Orange and Nutmeg Spiced Amaretti Cookies {Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free}

These cookies are bomb. I have no eloquent intro for them. No poetic prose or fancy phrases. Nothing more needs to be said about these little guys except that they are awesome. They are mini sandwich cookies that are crispy on the outside, perfectly chewy on the inside and filled with a chocolate orange peel ganache. Sound fancy? Yup. Hard to make? Nope. All you need is a food processor, an oven and your regular baking supplies! These cookies have become a staple in my house over the past month, gracing the table at gatherings and filling cookie tins galore. Hopefully they become a favourite amongst your friends too!

Homemade Almond Paste {Paleo, Refined Sugar Free}

For those of you on the marzipan/almond paste bandwagon, this one is for you. The topic of this delicious treat may have bakers and baked-good-eaters alike to take sides, but I am all for it. For those of you marzipan haters, more for me! Almond paste is so versatile. You can stuff chocolates with it, make cookies, cakes, pies, tarts and you name it out of it. Almond paste differs from marzipan in a few ways. The paste contains no rosewater and has less powdered sugar than its firmer, whiter cousin, marzipan.  I made mine with a hint of rosewater however, since I think the flavour compliments the almonds and almond extract.

Making almond paste is super easy, requires very little time and has barely any cleanup! The best part is, you can control how much / what type of sugar goes into it. The paste keeps in the fridge for about a month and up to 6 months in the freezer, so long as you've wrapped it nicely. Use this paste in your next baking project and you'll never go back to buying it from the store!

Delicious Egg Nog {Paleo}

Egg Nog is an essential part of December, no questions asked. I don't drink much of it, but come December, I need a glass or two and a plate of crisp ginger cookies to get me in the holiday spirit. Throw in a touch of rum and a fireplace and you're set! Nog is easy to make, but if you take the time to hunt down some quality ingredients I promise it will be worth it! I used raw milk and and raw cream, which made it super thick, creamy and fresh. Whipping the egg whites makes it even more of a treat, as it lends a light fluffy texture to the thickness of the milk.  Almond milk helps cuts the denseness as well and adds a nutty flavour that compliments the nutmeg. Play around with the spices and sugars, as different levels and types of sweeteners will all yield equally delicious yet different results!

Pear Apple Cranberry Crisp Spiced with Nutmeg {Paleo, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free}

It's officially December. This has many different meanings for many different people, but for me, it means great company and even greater food. My oven is now on practically on at all hours of the day as I crank out cookie after cookie and all other types of sweet treats. Once in a while I do take the time to cook main courses too, although those images and recipes never quite make it to the final copy of these pages.

We had a few friends over for dinner the other night for a "just because" kind of get together. Since we have pescatarian friends the spread was an array of veggies, salmon and of course, grass fed beef. To finish, I had an assortment of cookies that have been churned out of my kitchen in the past few days along with a fresh and delicious crisp. All in all, it was a nice quiet evening.

I love crisps so much no matter what time of the year it happens to be. To me they are a great way to feature seasonal and local fruit and play up their flavours with a little spice. Since we're reaching the tail end of pear season in Vancouver, I decided to use some beautiful pears and pull out one of the dozens of bags of cranberries I have frozen away. (Imagine two garbage bags full of fresh cranberries, then picture how that would look in Ziploc bags stuffed into two different deep freezes.) I added an apple for texture and moisture and because I found a nice one at the market. Toss all of that with a little melted butter, cinnamon, coconut sugar, homemade vanilla and some freshly grated nutmeg and you have a fall/winter crisp. I topped it with a mix of shredded coconut, almond flour, slivered almonds and butter to make a crisp yet tender crust, almost like a cookie. The finished product is a tribute to the start of winter, from the red and green colouring of the fruit to the aroma of the nutmeg and vanilla. Finish it off with dollop of ice cream, whipped cream or coconut cream to really get into the Christmas spirit!

Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies {Grain-Free, Gluten-Free}

When the weather gets nippy and the leaves are no longer crunchy, I crave cookies. Well honestly I crave cookies all the time, but come late November I get a hankering for rich buttery cookies or deep dark chewy cookies spiced to perfection. I'm embarrassed to admit how long I will spend wandering around downtown looking for a cookie worthy enough to be consumed with a pot of tea or a cappuccino, so instead I'll just pretend that that doesn't happen on the regular and that I simply buy a cookie and be done with it.

Ginger cookies are a pretty big deal in my family. My grandma makes some stellar ginger molasses cookies, which rival her delicious whipped shortbread. They disappear pretty quickly when we receive that tin of treats in the mail. They are however, stuffed with flour, tons of sugar and sulphured molasses. (But I eat all of them anyways!) My version will satisfy any chewy ginger cookie craving, without the white sugar or flour! They still crinkle, have deliciously crisp edges and they're still oh so chewy on the inside. Promise.

Vanilla Bean Caramel Apples

As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, I'm finally getting used to fall. I've equipped myself with some comfy sweaters, some chunky scarves and a wicked pair of black leather booties. I'm set. Since the weather here has confined me to the indoors for the most part, my kitchen has been put to good use in the last few weeks. Thanksgiving came and went, Halloween slipped right past and now suddenly everything is Christmas! I am nowhere near ready for that. So to keep the fall spirit going, the next few recipes are going to be filled with everything I love about fall baking. Christmas cookies can wait!

Caramel apples used to be one of my biggest weaknesses. Every trip to the fair warranted a candy apple, no questions asked. In recent years, spending time with my cousin Sam, who is practically my sister, meant that every time we passed a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory meant we were getting caramel apples. As of late, my caramel sweet tooth has faded, but these sweet treats are a healthier (and tastier, if I do say so myself) little blast from the past that makes for a fun fall afternoon with friends. The caramel in this recipe can be (and will be!) used for many other recipes and treats to come, but this small batch makes 2-4 apples. The addition of the vanilla bean makes for a more mature adult caramel, as the seeds pop and give the caramel texture and flavour that generic corn syrup and vanilla extract can't really compete with. So call up your friends and make sure to have them bring a boat load of toppings to create fun crunchy apples! Happy Caramel Appleing :) 

Special Equipment needed * Candy Thermometer

Paleo Caramel

(Covers 2-4 apples)

3/4 cup coconut sugar

5 tbs coconut milk (not just the cream, but thick is ok)

1 1/2 tbs  grass fed butter

1 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt

3 tbs honey

Vanilla bean, split and scraped

In a small sauce pan, mix all ingredients. Place over medium-high heat and stir until mixture is bubbling and boiling. Reduce head to medium and attach candy thermometer. Let sit, stirring occasionally, until the caramel reaches 240 degrees. Remove from heat and pour into a small glass bowl.  

