Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa

Today's recipe comes from Skinnytaste.com.  I modified this recipe from the website for just one person, me.  My husband is not a breakfast person and I didn't want to end up with four servings.  Overall, the recipe came out pretty great, and you can add more flavor to it if you'd like, such as almond butter.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/4 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or apple pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond extract)
• 2 tablespoons apple sauce (and 1 tablespoon almond butter)

Add water, quinoa, cinnamon and extract to a small pot, and wait for water to bowl.  Low heat and keep lid on until all the water has evaporated, usually 10 to 15 minutes.

Put the quinoa in a bowl and add the applesauce and stir.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies/Cookie Sandwiches done the Babycakes way!

I know I've been on kind of a Babycakes kick, but what can I say?  Her recipes are delicious!  I have never been to the actual bakery in NYC, but I plan on it the next time I'm in the city.  Now, I know I've done a recipe before on chocolate chip cookies from the same author, but this is a different recipe from that one.  This is from her first Babycakes book.  It makes a crispier, larger cookie, which you can use as a cookie sandwich with your leftover frosting, like I did.  They were incredible, and a hazard to have in my apartment.  That being said, I am now back on my strict diet.  I have been so bad this summer with my diet, but for me summer is the most difficult time to pass up desserts.  There's desserts at barbeques, there's ice cream everywhere, especially at the shore.  It's difficult to pass up ice cream.  Anyway back to the recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 cup coconut oil
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups evaporated cane juice a.k.a. vegan sugar
• 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce, salt, vanilla, and evaporated cane juice.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, flax meal, baking soda, and xanthan gum.  Using a rubber spatula, carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until a grainy dough is formed.

Gently fold in the chocolate chips just until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.  Using a melon baller, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the portions 1 inch apart.

Gently press each with the heel of your hand to help them spread.  Bake the cookies on the center rack for 15 minutes, rotating the sheets 180 degrees after 9 minutes.  The finished cookies will be crisp on the edges and soft in the center.

Let the cookies stand on the sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely before storing or frosting them.  Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Makes 36 cookies.  Enjoy! 

Paleo Bagels

Today recipe comes from Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry.  Since I am trying to go gluten free for a month and just eat healthier in general, these are my substitute for New York bagels.  Now, they are no where near as good as the bagels near me, but they are filling and still good.  You can top them with any type of nut butter to keep it paleo or cheat and put butter (like I did...not very healthy) or peanut butter on them. Elana also suggests smoked salmon or scrambled eggs would work well with these too.  I'll have to try that next time.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 5 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a donut pan with coconut oil and dust with coconut flour.  In a food processor (or mixer, like I used) pulse together the almond flour, flax meal, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt.

Add the eggs and vinegar and pulse until thoroughly combined.  Next, pipe the batter or spoon the batter (like I did) into the donut pan.  The recipe makes 6.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of a bagel comes out clean.  Let the bagels cool in the pan for 1 hour, then serve.

To store, leave at room temperature overnight, then refrigerate in an airtight container.  Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cookies (done the Babycakes way)

I've been on kind of a baking kick lately, and one afternoon I was craving cookies, so I baked some oatmeal raisin cookies.  This recipe comes from Babycakes Covers the Classics, so since it's Babycakes, it's going to be gluten free and vegan.  I didn't have gluten free oats, so I just used regular oats.  They turned out great, but once I put them into the cookie jar, they fell apart, so they are a little cakey. 

I also found out some news, a lot of my family might have a gluten intolerance.  My cousin found out her son has Celiac's and my mom has Crohn's, which is a close relative to Celiac's.  A good portion of my mom's side of the family has had stomach problems, and just passing it off as, "well, it runs in the family..."  So now that I have found out this not-so-surprising news, I'm going to try and go gluten free for a month to see how I feel.  I usually thought it was the milk in the cheese from pasta, so I would always avoid anything with too much cheese in it at Italian restaurants or big gatherings.  We shall see the results of this experiment.  Sorry for rambling, now onto the recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 3/4 cups Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
• 1 cup vegan sugar
• 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats
• 1/4 cup ground flax meal
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup melted refined coconut oil or canola oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, oats, flax meal, cinnamon, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt.

Add the coconut (or canola) oil, applesauce, and vanilla and stir with a rubber spatula until a thick dough forms.

Add the raisins and stir until evenly distributed.  Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto he prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 8 minutes, rotate the baking sheets, and bake for 7 minutes more, or until golden brown.

