Review of Practically Raw Desserts and Superfood Snackers
I had the pleasure of reviewing Amber Shea Crawley’s second cookbook Practically Raw Desserts. This delicious treat book was released right on the heels of her first book Practically Raw. Both books are for anyone experimenting with raw foods or wants to include more healthful recipes in their repertoire. Practically raw includes cooked options and both have a great list of substitutions that can be made for harder to find ingredients. It’s so practical and flexible!
(Click through to the post to view the video if viewing this on email!)
Check out the video above for a review and watch me and Heather from Healthy Eating Starts Here make the Superfood Snackers from the book! And check out the recipe below! I made notes for the changes I made to the recipe. With those substitutions it worked great and was a lovely snack to fuel Heather and I during the BlogHer Food Conference when we made these treats.
Other announcements:
- Check out this interview with Erin Red of Red Radio. I’ve heard it’s pretty inspiring 😉
- I’m excited to announce I will start doing my FAQ With a Vegan Chef videos and posts so please leave your questions in the comments and I will try to get to them!
- My competition is in 8 days (OMG!) and I want to thank my sponsors Beyond Fit, PlantFusion, WhiteStar Manufacturing, and The Waxing Studio for helping me throughout my journey! Shout out to the PlantBuilt team who is making history!
- Curious what I did to get in competition shape? Check out this post on my other blog.
- Thank you so much for the wonderful comments on my last post!
- Started next month I will be a regular guest on Naturally Savvy for RadioMD talking about cooking, plant-happy food, and fitness. Super excited about this because it’s a mainstream online radio station and great place for activism!
- Vegan Cuts has an amazing “digital bundle” on sale now that includes amazing Ebooks and a sneak peak at my new 7-Day Refresh cleanse! Head on over there and get this!
Superfood Snackers
Shared with permission. From Practically Raw Desserts by Amber Shea Crawley.
- 1 cup dry walnuts (I used combo of almonds and sunflower seeds)
- 1/4 cup hempseeds
- 1/4 cup dry Brazil nuts
- 1 tablespoon açaí powder (I used raw cacao)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons greens powder (I used spirulina)
- 1 teaspoon maca powder (I just left this out)
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 2/3 cup diced dried figs (about 4 large figs)
- 1/4 cup goji berries (soaked in warm water for 5 to 10 minutes and drained)
- 1/4 cup dried mulberries (I just left this out)
- 1/3 cup pitted dates
Preparation:
In a food processor, combine the walnuts, hempseeds, Brazil nuts, açaí powder, greens powder, maca powder, and salt. Pulse until the nuts are coarsely ground. Add the diced figs, goji berries, and mulberries and pulse until uniformly incorporated. Add the dates and pulse until the mixture becomes sticky (try not to overprocess).
Press the mixture firmly and evenly into a 6- to 8-inch square baking pan (lined with plastic wrap or waxed paper for easy removal, if desired) and score into small cubes. Enjoy immediately, or place the pan in the refrigerator or freezer to chill and firm up for a couple hours before cutting and snacking.
Store the cubes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
SUBSTITUTIONS
▪ Walnuts, Brazil nuts, hempseeds: 1 1/2 cups mixed nuts and/or seeds of your choice
▪ Açaí, greens, maca powders: 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons powdered superfoods of your choice, such as cacao, camu camu, maqui berry, mesquite, pomegranate, etc.
This cookbook was provided to me free of charge but my opinions are solely my own.
I love anything with chocolate and PB!! So I would have to say PB cups! Delish!
I love practically any flavor of vegan ice cream because it brings back great childhood memories!
Would love to make these! Can’t see the vid though
I really really love a good chocolate mousse. There’s something so rich and satisfying about the combination of the that deep chocolate taste and the fluffy-creamy texture. Like adult pudding haha
My favorite dessert of all time is a warm, chewy vegan brownie a la mode with vanilla coconut ice cream
these look so yummy. I also can’t view the video. it say’s it’s private : /
I can’t wait to try & make this…
Cinnamon buns because I don’t have them very often and they’re so good!
Frozen fruit/banana ice cream topped with unsweetened coconut flakes & chopped walnuts.
pumpkin pie!!
My favorite dessert would have to be some type of berry crisp because it reminds me of my grandmother plus I just love berries.
Like many above, I love anything with chocolate and peanut butter. The raw cookbook and the recipe above look awesome! Thank you for the giveaway.
Peanut Butter cups are a very missed favorite. I would love to learn to cook more raw. Looks like an amazing cook book.
I would LOVE to win a copy of Chef Amber’s book! I already have her Practically Raw book and just love it! Can’t wait to try her new dessert recipes!!
I’m a huge chocolate fan… a warm brownie and ice cream really is my favorite I think.
Fave dessert is raw carrot cake!
My favorite dessert is probably either pie (sugar cream or banana cream), or tiramisu. I do love carrot cake, too!
Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
I really love raw carrot with coconut cream!
Looks delish..thanks for the substitution suggestions, don’t have all the superfood ingredients listed, but can do what you did and substitute or leave out.
My favorite dessert- maybe chocolate chip cookies because they are delicious and it’s easy to make allergy friendly ones.
chocolate chia pudding (with avocado) because it satisfies my sweet tooth guilt free 🙂 I also love banana ice kreme. I would LOVE to win! Thanks
tiramisu
Anything with fresh fruit and chocolate!
