Healthy Chocolate Cake
Ingredients for a small cake (6 servings):
- 8 dried apricots
- 8 tbsp water
- 4 tbsp coconut flour
- 3 tbsp cocoa
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
- Cut dried apricots in small pieces. Cover with 8 tablespoons water and place 2 minutes at 900 W in the microwave. Let apricots soak, soften and cool.

- Mix all ingredients together in a food processor (including soaking water from the apricots). Eventually add stevia if you find that the batter isn’t sweet enough for your taste.

- Bake 20 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius.

Protein Pear Chocolate Pudding
3 ingredients: 1/4 cup of chocolate flavored casein powder + 1 pear + 1 tsp cocoa. 
Cooked in the microwave for 2 min at 600W followed by 2 hours in the fridge.
www.fitnesstreats.com/2012/08/protein-pear-chocolate-pudding

(via fitnessfriandises)

Gooey chocolate fondant made of: 
(for 2 servings)
- 1/2 avocado
- 2 tbsp fat-free Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 tbsp powdered skim milk
- 2 tbsp whey protein (vanilla or chocolate flavor)
- 2 tbsp cocoa

And baked for 10 min at 230 degrees Celsius. 

Estimated nutrition facts per serving: 166 kcal, 10.7 g of protein, 12.4 g of carbs, 4.3 g of sugar, 8.3 g of fat, 3.5 g of fiber.

www.fitnesstreats.com/2012/07/chocolate-fondant 

Hemp Protein Brownies
My first successful experiment with my latest purchase: hemp protein. These brownies are vegan and gluten-free. They’re not a low-calorie food because of the walnuts, cocoa and banana but they have no added sugar & they’re packed with dietary fiber. 

Ingredients: (for 2-3 servings) 
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup hemp protein powder
- 3 tbsp cocoa
- 1 banana
- drops of chocolate and walnut flavorings (optional ; can be replaced with vanilla and/or almond extract)

I processed everything together and baked the mix for 10-15 min at 200 degrees Celsius.

PMS-cookie: because sometimes a girl just needs a cookie…

Ingredients for one cookie:
- 1/2 avocado
- 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
- 1 tablespoon cocoa
- 1 to 2 squares of dark chocolate

Mix avocado, protein powder and cocoa in a food processor or using a hand blender. Chop dark chocolate and add to the mix. Bake for only 10-12 min at 180-200 degrees Celsius. (Be careful not to overbake that cookie or it’s going to be too dry.)

The nutrition facts for the cookie are: 457 kcal, 31 g of protein, 27.5 g of carbs, 7.5 g of sugar, 27.5 g of fat, 11.5 g of dietary fiber. If that’s too much for you, you can save 168 kcal, 7 g of sugar and 12 g of fat by omitting the chunks of dark chocolate.

Comparatively, a double chocolate chunk cookie at Starbucks is about the same amount of calories but with 37 grams of sugar and 3 grams of fiber.

A protein cake I made to get rid of sugar-loaded chocolate candy bars someone gave me :)

Comparison between the original chocolate bars and the cake:
- Nutrition facts of one chocolate candy bar: 262 cal, 34 g of carbs, 21 g of sugar, 2 g of protein, 13 g of fat per bar.

versus

- Estimated nutrition facts for a big slice of the ‘candy-bar-recycling’ cake: 166 cal, 18.2 g of carbs, 6.7 g of sugar, 12.9 g of protein, 4.8 g of fat.

Recipe: www.fitnesstreats.com/2012/01/recycling-chocolate-candy-bars

Protein Nutella
A substitute for Nutella (a delicious hazelnut spread very popular here in Europe but full of palm oil and sugar)

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup of vanilla whey protein
- 1/4 cup of casein protein
- 2 tablespoons of cocoa
- 1/2 cup of milk
- a few drops of hazelnut flavoring

Mix everything together (or blend with a hand mixer if you’d like a smoother consistency) and enjoy.  

Gluten-free, Vegan Chestnut Cakes

Ingredients:
- 300 g cooked chestnuts (2 cups)
- 160 g apple sauce (1/2 cup)
- 80 g coconut milk (1/3 cup)
- 50 g mais flour / polenta (1/4 cup)
- 2 tbsps cocoa (or 100 g dark chocolate)
- the sweetener of your choice

Pour all additional ingredients into a food processor and blend everything together. Bake for 20-30 min at 230 degrees Celsius. 

No bake chocolate protein bars
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of beans from a can (rinsed to get rid of the can’s liquid. I used white beans but almost any kind of beans will do) 
- 1/4 cup vanilla casein protein (casein protein is slightly better than whey protein in this recipe to get an ‘elastic’ smooth texture ; but you can substitute it with whey protein, the dough is just going to be a bit drier) 
- 1/4 cup cocoa 
- 1/4 cup coconut milk (substitute coconut milk with almond milk to lower fat content.)
- drops of flavorings of your choice (optional)

Directions: Blend everything together in a food processor. You get a mix with a crumbly consistency. Take the mix out of the food processor and press it together to make a paste and form the bars. You get 3 little bars with the quantities above. Pop them in the fridge for 20 minutes to stiffen up.  

Estimated nutrition facts per bar: 181 kcal, 11 g fat, 14 g carbs, 5 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 13 g of protein.  

It would be a nice idea to coat them with dark chocolate to make them look like ‘real’ protein bars but this would add additional calories. And I never keep dark chocolate at home otherwise I’d eat everything in one sitting :)

Easy Chestnut Chocolate Cookies I made mixing 1 egg, a small package of cooked chestnuts (about 15 chestnuts), 2 small tablespoons of cocoa and 1 teaspoon of sweetener. Very filling!

Chestnuts, in contrast to most other nuts, contain only small quantities of fat and oil and are very high in complex carbohydrates. They have a low glycemic index and are gluten free.

A weird-looking protein bar I made with 1 package of pre-cooked brown rice, 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder, 1 scoop of cocoa, 1 scoop of nut butter and 1 small pack of coconut milk. A bit unusual but not that bad!