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Carob Muffins (grain free, gluten free, dairy free)

Another long morning here with both kids up and raring to go earlier than usual. A long morning with no plans means…time to bake! I had actually semi planned on baking anyway, so I did have something in mind. I made another grain free muffin. I wanted to experiment with making one that was “chocolate.” I used carob instead to make them healthier. I can’t say these are GAPS legal because carob is on the no-no list 🙁  But I had one anyway 😛  They turned out well. I used my strawberry muffin recipe as a base and modified some things. I did add a few peanut butter chips to give a little extra flavor (not healthy, I know…but it’s only a few in each muffin). These are almost more like a cupcake…you could definitely use them that way. I’ll have to try making some frosting for these sometime. These are good…Rebecca and I both had one. I think next time I’ll add a little more honey and a little more chocolate extract to bump up the flavor a bit. And I might add another egg to add a little more moisture. But overall very good. And great texture. My other experiment was using mostly ground crispy nuts instead of regular almond flour. I just ground a mix of almonds, pecans and walnuts in the food processor until it was almost like nut butter (a little more coarse). Then used that in combo with a little almond flour. Still worked great. I’ll do that more often now so that my baked goods are easier on the tummy. And I don’t have to buy almond flour. A fun experiment. And tastey too. Not great pics…I was holding Abram and couldn’t adjust any camera settings, zoom, etc. And the muffin I took a picture of hardly had any chips (the small one I gave Rebecca to try).

This post is linked to Grain Free Tuesdays at Hella Delicious,

Carob Muffins

1 1/2 cups of nut meal, nut flour or ground nuts (I use ground crispy nuts)
3 large eggs, separated
1/3 – 1/2 cup of honey
1/4 tsp. of sea salt
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
3 tsp. chocolate extract
1/4 cup carob powder
1 cup add ins (optional…chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, carob chips, dried cranberries, dried cherries, etc.)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with liners or grease with oil or butter.

In a small bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside. In separate bowl mix all other ingredients (except add ins) until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Fold in add ins. Fill muffin cups.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes. Makes 9 – 10 muffins.

Grain Free Breakfast Cookies (gluten free, GAPS-legal)

I hadn’t intended to do much baking this week. But Sunday I was looking at some grain free blogs and came across a recipe for breakfast cookies on Comfy Belly. And I had to try them! I’ve loved breakfast cookies ever since I made them the first time. But sadly have not been able to eat them for a while. So I was very excited to see a grain free version. They taste very similar to my other recipe. So good!!! And super easy to make. I didn’t follow the measurements exactly…I was trying to use up what I had on hand. But they still turned out great! My plan was to make a half recipe…but it was kind of 1 1/2. I used 1 cup of my homemade almond-pecan meal and about 1/2 cup of boughten almond meal. I still used 1 egg, but only 1/4 cup of honey. Still plenty sweet. As usual I left out the baking soda and used stiff egg white instead. For add ins I used crispy sunflower seeds, raisin, coconut and a few chocolate chips. I know the chocolate chips aren’t really on the approved list. But like I said, I was trying to use a few things up and I had a small amount left in a bag. I made my cookies a decent size. I got 12 out of this batch. Another great, easy breakfast to have in the freezer! Love it. Serve it with a kefir smoothie and you’ve got one very nourishing, tasty breakfast!

These can be dairy free if you don’t use butter.

Grain Free Breakfast Cookies

2 1/2 cups of almond meal or almond flour (any nut flour will work really)
1/4 tsp. of salt
8 Tbsp. of unsalted butter, melted (or 1/2 cup of coconut oil or vegetable shortening, melted)
1/2 cup of honey
1 egg, separated
1 Tbsp. of vanilla
about 2 cups of nuts, dried fruit, seeds (or anything else your heart desires)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and blend with a spoon. Add the wet ingredients (except the egg white) and blend it well with a spoon.

Beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. Fold into dough.

Drop mounds of batter on the cookie sheets (I used parchment paper lined sheets). Space them about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 12 to 20 minutes (depending on how big you make them…mine took almost 20 minutes), or until they are starting to brown around the edges.

If you want them slightly crunchier (these are on the soft side), leave them in the oven at 200 degrees F for another 15 minutes or so, or in a dehydrator on a fairly low temperature for about 2 hours.

