This recipe was adapted from one I found at Raw Food, Real World and is a favorite! You can even cut it in little squares and serve it as raw fudge.
Mix all crust ingredients until it feels doughy. Press into a pie pan, cover, and freeze for 30 minutes or more.
Blend all filling ingredients in a high-speed blender (I use a Vita-Mix) until smooth. Pour into chilled pie crust. Cover and freeze for one hour or chill in the fridge for two or more hours.
Blend all vanilla cream ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth. Freeze for about an hour. Either scoop some on each slice of tart or use cake decorating tools to make cool piping designs however you want.
Run your knife through hot water right before slicing, it makes it easier to cut.
Caution: this tart is rich!
This recipe is so versatile! You can fill them with many different fillings, dip them, slice them and stuff them…add a little parmesan to the dough to make them into gougeres; the possibilities are endless.
Freezable and definitely a hit at parties, you must learn to make them! Personally, I think the grain-free version actually holds up better than the AP flour one.
*Visit the link above to see pics of the process.*
So not be intimidated by this recipe. It’s as easy to make as whipping up a batch of cookies. Promise.
First thing is first. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Mise en place. Translates, everything in its place. This is an important step in this recipe because there is not any in between time to rush off and try to gather ingredients to measure out. Get all you ingredients measured and supplies together.
Begin melting your butter or coconut oil in the saucepan over medium heat.
While your oil is melting, mix together your arrowroot powder and water into a slurry. Be sure to incorporate all of the arrowroot powder. Set aside.
Once oil is completely melted and is getting hot, not smoking yet, but nice and hot (there’s no necessary temp to reach here), give your slurry another quick stir to make sure none of the arrowroot settled to the bottom and slowly pour the slurry into the hot oil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Continue stirring as the batter thickens. You will likely need to hold the handle with one hand as you stir with the other because it gets pretty difficult. The batter will come away from the pan and eventually resemble “The Blob”. The blob will be pretty stiff. Once you have a blob, remove from heat and transfer to your stand mixer or bowl.
Turn your mixer on medium speed. Add one egg at a time, mixing well between each one. Turn mixer on high and beat the dough until it becomes pale in color, no more lumps appear, and the dough appears sticky.
To test your batter, take a pinch between your fingers and pull them apart. If your dough stretches, then you’re ready. If not, return to the mixer and beat for another minute or so. At this point you can use the batter right away, or refrigerate it up to a day until ready to bake.
Place your dough into a piping bag or gallon sized zip lock. Snip the tip, or corner of the bag, respectively. Pipe out 12, 1 ½ - 2 inch blobs onto your baking pan, using up about ½ of the batter. They don’t need to look pretty. Alternately, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking pan. It’s not crucial to pipe, they just may not be as perfectly round.
Note: Use a wide, flat-tipped fitting on your piping bag and pipe out thick lines to make éclairs.
Place the pan into the hot oven and cook for 10 minutes at 450 degrees F. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes. Bake only one sheet at a time. Put remaining dough in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it. Remove from oven and let cool completely before filling.
Best if filled before storing (if filling can be frozen), but can be stored unfilled. Store in the freezer up to a month. Freeze by placing filled puffs on a baking sheet and freezing for an hour. After an hour, can be placed in layers in a parchment lined freezer safe Tupperware, separated by layers of parchment. Alternatively, store layered separated by parchment papers in an airtight container in the refrigerator a few days. Do not leave unfilled pastry on the counter. It will become hard and brittle. To defrost, simply take out and let come to room temperature.
Fill with desired filling by puncturing a hole in the side with the tip of a piping bag and squeezing in the filling, or slice in half and sandwich the filling between two halves.
Sweet Ideas: Fill with sweetened whipped cream, pastry cream, sweetened whipped coconut cream, strained sweetened yogurt or kefir, custard, thickened jams/jellies/preserves, butter-cream, fresh fruit or dip them in bittersweet chocolate or carob.
Savory Ideas: Fill with herbed cream cheese, dip in pate, fill with shredded seasoned meat, seasoned ground meat, egg salad, tuna salad, smoked salmon and cream cheese, or marinated vegetables.
WARNING: Do not try to put vanilla or honey into the batter. It will not puff! I’m not sure why, but this has been confirmed.
Yummy, crunchy walnut Biscotti, dipped in chocolate ~ a favorite for a Holiday brunch!
