Raw Chili Chocolate Brownies with (optional) Fudge Glaze

These brownies might be one of my favorite recipes I've shared on the blog yet. They are so rich and satisfying and have a subtle kick to them. I single handedly finished off an entire batch almost by myself. Yes, it was done slowly over the course of a week or two, but still. Simply Delicious.

What to know what's in them?

Almonds

Dates

Raisins

Cocoa

Cinnamon

Chili powder

Agave

Vanilla

Sea Salt

What a beautiful, nutritious list of ingredients! And if you really want these to be a crowd stopper then you can also top them off with my delicious vegan fudge sauce. The sauce hardens and give these brownies a delicious fudge layer on top. But if you decide to keep these raw, then they'll be just as delicious too.

I had quite of few of my friends try these brownies and everyone loved them. That's when I know it's good. I hope you try these! You won't regret it.

Raw Chili Chocolate Brownies

(Serves 16)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almonds
• 1 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 cups dates, pitted (Best when soaked in warm water to soften and then drained)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar

For the Fudge Glaze:

• 2 tablespoons almond milk
• 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips
• 1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Directions:

1. In a food processor, process the almonds until fine.
2. Add in the cocoa powder and process some more. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add in the cinnamon, chili powder and sea salt and pulse a few times.
4. Add in the soften and drained dates and the raisins 1/2 cup at a time, processing each time and scraping down the sides of your food processor bowl often.
5. Drizzle in the agave and vanilla. If you need to add in more agave to moisten the mixture you can.
6. Press the mixture into a 8x8 baking dish and place it in your fridge while you make the fudge sauce. 
7. For the Sauce: Heat the almond milk in a small skillet over medium heat. Once warm add in the chocolate chips and stir until all the chips have melted. Add in the chili powder and stir some more.
8. Pour the fudge sauce over top of the brownies and spread over the top of the brownies.
9. Place the brownies in the fridge to cool and then cut into 16 squares.
10. Keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.

Notes: Recipe adapted from Sweet Sugar Bean.

Eat Consciously,

Faith

3-Ingredient Vegan Fudge Sauce!

I'm not going to talk a lot for this post, because this vegan fudge sauce is the star of the show. Seriously, you can put this stuff on anything and it will turn the even the most tasteless desserts into competition winners. 

My mom always made this fudge sauce for us growing up as a topping for our ice cream...which we at every night. I'm not lying. I used to eat a huge bowl of ice cream every night before bed. Actually all three of my siblings and I grew up thinking that was totally normal thing to do. My parents would buy a 5 gallon bucket of vanilla ice cream from Costco and the six of us would eat through that tub in no time. I'd add in sliced banana, whipped cream and this fudge sauce and sit on the couch in heaven. I have no idea how all of us kids didn't end up overweight. Thank goodness our bodies are forgiving when we're younger. 

And thank goodness I recently remembered this recipe and can now share it with you. I don't even know if you'd call it a recipe. There aren't really measurements which, in my opinion, is the wonderful thing about this sauce.

Please try this. Scoop large amounts of vanilla ice cream into a bowl and top it off with this sauce. You'll wish you too had grown up eating it every night.

Tomorrow I'll also be posting a recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cake which uses this fudge sauce as the icing. It's an amazing combination that you won't want to miss!

Vegan Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

• Almond milk
• 1/2-1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place a small sauce pan on a burner and turn the heat to medium-low. Cover the bottom of the sauce pan with a thin layer of almond milk. Slowly increase the heat and let the milk heat up until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges. Don't let it get too hot or the almond milk will start to burn.
2. Pour 1/2 cup of chocolate chips into the sauce pan once the milk is warm and use a whisk to stir. The chocolate chips will start to melt and combine with the milk. If there is too much milk, add another 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips until all the milk is absorbed in the chocolate.
3. Add in the vanilla extract and continue to stir until all the chocolate chips have melted. 
4. Serve warm or store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Picture of how to make it follow:

Pour a thin layer of almond milk into a small skillet until the bottom is covered.

Add in about a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to start.

Whisk together the chocolate chips and milk until they start to combine. 

If there is still excess almond milk, add in more chocolate chips.

Add in the vanilla extract and whisk until all the chocolate chips have melted. 

Serve warm or refrigerate.

Homemade Whole Wheat Rosemary Wheat Thins! They taste like the real deal.

Well, I'm proud to stay that I'm still on my "make-everything-I-can-at-home" streak and going strong. For those of you just now reading, about a week ago I decided that I wanted to try to make our basic staple foods at home (when I have the time, that is). I never would have even thought that you could make almond milk, yogurt, wheat bread, crackers or cheese at home about a year ago. But since going vegan almost a year ago a whole new world of cooking and baking has opened up to me and I've had to be more creative. 

Also, as Brett and I plan to move overseas in a couple years, I don't know what types of food we'll have access to so I figured now is the best time to get down the basics.

So far I've botched the following:

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Bear Bread

With that said, I've also successfully made the following:

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Almond Milk

Non-dairy Yogurt (Can you even believe it!! I'll share more soon.)

