I tried this recipe a while ago, and I’m eager to try it again. Summer will bring along the fresh raspberries. Until then, I’m using the raspberries from the freezer, which I've stored especially for these winter days!

• What do you need to have for 2 portions?

For the dessert base

250g gluten-free oat flakes

3 teaspoons of Caju Fresh from NoMoMoo

250ml plant-based milk

60g raspberries

60g almond flakes

30g agave syrup

70g honey

For the raspberry sauce

160g raspberries

20g coconut sugar

20ml water

• How to make it?

In a bowl, mix the oat flakes, Caju Fresh, vegetable milk, raspberries, almond flakes, agave syrup, and honey.

Let it rest in the fridge overnight.

The next day (for us, it was perfect at breakfast), I took the dessert out of the fridge and divided it into two smaller bowls. I then made the raspberry sauce.

Let the raspberry and coconut sugar sit for 10 minutes; then, add the water. Boil on low heat until it thickens. Pour it over the dessert. Savour it.

It is a filling and healthy dessert! Plus, it’s so easy to make!

Upon our first trip to Scotland, our host in Edinburgh served us these treats at breakfast. When he saw how much we liked them, he gave us a bagful.

We munched them at the airport; we didn’t want to let them fall into the wrong hands.

Marcel made them once; it was my turn. I adapted the recipe considering my tastes and heart. In Scotland, they use golden syrup to make flapjacks; I preferred maple syrup.

Baking pan—

24 x 34 cm

Ingredients—

225g butter

100g coconut sugar

50g maple syrup

450g gluten-free oats

salt

Method—

Melt the butter; add the coconut sugar, the maple syrup, the gluten-free oats, and the salt.

Pour the batter into the baking pan lined with baking parchment.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven at 190°C.

Cut them immediately after removing the baking pan from the oven; then, let them cool entirely. Otherwise, they would crack.

Marcel and I got hooked on them.

I hope you like them, too!

I fell in love with this cake in Lebanon (I have a special relationship with ’ashta’, the cream used everywhere in Phoenicia, anyway). I baked it for the first time on my birthday in 2023, adapting it (it’s not easy to bake with semolina!); I kept preparing it. This is what happens when a result is tasty!

For the cream:

In a large baking pan, mix and boil (low heat)

530ml whipping cream

420ml milk

67g flour

5 tbsp of sugar + 135g sugar

Before removing it from the heat, add a drop of

orange blossom water

rose water

You’ve made ashta.

Continue with the dough. 

In a bowl, mix

330g semolina

100g coconut or date sugar

3g baking powder

a pinch of salt

4 tbsp of sour cream

150g (melted and slightly cooled) butter

Divide the (sticky) dough into two equal parts; place the first part on the baking parchment by pressing fragments of the dough into the 34x24cm baking pan. (Don’t worry; it will all get homogenous through baking.) 

Sprinkle as many crushed pistachios as you like. 

Pour the ashta. 

Add another layer of crushed pistachios. 

Then, spread pieces of the remaining layer on top of the cake.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven at 180°C.

Cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Savour it. It is a creamy and delicious cake, one of my favourite desserts ever! ♥

Here’s such a fun and quick recipe for when you’re craving gluten-free cookies!

You’ll need—

5 tbsp of water

2 tbsp of psyllium seeds

120g oatmeal

a pinch of sea salt

4 tbsp of coconut sugar

2g baking powder

60g (melted) butter

+10 chocolate chips

for 20 cookies

Let the psyllium seeds soak for about 5-10 minutes (use hot water if possible).

Mix the ingredients in the specified order until you reach the chocolate chips.

Form the cookies.

Place them in a baking pan lined with baking parchment.

Add a chocolate chip per cookie for half of them.

Bake for 25 minutes at 170°C.

You can taste them after they cool a bit. They’re so buttery!

P.S. You can use coconut oil for the vegan version.

Makes 16

500g cottage cheese

a few drops of vanilla extract

zest from one organic orange

2 eggs

2 tbsp of coconut sugar

1/2 sachet of baking powder

330g flour

+sour cream, blueberry preserves

Fried, boiled, and even baked, papanaşi are always tasty!

