PALEO DESSERT RECIPE

An EASY, NO COOK Paleo dessert recipe

…that is slightly adapted from the original which comes from an Australian cooking forum. My super fit and uber health conscious neighbour from Melbourne (now in the Arabian Ranches) shared it with me and it’s brilliant.

They call it “I can’t believe it’s not chocolate!” and actually the name is very appropriate. Forget Chocolate Brownies, Hello Paleo Pudding! Excellent for kids and adults alike AND it makes use of LOCAL INGREDIENTS. No sugar, flour, butter or eggs, so it’s good for vegans too. If you use a certain type of sunflower oil then the recipe is Paleo as well.

I can’t believe it’s not chocolate!

Ingredients for Paleo dessert

Here’s the video for the Paleo dessert

It’s about 5 minutes long but would save you reading everything and may stay in your mind a bit better than the words!

Notes on the Ingredients for Paleo dessert

• I used some dates I had in my fridge from Spinneys, cannot remember the brand. Bear in mind some date varieties are more sweet than others, so experiment. They also vary in price here too, so do what suits your taste and budget. And of course why not make use of ones in your garden if you grow them? I weighed my dates after I removed the stones. The original recipe suggests Majdool Dates.
• I used desiccated, packet coconut that I had in the cupboard, you could use fresh for a more coconuty taste. Lulu’s supermarkets grate your fresh coconut for you. Coconut is a staple in South Indian cooking too.
• Use plain or raw nuts, ie not salted or roasted. Don’t worry if you substitute a few other nuts to make up the quantity, I don’t think it would dent the recipe too much, but remember our nutritional analysis is based on the ingredients as above.
• The original recipe calls for coconut oil, my husband threw my coconut cooking oil away! So I used sunflower oil, it works very well. Ideally it should be high oleic Sunflower oil if you want your recipe to be truly paleo, else stick to coconut. My Melbourne Neighbour suggests using slightly less than the 80 grams of coconut oil.

Equipment to make Paleo dessert

• A flattish baking tray for spreading out the mixture
• Silver aluminium foil to line your tray with
• Food processor with large mixing bowl
• A knife or icing sugar trowel to spread your mixture evenly
• Shelf in the fridge to set the mixture
• Sharp knife to cut up into squares
• Tupper ware box with a lid to store in the fridge or freezer
• And of course a good set of electronic scales to weigh your ingredients accurately!

Method for making Paleo dessert

Nutritional Analysis for Paleo dessert

The calculations below represent a 28g portion

Using the ingredients as listed above and  have been based on dividing the finished dessert into 20 pieces and the approximate resulting weight of each piece being 28g. 

Using Figs rather than Dates

Using coconut oil

What does Paleo mean?

Professor Loren Cordain explores how to build a modern Paleo diet: The nutritional characteristics of a contemporary diet based upon Paleolithic food groups.  a paper offering insight as to the amounts and ratios of protein, carbohydrate and fat in the ancestral diet