THICK CHOCO-COCO CAKE (GF, V)

When I was a little girl my mum used to make a chocolate and vanilla cake I loved so much. I remember myself eating it for breakfast with my huge cup of tea.
Did you say, “for breakfast”? mmmmm...Yes, I did.
I don’t know if you are familiar with Italian breakfast, but the typical one is milk or caffè-latte (milk with a splash of coffee) with cookies or a homemade cake. Yes, lots and lots of sugars! I know. 

A big cup of oatmeals with plant milk, a green smoothie or a slice of wholegrain bread with avocado is way healthier, but you know, changing habits is never easy and changing Italian’s mind about breakfast is almost impossible: they want their cookies or a slice of a cake with their milk. Stop.

I was saying then that that cake was delicious and what I loved the most was the fact that it was thick, very think. I love cake to be thick if you missed something!
It was made with all purpose flour, sugar, eggs and butter, like all the “normal” cakes.
Unfortunately I found out to be celiac height years ago and my mum has never made it since. Sigh.

But there is a good news! I finally found the perfect balance of ingredients to make it gluten-free and way healthier then the original one: no butter, no refined sugar and no eggs. Yeah! And I promise, it is D E L I C I O U S! This is one of those recipes I really urge you to make. You can’t fail. You can only enjoy!

Difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder

You can basically get three different powders from grinding chocolate beans:
The most nutritious is raw cacao powder, which retains all the antioxidants cacao is rich in and also its very high content of magnesium, the “anti-stress mineral” -it has a relaxant effect in the body-. Raw cacao powder is obtained by unroasted chocolate beans.

Then you can get natural cocoa powder, obtained from roasted chocolate beans. After grinding it is not further processed and keeps the acidity chocolate has and it has a milder brown color. It is fat free and sugar free. Most of the beneficial benefits of cacao are lost, but it still keeps the natural strong chocolate flavor.

The last and the worst one is the dutch processed cocoa powder, which is treated with an alkalizing agent to reduce the acidity -making it slightly sweeter- and to modify its color -it becomes deep brown-. This process gives it a milder and more palatable flavor, but remember, this is far away from the natural one!

So, which one should you use?

To make this cake, go for the natural cocoa powder. It doesn’t make sense to use the raw cacao powder and then cooking it. And please, stay away from the dutch processed one from now on!
Use the raw cacao powder to make raw teats or raw chocolate (recipe coming soon!).

THICK CHOCO-COCO CAKE (GF, V)

Make a 7-inch (18 cm) diameter cake

Ingredients:
1 cup (150 gr) of brown rice flour
2/3 cup (100 gr) buckwheat flour
1/3 cup (50 gr) shredder coconut
1/2 cup (50 gr) natural cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 generous pinch of salt
1/3 cup (60 ml) coconut oil
1 cup (240 ml) maple syrup (or raw honey)
3/4 cup (180 ml)water (or any unsweetened milk of your choice -nut, seeds, rice, soy)
1 tbs unpasteurized apple cider vinegar

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

- In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add shredded coconut and whisk to combine.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the coconut oil. Add the maple syrup, water (or milk of your choice) and whisk to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk to remove any lumps. Add the vinegar and whisk quickly to incorporate.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the corner comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.
After 30 minutes you might want to protect the top of the cake with an aluminum foil to prevent it to burn on the surface.

GLUTEN-FREE CRUNCHY WATER COOKIES

Most of the vegan and gluten-free cookies recipes I find around the “blogsphere” contain oats, which is good, they are super nutrition and high in protein, but they are not always easy to find. In Italy, for example, it is almost impossible.

When a girl goes away on holiday, she usually buys whatever but food.
But because I am not a ordinary girl, guess what I usually buy? Yes you guessed right. Just food. On the way back to my recent trip to Copenhagen, my luggage was full of freshly baked gluten-free bread and one and a half kilos of oats.
I was even tempted to bring with me a small kale, to plant it on my terrace-garden, but because I was not sure if I was allowed to bring it with me on the plane, I had sadly to give it up.

All that to say that the vegan and gluten-free cookies recipe I’m going to share with you today is made only with whole grain flours, that are easy to find everywhere. And...they are made with water instead of nut-milk! I used water for the first time when I was making other cookies and I realized that I had no nut-milk left in the fridge and I couldn't be bothered to make my own again (I generally don't but it, but I make it). They turned out perfect, even crunchier than the version with nut-milk. 

I have never loved Autumn because it is usually a cold and rainy season in Italy, but this year it’s warm and sunny. I’m loving it.
To me, Autumn means chestnuts, but because it takes so long to boil and peel them, I prefer to use the flour made out of them, which keeps the sweet and nutty flavor anyway–when you by it, store it in the fridge in an air-tight container after opening, because it becomes rancid pretty easily-.
I am sure you will love these cookies, they are super-easy to make -only 15 minutes!- and the combination of chestnuts and toasted hazelnuts is to die for. 

Why should we add some proteins and fibers to your cookies?

First of all, let me clarify what I mean for “proteins” and “fibers”.
For proteins, I mean any flour made out of legumes (chickpeas flour is the most common) or nuts and seeds.
And for fibers, I mean any whole grains reduced in flours, chestnut flour or chickpeas flour (rich in fibers, not only proteins).

Why is that good? To control your blood sugar levels after eating them.
It might not sound that exciting for most of you, but let me try to explain how it works.
To make it simple: if you eat a cookie made with white flour and white sugar, it is more likely that your blood sugar levels rise incredibly high immediately after you eat it, and you feel great and with lots of energies. This is because all the sugar –glucose- contained in white sugar and white flours are immediately digested and absorbed into the bloodstream. BUT, after two or three hours, you blood sugar levels drop so low that you may experience fatigue, tiredness, nervousness and cravings for sugar. Does it sound familiar?

Well, if you eat a cookie made with whole grain flours and some nuts, as well as coconut sugar instead of white sugar, you won’t experience that roller-coaster effect. Why? Because both fibers and proteins slow down digestion and sugars are absorbed more slowly. This means that you won’t have any up and down neither in your blood sugar levels, nor in your mood!

Crunchy water cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (100 gr) coconut sugar
3/4 cup (100 gr) buckwheat flour
3/4 cup (100 gr) brown rice flour
3/4 cup (50 gr) chestnut flour
1 pinch of sea salt
1/3 cup (80 gr) coconut oil
1/3 cup (80 gr) water
1/3 cup (50 gr) toasted hazelnuts*

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C and line a baking tray with paper parchment.
- Pour all the dry ingredients (flours and salt) in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over low heat. When it is melted, add the water and stir to combine.
- Add coconut oil and water to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine with a fork. You’ll get crumbles. Work it with your hand to incorporate all the flour and make a ball.
- Crush the hazelnuts with a mortar and pestle or with a knife. Add them to the dough and work the dough again with your hand to incorporate the hazelnuts.
- Scoop a tablespoon of dough and make a ball, place it on the tray, then flatten it with your hands. Do that until you finish the dough.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Let them cool down slightly and place them on rack to avoid any humidity to form underneath.
- Store in a air-tight container for up to a week.

Notes: 

- You can substitute chestnut flour with chickpeas flour.

- How to toast hazelnuts? Place raw hazelnuts on a tray and bake them at 320 °F / 160°C, starting with cold oven, for 20 minutes. Rub the toasted hazelnut between your hands to take off the skin.