It's a Pleasure: Sweet Treats without Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar

By Virpi Mikkonen

Discover how to make delicious, wholesome desserts without sacrificing flavor in this collection of simple, guilt-free recipes.

A delightful cookbook of decadent sweets and homemade treats that taste great, look beautiful, and have good health in mind. This enticing collection features easy recipes, made from high-quality, nutritious ingredients, for fabulous desserts that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined-sugar-free. With this inspiring book, award-winning Finnish author Virpi Mikkonen shows how easy it is to make sweet treats a truly enjoyable—and guilt-free—pleasure

It’s a Pleasure is a gorgeous guide to making delicious and wholesome desserts at home without sacrificing flavor. Featuring candies, cakes, pies, and more, the appealing recipes—such as gingerbread chocolate, cookie ice cream with salty peanuts, and cardamom-vanilla donuts—offer great-tasting, guilt-free pleasure and are suited for entertaining, gift giving, or everyday snacking.

Find inspiration for chocolate and candies, cakes and pies, ice creams and sorbets, jams, frostings and more! Recipes include: sea salt toffee bites; vanilla stars with chocolate hearts; frosty banana cake; blueberry cream cake; mango-melon sorbet cake; tiramisu ice cream cake; fig fudge; and licorice truffles.

Praise for It’s a Pleasure

“Mikkonen shares her secret concoctions for some incredibly delectable pastries, as well as confections like sea salt toffee candies and peanut toffee chocolates. But the standout recipes are those for Mikkonen’s rich but not too indulgent cakes. She creates decadent flavors with light, nutritious ingredients like coconut milk and almond flour, and the images in It’s a Pleasure are enough to make your mouth water.” —Vogue

“Mikkonen shares the virtues of sweets rather than their sins. Encouraging us to let go of the guilt often held when we decide to indulge in a cake loaded with refined white sugar and wheat. Completely banishing these two ingredients, she encourages the use of natural flavors and nutritious raw ingredients like coconut cream, dates and almond flour. With nature’s sweets and her creativity, Mikkonen makes equally or even better sweet indulgences compared to their refined sugar and wheat counterparts.” —Honest Cooking

“This aesthetically gorgeous compilation of sweets showcases how easy it is to make gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free recipes without sacrificing the flavor (or fun!) The book is a true dessert and foodie lover’s dream—a compendium of Instagram-worthy sweets, made from high-quality, nutritious ingredients.” —Chic Vegan

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781681882499

Book preview

CHOCOLATES & CONFECTIONS

BASIC CHOCOLATE

This chocolate makes a great base for flavored chocolates and can also be used as an icing for chocolate candy or truffles.

MAKES ABOUT ½ CUP (4 OZ)

½ cup grated cacao butter

5 tablespoons coconut oil

½ cup raw cacao powder

¼ cup honey or coconut syrup

Pinch of sea salt

Melt the cacao butter and coconut oil until smooth in the top of a double boiler. Add the cacao powder, honey, and salt and mix. Taste and adjust the sweetness if necessary. Use melted as a topping or icing, or pour the chocolate into silicone chocolate-bar molds and freeze for about 15 minutes.

Raw chocolate is chocolate that has not been heated to over 118°F. This preserves the enzymes and nutrients of the chocolate. The quality of your ingredients is important, so aim to use organic and top-shelf brands. You can taste the quality immediately in chocolate as well as feel it in the consistency. Good-quality cacao products have been manufactured as gently as possible, keeping the nutrients intact.

By tempering the raw chocolate you can create a desirable, melt-in- your-mouth chocolate-bar consistency that snaps when you break the chocolate. Tempering is also called pre-crystallizing chocolate, and will also keep the chocolate from melting at room temperature. Warm the chocolate to 118°–120°F in the top of a double boiler, using a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature. Stir with a spoon. Place the double boiler top (or bowl) with the chocolate over a container of cold water to cool the chocolate to 79°–81°F. Last, reheat the chocolate again to 88°–90°F. Pour into molds or onto a dish and freeze.

CHOCOLATE BANANA BITES

The world’s best fruit-based chocolates contain only two ingredients: chocolate and banana!

MAKES ABOUT 24 PIECES

2 ripe bananas

½ cup raw cacao paste

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of sea salt

ON TOP

Coconut flakes

Peel and chop the bananas into pieces about ¾ inch long. Place the pieces in a dish and place in the freezer while you prepare the chocolate icing.

Grate the cacao paste into a heat-resistant bowl and melt in the top of a double boiler. Add the honey, vanilla extract, and salt and stir into an even mixture. Dip the frozen banana pieces into the melted chocolate. The chocolate will quickly set over the cold banana. Sprinkle with coconut flakes and return to the freezer for another 30 minutes. Bring the banana bites to room temperature, serve, and enjoy. Keep in the fridge.

MINT CHOCOLATE SQUARES

If I needed to convince someone how good raw chocolate can be, I would offer them these. All chocolate lovers adore the clean snap of these minty squares.

MAKES 10—12 PIECES

CHOCOLATE

½ cup grated raw cacao paste

⅓ cup grated cacao butter

3 tablespoons honey or coconut syrup

Pinch of sea salt

MINT FILLING

⅓ cup coconut oil

1–2 teaspoons peppermint extract or peppermint oil

½ teaspoon liquid stevia or 1 tablespoon honey or coconut syrup

CHOCOLATE. Melt the cacao paste and cacao butter in the top of a double boiler. Temper the chocolate according to the instructions on see recipe to give it a good snap when a piece is broken. Add the honey and salt. Taste and adjust the