4 fresh peaches or 1,5 cup canned peaches, cut to pieces 1 tbsp juices from a lemon 4 tbsp maple syrup ⅓ cup prosecco 3 tbsp chia seeds
If you’re using fresh peaches, place them into a small saucepan cook on low heat until softened. If you’re using peaches from a can, use them as they are.
Place the fruits, lemon juice, syrup and prosecco into a blender and pulse a few times. Pour the mixture into a jar and stir in the chia seeds. The more you add chia seeds the thicker the jam will be. Leave to thicken for 10 minutes, stir and allow to cool completely and thicken more. Store sealed in the fridge.
1 cup organic gluten-free flour blend ½ cup almond flour 5 tbsp raw cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda tiny pinch of salt ½ cup coconut sugar 1 cup oat milk or other vegan milk 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 tsp vanilla extract ¼ cup coconut oil, melted ¼ cup peanut butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F degrees. Cover a muffin pan with muffin liners or use silicone molds. Mix flour blend, almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and coconut sugar. Melt the coconut oil and peanut butter in a warm water bath until liquid. Stir in the oat milk, apple cider vinegar and vanilla. Mix with dry ingredients. Pour into muffin molds and cook for 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool.
1-2 tablespoons blueberries 1,5 cup oat milk, or other vegan milk 1/3 tsp ground cardamom 1/2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
Place all ingredients into a blender. Then warm the mixture quickly in a saucepan. Taste and add more spices, if needed. Enjoy with coconut syrup or raw organic honey. Enjoy right away!
½ cup almond flour ⅓ cup rice flour ¼ cup coconut flour ¼ cup xylitol or erythritol or coconut sugar 1 tsp baking soda 3 tbsp vegan butter, melted 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted 6 tbsp sparkling wine/champagne OR apple juice
Frosting:
5 tbsp coconut oil, soft, but not totally melted. 2 tbsp coconut syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ tsp beet powder or pomegranate juice + ¼ tsp turmeric powder
Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F degrees. Mix flours, sugar and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix in the melted butter & oil + champagne or juice. The dough should be easily moldable, soft but firm. Let sit for 10 minutes. Form small balls with your hands and press them into cookies onto a baking tray covered with baking paper. Press the sides slightly with your fingers to get a nice round shape. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the cookies get a slightly golden color. Cookies should remain quite soft and rich, not go dry and hard. Let cool completely. Prepare the frosting.
Spoon the soft (white & room-temperature, not transparent and liquid) coconut oil into a small bowl. Stir in the syrup & vanilla. Add the colorant from beet powder, pomegranate juice and or turmeric powder. Mix vigorously with a spoon so that you get a nice pink/apricot colored mixture with no lumps. When the cookies are cool, frost them and top for example with shredded coconut or nonpareils. Place into a fridge so that the glaze hardens.
Hello love! Check this out – One thing I’m really proud of is that I get such an amazing feedback about my recipes from you guys. I also get a lot of wishes on what kind of recipes you want me to create and share. And I always listen to them very carefully, so that I can serve in the best way possible.
Upon your wishes, I have now created a luscious collection of wholesome and delish feel-good Christmas recipes, most of them suitable for the whole winter season, not only for the Holidays.
My brand new ebook is called Dreamy Season and it contains 62 recipes and 141 pages, all made with love by Yours Truly. In this book I have gathered my all-time favourite winter recipes and treats – the ones I love to pamper myself & my family during the Holidays. I have to say that this has been truly a passion project for me, as I’m a crazy Christmas lady who could eat Christmas-spirited food the whole winter.
Dreamy Season ebook serves wholesome & delish recipes for breakfasts, dinners, desserts and drinks, all perfect for the Holiday season – or for those moments when you just feel like enjoying some deliciously comforting winter food magic.
How about for example a bowl of Pink Morning Kiss Porridge or Golden Oatmeal, a piece of Christmas Toffee, selection of plant-based Cheeses and some Christmas Wreath Pizza? Or maybe a slice of Tofu Ham, goodies from the Christmas Platter, a piece of Chai Banana Bread or few mouth-watering Gingerbread Fudge or Snickers Moon Balls with a sip of Cloudy Apple Drink? All plant-based, naturally sweetened and gluten-free, all good for your body as well as to your soul and perfect for those comfy winter moments.
You can read more about the book from here and check out also the Dreamy Season menu. Note that this ebook is in English and it has some of the same recipes that can be found from my Finnish cookbook Joulukirja.