Cool and enjoy. Store in a sealed container

Grain Free Peanut Butter Brownies (gluten free, dairy free, GAPS-legal)

Yesterday was a cold and rainy day (with thunderstorms and hail…at the end of April…yuck!), so Rebecca and I decided to bake. I saw a super simple recipe on Grain Free Foodies recently for peanut butter brownies. We gave it a try. It was very simple. Only 3 ingredients! The verdict…ok. Honestly they don’t have a ton of flavor. I think I’ll add a little more honey if I make them again (I used about 1/3 cup). They would definitely be better with something chocolate in them 😛  They got a little dark on the edges. I think that might be from the palm shortening I used to grease the pan. Rebecca really likes them. So that makes this a great recipe…not very sweet and GAPS legal…and Rebecca likes them. Score 🙂  The original recipe uses baking soda. I left it out. The texture is really good. I think I just still have a big sweet tooth. Hopefully at some point that will change and these will taste sweet to me 🙂

Grain Free Peanut Butter Brownies

1 cup peanut butter (or any kind of nut/seed butter)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda (not GAPS-legal, it works fine if you leave it out)

Thoroughly mix all ingredients (an electric mixer works well). Pour into a generously greased 8″ x 8″ baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Do not overbake- these are so moist and chewy but get dry if baked too long.

Coconut Blueberry Muffins

I have a couple grain free muffin recipes I want to try. I debated about what to make for breakfast today. I’ve been using a lot of almond flour lately, so I decided to do something different and try a coconut flour recipe. I got the recipe from Simply Coconut. The base recipe is for honey muffins. Then you can vary it. I made it into blueberry muffins. I’ll have to try other versions for sure. These turned out really well. Justin and I both really like them (especially warm with lots of butter :). Coconut flour is quite sweet, so you don’t have to add much sweetener. I may even cut back next time. This is a small recipe (made 6 muffins)…good for experimenting 🙂  I greased my muffin pan today…I’ll be using muffin cups in the future. Even with a good greasing they stuck quite a bit. The recipe doesn’t specify how long to bake them very well. Mine took almost 25 minutes. The one down side…I can’t technically call them GAPS legal because they use baking powder (which contains cornstarch). But it’s only 1/4 tsp. So I figured the amount of cornstarch in each muffin was so minute that I don’t think it will matter.  If you seaparte the egg yolks and whites, beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter you can omit the baking powder…and make them GAPS legal. Hopefully I’ll have to time to make at least one more batch of these in the next few weeks to freeze so I have some on hand post-baby 🙂

*Edited 6/2/11 – I made a batch of these yesterday without baking soda (the egg white method). Worked great! I also used coconut oil instead of butter and kefir instead of milk. I made a cherry chocolate chip version. Wow!!! So good. I just hope my tummy handles the coconut ok this time. I even baked them in my toaster oven. So nice to be able to do that when it’s hot so I don’t heat up the house. I will update the recipe to make it GAPS legal/without baking soda.

chocolate cherry version
blueberry version

Coconut Flour Honey Muffins (Blueberry Variation)

3 eggs, separated
2 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp. coconut milk, whole milk or kefir
3 Tbsp. honey (or less)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup sifted coconut flour
——————–
1/2 – 3/4 cups blueberries, cherries or strawberries (fresh or frozen, thawed) (optional)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside. Blend together egg yolks, butter, milk, honey, salt, cinnamon, vanilla and flour. Mix well. Fold in egg whites. Fold in fruit. Pour batter into well greased or paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (205C) for 20 – 25 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

Honey Coated Nuts

I have a recipe for sugar coated pecans that I’ve made many times. They are soooo good. Yesterday I wanted to make some…but in a GAPS-legal way. So I used honey instead of sugar. I also used cripsy pecans, almonds and walnuts. These turned out quite well. They don’t have quite the same texture, and they are definitely a bit stickier. But still good. Any nut will work. I think the almonds turned out the best.

Honey Coated Nuts

2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla + enough water to make 1 Tbsp.
1 pound crispy nuts
1/2 – 1 cup raw honey
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water/vanilla until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together honey, salt, and cinnamon.

