Grain-free mocha brownie

Breakfast of champions. And 3rd trimester pregnant ladies, apparently. No apologies here, though. It was immensely delicious.

3 Tbsp ground flax seed
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 egg whites (or one full egg, I just had leftover whites from making eggnog)
1 Tbsp honey
1.5 Tbsp oil
1 tsp instant (organic & water-process decaf) coffee
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

Mix everything together (dissolving the the instant coffee in the oil and/or egg whites would be a good idea...)

I have a little pyrex 5.5x7.5in dish that is perfect for a personal sized brownie. Just pour it in the dish and microwave for 2 minutes.

It was a bit dry, so I topped it with chocolate frosting (a dollop of palm shortening + dollop of honey + scoop of cocoa powder and drizzle of alcohol-free vanilla extract).

Heaven.

100% from scratch Chebe brand style tapioca bread recipe

My friends, I am excited. I finally "reverse engineered" the Chebe tapioca bread mixes. I think I could even make an egg-free version. Joy! It can be kneaded, rolled out, and even twisted into a pretzel. Tonight, I divided the dough into four balls, then rolled them out, topped with pepperoni and rolled back up. I used olive oil to seal the edges. Homemade marinara on the side for dipping, makes this the perfect grain-free alternative to an old school craving.

Homemade tapioca bread

1 C tapioca starch
~1/2 tsp baking soda
~1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp water or milk sub
1 egg

In a saucepan, mix 1/3 C tapioca starch + 5 tbsp water/milk sub + 1 tbsp olive oil. After it is well-mixed, heat on low, stirring continuously until mixture congeals, into a pasty, thick goo. Do not over heat! Set aside and allow to cool.

In a bowl, mix 2/3 C tapioca starch, baking soda & sea salt with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 egg. Add the cooled tapioca gel and knead thoroughly.

At this point you can shape however you want. Pizza crust, buns, pretzels, whatever. I brush the tops of whatever I'm making with olive oil. Bake @ 375*F until crispy to the touch. (For my pepperoni rolls, that was 20 minutes.)

I think the egg could be omitted, with just a bit more water/milk sub & oil. I'll try soon enough. If Lily and Aevryn could have pretzels, I think I might win Mom of the Year in their minds. :)

Grain-free holiday treats

Thumbprint Cookies (contains almond flour - I'm still figuring out an appropriate sub for us)

St. Lucia buns

peppermint bark (this particular recipe has white chocolate and cream. I'm considering doing all dark chocolate and coconut milk. I bet it would work out well.)

Blizzard Biscotti

I was craving something chocolatey, but didn't have much in the house due to a lovely, cold & windy blizzard.

2 C dried cranberries, sweetened (just cane sugar)
1/4 C palm shortening
2 eggs
1 C potato starch (not flour)
1/4 C cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt

I blended the ingredients in that order in my food processor. It is a goopy, thick mess, that tastes a lot like frosting. Or like the filling between layers on a fancy cake.

I poured it out and mushed it down with my hands onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. 350*F for 20-30 minutes. Allow to cool BEFORE slicing. Arrange slices on the parchment paper and bake again for another 30 or so minutes.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Flour Cookies

Can you tell Halloween sparked a sweet tooth? And it's my birthday on Wednesday... Uh oh.

To tide us over a few days until a legitimate reason for more sweets, I made these:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Flour Cookies

1/4 C coconut flour, sifted
1/4 C cocoa powder, sifted (not strictly necessary, but I had the sifter out, so I just threw it in with the coconut flour)
1/2 C peanut butter (or almond butter, or sunflower seed butter, etc)
1/4 C palm shortening
1/2 C brown sugar (or honey or maple syrup)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt

Mix peanut butter, shortening, sugar, eggs, vanilla & salt. Mix in cocoa powder & coconut flour. Scoop up with a tablespoon (actual measuring spoon) and roll into a ball in in your hands. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten, criss-crossed, with tines of fork.

Bake at 375*F for 12-15min. Try to let them cool enough so you at least don't burn the roof of your mouth...

Makes ~20 cookies.

(Banana-Key Lime) Goat Cheesecake

I'll just put this here, so I don't lose it again.

Here is the original recipe:

Preheat oven to 350

For the crust

½ tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

Combine and press in the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pan (or 8x8x2) refrigerate until filling is ready

Filling

2 cups of soft fresh goat cheese
(or 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese)
3 eggs
¾ cup sugar
¾ tsp vanilla

Beat until smooth and creamy

Pour it into the crust

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until firm

My substitutions: instead of a graham cracker crust, I tried coconut flour + arrowroot + brown sugar + palm shortening.

My additions: sliced bananas over the "crust layer", juice & zest from one key lime.

And I only had 4oz of goat cheese, so I had to make a quarter-batch. It's in the oven now. Eagerly anticipating...

Banana Blueberry Coconut Flour Muffins

Divine. Simply divine.

Banana Blueberry Coconut Flour Muffins

1/2 C coconut flour *sifted*
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C mashed banana (~1 med)
1/2 C palm shortening (or coconut oil, grass-fed butter, grapeseed oil, etc)
3 eggs
1 tbsp GF vanilla extract
1 C blueberries (frozen okay)

* Preheat oven to 350*F

* Sift your coconut flour. Do it. Don't skip this step. If you don't have a sifter or a fine mesh strainer, stop what you're doing and go get one. Borrow one if you have to. It makes that big of a difference.

* Stir in baking soda & sea salt. Set aside.

* In a stand mixer or with a hand whisk, combine eggs, bananas, oil & vanilla. Mix until well blended. I tend to mix my eggs well first and then add in the other wet ingredients, as this helps reduce the random strings of egg white you sometimes find in poorly mixed baked goods (especially grain-free goodies with high egg counts).

* Pour dry into wet ingredients and mix well until smooth.

* Fold in blueberries.

* Spoon into greased or lined muffin tins. I like silicon liners, and often just use them stand-alone on a baking sheet.

* Bake at 350*F for 25-30 minutes. They will start to brown and feel a bit firm.

* When I made these, I made a mix of mini & normal-sized muffins. The regular ones turned out much better than the mini ones. I think I may have overfilled the mini muffin pans so they were too dense. The regular ones were amazing. Either way, only fill the muffin cups half-way, no matter the size. It was late and I was being lazy and wanting to get it all baked at once and I think that wasn't the smartest choice. Learn from my mistakes!