Wait until you sink your teeth into these lemony clouds of amazement! I’ve always been a fan of lemon bars, and have experimented with all sorts of cooked vegan and raw ingredients to get the right balance between tart and sweet, the melt in your mouth consistency, and all around goodness. I finally came up with what I believe to be the most sublime lemon bars…cooked or raw, vegan or not, that I have ever had.

Have you ever tried sweet hummus? It’s absolutely divine. I was pretty sure I would hate it the first time I experimented with it, because someone had tried to pass off multiple variations of those “black bean brownies” that are so ubiquitous on the internet. And to be honest, there’s just no way. For a true dessert loving woman, I just found them gross. I tried several different recipes, and there was just no way they were ever going to pass in my family for a worthwhile dessert.

We know that the Mayans not only called cacao the “Food of the Gods”, but they also used chocolate as a means to enlightenment. Raw cacao is loaded with Anandamide, the “bliss” chemical, and PEA, the “love” molecule. Anandamide is a neurotransmitter that is released naturally in the brain when we are feeling happy, and is contained in raw cacao. And, PEA is the neurotransmitter produced when we fall in love!

Countless studies have been done that show that cacao (without added dairy or processed sugar) has a multitude of health benefits. Luckily for those of us who enjoy the sublime taste of raw chocolates, there are no scientific studies that have concluded that cacao is unhealthy. One of the most intensive studies on the extreme health benefits of cacao was the twenty year Harvard University study of the Kuna Indians, who have “among the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease in the world.

Try these delicious, easy to make raw vegan brownies! Even the most die-hard brownie lover will love to indulge in these. In fact, they are my family’s favorite sweet treat. I’ve tried those “black bean” vegan brownies, and no matter how many times I tweaked the recipe, my husband and kids simply refuse to eat them. These on the other hand? Gone in minutes!

I am always experimenting with raw chocolate puddings. I vary the base between avocados and fresh coconut meat. Both are delicious, but provide a different flavor profile. Coconuts take longer to blend into the smooth creamy consistency, but you need less sweetener. With avocado, you have to be sure your avocados are perfectly ripe, but not over-ripe and mushy or the final product will be too runny.

INGREDIENTS: 2 cups date paste (just process pitted medjool dates and process in the food processor into a paste with a little water), 1/2 cup coconut oil, 2 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla, 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt, 6 cups Brazil nut flour (can sub cashew or almond flour), 1 1/2 cups strawberries chopped, 1/4 cup coconut crystals (can sub maple syrup), 2 Tablespoons lemon juice, 1/4 cup beet juice (color).

INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup coconut butter, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon raw cacao powder, 3 Tablespoons coconut sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp chipotle chili (if desired), small pinch of Himalayan salt. Shredded coconut flakes and cacao powder for coating.

So first of all, let me provide full disclosure. These are NOT low fat. These are not something you would want to chow down on daily, in large quantities, or as a substitute for your cucumber-beet-carrot juice. However, having said that, they are sublime chocolate bliss bars that are the perfect bait to lure people into the radically rawsome world of raw foods!

BERRY FILLING: 1 cup blackberries, 1 cup strawberries, 1/4 cup maple syrup, pinch of salt, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1 tsp. pure vanilla or 1 vanilla bean. Pulse in a food processor until desired consistency.

This is one of the easiest and most crowd-pleasing (including kids) raw pies ever, and the best part is that you don’t need any oil of any kind and only a small amount of nut butter. Feel free to swap cashew or walnut butter in place of the almond butter! INGREDIENTS: Crust - 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup oat flour, 1/3 cup almond butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp Himalayan salt.

I love pumpkin pie and I love mini-dessert bites so you can eat one and be satisfied! I love to have raw desserts that don’t have cupfuls of oil AND nuts. So I made these delicious pumpkin pie bites keeping the lower-fat principles in mind, with just a but of cashew butter to add creamy consistency, and the crust makes use of fat free oats mixed in with some nuts, to keep the overall fat low.

I made these carrot cake cupcakes with just 5 ingredients, and they are amazing little spicy morsels of health! They are great to take to a holiday party, and if you want them to look extra fancy, I would use coconut cream icing. I used pecan maple glaze, which was absolute perfection in a bite, and sprinkled a bit of pink Himalayan salt on top. Truly, these were one of the best carrot cake muffins ever!

There are some things that just can’t really be described in words. These cookies fit that category. I can try, but honestly, you want to make these for yourself, share them with everyone you love, and have a moment of appreciation for all of the goodness raw foods can bring. These are so easy to make, and with relatively few ingredients, yet they deliver an incredibly complex flavor profile that marries the nutty smokiness of pistachios with the sweet creaminess of coconut with the ever present depth of pure cacao powder.

Alas, we have chocolate! I love making chocolate creations of all kinds using pure, organic, raw Criollo variety cacao beans, paste, and cacao butter. The simplicity of just pure cacao paste with a touch of coconut sugar, a vanilla bean and some cacao butter yields an exquisite and unparalleled taste experience that engages so many of your senses. But I often find myself inspired by the endless variations of raw chocolate that are possible and experiment with all types of nut butters, flavors, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and superfoods to create true alchemy in a sublime bite.

There are so many reasons to eat blueberries and blackberries and actually all purple and blue fruits! Blue and purple fruits and vegetables contain nutrients like lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, vitamin C, fiber, flavonoids, ellagic acid, and quercetin. These nutrients support retinal health, lower LDL cholesterol, boost immune system activity, support healthy digestion, improve calcium and other mineral absorption, fight inflammation, reduce tumor growth, act as anti-carcinogens in the digestive tract, and limit the activity of cancer cells.

How about a little green and chocolate treat for St. Patrick’s Day! These mint brownies are easy to make. I promise. And, they are (mostly) raw, vegan and healthy. I made this one nut free, to lower the fat content and because well, sometimes you feel like a nut — and sometimes you don’t! This recipe is super low fat. In fact, the only fat in the base and the filling is 1/2 of an avocado.

This is a winner. I’m always looking to create super easy, delicious, low-fat recipes that are new and different and don’t require massive lists of ingredients. This cake I made this morning, and enjoyed by the pool this afternoon, is incredible. I know you’re going to love it. The lemony-creamy middle layer is the perfect compliment to the chewy chocolate base, and the blueberry layer adds a sweetness that rounds it off.

This is for sure one of my favorites from the over 800 recipes I have created from scratch in the past two years I was on an intense recipe-creation manifesting when I was doing regular weekly meal plans of three meals a day for 7 days a week for months! I rarely repeated a recipe on those plans, and it was a free flowing river of delicious, vegan, high raw, gluten free wonderment!

These are in all honesty, one of my top favorite treats of ALL TIME, raw or not raw! They are just so delicious. Seriously, I can’t even keep them in the house between my kids, their friends and my husband! Every time we make a batch the family descends on the platter like they’ve never had a treat before!