Tag Archives: Almond Flour

Chinese Almond Cookies – Gluten Free

Chinese Almond Cookies made with Almond Flour

In celebration of Chinese New Year, which we have celebrated every year since the adoption of my two youngest daughters, I made a grain free almond cookie! Whether you celebrate this holiday or not, this is a delicious Chinese Almond Cookie! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Chinese Almond Cookies – Gluten Free, Paleo

Chinese Almond Cookies, Gluten Free and Paleo

Chinese Almond Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups of Almond Flour

1 Egg

1/4 Cup of Honey

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Almond Extract

12 Whole Almonds for the Top of the Cookies (I used sprouted almonds)

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350º degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl with an electric hand-held mixer, beat the egg and honey. Add the almond flour, sea salt, baking soda and almond extract. Beat until fully incorporated for about one minute. With a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Place one almond on top of each cookie, in the center, and press down gently. Bake in your preheated oven for ten minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown. Cool on the cookie sheet.

Makes one dozen cookies. Low FodMap 1 cookie.

chinese-almond-cookies-ready-to-bake

Grain Free Chinese Almond Cookie

Chinese Almond Cookies - Paleo Gluten Free

Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Looking for a chocolate graham cracker that is grain free and starch free? I have tested and developed this recipe for you, and after several attempts, I do believe it is perfect! 🙂

They can be used however you like, but my favorite is sandwich style! Look here for my Chocolate Blueberry Ripple Ice Cream Sandwiches! They will wow you! The flavor is amazing! What a lovely ending to a warm Summer’s day!

Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Preheat your oven to 325º degrees.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups of Superfine Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Raw Cacao Powder

4 Teaspoons of Gelatin like (Thrive Market Brand)

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Cup of Coconut Oil, melted

1/4 Cup Good Honey

1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

Directions: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir vigorously with a fork until completely blended and a ball of dough has formed.

Place the dough onto a large cookie sheet sized piece of parchment paper. Flatten slightly.

Grain Free Graham Cracker Dough Ready to Roll

Place a second piece of parchment on top of the dough, and roll out evenly to almost fill the parchment, or the size of your cookie sheet. The dough should be about a half inch thick.

With a pizza cutter, make squares as shown below. Pierce the grahams with a fork’s tines.

Ready to Bake Grain Free Chocolate Graham Crackers

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool completely. Using a large kitchen knife, cut apart the graham crackers at the scored marks.

Enjoy!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Sour Cherry and Honey Shortbread Cookies

Warning! It is hard not to eat the whole batch of these! The good news is they are delicious, and it is a small batch.

These cookies are an absolutely delicious shortbread cookie treat recipe with the chewy tart bite of cherries!

They are delicate little bites with simple, whole food ingredients that come together in ten minutes.

The recipe makes a small batch of eleven cookies. Just short of a dozen. I have made the recipe several times to perfect it, and eleven is the perfect number.

I have this Moon Cake Mold Press that I used to imprint the tops of the cookies with a rose, but it isn’t necessary to make these cookies. I use it to make gluten free mooncakes during the Autumn Moon Celebration and have had great success with it for cookies. It just makes them fancier, and I am a gadget junkie.

Sour Cherry and Honey Tea Cookies

The benefits touted in regards to cherries are they are anti-inflammatory, enhance sleep, help with post-workout soreness, reduce stroke risk and more. See this article on cherries if you want to learn more. I love all these benefits, but I especially love the taste of them, and all the benefits are a bonus!

Honey has trace minerals in it and is one of my favorite natural sweeteners. My father was a beekeeper, and I used to help him in the bee hives when I was a child. Honey is truly miraculous. It is still a form of sugar to our bodies, but a little goes a long way! To make sure I know I am getting a high quality, pure honey, I buy it from a local beekeeper or farm market where a beekeeper is selling their honey. Local food co-ops are another great place to find a reputable honey source.

This cookie recipe only has seven ingredients, and each one adds flavor.

