Tag Archives: Healthier Baking

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread cookies that melt in your mouth are one of my favorites! My other favorite is, like many people, chocolate chip! This cookie recipe combines the best of both to bring you a Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookie!

This cookie uses just superfine rice flour for the delicate texture and flavor that you want in a shortbread cookie without using the traditional wheat flour. AND it is more heart healthy but with all the flavor because I used half ghee and half olive oil for the fat. It works beautifully in this cookie! This recipe also uses pure organic cane sugar, and there is only a half a teaspoon in each cookie. This batch makes two dozen delicious shortbread cookies that are perfectly sweetened with sugar and the sweetness of the rice flour.

Let’s bake these beauties!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Lay out two parchment lined cookie sheets.

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup of Ghee

1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla

1/4 Cup of Cane Sugar

1 1/4 Cups of Superfine Rice Flour (I use Authentic Foods brand, regular rice flour is coarser and will give a different result)

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Cup of Chocolate Chips (I used Enjoy Life)

Directions:

In a stand mixer, or you can use a bowl with electric beaters, mix your ghee, olive oil and sugar until creamy and light in color like an egg yolk. This will take one to three minutes, longer if you are using a hand mixer. Add the eggs one at a time beating until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and blend. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, the rice flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to your wet and mix until incorporated completely. Add the teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and mix. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the cookie dough by the tablespoon onto two cookie sheets evenly spaced. I like to use a cookie scoop for this. Flatten by half with your fingertips. Bake in your preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies will be set, but they will not brown. They will be the pale color of shortbread.

Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet.

Enjoy! These also freeze beautifully!

Healthier Snickerdoodles – Gluten Free

Warm spices always sound so delicious and enticing when September hits. I like to fill my kitchen with the aroma, and Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. It’s nice to have an allergen friendly cookie recipe in my arsenal, and one that is healthier too but still tastes sweet and yummy.

This is a new recipe for Snickerdoodle cookies that are gluten, dairy and nut free. I have a few options for you as well with ingredients you have right in your cupboard.

You can make these with maple sugar for a cinnamon maple flavor. Very good! But you can also use pure cane sugar if you choose. They are delicious both ways. I love the whole grain single flour option in this recipe. I started out making them with quinoa flour, and then I tested them with brown rice flour. They both tasted like a great Snickerdoodle with a nice texture. The main difference is when you use quinoa flour, the cookies tastes nutty. I like them both ways and have been rotating how I make them.

With a little lower sugar, these cookies are better for you. I also used half shortening and half olive oil. I have seen more and more baking with olive oil lately, and it is a healthy option. Italy for instance has been using it for baking for many, many years with delicious results.

Here’s how to make my healthier Snickerdoodles!

Gluten Free Snickerdoodles

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Quinoa Flour or Brown Rice Flour

1/2 Cup of Maple Sugar or Pure Cane Sugar

1/2 Cup of Organic Shortening

1/2 Cup of Olive Oil

1 Egg

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

Cinnamon for the tops (about a tablespoon)

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar, shortening and olive oil until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat again to incorporate well.

In another bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda and salt. Then, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until completely incorporated.

With a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out 24 tablespoon sized cookies onto two parchment lined cookie sheets. Flatten the cookies with the palm of your hand to half inch thick rounds. Sift the cinnamon over the tops of the cookies directly onto the cookie sheet.

Bake in your preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes until the cookies are starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Cool on the cookie sheet.

Makes 24 cookies

Drop a line to let me know what you think. I always like to hear from you!

Sandra

Matcha Green Tea Cookies

These gently sweetened matcha green tea cookies are a biscuit cookie delight!

They are melt in your mouth goodness with the delightful taste of matcha green tea and maple sugar and the chewy caramel flavor of chopped turkish apricots. A tiny bit of cardamom gives them an exotic twist that you will love. If you have never had cardamom in a cookie, you are in for a wonderful surprise. It’s so good in cookies! You will love these healthier cookies made with a gluten free flour blend that are not overly sweet and are dairy free! I used olive oil, the newest healthier baking trend that I have been making recipes with for a while.

My daughter tasted her first one of these cookies and said they were so buttery. They taste buttery, but in fact it is a generous amount of healthy olive oil that is the secret!

These cookies are easy to shape to into fun little rectangles by patting them out into a slab and cutting and separating them.

Let’s bake cookies!

Matcha Green Tea Cookies

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cup of Gluten Free Flour Blend. I used King Arthur Measure for Measure in this recipe. A different blend has not been tested and may give slightly different results.

