Dark Cocoa Almond Date Snacks

These are the perfect little snack. Or dessert. Made with all natural ingredients and no added sugar, you won’t feel guilty about serving these up. (Or eating them up) Kid approved and hubby approved = win for me. 

As I made this recipe up, I just used what I like. If you don’t like almonds, try another nut. Don’t have coconut butter? Try a nut butter or leave it out. (I made my coconut butter, just by processing unsweetened organic coconut) I think my next try might involve cashews. Dried cranberries or blueberries would be great too, I bet.

 These take about 5 minutes – everything just goes into the food processor – a great treat for days like today, when Manitoba decides to skip spring and go right to summer. No turning on the oven today, but that’s ok because I’ve got these.

Dark Cocoa Almond Date Snacks

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Yield:about 20

Ingredients:

• 150g dates (about a cup)
• 150g almonds (about a cup)
• ¼ cup unsweetened coconut
• 2 tablespoons dark cocoa
• 2 tablespoons coconut butter
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients to food processor and blend up until evenly combined.
2. Add water, a tablespoon at a time until mixture sticks together (I used 2 tablespoons).
3. Scoop out and form into balls, pressing together, then arrange on a plate or pan.
4. Refrigerate until firm, and then serve.

Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Being gluten free doesn't mean we can't enjoy cookies...  Yummy dark chocolate cookies...

Warm from the oven...

With home made caramel sauce drizzled on top...

And a delicate sprinkle of sea salt...

Grab your gluten free flour mix and get baking so you can have some too :)

Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Yield:14 1 ½ tbsp. sized cookies, or 19 1 tbsp. sized cookie

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (115g) butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup organic coconut palm sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 105g (¾ cup) gluten free flour blend
• 30 grams (1/4 cup) dark cocoa
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ tsp xanthan gum, if your gluten free flour does not include it

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
2. Cream together butter and sugar. (I use a Kitchen Aid mixer. This makes a really sticky tough dough that might be difficult to mix by hand.
3. Add egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
4. In a separate bowl sift together gluten free flour, dark cocoa, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum if using. Mix to combine about 1-2 minutes until dough is combined. It will be sticky and a bit glossy.
5. Scoop dough and place on cookie sheet. Flatten with your hands or a small measuring cup (coat your hands with a bit of oil if they stick.
6. Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes. Cool on rack..
7. Drizzle with Caramel Sauce if desired. Find that recipe by clicking here

I sprinkled mine with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

Caramel Sauce

So this isn't a recipe that I've had to modify to make gluten free, it just is gluten free.  Yay! I'm sharing it for reference because I have a dark chocolate cookie recipe coming up that I use this on.

What do you like caramel sauce on top of?

Caramel Sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield:about ½ cup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup organic coconut palm sugar
• 1/4 c heavy cream (35%, whipping cream)
• 2 tbsp (30g) butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

Instructions:

1. In a small pan, mix together coconut sugar, cream, butter and salt over medium heat.
2. Once it's at a simmer (small bubbles) heat for about 5 minutes while gently whisking.
3. Add vanilla, remove from heat.
4. Let cool then refrigerate until needed.

NOTE: You can substitute refined white sugar or brown sugar for the coconut sugar if you prefer.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

I've been trying to get back to healthy eating (which for me right now is no grains, no sugar) since I got back from San Francisco.  It's been tough.  Once I break the habit it's hard for me to get back to it.  But nothing convinces me better than a fresh smoothie.

Here is a delicious strawberry banana smoothie, with no added sugar, and no dairy. I love it and my kids love it too.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Simple Smoothie

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Yield:1 mason jar

Ingredients:

• 4 strawberries, trimmed
• 10-12, 1/2 inch slices of frozen banana
• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (I used Almond Coconut Almond Breeze)
• 1/2 cup crushed ice (approx 3-4 large cubes)

Instructions:

1. Add milk to blender, followed by ice and then fruit. Blend until smooth. Adjust liquid amounts for your tastes. This makes a thicker smoothie, about the size of a mason jar.

Cake Inspiration

Just updating from earlier with some pictures. We had a great cake delivery today and I wanted to share these cakes here, even though they are not gluten free, for inspiration. I bake gluten free for my household, but for other people I bake regular cake, with wheat flour. I find inspiration all over, and I think I research food even more now that I am Celiac.  Hopefully these cakes can inspire someone to make gluten free versions too (or even keep it gluten-y if you can eat it :)

I missed pictures of three of the cakes because I didn't have my memory card in the camera - food blogger fail. So they are stuck in the camera for now.

The first cake is a chocolate three layer cake with a beautiful strawberry swiss meringue buttercream. This is such a pretty icing style for a large cake.

*note these are not gluten free cakes, but during my testing process I make them gluten free so I can taste some.  For this cake, I'd use a GF chocolate cake recipe but still use the strawberry SMB because it's so good. I hadn't had refined sugar for about two months before making and tasting this, and YUM.

This is a chocolate fudge cake, also three layers, with salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream inside and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream on the outside.  Love this icing style too.

And cheesecake..  This was a no bake samoa cheesecake.  I also made a lemon cheesecake, New York style cheesecake, and a peanut butter fudge cheesecake, some of which I tested myself with GF oreo style cookies by Kinnikinnick.

Ok back to gluten free for the next post, thanks for reading :)

Back at it

It's been a while.. I've been baking and cooking a lot, so recipes will be coming up. I have a cake delivery and then a busy weekend of dance recitals and hockey games, but I hope to get back to blogging next week.  See you then with a new recipe.