Sour Cherry and Honey Tea Cookies

Preheat your oven to 325º degrees F.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup Sour (Tart) Dried Cherries (I used an organic cherry with no added ingredients, just cherries)

2 Tablespoons of Local Honey

1 Teaspoon of Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

1/2 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

1/4 Teaspoon of Himalayan Pink or Sea Salt

Directions: Place all the ingredients into a food processor. Pulse until all the ingredients are incorporated and holding together with the cherries in small bits, but not completely pureed into the dough. You should still see bits of nice sized, but not whole, cherries.

Scoop the dough with a tablespoon cookie scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing the cookies two inches apart. Press the cookie with a round of the moon cake press or use fork tines to flatten the cookie to an inch thickness.

Bake in the preheated oven for just 9 minutes until the cookies are starting to brown on the edges. Cool completely.

Sour Cherry and Honey Tea Cookies

Enjoy!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Spicy Fire Crackers

I have a new love affair! I have know about it for years, but you could say I have been reawakened to its allure and hotness.

Spicy Fire Crackers

What is it? It is Sriracha! While spending some time this Summer in Michigan, I have been enjoying the artisan movement up here for local, small batch, quality food, and I have found a Detroit made fermented artisan sriracha that is addicting. It is made with sugar in the ingredients, but has no preservatives and is clean. I am on vacation and giving myself a slight bit of leeway with a little bit of local Sriracha. Nom Nom Paleo has a DIY recipe for Sriracha sweetened with honey here that I make when I am home.

I miss the spicy chips and crackers of my junkier, processed food days a decade ago………..gosh a decade doesn’t age you too much does it? Well, definitely not when you are eating nutritious food to fuel your body. So, I decided to get into the kitchen on my vacation and make a spicy sriracha cracker that is grain free, real food and Paleo friendly! They are crunchy and spicy reminding me of a firecracker going off in my mouth, but in a very good way!

With almond flour, honey, flax, thyme, olive oil, good sea salt and of course sriracha, the ingredients are pure and snackable and satisfy my crunchy, spicy snack cravings.

Spicy Fire Crackers

Spicy Fire Crackers

Preheat your oven to 275º degrees.

Set out a parchment lined baking sheet.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Local Honey

3 Tablespoons Sriracha (Nom Nom’s Paleo friendly recipe is here!)

1 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil or Duck Fat (melt the coconut oil or duck fat if using this fat)

1 Tablespoon Ground Flax

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Thyme

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Directions: Put all the ingredients into a bowl, whish with a fork until thoroughly combined. Roll between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness. Score the crackers into small bite sized squares with a pizza wheel.

Bake for 45 minutes in your oven. Cool completely, then break apart on the scores.

That’s it! A delicious, spicy cracker. Enjoy!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Almond Tahini Grain Free Cookies

Almond Tahini Grain Free Cookies

Monday mornings are notorious for being difficult! Do you ever struggle with Mondays? Maybe you had a crazy weekend like me, or it was a super fun weekend, and you don’t like the thought of getting back to the grind. Or, maybe the whole week stretching ahead of you feels overwhelming! Usually Mondays are okay for me, but last week was a crazy, busy week. I was just getting back from traveling and running like crazy to catch up on a short week, and then Sunday morning, just when I was getting in the shower, the lights went out for a couple hours, and I had the perfect to do list in my head for the perfect day, starting with church.

So, what can you do on days when you just want to get through it? Should we just get through it? I recommend finding just ten minutes to savor a moment. You can find just ten minutes. Giving yourself ten minutes to just be and breathe works really well to change your frame of mind and calm your spirit.

So my next thought is, if we are dreading a day like the infamous Monday, can we change our day by changing how we think about it? I believe the answer is “Yes. Yes we can! Not that it is easy, but we can do it!”.

