Anti-cortisol Lemon No-bake Bites Recipe Review

Read my review of no-bake lemon cortisol cups by Domenique Trupia.  Bite-sized anti-cortisol, allergy-friendly, lemon curd & coconut cream bites.

Mini Lemon Almond No-bake Bites

A Recipe Review Of Domenique Trupia’s Cortisol Cups

Extra close, horizontal image with soft bright lighting and feel, of mini lemon coconut no-bake bites.

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Close image with white, yellow and pink colours, of 3 mini lemon coconut no-bakes bites, with gold fork above coming down.

What Am I Reviewing?

Today I am reviewing a no-bake sweet treat by Domenique Trupia. Domenique is a Functional Medicine Practitioner, Holistic Nutritionist & Physician Assistant, “…with over 15 years of experience helping people heal through food and lifestyle“¹

The recipe is little bite-sized lemon delights, made from ground almonds (almond flour), almond butter, lemon curd & coconut milk. Formed in a mini-muffin tray, these are also allergen-free & cortisol mini delights.

Overhead shot of a open jar of homemad elemon curd, with another jar to the back, lid, lemon and lime slices and yellow coloured flower.

Reviewing The Recipe Process

Ok let’s get down the nitty gritty. The recipe process, how easy it is, and how well the instructions are written.

The Ingredients

We have only 7 ingredients, unless you want to make the lemon curd middle layer. To make your own check out my lemon curd recipe.

You can find all the ingredient amounts on Domenique’s recipe, but basically a no-bake base layer from ground almond (almond flour), almond butter, honey/maple syrup & salt. The middle lemon layer is topped with whipped coconut cream, made from the cream of coconut milk.

Overhead image of pink rose gold Wilton 24-hole mini muffin tin with paper liners and lemon curd layer.

The Equipment

Not really any equipment needed for this recipe. For the 24 mini bite-sized treats, you want to use a mini muffin tin.

I used this 24-hole rose gold Wiltshire brand that I like, (as shown in the photo).

However, the recipe does state you can use other dishes like little ramekins. And as recommend, use paper liners. I used little petit four paper liners in the mini muffin tin. These really help as they are best frozen/chilled.

If you want to make the lemon curd, you will need some more equipment. All details found in my lemon curd recipe.

4 image collage of making gluten-free base layer for mini anti-cortesol cups.

Ease Of Preparing The Recipe

The recipe was really easy to prepare. Beginners and even kids could do this easily.

How Were The Instructions?

The instructions are pretty straight forward, with just mixing. No process images, but it is very simple & just a case of assembling 3 layers

No time for how long to whip the coconut milk was given and I had never made coconut cream before. I did think it would firm up a bit more with some medium-to-soft peaks. But I only got soft peaks even after a lot of time, as well as making sure cold, including the mixing bowl.

No mention of how long to chill the assembled mini lemon cups either. After seeing the cream not firm up much even after chilling it, I decided to freeze each layer on assembly. You could chill but I froze just to be quicker.

4 image collage of adding lemon curd layer for mini anti-cortesol cups.

With exception of the almond base, I suspected the other layers would not be as firm.

Once all assembled, I kept them frozen too, and left a few minutes before eating.

Ingredient Amounts

Point to note too, I did not have enough lemon curd. 1/3 – 1/2 cup of lemon curd was recommended. But 1/2 cup only covered 13 bases. 1-2 tsp were to be used and I just used 1 tsp. I ended up needing extra lemon curd, making a total of 185g/6.5 oz, or about 3/4 cup.

*****On rechecking the recipe on writing the review, I realised I made an error and read 1/2 tsp of mixture for the almond base, but was 1/2 tbsp! Explains why there was not enough lemon curd. However, I got a full 24 mini bites, just the exact amount for a mini muffin tin.

Extra close image of mini lemon coconut cream no-bake bites, with gold fork coming down from female hand above.