For the Biscotti, combine starter, butter, salt, eggs, cinnamon, ground walnuts, Sucanat, extract and enough whole wheat flour to make a stiff dough. Cover tightly and let it sit overnight or up to 12 hours at room temperature.
In the morning, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface (use unbleached flour), sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon soda over the dough and work it in well with your hands. Form the dough (using unbleached flour to prevent sticking) into two long rectangles, 3/4 inch thick. Place them on a baking sheet covered with a Silpat, parchment paper or lightly greased.
Bake in pre-heated 375 degree F oven and bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on a wire cooling rack.
Slice, cross-wise, into 1/2 - 3/4 inch slices. Lay the slices on their sides onto the baking sheet.
Reduce temperature in oven to 300 degrees F. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the pieces upside down and bake for 10 more minutes.
Cool on wire racks.
Now it’s time to cook the Chocolate Sauce. Combine the butter, cocoa, milk, and Sucanat in a small saucepan and, stirring, bring up to a simmer. Stir and simmer for 2 minutes.
Use a table knife to spread the chocolate sauce onto the ends of the Biscotti, like you see in the photo.
Return to wire cooling racks and allow the chocolate to set.
Store in airtight container at room temperature.
I love to dip these in nice fresh goat milk!
Making this gingerbread house has been a family tradition for us for many years. Now that our little ones have grown up, I make it with the grandchildren. I have adapted a recipe that was originally published in the Relief Society Magazine in 1967. Our tradition is to make it in early December, and then on New Year’s Day, the children are allowed to divide it up and eat it! (They never seemed to mind the dust.) 🙂
Please refer to the link above to my blog to get the pattern for cutting out the gingerbread house pieces, and also to see pictures of the assembly process.
Gingerbread
Mix all of the gingerbread ingredients thoroughly with an electric mixer. Place the dough in a covered dish and refrigerate it for 24 hours.
Use a large baking sheet (they call it a “half sheet”) and either line it with a Silpat, or, grease it and then line it with aluminum foil. Grease the foil, or the Silpat, as well.
Place the chilled dough onto the pan. Grease a rolling pin and wrap it in plastic wrap. The dough is a little sticky, and this will prevent problems. If you roll in the right direction, the plastic wrap will stay on the rolling pin. Turn it around when you need to go the other way!
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Roll the dough out carefully, to cover the pan. Be patient. It will take a little while to get it all rolled out evenly.
Place your parchment paper pattern onto the rolled dough, and folding it, use a small paring knife and gently score the cutting lines into the dough. There is no need to cut all the way through.
Beat an egg well, and paint the dough using a pastry brush or a piece of paper toweling dipped in the egg.
Bake at 300 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cut through the pieces all the way while still warm. Allow to cool completely.
Next, carefully remove the house pieces from the baking sheet and place them on wire cooling racks. Place the racks in the oven and let the gingerbread bake for another 10 minutes.
Royal Icing
Traditionally, Royal Icing is made from powdered sugar, cream of tartar and raw egg whites. This is a little different.
First, combine the Sucanat and xanthan gum, and one half at a time, grind it to a powder in an electric blender.
In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, place all the icing ingredients and mix with an electric mixer, while cooking, until the icing is stiff. Keep the pan of cooked icing covered with a damp dish towel at all times when working, as it dries out very hard.
Assembling the Gingerbread House
Again, please refer to my blog post on how to assemble the gingerbread house. I found that I could use a piping bag for the icing, but it was rather difficult, and I resorted to using a table knife to spread the icing where I needed it.
The decorations include popcorn, crispy pepitas, crispy almonds and raisins. (Crispy nuts and seeds are made by soaking them in salt water for at least 7 hours and then dehydrating them. This gets rid of the anti-nutrients and makes them much more digestible.)
Our family tradition has been to make a gingerbread house in early December, and then the children would divide it and eat it on New Year’s Day!
Dense, smooth and sort of fudgy, the original recipe is in a Betty Crocker cookbook. I’ve added a pinch of sea salt and vanilla, plus the coffee substitute to make the chocolate “pop.”
*Use ground chicory root for grain-free.
Makes (1) 8″ x 11″ pan.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter an 8-by-11-inch cake pan and set aside.
Over low heat, melt butter with honey, cocoa powder, sea salt, vanilla and coffee substitute (if using). When ingredients are smooth and butter is melted, remove from heat.
