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Happy First Anniversary, BIJA! To celebrate, BIJA will be in our stores for tastings and all BIJA chocolate bars are on sale for 2/$6 (reg. $4.99) through Tuesday, May 2.
Tastings—
Cordata: 3 to 6 pm Friday
Downtown: 11 am to 3 pm Saturday
Happy First Anniversary, BIJA! To celebrate, BIJA will be in our stores for tastings and all BIJA chocolate bars are on sale for 2/$6 (reg. $4.99) through Tuesday, May 2.
Tastings—
Cordata: 3 to 6 pm Friday
Downtown: 11 am to 3 pm Saturday
Recipes reprinted with permission from Nourishing Meals (October 2016). Photo by Alissa Segersten.
I have a special treat for you—a healthy recipe for raw white chocolate!
This recipe uses just a few ingredients and is dairy-free. Traditional white chocolate usually contains sugar and milk solids, along with cacao butter. My recipe uses raw honey and raw cashew butter, as well as raw cacao butter.
If you can’t handle the buzz dark chocolate gives you then try this recipe. It’s caffeine-free but still has some of the feel-good compounds found in chocolate.
Yield: about 60 bite-sized white chocolates
dairy-free • gluten-free • no refined sugar
You can vary this recipe by omitting the vanilla and adding 1 teaspoon peppermint extract for peppermint candies. You can also try adding either 1 teaspoon of organic lemon or orange flavoring in place of, or in addition to, the vanilla powder. You can also make a filling for the chocolates (see optional filling above). These white chocolates do best stored in the freezer or refrigerator, otherwise they begin to get soft at room temperature.
Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University. She is the founder of Whole Life Nutrition and Nourishing Meals, the mother of five children, a whole-foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them, and offers elimination diet recipes, healthy gluten-free recipes, and paleo and vegan recipes, as well as tips for feeding your family a nourishing, whole-foods diet.
Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole-foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet book.
Learn more at nourishingmeals.com.
This decadent vegan tart can be made with any berry, but I especially like the combination of tart raspberries and sweet chocolate. The tart is best served the day it’s made. You can also use a smaller tart pan (an 8-inch works well) and halve the ingredients. Be sure to use the full fat coconut milk that comes in a can.
Recipe from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook.
Photo courtesy of Alissa Segersten
About 10 servings
Crust
Filling
Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University. She is the founder of Whole Life Nutrition and Nourishing Meals, the mother of five children, a whole-foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them, and offers elimination diet recipes, healthy gluten-free recipes, and paleo and vegan recipes, as well as tips for feeding your family a nourishing, whole-foods diet.
Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole-foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet book.
Learn more at nourishingmeals.com.
For all you chocolate lovers out there, this one is for you.
This decadent treat doesn’t require hours of labor to make and is full of healthy fats and fiber that will leave you feeling full and satisfied.
Make sure to choose avocados that are perfectly ripe but just slightly give to the touch. If they are too ripe, the avocado flavor is more prominent.
Photo by Selva Wohlgemuth
(gluten-free and vegan)
Makes 5-6 servings
Nutritionist Tips: It tastes best if made the night prior to allow the flavors to intensify. Find the darkest cocoa powder you can, because this is the key to mask the avocado flavor and boost the decadence factor of the recipe. I’ve had good results with Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder.
Mint: Add 1 teaspoon organic peppermint extract
Spiced Thai Ginger: Add 1½ teaspoons ground ginger and ¼ – ½ teaspoon cayenne (per your preference)
Vanilla: Add an additional teaspoon vanilla extract
Harvest Apple Crisp
(gluten-free and vegan)
This recipe is lower in calories and sugar than a traditional apple crisp or pie.
Low FODMAP Double Berry Pecan Crisp
(gluten-free and vegan)
This recipe is perfect for people on a low FODMAP diet.
Have questions? Send them to contact@happybellynutritionist.com. Selva Wohlgemuth is a registered dietitian nutritionist. Learn more about her approach to general health and well-being at her Happy Belly Nutrition website, and see her recipes and other kitchen tips at Poppies and Papayas.
The Co-op bakery team takes pride in preparing baked goods from scratch, using top-quality ingredients, like these melt-in-your-mouth vegan chocolate truffles. Co-op bakers also excel at creating beautifully decorated and delicious custom treats—tailored to customer specifications.
If you haven’t yet tried the expanded selection of muffins or brioche (mouthwatering creations both sweet and savory), that is an oversight you might want to correct immediately.
Other edible masterpieces coming from the bakery ovens included custom-made birthday cakes and specialty delights that were as beautiful as they were delicious, including an adorable Thomas the Tank Engine cupcake cake and a stunning winter wonderland scene of chocolate ganache-topped cupcakes with sugared thyme and cranberries and meringue mushrooms. Oh, my!
