Growing up Passover was always a tricky one to navigate; you see for eight days Jewish people don’t eat anything leavened, so bread, pasta and cake are all out of the question. Not great for a Jewish girl born in April growing up in a time when free from birthday cakes were definitely not a thing. But I’m over it. Just about.

These days Passover is a pretty easy one for me to keep as a lot of the stuff that isn’t allowed I don’t eat anyway, but many people avoid some nuts as well during this time. Luckily some (like walnuts) are ok, so I’ve created this AMAZING no bake brownie recipe which uses walnuts to give them the most wonderful flavour and texture. Mr H even said these are better than my baked brownies, and he is a man who has eaten a lot of brownies in his time.

These are so easy to make, and the frosting on top just gives them that extra level of decadence. Just a few ingredients and no baking needed. So whether you’re celebrating Passover or not, these brownies are something I would thoroughly recommend you make!

Makes 8-10 brownies

Ingredients

For the brownies

• 2 cups dates
• 1 1/4 cups walnuts
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp coconut cream

For the frosting

• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp coconut cream

To make the brownies, simply combine the ingredients in a food processor and whizz until you have a sticky mixture. Press this down into a lined loaf tin with the back of a spoon until the mixture is flat and evenly squashed down.

For the frosting, melt the coconut oil in a saucepan on a very low heat, then in a bowl combine it with the other ingredients and gently stir until you have a smooth mixture. Pour this onto the brownie layer and place the loaf tin in the freezer for four hours to set. Once it has hardened on top, slice the brownies into squares and store in an airtight container in the fridge for upto a week. They also freeze really well too!

Love, Mrs H xx

Nachos. I mean what’s not to like, right? Except these ones are a little different, because I’m sure you know I have a rather big sweet tooth (or in fact a mouth full of them). You see what you might not know is that nachos work amazingly as a dessert dish too, because the combination of sweet and salt, smooth and crunch is something you won’t believe until you try it.

Creme eggs are something of an institution here in the UK, they come out in the shops just after Christmas and crescendo up until Easter, when you will find them at pretty much every supermarket till and on the end of every aisle, staring at you and daring you to pop one in your basket. I used to be that person, I’d savour each one, taking my time to nibble away at the chocolate coating to get to that sweet creme interior. Of course they are choc full (pun intended) of sugar, so it’s not something I thought I’d be able to recreate in a sugar free way, let alone a vegan one.

I spoke to the Easter bunny, and she said that this is what she likes to have for breakfast. All the delicious flavours of a super tasty carrot cake, but in an easy to transport breakfast version. Perfect to take with you on the go if you’re off to the office, doing the school run, or delivering Easter eggs. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just an Easter recipe and it’s certainly not just a breakfast recipe too, but it felt right to dedicate it to the person who hops around the globe delivering chocolate to excited little girls and boys.

I am really loving mug cakes right now; minimal prep, so quick to make and minimal washing up to do after. They’re great for impatient people (like me) who want dessert ASAP, because they are ready in minutes and it will probably be longer waiting for it to cool down than they actually take to bake!

I’m a big fan of simple recipes, especially when they mix salt and sweet, as well as smooth and crunchy. These little clusters are such a fun thing to quickly make, and I feel like they bridge the gap between snack and dessert, they’re like a little bit of both! All you need is some chocolate to melt, some peanuts to roast and some salt to sprinkle and job’s a good ‘un, as they say!

I love foods with different textures and to this end Mr H and I have an age old debate on how we like our food. You see he likes to keep things separate on his plate and on his fork, whereas I’m all for mixing things up, different textures and flavours all in one bite. This is especially the case when it comes to foods with secret fillings in, also known as the way to my heart.

I’ve recently seen lots of noise about the Keto diet, whereby people stay in ketosis to lose weight by eating very little carbs and lots of fat based foods. Being the geek that I am I wanted to know about it, so did a little research to see what it was all about. I’d had some requests as well for keto recipes, so I figured where better to start than brownies!

I love chocolate cake – but I think I love chocolate cake pops more. A bite size little ball of fudgy amazingness, all covered in chocolate. They’re so easy to make and a great way to use up any leftover chocolate brownie mixture or cake mixture. Most cake pop recipes use frosting to bind the cake together but I’ve been experimenting using my homemade yogurt in them instead and it’s just so delicious!

I adore anything cinnamon, and if asked I think I would say it’s my favourite spice. So when I was thinking of what recipes to try out with my homemade coconut yogurt, it was a bit of a no brainer! Traditional cinnamon rolls use a mixture of milk, eggs and butter in the dough, so of course I wanted to use a dairy free alternative instead. Enter coconut yogurt.

I also wanted to make them yeast free, as I am a little intolerant of both yeast and also faff, and there’s a lot of faff that goes into activating yeast, kneading and proving dough that I just don’t have the patience for.

These sweet, fluffy cinnamon rolls are not only delicious, but cinnamon is amazing for preventing blood sugar spikes, and the homemade yogurt contains natural probiotics, so it’s a win win all in all!