If using immediately, let the mixture cool until the bubbles have settled and the caramel has thickened. Roll apples in caramel and extra goodies if so desired. Let set on parchment paper. 

If using caramel later, caramel keeps uncovered at room temp for 2 days.  To reheat, place the glass bowl in a saucepan filled partially with water over low-medium heat. Caramel will soften in a few minutes, making for easy apple dipping. 

*Optional topping combos*

English Toffee - Chopped slivered almonds, chopped dark chocolate 

Tiger - Dip in dark chocolate, then swirl white chocolate on top

Coco-Caramel - Tip bottom of caramel apple in shredded coconut,  roll sides in chocolate shavings

Sweetened condensed milk {paleo & vegan}

I wish I could say I was a fall girl. I'm not a fan of the legendary Pumpkin Spice Latte, I don't care for cranberry sauce and I honestly hate wearing pants. I am a beach loving, flip flop wearing, bathing suit and dresses kind of girl.  For me, fall is saved by chunky scarves and sweaters, crunchy leaves and the sudden demand for baking anything and everything that is rich, intensely flavourful and sweet. I'm all for that.

Since it happens to be that time of year again, I figured I would share a simple staple in my fall baking supplies; condensed milk. As a kid, I was one of the weird ones who loved sweetened condensed milk. Licking the back of an Eagle Brand lid was heavenly. Gross, I know, but there was something delicious about it back then. Now I won't touch the stuff, so I figured I would try my hand at making my own.  Condensed milk is useful for many fall and winter recipes, including pies and coconut macaroons. To date this recipe has worked wonders for pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars and coconut macaroons. Once chilled, it turns into a thick pudding, making it a good base for creme brulees or simply to be eaten on its own. It could easily take the place of yogurt in a recipe or simply be used to thicken a recipe that calls for milk or buttermilk. I've tried making it with coconut sugar and xylitol (for a friend who cannot use any other kind of sweetener in her baked goods) and both have worked just fine, although I prefer the caramel flavour that the coconut sugar lends to the milk. Keep this recipe in your back pocket when making your deliciously rich goodies this fall and feel free to let me know what else you're trying!

Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk {paleo & vegan}

1 can Arroy-D Coconut Milk (Do not use light coconut milk or coconut cream)
2-8 tbs coconut sugar, or other sweetener like honey, maple syrup etc, depending on sweetness. (Note: if using Xylitol, use 1-2 tbs as it is extremely sweet. It also thickens faster)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, do not discard pod

In a small pot, mix all ingredients, including the scraped vanilla bean.

Bring mixture to a boil and let bubble for 20-30 seconds. Reduce heat to low. Mixture should be bubbling slightly, but not quite at a simmer.

Leave on low for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally and scraping down the sides as needed.  Mixture will reduce to half or even less of original amount.  Remove from heat when desired thickness is achieved. (1 hour = runny when cold, 2- 3 hours = thick pudding when cold) Discard vanilla bean.

Transfer to glass bowl or jar and refrigerate. Enjoy as is or use as a replacement for traditional sweetened condensed milk.

Autopiloting and a tasty case of identity crisis {Chewy Chocolate Pecan Brownie Cookies}

Do you ever find yourself on autopilot? We all do it in some way, shape or form. For some, it's doing a repetitive motion at work or school without even having to think about it. For others, we do it when we drive. You know, when you start at point A and suddenly find yourself at point B with no real recollection of how you got there. Scary stuff eh? For me, I turn my autopilot on when I drive and bake. Double threat right there. I constantly find myself driving to work and arriving without remembering much of the drive. Sometimes, when I am supposed to be driving to one of the pools that I work at, I find myself instead en route for the gym, my boyfriend's house or another pool. It's pretty dangerous when you think about it!

As for my autopilot baking adventures, I'd say they can be pretty dangerous too. Take this weekend for example; it was Thanksgiving and I had lots of work to do for the dinner we were going to host. I was making three pie crusts; two gluten free hazelnut sablee crusts and one regular old fashioned wheat. What did I make instead? The fantastically tasty and confused recipe I am about to share with you. I swear it started off innocently enough; one minute I was making pie dough, the next I looked down and I had made brownie cookie dough in my food processor. Oops. My bad.

Even though my unconscious desire to bake cookies ran rampant, everything else turned out great, including the dinner and delicious pies that I topped with some homemade salted caramelized hazelnuts. All other delicious meals aside, these accidental delights are the real winner of my baking adventures this weekend.  After a couple recipe tests to ensure their awesomeness, I can't quite decide what they are. They're fudgy and chewy like a brownie, yet hold together and melt down as they bake as cookies tend to do. The addition of the pecan crumbs simply adds another level of mystery to the tasty problem at hand. Quite the identity crisis don't you think? Taste them for yourself and then call them what you want, but these cookie/brownie treats are bite-sized examples of autopiloting adventures at their finest!

Chewy Chocolate Pecan Brownie Cookies

Makes 12

1 cup slivered almonds

2 tbs almond flour (use 1 tbs less for even chewier cookies)

2 tbs arrowroot powder

1 tbs honey

3 tbs coconut sugar

1/4 cup dark 70% chocolate, melted and cooled

1 1/2 tbs butter

1/4 cup cocoa powder + 1tbs

1 egg

1/2 tsp Soda 

pinch of Salt

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

Dark chocolate pieces, or round drops of couverture, for decorating 

In a food processor, pulse pecans until they are very small crumbs. Set aside. (or chop them, and then stubbornly refuse to give up, like I did the first time)

Place slivered almonds in food processor and blend until they turn into butter, 5-8 min. 