Pay for the ebook safely with PayPal of with your credit card.
Wait for your page to redirect you to a page with a downloadable link.
Download the ebook onto your laptop, iPhone or iPad. (NOTE! the download link will be available to you for 24 hrs and then it will expire.)
Open it with your preferred program such as Preview on Mac, Adobe Reader or iBooks
Go and make your Christmas dreamy!
And for the celebration of the launch I’m giving a big discount for you guys. During this week you will get the Dreamy Season only for €5,90 with the code DREAMY. (Normal price is €9,90.) So if feel good Christmas food resonates, apply the code DREAMY here and get your copy.
I really hope you will enjoy the ebook as much as I enjoyed – LOVED – creating it. And when sharing your creations from the book, remember to tag me @vanelja in so that I can see them.
Well hello, babes! Finally it’s happening, updated Vanelja.com has opened its doors and welcomes you to take a tour. Though it took quite some time to get this open, it has been heart-warming to notice how many of you regularly uses the recipes on my site, as I have got tons of messages from people asking when all the material will be returning. So sorry you’ve had to wait for them, but happy to know you’ve missed my treats!
And now when the new site is open I’m also beyond excited to launch my brand new grocery: Blueberry Dream Cake by Vanelja. It is a treat that I absolutely ah-dore and I’m just so super duper happy to start offering my all time favorite raw cake to people. I get asked almost weekly if I do catering or if I take orders for my dream cakes, and now I can finally say YES!
And this one is truly a raw cake of my dreams. If I should pick only one sweet treat to consume for the rest of my life, it would be my Blueberry Dream Cake, most def, no doubt about it. It has such a mouth-watering taste with the pecan based crust with a hint of cardamom and the rich blueberry filling. The texture is creamy and fluffy yet the cake is very fresh because of the white layer with some hints of lemon in it. I honestly start salivating even now when describing it to you, haha. And what’s lovely about this Blueberry Dream Cake is that there is no coconut flavor that pushes through, which I feel is a problem in many raw cakes.
I’ve made my Blueberry Dream Cake in collab with Green Street, a big-hearted Helsinki-based provider for raw cakes and other healthy food. The cake will be out very soon, at 15th of May to be exact, and you’ll be able to buy it from certain retailers, supermarkets and cafés in Helsinki and Stockholm. Gonna list down all the retailers here on my site soon! And if you want to have a whole cake, preordering is open NOW and the first deliveries start 15th of May. If you have some parties coming up this spring and summer, like graduation parties, family get-togethers, brunches for friends etc. you can preorder the cake HERE. It is a great thing to serve for a big bunch of people as it is vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened, so it fits to most diets and most occasions. I prefer it as a weekend brekkie, as it is perfect for cozy slow mornings.
The decoration of these photos are not included in the cake, but it has a beautiful pattern on the surface (which you can see here) so it can be served as it is, or you can finish it for example with some blueberries or edible flowers.
At the moment the availability of my Blueberry Dream Cake is limited only to Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, but hopefully we’ll get the cake to wider reach too. Again, gonna be updating the retailers here on my site. And if you have a café and you’d think my Blueberry Dream Cake could match your selection, throw me a message!
But in the meantime, let me know how you like my cake and my new site! There are still some new features on their way + one surprise gift for you coming before the summer, so stay tuned – especially on Vanelja’s Instagram, as that is the place where I holler most often about my moves.
VANELJA’S ROASTED SWEET POTATO SLICES WITH PINK HUMMUS & AVO
2 sweet potatoes, peeled sea salt black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius / 400 fahrenheit degrees. Slice the sweet potatoes into half inch slices. Spread the slices onto a baking tray covered with baking paper. Pour on some olive oil & sprinkle o salt and black pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the sweet potatoes feel tender. Take out from the oven. Let cool slightly. Spread on some pink hummus and top with avocado slices and microgreens or herbs + finger salt. Serve & enjoy right away!
PINK HUMMUS:
1 or a half small beet, peeled & steamed or roasted 2 cups canned chickpeas, drained (save about ½ cup aquafaba/liquid from the chickpeas) 2 tbsp tahini juices from half lime 5 tbsp olive oil 2 garlic cloves pinch of salt ground black pepper
Blend the beets and chickpeas together in a blender or food processor until slightly combined. Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend. Add some aquafaba so that you get a smooth consistency.
