Grain-Free Chocolate Cake

Merry Christmas Eve! Here is a last-minute chocolate cake for you! It is based my recipe for chocolate cupcakes, so it’s also nut and dairy-free! I made this for my brother’s 16^th birthday yesterday and it was a HUGE hit! The cake is a bit denser than your average cake, but it is perfectly rich and chocolate-y. I frosted it with some lightly sweetened whipped cream and garnished it with berries, but you can frost it with this if you’re dairy-free. Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday!

Makes a one-layer 9½” cake.

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut flour

½ cup cacao powder

½ tsp baking soda

8 eggs

½ cup coconut oil

2/3 cup maple syrup or honey

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

For the whipped cream:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 Tbs maple syrup or honey

1 small pinch sea salt

Toppings:
Raspberries, chocolate shavings

Directions:

1.     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and liberally grease a 9½” cake pan (or springform pan).

2.     In a food processor, pulse together the coconut flour, cacao powder, and baking soda.

3.     Pulse in the eggs, coconut oil, and maple syrup.

4.     Stir in the chocolate chips.

5.     Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.

6.     Let the cake cool fully, before frosting.

7.     Using an electric mixer, whip together all of the whipped cream ingredients until a stiff peak forms.

8.     Frost the cake, and serve!

Paleo Gingerbread Lemon Thumbprint Cookies

A new invention has just been created: gingerbread cookies filled with a luscious lemon cream. They have a crispy, spicy cookie and a creamy, tangy filling; perfect for Christmas! And all holidays, really :). These cookies are insane. Really. And insanely easy to make. Just a few ingredients from your cupboard and… boom! You’ve got yourself some delicious dairy-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free cookies to be inhaled by your family! Below, at the bottom of the page, I have a few tips for you that will make these cookies even better. Enjoy, and happy Hanukkah, and merry Christmas!!!

Makes about 14 cookies. 

Ingredients:

For the lemon curd:

2 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks

6 Tbs (¼ cup plus 2 Tbs) fresh lemon juice, strained

2 Tbs fresh lemon zest

¼ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil

For the gingerbread cookie:

2 cups blanched almond flour

1 Tbs coconut flour

¼ tsp baking soda

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses

Directions:

For the lemon curd:

1.     In top of a double boiler, whisk (using a metal whisk) together all the lemon curd ingredients except for the coconut oil.

2.     Place the double boiler over high heat, and continue to whisk the mixture until it starts to thicken, about 8-10 minutes.

3.     Immediately remove it from the heat and whisk in the coconut oil until smooth and creamy.

4.     Spoon the curd into an airtight glass container and refrigerate while you make the cookies.

  For the gingerbread cookies:

1.     Preheat your oven to 350° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2.     In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together all the dry ingredients.

3.     Pulse in the wet ingredients and process until it forms a dough.

4.     Form the dough into 1 Tbs–sized balls and place on the baking sheet.

5.     Make a deep thumbprint in the dough balls, and note that they will spread a bit.

6.     Bake for 10 minutes, them let them cool fully. The cooling will make them crispy and cool so the curd doesn’t melt.

7.     Scoop a dollop of curd into each cookie and enjoy!

·      When making the curd, make sure to whisk the mixture the entire time, so the egg whites don’t clump.

·      The cookie dough will stay together if, when you’re forming the balls, you squeeze the dough. That way, the coconut oil can hold it together. Also, make the thumbprint pretty deep, because the cookies spread slightly when baked.

·      The cookies only need to bake for ten minutes. Though they may seem under done when they come out, once they cool, they will crisp up.

·      Scoop the lemon curd into the cookies right before you serve them. Store all the leftover curd in the fridge.

Paleo Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs

The air is becoming cool, crisp; the houses are lit up with Christmas merriment; the trees shine brightly through all the windows; cheery music is in the air. It’s time to bake cookies. Warm, crispy, salty-sweet Christmas cookies that can be devoured by your whole family by the cozy fireplace. That’s December to me, and these cookies really bring that vision to life.

Makes one dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

1½ cups blanched almond flour

2 Tbs coconut flour

1 large pinch sea salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

¼ cup pure maple syrup

Directions:

1.     Using an electric mixer or a large bowl and a spoon, mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.

2.     Stir in the vanilla, coconut oil, and syrup, and mix until thoroughly combined.

3.     Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

4.     With a rolling pin, roll the cookie dough out on a parchment paper-lined surface until it’s about 1/4 inch thick.

5.     Using your favorite, most adorable cookie cutters, cut out your dough, then place the shapes on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

6.     Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, then cool the cookies and serve.

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Peppermint Patties

It’s December, “The Most Wonderful Time Of the Year”! Yay! Time for my favorite treats ever. I have just returned from an incredible Thanksgiving trip to Mexico with my family and another awesome family, great friends of ours. I took a little break off baking over the vacation, but now I am back, and with lots of scrumptious goodies for all of you to devour this holiday season!

First up for this season is a refreshing and decadent peppermint pattie recipe. These cute little guys are super simple to make, super delicious, and sure to please all party hostesses greatly!

Makes about 16 peppermint patties.

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut manna/butter, melted*

½ coconut oil (not melted)

2 Tbs pure maple syrup

1-2¼ tsp peppermint extract**

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

 

1.     Place the melted coconut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup and peppermint extract in a medium mixing bowl and stir until smooth.