Melt chocolate double boiler style while almonds are processing. 

Once almonds have turned to butter, add honey and pulse, then add the butter and chocolate then pulse to combine. Add the rest of the ingredients, minus the dark chocolate pieces, and pulse until just combined and dough ball forms.

Transfer to small bowl and place in fridge or freezer for at least 20 min. Preheat oven to 350 while you wait.

When ready, roll out your dough into 12 even balls and roll each one in the pecans to coat. 

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet with enough room for spreading. Place your thumb in the centre of each cookie and press lightly, creating an indent. 

Bake for 6-8 minutes, until cookies have spread and cracked on top, but are not fully cooked. Remove from heat. Immediately place dark chocolate chunks in the middle of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Once finished decorating, transfer cookies to a wire rack or cooler surface and let cool. 

Cookies keep covered and at room temperature for 3-4 days. 

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Ferrero Rocher Cookies

I'm not going to be humble or quiet about this. I am incredibly proud (and astonished) that I went an entire month without eating chocolate. No cocoa powder, chocolate bars, chocolate cake, nothing. That being said, when I woke up this Wednesday after 4 straight weeks sans my number one love, I was more than a little giddy to put some cocoa in my bulletproof breakfast coffee. (We'll skip the story about how I quite literally fell to the floor after taking a bite of my favourite chocolate cake from Thierry in Vancouver.) I didn't do it for health reasons or for dietary reasons, I simply needed to make sure that I could survive without the stuff. It wasn't anywhere near as tough as I'd anticipated, but I definitely won't be taking another break anytime soon.

Spending a month without chocolate also meant I was baking without it too. I did succeed in making a batch of my mexican hot chocolate cookies without sampling any of the batter though! Quite proud over here, if you can't tell. In all honesty though I can bake without chocolate, no problem, but I can't be the only one who loves to taste and then re-taste my recipes. It's all about quality control in this house.

These little nuggets of deliciousness are fantastic just as the recipe calls for, but can also be modified to suit different levels of density, depending on how you like your cookies. These are soft, thick and slightly chewy, but omit 1 tbsp or both tablespoons of coconut flour to create a thinner, chewier version for yourself. Even if you haven't spent a month depriving yourself of the stuff that most baking dreams are made of, whip up a batch of these and give yourself a pat on the back anyways. You deserve it.

Ferrero Rocher Cookies

1 1/3 cup hazelnuts, divided.

1/4 cup dark chocolate, melted (min 60-70%, dairy free, filler free)

1 tbs cocoa (raw, not raw, whatever you like)

5 tbs coconut sugar

2 tbs honey

2 tbs grass-fed butter, melted

1-2 tbs coconut flour (depending on chewy factor)

Pinch Salt

1 tsp Soda

1 tsp Vanilla

1/4 tsp espresso granules or instant espresso

1 egg plus 1 yolk

dark chocolate pieces or disks of high quality couverture, for decorating. 

Preheat oven to 350.

While the oven is heating up, toast 1 heaping cup of hazelnuts until the skins have cracked open and they begin to look shiny. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place room temperature toasted nuts in a food processor and blend until they turn to nut butter. Add in melted chocolate and espresso powder and pulse until combined. Measure to ensure you have about 1 cup of chocolate hazelnut butter. If not, add back some of the mixture, adding a few more nuts and blend. Chunks are ok.

Mix 1 cup of hazelnut butter, sugars, melted butter, egg and yolk and vanilla. Stir until combined.

Using a sifter, sift coconut flour (if using) and cocoa powder with soda and salt over wet ingredients. Fold in until combined.

Roll small 1 1/2 inch balls out onto parchment paper. Press down slightly with chocolate discs or pieces, then fold up sides to cover most of the chocolate. Chop up remaining hazelnuts into small pieces and sprinkle on top of chocolate pieces.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until puffed up and spread out. Let cool 2 minutes on tray, then transfer to racks to finish cooling.

***Side note!! If you want a real deal ferrero rocher experience, chop your hazelnuts really finely and spread on top. If you're feeling extra adventurous, caramelize them in a pan with homemade caramel: 1 tsp water, 2 tbs coconut sugar, let bubble for a few minutes, then toss in crushed toasted hazelnuts to coat, 1-2 min. Dry on parchment then break apart and spread on cookies***

Brown Butter Rum Raisin Cookies

In the words of Julia Child, "with enough butter, anything is good". What she forgot to mention, was that with enough browned butter, everything is good! I hate to admit it, but fall is finally starting to creep in.  Granted, the weather here has been practically tropical (think 25-30 degrees!), but the leaves are starting to change and the nights are getting cool.  As a tea addict, my lemony summer teas are being swapped out for spicier cinnamon scented chai and licorice, and my cookies and cakes are about to get a whole lot more decadent!

This recipe came about for two reasons; one, I had a deep desire to satisfy my usual baking hankerings. Reason two, I had to challenge myself to not use any chocolate! As a chocoholic I am proud to say that I haven't had a piece of deliciously dark chocolate or chocolate in any of its wonderful forms, in two weeks! Quite the accomplishment for me, although I know I can keep going!

These cookies are great for just about any occasion, as most cookies are in my books, but the brown butter makes them just that much more special.

Browning the butter with your vanilla bean makes all the difference, not to mention it makes your house smell better than any Bath and Bodyworks candle ever could! The addition of soaking your raisins in a little bit of rum lends a depth to these caramel coloured cookies and pairs very well with the brown butter. (Don't worry, the alcohol burns off when you cook it) If you haven't browned butter before, not to worry! It's a simple procedure that requires just a touch of effort on your part. Enjoy this batch with some tea and a cozy sweater by a fire or if you're on the west coast, while you're soaking up this gorgeous September sunshine!