Blend almonds in a blender until fine crust. Add fresh dates, pinch of ceylon cinnamon and nutmeg plus a tiny pinch of celtic sea salt. Blend until mouldable dough. Form tiny balls and roll them in sesame seeds. Keep in the fridge or freezer for a moment to get them nice and cool.
Hello friends! I thought I’d share this oh-so delicious and christmassy Gingerbread Coconut Bundt Cake recipe that got popular on my Instagram also here on my site, so that many of you’d find it.
I created this vegan & gluten-free cake with warm notes of gingerbread and juicy chuncks of dates originally for Risenta and have been preparing it several times already, as it is just sooo good and rich and delish. I try not to think about it too much now so that the cravings won’t hit me again or else I’ll find myself baking it again and eating it tomorrow the whole day…
But you go and make this! And let me know how you liked it!
5 tbsp ground flaxseed ½ cup water 1 ½ cup Risenta almond meal 1 cup Risenta rice flour ⅓ cup coconut sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon 2 tsp gingerbread spice mix ½ tsp cardamom tiny pinch of sea salt 1 can (400 ml) full fat coconut milk ½ cup coconut oil, melted 5 fresh dates, pitted 5 tbsp coconut syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract + 5 fresh dates, pitted and cut to small pieces
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (175 Celsius) degrees. Grease the bundt cake mold with coconut oil. Mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl and leave to thicken. In the meantime prepare the cake dough.
Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Place coconut milk, coconut oil, 5 dates, coconut syrup and vanilla into a blender and blend until smooth. Mix with dry ingredients. Add also the flax mixture you made and mix well. Stir in the date cubes. Pour the dough into the cake mold. Bake for 55-60 minutes. The cake is ready when a toothpick comes out clean. Take out of the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes and remove from the mold. Let the cake cool down totally. Frost and serve! The cake is at its best after one night in the fridge.
Frosting:
Mix the coconut oil, nut butter and vanilla in a small bowl. If the mixture goes too runny, keep it in the fridge for about 15 minutes, mixing it couple of times. Frost the cake and decorate with coconut flakes and nuts.
Hiya Honey! Look what I’ve got for you today – A dreamy and creamy blueberry thyme raw cake – A cake that can also be found on the cover of the latest THRIVE magazine. That’s right, babe, my cake is an actual cover girl! So sooo amazing! There’s also a four page spread & a feature of me in the magazine in where I share some of my food secrets + many many other great features and recipes of super talented recipe creators.
I first created this blueberry raw cake in the spring with a collaboration with a Finnish salad and herb producer Järvikylä when I made an adaptation of their thyme blueberry cake and during the summer the cake photo has become easily one of my most shared and liked IG posts ever and it has been so much fun to see people making their own creations of it and posting them on their pages and sharing them with me. The beauty and magic of Instagram.
To celebrate my cover photo I thought to share the recipe here on my site too – So here you go, my friend, go and enjoy these blueberry filled dream bites!
Place steamed sweet potato sliced, cashews, dates, almond milk, cocoa powder, vanilla ja coconut oil into a blender and blend until tick mousse. Add frozen and sliced bananas. Blend until soft serve. If your blender is small you can do this in two or three batches. Pour the soft serve in a big freezer safe container. Mix in the raw cake crumble and pour over some peanut butter. Freeze for about 30 minutes or until the mixture gets a bit harder. Serve and enjoy!
Raw Chocolate Cake Chunks:
½ cup gluten-free rolled oats
½ cup almonds
3 fresh dates, pitted
4 tbsp raw cocoa powder
a pinch of sea salt Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until crumble. Taste and add sweetener if needed. The dough should be quite dry but easily moldable. Roll into small chunks with your hand and sprinkle the nice cream batter with the chunks.
4.5 oz organic mozzarella (and/or feta or vegan cheese)
a couple of handfuls baby spinach leaves
1 spring onion
4 stalks of sweet baby broccoli
artichoke hearts (cooked/from a jar)
3 slices of lemon
pine nuts
olives
fresh oregano
fresh basil
sunflower sprouts
Preheat the oven to 390 Fahrenheit / 200 Celsius degrees. Cover a baking tray with a parchment paper. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them with a cheese slicer or a mandolin vegetable slicer into very thin, almost transparent slices. Arrange the sweet potato slices on the baking tray so that they touch each other, making a circle. Fill in all the holes and also the inner circle, so that you get a circle with no holes or see-through spots. Now sprinkle on some olive oil, salt, black pepper and pizza spice mix. Also add garlic. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the sweet potato slices soften. Take out from the oven. Spread some pesto on the crust and add the cheese. Add also the spinach leaves. Cut the spring onion and broccoli into small pieces and sprinkle them on the pizza. Slice the artichoke hearts and add them with lemon slices, pine nuts and olives. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the cheese melts and the filling gets a nice tanned color. Take out of the oven and season with fresh oregano and basil + sprouts. Serve and enjoy!
