Believe it or not, it’s been snowing here for the last three days and our mountain looks like it’s December and not mid October! Remember those beautiful colors I posted in my last autumn inspired post? Well, they are all gone and trees are white now! I mean, I know these are the Alps and the winter starts early here but isn’t this just a little bit too early?!!! And I really, really love snow, just not in October!
I am so still in the autumn mood and not ready to start thinking about Christmas and end of the year (wait, hasn’t that just been like yesterday?!) but all this snow makes it difficult not to think about all that! Anyway, there are many things to look forward to this winter, like lots of snow and another magical winter wonderland, first visit from my family since we moved here, many delicious recipes to shoot and post on the blog, Christmas shopping… Wait, I told you that the snow makes me think about all this, but I have to stop and focus on autumn at least a bit longer. 🙂
Today I’m sharing two easy recipes with two main ingredients: chocolate and tahini! Do you like tahini? I must say that I’ve never even used it in my kitchen until I moved to Turkey last summer and discover that Turkish use it a lot in their cuisine.
UPDATED WITH THESE NEW PHOTOS IN 2020
– ORIGINAL PHOTOS AND POST PUBLISHED IN 2015… ( I always want to keep original photos and posts because this way I can see progress, I can see how far I’ve come in my photography, my work and overall my life. Even with all the struggles and challenges life sometimes throws at us, it’s so rewarding to know that with hard work, love and passion for what you do… you can achieve so much more than you thought it’s possible!)
Back to my beloved TAHINI, basically a paste made of sesame seeds and it’s used a lot in North African, Greek, Iranian, Turkish, and Middle Eastern cuisine.
Tahini is an excellent source of copper, manganese and healthy fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6, also has high levels of calcium and protein. When eaten on its own, it has a bit strong taste so I prefer it mixed with other ingredients, both in sweet and savory versions. For example, it’s so good mixed with honey or the way they do it in Turkey, with sweet grapes molasses and that mixture is called pekmez. It’s so delicious! Other way how I use tahini very often is a dressing for roasted vegetables or steamed broccoli, you basically mix 1 tbsp of tahini, 1 tbsp honey and 2 tbsp olive oil and you get this very delicious and interesting dressing for your vegetables.
But today’s recipes are both sweet so here they are… First one is Tahini hot chocolate, perfect for these colder days!
Recipe in English:
- 1 cup almond milk (or other milk of your choice)
- 1 - 1.5 tbsp unsweetened raw cacao
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 - 1.5 tsp honey (or maple syrup to make it vegan)
- pinch of cinnamon
- Note: 1 cup = 240 ml
- Combine all the ingredients in a small pan and whisk over medium heat until it's combined and hot. Serve warm with a bit of grated dark chocolate on top or some whipped coconut (or regular) cream. Enjoy!
Recipe in Croatian / Recept na hrvatskom:
- SASTOJCI
- 1 salica bademovog mlijeka (ili drugog mlijeka po vasem izboru)
- 1-1.5 zlica sirovog kakao praha
- 1 zlica tahinija
- 1-1.5 zlicica meda (ili javorovog sirupa)
- prstohvat cimeta
- Napomena: 1 salica = 240 ml
- PRIPREMA
- Zagrijavajte sve sastojke mijesajuci dok se ne sjedine.
- Posluzite vruce s malo naribane tamne cokolade ili tucenog kokosovog (ili obicnog) vrhnja.
- uzivajte!
Second recipe today is for Chocolate tahini pudding, a quick little dessert that is delicious and healthy at the same time! It’s a great excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast! 😉
Recipe in English:
- 1 sliced frozen banana
- splash of almond milk (or other milk)
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 tsp honey (or maple syrup to make it vegan)
- 2 tbsp oats
- 2 tbsp shredded coconut
- 1 tbsp unsweetened raw cacao
- Put all the ingredients in the blender or food processor and blend until combined and creamy.
- Serve immediately with some cacao nibs or grated dark chocolate on top and enjoy!
Recipe in Croatian / Recept na hrvatskom:
- SASTOJCI
- 1 narezana banana, svjeza ili smrznuta
- 1-2 zlice bademovog mlijeka (ili drugog po vasem izboru)
- 1 zlica tahinija
- 1 zlicica meda (ili javorovog sirupa)
- 2 zlice zobenih pahuljica
- 1 zlica sirovog kaako praha
- Napomena: mozete dodati jos malo mlijeka ako je potrebno.
- PRIPREMA
- Dodajte sve sastojke u blender ili multipraktik i miksajte dok ne dobijete gustu i kremastu smjesu.
- Odmah posluzite ukraseno s kakao zrcima ili naribanom tamnom cokoladom.
- Uzivajte!
*Thank you so much for being here, that makes me so happy! You can also follow my Travelling oven on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, as well as sign up to receive new blog posts via email and subscribe to my newsletter.
TOBER SOUNDS CRAZY!! NEVER SAW THAT. AND OH HOW WE LOVE TAHINI, SO THIS IS THE PERFECT RECIPE <3 <3
Yep, snow in October, that’s what you get when you live on 1600 m altitude in the Alps! Thanks so much, I’m a big fan of tahini too! 🙂