November 26, 2018

Chocolate Coconut Hummus

Name: Chocolate Coconut Hummus
Prep time: 8 min
Ingredients: 400 g tinned chickpeas (6.4g of fat); 30 g almond butter (13.8g of fat); 2 tbsp maple syrup; 1 tsp vanilla paste; 1 tbsp coconut oil (20g of fat); 165 ml tinned coconut milk (27.2g of fat); 4 tbsp cacao powder

Chocolate Coconut Hummus.

I didn’t know sweet Hummus was a thing. It wasn’t until scrolling through Pinterest that I saw I few different ‘dessert’ options of Norah’s favourite dip. Obviously I had to give it a try (and change it up to add some more fat to it). This is how our new Chocolate Coconut Hummus came about.

Adding Fat to Fruit.

People are often asking how to add fat to fruit. So many children with CF (or just children for that matter) love fruit. But being the mother of a child with CF, handing over some slices of fruit for breakfast always makes you start the day with worry in the pit of your gut.

I’ve suggested the usual ideas; peanut butter on apple slices (this worked for a short period). Or a yoghurt for dipping; honestly though our kids have never eaten that. I had kind of come to the conclusion, that fruit is fine to have without extra fat. But then I was always trying to get something extra in to Norah not too long later. “Have a handful of cashews or a slice of cheese please!” Sadly it usually didn’t work.

Luckily I’ve been able to get the smoothies into Norah most mornings. They’re working, but it’s not giving her much variety. Plus there’s nothing fresh in her favourite one. I don’t want to mess with the recipe too much though while she’s happily drinking it. When she’s had a smoothie, I’ll happily give her the fruit for morning tea with nothing else.

Norah ate it!

Now, I’ve made this Chocolate Coconut Hummus twice for the twins. Both times Norah has eaten it, Cole not as sure. The crazy thing is, I was able to set up a plate with strawberries, blueberries, mango and watermelon with a side of the Chocolate Coconut Hummus and she actually ate it!

Some pieces of fruit she dunked into her ‘chocolate dip’ and she also just used a spoon and ate it like it was a dessert.

The weirdest thing that happened was when Cole decided he wanted to have a sandwich. Strangely he didn’t want the crust (he never usually cares). Norah demanded she eat Cole’s crust even though she’s the one that always screams for it to be cut off. She wanted to use the crust to dip into the Chocolate Coconut Hummus. She ate the crust of the entire sandwich!

I will admit there was a silly little game that went with it. Apparently the crust was a person that needed to get dressed in the Chocolate Coconut Hummus and go to work. Funnily enough her mouth was ‘work’. I played along with the silliness and that day we actually reached 20 scoops of creon (enzymes)! I don’t remember the last time I got so much food into her in one day.

Getting more Fat into the Chocolate Coconut Hummus.

When I made this Chocolate Coconut Hummus I did use a whole small tin of coconut milk. It does make the texture slightly runnier than actual hummus. You could easily use less, but I find I always waste the left overs so I just chucked the whole lot in. More fat that way too.

*Side note; since writing this post, I have realised that once you put the Hummus in the fridge it does become a lot firmer (and in my opinion yummier). I wouldn’t use less coconut milk if you’re not planning to use the whole lot in one day.*

For extra fat I also used some coconut oil and some almond butter. I was going to grab the usual peanut butter, but I thought I’d better try something else. Being hummus I could probably add Tahini to it too, seeings as though that’s the base of the original recipe.

Perfect addition for Christmas.

I’m so glad I have discovered sweet Hummus before Christmas. We will definitely be travelling over the holiday period and I’ll be able to make up a batch of this and bring some along with us.

It’s hard enough to get the calories into Norah on a normal day, let alone with the excitement and chaos of Christmas. Plus I really don’t want her to be eating too much junk.

The more food I can prepare ahead of time the easier it’ll be. We will be super busy putting together (while trying not to kill each other haha) the twins’ new trampoline on Christmas Eve so the food all needs to be sorted before then.

I wonder what else I can come up with before the silliness of Christmas takes over? That being said, we were a November Christmas tree family! Don’t judge, it’s just too pretty to only have out for a few weeks (even with the twins now old enough to help and all the balls being placed on the same branches, haha).