Add nuts to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the honey mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Butterscotch Pudding

Justin’s birthday was this week. We are finally able to celebrate today since he’s back home. I wanted to make him a birthday dessert that was fairly simple, something we don’t get often, NOT cake 😛 and that didn’t make a huge amount. So I decided to do trifles…with homemade pudding. I’ve made chocolate pudding before. And that was awesome! I figured I’d try Laura’s butterscotch pudding this time. Another great recipe. So simple. It didn’t get quite as thick as my previous batches of pudding. But I probably just didn’t let it cook long enough. It still tastes great. Not GAPS-friendly since it has arrowroot and sucanat. But I still had to sneak a taste 🙂  I used some homemade chocolate cupcakes that I had in the freezer to make the trifles. And per Rebecca’s request I topped them with sprinkles 🙂

Butterscotch Pudding

2 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2/3 cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice…has a wonderful “molassasy” taste!)
4 Tbsp. arrowroot powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, rapadura, arrowroot powder and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring CONSTANTLY until pudding begins to thicken. Remove immediately from the heat, and continue to stir until pudding is creamy. Add butter and vanilla and continue to stir until mixed. Pour into serving dishes and serve warm, or chill for two hours and serve cold.

Grain Free Apple Raisin Bars (dairy free, egg free, GAPS-legal)

I tried another new grain free snack yesterday – apple raisin bars. I got the recipe from Nourished and Nurtured (a great blog with lots of yummy-looking recipes!). These are so easy to make. I made them while I was making dinner 🙂  It is noisy to do all of the processing, but doesn’t take long at all. I used my crispy pecans instead of just soaked pecans. Still worked well. We haven’t actually eaten any bars yet, but I did taste a few chunks…very good!! They are a bit messy/soft even after a while in the fridge. So I stuck them in the freezer. We’ll have them for breakfast tomorrow and I’ll give a better verdict then. So far they seem like a very healthy, easy snack/breakfast. I patted the “dough” into a rectangle and cut it into 8 pieces (kind of like when I make scones).

The verdict…we all LOVE them! Rebecca has scarfed one down two days in a row for breakfast now. She’s requesting them. I guess I’ll have to make more dried apples so I can make more of these to have on hand. I love how healthy and easy they are. There isn’t even any added sugar. Awesome! We eat them straight out of the freezer (give them 1-2 minutes to soften).

Apple Raisin Bars

1 cup pecans (I used crispy pecans and skipped the soaking step below)
1 cup dried apples
1 cup raisins
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
unrefined coconut oil, for greasing your hands

Soak pecans in water with a pinch of sea salt for 12-24 hours. Rinse and drain well. Pulse nuts in a food processor until ground pretty well (but not too long or they’ll start turning into nut butter). Dump nuts into a bowl. Then place apples, raisins, salt, and optional spices in food processor and let it whir until well-combined and chopped. This will take longer than you think, but just let it keep going around and around. Then add back ground nuts and whir until well-combined. Dump it all onto a piece of wax paper. Then rub a bit of oil onto your hands to keep them from sticking to the mixture. Use your hands to do any last mixing necessary to get a consistent mixture, then form the mixture into a mound. Refrigerate for a couple hours, and then cut into pieces.

You can also vary the nuts and fruit to make other types. Lemon blueberry is delicious (made using almonds, dates, and dried blueberries with a little lemon zest).

Peanut Butter Fudge (grain free, dairy free, egg free, GAPS-legal)

I also made a batch of grain free fudge yesterday. I saw the recipe on Grain Free Foodies and knew I had to try it! It is so simple to make. And it is AWESOME!! Only a few minutes to prep. Then put it in the freezer for a bit. Then enjoy 🙂  A great treat, and a great way to get more coconut oil into my diet. I only made a half batch to try it since 1 cup of coconut oil is pretty expensive (don’t want to waste that if it didn’t turn out). I will for sure be making this again when I need to have a safe treat on hand. Rebecca and I both love it!

This is linked to the Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers.

Peanut Butter Fudge

1 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
honey to taste (I used about 3 Tbsp. for a half batch)
dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt the oil in a saucepan on very low heat. Pour the oil and remaining ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Pour this mixture into an 8 x 8 pyrex dish (or similar glass dish) (I greased mine), and place in the freezer.

This fudge is best stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Nut Butter Bread (grain free, dairy free, GAPS-legal)

I’m trying to do more grain free baking to have easy stuff on hand for myself. Yesterday I tried a new bread recipe from Grain Free Foodies. It sounded odd…making bread without any flour…just use nut butter. Would that work? But I gave it a shot…and it worked!!

