Soft and gooey chocolate brownie

I've been trying to find recipes of food, snacks and sweets that are good to freeze so that when the baby comes we can always just go to the freezer because we probably won't have the energy or time to cook every night and we don't want to get take-out all the time. So I'm trying to prepare as much as possible while I'm not working. I found this recipe on paleogrubs.com and it's a super easy recipe with not that many ingredients and it's pretty much like a normal chocolate cake/brownie.

Ingredients
makes about 10 brownies/1 round cake
240 ml almond butter
80 ml maple syrup
1 egg
2 tbsp melted ghee
1 tsp vanilla
80 ml cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond butter, maple syrup, egg, ghee and vanilla. Stir in the cocoa powder and baking soda gently.
Pour the batter into a 22 cm baking pan (I used a round one).
Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the brownie is done, but still soft in the middle.
Let cool and enjoy by itself or with some berries and cream.

Cinnamon sugar cookies

I've looked at this recipe for a while now and been wanting to make them but didn't get around to it. I decided today was a good day to do some baking so I went ahead and made them. They really are delicious and super simple to make.

Ingredients
makes about 25 cookies
480 ml almond flour
120 ml coconut flour
120 ml coconut sugar (plus about 60 ml for rolling in)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
7 tbsp grass-fed butter, melted
60 ml maple syrup
1 egg, whisked
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line an oven tray with baking paper.
Combine almond flour, coconut flour, coconut sugar (120 ml), cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Combine butter, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract in a another large mixing bowl.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet, mixing until they are all well combined.
Roll the dough into balls about 2,5 cm in diameter.
Roll each ball in the additional 60 ml coconut sugar to lightly cover.
Place on tray and press down lightly to flatten a little. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 12-14 minutes, there should to be a soft center.

Banana bread with chia seeds

Got in the mood to bake something easy and delicious yesterday and found this recipe. It turned out that I had all the ingredients at home so I decided to start baking. It turned out extremely well.

Ingredients
makes 1 loaf/serves 12
400 g ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
6 eggs
4-6 fresh pitted dates (depending on size)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
60 ml coconut oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
120 ml coconut flour
60 ml chia seed
2 tbsp protein powder - optional

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
Combine banana, dates, oil, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs and baking powder in a food processor and blend until creamy and combined. Add the coconut flour and chia seeds and mix through.
Rest for about 10 minutes to allow the chia seeds and coconut flour to expand.
Lightly oil one loaf tin and line with baking paper.
Add the batter to the tin. Decorate with some shredded coconut and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Bake for about 50-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre will come out dry.

Almond macaron

I had a craving for French macarons today but it's not something that we just have at home so I decided to make some myself and I also had a couple of egg whites in the fridge from making mayonnaise the other day that I wanted to do something with. Found this Paleo friendly recipe and gave it a go. I only made the top parts and no filling, but they are yummy to eat just as they are. I'm sure you can make them a bit prettier than mine as well I guess.

Ingredients
makes about 15

300 ml almond flour

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp lemon zest

2 egg whites

60 ml raw honey (I used rice malt syrup)

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 120 degrees Celsius.

Mix cinnamon and lemon zest in a medium bowl.

Add honey and lemon juice and stir vigorously to blend thoroughly.

Beat egg whites and fold in to the mixture.

Add almond flour and mix thoroughly but carefully.

Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Use a teaspoon to scoop small portions of the batter onto the baking paper. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes.

Chocolate hazelnut cupcakes

I have found a new love for hazelnuts. They're just so delicious. I found this recipe on a Swedish blog and just had to try them because they sounded really tasty. They absolutely were!

Ingredients
makes 12
10 pitted dates
200 ml hazelnut flour
100 ml shredded coconut
50 ml melted coconut oil
4 tbsp cocoa
½ tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla powder
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin tray with coconut oil.
Mix dates, hazelnut flour and shredded coconut in a food processor. Pour in the melted coconut oil together with cocoa, vanilla powder and honey and mix again. Add the eggs and baking powder and mix until it's a smooth batter. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin trays and put in the oven for about 7 minutes. To get a sticky effect, keep them in the fridge for approximately 45 minutes before serving.

Served with coconut cream and strawberries

Soft and chewy spice cookies with molasses

I think Paleomg has some of the best dessert and treat recipes out there. This is the second time I try one of her cookie recipe and they turned out great.

Ingredients
makes about 18 cookies
2 eggs, whisked
240 ml almond butter
60 ml molasses
120 ml coconut sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
60 ml coconut flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour/arrowroot starch
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Mix eggs, almond butter and molasses in a large bowl.
In a medium sized bowl mix together coconut sugar, cinnamon, ginger, coconut flour, tapioca, baking soda and salt. Pour half of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix well. Then add the rest and mix until completely combined.
Line an oven tray with baking paper and scoop about tablespoon sized cookie dough drops on to the baking sheet. This should make about 18 cookies so you may need to use 2 oven trays.
Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies are firm on the top.

