Coconut truffle balls

 In a food processor, put in the following ingredients:

One scant cup dates

3 Tbsp cacao powder

6 tbsp water

1.5 cups shredded coconut, unsweetened

Pulse until combined. Shape into balls and roll in more coconut. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Benji likes these too:)

Fruit custard

 The goal was to make fruit custard using ingredients I typically have in the house. Also, dairy milk makes me pimply so I wanted to make a non-dairy version. Great success! This recipe makes about 4-5 servings. 

Crack 2 eggs into a big bowl. Add 2 tbsp sugar (coconut sugar goes really well with fruit). Add 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour, a pinch of salt, and 2 cups of soy milk. Whiz that with an immersion blender until there are no lumps. Pour into pot on the stove and heat on medium/low for 5-10 minutes until it is thickened. Let it cool, then put in the fridge. 

Before serving, give it another whizz with the immersion blender so it's really smooth, pour over fruit mix. 

Fruit juice jello

 In 1.5 cups cold juice, dissolve 3 envelopes (1/4 oz each) of unflavored gelatin. 

On the stove, bring 4.5 cups of juice to a boil. Turn off stove, put the gelatin mixture in there and mix well. Let cool a bit, before dividing into serving dishes and chilling for at least 4 hours. 

Carrot juice shown below, Symplax favorite. 

For chocolate version: 1 packet gelatin, 4 tsp cacao powder, and 4 tsp brown sugar per 2 cups nut milk. Give it a good whiz in the blender before setting in fridge. Gets a nice foamy bubble layer on top. Delicious. 

Black bean brownies

 Preheat oven to 350F. In container for immersion blender put:

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)

1 tsp baking powder

1 can rinsed black beans

3 eggs

4 tbsp coconut milk

A pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend everything together until smooth. Into butter greased loaf pan, pour batter. Top with chopped pecans. Bake for 35 min. Let cool before cutting. 

White wonderful jello

Dissolve 2 packets of unflavored gelatin in 2/3 cup boiling water. Mix in 1 cup of sugar, 16 oz cream cheese, 2 tsp lemon juice, 2 cups whole milk (or 1 cup milk, 1 cup ice cold vodka for alcoholic version), 2 tsp vanilla. Break up cream cheese into big chunks with spoon, then immersion blend starting on low. Add gelatin mixture. Add 8 oz cool whip. Blend a little more until smooth. Pour that into a greased pyrex and let it set in the fridge overnight. Before serving, run butter knife around rim to loosen, put it onto a plate. Hard to slide once it's out, so try to center it on the plate. Top with chopped strawberries.

Payel's no sugar banana bread

Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, mix 1.75 cups whole wheat flour, 2 heaping tsp cinnamon, 2 heaping tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 5-6 large ripe bananas, and 1/3 cup olive oil. Blend all that with an immersion blender. Put some chopped walnuts in there, or dark chocolate, mix into batter. Pour into a greased round cake pan or a loaf pan, add a few more walnut pieces on top if desired. Bake for an hour. Toothpick poked in center should come out clean, inside of cake is supposed to be a little goopy, from banana.

Symplax eggnog

You can make this eggnog with stuff you usually have in the house! For 2 servings:
Whisk together 1.5 cups of whole milk, 3 egg yolks, 2 tbsp coconut sugar (or honey, etc). Heat in a pan on medium whisking constantly until it's a bit thick (10 min ish). Let it cool a bit, then add in nutmeg, cinnamon, a tsp of vanilla extract, and one shot of spiced rum. Chill for a few hours. Blend before serving (gets rid of any small chunks from heating the milk, and also makes it delightfully frothy :) ) Serve in a fancy-schamncy glass. Symplax made, Benji approved.

Beet yogurt

To plain yogurt, add beet root powder, a spoon of coco powder, some raspberries, chopped nuts, and a sprinkle of chopped almonds. Wonderful!

Mango lassi

Mix 1 cup of yogurt, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 cup of mango pulp, a dash of ground cardamom. Blend. Serve plain or over ice. Serve in a wine glass to make it extra fancy :)

Chia seed pudding

In a big jar, put in 6 tbsp of chia seeds, 2 cups milk, 1 tbsp honey. Give it a good shake, leave out for about 5 min. Give it another good shake, put in fridge. Will set in a few hours. Can top with fruit. When serving, can stir in a bit of vanilla extract or coco powder.

Parents coming to visit tea cake

Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, mix 4 tbsp olive oil, less than 1/2 cup of sugar (or granulated Splenda for Dodon version), 1 egg, 1/2 cup fat free plain yogurt, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda. Spoon into a round cake pan greased with butter (not oil). Batter will be quite thick. Can add another spoon of yogurt if it's hard to put in pan. Top with walnut pieces. Bake for 40 min. Perfect Kundu family tea/birthday cake.

