Leila's Sandwich Cookies

These tasty and adorable cookies came from a wonderful partnership between my sweet seven-year-old daughter and myself. She dreamed up the kind of cookie she wanted to make, and together we brainstormed about what the recipe should include. We set aside time for a "Mommy date" on the weekend to work on them, and all week the anticipation was killing her. When the time finally came, we had such a good time working on this project together. ("Mommy dates" are important to me and my daughters, since they don't get a lot of quality time with me due to their brother's special needs.)  So, not only are the cookies in the shape of a heart - by her request, of course! - but they really do come from the heart. There's a lot of love in this recipe. Happily, they turned out pretty amazing on our first try. Must have been that extra love we threw in!

The cookie ended up being a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread, with a delicate texture and almond flavor. After the dough spent an hour in the fridge, we were able to roll them out and cut them into shapes. We used plenty of tapioca flour to keep the dough from sticking to everything. They were not difficult to make and are very allergen-friendly...not to mention grain-free and refined sugar-free! (Okay, for all you detail-oriented people out there, the recipe is: grain free, wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free, and ALMOST nut-free - just substitute the almond extract with vanilla or coconut extract and it's completely nut free.) You can fill them with anything you like. I happened to have some homemade raspberry jam on hand, but you could fill them with just about any kind of preserves, frosting, or sweetened nut- or seed-butter spread.

Leila's Sandwich Cookies

1 1/2 tablespoons ground chia seeds (preferably white, but black work too)
3 tablespoons water
1 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup shortening or butter (we use Spectrum shortening)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon alcohol-free almond extract (replace with more vanilla extract, or coconut, if you are avoiding nuts)
8 drops Vanilla Creme Stevia

1. Mix the chia seeds plus 3 tablespoons water together and set aside. (This is your egg replacer.)
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, salt, baking soda and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and the honey. Add vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), stevia, and chia mixture.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix until well combined.
5. Form the dough into a patty, wrap in parchment paper, and refridgerate at least one hour or until firm.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dust your counter and your rolling pin with tapioca flour (arrowroot would probably work just as well).
7. Roll dough fairly thin - ours was only about 1/4 inch thick.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes or until edges begin to turn golden brown.
9. Let the cookies cool for ten minutes or so, then spread with the filling of your choice.

Enjoy (and don't forget to throw in the extra LOVE, baby)!!!

Linking up to Allergy Free Wednesdays

Moist & Rich Nut Butter Brownies (or Cookies)

**edited to add: when I first posted this recipe I neglected to include the coconut flour in the ingredients! I've added it now and I hope no one runs off and bakes this recipe without that little bit of coconut flour!**

I interrupt these healthy messages to bring you something decadent. Something moist, rich, and dark. Something that manages to be full of flavor, but not full of refined sugar or grains. And, of course, it's gluten free, dairy free, egg free, grain free, corn free, and soy free.

In fact, what I bring to you today is a recipe that is so versatile it will make cookies OR brownies...your choice! The first time I made this recipe, I used creamy almond butter as my nut butter of choice, and made cookies. The cookies were extremely moist and cake-like, and I thought...hey! These would make great brownies! The second time I made the recipe, I used chunky peanut butter instead. The brownies were still moist, but had a lovely added texture of crunchy peanut bits. This recipe would work just as well with Sunbutter or another nut butter, I'm sure. I found the almond butter was mild enough it took a "back seat" to the flavors of the cocoa, molasses, and banana...but the peanut butter held its own and made it more of a Peanut Butter Brownie.  Also, I made these without chocolate chips, because I didn't have any on hand, and trust me - they were plenty decadent. However, chocolate chips would be a lovely addition that would really put these over the top! This is about the simplest brownie recipe ever. So - experiment - have fun with this - and let me know what you think!

***Disclaimer: Many of you know I have been on a weight loss journey. I went a few months with NO sugar/sweeteners of any kind, before I started to allow myself to have treats in VERY small doses again. I have to be constantly vigilant with myself to not over-do things, because I have a killer sweet tooth. What I am learning is that IN MODERATION, it's okay to have a treat every once in a while. But now that I am more aware of the addictive qualities of sugar and other sweeteners - not to mention the impact on my general health and well-being - I am very intentional about limiting myself. I'm not always perfect at this...in fact, I've had a migraine for a few days now thanks to these brownies, because I do NOT do chocolate well (always seem to conveniently forget that fact, until a migraine reminds me). So, even though these brownies are relatively "healthy" compared to a lot of other options out there, they are still a treat to be enjoyed in moderation if you tolerate chocolate. But if you are on a weight loss journey yourself, it's perhaps best to skip these until you feel you can trust yourself again.***

