Monday, this is a great weekend to have a family gathering.

Happy Father's Day!

Espresso Brownie Cupcakes
(make 12)

180g dark cooking chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons caster sugar

Chocolate ganache:
100g dark cooking chocolate
1/2 cup thicken cream
1 teaspoon Kahlua (optional)

Decoration:
white chocolate, melted
thickened cream, whipped + sweetened with a little icing sugar
strawberries
ice-cream

Method:

1. Melt chocolate with a double boiler with hot water. Leave cool a little.
2. Mix the coffee powder with hot water then mix all the wet ingredients into a mixing bowl and shift the dry ingredients into another mixing bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold till the mixture is incorporated.
3. Spoon the batter into a paper lined 12 holds muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 160c.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the ganache, melt chocolate in a double boiler with hot water then stir in the cream and liquor. Put the ganache into the fridge until it is spreadable. Spread over to the cool cupcakes.
5. Decoration: grease a foil with a little old, put the melted white chocolate into a zip bag. Cut a little corner and pipe the chocolate into the foil with a desirable pattern.  Cool into fridge before peeling it out.
6. Take the paper out from the cupcake. Put a halved strawberry over the cake with a white chocolate swirl, serve with more strawberries, whipped cream and ice-cream.