Happy Skin Kitchen

Although normally cookie dough is made using chocolate chips this version using strawberries is surprisingly as delicious and decadent. By blending the almonds with dates, coconut yogurt and avocado it creates this super creamy mixture with a lovely subtle crunch. This is the perfect summer dessert or breakfast, it’s creamy and rich and yet so healthy! I love adding One Earth Rejuvenate your soul blend as it’s not only delicious but it also add lots of incredible vitamins, antioxidants and minerals.

Makes 2 servings
Ingredients:
For the chia layer:
4 tablespoons of chia seeds
¾ cup of almond milk
For the strawberry cookie dough layer:
½ cup of almonds
4-5 pitted medjool dates
½ avocado
1 cup of strawberries or raspberries
1/3 cup of coconut yogurt or yogurt of your choice
2 tablespoons of One Earth Rejuvenate your Soul blend
Almond milk to blend ( about ½ cup, use more if your blender is struggling)
Start by making the chia layer. Ideally you want to make this the night before or 2-3 hours in advance.
In a bowl mix the chia seeds with all the other ingredients. Use a whisk to avoid any lumps. Whisk well until you have a kind of creamy consistency. Cover with some cling film and place in the fridge to set for at least a couple of hours or until it has reached a gloopy and jelly consistency.
Make the strawberry cookie dough: if you don’t have a high speed blender you might want to use your food processor for this first step. Place the almonds and dates into a blender or food processor and blitz/blend until you have a fine crumbly kind of mixture. If you are using a food processor transfer the nutty mixture to a blender and add the coconut yogurt, strawberries, avocado, One Earth blend and the almond milk. Start blending and add more almond milk if your blender is struggling. Blend until you have a fairly smooth and creamy consistency
To assemble: place about 2 tablespoons of chia pudding into each glass. Add few slices of fresh strawberries. Add 2 tablespoons of the strawberry cookie dough mixture and top with another tablespoon of chia pudding. Decorate with fresh fruit of your choice. Enjoy!
Store any leftover in an air tight jar/container in the fridge for few days.

A stack of these pancakes are literally my weekend brunch heaven! I love drowning them with the chocolate sauce and the caramelised banana are just the most utterly indulgent topping! The chocolate sauce although is super simple and completely oil free and made with only a couple of ingredients!
Instead of using raw cacao powder in pancakes batter I have used One Earth Chocolate Dream blend which is an incredible combination of different superfoods like cacao, chlorella, vanilla, beetroot & baobab plus taste delicious too!
Ingredients:
Makes about 6-7 pancakes depending on the size
½ cup of oats
1 ripe banana
1 1/2 cup of almond milk
3 tablespoons of One Earth Chocolate Dream
1 teaspoon of baking powder
A pinch of salt
For the chocolate sauce:
3-4 pitted dates (make to soak them in some water for at least ½ hour)
2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder
About ½ cup of water
For the caramalised banana:
1 ripe banana
3 tablespoons of coconut sugar
1 heaped teaspoon of coconut oil
A splash of water
A pinch of cinnamon (optional)
Extra toppings:
Fresh berries of your choice
Shredded coconut
To caramelised the banana. Place the coconut sugar into a pan on a medium heat and add 2-3 tablespoons of water. Let the sugar caramelised until it start to bubble away. Be careful not to burn it! Turn down the heat slightly if you feel is too hot. Cut the bananas in chunky slices and add them to the pan. Shake the pan around so the banana slices get coated with the caramel mixture. Add the coconut oil and cook the banana for about 5 minutes, making sure to shake the pan from time to time. Remove the pan from the heat and let the banana sit in it while you are making the pancakes.
To make the chocolate sauce: simply place the pitted and soaked dates into a blender with the raw cacao powder. Start by adding the water gradually, you don’t want to have a watery chocolate sauce so stop when your blender is able to blend smoothly the mixture.
Place the oats in a blender and blend until you have a flour kind of consistency. Add the banana, almond milk, One Earth Chocolate Dream, baking powder and the pinch of salt.
Blend everything well until you have a smooth batter.
Heat half a teaspoon of coconut oil in a pan, then spoon in large spoonful of pancake batter. Allow to cook on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes until golden brown, then flip and repeat on the other
To serve stack the pancakes on a plate and pour the chocolate sauce on top.

Top with caramelised banana slices, fresh berries and shredded coconut. Serve and eat straight away!

These tarts are such a special breakfast treat. You can make the tarts base in advance and just take them out of the freezer when you need them and top them with your favourite yogurt.

I love using coconut yogurt because it’s thick and rich but any yogurt will work. By adding B- Fresh Berryboost not only you get a gorgeous pink colour but you also add skin loving antioxidants and vitamins. As the berry season is in full bloom here in the UK I love decorating them with lots of fresh berries and some edible flowers to make them extra pretty J

Ingredients

 Makes about 4 tarts

For the tarts:

1 cups oats

1/2 cup of almonds

pinch of salt

about 8-10  pitted medjool dates

¼ cup coconut oil melted

¼ cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:

About 250 gr of thick natural yogurt of your choice ( I have used Coyo)

4 tablespoons of B-Fresh Juice Berryboost juice

Fresh berries of your choice to decorate

2 tablespoons of raspberry powder – If you don’t have raspberries powder you can use fresh raspberries, just mash them up as finely as you can. The yogurt won’t look quite as smooth but it will still taste delicious.