Brown Butter Rum Raisin Cookies

Makes 12-16

1/4 salted grass-fed butter

1/2 vanilla bean

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 egg 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp soda 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup oat flour

1/4 cup almond flour

1 1/2 tbs coconut flour

1 cup oats

1/4 cup finely shredded coconut

1/2 cup raisins

1 tbs rum (I used Malibu Black)

1 tbs Galliano (Or 2 tbs dark rum if you have it on hand)

1 tbs hot water (or more rum!!)

In a small bowl, mix rum, Galliano and water. Add raisins and let soak for 20 minutes or, if desired, cook raisins in a saucepan until warm for 3-5 minutes to plump them up. (Or microwave them if you must)

In a saucepan (frying pan works too) over low-medium heat, melt your butter with your vanilla bean that has been sliced down the middle and squeezed. Leave the pod in the pan as your brown your butter. Using a spatula, gently swirl your butter as it begins to bubble. The butter will begin to brown and let off a nutty vanilla scent. The butter is finished when the colour has deepened and the nutty vanilla scent is apparent, 5 minutes for me. Discard pod. 

In a medium bowl, mix your brown butter, coconut sugar and maple syrup together until smooth, like a very soft caramel. Let cool for a few minutes.

In a separate bowl, combine oats, oat flour, almond flour, soda, salt and baking powder. 

Add egg to sugar mixture and mix until combined. Add extra vanilla extract if desired. 

Add dry mixture to wet mixture by folding it in with a spatula. This recipe is a lot more fun by hand! 

Fold in raisins, along with any remaining liquor that wasn't soaked up. 

Fold in shredded coconut and gauge to see if any further dry ingredients are necessary. 

Transfer bowl to freezer or fridge to harden. 

Once hardened, bake at 350 for 8 - 10 minutes, or until golden brown on the top. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet. These cookies should be very chewy and slightly undercooked when removed from the heat. 

Ultimate Go-to Grain-Free Chocolate Brownies

Brownies were never my favourite treat. They were either a little too sweet, too cakey or too crumbly. Of course one bite brownies and those amazing batches of brownies that that one talented mom always used to bring to the bake sales were an exception. We all had one of those, am I right?

Needless to say, whenever I tried making brownies I didn't really care for them. I always had terrible results;  not enough chocolate flavour, too crumbly, you name it, I did it. Brownies just weren't my game. This gluten-free version however, is a game changer. The brownie itself is best right out of the fridge since it gives it a fudgy texture, but it keeps a little crumble just the way I like it. I love the addition of the chocolate chunks, which add a deep dark chocolate taste to the finished product.

The best part about this recipe is that it makes the perfect base to build on. Want to add nuts? Go for it. Add some fresh seasonal fruit? Why not. Switch up the icing or omit it altogether? You bet. Play around with this recipe and make it your own.


Ultimate Grain-Free Chocolate Brownies

Makes 14-18 brownies

7 tbs coconut flour

9 tbs grass-fed butter, melted

7 tbs cocoa (raw or roasted, but roasted gives deeper flavour)

5 tbs raw unpasteurized honey 

5 tbs coconut palm sugar

1/2 tsp salt if using unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

1/2 -2/3 cup dark chocolate chips (soy-free)

Optional add ins:

1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup cherries or other seasonal fruit
1 tsp instant espresso powder (to deepen chocolate flavour)

Decadent Chocolate Icing

4 tbs grass-fed butter, softened

2/3 cup chocolate chips, melted

5 - 6 tbs cocoa

3 tbs raw unpasteurized honey

1 tbs vanilla whey protein - optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x9 in glass dish with coconut oil or butter. (I use a pie dish, which works just as well)  Mix together melted butter, sugar and honey in a medium bowl. Stir until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and stir until blended. Sift cocoa and coconut flour into bowl and mix until just combined. Add in chocolate chips and other optional items if using. Bake on middle rack for approximately 12-15 minutes or until middle is set. Let it cool.

To make the icing, combine room temperature butter with all other ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk together until you reach a glossy finish.

Frost brownies and place in fridge to set.

Salted Cashew Butter Cookies

Do you ever eat something so much that you need to stop and take a step back? You build up the courage to tell whatever food it is that you need some space, some time apart to see other delicious foods. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like you don't love it anymore, you just realize that the two of you are getting on a little too well and you just don't want to ruin it. You're simply being rational and want to keep your delectable relationship going for as long as possible. I feel ya. For me it was cashews. It started off in complete innocence, a handful of bulk nuts here and there. But I got carried away, as I tend to do when I obsess over certain foods. I had to pull back on the cashews for a while, see other nuts and such. I'm good now, I can have a cashew or two and be done with it. Pistachios however, those wonderful little things, are a different story.

My favourite thing to do with cashews is to make them into butter. Almond butter and sun butter have nothing on cashew butter, which tastes like the most incredible cookie dough you can imagine.  It's an easy butter to make since cashews are a softer nut. If you can make it past the butter phase without eating half the jar, you can transform said nut butter into a magical cookie. This cookie is a salty sweet chewy piece of heaven. The addition of sea salt makes you wonder if there's caramel in the cookie and the hazelnuts give it just enough crunch to balance the chewy texture. I do suggest making the butter from scratch, but store bought butter will work if you're in a pinch. 

Make sure to share these guys or you may find yourself as cashew crazed as I once was!

Cashew Butter

2 cups raw organic cashews

1 - 2 tbs coconut oil

2 tbs honey 

pinch of salt

vanilla (optional)

Set oven to 300 and lightly toast your cashews for 8-10 minutes. This eliminates any mold growing on your cashews ( a common thing for cashews) and gives them a delicious flavour.  Let cool. 

Process in a food processor or Vitamix until the nuts turn from chunks to crumbs to a paste. 8-12 minutes depending on your machine. Add remaining ingredients and process until thick and creamy. If you want a smoother, runny butter, add more coconut oil.  The thicker the butter the better for the cookies. 