1/2 Cup of Olive Oil

2 Large Eggs

1/4 Cup of Maple Sugar (I use this brand)

1/3 Cup of Dried Turkish Apricots (finely diced) I get a lot of my dried fruit and nuts from nuts.com. I used organic and they are certified gluten free)

1 Teaspoon of Matcha Green Tea (I drink matcha every morning for energy, clarity and a metabolism boost!)

1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Cardamom

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, matcha and cardamom.

It another medium bowl beat your eggs, maple sugar, and olive oil with an electric mixer until it’s a creamy yellow – for about one minute.

Make a well in your flour mixture, and pour the beaten egg mixture into the flour bowl. Beat with your electric mixer until well incorporated. Fold in your chopped apricots. They dough will be stiff.

On a parchment lined baking sheet, dump out your cookie dough. Place another piece of parchment on top and pat and roll the dough out into a rectangle that is approximately 10 by 8 inches. You want the dough to be on the thick side so you get a nice puffy cookie, so make sure it’s about 1 inch thick. Remove the parchment and straighten the edges into a uniform shape with your hands.

With a large, sharp knife, cut the cookies into three rows long ways, six even cuts on the short side for 18 cookies total. You may need to add a little extra gluten free flour to the edge of your knife as you cut to prevent sticking.

With an offset spatula, separate the cookies about 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet.

Bake in your preheated oven for 15 minutes. The cookies will be slightly brown but still nice and green. Cool completely on the baking sheet.

These are a fun healthy cookie for St. Patrick’s Day!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Honey Cookies

These cakey cookies have warming cinnamon and honey in them with a drizzle of dark chocolate on top! The cookies are just sweet enough and made healthier with less sugar in the form of honey. Half the fat used is olive oil.

These are made with gluten free brown rice flour only which gives the cookie a cakey texture.

This recipe will make a batch of 14 cookies. Let’s bake healthier cookies!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Honey Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

1/3 Cup of Honey

2 Tablespoons of Ghee

2 Tablespoons of Good Olive Oil

1 Egg

1 Cup of Brown Rice Flour

1 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

——————————————————————-

1/4 Cup of Dark Chocolate Chips for drizzling on top

Directions:

In a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer, mix together the honey, ghee and olive oil until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix again until incorporated.

Sift together the brown rice flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, then add it to the honey mixture. Blend with the mixer on medium speed until thoroughly blended, about one minute.

With a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookies onto two parchment lined cookie sheets spaced two inches apart. Flatten the cookies slightly with the tips of your fingers.

Bake for ten minutes in your preheated oven. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the cookie sheet for a half an hour. In a double boiler, melt 1/4 cup of dark chocolate. Alternately, you can use a microwave by microwaving on high, stirring every ten seconds until just melted. If you take it too far, the chocolate will seize and not drizzle.

When the chocolate is melted, using a fork, scoop up some of the chocolate and drizzle it evenly over all the cookies. Let set until the chocolate dries. Store the cookies covered up to 3 days at room temperature. They also freeze very well.

Carrot Cake Quick Loaf – Grain Free

Moist and delicious Carrot Cake Quick Bread? Yes, please! This quick bread recipe is grain and dairy free and lower in carbs. It has chopped crystallized ginger sprinkled on the top, raisins in the batter, and is sweetened with pure maple syrup! There are plenty of carrots and the warm spices of classic carrot cake! I like to snuggle up with a piece of this and a good book or my favorite Netflix series!

Carrot Cake Quick Loaf

The batter blends up quickly in a food processor, so there is no need to grate the carrots, which can be tedious. Line your baking pan with parchment to lift the loaf right out of the pan and have an easy clean up!

Carrot Cake Quick Bread Loaf

sliced carrot cake loaf

Carrot Cake Loaf

Preheat your oven to 325º degrees. Grease a 5″ x 7″ Loaf Pan and line it with parchment. I like to cut a piece to fit the long sides of the pan with some extra over the edges so I can simply lift it out of the pan. See photo below.

Ingredients:

3 Cups of Chopped Raw Carrots

6 Eggs

1/2 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons of Coconut Flour, scooped and leveled (I use this brand )

1/4 Cup of Apple Butter

1/2 Cup of Raisins

1/3 Cup of Avocado or Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup of Pure Maple Syrup

1 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger

1/4 Teaspoon of Mace or Nutmeg

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Cup of Candied Ginger, Chopped (omit for very strict Paleo as there is a bit of sugar here)

Directions:

Using a food processor with a blade, chop the carrots, processing until they are a crumble consistency. Add the eggs and blend until pureed with the carrots. Add the Coconut Flour and remaining ingredients, except the crystallized ginger for the top, and process for about two minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times with a rubber spatula. The coconut flour will start absorbing the liquid and be a nice cake-like batter. With a rubber spatula, scrape all the batter into your prepared loaf pan, and rap the pan on your counter a couple times to level the batter somewhat. Take your crystallized ginger and sprinkle it on the top of the batter. Bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes keeping a close eye on the bread at the end. It is done when the loaf springs back in the center when touched with your finger.