Enough of my musings. Since baking is therapy for me, and cookies are definitely on my list of mood boosters, today I have a delicious, grain free, brand new cookie recipe for you (and me). They are full of clean ingredients, and one or two of these will not set you back in your health goals. They also don’t take long to mix up. You will need a bowl and a fork. Here’s the recipe:

Almond Tahini Grain Free Cookies

Preheat your oven to 325º degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

1/2 Cup Tahini (I like to eat this one straight out of the jar it is so good!)

1/2 Cup Honey (Clear if Low FodMap)

1 Flax Egg (To make Egg Mix 1 Tablespoon Ground Flax Seed and 3 Tablespoons of Water in a small bowl and let sit 15 minutes)

2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil, Melted

1/4 Cup Slivered Almonds (reserved for top of cookies)

1/4 Teaspoon of Himalayan Pink Salt or Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/8 Teaspoon of Almond Extract

Directions: Mix together in a medium bowl with a fork the tahini, honey, almond extract, melted coconut oil and flax egg until incorporated. Add the almond flour, salt and baking soda and stir again until fully incorporated. Scoop onto parchment lined baking sheets with a tablespoon cookie scoop. Sprinkle the slivered almonds evenly over the cookie dough and gently press them into the dough just a bit.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven until golden brown. Cool completely on the cookie sheets.

Makes 20 Cookies

*Low Fod Map Serving Size 1 Cookie, Moderate Fod Map Serving Size 2 Cookies

Almond Tahini Grain Free Cookies

Eat Your Nutrients!

Classic Anise Biscotti with Pignolis

Anise Biscotti with Pignolis (Pine Nuts) is a classic! Hazelnut Biscotti is another classic cult favorite of biscotti lovers. There are a multitude of variations of biscotti today. But sometimes I really want a pure, unadulterated, classic biscotti. In this recipe the Pignolis give the biscotti great texture and a buttery flavor, and the anise seed is, well, just classic! They are a beautiful cookie!

Classic Anise Biscotti with Pignolis

Classic Anise Biscotti with Pignolis

Preheat your oven 350º degrees. Lay out a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups Superfine Blanched Almond Flour

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Clear Honey

2 Tablespoons Coconut Flour

1/2 Cup Pignolis (Pine Nuts)

1 Teaspoon Ground Anise

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract (SCD Legal)

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt or Sea Salt

In a medium bowl, beat your eggs. Stir in the clear honey and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl with a wire whisk, blend your dry ingredients (Almond Flour, Coconut Flour, Ground Anise, Baking Soda and Salt). Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine with a rubber spatula. Fold in 1/4 Cup of Pignolis. Turn out on the parchment lined cookie sheet and form into a 12×6″ rectangle. Press the remaining 1/4 cup of Pignolis into the top of the dough. Bake in the 350º oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. With a serrated knife, slice the cooled biscotti starting on the short end into 1/2 inch wide diagonal slices. Lay back on the parchment lined cookie sheet, one cut side down and bake for 7 minutes, turn the biscotti over to the other cut side and bake another 7 minutes until golden brown.

Classic Anise BIscotti with Pignolis

You can enjoy these delicious biscotti any time of year when you are in the mood for a classic flavor!

Classic Anise Biscotti with Pignolis

Enjoy your day and keep being awesome!!!!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Lavender Sugar Cookies

There are so many ways to use lavender in cooking. Here I have used it in a “sugar” cookie. It is sweetened with SCD Legal honey and uses almond flour. I have rolled and cut them out. You could also make the recipe by scooping the cookies if you are short on time. They will be softer that way instead of crunchy as a rolled cut out cookie.

Lavender Sugar Cookie

Preheat Oven 350°. Place parchment paper on two cookie sheets.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Organic Palm Shortening, Melted

2 Tablespoons Honey

1 Teaspoon Dried Culinary Grade Lavender Buds, minced or placed in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle

1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest

1 1/2 Teaspoons SCD Legal Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix together the wet ingredients and add to the bowl of dry ingredients stirring with a fork until a ball forms. Place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll to about 1/4″ thickness. Refrigerate on a cookie sheet for fifteen minutes, then cut out using a cookie cutter and place on your parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes until starting to brown around the edges.