Makes about 2 cups

Salted Cashew Butter Cookies

Makes 12 cookies

1 cup cashew butter

3/4 cup palm sugar 

1 tsp honey

1 tsp soda

1 egg, room temp

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 tsp vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (soy free)

1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

Sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 325. Blend all ingredients except chocolate and hazelnuts in a medium size bowl until well combined. Fold in chocolate and hazelnuts.  Mixture may be slightly oily. Roll into 1 inch balls and lay on a tray covered in parchment paper. Sprinkle each cookie with a little salt. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are flat and slightly brown on the bottom. Remove from oven and let cool on tray.

Fudgy Nutella Cookies

My boyfriend and I got into a heated debate a couple weeks ago. The topic? Nutella. He likes his on its own, straight out of the jar. (I seriously can't leave him alone with a jar of my homemade Nutella) To him, anything else is downright blasphemous. For me on the other hand, although I do love a spoonful straight from the source, I just don't think it's fair to limit such a magical spread to being the solitary star of a sandwich, or spoon for that matter. I spread mine over rice cakes with strawberry or raspberry jam, alternate icing layers of cake with it and even make room on the spoon for jam or ice cream. While I can admit it's amazing on its own, Nutella deserves a friend or two.

So let the blasphemy begin.  I made a batch of homemade Nutella the other day (See my chocolate cake recipe for the how-to), only to find that I had added the fixins in too early.  I ended up with a separated but thick paste, which tasted delicious but wasn't quite what I was looking for, so I abandoned that ship only to accidentally find myself in cookie heaven. These cookies are crisp on the outside, chewy and fudgy on the inside and the sliced almonds and homemade shredded coconut lend just the right amount of crunch to the whole ordeal.

Whether you are a Nutella purist or a sacrilegious strawberry jam and Nutella lover like myself, enjoy these cookies on their own, with jam or even as an epic strawberry ice cream sandwich!

Nutella Cookies

Makes 12

1 1/4 cup Nutella Paste (preferably homemade, see Nutella Paste recipe) 

1 egg 

3 tbs  organic coconut flour

1 - 2 tbs whey protein powder

1 tsp soda

1/2 cup organic coconut palm sugar (more if you like it sweeter)

1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds

Sea Salt

Shredded Coconut or dark chocolate chips on top for decoration. 

If using homemade Nutella, make sure it's cold, or add a little chocolate and arrowroot powder to it so it sets better. (The firmer the Nutella the better)

1. Combine Nutella, sugar and egg in a medium sized bowl 

2. Sift in coconut flour, whey and soda

3. Add in almonds until just combined

4. Let sit in fridge until hardened, approx. 30 min - 1 hour. (I like to leave mine overnight sometimes)

5. Preheat oven to 350

6. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on baking tray lined with parchment

7. Press down balls slightly, then add salt if using.

8. Top with small piece of dark chocolate and coconut if using

9. Bake for 10 minutes, or until tops are cracked and cookies have spread. 

10. Cool on wire rack

 (ice cream sandwich made with local strawberries and coconut milk)

Tahini Ginger Molasses Cookies

If you're as into "alternate" baking as I am (although this is how people should bake, let's be honest!), you may have noticed a rise in popularity of the truly flourless cookie swirling around the internet. The formula is a simple one, basically it's one cup of nut butter for 1 egg, some sugar and baking soda and voila, you have truly flourless cookies. Sure the flourless peanut butter (or almond butter!!) cookie is a magical thing for some,  but is that really enough? Not for me. Baking without conventional ingredients is more than just refusing to follow the abomination that is the mainstream american diet. I will admit that it's a major factor, but why settle for boring plain jane almond flour cookies or cakes stuffed with heavy tapioca flour and gritty rice flour when you can make things taste even better than their american diet counterparts? It's like comparing Clark Kent and Superman here. Well maybe not, but I'm sure you all get the point I'm trying to make.

I have a couple of these nut butter cookie recipes up my sleeve, but this one is to die for. Yes, sesame is technically a seed, but tahini paste should not be overlooked in the baker's kitchen! The texture is chewy, yet the cookie holds its shape and chewy texture quite nicely even after a day or two. It's sweet enough to be dessert yet yields a flavour deep enough to be dipped in tea and happily consumed as a breakfast treat. The ginger pieces are optional, but if you know what's good for you, you'll ignore their sugar content and continue to eat in ignorant bliss. Sometimes you have to live a little!

Tahini Ginger Mollasses Cookies

1 cup tahini

1/3 cup organic coconut palm sugar

4 tbs organic blackstrap molasses 

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped organic candied ginger

Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit 

1. In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients together minus ginger, until combined. 

2. Fold in chopped ginger until just combined.  The mixture will look oily. 

3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes 

4. Roll into 1 inch balls on a tray lined with parchment paper, make sure to leave plenty of space as they melt!

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on your oven, or until flat and dark golden brown. 

6. Cool on cooling rack

Chocolate Cake with Orange Nutella Frosting

I should never be left alone in the kitchen.  I leave a mess, I play my music too loud and I have to taste everything in sight. Leaving me unsupervised in the kitchen has it perks too; it usually ends with a cake or a batch of cookies on the counter that I may or may not pretend to know nothing about.

Since it was a long weekend and everyone was home I had to share my kitchen, but I woke up early enough yesterday to get some baking out of the way before anyone else got up. The result? A truly wonderful, delicious and easy chocolate cake.  Long weekends call for cake. It's in the unofficial rules of Canadian holidays, I swear! I have been dreaming about this chocolate cake for months on end.  Back in February I thought I had created the best chocolate cake recipe ever.  I had tested it multiple times in cake and cupcake form and it was a real winner. Unfortunately my computer crashed and I lost the recipe.  I finally came back to it, only to improve on the original using a tip I learned from a small town Saskatchewan cookbook; a little apple cider vinegar goes a long way when making a good chocolate cake.  Those prairie women sure were right.  I won't claim that this is the BEST CAKE EVER, but I sure will stand behind it being an awesome, super-fantastic, serve to anyone, even gluten-free haters, amazing and mouth-wateringly delicious kind of cake! 