Chocolate, hazelnut and salted caramel tart

I've been wanting to make this tart for a few weeks now but I just haven't had the energy to do it until now. It was definitely worth it. I'm so proud of the result. Don't think I've ever managed to make something so pretty. The recipe is originally from the Merrymaker sisters' book but I've used the one on EatDrinkPaleo. It wasn't actually even that difficult to make and I've forgotten how good hazelnuts are.

Ingredients
For the crust:
360 ml almond flour
240 ml raw hazelnuts
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted or soft
1 egg
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the caramel layer:
150 pitted dates (soaked in boiling water for at least 10 minutes)
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted or soft
1 tsp vanilla essence
240 ml coconut cream (coconut milk is fine too)
1 tsp sea salt

For the chocolate layer:
100 g coconut oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp cacao powder
2 tbsp crushed nuts of your choice for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a tart tin (mine was 26 cm in diameter but smaller should work as well).
Begin with toasting the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. Swirl around frequently so that they don't burn but get a nice brown colour on all sides. Remove and let cool for a few minutes.
Place the hazelnuts in a food processor and grind into a fine flour (should take about a minute). Add the almond flour, coconut oil, egg, maple syrup and vanilla. Process until the mixture comes together.
Scoop the mixture out and make it to a ball. Place it and flatten it with a rolling pin in between two sheets of baking paper. Roll out by starting from the middle and roll out to the sides in each direction until it's about a 3-5 mm thick. Peel the top layer of baking paper off and flip the base over the tart tin. It's quite delicate so be careful. Mine broke quite a bit so I had to fill in the gaps when it was in the tin but that worked fine as well. Make sure the area where the sides and base meet are filled properly, preferably they need to be a bit thicker. Place a round sheet of baking paper to cover the base of the crust and put on baking beads (I used uncooked rice since I don't own any baking beads). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, remove the baking paper with the beads or rice and bake for another 10 minutes or until it's golden brown. Set aside to cool in the tin.
For the caramel filling; Drain the water from the pitted dates. Place them in a food processor together with coconut oil and vanilla and process until the form a thick paste. Add the coconut cream and salt and process again until it's smooth (should take about a minute, scrapping down the sides as you go). Spread the caramel filling over the crust and place in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.
For the chocolate layer; place coconut oil, honey and vanilla in a double boiler (a bowl placed over a pot of simmering water) and melt until combined. Add the cacao powder and whisk until it's smooth, probably only about 30 seconds, make sure not to overcook it. Take your base out of the freezer and pour the chocolate mixture over the caramel and spread with a spatula. Sprinkle with the crushed nuts and place in the freezer for another 5 minutes or so.

Serve with some whipped coconut cream or berries of your choice.
Leftovers can be stored covered in the fridge for about 5 days.

Chewy double chocolate cookies

This cookies are sooo good and easy to make. I wouldn't say they're healthy considering they have quite a lot of coconut sugar in them but compared to the alternatives in the store they are much better. I love Paleomg for putting up the recipe for these beauties.

Ingredients
makes about 13-15 cookies
240 ml thick almond butter (make sure it's not too oily)
240 ml coconut sugar
1 egg, whisked
120 ml unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
60-120 ml chopped dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
In a large bowl, mix together almond butter and coconut sugar using a large spoon. Then add the egg and mix again until well combined.
Add 60 ml cocoa powder at a time. It's probably easier to use your hands from now on since the batter is quick thick. Add all the cocoa powder and completely combine.
Then add baking soda, vanilla, salt and chopped chocolate. Combine until everything is well mixed.
Scoop out around 2 tablespoons of dough and make into a round ball. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper. This dough will create about 13-15 cookies that size.
Use a fork to press the cookies down just slightly. Don't press them down too much because they’ll come apart when they bake so be careful.
Place them into the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and let them cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing them from the baking paper as they can easily come apart when they're hot.
Enjoy!!

Chocolate peppermint balls

This recipe is originally from The Merrymaker sisters and they have it labelled as a Christmas recipe. I agree that it is a bit Christmasy but considering I'm a huge fan of mint I decided to give them a try even though we're only in April now. The original recipe is without the chocolate coating but I decided to make it slightly fancier and coat them in some dark chocolate. If you want a 100% Paleo recipe you will have to skip that step. Also, you will need kitchen scales for this recipe.

