This week, we welcome Guest Blogger, Aileen Cox Blundell, who shares her divine recipes for all the family. And best of all, they're super-healthy, sugar-free and nutritious too.
The countdown to Christmas has officially begun – as each day goes by, my kids are more and more excited. The letters have magically vanished up the chimney, and we're preparing for what Christmas will bring with a 19-month-old toddler.
Christmas is an overly indulgent holiday and like most houses ours is filled with sweet treats. For me, though, avoiding processed food and refined sugar has become a way of life, so I’ve learnt over the past few years that there are ways of making Christmas healthier with a couple of simple tweaks.
This recipe for Tahini and Goji Berry Chocolate shows just how easy it is to make treats with no refined sugar for your baby, kids and all the family.
Have these clean treats ready in the fridge for over the festive period, so you have something healthy ready for the odd sweet craving.
This recipe is so easy to make, and all the ingredients can be picked up in your local supermarket or health food store. For babies, the chocolate is soft and filled with nutritious goodness with every bite.
What goes in…
100g Cacao butter
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon cacao powder
3 Tablespoons cashew butter (or almond butter if you prefer)
2 Tablespoons tahini
1 Tablespoon goji berries
How to make it…
1. Bring a saucepan of water roughly 1/4 full to a boil and then turn to a simmer. Add the cacao butter to a glass bowl and place over the water to melt making sure none of the water gets into the butter. It is important to remove the bowl from the heat altogether once the butter has melted as overheating will destroy the good properties of the butter.
2. Whisk in the maple syrup, vanilla, cacao powder, cashew butter and tahini until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy.
3. Pour the mixture into some sweet moulds or alternatively line a tray with some cling film and pour your mixture in.
4. Finally, using a sharp knife finely chop the goji berries and sprinkle over the chocolate.
5. Place the chocolate in the fridge for about 2 hours to set or if you are like me and can’t wait stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Aileen Cox Blundell is a mother of three who runs her own graphic and web design company, Sweet! Aileen’s passion for healthy, nutritious and sugar-free foods led her to begin creating her own recipes for her family. Aileen is also an advocate of baby-led feeding, which allows babies and young children to take control of their eating by encouraging them to self-regulate and be more experimental with different types of food. Find her gorgeous recipes at www.babyledfeeding.com and you can find her on Facebook and on Instagram or Twitter. 
