Our 10 favorite raw desserts

Last night we went to friends for dinner and we brought dessert. I was talking with our friend, Donna, about what to make and she suggested I go through the 500+ posts and select some of our favorites. I will be posting them for the next several days.

Here are our 10 favorite desserts:

Rawgalong

Raw Cacao Almond Butter Pie

Raw White Chocolate with Raspberry Tort

Raw Peppermint Chocolate Bars

Raw Mandarine Orange Caco Cheesecake

Raw Almond Ice Cream

Raw Cacao Cake with Ganache Frosting

Raw Apple Crumble

Raw Pumpkin Pie

Truffle and Raspberry Fool

Vegan Summer Gratin

We have an abundance of summer squash, poblano peppers, and new potatoes from our garden, so we made a Vegan Summer Gratin

Ingredients:
1 large summer squash
1-2 poblano pepper
3-5 new potato
1 onion

2 cup vegetable broth

6 oz plain unsweetened almond yogurt
1 cup daiya cheddar

Buckwheat topping
1/2 cup crispie buckwheat ground
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 TBS nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
Mix together

Directions: use a mandolin to slice the squash, pepper, potatoes, and the onion.  We layered each topped with daiya cheese half of the yogurt, and sprinkled the buckwheat topping. We repeated this one more time. The third layer didn't have any yogurt. Pour over the gratin the 2 cups of vegetable broth. The majority of the buckwheat topping went on the top layer. Bake 350 for 35 minutes

Fig Tartine

Our fig harvest has begun. I asked my sister, Laura, to send me some fig recipes. It just so happened that she was making Fig Tartine for lunch.

Here is her recipe
A slice of bread (I use a whole-grain country loaf for long slices), lightly toasted; spread a little goat cheese on the bread, then top with 1-2 slices prosciutto, 1 sliced fresh fig, sprinkle with more goat cheese. Broil 2-4 minutes, until cheese is bubbly/browning. Garnish with balsamic glaze and freshly sliced basil.

We have altered it to make a raw version.
Ingredients:
Garlic Raw Naan bread (we substituted olive oil for the sesame oil)
Almond feta
Eggplant bacon
Figs
Balsamic reduction

To assemble: The Naan bread is the base, spread the almond feta ove the bread, place the eggplant bacon on the cheese, top with sliced figs, add a dollop of almond feta, place a basil leaf over the cheese and drizzle with the balsamic reduction

Crispie Spiced Nuts

Many years ago my sister gave us a a recipe for spiced nuts from Williams-Sonoma. It has added fat (butter, oil,...) and sugar. They are AMAZING. We altered the recipe to make a healthier version. We sprouted the nuts in increase the absorption of the nutrients and digestibility. We also used the dehydrator keeping the nuts and enzymes live.

Ingredients
We first soak 5 cups of nuts in water for 8 hours. We used
1 1/2 cup walnuts
1 1/2 cup almonds
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup pumpkin
After the nuts are soaked. We drain, rinse and drain.

Seasoning:
1 TBS ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 TBS maple syrup, honey could be used.
2 tsp salt

Directions: Mix the seasoning together. To the wet nuts, we hand tossed. Dehydrate at 105 for 18 to 24 hours.

Wild Rice Stuffed Peppers

We saw this recipe in Vegetarian times and altered it to fit our needs. This isn't burnt, just wild rice.

Ingredients:
4 large yellow peppers

1/2 cup almond feta
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp cumin

3/4 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup chopped dried figs
1/2 cup wild rice
3/4 cup water


Directions: Rinse rice well, prior to cooking. Cook the wild rice in the pomegranate juice, water and chopped figs. When rice is cooked, add the almond feta, cumin, and walnuts and mix well. Stuff peppers. Place peppers in a pan with 1/2" water and bake for 30 minutes at 400.

Jerk Mushrooms with a Mango Salsa

The recipe for jerk-spiced-portobello-mushrooms included cauliflower rice. We served ours over a bed of lettuce with the mango salsa.

Jerk Spiced Mushrooms

• 2 large portobellos, sliced into 3 or 4 chunky strips
• 2 teaspoons jerk seasoning (you can totally buy this readymade, but I provide the link for anyone not sure)
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil (melted)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Thumb-sized peice of ginger, minced
• 2 spring onions, cut at an angle
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• 2 teaspoons lime juice

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl (everything except the mushrooms).
2. Place the strips of mushroom in the marinade and ideally leave them overnight.  You can also ‘get away with’ about an hour of marinating.
3. Dehydrate at 46 degrees C (105 degrees F) for two to three hours.  As I mentioned in the intro, if you don’t have a dehydrator then just marinate them overnight before serving.

Mango Salsa

• Flesh of 1 ripe mango, cubed small
• Few sprigs of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
• Juice of 1 lime
• Pinch salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve with the mushrooms and bed of lettuce.

Raw Zucchini Feta Tart

We saw the recipe for Zucchini and Fresh Goat Cheese Tart in Vegetarian Times last month and altered it to make it raw. We used our raw onion bread recipe to make individual tart shells. We used Cheri's almond feta recipe for the cheese.

Raw Onion tart shells:

2.5-3 pounds of sweet onions, sliced or processed using the food processor

1 cup ground flax

1/2 cup ground crispie sunflower seeds

1/2 cup ground crispie pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup olive oil

3-4 TBS coconut aminos

Directions: Mix all the ingredients together. Use a 1/2 cup to make 8-10 tarts, and spread on a non-stick dehydrator sheet, we like the silicon ones. We made these round, but any shape will work. With the bread we spread the batter flat for the tarts leaving a lip. We dehydrated them for 12-16 hours at 105 until we were able to peal them off and transfer them to a mesh screen to continue drying for another 4-6 hours. These can be stored in the freezer for later use.

Tart filling for 8 tarts:

1 lb. zucchini, cut into ¼-inch rounds (about 3 cups)

1 tsp salt
Add salt to sliced zucchini. Hand toss. Wait 5 minutes and gently squeeze out excess water.

4 dates, soaked in 1/4 cup water

2 TBS lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp)

1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
Blend until smooth, including date water

Marinade the zucchini rounds in the blended mix ~ 30 minutes

10 oz. mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup coconut aminos

2 TBS nutritional yeast

Marinade the mushrooms until soft, at least 5 minutes

1/4-1/2 cup almond feta

Directions: Divide the mushrooms into eighths and spread an eighth over each crust. Divided the zucchini into eighths and lay an eighths over each crust. Dot the top with the almond feta. Dehydrate for 2 or more hours to warm and meld the flavors.

Nutritional Facts for Onion Bread

Amount Per Serving

• Calories183.1
• Total Fat12.2 g
• Saturated Fat1.6 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat3.9 g
• Monounsaturated Fat6.5 g
• Cholesterol0.0 mg
• Sodium124.9 mg
• Potassium314.7 mg
• Total Carbohydrate16.9 g
• Dietary Fiber3.8 g
• Sugars1.3 g
• Protein3.7 g

• Vitamin A0.1 %
• Vitamin B-120.0 %
• Vitamin B-611.1 %
• Vitamin C15.2 %
• Vitamin D0.0 %
• Vitamin E18.7 %
• Calcium3.5 %
• Copper12.0 %
• Folate11.0 %
• Iron3.9 %
• Magnesium8.2 %
• Manganese18.0 %
• Niacin3.6 %
• Pantothenic Acid6.5 %
• Phosphorus13.2 %
• Riboflavin2.8 %
• Selenium9.3 %
• Thiamin4.5 %
• Zinc6.7 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.