This low fat chocolate gingerbread pudding is the kind of treat you can feel good about while savoring the deliciousness. The base is bananas, and from there you can take it any flavor direction you want. In the spirit of simple vegan recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when chocolate is everywhere you turn, I took it in a chocolate gingerbread direction.
If you need some backup on just exactly why you need to go ahead and treat yourself to this little bowl of awesomeness, consider that there's flax for omega-3, ginger for stimulating your digestive system, molasses for iron and B vitamins, and of course bananas for potassium and lots of other goodness. Truly a healthy vegan recipe.
This transcription will have some mistakes because it is partially automated.
Hey guys! This is Heather from HealthyVeganRecipes.net so today we’re gonna do another recipe with chocolate coming up from the holidays it’s always good to have a nice wide repertoire of recipes to make with chocolate.
And I heard from bunch of you guys a couple of weeks ago when I posted a recipe for homemade chocolate that you- some of you are like me and you want to minimize your use of oil and sugar.
And while that recipe is awesome for people who want an alternative for a store brought chocolate bar, it does have oil and sugar, those are the two base ingredients, there are only three ingredients so you can’t really reduce them otherwise you’ll just wind up with less chocolate.
So while I think that that’s a fantastic option for people who want to have some chocolate, my dad in particular is one who loves chocolates so that’s a good one for him but for those of you who are looking for an option that’s lower in fat and sugar I’ve just got the thing for you today.
So in the place of oil and in the place of sugar what we’re gonna do is use bananas and we’re gonna make like a pudding or a smoothie type thing and make it chocolate flavored and I’m gonna actually make mine with some pumpkin pie type spices so if you want the exact measurements and recipe you can head over at HealthyVeganRecipes.net, I will post everything for you there and right now I’m gonna show you how to make this.
Ok! Step one you want to peel your bananas might seem to be too basic but you know what sometimes it doesn’t hurt to specify because banana peel in here would not be tasty.
So you are going to need some type of machine that will blend this up so I’m using my food processor, you can use a blender, you can use a hand blender, you can even probably do this by mashing it up with a fork or a potato masher but it won’t be quite as smooth and the water doesn’t get mix in quite as nicely.
So the first thing if you’re using a food processor just blend up the bananas, if you’re using a blender you wanna put some water in the bottom to get it going.
Once it’s smooth that is your base for this and like I said banana is sweet so you don’t need sugar and it’s creamy so you don’t need oil. From here you can pretty much actually do anything you like. You can flavor it anyway you want, I’ve got a whole bunch of fun stuff going on over here so I’m gonna show you what I am going to do to flavor this into some chocolate pumpkin spice banana pudding deliciousness.
If you ever at a lost by the way for what to call something that your serving someone just end it with deliciousness and its bound to go over pretty well right?
Ok! So first things first I’m gonna add some ground flax because its healthy and because it helps get a pudding like texture so then I can add some more water. Then I promise you this is gonna be chocolate but I’m actually using carob powder because it has natural sugar in it so it doesn’t need much sweetness to go with it.
If I was using cocoa powder I wouldn’t use as much or I’ll put another banana in or some fresh dates, those are always nice. Then ok! Flavors! I’m gonna put some cinnamon because I love cinnamon and with carob or chocolate it is really really nice.
Then nutmeg, another great holiday spice and all spice is also in pumpkin pie spice if you wanna add some of that, that’s awesome. Cloves another good one, I’m just gonna keep it simple today but I am going to add some fresh ginger coz I love it and really healthy for you, helps reduce inflammation, helps stimulate your digestive system, all good stuff.
And what I’m gonna do because I’m using fresh ginger, I am grating it and then I’m gonna squeeze the juice out of the pulp. You can also put the pulp in here if you want to and actually maybe I will do that today coz why not? Ok!
Ground ginger you can use as well, if you use whole ginger and you don’t grate it I find that it’s just too spicy so that’s why I grated it up and to be honest that might be a little bit much, it’s good for you.
So give that another blend and it should be looking pretty chocolaty and awesome. It taste pretty awesome too, does have a bit of a kick with that ginger but I like it.
Ok! From here I’m actually gonna add a couple other things because I wanted to get some protein powder in here so this is Hemp protein powder and I’m just gonna put a couple of spoonfuls in and to give it that last gingerbready kind of flavor because I called it pumpkin pie but really what was in my head was gingerbread.
And for some reason I really like the combination of molasses and the hemp protein. I find it really makes a difference so I’m just gonna put a little bit in there. Molasses is pretty strong but it got lots of iron in it and B vitamins great for energy.
One last thing if you want to make it super creamy and yummy is a little bit of nut or seed butter, almond butter would be awesome. I’ve got sunflower seed butter here right now, I’m just gonna throw a spoonful in there.
And yes this is adding fat but it’s a whole food fat so I’m ok with it and it’s only a little bit beside we need some healthy fat in our diet. You need some and the way to get it is from whole foods like nuts, seeds and they’re butters.
Alright! So give it one last blend, taste it, see if it fulfils all of your wildness dream and then eat it and enjoy it because it’s really healthy.
So I hope you guys enjoy it and I’ll try to figure out something to call it and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below again if you want the recipe head over to HealthyVeganRecipes.net. I will post everything that I did although most of it is optional, you can play with the amounts and the flavorings and do whatever suites your wildness dream. Enjoy and I will see you guys next time.
I gave Phil his bowl, he took a bite, said it was delicious, and then I told him all the great things I packed in there. To which he said, 'Wow, it's healthy AND tasty AND nutritious AND delicious'. Exactly :)
What flavor direction will you take? Let me know below.
Put the bananas in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth. You can also mash them with a fork or potato masher if you don't have a blender. Add the flax and water, and blend again.
Add all of the seasonings, changing them for your own tastes, and blend until everything is combined.
If you want, you can chill the pudding before serving. Top it off with some sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, coconut or whatever else you like. I hope you have fun with this low fat chocolate gingerbread pudding, the latest of my healthy vegan recipes.