3 tbsp tahini (or your favorite nut/almond butter)
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp coconut syrup (or raw organic honey)
½ tsp vanilla powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
a tiny pinch of sea salt
Chocolate frosting:
6 tbsp raw cacao butter, melted
4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
6 tbsp raw cacao powder
4 tbsp coconut syrup (or raw organic honey)
a tiny pinch of sea salt
OR about ½ cup of your favorite raw chocolate melted
Tin size: 17 x 12 cm / 7 x 5 inches
Base:
Cover the tin or the freezer safe container with parchment paper. Add the chickpeas into the blender and blend. Add dates, coconut flakes and vanilla and mix until a thick sticky mass. You may have to scoop down the sides of the blender in between blending. Taste and if you want add vanilla or other sweetener, for example coconut syrup. Spoon out the dough into the tin and even the surface with a spoon. Prepare the caramel sauce.
Caramel sauce:
Place all the ingredients into the blender and blend until sticky sauce. Add a drop of water, if needed, but try to keep the mixture as thick as possible. Spoon out the caramel sauce and spread onto the base mixture. Prepare the chocolate frosting.
Chocolate frosting:
Melt cocoa butter and coconut oil in a warm water bath. Add cocoa powder, syrup and salt. Mix until a nice sauce. Taste and add more some of the ingredients, if needed. Pour the chocolate mixture onto the caramel sauce. Put into the freezer and freeze for a couple of hours or until solid. Take out of the freezer and cut into bars. Let thaw for about 15 minutes before serving. Store in the freezer or in the fridge.
2 tbsp licorice root powder or licorice root extract powder
½ tsp vanilla powder
2 tbsp coconut syrup (or maple syrup)
a tiny pinch of sea salt
On top:
Small truffles made from the crust dough + black sesame seeds
raw cocoa powder
Tin/Cake mould size: 17 cm / 7 inches
Crust:
Cover the bottom of the cake mould with a parchment paper so that it is easier to remove later. Add the almonds and nuts into a blender and blend until fine crust. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until a thick and sticky dough. Check the taste and add more seasoning if you like. Spoon out the dough and put into a bowl, taking aside about 4-6 tablespoons of the dough, from which you’ll later make the truffles. Press the rest of the dough firmly onto the bottom of the cake mould. Prepare the filling.
Filling:
Toss out the soaking liquid of the nuts and rinse the cashews in cold water. Place the nuts into the blender and add the coconut oil. Also add the syrup and tamari. Blend. Add the raw cocoa powder and salt. Also pour in the cocoa butter and coconut oil. Blend until a smooth thick mass. Pour the mass into the cake mould. Even the surface with a spoon. Place the cake mold into a freezer for about 2 hours or until it’s totally firm. In the meantime prepare the truffles and the sauce. When the cake is firm, take it out of the freezer, remove from the mould, dizzle some shosola sauce on and decorate with the truffles you’ve made. Serve and enjoy. Store in the fridge.
Truffles:
Prepare small balls from the dough crust you had set aside. Roll the truffles on black sesame seeds pressing them firmly but gently so that the seeds stick and cover the balls evenly.
Chocolate Licorice Sauce:
Add the raw cocoa powder, licorice powder, syrup and salt into the melted coconut oil. Mix well so that you get a nice chocolate sauce.
5 tbsp full-fat coconut milk (the thick white paste of coconut milk can be kept in the fridge)
4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp orange juice
3 tbsp xylitol or coconut sugar
½ tsp vanilla powder
On top:
orange zest
ceylon cinnamon
nut crust
the pan: 2 l / ½ gallon foil casserole
The cake:
Preheat the oven to 175 Celcius / 350 Fahrenheit degrees. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Grate the peeled carrot with a small/fine blade into another bowl. Add the orange zest. Add also the apple sauce, water and melted coconut oil. Mix. Add the dry ingredients from other bowl and mix well. Pour the batter into the casserole and bake about 40-45 minutes, until the surface has a nice tanned colour. Take the cake from the oven and let cool completely. The cake is very soft when taken out from the oven, but it will get firm when it cools. In the meantime prepare the frosting.
