‘Good for You’ Chocolate Mousse

Posted in Fit Food, Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

Ok guys, no excuses not to make this easy-peasy dessert with just 3 ingredients – chocolate, cream and eggs and a measly 207 calories per portion! Not only is it simple but it makes it into my ‘healthy eating’ category because there is no added sugar. If the fact that it is super delicious, easy to make and low in calories isn’t enough to convince you to make it then the fact that dark chocolate is also good for your heart, circulation and brain should be the deal clincher! The other bonus is that this is ready after just 2 hours in the fridge.

The only sugar in this recipe is whatever is contained in the dark chocolate itself. I used chocolate with 74% cocoa solids (from Lidl).

The recipe is adapted from a recipe contained in Rachel Allen’s book Rachel’s Favourite Foods.

Makes 6 small (50ml) glasses

Ingredients

120g (4½ oz) dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids)
120ml (4fl oz) cream
2 eggs, separated

How to make it

Break up the chocolate into small pieces.
In a saucepan, bring the cream up to the boil then turn off the heat.
Add the chocolate to the cream and stir until the chocolate is melted.
In a separate large clean & dry bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff
Stir a quarter of the egg white into the chocolate mixture
Gently fold in the rest of the egg white, being careful not to knock all the air out.
Spoon into little glasses or cups
Leave for an hour or two in the fridge to set
Decorate / serve as you like, with a raspberry on the top, blob of whipped cream or a little gold dust.

My advice then is to hide and keep it all for yourself!

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4Sep2016

Chocolate (cheat’s) birthday cake!

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

My daughter Aoife turned 18 recently (so how did that happen?) – she was celebrating with some of her friends and I was tasked with making the cake. I was all set to make a fancy cake with lots of butter, eggs, dark chocolate, soured cream etc and then decorate it. I was stressing about it in the office that week at work when one of the girls in the office questioned why I was going to such trouble for a bunch of teenagers and why not use a cake mix out of a packet instead! Horror of horrors to the ears of someone who makes a point of making everything from scratch however the more I thought about it the more I thought that perhaps this was actually a brilliant idea. Continue reading →

19Jun2016

Gluten Free Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

I have been dying to share this recipe with you and to urge you to give it a try – it’s delicious, moist, gooey, chocolatey flavour will beat many brownies and because it doesn’t contain any flour, it is super light. When I made this recently it disappeared so quickly I couldn’t believe it – it was voted right up there along with the Oreo Brownies from a previous post. This is saying quite something. Did I mention also how quick and easy it is to make? So what are you waiting for?!

The recipe was one published by Domini Kemp in her weekly section in the Irish Times Magazine and because she said it was voted one of her most popular recipes I decided that I needed to check it out. I was not disappointed, I guarantee you won’t be either, enjoy.

Serves 8

Preparation time : 15 mins

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Ingredients

50g / 2oz cocoa powder
150g / 5oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
50ml / 2fl oz boiling water
150ml / ¼ pint olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g / 7oz soft brown sugar
3 eggs
150g / 5oz ground almonds
½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
Pinch salt

Equipment : 22inch spring-form tin

Method

Line the tin with parchment paper
Turn oven on to 170° C / 325° F
Mix / blitz cocoa powder and dark chocolate in a food processor into little shards of chocolate
Add the boiling water and blitz again
Add the olive oil and vanilla extract
In a separate (large) bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with a beater until nice and thick – for at least 5 minutes
Add the chocolate mixture to it and beat until well mixed in
Fold in the dry ingredients (ground almonds, bicarb of soda and salt)
Pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes

15May2016

Caramel & Chocolate Blondies

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

You have just got to try these beauties, voted by my regular testers here at home as better than my Oreo Brownies which is really saying something. As sweet treats go these are well up there and well worth making because they are just so yummy. What more can I say to convince you to give these deliciously sweet, buttery, chocolatey, caramel squares a go??!! Continue reading →

10Apr2016

Macaroon Bars

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

One of my favourite chocolate bars when I was a kid was a Macaroon Bar – shows my age! They are still available in some retro sweet shops and I bought one recently to see if they were still as nice. I was so disappointed and couldn’t believe that I had actually liked them, it was so sickly sweet. I decided then to have a go at making my own version which was surprisingly easy and ‘finger licking good’ if I say so myself! To make them even more attractive they rock in at just 95 calories each, using natural sugars in the form of honey (or agave syrup) so they make a pretty guilt-free treat in my book! I made them using dark chocolate with 74% cocoa solids – you can use any chocolate however the amount of honey / agave syrup you need will depend on how dark(% of cocoa solids) the chocolate is. Continue reading →

26Mar2016

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

It’s Easter so it just has to be chocolate for this week’s post! This simple ‘no bake’ biscuit cake recipe is one I have adapted from a Darina Allen’s cookbook ‘Easy Entertaining’ – the cake can be made in a loaf tin or in a circular loose-bottomed cake tin like my one in the picture. The ‘cake’ is quite rich and a small slice of it is delicious with a cup of tea or coffee. I had great fun as decorating it, the only problem now is having to wait until tomorrow to eat it!