Symplax chocolate cake

Preheat oven to 325F. In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup milk, 3 tbsp egg white powder (alternatively, a couple of eggs), a tsp vanilla extract, 3 ripe bananas, 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, 2/3 cup unsweetened coco powder, 2/3 cup chickpea flour. 1 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt.
Line or grease baking pan (does tend to stick), pour batter in there, bake for 30 min.
Great breakfast, or desert!

Coffee yogurt

Blend Greek yogurt with a ripe banana and a heaping teaspoon of instant coffee. Taste is tangy, sweet and of course the rich coffee taste. Delicious quick breakfast, or dessert.

Symplax chocolate pudding

Start with a quite ripe banana, add a heaping tablespoon of unsweetened coco powder and a heaping teaspoon of peanut butter. Mix really thoroughly until it's the texture of chocolate pudding. Optionally, throw in some chia seeds or coconut. Great served chilled or hot! Delightful dessert.

Flax bars

Mix flax meal, a little honey, a little peanut butter (salt a bit if unsalted). Texture should be like damp sand. Can add a little coconut, or whatever add-ins you like. Pack it tightly into a storage container and freeze. In an hour or so, it'll be firm and cuttable, store in freezer. Such a yummy breakfast bar or slightly sweet treat :)

Basic homemade ice cream

Ice cream maker needed for this recipe. Beat 1/4 cup sugar with 3 eggs until it's thick. Heat a cup of whole milk on the stove over low heat. When it starts simmering, slowly add in the sugary-egg mixture. Mix and keep heating on low, not too high. Once it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, take off the heat. Once a little cool, put in 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup half and half and some fresh vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla extract).
Put it in the fridge overnight.
Then put in ice cream maker, while it's churning, can add in stuff like nuts, chocolate, fruit, whatever.
Note: when heating on stove, if you turn the heat up too high, eggs might chunk together. Not ideal, but the chunks do break up quite well once you freeze and churn it, so don't worry about it too much.
Ben loves this for his birthday treat. Taste is quite eggy and fresh.

Pro tip: if you have left over half and half, freeze it in an ice cube tray so you don't have to use it right away. Then you can throw in a cube or two into sauces, curries etc. that call for a bit of creaminess. Mussels in cream sauce for instance, or butter chicken.

Homemade chocolate spread

Mix together tahini, coco powder and honey. Vary proportion of ingredients to suit your taste. Delicious chocolate spread to put on fruit, or just eat by itself. I love that I can make it just semi-sweet to suit my taste :) Can add in coconut, chia seeds, chilli powder, whatever you fancy for some variety.

Biscotti

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix one cup of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt plus option add ins (1/4 cup chopped nuts and 1/4 cup dried fruit is a great combo). Mix that up. Throw in an egg, 2 tbsp soft butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Mix dough and roll into a long cigar, about 12 inches long. Put onto your baking sheet and flatten the cigar a bit. Bake at 350F for 25 min. Take it out, carefully transfer loaf onto a cutting board and cut into diagonal 1/2 inch pieces with a serrated knife. Put the pieces back onto the baking sheet. Lower oven temp to 300F. Bake for 10 min. Turn pieces over, bake 10 more min. Pieces should be a tiny bit brown on each side when you're done.
Pictured below is walnut and candied ginger biscotti.

Symplax signature shortbread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Whip together two sticks of softened butter, a pinch of salt and 1/2 cup of spiced powdered sugar (put the sugar in the dry grinder with 2 tbsp caraway seeds). Once mixed, add 2 cups whole wheat flour. Make the dough into little balls and flatten them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Just flatten a bit. Arrange pepitas in pattern on each cookie, squish into cookie a bit. They'll spread a bit, so space out a little, but they separate pretty well even if they touch. Bake for 16-18 min (in our oven, we check after 11 min, it runs a bit hot). They are done when they're golden. They won't be crispy right when you take them out, but will get crispy as they cool. To see if it's done, check the underside to see if it looks browned. Taste is sweet, but not overly so and quite buttery. A little salty as well. Just superb!

Chocolate chip cookies

This recipe makes 15 small cookies. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix 1 and 1/8 cup all purpose flour, half a tsp of baking powder, half a tsp of salt in a bowl. In another bowl mix 6 tbsp soft butter, 3/8 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup white sugar, and one egg. Mix until fluffy. Add the secret ingredient (1 tsp cognac brandy), mix. Put in the flour mixture, mix until just incorporated. Put in 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips and mix. Grease a cookie tray. Roll the dough into 15 balls, place balls evenly spaced on one tray, don't flatten. Bake for 15 min.