The Food Of Love – Valentines Day Desserts
What better way to say I love you with nutrient-dense and deliciously indulgent valentines day desserts… Here are 5 recipes that would melt anyone’s heart!
2 Ingredient Banana Berry Ice Cream (serves 1)
A low fat and low calorie yet smooth and creamy Valentine’s day dessert with absolutely no added sugar!
Ingredients
1 banana chopped and frozen
1 cup raspberries frozen
Method
1. Place banana and raspberry in a food processor
2. Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping the sides down every so often
3. Remove to a bowl and top with your favourite toppings such as cacao nibs, goji berries, coconut flakes or even crushed walnuts!
Cacao Mousse (serves 8)
Who doesn’t love a rich, velvety chocolate dessert? Full of monounsaturated fats, vitamin E and antioxidants called flavonoids which all contribute to a healthy heart.
Ingredients
2 large ripe avocados
3-4 tbsp runny honey, to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g raw cacao powder
Method
1. Put the avocados into a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Add 3 tbsp of the honey with the vanilla and cacao powder and blend again until completely combined. Taste and add more honey if necessary.
3. Spoon the mousse into 8 shot or sweet wine glasses and put them into the fridge for an hour before serving.
Spiced Baked Apple with Greek yoghurt (serves 2)
An apple a day keeps the doctor away! This comforting dessert is fibre and protein-rich, two components which help to keep hunger at bay and perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Ingredients
2 apples, halved
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Honey (optional)
Greek yoghurt
Method
1. Place apple halves on a baking tray and sprinkle over a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg on to each apple. Add a drizzle of honey over apples if you like a slightly sweeter
dessert.
2. Bake at 170 degrees celsius until soft
3. Serve with a dollop of natural Greek yoghurt
Strawberries and Coconut Cream Tarts (serves 13)
Totally gluten and dairy-free as well as vegan so perfect for those with food intolerances. These irresistible, elegant and tastefully indulgent strawberries tarts are the perfect way to finish a valentines day dinner.
Ingredients
For the base:
200g ground almonds
3 tbsp coconut oil
200g Medjool dates
2 tbsp water
For the coconut cream:
200g coconut cream
6 strawberries
4 tbsp maple syrup
1 ripe banana
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp water
For the topping:
300g strawberries
Method
1. Pit the dates and blend based the ingredients in a food processor for a minute or so
2. Sprinkle flour over the surface and roll the mix out so that it’s about half a cm thick
3. Heat the oven to 150 degrees celsius
4. Green muffin tins with coconut oil and then cut circular shapes into the mix. Mould the mix into the tins and then place in the oven for 15 minutes until they start to go golden brown. Let them cool.
5. For the coconut cream, blitz ingredients together in a food processor.
6. Add a tbsp into the middle of each base (once cooled), until they are filled the top.
7. Then decorate with halved strawberries.
Inspo from – https://deliciouslyella.com/2015/07/04/strawberry-and-coconut-cream-tarts/
Love Heart Chocolate Fudge (serves 8)
Cacao is an extremely rich source of polyphenols called flavonols which contribute to a healthy heart and good blood flow. What’s more these flavonols are believed to play a role in chocolate’s mood-boosting effect!
Ingredients
100g almond butter
100g coconut oil
50g cacao powder
100g honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch sea salt
Method
1. Blitz in a food processor until. Scoop out mixture with a spatula into a coconut oiled greased baking tin. Put in freezer for 30 minutes until firmly set.
2. Cut the mixture heart shapes using a heart-shaped cookie cutter. If the mix is too firm let it soften slightly.
3. Store chocolate hearts in the fridge in and enjoy.
Lily is a Nutritionist in London who graduated from Newcastle University with a BSc (Hons) degree in Food and Human Nutrition (AfN accredited) where she was awarded the Sage Faculty for Excellence Scholarship on an annual basis. She then went on to complete a 2-year post-graduate Diploma in Nutritional Therapy and is currently working towards her MSc in Nutritional Medicine (AfN accredited) at the University of Surrey. Lily’s extensive knowledge of the science of food and health, enables her to regularly write for The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Independent, Women’s Health and Cosmopolitan.
Her frequent TV appearances include ITV’s This Morning with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, and ITV’s primetime series Save Money: Lose Weight with Dr Ranj Singh. Lily’s passion is to simplify the science around nutrition, to provide health hacks and smarter eating strategies to empower people to enjoy a healthy and successful lifestyle. Her specialities lie in workplace wellness, implementing nutrition-focused wellbeing programmes within corporate organisations across the UK.
Lily also sees individual clients from her London nutrition clinic in Chelsea and a private medical practice based in Notting Hill.
