Healthy Breakfast Cookies

This Recipe comes from Helen Falvey acupuncturist, based in Galway

These soft-bake delicious cookies are made without grains or refined sugar. They are perfect for breakfast or a mid-morning snack. Finely chopped pieces of Magic Mayan Cacao Pura give the cookies, a delicious chocolate and antioxidant hit.

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup smooth almond butter
  • 1 cup ground almonds
  • 4 tbsp milled chia seeds
  • 1/2 cup hemp milk
  • 50g Magic Mayan Cacao Pura chocolate 
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • A pinch of sea salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line two baking trays with baking parchment. Beat the eggs into the bananas, then add the almond butter and the ground almonds. Stir the chia seeds into the hemp milk and allow to thicken. Meanwhile, finely chop up the Magic Mayan Cacao Pura. Stir the chia seed mixture into the mix, then add the chocolate. Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the baking parchment and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Once cool, they can be stored in an airtight container for a few days.

www.acuglowacupuncture.com

Raspberry Chocolate Bark

Today we have the second Recipe from Mayan Duncan (https://www.instagram.com/dancingfoody/)

 

There can never be too much chocolate! Especially when it’s as healthy as Magic Mayan. This bark is simple yet delicious. It has the chews and sour tangs of the raspberries, the chocolate sweetness and crunch from all the add ins. I definitely recommend giving it a go 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 Magic Mayan raspberry rendezvous bars
• 50g raspberries
• 15g flaked almonds
• 15g buckwheat
• 15g desiccated coconut
• Extra raspberries, to top

Method:

In a microwave or over the hob, melt the chocolate.
In a small bowl mash the raspberries with a fork.
Add the raspberry mash, almonds, buckwheat and coconut into the chocolate and mix until everything is covered.
Pour the mix onto a lined tray and top with a few more raspberries. Pop into the fridge until set. Chop into squares and enjoy.

FUDGE Brownies – Dairy Free


This Recipe comes from Maya Duncan, a 15 year old foodie, dancer and lover of all things healthy! I run a food blog ( www.dancingfoody.com ) and instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/dancingfoody/ ).
Note Maya:
I LOVE chocolate and Magic Mayan is the best healthy chocolate around:) – I am so excited to be creating a few recipes with it. These brownies are insanely good (if I say so myself). They are gooey, fudgy and perfectly sweet, everything you want in a brownie.
————————————————————————————————————
This Recipe Makes 8 Brownies:

Ingredients

• 2 bars of Magic Mayan chocolate (I love raspberry or mint)
• 30g coconut oil (solid)
• 20g cacao powder
• 75g ground almonds
• 20g spelt flour
• 50 coconut sugar (or use caster, cane, rapadura etc.)
• pinch of salt
• 150ml almond milk
• 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp milled flax seed mixed with 5 tbsp water and
let thicken for 5 minutes)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 195*c.
In a small saucepan melt together the chocolate and coconut oil. While they are melting, mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the chocolate mixture, almond milk and flax eggs.
Pour into a lined tin and bake for 40 minutes (they may seem undercooked but will cool and solidify more). Let cool and cut into slices. Dig into the gooiest, most delicious brownies.

Raspberry Rendezvous Cheesecakes

Here is yet another amazing recipe from Mari Rivers (Ginger Vegan)

Just in time for Vegan New Year 🙂

 

Recipe:

Base:

75g hazelnuts
3 tbsp cacao powder
75g dates
2 tbsp mild coconut oil
—————-
Put all the base ingredients except coconut oil in a food processor and whizz until finely ground. Melt the coconut oil and add to the mixture and whizz again. Press firmly into four ring moulds 5cm high by 6cm diameter. Set aside.

Filling:

275g cashew nuts, soaked at least 4 hours or overnight
60g agave syrup
60g mild coconut oil
60g raspberries
1 bar Raspberry Rendezvous, melted
—————-
  1. Blend the cashew nuts together with the agave and coconut oil until smooth. Be patient! It takes a few goes to scrape the blender down and blend again until you get a really smooth cosistency.
  2. Divide the filling in half.
  3. To one half add the melted chocolate and mix well. Spoon into the moulds and smooth the top.
  4. To the other half of the mixture add the raspberries and blend again. Spoon on top of the chocolate mixture in the moulds and smooth the tops. Freeze for about an hour or two. This makes it possible to push the cakes out from the moulds. Push from the bottom, and be careful to catch them as they come out from the top of the moulds!
  5. To decorate drizzle the top with melted chocolate and add raspberries and some more finely chopped chocolate pieces.
  6. You can prepare these in advance and store in the fridge until needed.