Lightly beat eggs in a mixing bowl. While whisking, add chocolate mixture. Mix until smooth.
Pour into buttered cake pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Chill thoroughly. Cut and serve. Optional: Spread with whipped cream before serving.
With bursts of pomegranate, chocolate and walnuts, each bite of these festive cookies is a real treat!
Cream together butter and sucanat, then beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine almond flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into butter mixture until combined, then fold in chocolate, pomegranates, and walnuts. Chill in the freezer for 30-60 minutes, or for several hours in the fridge. Spoon onto stoneware cookie sheets, flatten slightly (they don’t really spread) and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until desired consistency. Let cool on pan 10-15 minutes for removing to wire rack. Enjoy warm with raw milk, or you can store in the freezer and eat them frozen!
Your kids will never miss the refined flour and sugar in this healthy “sugar” cookie recipe … perfect for making your favorite holiday-shaped cookie cut-outs!
In a large bowl, combine flours, salt, baking soda and stevia. In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla, until smooth and creamy. Add wet ingredients to the dry, using a fork to mix until thoroughly combined. Chill dough in refrigerator at least one hour (or up to 24-hours).
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough in half. Place half on a large sheet of parchment paper. Keep other half of dough in bowl and return to the frig to stay cold.
Roll out dough on parchment to ¼-inch thick and use your favorite cookie cutters to cut shapes into the dough (see photo below). Gently remove cookie cut-outs and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form scrap-dough into ball and place back in fridge to re-chill. Remove other half of chilled dough and repeat process of rolling and cutting out dough until all dough is used. (You may need to use a little spelt flour on the top of the dough when rolling it out to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin.)
Decorate cookies, if desired, using dried fruits and nuts (see photos below). Bake for 7-9 minutes, until cookies begin to slightly brown along edges. Allow to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!!
Note: Combining almond flour with whole sprouted spelt flour yields a lighter baked good and also increases the protein content, as well as adds a sweet nutty undertone. So if you opt to substitute the almond flour called for in this recipe with another flour, be advised that you may not get good results.
This is a high-protein, very low sugar cobbler that can still taste indulgent for breakfast served with raw milk! Or you can add more sweetener for a healthy gluten-free dessert for the holiday season.
Peel, core and slice apples.
Melt coconut oil, add sliced apples and apple pie spice and cook for 5-10 minutes, until slightly softened.
Whisk together arrowroot and water and add to apples, letting bubble for a minute until thickened. If desired, you can add a bit of honey, but we thought it was sweet enough with just the apples. Place in buttered 9×13 pan.
Mix together almond meal and pecans with remaining dry ingredients, then whisk in eggs and milk. You can add a little stevia or honey if you want it sweeter. Pour over apples. If desired, you can refrigerate overnight in order to serve it warm for breakfast. Bake at 350 for around 30 minutes and serve warm with raw milk!
I made a homemade apple pie spice to keep on hand:
4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 ginger
dash of cloves
This soaked gingerbread is delicious served warm with freshly whipped cream
Mix together flour and milk, cover loosely, and leave in a warm place about 8 hours. When ready to bake, whisk together eggs with remaining ingredients. Add in soaked mixture until combined. Pour into a well-buttered 12 in. round stoneware pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy with whipped cream!
A dairy-free frozen dessert perfect for a hot summer day.
In a food processor or blender, blend together all the ingredients.
Chill in the refrigerator until very cold.
Turn on your ice cream maker and pour the mixture in.
Churn until it’s soft but holds it’s shape, about 20 minutes.
Freeze until firm.
Tastes like pumpkin pie without the crust!
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Using an immersion blender or mixer, blend until smooth and all the ingredients are well mixed.
Refrigerate until well chilled.
Turn on your ice cream maker (1 1/2 quarts or larger) and pour in the pumpkin mixture.
Churn until it’s a stiff soft-serve consistency, 30- 40 minutes.
Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze until firm, 6-8 hours.
The Sucanat gives this a light brown color and a slight molasses flavor that I really like.
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.
Blend using an immersion blender (you can also do this in the blender).
Pour into a container and put in the refrigerator to chill completely. This also gives the Sucanat time to completely dissolve into the mixture.
Process in your ice cream maker until it’s a firm soft-serve consistency. It took about 35 minutes in my machine.
Put into a freezer safe container and freeze for several hours until firm.