Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Desert/Sauce

Hooray, it’s almost Christmas! This is my first Christmas as a committed health foodie and also my first where it will just be my husband and I. So I am taking the opportunity to hone my cooking skills and work on plenty of gluten free, dairy free and rubbish free recipes. Today, I am pleased to share my recipe for a gluten free vegan chocolate desert/sauce that in it’s simplest form, only has two ingredients! 

Many people find they simply haven’t got the time at Christmas (or indeed any other time of the year!) to commit to healthy eating. My response to that is that healthy eating doesn’t have to be at all time-consuming or complicated in it’s simplest form. I’m all for indulging this season (my belly’s pretty full from an epic brekkie of granola, almond butter, coconut cream and Nak’d choco bites) but treating yourself doesn’t have to meet eating combos of chemicals, processed sugar and potential allergens. I think it’s also difficult for the average person to understand exactly what healthy means these days and it can be completely overwhelming (I know, I’ve been there and I’m still learning!) so hopefully today’s gluten free vegan chocolate sauce/desert will show how easy it can be.

Ingredients

• NOTE:This recipe can be a thick-chocolately pudding type desert that you can eat by itself or a thinner pouring cream type consistency to add to pies, fruit etc. It all depend on whether you use coconut milk or cream

• 1 cup of coconut cream or milk. If you want an extra think-luxurious pudding desert you can just use coconut cream. This can be found in health stores but also some Asian food section of supermarkets (Just check the only ingredients are coconut and water). Or you can just use regular coconut milk (which is much more easily available in Asian section of every supermarket) for a more milky.pouring cream consistency. If you buy coconut milk but want something creamier try this tutorial from the awesome Oh She Glows on making coconut cream from milk. I used 50/50 for mine.

• 2-3 tablespoons of pure cocoa powder  OR you can sub this for a handful of dark dairy free baking chips/cooking chocolate if you have that to hand. (Check the label but most dark choc that is 70% is dairy free)

THAT’S IT! Of course you can make it more healthier but we’ll get to that in a second…

Method

1. Pour coconut cream/milk into a pan and heat on a low heat for 1-2 minutes. KEEP STIRRING!!!
2. Add your chocolate, keep stirring the whole time. Note the more solid the chocolate you use it will take longer to melt so final cooking time depends on whether you are using solid/powder choc. I used dark baking chips and it took 3-4 minutes to get them melt. Again, KEEP STIRRING or it will go clumpy.
3. When it’s all mixed, take it off heat and allow it to cool. If you’ve not used coconut cream before, taste it first. It has a slightly sour to kick to it which takes a bit of getting used to if you are accustomed to more sugar-packed choc deserts. If it still tastes too sour, add a pinch of chocolate powder or honey.
4. Refrigerate until use (This is particularly important if you are making a thicker consistency, as refrigeration will keep it solid). You can also freeze it to make a fab sorbet!

Here’s my finished result! I used 50/50 coconut cream/almond milk to keep fat content down so it turned out more like a pouring cream (which I plan to use with my apple crumble I’m making tonight!)

Make it Healthier!

1. Coconut products are quite high in fat, but they are short-chain saturated fats which means they don’t have an effect on cholesterol and can actually help weight loss as they speed up metabolism. However, if you are on a calorie-controlled diet, use 1/2 cup of coconut cream and 1/2 of almond or soya milk like I did (I find too much fat at once can aggrevate my crohn’s)

2. Add chia seeds and almonds for a nutrition boost, like this…

, 

3. Add granola and Nak’d chcolate bites (which are amazing and another way to a dairy free choco hit this Christmas!) for an indulgent brekkie.

4. Add a tablespoon of protein powder such as That’s Protein vegan Powder to give you an anti-inflammatory essential fatty acid kick. I do this whenever I make deserts as it’s a great way to the goodness of pumpkin seeds/chai seeds in a really digestible form.

I’ve already had a few tablespoons of this with my granola this morning and I’m excited to add it to the apple crumble I’m cooking for friends tonight!

What’s your go to simple chocolate recipe? Are you as addicted to coconut products as I am?

Jenna