Mucho Mocha Muffins

This is a Guest Post from Dr. Ciara Kelly from The Irish Balance

 

And so here we are at recipe number THREE in my Chocolate Collection with Magic Mayan! HOW exciting is this recipe series guys – I am loving it. This time around, I had the delicious and fantastically named Mucho Mocha 73% Dark Chocolate from Magic Mayan to play with. I wanted to create a recipe that would go reaaallly nicely with a big mug of coffee or tea as we plug away through these winter months. These muffins are quick to make, easy to wrap up and take on the go, and most importantly, contain decadent chunks of melted chocolate in them. NOM. As always, a big old thank you to Magic Mayan for asking me to do this recipe collection with them – it’s an absolute joy to create tasty treats with their range! Now, let’s get baking!

 

 

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp cacao powder
  • 1 tbsp sweetener (I use Date Syrup – alternatives could be honey/maple syrup etc)
  • 1/2 cup of freshly brewed coffee
  • 2/3 cup of milk of choice (I used Alpro Cashew Milk)
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 2 scoops of Chocolate Protein Powder (I used Nuzest)
  • 200g oats, ground into flour (I use Flahavan’s Progress Oatlets)
  • 1/3 cup of Magic Mayan Mucho Mocha 73% Dark Chocolate, sliced into little

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C (fan oven), and place cupcake liners into a baking tray.
  2. Blitz your oats into flour in your food processor, and tip the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the baking powder, cacao powder and protein powder.
  3. Mix all the dry ingredients together, and then make a little well in the centre.
  4. Crack the eggs into a small bowl, whisk them up a bit, and then add to the dry ingredients.
  5. Add the rest of the wet ingredients – milk, coffee and sweetener.
  6. Stir everything up until well-combined.
  7. Spoon the mixture into your cupcake liners until 3/4 full for each.
  8. Finally, add 4-5 little chocolate chips to each muffin!
  9. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes approximately – check at 35, and if a toothpick comes on 99% clean, you’re good to go!

 

Enjoy guys! Let me know what you think of the recipe – leave a comment, send a DM, email, whatever you want! Tag me if you try these out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook, you know what to do!

Ciara  xx

Chocolate Quinoa Power Bars –

Yet another awesome guest Recipe from the award winning Dr. Ciara Kelly

 

The Chocolate Collection continues!!! And this is a pretty frickin’ exciting second recipe, let
me tell you. You guys know I’m a little obsessed with creating healthy snack recipes, and
until now my pride and joy recipe of my blog is my Chocolate Chickpea Power Bars – you
guys have been loving these as much as I do! But I’ve had quinoa on my list of ingredients to
play with for quite a while, and with some gorgeous Magic Mayan Creamy Cashew to create
with, I decided to try my hand at a healthy snack bar packed full of delicious cashew
chocolate goodness. Drooling yet? You should be. Thank you again to the lovely gang at
Magic Mayan for asking me to collaborate with them for this Chocolate series – can you tell
how much fun I’m having creating it?! Let’s get baking guys!

 

Chickpea protein Power Bar Recipe

 

Recipe

 

Ingredients

 

  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp whole chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tbsp chopped cashews
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
  • 2 tbsp sweetener of choice (I used Meridian Foods Date Syrup)
  • 2 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed until liquid-like in consistency
  • 1/2 cup Quinoa, uncooked
  • 1 cup/100g quick-cook oats (I use Flahavan’s Progress Oatlets)
  • 50g good quality dark chocolate, chopped into tiny chunks (I used Magic Mayan
  • Creamy Cashew 73% Dark Chocolate)
  • Optional: 2 tbsp of Protein Powder (I used Nutristrength Vanilla Pea Protein!)

 

Chickpea Protein Power Snack Bar Recipe

 

Method

 

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan oven), line a baking dish with tinfoil, and grease the
    tinfoil with a little melted coconut oil.
  2. Take a large mixing bowl, and add your oats, rinsed quinoa, cinnamon, ginger, baking
    powder, protein powder, seeds and cashews. Stir everything up using a big spoon so
    it’s well mixed.
  3. Leave the chocolate chips aside for the moment.
  4. In a smaller bowl, mash your bananas, and add the vanilla extract, sweetener and
    coconut oil, and stir.
  5. Add your wet ingredients into the larger bowl, and get some elbow action going! Mix
    it all up until all the dry ingredients are coated. Your texture should be 2/3 “dry” and
    1/3 “wet” if that makes sense – like a batter, basically.
  6. Finally, add the chocolate chips, and fold them into the batter.
  7. Scoop your mixture into your baking dish, and using the back of a spoon, spread it out
    evenly into each corner of the dish, flattening the top as you go.
  8. Transfer the dish into the oven when it’s ready, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Check at
    25 minutes by inserting a fork or toothpick into the centre of the bake – if it comes out
    pretty much clean, you’re all set!
  9. Remove from the oven, and allow the bars to cool for 15 minutes before slicing – and
    devouring!