Remove from the oven, and cool for ten minutes in the pan. Then, remove the loaf from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Enjoy!

Grain Free Carrot Cake Loaf - Grain Free with Raisins, Maple Syrup and Crystalized Ginger! Paleo, Gluten and Dairy Free

Celebrating and Still Staying Healthy During the Holidays

22799678 - christmas tree with vegetables

The holiday season is in full swing and so is cold and flu season. We all want to stay healthy and enjoy this festive time of the year. Indulging in too many sugary treats and processed food when temptation is all around us can derail our best intentions and set us up for unwanted weight gain, sluggishness, bloating, fatigue, lower immunity and brain fog.

We all want to enjoy the gatherings, parties and festivities. You don’t have to be perfect with your eating, but a little extra care and attention can make a very big difference on how you feel going into the New Year without having to sign up for a new gym membership or crash dieting.

A good way to stay energetic, positive and healthy through the holidays is to get in the kitchen and make some healthy meals and your own healthier treats and snacks to take to holiday gatherings.

Here’s a few ideas from the recipe index to get you started.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chicken and Vegetables

Beef Paprikash with Spaghetti Squash Noodles

Cocktail Meatballs with Honey Orange BBQ Sauce

Zucchini Tomato Quiche

Oven Roasted Carrots with Cumin, Lime and Pumpkin Seeds

Lacinato Kale with Garlic and Almonds

No Bake Peppermint Ice Caps

Roasted Red Pepper Tapanade

Very Vanilla Truffles

Vanilla Pear Bread

Sweet and Salty Spiced Nuts

Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake

Enjoy your holidays, and remember, there are many other ways to be festive, and food is just one part. We all love to eat, but other activities can be just as rewarding, if not more so in the long run, such as playing board games, going ice skating or other outdoor activities, playing good music, enjoying all the lights and decorations, taking in a movie (I’m thinking the new Star Wars), meeting someone for a coffee date, finding a new favorite read, watching movie classics, or even starting a new traditional food favorite that is good for you that people look forward to every year including yourself!

Happy and Healthy!

Sam

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies

Molasses has such an earthy, rich flavor, and it has vitamins and minerals in it unlike it’s refined sugar counterpart. I revamped this old family favorite to make it refined sugar free and grain free and bring you a bit of the old fashioned farmhouse feel. The flavor is outstanding in this soft cookie with cinnamon, ginger and cloves! I have tested it on 1-year-olds, teens, and my hubby and tweaked them four times before getting them how I wanted them.

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies – Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free, Paleo

Here is an article about some of the benefits of blackstrap molasses from Natural Living Ideas – 10 Blackstrap Molasses Benefits That Will Convince You To Get A Jar.

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies

Makes 7 – 8 Jumbo Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350º degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs

1/4 Cup of Blackstrap Molasses (I use this kind)

1/4 Cup of Pure Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup of Coconut Oil (soft but not melted)

1/2 Cup of Coconut Flour

1/2 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon of Cider Vinegar

1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon of Ginger

1/2 Teaspoon of Cloves

4 Teaspoons of Coconut Sugar for the tops of the Cookies

Directions:

In a large bowl with a hand held electric mixer, cream together the eggs and coconut oil. Add the molasses, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Beat until creamy and combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients except the coconut sugar. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Add the second half of the flour mixture and beat for one minute. Add the apple cider vinegar. This will activate the baking soda. Beat for approximately 30 seconds. Set the cookie dough aside for five minutes and grab the coconut sugar. This allows the coconut flour to absorb the wet ingredients. With a large muffin sized scoop or a 1/4 cup measure, scoop balls of cookie dough onto your parchment lined cookie sheets, spacing them three inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut sugar. With three fingers, gently press down on the cookies to flatten evenly. See photo below. The coconut sugar keeps the dough from sticking to your hands when you press, and it adds a nice crunch to the top.

Pressing Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies

Bake in your preheated oven for 13 to 15 Minutes just until set. If you over bake them, they will not be as moist as they could be, and who doesn’t like a moist cookie?

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies – Gluten Free, Grain Free

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the cookie sheets.

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies – Dairy and Gluten Free Made with Coconut Flour

These keep at room temperature for three days, and they freeze exceptionally well!

Enjoy!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Double Chocolate Bakery Style Cookies

Double Chocolate Cookies - Coconut Flour Baking

We talked about getting in your vegetables, which is so important to our overall health! Community and celebrations are equally important and a key factor that Octogenarians living in the Blue Zones of the world all have in common. Celebrations invariably have food, including sweet choices. Balance is key and not diving in face first into a whole batch. Believe me, I’ve been there! Think college years! I myself love a delicious treat that is full of healthier ingredients! So, here is one we enjoy here at my home that I am proud to bring to any gathering!