Start by making the base: place the almonds, salt and oats in a food processor and blitz until you have a coarse flour. Add in the pitted dates, maple syrup, melted coconut oil and vanilla extract. Blitz again until you have a sticky mixture when pressed between your hands.

Grease with some coconut oil 4 metal mini tart tins. Remove the mixture from the food processor and place about 2 tablespoons in each tart tin. With your hands spread the mixture onto the tin until the whole base and sides are covered.

Place the tin in the freezer to set for at least 1 hour.

While the tarts are setting make the yogurt filling. Simply mix the yogurt with the Berryboost juice and raspberry powder. Make sure to give it a good whisk to avoid any lumps.

Remove the tins from the freezer. The easiest way to pop the tarts out of the tins is to hover them for few seconds on top of a bowl filled with boiling water.

Fill the tart with the yogurt mixture and decorate with berries of your choice. Serve the tarts straight away.

These muffins are such a dream! I don’t know about you but Banana and chocolate is one of my favourite combination, they just work so well together! Although they are completely gluten free they are just so fluffy and thanks to the tapioca flour they rise perfectly. For this recipe I have used One Earth Organic Vanilla Zilla blend which works so well together with the other flavours.

These are ideal to bake on a Sunday so you have a perfect healthy treat ready for every day of the week.

This recipe has been adapted by the ever so talented  Brandi at Vegan 8 http://thevegan8.com/2014/06/03/fluffy-vegan-blueberry-vanilla-muffins/

Makes about 6-8 muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup of ground almonds

¾ cup of oat flour

¼ tapioca flour

2 teaspoon of baking powder

2 teaspoon of One Earth Vanilla Zilla Blend ( If you can’t find it, use Vanilla powder)

½ cup of liquid sweetener of your choice (I have used rice malt syrup)

¼ cup of almond milk

70 gr dairy free chocolate chips (I buy mine from Planet Organic)

1 medium size very ripe banana (the spottier the skin the better)

Start by preheating the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

Line a muffin tin with paper muffins cases.

If you are making your own oat flour simply place the oats into a blender and blend until they turn into flour.

In a bowl mix the oat flour, ground almond, tapioca flour, Vanilla Zilla and baking powder. Mix well together.

In separate bowl mash the banana as finely as you can. Add the rice malt syrup and the almond milk. Whisk everything well together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix very gently everything together, don’t over mix it as you want to have the batter nice and fluffy. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill each case with 2 tablespoons of the batter, don’t press it down. Sprinkle the muffins with some extra chocolate chips if you like.

Bake the muffins in the oven for 25 minutes. Don’t bake them for longer otherwise they will become too dry.

Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool down completely before eating them. Enjoy!

This granola has been lately my breakfast obsession whenever I am in a hurry or I can’t be bother to whiz up a smoothie or a bowl of porridge. The flavour combination between the dried figs, One Earth Vanilla Zilla blend and almonds is just to die for. By using dried figs to create a sticky paste you don’t need to add any extra sweetener and you will also get all the goodness from this incredible dried fruit (high in calcium). I personally love adding some coconut chips (extra crunch and flavour) and some goji berries (skin loving antioxidants and a lovely pop of colour, but you can totally leave them out if you don’t have them on hand, the granola will still taste delicious.

My favourite way of serving it is with some coconut yogurt and fresh berries.

Ingredients: Makes a large jar

1 cup of jumbo oats

½ cup of roughly chopped almonds (you can use other nuts too, I just love the combination between almond and figs)

½ cup of pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil

3 tablespoons of One Earth Vanilla Zilla

2 tablespoons of almond butter ( for this recipe you want to use a runny almond butter as it will helps to create a silky consistency)

6-7 dried figs (if your figs are a bit dry make sure to soak them in some warm water for ½ an hour)

To add after the granola has been baking:

½ cup of raw coconut chips

½ cup of goji berries

Start by preheating the oven at 150 degrees Celsius.

Roughly chop the nuts. You can also use a food processor, just make sure they are not turning into flour, you still want to have quite generous size pieces.

In a food processor add the dried figs, almond butter and One Earth Vanilla Zilla. Blitz everything together until you have a smooth paste, similar consistency to a nut butter.

Place the oats, chopped nuts and pumpkin seeds. into a mixing bowl. Add the nutty creamy mixture and mix everything together. Pour over the melted coconut oil and mix again. Give it a good stir until everything is nicely coated.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Spread the granola mixture onto the baking tray using a spatula or the back of a spoon. You should have a “flapjack” kind of consistency Bake the granola for 1 hour. Every 15-20 minutes make sure to give the granola a good stir so it will bake evenly. This is very important as it will be prevent the granola from burning. If you like the granola more crumbly

This is such an incredibly delicious dessert perfect for hot summer days! It also makes a luscious and healthy breakfast as it’s completely sugar free.