This is really good (especially with lots of butter or homemade almond butter on it). And it’s a good base. I went for the sweeter version, although it didn’t turn out very sweet. I’ll have to add more honey next time. And maybe some cinnamon and raisins. Mmmm. I’d like to try a savory variety too. Either way this is very good and so simple to make.

I just mixed it by hand in one bowl. It only took a few minutes to throw together. I used natural peanut butter. Worked very well. I’m glad to have an easy, grain free snack for myself…and a way to get more butter in my diet 🙂

*Edited 4/20/11 – I made a cinnamon raisin version today. YUM!!! I’m sure this loaf won’t last long 🙂

*Edited 5/30/11 – I made a chocolate chip version last week (had to keep myself from eating it all in one sitting!). And I made a garlic version today. First savory version. Turned out well. I just cut out the honey and added extra salt and some garlic powder. I have also updated the recipe to be baking soda free so that it really is GAPS legal.

You can turn this into grain free pumpkin bread by replacing half of the nut butter with pureed pumpkin.

Nut Butter Bread

1 cup nut butter (or seed butter)
1/4 cup honey
3 eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
1 T vinegar or lemon juice

Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside. Combine nut butter, honey, egg yolks and salt. Fold in egg whites. Add the vinegar or lemon juice (and any other add-ins) and mix well, then pour into a greased loaf pan.

Bake about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. It is done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

For a sweet bread, increase the honey to 1/2 cup and add cinnamon and whatever other spices you like, such as nutmeg or ground cloves. Adding more honey will extend the baking time so keep an eye on this. Cinnamon and raisins are great in this!

*To make it savory, reduce or omit the honey, and add a little more salt as well as crushed garlic, onion powder (if it is SCD-legal), and other savory spices such as thyme.

*To make pumpkin bread replace half of the nut butter with pureed pumpkin.

Navy Bean Hummus – Another Way to Sneak in Eggs (grain free, dairy free, GAPS-legal)

I’m just starting on my GAPS journey. And trying to figure out what I can/can’t eat. I LOVE beans…all kinds. And eat them all the time. I think I ate them every single day during my last 2 years of college 😛  I’ve always figured they were good for me…tons of fiber, right? Well, turns out that in reality most beans are very starchy…which is why they are so hard to digest…and so hard on my tummy. Most beans are not GAPS-legal. I was very disappointed to read that. Thankfully there is one kind of bean that is allowed – navy beans. It’s not a bean I’m used to eating. No particular reason why, just never really have. But over the past couple weeks I’ve been using them more. A couple weeks ago I tried making hummus with navy beans and chickpeas…a transition. It was very good. Justin didn’t even know I had used different beans. So this week I tried making hummus from just navy beans. The verdict…excellent!! I use my usual, basic recipe…even more scaled down/simple now. So easy to make. And so good. Just beans, EVOO and salt.

So, I have a safe, tasty hummus. But then I wondered if I could use my hummus as another place to sneak egg yolks into my diet. I tried it today. Tastes great! I couldn’t even tell it was there…aside from the color of course. Actually adding the egg yolk makes it look more like regular hummus 🙂  I only took a picture of it with the egg yolk added. So glad I tried this. It makes a very healthy and easy snack or lunch for me. Just pair it with some veggies and I’m all set. I think I’ll be making hummus quite often now. Protein, safe fiber and now eggs too. I just did one egg yolk in a samll dish of hummus this time. Maybe next time I’ll try 2 yolks. See how it goes.

I make a big batch without the egg. Then just add an egg yolk into the portion I’m eating at the time. I never actually measure anything. Just keep adding oil until it’s smooth. Then season to taste. I served it today with raw peppers and avocado. Sometimes I use slices/chunks of cheese for dipping. I also eat it plain.

This is linked to the Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers, Grain Free Tuesday at Hella Delicious and Fat Tuesday.

Navy Bean (and egg) Hummus

2 cups cooked navy beans (soaked in water w/ whey overnight, then rinsed and cooked)
1/4 – 1/3 cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
unrefined sea salt to taste
(garlic or organic garlic powder to taste – optional)
raw egg yolk (optional)

In a food processor combine beans, salt and part of the oil. Blend, adding more oil until desired consistency. Check seasoning and adjust to taste.

Stir in raw egg yolk when serving for added nutrition.