The Oh She Glows Coobook Review + Chilled Chocolate Espresso Torte

Angela Liddon started her Oh She Glows Blog in 2008, where she shared her love of vegan food with her readers. Five years later she finally released her cookbook.

The book is divided into 10 recipe chapters: Breakfast, Smoothies, Juices and Tea, Appetizers, Salads, Soup, Entrees, Sides, Power Snacks, Desserts, and Homemade Staples. 

Accompanying the delicious recipes are the most amazing pictures of food I have ever seen. It makes you fall in love with food, again. 

Before you flick to the recipes, Angela explains the importance of some vegan foods, like Nuts, Soy Products, Herbs etc. I like that because you can learn more about the importance of certain food. 

I am not vegan, but I like to mix things up and there is nothing wrong with eating healthy food.

It can be purchased on Amazon, The Book Depository or iBooks.

I decided to try the Chilled Chocolate Espresso Torte because I loved the description of it. I have to admit though, I was sceptical when I saw that the filling is made out of cashews (?!) and cocoa. Ok, cocoa I love, but cashews in a dessert? Let me tell you, the smell of this filling is so amazing, I can't even describe. I have never baked something so amazingly smelling. I could live off this pie forever. 

You need:

For the toasted hazelnut crust:

¾ cup hazelnuts

¼ cup coconut oil

3 table spoons maple syrup

¼ tea spoon fine-grain sea salt

½ cup gluten-free oat flour

1 cup gluten-free rolled oats

For the chocolate filling:

1 ½ cups cashews, soaked

2/3 cup agave nectar

½ cup coconut oil

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, melted

2 tea spoons vanilla extract

½ tea spoon fine-grain sea salt

½ tea spoon espresso powder (optional)

Make the crust, first. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 23 cm pie dish with coconut oil.

In a food processor, process the hazelnuts into a fine crumb with the texture of sand. Add the coconut oil, maple, sugar, salt, espresso powder, and oat flour and process again until the dough comes together. Finally, add the rolled oats and pulse until they are chopped, but still have some texture to them. The dough should stick together slightly, if not, add some more maple syrup.

Use your fingers and crumble the dough over the pie dish evenly. Starting from the middle, press the dough firmly into the dish, moving outward and upward along the side of the dish. Bake the crust fro 10 to 13 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

Make the filling. Drain and rinse the cashews. In a blender, combine the cashews, agave, oil, cocoa powder, melted chocolate, vanilla, salt and espresso powder. Blend on high, until the filling is smooth. Pour over the prepared crust, smoothing out the top evenly. Garnish with chocolate shavings, coconut, or as I did – with hazelnuts.

Place the pie in the freezer (uncovered) for a couple of hours, then cover the dish with foil and freeze overnight. Remove the pie from the freezer and let sit for ten minutes before serving.

Reprinted by arrangement with AVERY, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © GLO BAKERY CORPORATION, 2014.

Recipe added to this link up party.