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

2 tablespoons raisins, soaked in boiling water
225g (8 ozs) dark chocolate (60/70% cocoa solids)
225g (8 ozs) butter preferably unsalted
225g (8 ozs) plain biscuits, broken into pieces
1 dessertspoon castor sugar
2 eggs, preferably free range
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Decoration

50g dark chocolate

8 inch / 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, lined with cling film

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy,
Melt the butter and whisk into the egg and sugar mixture while it is still hot – the mixture should thicken slightly.
Add in the melted chocolate, drained raisins and vanilla essence and finally the broken biscuits and mix well.
Press the mixture into the lined tin.
Allow to set in a cold place until firm enough to cut.

To decorate

Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water and spread lightly over the cake
Decorate as you wish – chopped nuts, smarties, jellies …… have fun!
Serve in (small!) slices.

Note: You can also make this in a loaf tin 5 x 8 inch (12.5 x 20.5cm) – top the mixture with chopped nuts before you leave it to cool.

12Feb2016

Divine chocolate mousse cake

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

A slightly later than usual blog post this week which almost didn’t happen as I have just gone back to work after a wonderful year off. This has upset my routine (just a little!) and trying to get this dish made and photographed after a day’s work has given me a few headaches. (Think it’s a bit too soon to ask for time off during the day to take my food pics!) However, I just had to share this absolutely divine chocolate recipe with you – just the delicious chocolatey smells coming out of your oven when it is cooking will have you and anyone else in your house drooling and waiting impatiently to dig in when it comes out. Dark, moist, delicate, pure chocolate heaven. It is unbelievably light as there is no flour in it so gluten-free as well. I normally wouldn’t recommend sharing this under any circumstances but given the weekend that is in it share it with someone very special if you must but only if you absolutely have to! So go on and indulge yourself – a glass of something bubbly with it and life won’t get much better.

The recipe is really really simple – equal quantities i.e. 150g of dark chocolate, butter and sugar and 3 eggs. That’s it!

Serves 6 (or one big serving!)

Ingredients

150g dark chocolate (60/70% cocoa solids)
150g softened unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)
150g caster sugar
3 eggs separated
Icing sugar for dusting

Pre-heat the oven to 160° C / 325°F or Gas 3.

Grease a 20cm / 8in springform cake tin (an ordinary cake tin will work as well once it is well greased) and line the base with greaseproof paper.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl isn’t touching the water. Leave to cool.
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, then fold in the melted chocolate.
In another bowl whisk the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks.
Stir 2 large spoonfuls into the chocolate mixture to loosen it slightly and then gently fold in the remainder.
Put the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour or until a crust has formed on top and there is no ‘wobble’ in the middle.
The cake will rise up dramatically during the cooking but will sink once you take it out of the oven. It will also crack and this is perfectly normal.
Leave to cool on a wife rack, and remove from the tin.
Serve the cake dusted lightly with icing sugar and cream, ice-cream, raspberries and / or chocolate sauce.

15Jan2016

Avocado Chocolate Mousse

Posted in Fit Food, Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

Avocado and chocolate in the same sentence??? Kind of hard to get your head around isn’t it? Can you think of any nicer way to eat something healthy and good for you than in a chocolate mousse??? Bring it on, I hear you say! Any time I mention the words avocado and chocolate in the same sentence, people turn their noses up BUT they are people who have never tried it. It is also possibly the quickest, simplest and healthiest chocolate mousse there is. Continue reading →

18Dec2015

Mini Chocolate Christmas Pudding

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

This is a recipe from Darina Allen’s Easy Entertaining cookbook, a cook I admire and trust and whose books will always be in my cookbook library. They are a cinch to make and a delicious, easy alternative to Christmas pudding for dessert as they are light, perfectly sized, take just 6 minutes in the oven and can be prepared in advance. What’s not to love about that! Continue reading →

22Oct2015

Chocolate Oreo Brownies

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

These are simply the best brownies EVER. They are so good that I had to check with certain people in my family before publishing the recipe as I wasn’t sure if they would object to me sharing it! They are pretty irresistible, so much so that when I made them last week I barely managed to grab a few photos before they nearly all disappeared! When they are in the oven the house is filled with the wonderful, mouth-watering smell of chocolate. They have a wonderful soft, gooey texture and a delicious, rich chocolatey taste, and as if that wasn’t enough there are chunks of oreo biscuits in there as well. Is there anything better? Continue reading →