 

 

Enjoy guys! I have been meaning to create a quinoa bar recipe for AGES, and something
about Autumn combined with the great opportunity to work with Darren and the Magic
Mayan gang felt like the right time to get on it! Plus who doesn’t love chocolate chips in their
snack bars?! And DARK chocolate at that…drool.

 

Tag me if you try these out –
@theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter and on Facebook too! I can’t wait to see what you
think!

 

Ciara 🙂 x

Raw Cacao Maple Glazed Bliss Balls

This is a guest post from Lisa Hughes, Lisa is a Nutritional Therapist and Wellness Coach based in Dublin. Her website is www.nourishforlife.ie

 

Ingredients:

 

For the maple glazed pecans

  • 125g whole pecans
  • 2 tbsp of maple syrup
  • 10g of Magic Mayan 100% raw cacao
  • 2 tbsp of butter
  • 1 tbsp of brown sugar (optional)

 

For the bliss balls

  • 100g of ground almonds 
  • 50g of almond butter
  • 2 tbsp of puffed quinoa (optional)
  • 2 tbsp of maple syrup
  • 30g Magic Mayan 100% raw cacao

 

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or use a non-stick tray.
  2. Over medium-high heat, melt the butter, the raw cacao, brown sugar and maple syrup. Stir until bubbling in the middle of the pot. Turn off the heat and add the pecans and stir until all pecans are coated well.
  3. Spread pecans on prepared baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 6 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
  5. While the pecans are baking, add the raw cacao, almond butter and maple syrup to the same pan and melt over a medium heat. Once the chocolate has melted, take off the heat and continue to stir.
  6. In a bowl add the ground almonds and quinoa puff. Next, pour the chocolate mix into the bowl and with a wooden spoon stir until its well combined.
  7. Break half of the pecans into small pieces and add to the mix. 
  8. Divide into eight equal portions and roll into balls between the palms of your hands.
  9. Place 1 pecan on each bliss ball for decoration.
  10. These delicious bliss balls can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge!

 

Enjoy and don’t forget when you give this recipe a go, to tag @nourishforlife_nutrition in your facebook or insta post!

Black Velvet Beet Brownie

Black Velvet Beetroot Brownies

Guest Post from Dr. Ciara Kelly from The Irish Balance Blog.

Ciara is passionate about food, nutrition and fitness and women’s health

 

Brownies. Doesn’t the word just make you excited when you hear it? This recipe is definitely
an exciting one for me because it’s part of a CHOCOLATE recipe collaboration! Is there any
better kind? I’ll answer that – no. Recently, the lovely crew from Magic Mayan Chocolate
emailed me, asking would I be interested in working with me to create some deeeelicious
recipes with their fantastic range of artisan dark chocolate. And of COURSE I said yes.
Magic Mayan are an Irish company, based in Ennis, Co. Clare (which is in the West of
Ireland for those of you from other countries!), who produce a range of  organically sourced,
dairy-, gluten- and soya-free dark raw chocolate bars – in FOURTEEN different varieties.
FOURTEEN. I can’t say fourteen enough – including mouth-watering names like Crazy
Caramel, Mucho Mocha, Raspberry Rendezvous, Creamy Cashew, Black Velvet – PLUS a
100% Cacaoa Pura bar. That one is an intense experience, trust me. I chose Mucho Mocha,
Creamy Cashew and Black Velvet to create some recipe magic with (get it, Magic Mayan?
I’m good, I know). This is the FIRST of a mini-series of recipes I will be posting over the
next few weeks via my site AND of course the Magic Mayan website – so of COURSE we’re
kicking off with brownies!

Black Velvet Beet Brownie

 

Given that my blog has the word ‘balance’ in it, you won’t be surprised to see my series of
choco-tastic recipes will be a blend of treat-style snacks and desserts that have a cheeky little
healthy twist. That DOESN’T mean I’m against anyone indulging in any totally decadent
desserts – after all, a regular brownie doesn’t have beetroot, duh, and if you wanna have a
standard no-veg brownie, do it! The recipes I’ll be posting are a combination of what YOU
guys have asked me to try my hand at (via comments/messages, etc) plus my own ideas! I
really hope you enjoy this series – I think it’s timed really well with the countdown to
Christmas too! So – let’s BAKE!