Ingredients
makes about 15 (depending on the size of the balls)
200 g pitted dates (soaked in boiling water for at least 10 minutes)
200 g desiccated coconut
30 g raw cacao powder
50 g coconut oil
½ tsp peppermint extract (or 4-6 drops pure peppermint oil)
100 g dark chocolate (70% or over)

Soak and drain your dates.
Mix coconut oil and cacao in a food processor until fully combined. Add the dates, coconut and peppermint extract and mix together until you have a smooth paste. Roll to balls, the size that you want them to be. Put them on a tray lined with baking paper and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Melt the chocolate in a water bath and roll the balls in the melted chocolate until completely covered with chocolate. Put them back on the tray and once all are covered (or there's no chocolate left) put them back in the fridge until completely cool.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 10 days.

Paleo jam filled cupcakes

This recipe is one of the best in a long time. So easy to make (especially if you have the jam already made) and they are super tasty. The recipe is once again from paleomg.com

Ingredients
makes about 10
2 medium bananas, mashed
180 ml nut butter (I used brazil, cashew and almond butter)
60 ml honey
3 medium eggs, whisked
1 tsp vanilla extract
60 ml coconut flour
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
about 80 ml homemade raspberry blueberry jam (or other jam of choice)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add the nut butter, honey, eggs and vanilla extract and mix together.
Then add coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and a pinch of salt and mix well.
Grease and line a muffin pan, scoop a large spoonful of the muffin mixture into 9 cups, filling the cups about half way. Then use a small spoonful (a bit over 1 teaspoon) of the jam and put in the middle of each cup. Put the rest of the batter to cover each jam filled cup.
Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before eating.

Ginger bread cookies

It's Christmas season and I'm definitely missing Sweden. There are so many differences between Australia and Sweden around this time of year. Firstly it's of course the weather; it's very hard to get into the right Christmas mood when it's over 20 degrees and sunny outside. So I sort of miss the darkness and the cold but it's only for this time of year when that's the case. Also, the food is a lot different. I miss my Swedish Christmas treats. Luckily I have been able to find some Paleo versions of these Swedish treats. This one I found on recept.nu

Ingredients
makes about 25 cookies
200 ml almond flour
100 g butter
50 ml stevia
2 ml ground cloves
2 ml ground cardamon
2 ml cinnamon
1 tbsp psyllium husk
75 ml coconut flour
2 egg whites

Make the dough about a day before and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Melt the butter together with the stevia and spices. Add in the almond flour and psyllium husk. Let it sit for about 30 minutes to expand. Whisk the egg whites hard and carefully fold it into the rest of the dough. Add the coconut flour and mix to a firm dough. Shape into a roll and cover with cling wrap.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Flatten the dough by using a rolling pin and use cookie shapes to make cookies.
Put them on an oven try with baking paper and bake in the oven for about 8-10 minutes.

Carrot protein slices

I've made this recipe once before but I never put it up on the blog because the result wasn't that good. This time it turned out so much better. I love these! Perfect as a snack. The recipe is from paleomg.com. I used a slightly bigger dish than the recipe so I got 12 slices but they were much thinner and therefore I only cooked them in the oven for about 25 minutes. I also excluded the raisins because I'm not a huge fan.

Ingredients
makes about 8 slices
2 large carrots, finely shredded
160 ml almond butter
2 eggs
3 tbsp honey
35 grams of whey protein powder (vanilla flavoured or unflavoured)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla powder (exclude this if you're using vanilla protein powder)
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
120 ml raisins (optional)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Shred the carrots as thin as possible. Add them to a large bowl. Add in the almond butter and eggs and mix well. Then add honey, protein powder, cinnamon, vanilla, baking powder and salt and mix well again. If using raisins, fold them in now. Grease a 20 x 20 cm large baking dish with a bit of coconut oil, pour the cake batter in the dish and place in the oven for about 25-35 minutes (depending on thickness). The top of the cake should have a nice crust to it.
Take it out and let it cool slightly before slicing it up.

Cashew butter cookies

These cookies looked so simple to make and seemed very tasty as well. Luckily they actually were as well. I found the recipe on kristensraw.com. Unfortunately mine didn't turn out quite as nice as hers though because for some reason I didn't pay attention when putting them on the sheet. I thought they would float out a bit more once the dough got warm in the oven. It doesn't really matter though, they still taste delicious.

Ingredients
makes 10 cookies
1 egg, room temperature
240 ml cashew butter
60 ml xylitol (or other sweetener)
½ tsp vanilla powder
2 pinches of salt
10 squares of Green & Blacks Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
Beat all the ingredients except for the chocolate together with an electric hand mixer until completely combined. Use a tablespoon and scoop the cookie dough on to the baking tray.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Let the cookies cool a little bit then push one square of the chocolate on the top of each cookie.

Paleo chocolate chip cookies

These cookies turned out great. Although I think I made them a bit too big so they didn't quite get that cookie crunch but the they're still delicious. The recipe was for 12 cookies but I only got 10 because I made them so big. The recipe is from The Food Lovers Kitchen.