My favorite dessert isn’t raw…I LOVE creme brûlée!!!
I love your blog and would love to win a copy of this Raw book! I’m keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed. I do not eat all raw, but I am a vegetarian on a quest to finally lose all the weight I have to lose (150+ pounds). No small feat but I am 48 and know that it is time to get healthy for real and for good. My goal is to be FIT BY FIFTY! 🙂 I will be checking your blog and looking for your videos regularly!!
~Lolly
My favorite desert is (vegan) ice cream because not only are there are so many different flavors, but it can even be used as a SIDE DISH to another desert!
Oops….I forgot to mention that my favorite dessert is anything with coconut! (and anything with lemon is a close second!).
~Lolly
My favourite dessert these days is fruit crisp or any raw date based bar. I love crisps because you use fresh fruit in seasons and I love raw bars because they are nutritious and delicious!
I looooooooove pecan pie! I haven’t had it in ages though.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with the rest of us btw. I love snacks like this 😛
Wow – these look amazing!! 🙂
Favorite dessert in the whole world…peanut butter ice cream with chocolate chunks!!
My favorite dessert is banana cream pie with graham cracker crust.
Anything with dark chocolate and fruit!
Vegan cake with vanilla ice cream!
German chocolate cake
I would LOVE to win this book – it looks amazing! Can’t wait to try the recipe you shared!
My favorite desert is apple pie…mainly because I used to make it from scratch with my Mom. OR Chocolate Cream Pie which you can’t go wrong with.
I have this book on my wish list! Amber’s first book is absolutely amazing. It continues to get lots of love in my kitchen.
My favorite dessert is a chocolate chip cookie served hot out of the oven with vanilla coconut milk ice cream. I love the combo of hot and cool, salty and sweet.
This looks awesome! I have yet to try anything totally “raw”–this would be a great way to begin! 🙂
I love anything with nuts and dates!!! Thank you for making a book, that not only lists substitutions, but also gives an option to cook them too! Brilliant!
Brownies – I love anything chocolate!
Right now my favorite dessert is chocolate mousse — so easy and no need to turn on an oven!
Well, that is a hard question! I love coconut milk ice cream. I really love frozen bananas dipped in my homemade hot fudge sauce.
My all-time, absolute favorite dessert is German Chocolate Cake. I have made a successful and very delicious vegan version, caramelly coconut-pecan frosting and all!
I love anything chocolate. Brownies, cookie dough, you name it. I like making the peanut butter cups from the Kind Diet 🙂
Warm rawlishes raw brownies with raw vegan vanilla ice cream. Yummers!
My all-time favourite dessert is CHEESECAKE! Would love to learn how to make a healthy raw cheesecake! Just getting into eating healthier, but need some direction with sample recipes! Would love to win your awesome-sounding book!! I’m SOO excited to try some healthy recipes! I love your recipes and informative posts on your website! Thanks for sharing these so freely! Much appreciated! 😀
My desserts would have to be fresh figs. They are so delicious and can be mixed with almost anything to make it taste great. Figs+Dates = YUM. I loved the recipe in the video and actually have some in my fridge right now. I didn’t have all the ingredients, but they turned out delicious!
It was SO much fun making these with you! I love the video, it was such a good time staying with you. And I must have had these bars on the brain last week, because I made something really similar! And talked about not being afraid to eat nuts 😉 Miss you!! xox
I love dark chocolate and sea salt. I know it is simple, but it makes me so happy. I would love to win this book to learn how to make simple and raw desserts!
I love jelly donuts and oatmeal raisin cookies.
chocolate truffles!
I love chocolate chip cookies – what’s not tolove?
I like anything chocolate + PB! Also, classic chocolate chip cookies. Can’t go wrong. 🙂
Thank you for the book review and recipe. I can’t wait to try it!!!
My favorite dessert is anything super dark chocolatey.
Chocolate pie because it always makes me happy!
Peanut butter cheesecake! There is just no better combo of ingredients on earth!! ☺
Chocolate covered strawberries!!! I love fruit and berries so why not do both 🙂
Cake with lots of frosting!
Chocolate cookies with chocolate chips!
I love brownies. Always have, always will. I love the fudgey gooey chocolatey goodness of a fresh warm one, especially. I had to think long and hard about my favorite dessert, and I think this might be it.
I love almost all desserts, but pecan pie is my favorite for its rich, sweet nuttiness.
Anything chocolate but especially if it had raspberries or strawberries!
Anything fruty and/or chocolatey 😉
MAN those snackers look good!
My favorite dessert has to be chocolate mousse. It’s rich, creamy and chocolate…what’s not to love?
Brownies =)
My Dad’s vegan tiramisu because he went out of his way to learn how to make it for my birthday even though he was sooooo not a vegan. It was brilliant and beautiful and superdelicious!
Ice cream, because it’s cold and creamy and you can make it in practically any flavor.
My favorite dessert is my mother’s birthday cake. It’s so rich and decadent! However, it’s not vegan, and I haven’t had it since going vegan in 2011 🙁 She’s convinced it can’t be veganized because egg whites are folded into the batter, but one of these days I’m going to prove her wrong!
Adore your website and also Amber’s desserts….Perfect duo!
My favorite dessert has to be strawberry shortcake because it’s so fresh and light and still delicious.
My favorite dessert is cookies. Chocolate chip is always a hit, but I don’t discriminate 😉
That’s a smart answer to a dilffcuit question.