Wheat Thins

Oh. My. Goodness. Let's talk about these homemade wheat thins. I absolutely loved how these little squares of goodness turned out and they were surprisingly easy to make. The dough wasn't sticky and I was able to roll it out really thin for an amazingly delicious cracker that tasted like the real deal. I'm excited for my first batch to run out so that I can experiment with some different spices in the next batch. I'm thinking about even adding in some nutritional yeast to make a cheesy flavored cracker. 

Savory. Sweet. The possibilities are endless!

This is not my recipe by any means, but I really hope you try them out. There are only 7 ingredients, one of which is water. Get creative and share with me any new combinations you discover.

Homemade Wheat Thins

(Makes 100 crackers)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, minced
• 4 tablespoons non-dairy butter (I used earth balance)
• 1/4 cup water
• Sea salt for topping

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and rosemary.
2. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the butter until there are now pieces larger than a pea.
3. Pour in the water and stir until combined. It might seem dry at first, but use your hands to keep incorporating the ingredients until you get a ball of dough.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
5. On a piece of parchment paper that has been lightly floured, roll out 1/4 of the dough at a time into a rectangle. Roll it as thin as possible! And then roll it even thinner!
6. Use a long, sharp knife to cut the dough into squares or triangles. Make the crackers whatever size and shape you want. If you like perfect crackers, you will probably need to trim up the edges of your dough. Otherwise keep things rustic!
7. Do step 6 with another 1/4 of the dough so that you have two sets of crackers ready to bake. Pull the parchment paper onto baking sheets. 
8. Sprinkle the crackers with sea salt and slightly press the salt into the dough.
9. Bake the crackers for 5-10 minutes until slightly browned. It's a long range of time because it all depends on how thin you roll your crackers. Mine usually take about 8 minutes. Be careful though because they can go from perfect to burnt in a short time.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 for the rest of the dough. 
11. Brake any crackers apart that are stuck together and let them cool on a separate plate. 
12. Store them in an air tight container. 
13. Enjoy!

Notes: Adapted from Kitchen Stewardship 

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Mind Blown...Homemade Almond Milk!

Seriously. I don't know why I haven't done this sooner! In my last post I talked about how I wanted to start making everything at home from scratch that I can. I know there will be times when I'm to busy to make fresh bread or tortillas, but I really want to get some basic foods down pat before I move overseas. That way I can make things like almond milk and whole wheat bread wherever! 

Homemade almond milk has been on my list of things to try for a long time. I just seemed intimidating. Man was I wrong. This took no time at all to make and I know exactly what's in it! You can make simple almond milk with just two ingredients, or you can easily add in some vanilla and sweeteners for vanilla almond milk. And another great thing about making homemade almond milk is that you can use the leftover pulp to make Almond Pulp Freezer Fudge or Almond Pulp Cracker. I'll share these recipes soon!

Almond Pulp Freezer Fudge

Recipe coming soon!

I'll start by showing you how to make basic almond milk, but I'll share how you can add in additional ingredients to make sweetened vanilla milk. If you're going to use your milk for baking or in tea, I would suggest leaving it plain. If you want it for drinking or in cereal try sweetening it up!

Basic Almond Milk

(Makes 4 cups)

 Ingredients:

· 1 cup almonds, whole

· 3-4 cups water (see notes below)

· Optional Add-ins: 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 2-4 pitted dates, 2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar

Directions:

1. Soak. Soak the almonds in cold, clean water for at least 8 hours or up to 48 hours.  They’ll expand and become soft.

2. Drain and Rinse. After the almonds have soaked,  drain and rinse them.

3. Blend. Place the rinsed almonds and 4 cups of water in a blender. Blend on high for about 2 minutes until the liquid is white and you only see small bits of almonds. (If you're making sweetened vanilla almond milk, add in 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and 2-4 pitted dates to the almonds and water before blending.)

4. Strain. Pour the milk into a nut milk bag, paint strainer bag or over cheese cloth that has been positioned over a bowl. Allow the milk to drain out as much as possible into the bowl

5. Squeeze. Once most of the almond milk has strained out of the bag on its own, use your hands to squeeze the bag or cheese cloth so that you extract out as much milk as possible. Soon you’ll be left with a dense lump of almond pulp in your bag. (Don't throw the pulp away, but use it in other recipes!)

6. Refrigerate. Refrigerate the milk in a pitcher or container for 3-5 days. You will need to shake it before drinking as the mixture may separate while sitting.

7. Enjoy! Enjoy your homemade almond milk in cereal, tea or with a warm cookie!

Notes: If you like your milk thicker, use only 3-3.5 cups of water.

Below are step by step instructions with pictures!

Soak 1 cup of almonds uncovered in cold water for 8 hours or even as long as 

48 hours until they are big and plump.

After soaking your almonds, place them in a blender with 4 cups of water and any additional add-ins you may want. Blend on high for 2 minutes.

You can stop blending once you have white milk and only small almond particles left.

 

Using cheese cloth, a nut milk bag or a paint strainer bag, strain your milk by pouring it into the bag over a large empty bowl.

I would have used a paint strainer bag if I had gone to the store in time, but cheese cloth inside a strainer works great too!

Let the almond milk strain through the bag or cloth for a while.

  

Then use your hands to squeeze the remaining milk out of the almond pulp. Soon you'll just have almond pulp and...

...beautiful, homemade almond milk!

Store your milk in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.

Ignore the mess in my kitchen:)

Eat Consciously,

     Faith