Let stand on the baking sheets for 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy! 

Thin Mints done the Babycakes way

I have always been a fan of all things mint, especially with chocolate, and the Girl Scouts' Thin Mint cookies fit that category.  This recipe was very easy to make, but I feel like the cookies turned out too minty.  I don't know if there was a typo in my Babycakes Covers the Classics cookbook or not, but there was too much mint extract added.  Other than that, the cookies turned out really well.  A lot of my husband's co-workers really enjoyed them. 

Here's what you'll need for the cookies and the topping:

• 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
• 1 cup sugar (If you want to keep it vegan buy "evaporated cane juice")
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup arrowroot
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup melted coconut oil or canola oil
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup vegan gluten-free chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons mint extract (I would use less, maybe 1 1/2 tablespoons)

First, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Next, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, arrowroot, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt.  Add the coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix with a rubber spatula until a thick dough forms.  Drop the dough by the teaspoonful onto the prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Gently flatten each mound of dough, smoothing the edges with your fingers.  

Bake for 7 minutes, rotate the baking sheets, and bake for 7 minutes more.  Let stand on the baking sheets for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the chocolate chips and mint extract in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.  Stir until the chocolate chips are just melted.  Do not overcook.  Remove from heat.  Dunk the top of each cookie into the melted chocolate or spread it over them (I found the latter easier).  Refrigerate the cookies for 30 minutes on a platter, or until the chocolate sets.

Enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten-Free too)

I can't believe my blog is a year old already!  Hopefully I'll get more followers/viewers in this new year of my blog.  I made these cupcakes about two weeks ago when I was craving chocolate, and since the first cupcake batch came out well, I decided to go with my Gluten-Free Cupcakes cookbook by Elana Amsterdam.  They were also sugar free;  they were sweetened with agave nectar.  I like agave a lot, but sometimes when things are sweetened with it, it makes your baked goods extremely moist...a little more than I would like.  That being said, I thought the cupcakes were still very good, and the buttercream turned out really good too.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
• 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Here's what you'll need for the buttercream:

• 1/2 cup Spectrum all-vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread
• Pinch of sea salt
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 9 muffin cups with paper liners.  In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot powder, ground chia seeds, flax meal, salt, and baking soda.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, agave nectar, vinegar, and vanilla extract.

Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture with a large spoon until thoroughly combined.  Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into each prepared muffin cup.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 1 hour, then frost and serve.

Now onto the buttercream:

In large bowl, blend together the shortening and buttery spread with a handheld mixer until creamy.  Mix in the salt, agave nectar, and vanilla extract, whipping until smooth.

Refrigerate the frosting for 2 hours, or until firm.  Frost the cupcakes immediately, then place them into the fridge to keep the consistency of the frosting firm until serving.  Enjoy! 

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Meringue Frosting

Okay, again, it's been too long since I last updated my blog.  A lot has been going on in my life, but I'm not going to bore you with the details.  I'm finished with classes for the summer, well, I have one, it's on-line though.  I don't have a summer job (yet, but I'm hoping somebody will get back to me), so I will probably be updating this blog a lot. 

I made these cupcakes yesterday since I had a lot of strawberries that were probably going to go bad soon, so I wanted to use them for something.  This recipe comes from Gluten-Free Cupcakes by Elana Amsterdam.  It's the first recipe I've made from this book and they turned out great.  The frosting was a little too sweet for my taste, but the cupcakes weren't overly sweet at all, so it was balanced out.  The only bad thing about this recipe was it only makes 8 cupcakes, so if you're making them for an event, you might want to double or triple the recipe, same goes for the frosting.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries

Here's what you'll need for the frosting:

•  1/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh stawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the coconut flour, arrowroot, salt, and baking soda.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, agave, and vanilla.

 Blend the wet ingredients into the coconut flour mixture with a handheld mixer until thoroughly combined, then fold in the strawberries.

Scoop a few tablespoons of batter into each prepared muffin cup.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 1 hour, then frost and serve.

Now onto the frosting:  In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the agave to a boil, stirring constantly.  Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 6 to 10 minutes, stirring on occasion, until the agave darkens slightly from its original amber color.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a deep bowl, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks using a handheld mixer.  Stop whipping as soon as the egg whites are stiff.

Could have been stiffer.

