Summer Heat, Time for Sweets – DIY Guilt-free Dessert Recipes
2020-7-20

It’s time to beat the summer heat without giving up those delicious desserts made from seasonal fruits!

We know that you may fear the extra pounds gained from having sugary foods. Here’s our suggestion for you: Make The Desserts By Yourself! It is healthier to have home-made desserts and it is easier for you to control your desire to sweet foods when you know how much sugar and fat have been put into your mouth. 

Below are the recipes for tasty and guilt-free desserts that you should try at home.

The creaminess of commercial ice cream is mostly contributed by the fats in its raw ingredients – cow milk and cream. Ice cream made from milk with higher fat content will give a creamier and smoother texture. To produce fluffy and delicate ice cream, the ice cream mixture is continuously being stirred and mixed to break the fat molecules, and to evenly incorporate air into the mixture during the production process. Stabilizers are commonly used by ice cream manufacturers to delay melting of their products. So, if you are looking for additive-free ice cream, it’s better to make it on your own. The two ice cream recipes below use plant milk and fruits as the main ingredients, and cashew nuts as the source of healthy fats to provide the creaminess while reducing saturated fat content of the ice cream.

1. Matcha banana ice ream

(Make about 700g) Ingredients:

Method:

  1. Peel off the bananas and cut into chunks. Place them in a container and freeze overnight.
  2. Soak the cashew nuts with hot water for at least 2 hours. Drain and set aside.
  3. Mix all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
  4. Pour mixture into a container and freeze for at least 2 hours for firmer texture.
Matcha contains a powerful functional food compound - epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). It has strong antioxidative and potential anti-obesity effects. What is the difference between matcha and green tea? To answer it simply, matcha is a powder form of green tea made from the finest green tea leaves and contains more health beneficial substances than green tea leaves.

2. Blueberry lavender ice cream

(Make about 900g) Ingredients:

Method:

  1. Soak the cashew nuts with hot water for at least 2 hours. Drain and set aside.
  2. Heat the almond milk and vanilla creamer in a medium saucepan until steam comes up (but not boils). Remove from heat and add lavender. Stir to combine and set aside for 10 minutes.
  3. Cut open the dates and remove the pits.
  4. Sieve out the lavender from the milk mixture and pour the sieved mixture into a blender. Add blueberries, pitted dates, and cashew nuts. Blend at high speed until all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.
  5. Pour mixture into ice cube trays and freeze for at least 6 hours.
  6. Place ⅓ of the cubes into a food processor and blend to a dough-like texture. Transfer ice cream mixture to a freezer container and repeat this step for the remaining cubes.
  7. Place the container in a freezer for 2 hours for firmer texture before serving.
Blueberry contains an abundant amount of anthocyanins, the natural pigment that gives the red and purple color of the fruit. Anthocyanins have strong antioxidative effects which can help fight against free radicals, aging problems as well as cancer. However, this pigment is unstable and is easy to break down due to heat and oxygen once the structure of the fruit is destroyed. Because of this, it is normal that the color of your ice cream slightly changes (no longer stays bright purple but becomes darker) from the time that you make it to the time that you eat.

Summer (June to August) is the peak season for various types of refreshing berries. They own the best quality in terms of juiciness, and the balance between sweetness and sourness. It couldn’t be better than using the seasonal berries for making summer desserts.

3. Raspberry Rose Chia Pudding

(Make 6-7 jars of 100ml-pudding) Ingredients:

Method:

  1. In a blender/ food processor, add the oat milk, raspberries, syrup and rose water. Blend until smooth.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the raspberry mixture and chia seeds.
  3. Divide and pour the mixture into your prepared bowls or jars. Refrigerate overnight.
Raspberry is rich in vitamin C and the anti-inflammatory gallic acid. Regular consumption of raspberry is good for cardiovascular and skin health. This chia pudding gives not only the unique tartness of raspberry but also the sweet rose flavor to create a good balance of taste. When your mood turns bad due to the heat of summer, just have a jar of this pudding and you will definitely feel relaxed.

4. Berry Bliss Ball

(Make ~12 balls) Main ingredients:

  • 60 g Quinoa Flakes
  • 4 tbsp IIDEA Raw Organic Agave Syrup (or replaced by 4 dates)
  • 100 g mixed berries, fresh or frozen
  • 35 g coconut flour
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1-3 tbsp water

Decoration:

Method:

  1. Add berries, coconut flour, coconut oil, salt and water in a food processor and mix until they are well combined.
  2. In a large bowl, add the quinoa flakes and the berry mixture. Mix them well to obtain a sticky dough. If too dry, add a few more drops of water.
  3. Shape the balls with your hands or using a small ice cream scoop.
  4. To decorate the bliss balls: 1) coarsely grind the dried coconut chips and coat the balls with the ground chips or 2) coat the balls directly with cocoa powder.
  5. Put the balls in the fridge to allow them set before serving. The bliss balls can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
Due to the chemical reactions occurred between food substances and fruit pigment along with the mixing process, the color of the dough may change from purplish pink to purple. The fact that quinoa possesses an excellent protein profile makes these bliss balls best for desserts or snacks if you want to include more protein in your diet.

In most bakeries, making tart crust generally requires the use of sugar, butter and margarine while tart fillings commonly include heavy cream. Especially for lemon tart, the amount of sugar used is often more than other types of tarts in order to prevent over-sourness and bitterness of the lemon flavor. Below is a healthy version of baked lemon tart that uses dates and agave syrup as the natural sweetener and tofu as the base of the filling.

5. Tofu lemon tart

(Make ~six 4-inch tarts) Crust ingredients

Filling ingredients:

  • 5g (1 bag) Lucuma powder
  • 350g firm silken tofu
  • 120ml fresh lemon juice
  • Zest from one lemon
  • 3 tbsp IIDEA Raw Organic Agave Syrup
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch

Method

To make the crust:

  1. Cut open the dates and remove the pits.
  2. Blend and mix the coconut flour, quinoa flakes and dates until it looks like bread crumbs.
  3. Add the vanilla creamer and mix. (You should get a wet breadcrumb-like mixture which holds together when you press it between your fingers)
  4. Press the crust into tart moulds.
  5. Preheat the oven to 190 ℃.

 

To make the filling:

  1. Drain the liquid from the tofu.
  2. Blend all the “filling ingredients” in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy.

 

Remaining steps :

  1. Pour the filling on top of the crust.
  2. Bake in the oven at 170℃ for about 15 minutes (or until the edges appear slightly dry) and cool.
  3. Put tarts into the fridge for a couple of hours to allow them to set the shape.
This tart is full of lemon and coconut flavor. The coconut aroma boosts the sensation of sweetness without using much sweetener and the use of coconut flour gives the crust a relatively gritty texture. If you are not a fan of coconut flavor and would like the tart crust to be smoother, you may change the coconut flour into almond flour or other gluten-free flour and reduce the amount of liquid used for the tart crust (coconut flour absorbs more water than almond flour!).

 

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