Nut Butter Brownies

grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free, soy-free

1/2 cup dark cocoa
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if you are using peanut butter w/ salt in it)
1 cup almond butter/peanut butter/nut butter of choice
2 small mashed bananas
3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional) (I recommend Enjoy Life brand for allergies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Mash bananas and add nut butter and molasses to them...then add wet ingredients to dry and mix well (add chocolate chips if you are using). Batter will be very thick. For cookies, place rounded spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and gently press down with fingertips, then bake for 10-12 minutes. For brownies, spread into a 9"x9" pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

The first time I made these, I used creamy almond butter and made them into moist, delicious cookies. Yum!

Linking up to Allergy Free Wednesdays!

Healthy, Allergy-Friendly Cooking - you CAN do it!

I made this for Easter - the Raw Cashew Raspberry Dreamcake from My New Roots (although I used strawberries) - it was my first non-dairy cheesecake-making experience and it turned out pretty good!

There has been so much going on in my life lately, I hardly know where to begin. There has been much cooking and very little picture-taking of said cooking. There have been many trials (and a few failed attempts) as I attempt to master healthy, allergen-free baking. There have been new recipes tried...and enjoyed (though some more than others)...and new recipes created. But I don't have photos for you yet or anything written down, mostly because I've been  experiencing a weird phenomena recently that is new to me: people have actually been making my recipes.

I'll stop for a moment to let that sink in. Oh, we're not talking LOTS of people...but a few people have ventured outside their comfort zone and taken a chance on one of MY recipes. This both encourages me and scares me. It encourages me to keep on cooking, experimenting, photographing, writing. It scares the heck outta me because I don't want to put just any ol' recipe on this blog...I only want the GOOD ones. Nay, even the GREAT ones. So I can't tell you how many recipes I've created in the last few weeks that still need tweaking before they are good enough for you.

I made these Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies as a treat for the kids a couple of weeks ago - they were flour-less, full of protein, free of refined sugar, and delicious!

The thing I would say to anyone who is new to any kind of cooking, but particularly of the newly-healthy variety, is: DON'T BE AFRAID TO MAKE MISTAKES. So you don't know exactly how to cook that crazy-looking vegetable you bought on a whim or that came from your CSA. Just TRY. (Roasting almost always works!) Be prepared to make mistakes, because that's how you learn. I am trying to believe this as I write it, because it's not easy stuff for a perfectionist. But this whole world of healthy cooking...and especially gluten-free, vegan, corn-free, soy-free, refined sugar-free baking...is so new to me that it would just be weird if I knew how to do everything perfectly, right out of the gate. And there's a big learning curve.


But there's also a big payoff: health. I had to remind myself of the payoff just the other day as I spent a Really Long Time making homemade gluten-free, yeast-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, corn-free cinnamon rolls for our Easter breakfast. I found myself remembering fondly the days that on a special holiday I would just pop open a can of those pre-made, refridgerated cinnamon rolls, plop them into a pan, bake them and then pretend I had slaved for hours over them. I shared out loud my happy memory of those days with my husband, who thankfully offered a different perspective: "Yes, but it turns out, those were KILLING us!" Perhaps a little melodramatic, but still a lot of truth to it. Our diet before six months ago was full of that garbage that was at the very least making us sick, chunky, and miserable, if not also slowly killing us.

We had these Yeast-Free, Vegan Cinnamon Rolls for our Easter breakfast - seriously yummy! (and easy on my tummy!)

So this Easter weekend, things were a little different. Here's an example of what our Easter meals used to look like:

- Ham (full of nitrates and nitrites, which are nasty preservatives, and who knows what else)
- egg/bread/sausage/cheese casserole
- cinnamon rolls (from a can)
- cheesy hash brown casserole
- perhaps that green bean casserole (gotta have a veggie, right?)
- coconut cake/cupcakes
- bottled sparkling cider

And this year's menu:

- Fresh, organic Herb Turkey
- Huge organic green salad with home made balsamic vinaigrette dressing
- Roasted organic asparagus
- Mashed sweet potatoes (mashed with coconut milk)
- Raw Lemon Tart (to die for)
- Raw Strawberry Dreamcake
- Sparkling strawberry punch (made with pureed strawberries, agave, and sparkling water)

And ya know what? Other than that moment of weakness where I really missed the convenience of the refridgerated, canned variety of cinnamon rolls...I didn't miss a thing from last year's menu. Really, truly. It's totally possible to re-train your taste buds (and that of your family.) to fall in love with green, healthy, and fresh. And this meal didn't make me feel terrible...it made me feel great. That is really rewarding and makes all the extra effort worth it!