 

Recipe (Makes 10-12 brownies)

Ingredients:

  • 250g cooked beetroot (I used the brand Chef from a jar without juice!)
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 4 tbsp raw cacao powder
  •  50g High Quality Dark Chocolate (the darker the better!), broken into small chunks –
    I’ve used the brand Magic Mayan 85% Black Velvet Dark Chocolate for my
    brownies!
  • 32g (1/4 cup) chopped hazelnuts
  • 16g (1/8 cup) extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp sweetener of choice (I used date syrup! Try honey/maple/agave either)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Optional: If you like, use a little extra dark chocolate broken into small chips to have
    chocolate-y chunks in the brownies!

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C (fan oven), and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper or
    greased tinfoil.
  2.  Place the dark chocolate chunks in a microwave safe bowl and set aside for now.
  3. Add your dry ingredients to a big mixing bowl – oat flour, baking powder, cacao
    powder, and hazelnuts. Stir well to combine.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to your food processor or blender – eggs, beetroot, olive oil,
    vanilla extract, and sweetener. Blend until smooth.
  5. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir until well combined. If
    the batter is a little too dry or too wet, feel free to add a little more sweetener or oat
    flour respectively, but it should match up well!
  6. Heat the chocolate chunks in the microwave to melt for approximately 1 minute. Give
    them an extra 20-30 seconds if not fully liquid after that time!
  7. Taking care with the hot bowl, pour the melted chocolate into your brownie batter.
    Stir everything up again until well mixed.
  8. Finally, if adding extra chocolate chips, tip these into the batter now and mix again.
  9. Pour the brownie batter into your baking tin, and bake in the oven for 25 minutes
    approximately. Check with a toothpick inserted into the centre of the batter – if it
    comes out 99% clean, you’re good to go!
  10. Allow the brownies to cool (ESSENTIAL) for about 15 minutes before slicing up and
    devouring them!

Black Velvet Beet Brownies

Enjoy guys! This is a pretty special creation for me – not just because it’s brownies (DUH) but
more because it’s the first of my exciting recipe collaborations with Magic Mayan chocolate!
I can’t wait to share more of these with you guys – stay tuned for what’s coming, it is ALL
delicious don’t you worry! Tag me and Magic Mayan if you try these brownies out –
@theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook, you know by now!
Ciara 🙂 x

Chocolate Orange & Flaxseed Cookies

 

I discovered this chocolate in Evergreen health food store in Galway while I was doing my usual scan of
the shop (anyone else just love to walk around food shops looking reading the labels??) This is
chocolate at its best…raw. When we hear people talk about chocolate being good for us, this is the
stuff they are talking about. In its raw form chocolate is packed with anti-aging and disease fighting
antioxidants along with mood-boosting and anti-inflammatory compounds. So along with all those
benefits this one actually tastes unreal.

I added milled flaxseed to these cookies too, I used the Linwoods brand with the added goji berries. The main health benefits of flaxseed are that it contains Omega-3 essential fatty acids, “good” fats that have been shown to have heart healthy effects. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s. And it contains lots of fibre – there are two types of fibre, soluble and insoluble types, our bodies require both and flaxseed happens to contain both 🙂 Your probably thinking these cookies sound way too healthy, they won’t be as nice as your packet of supermarket cookies, guys you will have to try the recipe for yourself but I promise you, they are delish, the only problem is that they won’t last for long, I ate half the batch while taking photos (no regrets!)

Vegan Chocolate for Cookie Recipe

I used the Oriental Orange bar for this recipe as I absolutely love orange chocolate anything, and then used the Black Velvet to drizzle over the cookies once they were baked. You can use any flavour, I think the Amazing Almond would work really well and you could add in almond flakes instead of the orange zest 🙂 Another flavour I will definitely try with this recipe is the Atlantic Magic bar – this bar is so tasty, raw chocolate with a hint of sea salt and seaweed, you can actually feel the sea salt texture in your mouth, which I love!!

I think the key to these cookies is not to use chocolate chips that come in a bag, but chopping the chocolate yourself, that way you can add in giant chunks of chocolate and enjoy it in all its melty goodness 😀 I also had the ultimate taste tester on hand when I made these, my little nephew Joe, he knows a good cookie when he sees one and his description was: “Texture is really good, really chewy and loads of chocolate, the more I eat, the more I love it!! I can’t stop eating it, top 5 cookies he has ever had” High praise from a tough critic and he reckons I should start selling them in the Galway Market haha 😀

Here is the recipe, let me know if ye give them a go!

