Brooke from popular health and well-being blog A Conscious Collection, has launched her first e-book, Chocoholics. Not only including healthy recipes revolving around chocolate (yes, it is possible after all!), it’s filled with the most gorgeously delicious photography to match. We sat down with Brooke to find out more about Chocoholics.
Brooke, congratulations on the release of your first e-book, A Conscious Collection Chocoholics! Tell us a bit about the book?
Thank you. It’s a wonderful feeling to have it out there. Chocoholics is a delicious collection of drool-worthy chocolate treats with a healthy twist. Think of your favourite comforting breakfasts, drinks, snacks and desserts made with nothing but pure, whole foods and nourishing ingredients. Each recipe is carefully created to be gluten-free, refined sugar free and dairy free but still live up to that indulgent chocolaty taste.
What inspired you to write the book?
I’m obsessed with cookbooks to the point where I am running out of shelf and coffee table space. As a graphic designer there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your work come to life so I created this book for my own satisfaction and for my readers who have been with me every step of the way. For me it’s all about the visual aesthetics, the more I worked on it the more I was inspired to keep going.
How did you come up with the recipes in the book?
Pretty easily actually, I’m a huge chocoholic, so once I worked out that I was going to dedicate the whole book purely to chocolate it was game on. I always start by thinking of food that myself and my readers love; usually of the unhealthy, indulgent but incredibly yummy variety. I then experiment with an abundance of healthy ingredients I have on hand and usually (not always) come to some sort of concoction that I’m happy with.
People might be sceptical that the recipes are healthy; after all, chocolate is sometimes viewed as a treat. What makes these recipes different and healthy?
I agree 100 percent. This is one of the main reasons I started my blog, is to help people understand “you can still have your cake and it it too”, so to speak. It’s all about the quality of ingredients. In a store bought chocolate cake you have refined flours, butter, oils, bucket loads of sugars, milk, added preservatives, thickeners, additives, and sweeteners with names we can’t even pronounce. My recipes contain carefully selected ingredients and use the finest quality whole foods, super foods, and sugar substitutes from natural sources. So with each mouthful you are sure to be nourishing your body rather than harming it.
The book has had a very positive response from A Conscious Collection readers and instagram followers. Why do you think this is?
The response has been incredibly overwhelming and I think a huge part of its success is quality photos; people love good visuals. The recipes are pretty straightforward and require minimal ingredients making them easy and obtainable for people that may not be a masterchef in the kitchen.
What’s next for you?
Publishing a print cook book…one day. Until then, I have some pretty exciting things I’m working on so stay tuned.
For more information and recipes from Brooke at A Conscious Collection and to buy Chocoholics visit www.aconsciouscollection.com
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