Taste Test

How Did They Taste? They were really nice. If you like lemon curd, the almond base and the coconut cream, pairs really nicely with it.

The almond no-bake base is very nice too and a tasty alternative to regular cheesecake biscuit bases. All who tasted them in my house, enjoyed them.

Would I Make Them Again?

I would make these again, yes. Might try making them a little bigger. Maybe in a cupcake tray with liners next time and make less.

The only down-side to these is that they need to be kept cold for the coconut cream layer. I kept in the freezer as I had space, so not sure how they hold up in the fridge. If they might need to be in the fridge for a certain amount of time. The very cold coconut cream is nice but and makes it less messy to eat.

Close image of 3 mini no-bake lemon curd coconut cream bites, with gold fork above about to be eaten.

They are also better for you than ready-make snacks. Called No Bake Lemon Cortisol Cups, the almond butter & flour is high in magnesium, which has an inverse relationship with cortisol, helps to lower cortisol levels & stress. As well as containing healthy fats. Vitamin C in the lemon curd also help regulate cortisol levels, and the coconut milk reduces the need for inflammatory refined sugars.

Suggested Alterations

As mentioned above, I froze each layer on assembly for about 15 minutes. You could use the fridge instead for about 30 minutes. The final chilling once assembled, I had frozen for least 30 minutes.

Soft lemon, white and pink image, with mini lemon coconut cream bite, lemon wedges and plates.

That would be about 45+ minutes fridge time. And from frozen, I left no more than 5 minutes before eating.

And for 1 tsp of the lemon curd for each mini bite, I needed 3/4 cup (318g) of lemon curd.

I also added the fresh lemon zest and tiny lemon pieces, about 5 minutes after freezing.

My Overall Rating

Taking all the comments from above into consideration, the ease to make and the overall taste of these lemon bites, I would give the recipe a 8.5/10

Conversions

Take a note of these conversions if you don’t use cups to measure the ingredients, then head over to the recipe.

Almond Butter – 128g/4.5 oz
Ground Almonds – 25g/0.88 oz
Lemon Curd – 106g – 159g/3.75-5.5 oz*
Tin of Coconut Milk – 400ml/400g/14 oz

*Note I needed 185g/6.5 oz lemon curd to top 24 mini bites, with 1 tsp of curd on each.

Go To The Recipe

Go to Domenique’s recipe for No Bake Lemon Cortisol Cups

Other Allergy-free Recipes By Domenique Trupia

Try some more no-bake recipes like Domenique’s No Bake Chocolate Protein Cheesecake Bites (Dairy-free). Or how about No Bake Protein bars, Gluten & Dairy-free?

Some Of My Allergy-Free Recipes

I have gluten-free, lower fat ad lower calories recipes.

Here are a few examples of the gluten-free recipes. My popular air-fryer British scones, using gluten-free flour.

The Gluten-free chocolate Swiss roll cake. Or my flour-free chocolate orange vertical Swiss roll cake.

Try the low fat, lower calorie chocolate courgette (zucchini) cake squares.

Or my gluten-free carrot bundt cake recipes.

And finally my gluten-free Victoria Sandwich layered bundt cake, baked in the air fryer, (as show here in the image).

More No-Bake & Summer Recipes

Want some more recipes suitable for the Summer months? Some no-bake sweet treats, and some air fryer recipes, where you can save yourself the heat of using a regular oven as well as lower energy cost too!

Close front angled shot of plate with Genoise sponge cake with cream, strawberries, grapes & mango on top.

3 photo collage of pink coloured cheats strawberry mousse in large size and in ramekins with fresh berries.

Horizontal image of partial round plate of small puff pastry cups filled with cream and berries.

Horizontal image at 45 degrees of 3 bright citrus iced tea in glasses, with lots of ice, orange, lemon and lime slices, rosemary garnish and lots of sunny shadows.

Got to my air fryer recipes, like this air fryer Genoise fruit & cream cake (as shown above). Or try some cheats strawberry mousse for a no-bake light dessert.