I must confess; I’ve only JUST started to get into drinking coffee. My daily drink consumption mainly involves a whole host of herbal tea varieties, from peppermint to liquorice, plus the odd brew and sugar-free flavoured water. But let me get onto my new discovery which has opened up a huge door of opportunities for when it comes to creating healthy, #indulginginnocently recipes!
A bit about NOMI
Say hello to NOMI, one of the reasons for my kick-started love for the hot beverage option. Although here’s where the brand differs, a cold brew coffee offering ‘a 100% natural guilt-free kick’. Based in North Yorkshire where I’m originally from, it was great to hear from these guys and try out their bottles of chilled deliciousness.
The result of two friends who travelled around Melbourne and Japan, both hugely inspired by the concepts they discovered, it became their mission to take on the ready-to-drink bottled coffee market in the UK. Bringing together the cold brew coffee concept from Oz and the convenience of the Japanese ready to drink product combined with the desire to create something high quality and preservative-free – this is where NOMI was born!
Brewed for 18 hours, made from all natural ingredients (in-season, single origin coffee from a sustainable source) and mixed with milk, this gives NOMI a wonderfully silky smooth texture. As a result of cold brewing, this process reduces the acidity and bitterness while allowing the aromatic flavours to come through, creating a naturally sweet drink. Although it has a little added sugar in, it is unrefined and needed to result in the delicious taste – plus, it makes a nice little treat if you want a different way of getting a caffeine fix!
Mocha & Vanilla Protein Cheesecake
With my newfound love for coffee, I was excited to create a clean eating recipe, but one that wasn’t too rich or overly flavoured, which is why I included hints of vanilla and chocolate (cheers, cacao powder!) to balance it out. A creamy, protein packed dessert pretty enough to serve for a special occasion, I absolutely love how this recipe turned out and I can’t wait to make (and devour) it again already!
Ingredients:
Base –
- 75g rolled oats (I used Mornflake)
- 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (I used PhD Nutrition)
- 1 tbsp cacao powder (I used Kaizen Living)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (I used Lucy Bee)
- 2 tbsp honey, agave or date syrup (I used Beloved Date)
Filling –
- 1 x 300g pack silken tofu (can be found in most supermarket international food aisles; I used Morinu)
- 2 eggs
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder (I used PhD Nutrition)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup natural sweetener (I used Truvia stevia)
- 2 tbsp NOMI concentrate*
- 1 tbsp cacao powder (I used Kaizen Living)
- 1 tbsp cornflour
Get baking!
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C and lightly grease a 20cm loose bottomed cake tin.
- First make the base. Melt the coconut oil and Sweet Freedom/honey/syrup on a gentle heat in a large pan. Remove from heat then stir in the oats, protein powder and cacao powder, stirring well until combined and you have a slightly sticky mixture. Press this into the cake tin, spreading it out evenly, then bake for 8-10 minutes until slightly golden and remove.
- Meanwhile, put the tofu, eggs, protein powder, vanilla extract, sweetener and half of the cornflour in a blender and whizz up until smooth. When the base is out the oven, pour about ⅔ of the cheesecake mixture into the tin.
- With the remainder of the mixture, add the NOMI concentrate, cacao powder and the rest of the cornflour and give it another whizz up in the blender until smooth. Dot around teaspoons of this mixture then use a knife or skewer to create a swirl pattern – get creative!
- Now return to the oven and bake for a further 30-40 minutes (you might want to cover with foil halfway through baking, to avoid burning!) until firm. Remove and leave to cool completely before chilling the fridge for a few hours.
- Ready to serve? Run a sharp knife around the edge and remove the cheesecake from the cake tin, then slice into 8-10 (depending how big you want the slices to be!) and enjoy!
*Note: I was sent NOMI concentrate (no milk or sugar added) for the purposes of this recipe. The drink is usually available in ready-made bottle form – if you get your hands on it, increase the coffee to 2 tbsp and also increase the cornflour by another tbsp.
Make sure you’re following NOMI on socials too – check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram 🙂