It’s super creamy and indulgent and it’s only made with a bunch of wholesome ingredients! I love how all the 3 layers work so well with each other creating a glass of deliciosness.

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

For the chia layer:

4 tablespoons of chia seeds

¾ cup of almond milk

1 teaspoon of one Earth Vanilla Zilla

2 tablespoon of coconut yogurt or yogurt of your choice

For the cashew layer:

4 tablespoons of cashew butter

For the chocolate layer:

2 frozen bananas

½ avocado

3 tablespoons of One earth Chocolate Dream

Almond milk to blend ( about ½ cup, use more if your blender is struggling)

Start by making the chia layer. Ideally you want to make this the night before or 2-3 hours in advance.

In a bowl mix the chia seeds with all the other ingredients. Use a whisk to avoid any lumps. Whisk well until you have a kind of creamy consistency. Cover with some cling film and place in the fridge to set for at least a couple of hours or until it has reached a gloopy and jelly consistency.

Make the chocolate layer, simply place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until you have a creamy and smooth mixture similar to ice cream.

To assemble: place about 3 tablespoons of chia pudding into each glass. Add 2 tablespoons each of the cashew butter. Finally add 3-4 tablespoons of the chocolate icecream.

I like to top mine with extra cashew butter, some banana slices, cacao nibs and mini bliss balls.

Potato salad was always one of my favourite summer BBQ dishes. Unfortunately traditional potato salad tend to be packed with mayo, cream or oil. This is much a lighter and greener version but nevertheless less flavoursome or delicious. The cashew and the avocado create the creamiest of the dressing and the pea, chives and spring onion add a lovely fresh flavour. It’s a great side dish which goes amazingly well with grilled tofu or tempeh, cauliflower steak and roasted mushrooms.

It’s great for packed lunches as well as it’s filling without being too heavy. I love adding Love Raw Simple Greens blend as it packed with gorgeous green goodness without compromising the overall flavour.

Ingredients:

500gr of new potatoes

½ avocado

½ cup of frozen peas

½ cup of raw cashews soaked for at least 8 hours or overnight

About 2 tablespoon of unsweetened plant milk if needed

The juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon of garlic salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

1/4 cup of chopped chives

¼ cup of chopped spring onions

Start by cooking the potatoes. After washing them slice them in half place them in large pan and cover them with water.  Place a lid on and cook the potatoes for 20-25 minutes until they are soft.

While the potatoes are cooking make the creamy dressing.  Cook the frozen peas in a small pan cover with boiling water until they are soft, approximately 2-3 minutes. Drain them and set them aside. Drain and rinse the soaked cashews and add them to a blender. Add the avocado, cooked peas, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper.  Start blending and if you see that your blender is struggling add the plant milk and keep blending until everything is smooth and creamy.

Once the potatoes are cooked drain them and place them into a large bowl to cool down for at least 10 minutes. Once they are a bit colder add in the creamy dressing, the chopped chives and spring onion. Mix everything together until all the potatoes are covered in the sauce and add some extra black pepper if you like.

You might not end up using all the dressing so store any leftover in an airtight container in the fridge for few days.

This month Peppersmith is supporting the National Smile Month. Being a sugar-free brand they want to raise awareness about low-sugar alternatives to help people achieve better oral health and they asked me to join their campaign with a low sugar baking challenge using xylitol as a sweetener.

If you haven’t already heard of xylitol it’s a naturally derived sweetener which not only has very few calories, but also happens to be great for your teeth too. I never baked with it before so I wasn’t really sure how it will affect the overall flavour of the cookies. It turned out to work absolutely perfect! It adds enough sweetness without being too overpowering.

These cookies have been proven to be a total crowd pleaser. I mean who doesn’t peanut butter and chocolate?! They are super easy to make and they taste so rich and decadent although they are totally guilt free! I love having few of these with a cup of hot chai latte.

Ingredients:

Makes about 10-12 cookies

1 tbsp of melted coconut oil

8 tbsp of peanut butter

100 gr of coconut flour

3 tbsp of xylitol ( use more if you want them sweeter)

1 pinch of  sea salt

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1/2 tsp of baking soda

70 gr of good quality dark chocolate

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Covered a baking tray with parchment paper.

In a large bowl with a fork mix the peanut butter butter with coconut flour and the baking soda. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir thoroughly.

Scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough at the time and with a fork mashed delicately down onto the baking tray. Keep doing so until you finish all the dough.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-17 minutes until they are slightly golden brown.

Remove the tray from the oven and let them to cool for about 10 minutes. They will still be soft as soon as you taken them out but they will harden once cooling down.

Melt the dark chocolate by placing into a ceramic or glass bowl on top of a pan half full with boiling water. Turn on the hob onto medium heat and gently let the chocolate melt, stirring from time to time.

Dip half of the cookies into the melted dark chocolate and place them back onto the cooling rack until the chocolate has become solid again.

Store in air tight container or jar for up to a week.