Ingredients:

1⁄2 cup (40 grams) of coconut oil *at room temperature
1 whole egg (sub for a flaxegg if making vegan)
1⁄2 cup (75 grams) of coconut sugar
1⁄4 cup (15 grams) of milled flaxseed
Juice of 1⁄2 a large orange
1⁄2 tsp of baking soda
2 1⁄4 cups (200 grams) of almond flour
Zest of half an Orange

1 whole bar of chopped Magic Mayan chocolate – I used Oriental Orange
1⁄2 bar for melting and drizzling over the cookies – I used the 85% Black Velvet bar

Paleo Cookie Recipe

Method:

• In a bowl mix together coconut oil and coconut sugar
• Add the egg and the juice of the orange
• Mix almond flour and baking soda together and then add this to the wet ingredients
• Mix until well combined and smooth
• Fold in the chunks of chocolate and orange zest
• Cover and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hours
• Heat oven to 180 degrees or Gas mark 4
• Line some parchment paper, and scoop the cookie dough into cookie shapes and arrange on paper, sprinkle with left of orange zest – should make about 8 – 10 medium sized cookies
• Bake for 10 minutes or until they turn golden brown on the edges
• While cookies are cooling on a wire rack, melt the other bar of chocolate in a bowl
• Once cookies are cooled, drizzle the melted chocolate over the cooled cookies and leave for the chocolate to set

Finished Paleo Cookie

 

This is a Guest Blog Post from Pia McCarthy Fitness based in Galway

Chocolate Chip Nicecream Cake

Guest Post from Mairi Rivers (Ginger Vegan)

 

I made this one with oatcakes for the base so it isn’t fully raw but you could easily replace the oatcakes with the equivalent weight in nuts for a completely raw cake.
—————————————————————————–
I used fruit syrup in this recipe but agave syrup, coconut nectar or maple syrup would work just as well.
You need frozen bananas for this recipe. Store peeled bananas in a bag in the freezer. Cut them up just before using with a sturdy knife. You may have to let them thaw slightly before cutting but don’t wait too long as they do need to be frozen!
—————————————————————————–

First layer – Base:

—————————————————————————–
280g oatcakes
125g dried morello cherries
70g mild coconut oil
2 tbsp cacao powder
3 tbsp fruit syrup
—————————————————————————–

Second layer – Chocolate Nicecream Filling:

—————————————————————————–
5 frozen bananas
10 dates
30g cacao powder
175ml oat milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
—————————————————————————–

Third layer – Chocolate Chip Nicecream Filling:

—————————————————————————–
5 frozen bananas
120ml oat milk
1 tbsp cacao powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp fruit syrup
1 bar Crazy Caramel
—————————————————————————–

Topping:

—————————————————————————–
1 bar Crazy Caramel
Cherries
—————————————————————————–
First, prepare a 23cm diameter loose bottomed cake tin by lining the base and sides with baking paper or a reusable liner.
—————————————————————————–

For the base:

  1. First, put the oatcakes into a food processor and process until they are finely ground. Then add the morello cherries and whizz again until they are cut into small pieces. Melt the coconut oil and add this to the oat mix along with the cacao powder and fruit syrup. Process until everything is well mixed.
  2. Press into the base of the prepared cake tin with the back of a metal spoon or the bottom of a glass. Make sure the base is well compacted.
  3. Put into the freezer while you prepare the next layer.

—————————————————————————–

For the chocolate nicecream:

  1. Chop up the bananas and put them into a blender or food processor with the dates, cacao powder, oat milk and vanilla extract and blend until smooth. You may have to scrape down the sides of the jug a few times as you go.
  2. When it is well blended pour on top of your base and smooth the top.
 —————————————————————————–

For the chocolate chip layer:

  1. First chop the chocolate into small chunks and set aside.
  2. Chop the bananas and put in the blender along with the cacao powder, vanilla extract, fruit syrup and oat milk and blend until smooth.
  3. Finally, stir in the chocolate pieces by hand.
  4. Pour into your cake tin and smooth the top well. Put in the freezer for at least 3 hours or until well frozen.
—————————————————————————–

When you are ready to decorate the cake:

  1. Chop up about 2/3 of the Crazy Caramel bar for the topping.
  2. Melt the remaining 1/3 of the chocolate bar in a small bowl set over another bowl filled with warm water.
  3. Remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving plate.
  4. Drip some of the melted chocolate around the edges of the cake with a teaspoon.
  5. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate around the top edge of the cake.
  6. Finally, dip some cherries in the remaining melted chocolate and arrange around the top.
  7. When you have finished decorating it the cake should have thawed enough to cut. You can either serve now or cut into slices and then return to the freezer so it is easy to take a portion later without thawing the whole cake.
—————————————————————————–
Mairi Rivers is a Vegan Runner, Recipe Developer and Photographer