Co-op bakery staff also made some very special birthday boys and girls happy with treats made to satisfy specific dietary requirements, because everybody deserves a sweet celebration on their birthday. Vegan, grain free, sugar free, dairy free, paleo—bring your special request to our talented, experienced baking team and they will create something spectacular to meet your needs.
because everybody deserves a sweet celebration on their birthday
Every February, keep an eye out for decadent specialties to woo your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, including Hearts of Darkness, Bleeding Hearts, Truffles, and I Heart You and Chocolate cakes.
Each and every cookie, cupcake, pesto Parmesan brioche, pumpkin cloud cake, and chocolate caramel cream pie—from the simply sublime to the dazzlingly divine—was made from scratch in our kitchen using the highest quality, non-GMO, and organic ingredients we can affordably source. You’ll never find any artificial colors, antibiotics, or hormones in any of our bakery goods.
The new bakery kitchen, completed in 2016, has 1,300 square feet, about three times the size of the bakery’s former work space. And added some long-wished-for new equipment including ovens that adjust for humidity and a steam kettle (which is basically a giant bain marie or double boiler) for making custards and other recipes that require a gentle heat.
Having a dedicated space also made the rigorous cleaning process prior to the gluten-free bake more efficient.
Oh, and windows! The Cordata kitchens were lovely, but sort of lacking in the window department. Downtown, passers-by can peek behind the scenes and see bakery staff at work through the large windows along Holly Street that also bring some welcome natural light into the bakery work space.
We hope you enjoy eating the delicious goodies that result from the magic (and heartfelt work) that goes on behind the Co-op bakery kitchen doors.
The new kid on the block is Tony’s Chocolonely. We’re excited about introducing it to our stores for several reasons.
Love chocolate? Yep, that is a rhetorical question for most of us, because … chocolate!
If you’ve perused the options in the chocolate aisle lately, you may have noticed the new, bright wrappers in bold primary colors that are jazzing things up.
The new kid on the block is Tony’s Chocolonely. We’re excited about introducing it to our stores for several reasons.
First, it’s delicious! Second, the bars are satisfyingly big, weighing in at a hefty six ounces per bar. Third, and certainly not least, it is 100 percent slave free and fair trade. Since 2012, Tony’s has been buying cocoa directly from two farming co-ops in West Africa, guaranteeing the farmers benefit from fair prices and financial stability and guaranteeing bean-to-bar traceability for Tony’s.
Tony’s Chocolonely was conceived after Dutch investigative reporter Teun van de Keuken (Tony, in English) learned of the preponderance of child slave labor in the chocolate industry and the widespread indifference of chocolate makers to the abuse. So, he started Tony’s Chocolonely and introduced his first “lonely” fair trade chocolate bars in 2005. Lonely, because they were the only slave-free option on the shelf.
Ten years later, the small but mighty company celebrated with a grand anniFAIRsary! You can watch a video of the event on the Tony’s Chocolonely website in the “about us” tab. And, while you are there, you can also learn much more about the fabulosity that is Tony’s Chocolonely.
By the way, the next anniFAIRsary party will be in November, so if you’re looking for a fun event in Amsterdam you should check it out!
Learn more at tonyschocolonely.com.
When was the last time you ate a bleeding heart?
I just did. No big deal. And it was SO GOOD.
First off, it is a dessert. A seriously divine dessert. A small heart-shaped cake, to be exact.
This cake relies on the classic flavor combination of raspberry and chocolate, made from two heart-shaped layers of chocolate cake filled with raspberry sauce and covered with a thin layer of tender chocolate ganache. The chocolate cake was moist with a perfect crumb. The raspberry sauce is made in-house from locally grown Barbie’s Berries.
While I often have Game of Thones daydreams, this one was particularly vivid. Was I in the office or was I eating this succulent treat from my bare hands on a raised dais in front of my people while raspberry sauce ran down my chin? Nope, just eating this at my desk while critiquing a group project. Phew. Anyway, we can’t all be Daenerys and I really don’t want to live in Westeros. Yikes.
Little known fact: cake makes critiques better.
Share this with your sweetie, your bestie, or just keep it to for your self. This Bleeding Heart is a love bomb.
Order cakes, cupcakes, and more online from the Co-op bakery and choose to pick up your order in either of our stores or choose no-contact drive-though pickup at the Holly Street bakery building.
The bakery team makes every recipe by hand—cracking every egg and decorating every item to make each treat as beautiful as it is delicious. Our selection of Valentine’s Day treats has something for everyone.
The Co-op Bakery is ready to delight with traditional bakery treats, beautiful custom creations, and heavenly tasting allergen-free sweets and savories. Our talented bakers love a challenge, so dream big!