Makes approximately 12 cookies depending on the size of your cutter.

Lavender Sugar Cookies

Eat Your Nutrients!

Banana Almond Swirl Cookies

Here is a moist drop cookie, that I am so excited to share! It is egg free, sugar free and dairy free. They are soft and cake-like. I am an ex-cake addict. They are tasty and moist!

Banana Almond Swirl Cookies

There are two batters that you swirl together and then scoop and drop.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

Batter One:

1 Ripe Banana with Black Spots (this makes them sweet with no sugar and SCD Legal)

1 1/4 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil (softened but not melted. (If it is a warm day it will be soft of a few seconds in the microwave)

1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract (just vanilla and alcohol)

1/4 Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Gluten Free Baking Soda

Puree the banana, then in a medium bowl with a hand mixer, mix in the remaining ingredients. Set aside.

Batter Two:

1 Ripe Banana with Black Spots (this makes them sweet with no sugar and SCD Legal)

1 1/4 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil (softened but not melted. (If it is a warm day it will be soft of a few seconds in the microwave)

1/2 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract and 1/2 Teaspoon Pure Almond Extract (No additives, SCD Legal)

1/4 Teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Puree the banana. With a hand mixer in a medium bowl, mix the remaining ingredients.

Add the Cinnamon Batter to the top of the almond batter and swirl with a knife until you get a nice marbled effect. Scoop onto two parchment lined baking sheets with a cookie scoop. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. If you have any left after the first day, store them in the refrigerator.

SCD Paleo Summer Strawberry Pie w/ Toasted Hazelnut Vanilla-Orange Ice Cream

Summer Strawberry Pie with Toasted Hazelnut Vanilla Orange Ice Cream

The strawberry patches are starting to ripen here, and there is nothing like the flavor of local berries! You don’t have to give up treats in moderation on a SCD/Low FodMap diet. I limit my treats to special occasions and stick to the legal ingredients only. My daughters love fresh Strawberry Pie! Here is a spectacular pie recipe for when you want to treat yourself and those you love, full of ripe, juicy, nutritious strawberries.

First the crust:

Pie Crust Ingredients:

1 3/4 Cup Superfine Almond Flour (Scooped and Leveled)

1 Egg White

1/4 Cup Organic Shortening

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

Almond Flour Pie Crust

Preheat your oven 350 degrees. Mix Almond Flour and Salt with a whisk. Cut shortening into the Almond Flour with a pastry cutter (it doesn’t need to be cold). Add egg white and lemon juice and stir with a fork until it comes together. Press the crust evenly into the bottom and along the sides of a pie pan, crimping the edges as desired. Bake in the preheated oven fifteen minutes or until starting to turn golden brown and crisp. Cool completely.

Strawberry Pie Filling Ingredients:

5 Cups Organic Strawberries

3/4 Cup Clear Honey

1 1/2 Cups Water

1 Tablespoon Great Lakes Gelatin (orange label)

1 Tablespoon Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan Pink salt

In a medium sized heavy saucepan, mash 2 cups of the strawberries with a potato masher. Slice the other 3 cups of berries and place in the cooled pie crust.

Summer Strawberry Pie

To the mashed berries, add the honey, water and salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling return to a simmer, and simmer the berries for five to ten minutes stirring often. Stir the gelatin into the lemon juice in a small bowl. Add to the simmering berries and cook for two more minutes whisking to incorporate the gelatin. Pour the cooked berry mixture over the sliced berries in the crust, evenly. Refrigerate uncovered until cool, and then cover with wrap until ready to serve! Make sure you let it refrigerate 4 to 6 hours to fully set up.

Summer Strawberry Pie Filling

I served the pie with my Toasted Hazelnut Vanilla-Orange Ice Cream on top. The flavors compliment each other very nicely! You can also serve with Coconut Milk Whipped Cream.

I love to hear your thoughts!

Eat Your Nutrients!