Double Chocolate Cookies Date Sweetened Coconut Flour

This Double Chocolate Jumbo cookie recipe is a healthier version of a coffee shop cookie, but just as delicious, with less guilt, and more benefits! I used a date paste I made myself with just pureed dates. You can easily make a batch and keep it on hand in the refrigerator, or make just enough for this recipe. It takes very little time! There are local pastured eggs in these beauties, Enjoy Life chocolate chips (here) which are dairy and soy free, raw cacao and heart healthy olive oil. Let’s bake!

Jumbo Double Chocolate Grain Free Cookies

These are perfect for a picnic or while sitting in the park waiting for the Fireworks!

Double Chocolate Jumbo Cookies with Coconut Flour

Double Chocolate Bakery Style Cookies

Preheat your oven to 350º degrees.

Date Paste Directions:

Soak 1 1/2 cups of Medjool Dates in hot water for five to ten minutes until soft. Drain and remove the pits. Blend in a blender with 1/2 cup of hot water. That’s it! Date Paste. You will use 1/2 cup in this recipe. The rest lasts a long time in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it or make just enough for these cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup of Date Paste

1/2 Cup of Olive Oil

1/3 Cup of Coconut Flour

1/4 Cup of Raw Cacao Powder (here)

2 Pastured Eggs

1 Tablespoon of Grass Fed Collagen (optional here)

1 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/2 Cup of Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips (here)

Directions:

With a handheld electric mixer, cream the olive oil and date paste. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, blending after each addition. In a separate bowl, sift together with a wire whisk the coconut flour, raw cacao powder, salt, baking soda and gelatin. Add it to the date and egg mixture, and blend thoroughly. Fold in the mini chocolate chips, then let sit for five minutes. The coconut flour will thicken up the batter. Scoop the dough onto a large parchment lined cookie sheet with a muffin sized scoop, spacing the cookies evenly into 8. Flatten slightly with a fork so the tops are even. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool on the cookie sheet for ten minutes. Mmmmmm!

Enjoy your day!

Double Chocolate Cookies Grain Free and Yummy

Lemon Fig Cake

Lemon Fig Cake on a Plate

Lemon Fig Cake

Lemon Fig Cake (Coconut Flour)

Date Sweetened Lemon Fig Cake Using Coconut Flour

Yes, I love cake, and I am a healthy eater and consider myself vegetable forward. I don’t eat refined sugar anymore. I ditched it several years ago in favor of natural sweeteners like dates, honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar. After some practice and experimentation in the kitchen, and reading a lot of cookbooks on baking with alternative sweeteners, (You should see my library, seriously. Does anyone else read cookbooks like novels?) I find I prefer the natural sweetener’s flavors over the white stuff. I like options! Dates give substance to baking, are a whole food, and have a rich flavor similar to brown sugar. Honey is distinct, light, and good for neutral baking. It does have a tendency to over brown at too high of a heat. Maple syrup is very distinctive. I think everyone can picture that flavor on their tongue. It is delicious in chocolate breads and with pecans for example, and coconut sugar has an earthy flavor and is closest in texture and application to refined white sugar.

Lemon Fig Cake Grain Free

Lemon Fig Cake

So, tada………introducing Lemon Fig Cake! Don’t worry if you think you don’t like dates, they are not predominant in the cake. They just add moistness and structure to the cake and contain a ton of trace minerals, calcium and fiber. Dates are a fruit and a whole food sweetener.

Lemon Fig Cake

Ingredients:

6 Eggs (I used local)

1 Cup of Medjool Dates (Soaked and Pitted)

1/2 Cup of Coconut Flour (here)

1/2 Cup of Apple Sauce

1/2 Cup of Dried Figs, halved

1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

Zest of 1 Lemon (organic)

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda (Gluten Free here)

1/2 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract (I use this kind)

1/4 Teaspoon of Fine Sea Salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350º degrees F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Place the dates in a bowl, and cover with very hot filtered tap water, and soak for five minutes. Halve your dried figs from stem to base and set aside. If they are extremely dry, you should soak them as well. In a food processor with a blade attachment, crack six eggs. Pit the dates after soaking and add them to the eggs. Then, process the eggs and dates until you have just little flecks of date in your batter. Add the remaining ingredients, except the figs, and process for about one minute until the batter is a smooth creamy yellow and a thick cake batter. Scrape the batter into your prepared parchment lined pan. Now, add your figs decoratively on the top, cut side up and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched with your finger. Cool on a wire rack, then remove the cake from the pan using the parchment paper as handles.

Lemon Fig Cake Batter (Grain Free)