Four tropical flavours of raw vegan Moon Pie!!

Despite being in Australia and so probably not being an official entrant, I couldn't resist participating in Heathy's Moonie Pie Challenge!! The moonie pies on Heathy's gorgeous blog looked so delicious and I just had to try them! So I downloaded the recipe and started un-cooking! The challenge is to make two changes to her moonie pie recipe and blog about it. The winner does a moonie pie swap with Heathy and the winning moonie pies are featured on her blog.

So what is a moonie pie, you ask?! A moonie pie is a raw version of the American 'moon pie' - a marshmallow sandwiched between two biscuits, covered in chocolate. For all the Aussie readers, think of something between a wagon wheel or mallowpuff biscuit. The raw version of the moon pie is basically a creamy coconut-cashew-vanilla filling sandwiched between two layers of raw cacao-date-walnut cake then dipped in raw dark chocolate! SOOOO YUMMY!

As usual I couldn't pick one flavour to experiment with, so I decided to try 4 different varieties of moonie pie: custard apple (a.k.a cherimoya), guava and raspberry, rose and pistachio, and tiramisu!

The guava and raspberry moonie pie is divine - the acidity of the raspberries perfectly offsets the sweetness of the chocolate and the guava adds a delicate perfume to the pie…

The custard apple adds a tang that is just to-die-for and is really well complemented by the vanilla filling!

The tiramisu flavour is perfectly suited to moonie pies - a hint of coffee and marsala wine!

And the rose and pistachio moonie pie reminds me of eating rahat lokum (Turkish delight) and pistachio baklava…. so yummy!

It is hard to pick a favourite, but I would have to say the guava and raspberry! Well, what did you expect, this blog is called guavablossom, isn't it?! ;)-

Here are the details of the changes I made to Heathy's recipe:

I couldn't find agave powder for the filling anywhere, so I had to adjust the coconut oil and lecithin quantities in the vanilla filling recipe. I increased the coconut oil to 1 cup and used 4Tbsp of lecithin instead of 2, and the filling set perfectly!

I split the recipe into 4, which turned out to be 170g of filling and about 240g chocolate cake for each variation. Here are the variations:

Custard apple (a.k.a Cherimoya) moonie pie - to 170g vanilla filling, add 80g deseeded custard apple. Mix lightly so that the bits are visible when you bite through the moonie pie.

Guava and raspberry moonie pie - blend 170g vanilla filling with 50g deseeded guava flesh and 50g raspberries. Once blended, add an additional 25g raspberries and mix very gently so that the raspberry bits are still visible.

Rose and pistachio moonie pie - blend 170g vanilla filling with 2tsp rose water. An optional addition for colour is to add a few raspberries or a hint of beetroot juice, though I just used the blender after the guava and raspberry moonies :) Instead of walnuts in the cake, use pistachios, and omit the cacao powder.

Tiramisu moonie pie - blend 170g vanilla filling with 2tsp of Marsala wine. Stir 1tsp espresso-ground coffee beans through 240g of the walnut chocolate cake.

And what to do with the left over chocolate topping? Pour into chocolate moulds!

And that's all for this post! Good luck to all the participants and to Heathy with the difficult decision of choosing a winner!

Young coconut ceviche with fennel, avocado, nori flakes and baked pumpkin

I have always wanted to try a vegetarian version of ceviche, and tonight while sipping on a fresh young coconut I realised the white slippery flesh looked a bit like raw fish! LOL :) As it turns out, young coconut is great in ceviche, with nori flakes giving that necessary hint of the sea. The combination is complemented by chilli, lime, and coriander; crunchy fennel and red capsicum add to the texture and colour, and the baked pumpkin adds sweetness and warmth. If you want to make this into a full Peruvian-inspired meal, serve with corn on the cob and some pan-fried tempeh marinated in garlic and soy sauce.

Serves 2

1 young coconut, flesh only, cut into thin strips (drink the coconut water while cooking!)
Juice of 1 lime
Zest of 1/2 lime
1 chilli, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2-1 sheet of nori, torn/cut into small flakes or strips
1 handful of coriander, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
Sea salt

1/2 red capsicum, thinly sliced
1/2 baby fennel, thinly sliced
1/2 avocado, diced
2 thin (less than 1cm) pumpkin rounds

Method
Place the young coconut strips, lime juice and zest, chilli, shallot, nori flakes, coriander, olive oil, and some sea salt in a bowl and leave to marinate for one hour. Meanwhile brush the pumpkin with olive oil and bake in a 200C oven until soft (about 15 minutes). When ready to serve, carefully toss the red capsicum, fennel, and avocado through the coconut mixture. Arrange ceviche on top of baked pumpkin rounds and dust with sea salt. Buen provecho!