Christmas Bliss Balls with Essential Oils

My boys have finished school and daycare, I've stopped setting my alarm and I'm making the time to get back into the kitchen - yep it's the Christmas holidays!

I love this time of year!

Leading up to the big day I will be sharing my favourite festive recipes flavoured with pure essential oils. Have you used oils in your food yet? The pure flavour is incredible and can take a very simple recipe to new heights of deliciousness. You generally need only a drop or 2 of each oil so it's also really cost-effective.

So which oils are suitable to use in your food? You will get a clue in the name eg. if it's a herb, spice or fruit it will be food-grade. I only use and recommend doTERRA essential oils and you can find more info about the oils and how to purchase here.

doTERRA essential oils for use in food:

- Wild Orange
- Lemon
- Lime
- Grapefruit
- Basil
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Cinnamon
- Cassia
- Cardamon
- Clove
- Black pepper
- Cilantro
- Coriander
- Fennel
- Ginger
- Lemongrass
- Peppermint

Yummo!

I made these festive bliss balls for an oils class last weekend and they were a big hit! Packed with flavour, they are perfect for when you are asked to bring a plate and I guarantee you will have trouble stopping at one!

Christmas Bliss Balls (with essential oils)

140g raw almonds
100g dried dates
80 g dried cranberries
pinch salt
1 drop cinnamon essential oil
2 drop ginger essential oil
3 drops wild orange essential oil

Place all ingredients into the Thermomix and blitz for 30 seconds / SP 9.
Roll mixture into balls. Makes approximately 14.

What's your favourite Christmas recipe? xx

Raw Chocolate with Chai and Cashews

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

At our place the 1st of December is all about Christmas - the tree goes up, the Christmas music goes on and we start our nightly tradition of reading a different Christmas book each night with the kids. Love it!

On Facebook, I'm starting a 12 days of DIY Christmas gifts series today with a selection of recipes using our beautiful essential oils. Hop on over and like My Wholefood Family Essentials to get inspired and play along! 

One of my favourite ways to use my oils is to flavour my food, especially anything chocolate.

So given my chai obsession at the moment I've adapted my basic raw chocolate recipe and made this amazing chai chocolate with cashews!

If you like the warm, sweet spiciness of chai you will LOVE this chocolate. These spice oils are warming for our bodies, can aid digestion and are packed with antioxidants. And of course it tastes AMAZING!

Raw Chocolate with Chai and Cashews

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup raw cashews
pinch salt
2 drops Ginger essential oil
2 drops Cardamom essential oil
2 drops Wild Orange essential oil
1 drop Cinnamon essential oil
1 drop Black Pepper essential oil

Place the coconut oil, cacao powder, salt and maple syrup in a small pan over low heat and stir until smooth and well combined. Remove from the heat and add the cashews and essential oils. Mix well and pour the mixture into a lined 20cm baking pan or a silicone cake pan and place in the freezer to set. Once firm (it doesn't take long at all), break into pieces and store in an airtight container in the freezer.

As this chocolate contains coconut oil it will melt if left at room temperature. You can see in the photo that it was already starting to melt! 

I only use and trust doTERRA essential oils to use at home and in our food. To get your hands on some please leave me a comment below or read this post on how to get started with essential oils! 

Susan xx

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Hello dear reader!

I'm back and with a delightfully simple and seriously delicious recipe to share.

As we approach the end of the term, the kids have been really running out of energy. Tempers are short and patience even shorter.

I've learnt that the best way to guarantee a peaceful time after school is to feed them well the INSTANT they walk in the door.

Such a cliche but a few of these cookies and a glass of milk (1 x cows milk, 1 x rice milk, 1 x coconut milk) and there were 3 happy little campers.

I made these yesterday and saved a couple for myself to have today, and I'm so glad I did because they were even better today! More flavour and better texture. When they're fresh they are verrrry soft and likely to fall apart. Next day, they have a good bite to them and are absolutely perfect with a cup of tea.

I've been doing a bit of experimentation with xylitol as a sweetener lately and so far I'm really impressed. Most peanut butter cookies call for equal amounts of peanut butter and sugar, which would be WAY too sweet for us. Even the 1/2 cup of xylitol was a little much and I would cut it back to 1/3 or even 1/4 cup next time.

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol made from birch with a low GI. As with all sweeteners, I use it sparingly and rotate between different types so we are not having the same thing all the time.

If you have dogs, I would suggest using an alternative sweetener as it is DEADLY for them and you wouldn't want to risk your fur-babies eating the crumbs of these cookies.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup xylitol
1 heaped tbs raw cacao
1 egg
1/2 ts salt
3/4 ts bicarb soda

Mix together until well combined. Roll teaspoons of mixture into balls and place on a baking tray.

Flatten the tops with a fork and bake for 10 minutes, rotating the trays halfway.

Makes 24

Have you tried xylitol? What's your favourite non-refined sugar sweetener? xx

Glitches

Hey there! You may have noticed things have been a little quiet around here lately.

The first reason is that my father had a stroke and car accident at the end of July. He spent 2 weeks in intensive care and now 2 months later is still in hospital. I try to get to the hospital most days which uses up what little ‘spare’ this me I have with 3 children and a business.

The second reason is that my computer died! I was very attached to my MacBook and definitely lost some photos and files in the process. Back up your work people!!!

The third reason is that I’m now running everything from my iPad and cannot for the life of me work out how to upload photos from my iPad into blogger. It just doesn’t work! And a food blog without photos is no food blog at all.

BUT I am still sharing recipes and lots of other good stuff too over on Facebook, so make sure you like my page to stay in touch.

Join me on Facebook

I also have a twice-monthly newsletter which you can subscribe on the top right of this page.

Hopefully back to normal soon, I have so many half written posts waiting for the photos!

Susan xx

Coconut Pannacotta Gummies

Are you a fan of gummies?

We've been making LOADS of them over winter with orange juice, coconut water and immune supporting essential oils like lemon, orange and On Guard. Get the recipe for my citrus gummies here.

The gelatin is just so good for gut health plus the kids love them and have no idea they're eating something so healthy!

I wanted to switch things up a little this time and make more of a dessert.

Pannacotta is one of my all time favourite desserts and it was easily converted into gummies.

While gummies are usually quite firm, I wanted to recreate the wobble that is so characteristic of a Pannacotta so I used just 1 tablespoon of gelatin. With this amount of liquid you could use up to 1/4 cup of gelatin.

I used rice malt syrup as the sweetener here to keep them fructose free, but you could use honey or maple syrup instead.  You might just need less though as they are much sweeter than the rice malt syrup!

Coconut Pannacotta Gummies

1 tin Ayam coconut milk

1 tin Ayam coconut cream

1/3 cup rice malt syrup (or preferred sweetener)

2 ts vanilla extract

1 tbs gelatin (I use Great Lakes)

Place the coconut milk, cream, syrup and vanilla into a small saucepan and mix until just combined.

Sprinkle over the gelatin and leave to bloom for 5 minutes.

Place the pan over low heat and stir together until melted and smooth.

Pour into a glass dish and place in the fridge to set.

Slice into squares and serve.

What's your favourite gummies recipe? x