2.     Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

3.     Form the coconut mixture into balls (about 1" sized) with your hands, then flatten into patties with the palm of your hand.

4.     Place patties on a parchment paper-lined plate, then place in the freezer to harden for 30-60 minutes.

5.     While patties are freezing, melt your chocolate in a double boiler or a small saucepan over low heat.

6.     Place each frozen pattie on a spoon and dunk in the melted chocolate.

7.     Put each chocolate-covered pattie back on the lined plate, and freeze for at least 30 minutes. Remove patties from the freezer at least 5 minutes before eating, and enjoy!

*To melt your coconut manna, place the (tightly closed) jar in a bowl of hot water for 5-15 minutes, then stir and use.

**The amount of peppermint extract needed depends on the quality of the extract; the brand I used wasn’t strong, so I had to use a lot. If  your extract is strong, start with using just ½ a teaspoon, then add more to your liking.

Healthy Homemade Nutella

You may end up eating the whole jar of this homemade hazelnut chocolate butter. Yes, it's that good. It must be time for hazelnut-chocolate goodness because I was going to make a hazelnut chocolate torte. Then my oven broke. But I was holding hazelnuts in my hand. Then... BAM! It hit me: I needed to make Nutella! A homemade Nutella using nothing artificial and using only four ingredients; a treat that only takes five minutes to make.
The making was all going so perfectly until... I was only half way done grinding the hazelnuts, then my food processor went out! (Our house has been having electrical issues.) That explains why the Nutella in the picture looks so grainy. Well, it all tasted wonderful, anyways, and this is a fun and easy treat to make at home! The best part about it? You can eat it on everything!

Ingredients:

2 cups hazelnuts*
3/4-1 cup coconut milk (depending on desired richness of the Nutella)
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbs cacao powder

Directions:

1. Pulse the hazelnuts and 3/4 cup coconut milk in a food processor until it forms a hazelnut butter.
2. Pulse in the maple syrup and cacao powder, then, if desired, add more coconut milk.
3. Process until your Nutella forms a smooth and creamy consistency.  

*If you don't want any hazelnut skins in your Nutella, you can blanch them by roasting them, or you can just keep the skins, like I did. The hazelnuts I bought came roasted, so most of the skins were already off, so I recommend buying roasted hazelnuts. If yours have skins, this may help: How to Skin Hazelnuts

I store my homemade Nutella in a Mason jar in the fridge, then take it out 10 minutes before using it, for easy spreading.

Grain-Free Apple Pie

^{Apple pie? Seriously?! Apple pie was my favorite treat ever when I was a kid… or should I say right now; I’m only twelve, people! Anywho, this apple pie is DELICIOUS! The filling tastes all sweet and cinnamon apple-y, and the scrumptious crust has the texture of a giant sugar cookie, just not overly sweet.  I know what I'll be munching on all afternoon, (my mom says I should save some for the rest of the family, though...) and DEFINITELY be having for Thanksgiving dessert. Yum!}

^Ingredients:

For the crusts:

2 cups blanched almond flour

2 cups arrowroot powder/flour

½ tsp sea salt

6 Tbs (1/4 cup + 2 Tbs) coconut oil, melted

2 large eggs

4 tsp (1 Tbs + 1 tsp) honey

For the filling:

5 medium-sized apples

2 Tbs lemon juice (fresh-squeezed or Santa Cruise Organic)

¼ coconut oil, melted

2 Tbs ground cinnamon

¼ cup coconut sugar

1 Tbs coconut flour

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and position one rack on the 2^nd to upper level, and one on the middle level. To make the crust, whisk together the arrowroot powder, almond flour, and salt using a stand mixer.
 2. Place the oil, eggs, and honey into the flour mixture, and stir until the mixture resembles course crumbs.
 3. Knead the dough with your hands and squeeze it, until it forms a ball.
 4. Divide the dough in half, setting one half aside.
 5. Press one of the halves of dough into an 8½ or 9-inch pie pan, then place it in the fridge.
 6. To make the top crust, use the other half of the dough and form it into a ball and place it between two pieces of parchment paper.
7. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a flat disk, until it’s a little bit bigger than the size of your pie pan.
8. Set the rolled-out top crust aside, while you make the filling.
9. To make the apple filling, peel, core and thinly slice all your apples, one at a time.

10. As you cut your apple slices, add them to a large glass bowl and sprinkle them with a little lemon juice to prevent browning. 

11. Once you have sliced all the apples, pour out all the leftover lemon juice from the apple bowl, (make sure not to pour out the apples!) then toss the slices with the melted coconut oil, cinnamon, coconut sugar, and coconut flour, making sure to coat all slices.
12. Remove the bottom crust from the fridge and place all the coated apple slices inside it.
13. Carefully, place the top crust on top of that, and pinch all the edges to seal the top and bottom crusts. Now, using a sharp knife, make four small slits on the upper crust, for ventilation.
14. Place the pie in the oven on the 2^nd to upper rack, and bake for 35 minutes. 

15. Remove the pie from the oven, put a loose tent on it made of aluminum foil, then place it onto the middle rack and let it bake for 12 more minutes.

16. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for at least 1 hour before serving. Enjoy!