This Raw Lemon Tart was a BIG hit at our Easter dinner!

Special Blueberry Sauce

my Blueberry Sauce over Lexie's Saturday Pancakes

It's become tradition on birthdays around here to serve pancakes with my special Blueberry Sauce for breakfast. This week was my son's birthday, and pancakes are one of the few foods that are soft enough for him to eat without them being pureed first. So he LOVES pancakes and feels like such a big boy eating them! I decided to try the Saturday Pancakes from Lexie's Kitchen (my new favorite blog/recipe site, by the way!). It was one of those times where I didn't have some of the ingredients her recipe called for, so I substituted, and substituted some more...and they were STILL awesome!

(I'm hoping to try them again EXACTLY the way her recipe is written...I just need to buy some Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour or make my own AP flour based on Lexie's recipe. My only concern is that I've noticed lately that beans are hard for me to digest, and Bob's AP GF flour is partially comprised of two bean flours, so...we'll see how that goes. But it's worth a shot! I used a combination of GF oat flour and a little coconut flour as a substitute. It was a lovely flavor but I think I could get them even lighter and fluffier with a different flour - oat flour can be heavy.)

Anyway, this blueberry sauce is livened up with fresh orange juice and orange zest, a hint of cinnamon and a bit of agave to sweeten. That's it! Pretty simple but oh-so-delish. This is awesome on pancakes or waffles, but would also be amazing on ice cream or yogurt.

Special Blueberry Sauce

4 cups frozen blueberries*

1 tablespoon arrowroot starch

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. orange zest (lemon zest works too!)

Juice of one large orange (about ½ cup orange juice)

1-2 tablespoons agave nectar (can sweeten to taste, or use Stevia drops)

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and stir together. Heat blueberry mixture to boiling, stirring frequently. Reduce to simmer for about two minutes. (Simmer a little longer if you prefer a thicker sauce.)

Serve warm over pancakes or waffles…also delicious over yogurt, ice cream, or vegan cheesecake. Enjoy! J

*Note: This sauce works fine with fresh blueberries, but they do break down a lot faster and there aren’t many whole blueberries by the end. If you use fresh, follow the directions above but throw in another handful or two of blueberries at almost the very end, that way you’ll still have some whole berries in your sauce.

Rosewater Cardamom Cupcakes

Edible butterflies from Sugar Robot 

We need to have a moment of silence, because this is probably the last recipe in quite some time that I will be posting that contains refined sugar in it. Caleb and I are back on a strict no-sugar regime indefinitely. Actually, perhaps a shout of joy is more appropriate, because when I truly avoid sugar for a long period of time, I lose my food cravings. I lose those highs and lows that come from having sugar in my system. Best of all, I lose the emotional crashes that come along with it...I've learned that I easily feel depressed and anxious when I've been eating sugar.

Wow, with an endorsement like that, no one's going to WANT to try this next recipe!  Yikes.

For those that are still reading...I made these delicious cupcakes for my birthday party last weekend (yes, I threw my own birthday party...eh, it's a long story!) and have had several people ask for the recipe. So here ya go!

It took several tries to get this recipe just right, primarily because both cardamom and rosewater pack a BIG punch. Use a light hand with the rosewater!

Rosewater Cardamom Cupcakes

free of gluten, wheat, yeast, dairy, eggs, corn, soy, nuts

2 cups gluten-free oat flour

¾  cup organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup coconut flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. fine sea salt

¼ tsp. cardamom

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2-3 drops rosewater (no more than 1/8 tsp)

1 cup vanilla coconut milk

_______________________________________

Frosting:

½ cup Spectrum shortening

2 cups organic powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2-3 drops rosewater

2 Tb. Coconut milk (add more if you want lighter frosting, less if you want it thick and dense)

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Cute ones only, please! J

2.       Mix oat flour, sugar, coconut flour, baking soda, salt, and cardamom together in one bowl with a whisk.

3.       Mix oil, vinegar, and rosewater together in another bowl.

4.       Add oil mixture and coconut milk to the dry ingredients and blend well.

5.       Pour into lined muffin tins, fill about halfway full. I use an ice cream scoop for this…it is the most amazing tool for cupcake & muffin batter…I don’t know what I did without it!

6.       Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the top springs back to the touch.