The cake is so moist and fluffy you could eat it plain, but I paired it with a creamy frosting, since we're sticking to those rules about official cake-making weekends.  The cake is just chocolatey enough to satisfy a craving, without leaving you in serious need of a glass of milk or a cup of tea.  The orange zest lightens up the heaviness of the nuts and chocolate too!  This classic chocolate cake would be great with any kind of icing, but something about that pop of orange against the dark chocolate seemed fitting for mix of rain and shine we had all weekend here. 

Enjoy!

THE Chocolate Cake

Makes 1 9-inch cake. (I used two to make this cake)

1/4 cup salted Kerrygold butter, melted

3 eggs

1/4 cup coco sugar 

2 tbs honey 

1 vanilla bean, scraped, or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder, divided

2 tbs coconut milk

2tbs coffee

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Homemade Nutella Paste* 

Makes about 2 cups

2 cups hazelnuts

4 tbs coffee

2/3 cup milk of choice (I used coconut)

3 tbs Kerrygold salted butter

1 cup dark chocolate chunks (at least %70 cocoa)

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped, or 1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp salt (only if using unsalted butter)

Orange Nutella Icing

Enought to ice 1 9-inch two layer cake

1/3 cup kerrygold butter

1 cup homemade nutella

1-2 tbs coffee

1-2 tbs coconut cream from the top of the can

2 tbs cocoa - for deeper flavour (optional)

1/3 cup homemade icing sugar +  3 tbs arrowroot powder **

2 tsp orange zest

For the Nutella Paste,  

Toast nuts @ 300 for 5-6 minutes or until skins become shiny and detached from nut.

Using a tea towel, rub the nuts to remove skins. Not to worry if they don't all come off.

Once cool, grind in a blender or food processor until it begins to form a paste that looks similar to almond butter or peanut butter. Remove from machine.

Heat milk of choice in a saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering point - do not let it simmer - turn off heat. Add the coffee grounds and let steep until desired coffee taste is achieved.  Strain coffee milk mixture into a medium bowl filled with the chocolate and butter. Let melt.  Add vanilla and hazelnut paste.  Chill until the mixture hardens. (Troubleshooting: if the mixture is not thick enough, melt slowly over low heat and add more chocolate)

For the cake,

Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit (I did 10 min @ 325 and 7 @ 300 since my oven is freakishly hot)

In a medium bowl mix melted butter with sugar and honey.

Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined and somewhat frothy, 2 minutes.

Place a sifter over the bowl and put cocoa powder, coconut flour and 1 tsp of baking powder inside. Sift ingredients into bowl and mix until combined.

Place remaining baking powder into milk and coffee mixture and place in bowl. Sprinkle apple cider vinegar over milk and coffee mixture and blend batter until smooth.

Using a spatula fill a 9-inch greased round baking pan and cook until fork comes out clean. For me, it took 17 minutes as I mentioned that my oven is insanely hot. (Feel free to let me know how long it takes you!)


For the icing, 

Whip butter in a stand mixer or electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.  Add your solid Nutella paste to the bowl and whip until combined. Add remaining ingredients and whip until nice and fluffy. If too thin, add a little more Nutella paste or arrowroot powder. If too thick, add more coffee or milk.  Store in fridge if not using right away. This icing stays stable at room temperature so feel free to ice your cake in advance!

 *Note that I've made this Nutella extra thick so it can be used to make thicker icing. If you want to make the Nutella for spreading purposes, add at least an extra 1/4 cup of milk to the mixture.

** Note that homemade icing sugar is simply a 1:1 ration of coconut palm sugar and arrowroot powder, blended in a Vita-mix or food processor to make a fine powder

Easy Grain Free Apple Crisp

I took a little bit of a hiatus to visit my aunt and uncle down in Phoenix, Arizona.  They spend the spring and winter down there now that their kids are grown up.  My cousin, who happens to be my age and the sister I never had, met me down there. A week with family can be a lot of fun, but after seven days with my extended family under one roof I think I can say I've had my fill for a while.  They have an amazing place out in Scottsdale, so I took full advantage of biking the flat roads, running the trails and of course, their back yard swimming pool!

My aunt is the queen of planning outings and events.  She took us floating down the salt river on tubes, complete with a tube for our coolers.  Note, if you ever want to torture your adult children, promise them sun, food and water, then take to them a river, throw them on tubes,  attach them to their parents and send them down a river for three hours.  Okay, so it wasn't that bad.  I love my family so we had a great time, but you can picture some terrible sit-com where the dysfunctional family takes a river trip and it ends up being a complete disaster.

The next surprise she had lined up for us was an hour long drive, without telling us where we were headed.  We arrived at a canyon, where there was an amazing old train station.  We me out guide, Fermin, who was half butler half tour guide on our train adventure. Sitting in an original caboose from the 1930's, our family got to sit back in our own personal car at the back of the train while we made our way through the Verde Canyon.  Did I mention it was fully catered, complete with a stocked liquor cabinet? My aunt outdid herself. 

As way of thanks, Mother's Day morning I decided to do a little baking.  They were trying to clean our their pantry as they were heading back to Calgary the next day, so it was a use what we've got type of baking session.  Lucky for me, I love a challenge!  I found the last of the apples, the rest of the butter from my bulletproof coffee breakfast routine (Kerrygold for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about) and some almonds.  I found some instant oatmeal, but I couldn't bring myself to use it. You have to draw the line somewhere right?

I basically just winged it and threw everything together. The crisp turned out lovely, even without oats.  In fact, it turned out so well I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the final product! My uncle loved it and my aunt, who doesn't bake or care for baked goods, enjoyed it throughly.  They ate it so quickly it hadn't even crossed my mind to take a picture. All in all, I had a great week full of amazing home-cooked meals and some stellar sun.  