Frosting:
Take the soaked cashews, toss the water and rinse the nuts. Place the nuts into the blender. Take the coconut milk can from the fridge and scoop out 5 tbsp of the white thick mass from the can and put to the blender. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Add a drop of coconut milk so that the mixture is smooth, but still keeping it as thick as possible. The texture should resemble thick greek yogurt. Check the taste and add some spices or sweetness if you like.
Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cake. Place the cake into the fridge and let it thicken overnight. The following day add some orange zest and sprinkle some cinnamon and/or nut crust on top of the cake. Serve and enjoy! Store in the fridge and use within 3 days.
4-5 tbsp unsweetened peanut butter or almond butter
Icing
4 ounces dark chocolate or raw chocolate
On top
flaky sea salt
Pit the dates. Put the dates, coconut oil, water vanilla extract and salt into the blender and purée. Caramel should be thick and smooth. Spoon the caramel in a freezer-safe container and put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes so that it thickens a bit and is easier to handle.
Line a small baking sheet with a parchment paper. When the caramel sauce has thickened, take about teaspoon-sized dollops of the caramel and place onto the prepared baking sheet and mold the caramel into balls. Press a pecan into each ball. And then add about half a teaspoon of peanut butter on each pecan nut and place the tray into a freezer. Freeze for about 30 minutes.
In the meantime melt the chocolate on the top of a double boiler / in warm water bath. Take the pralines out of the freezer and dip each of them into the chocolate icing. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and return them to the freezer just to set. Bring out, serve and indluge. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
1 can full-fat coconut milk (kept in a fridge overnight)
½ tsp vanilla powder
Slice bananas into smaller pieces and put into the blender. Open a coconut milk can and scoop the white thick paste (about 2/3 cup) into the blender with bananas. Add vanilla. Mix until smooth. If your blender is not very powerful prepare the ice cream in two baches. Pour the ice cream mixture in a large freezer-safe tin and freeze for about 15-30 minutes. In the meantime prepare the cookies.
Chocolate Cookies:
1 cup almond flour
1 cup oat flour
4 tbsp raw cocoa powder
3 tbsp flax meal
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp vanilla powder
8 tbsp water
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
4 tbsp maple syrup or coconut syrup
Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F degrees. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water and melted coconut oil and syrup. Mix. The dough should be now easily moldable. Add a bit more water or flour if needed. You should be able to make a big ball out of the dough with your hands.
Place a dough ball between two pieces of parchment paper. Roll out to ½ inch thickness. Cut the dough into rectangles with a knife or use a cookie mold. Place the cookies gently on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely. The cookies can be a bit soft when you take them from the oven because they will get crispier as they cool.
Chocolate frosting:
½ cup coconut oil, melted
3 tbsp raw cocoa powder
2 tbsp coconut syrup
Mix the melted coconut oil, cocoa powder and coconut syrup in a small bowl.
Assembly:
Scoop about two spoonfuls of the ice cream and place it on the back side of one cookie. Place another cookie on top of the ice cream and press down gently. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Drip some chocolate frosting on top on the sandwiches and sprinkle some shredded coconut on. Freeze for 30-60 minutes. Enjoy!
Chop the nuts in a blender. Add the dates and cardamom with nuts and blend into crumbly dough. Press on the bottom of the cake tin.
Creamy Filling:
Mix all ingredients in a blender until you have a smooth creamy mixture. If needed, add more coconut milk to get smoother texture but still keeping it as thick as possible. Taste and add seasoning or sweetness if desired. Pour the dough into the cake tin over the crust and put the tin into a freezer for 2 hours or until solid.
Chocolate sauce:
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Drizzle on top of the raw chocolate cake.
Decorate with nuts, cacao nibs and coconut flakes. Try also fresh berries and n’ice cream! Serve and enjoy!
Preheat the oven to 425 F/225 C degrees. Cut 2 apples into pieces and place into a blender. Puree until smooth. Add rolled oats and coconut oil. Blend well. Cover the bottom of a cake pan with a parchment paper and grease the sides. Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Cut one apple into very thin slices and cover the surface on the pie with apple slices. Top with plenty of cinnamon. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the color is nicely golden and the sides and the surface look done and dry. Take it out from the oven and let it cool. Serve and enjoy! Store covered in a room temperature.