However, there are times when – even with all the ingredients at hand –, I’m not in the mood to fry them. This recipe is precisely for those times!

They are easy to put together. Mix the cottage cheese, the vanilla extract, the orange zest, and the eggs. Add the coconut sugar, the baking powder, and the flour. Knead until the dough is firm and not sticky. Optional: keep it in the fridge for 45 minutes to turn it even firmer.

Then, divide it into 4. Each piece of dough will make 4 papanaşi. You’ll work with dough balls. Flatten each and make a hole in their centre.

Shape them well before getting them into the oven. They’ll bake for 20 minutes at 180⁰C, in a baking pan lined with baking parchment.

They turned golden and I served them with lots of local sour cream and blueberry preserves.

My inspiration came from a Tuscan speciality. But then, I let my imagination and senses carry me away. It was labelled as ’delicious’ and I hope you like it, too.  

4g dry yeast

2 tbsp Marsala wine

1 tbsp agave syrup

90ml (warm) water

100g almond meal

50g tapioca flour

30ml olive oil

a pinch of salt

a bunch of grapes

40g coconut sugar

+tapioca flour, olive oil, agave syrup

Mix the yeast, the wine (not necessarily Marsala wine), and the agave syrup. Then, pour the warm water, starting to mix in the almond meal and the tapioca flour (you may add some extra tapioca flour if the dough is too sticky). After adding the olive oil and the salt, knead the dough and let it rest for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash the grapes and grease and flour (using olive oil and tapioca flour) a baking pan of 15x22 cm.

Spread half of the dough on the bottom of the baking pan, placing half of the grapes on top. Sprinkle the coconut sugar and cover with the remaining dough (be careful, it is crumbly); place the remaining grapes on top and pour agave syrup over the cake.

Bake in the preheated oven, at 170°C, for 20 minutes, and then for 25 minutes more, at 150°C.

This cake fills you up and is... surprising, too!

We call it ’homemade chocolate’; it resembles fudge.

With all the events and the pressure around, I need to detox. So, with a few ingredients, as usual, I made something for the first time: a Romanian vegan fudge.

I needed:

125g coconut milk powder

10g cocoa

60 ml water

100g coconut sugar

30g coconut oil

+ a 12*18 cm dish

In a bowl, mix the coconut milk powder and cocoa.

Then, pour the water and the coconut sugar into a pan and leave it on low heat. After you notice bubbles forming, let the mixture simmer for 3 minutes. Then, add the coconut oil. Simmer for three minutes more (enough to caramelise the ingredients) and add the coconut milk powder and cocoa mix by stirring continuously.

Work fast because the fudge may harden – and pour it into the dish.

Let it sit in the fridge if you wish to have it ready faster.

Marcel was very pleasantly surprised and, more importantly, he savoured it.

What about me? I had my cravings met, as my Romanian vegan fudge turned out delicious.

This is the cake that my Mom used to bake every year, on December 31^st – her birthday. I have wanted to make it for a long time and the moment was right this year, on my Dad’s birthday.

200g butter [I used homemade butter]

200ml milk

200g sugar [I used 100g coconut sugar and 100g regular granulated sugar]

3 tbsp cocoa

9 tbsp flour

½ sachet baking powder

4 eggs

100g dark chocolate

30 walnuts

First, make the syrup by mixing the butter, milk, sugar, and cocoa in a pan, on medium heat. Let it boil and then cool.

Then, put aside 15 tablespoons from this mix. Into the syrup that you’ve got left, add the flour, the baking powder, and the egg yolks. Beat the egg whites stiff and slowly stir them into the mix.

Pour the mix into a baking pan (I used a round baking pan with a removable bottom) and bake in the preheated oven, at 180°C for 10 minutes and 150°C for 25 minutes more.

While the cake cools, make the glaze. Add the dark chocolate into the syrup and let it melt on low heat. Remove the walnuts from their shells and toast them; then, add them to the syrup. Pour the glaze onto the cake and let it cool.

’...hey, Dad, did the cake’s flavour remind you of anything?’ J♥