7.       Let them cool in the pan for a minute or two, then transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

8.       To make the frosting: soften the shortening a bit first if necessary. Cream the shortening in the mixer, than add powdered sugar, vanilla, rosewater, and milk. Here’s where I do some tasting and testing as I go…some days it needs more milk, some days more powdered sugar. **Note: Rosewater is POTENT STUFF. I can’t tell you how many times I made this recipe with too much rosewater. A little goes a long way. When it’s just the right amount, you get a delicate, flowery flavor that is so unique.  

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Leila's Vanilla Cupcakes

these adorable sugar butterflies are courtesy of Sugar Robot

I've tried a few different recipes for vanilla cupcakes, but I liked these the best. This is loosely based on a chocolate cupcakes recipe in my Sophie-Safe Cooking book that I've modified to make into vanilla.

Leila’s Vanilla Cupcakes

  free of gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, corn, soy

CUPCAKES:

2 cups gluten-free oat flour

1 cup organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)

¼ cup coconut flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. fine sea salt

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup vanilla coconut milk

FROSTING:

½ cup Spectrum shortening

2 cups organic powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 Tb. Coconut milk (add more if you want lighter frosting, less if you want it thick and dense)

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Cute ones only, please! J

2.       Mix oat flour, sugar, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt together in one bowl with a whisk.

3.       Mix oil, vinegar, and vanilla together in another bowl.

4.       Add oil mixture and coconut milk to the dry ingredients and blend well.

5.       Pour into lined muffin tins, fill about halfway full. I use an ice cream scoop for this…it is the most amazing tool for cupcake & muffin batter…I don’t know what I did without it!

6.       Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the top springs back to the touch.

7.       Let them cool in the pan for a minute or two, then transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

8.       To make the frosting: soften the shortening a bit first if necessary. Cream the shortening in the mixer, than add powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Here’s where I do some tasting and testing as I go…some days it needs more milk, some days more powdered sugar. My daughter LOVES vanilla, so for her, I used vanilla coconut milk in addition to the vanilla extract so she could get that really obvious VANILLA flavor. Play with the frosting recipe and suit it to your liking. You can’t really mess this up. Just make sure it gets really well blended and there are no chunks or lumps of shortening or sugar.

**Frosting cupcakes tip: a good old butter knife or spatula works fine. But to step it up a notch, I use a ziplock bag with the tip of the corner cut off. I insert a Wilton pastry tip (1M), fill the bag halfway or so with frosting, and decorate away. It adds that sort of professional finish.

Peanut Butter Truffles

These make great gifts! I packaged these as a gift for someone by using a cute patterned box in the shape of Chinese takeout containers…line with parchment paper, put in a few truffles, tie with baker’s twine. Sweet and simple.

Peanut butter truffles get along nicely with coconut almond truffles...but that's for another post!

Peanut Butter Truffles
gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, egg free, corn free, soy free

Filling:

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1 cup organic powdered sugar

½ tsp. GF bourbon vanilla

Coating:

1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1.       Mix filling ingredients. I actually used my hands for this as it was much easier than a spoon. Nobody will blame you if you have to lick your fingers when you’re done mixing!

2.       Use a small scoop (mine is a melon- baller, about 1 ½ inches across) to scoop filling onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

3.       Cover with tin foil and place baking sheet in freezer for 20 minutes.

4.       Pull out the baking sheet and roll the scooped filling by hand into smooth little balls. When this is done, put them back in the freezer for at least another 20 minutes (although I found that freezing them a few hours or overnight was even better!).

5.       Use a double boiler to melt the chocolate chips. If you are like me and don’t own a double boiler, you can create one by boiling a small amount of water in a saucepan on the stove. Once the water comes to a boil, set a heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan (the rim of the bowl should be wider than the rim of the pan, and the boiling water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). Put the chocolate chips in the bowl and stir them constantly until they melt. (Note: Don’t walk away during this process because it’s easy to have the chocolate seize up on you. That is hard to recover from. If it happens you can add some milk and stir like crazy until it gets glossy and smooth again. This will save you from having to dump out the chocolate – but your truffle coating will be a bit softer. I don’t mind this, because chocolate is chocolate, but you might.)

6.       Drop in one of the frozen peanut butter balls. Roll it around with a spoon until evenly coated. Then deposit it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. At this point, I like to put sprinkles on top (I use the all-natural, organic ones, colored with things like beet juice.) But you could also sprinkle chopped nuts on top or whatever your little heart desires. Put the baking sheet into the fridge or freezer until firm. (This won’t take long, so hold on – you’ll your first truffle in mere moments!)

7.       EAT. LICK FINGERS. REPEAT. (Or not. These are extremely rich and dangerous for me, I can really only handle one. And even that’s a bit much, since I don’t tolerate chocolate very well. But sometimes a girl’s just gotta have chocolate.)