Easy Gran-Free Apple Crisp

(This recipe is just a ballpark, so feel free to play around)

6 Honeycrisp apples, sliced (these were small little organic ones, so 4 regular size will do)
2-3 handfuls of almonds, toasted until slightly crunchy
5 tbs cinnamon, divided (use as much or as little as you like)
4 tbs honey, divided
5 tbs grass-fed butter, divided

Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

Arrange apples in baking tray of choice.  I found a glass 9x9 baking dish. Arrange first layer, then sprinkle cinnamon freely over apples, along with 2 tbs honey and 1 tbs butter (chopped into tiny pieces)

Place second layer of apple overtop, adding more cinnamon and honey if desired.

In a blender or food processor, grind nuts until they are in small chunks.  I made mine quite fine, so that half of the almonds had turned to flour, while the other half were teeny tiny pieces.

Place nuts meal in medium bowl and add remaining honey, butter and as much cinnamon as you want. If you have coconut palm sugar or a sugar of choice, add it in as well.  Using your hands, blend ingredients together so you have a sticky, buttery paste. You can add more cinnamon if it's looking too light or more almonds if you don't think you'll have enough to cover your apples.

Spread the crumble mixture over your apples as evenly as possible.

Bake @ 350 for 34-45 minutes, depending on your oven. The top should be a nice deep golden brown and the apples should be quite soft.

Allow to cool, or if you're impatient, enjoy right out of the pan!

Note: this would be awesome with coconut whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Here are a couple of cool shots from my trip.

Cashew-Almond Chocolate Easter Eggs

This time of the year is hard for me.  I struggle with the insane amount of chocolate everywhere.  It's like all of it is calling my name at the grocery store, in the checkout aisles and on the back counter at work.  I have a life-long love for chocolate, especially the extremely dark stuff, but like any long term relationship, sometimes things get a little out of control or over the top.  To me a good piece of chocolate is more than just a fine quality product, it just speaks to me and understands me in ways only a true love can.  To keep a flame like that going you need to take it easy sometimes and take a break from one another or just keep it casual, which is usually pretty hard for me. I rush into things, eating as much chocolate as I can, much like a sixteen year old girl falling head over heels in love.

Since I started eating the way I do (no refined sugars, no gluten, no legumes etc) I've been able to cut back my chocolate intake by quite a bit, that is until I figured out I could make amazing chocolate at home from scratch with only a few ingredients.  Making homemade chocolates is a lot of fun since you can play around with flavours and sweetness, but it means there are a lot of bowls to be licked clean once you're done!

This Easter I decided to make nut butter eggs after having a heated debate with someone about Reese's peanut butter cups.  I personally don't eat peanut butter anymore, but when I did, I still hated Reese's. Something about the filling was off to me so I would always try and pawn them off on my brother after we finished our Easter egg hunt or after trick or treating on Halloween.

If you're like me and agree that the Reese's egg isn't all that it's cracked up to be (sorry about the egg pun), then give these bad boys a try.  They're like Reese's older cousin who is just a little more sophisticated, slightly more accomplished and secretly the favourite in the family.


Happy Easter!

*Note: I was inspired to make a healthy version of The Brown Eyed Baker's recipe available here: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/04/03/homemade-peanut-butter-eggs/




Cashew-Almond Chocolate Easter Eggs

To make Cashew-Almond butter:

1/2 cup cashews, lightly toasted
1/4 cup almond meal
1-2 tbs honey, to taste
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 vanilla
1 tbs coconut oil

To make filling:

1/2 cup homemade cashew-almond butter
4 tbs grass fed butter
5 tbs coconut palm sugar
4 tbs arrowroot powder


To make chocolate:

(You can also make from scratch using cacao powder, cacao butter and some sugar, but this works just as well)

75g 100% Organic Fair Trade Soy Free chocolate (I used Camino)
1-2 Tbs Raw Cacao Butter
1 tsp honey
1 tsp coconut palm sugar


In a food processor, combine almond flour and cashews until a paste forms. 3-5 min.  Add in oil.  You may need to add a bit more if your mix is crumbly and doesn't take on a smooth consistency.  Add honey salt and vanilla and blend 1 more minute. Store additional nut butter or eat immediately!

In a saucepan combine nut butter, butter and sugar.  Melt until a creamy mixture has formed.  Remove from heat and add in arrowroot powder.  Form into ball and place in fridge until set.

Once set, prepare your dipping chocolate by placing chocolate and cacao butter in a glass oven-proof bowl.

If you are using a mould to create your chocolates, skip to the next step. If you're like me and left this to the last minute only to find out that Michaels was sold out of chocolate egg moulds, simply roll the chilled filling into egg shapes and place on parchment. (Apparently I am no artist when it comes to rolling eggs so I don't have a photo of the end result.  Plus they somehow disappeared too quickly for me to take a good photo)

Set chocolate mixture over a pot of simmering water and melt.  Add in sugars until desired sweetness level is achieved (remember the filling is quite sweet).  Remove from heat and "temper" by stirring and letting the chocolate run off the spoon from a high height back into the bowl. This allows the mixture to cool down and creates a better "cracking" when you bite into your chocolate.

After a few minutes you can line the moulds with a small amount of chocolate and spread to cover the mould with a small pastry brush. Place in fridge for a minute or two then drop and spread a small amount of the filling in the egg and cover with chocolate to seal. Let set.  Or for us rogues who don't use moulds, dip your little eggs in the chocolate and place on a piece of parchment to dry.  Let rest until set and hard.  Store in the fridge.

Vanilla Bean Macadamia Nut Butter

My dad turned 60 over the weekend.  Quite the big deal if you ask me.  But he's not a big deal kind of guy, so we kept it low key and took him out for a nice dinner at one of his favourite seafood restaurants in downtown Vancouver.  We had an amazing meal, with wonderfully creative dishes like torched hamachi with jalapenos, a candied salmon salad and a beautifully plated piece of sturgeon with crispy puffed black rice.  All in all I would say it was a success of a birthday.    