Drizzle the warm agave very slowly into the egg whites, while whipping with a handheld mixer, to keep the peaks stiff.  Allow to cool to room temperature, then fold the strawberries into the meringue.  Use right away.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake

Yes, that's my homework under my dessert.

Let's make this clear, this isn't a cheese cake, this is a cake with cream cheese in it.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it came out very tasty and filling.  It was very chocolaty, not very moist, but still very good.  I baked this last weekend when I should have been doing my homework.  I had a huge craving for chocolate though, so I took a break from my accounting studies. 

Here's what you'll need:
2 cups hazelnut flour
2 cups almond flour
2 1/2 cups Stevia Extract in the Raw or 1 1/4 cups New Roots Stevia Sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup salted butter melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid stevia

First preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a Bundt pan entirely with butter and place it in the freezer.

In a large bowl, combine the hazelnut flour, almond flour, stevia, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt and whisk until well mixed.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and liquid stevia and mix with an electric mixer at medium-low speed.

Add the flour mixture one or two cups at a time, and mix at medium-low speed until it makes a smooth, thick, pourable batter. 

Remove your prepared pan from the freezer, then dust the entire inner surface with almond, pecan, or coconut flour (I used coconut because I have a lot more of it than the other two).  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and jiggle it to evenly distribute the batter into every nook and cranny.

Bake for 30 minutes, then gently rotate and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cake is springy when pressed in the center and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack.  Let the cool for at least 20 more minutes before slicing and serving.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon-Apple Muffins

This recipe comes from The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking (I told you I would be using this cookbook a lot).  I made the recipe yesterday morning and they turned out very yummy.  The recipe didn't make a lot of them, the recipe says 9, but I was only able to make 8.  I'm trying not to eat them all within a couple of days, it's been difficult because they're really good.

Here's what you'll need:
3/4 cup hazelnut flour
3/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup Stevia Extract in the Raw
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
6 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk or other milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon liquid stevia
1/2 cup coarsely chopped apple (about 1 large apple)
1/4 cup chopped almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, or walnuts (which was used in this recipe) for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 8 or 9 muffin cups with paper or foil liners, then mist them with spray oil.

In a medium bowl, combine the hazelnut flour, almond flour, stevia, baking powder, and cinnamon and whisk until well mixed.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, milk, applesauce, vanilla, and liquid stevia together until thoroughly blended.

Add flour mixture and stir with a large spoon for 1 to 2 minutes to make a smooth, sticky batter.  Fold in the apples.

Spoon or scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing it evenly among them; the muffin cups should be just about full.  Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes, then rotate and bake for about 20 to 25 more minutes, until golden brown and springy when pressed in the center.

Let the muffins cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Cheesy Herbed Pizza Crust Pizza

Before I tell you how to make this pizza, let me tell you this:  This was the most delicious pizza I have ever eaten!  I have had gluten free pizza in the past and it was never this good.  I have also grown up outside New York City where pizza parlors are on every corner and every Friday night when I was younger, we would order pizza.  So I know good pizza and I know great pizza, and this was beyond great, in my opinion anyway.  Maybe it was the flavoring in the crust, maybe it was because it was homemade, or maybe it was the Penzeys' pizza seasoning I used.  Either way, I highly recommend making this pizza crust the next time you make a homemade pizza.

Here's what you'll need:
1 cup sunflower seed flour (buy sunflower seeds and grind them in a mini-food processor)
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour (not garbanzo fava bean flour, there is a difference)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup shredded or grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded or grated cheddar cheese
2 egg whites
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Brush the surface of a 12-inch round pizza pan with olive oil.

In a medium bowl, combine the sunflower seed flour, garbanzo flour, baking powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, oregano, and thyme and whisk until well mixed.

Stir in the cheeses and stir the mixture to distribute the cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and broth together until thoroughly blended.

Add the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon for 1 to 2 minutes to make a thick sticky dough.

Transfer the dough to the center of the prepared pan.  Using oiled fingers, press it out to evenly fill the pan, making the edges slightly thicker if you like.  Prick the surface every 1 to 2 inches to help prevent bubbles and air pockets during the baking.

Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned and firm to the touch, with blisters of melted cheese all over.

You can immediately top the crust with your favorite toppings.

To bake the topped pizza, have the oven at 325 degrees and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the cheese has melted or until the toppings are heated through and cooked to your liking.

Slice and serve immediately.  Enjoy!