     

My father isn't a huge fan of cakes, but he sure loves to snack. He loves tropical flavours like pineapple, coconut and lime. (As bad as they are, the coconut cashews from Trader Joe's are his kryptonite)  Since he has been on a little bit of a health kick lately, I promised I would make him a healthier version of a key lime pie sometime soon, but for our little dinner outing he needed something to open.  Making thoughtful gifts means more than stuff to my family, so I went with a delicious and decadent nut butter.  On a family trip to Hawaii my father couldn't get enough macadamias and is still thrilled when people bring them back for him, so I decided that macadamia nut butter would be perfect.  He was so happy to open the little package and find a dainty jar full of buttery goodness.  I warned him not to go crazy with the stuff though, since this butter is extremely rich!




Vanilla Bean Macadamia Nut Butter

Makes 1 small mason jar full

2 handfuls raw organic macadamia nuts

2 tbs honey 

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1/2 tsp salt

Optional: add 1-2 TBS coconut cream (from the top of the can) to make even smoother

Put nuts in food processor and grind until a paste forms. This happens quite quickly with macadamias since they are almost pure fat.  Add sweetener, vanilla bean, salt and milk if using.  Blend until the desired consistency has been reached, 2-4 minutes.  


The flavour is mild and buttery, with just enough sweetness to be eaten on its own.  Enjoy on toast, right off the spoon, or for me, on a crisp little cookie.

Coconut Flour Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

The science behind baking has always fascinated me.  To a kid, adding a mix of ingredients together to make something complete new and delicious was magical, but I never really liked all the rules you had to follow.

As a child my home revolved around what was happening in the kitchen.  Both my brother and I spent a lot of time watching my mother cook.  The oldest child of three, she grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan where she would prepare a lot of the meals for her family.  My mother was raised on an all organic, free range meat, non-GMO diet before it was the cool thing to do.  Using her knowledge from her childhood, she would create amazing meals in our kitchen without a recipe in sight, with an almost perfect turnout. There were a couple memorable fails though, like the most bitter artichoke soup I have every tasted to this day. (Note to self, if I ever make an artichoke soup, it is best done by using the hearts only, rather than boiling the entire thistle, including the stem and petals.)  We were raised to love and appreciate good healthy food, which I still thank her for on a regular basis. 

Her baking however, wasn't quite as stellar. I don't mean any disrespect to my wonderful mother, to whom I owe almost all of my knowledge of the kitchen, but aside from her amazing lemon chiffon cakes topped with a thick layer of 7 minute frosting, her baking always required some "adjusting", to put it lightly.  My brother and I got creative though, softening rock hard cookies in the microwave or dunking them in milk to add to the browned and burnt flavour of her chocolate chip or ginger cookies. 

After one rock hard cookie too many, I decided to take the baking in that house into my own hands. I followed recipes with extreme caution, levelling teaspoons of soda and sifting flour to perfection.  I was rewarded with cakes and cookies which received rave reviews from friends and family.  My brother became my toughest critic.  If he ate them, knew it was good.

As my baking skills improved, my creativity felt stifled by the strictness of the recipes I followed.  I began to grow tired of my go-to recipes so I did what any curious baker would do - I started to make them up!  It started out quite innocent at first; a little less flour here, a little more vanilla there, but baking became much more fun when I started to throw recipes together based on my knowledge alone. Unfortunately, my success rate declined with all of my improvisation.  Sure, there were some fabulous desserts that made their way out of my oven, but also far too many epic fails to count.  The lack of success ate away at my motivation, which, combined with a more sedentary lifestyle after leaving the world of swimming,  caused me to lose my passion for baking. 

On to the present, where I swim for fun, coach an amazing team of young synchronized swimmers (yes you read that right) and lift on a regular basis.  In the past 12 months I've made a few major changes to my diet, along with many little ones that weren't that hard to give up.  I steer clear of refined sugars, most dairy products, gluten, legumes, processed foods and hydrogenated oils.  If you're interested in a baseline of the diet I follow, follow this link to learn more (http://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-complete-illustrated-one-page-bulletproof-diet/).  I didn't have to change my diet drastically as I ate quite similarly before hand, but we will save that for another post. 

The biggest challenge with my diet change was dessert.  I am a sucker for anything chocolate and a good chewy cookie.  Store bought gluten free baking didn't cut it, which typically contains a whole lot of potato flour, refined sugars and other yucky things.  Cut up fruit topped with nuts or coconut was boring, as were most desserts that the internet deems to be healthy and "paleo".  Frustrated and hungry, I wanted to know why you couldn't find a recipe that was made from a small list of good ingredients that would do your body good.  Dessert shouldn't be about sneaking a treat that harms the body, it should be about eating something tasty without worrying about where the residual effects will show up the next time you rock a swimsuit.  I knew I had to do something about it, since my chocolate and dessert cravings simply cannot be curbed.  That's why I started baking the way I bake.  Life should taste good and leave you energized. So snack away at these cookies, no guilt required. 

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

These little cookies are soft and chewy, with a spiciness that builds as you go along.  I like my cookies to be intense in flavour, so I've spiced them quite heavily. Taste them as you go, you never know how spicy you might want them!

Makes 12-15 cookies

1/2 cup grass-fed butter

3/4 cup coconut palm sugar

2 eggs at room temp.

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbs maple syrup or honey

1/2 cup coconut flour

2 - 3 tbs almond flour

1/3 cup cocoa (or raw cacao)

2 - 3 tsp cinnamon

2 - 3 tsp cayenne ( I like em spicy)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt if using unsalted butter

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 - 3/4 cup 70% dark chocolate or a dark chili chocolate bar, chopped. (try to find chocolate without soy lecithin)

Preheat oven to 350. (My gas range is extremely hot so I bake everything at 300, so try a test cookie at 325 or 350)

Whip butter until pale and fluffy in a stand mixer or by hand if you want a really good arm workout. Approx. 3 - 4 minutes. Add sugar and whip another minute. Add in eggs, vanilla and honey. 

Sift together coconut flour, almond flour, cocoa, spices and sodas.  Add to wet ingredients at low speed in your mixer. Once combined, dough should look firm yet still quite pliable. Add in chocolate chunks and mix until just combined. 

Roll into 1.5 - 2 inch balls and arrange on a tray lined with parchment.  Press down to make circular cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Let cool on cookie rack. Enjoy with coffee or hot chocolate :)