Ingredients
makes 12 cookies
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
175 ml semisweet chocolate chips (I used 85% chocolate and chopped it up)
60 ml coconut oil
60 ml cup maple syrup
1 egg
350 ml almond flour

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.
In another mixing bowl beat eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
Melt the coconut oil and pour into the batter. Continue to blend until combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips. On an oven tray lined with baking paper, drop balls of cookie dough, about a tablespoon in size. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Paleo crumble

This is one that I made when I was back in Sweden. My parents have a lot of rhubarb in their garden and rhubarb pie is one of my favourite desserts. I'm afraid I don't remember the rhubarb part of the recipe but normally you mix together the rhubarb with some sort of sweetener and potato starch or tapioca flour.

Ingredients
serves 4-6
2 tbsp coconut oil (you can also use butter)
150 ml shaved almonds
150 ml shredded coconut
150 ml almond flou
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until it becomes a crumbly dough. Distribute the dough over the fruit in the pie dish and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until it's got a golden colour.

Banana and cashew butter brownies

Today I had an extremely unproductive day at work and I felt so unmotivated to do anything. So, I had a look on the internet for some recipes with cashew butter since I knew I had some at home and it's been there for quite a while and I wanted to finally use it. I found this recipe on http://www.cleanfoodcreativefitness.com

Ingredients
makes 8 pieces
80 ml cocoa powder
60 ml almond flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup cashew butter
2 eggs
1 mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla powder
2-4 tbsp cashew butter for decoration

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Combine your cocoa, almond flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
Using a hand mixer add in the ripe mashed banana, honey, 60 ml cashew butter and eggs.
Lastly mix in your vanilla.
Once blended pour into a greased 20x20 cm baking pan.
Drop your remaining cashew butter by the teaspoon on top of your batter. Use a knife to swirl into the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Chocolate mud balls

I am one of those weird people who is not a massive fan of chocolate. I do like it but put a fruity dessert and chocolate one and I will most likely choose the fruity one. That said, these chocolate mud balls are delicious. Found the recipe on fastpaleo.com

Ingredients

makes about 12

80 ml coconut flour

60 ml tapioca flour

80 ml unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt, fine

5 eggs

80 ml honey

60 ml coconut oil, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

300 g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and grease a 20x20 cm square baking pan with coconut oil.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine coconut flour, tapioca flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sea salt, blend together well. 

Add eggs, honey, vanilla and coconut oil to flour mixture and using an electric hand mixer blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the baking pan and place on the center rack in oven. Bake 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Using a small circular cookie cutter or an ice cream scoop, scoop out cake pieces and place on baking paper. Put a bowl over a pot of boiling water, add the chocolate and melt it, stir constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth. Dip the cake pieces into the chocolate using a fork. Make sure it's covered all over and place back on the baking paper. Cool in the refrigerator and allow to harden.

 

Mint cookies

For the people who know me, they would most likely know that I'm a huge, huge fan of everything with mint. So when I browsed through http://fastpaleo.com on Friday picking out what I was going to make over the weekend, I was very excited when I found the recipe for these mint cookies. Sure they're not mint slices but then again these are not packed with processed sugar.

Ingredients
makes about 12
240 ml walnuts
240 ml pitted dates
240 ml shredded coconut
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 tbsp maple syrup
100 g 70% dark chocolate

Put the walnuts in a food processor and chop until a fine meal is made. Add the dates to the food processor until they are all chopped finely.Add the remaining ingredients and mix until it's all combined.

Roll in to balls and flatten into biscuits. Place on a lined baking tray and put in the freezer for 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes, melt the chocolate in a small but deep bowl. Using a fork dip the biscuits into the chocolate and put back on the tray. Put back in the freezer until the chocolate is set. Store in the fridge.

Chocolate balls

So I've made similar things previously, well at least they look the same. I got the recipe for these of http://undervarttak.blogspot.se. The original recipe says it makes 30-35 balls but I must have made really big ones or something because I only got 20 balls. I guess it doesn't really matter. They're prefect to have in the freezer for those moments when you just feel like something sweet.

Ingredients
makes 20 medium sixed balls
200 g dates
100 ml walnuts
100 ml almonds
100 ml pecans
100 ml pumpkin seeds
100 ml desiccated coconut (+ a bit extra to roll the balls in)
4 tbsp raw cocoa
1 tbsp cinnamon
80 ml coconut oil
1 tbsp coffee

Chop the nuts and pumpkin seeds in a food processor. Put them away.
Mix the the dates and the shredded coconut in the food processor.
Add in the nut mix to the food processor together with the cocoa and cinnamon.
Add the coconut oil and the coffee until you have a smooth mixture.
Make little balls and roll them in desiccated coconut.

Rhubarb crumble

So this rhubarb crumble turned out pretty well. It was maybe a bit too sour but with the cream it was definitely very tasty. I found the recipe for the crumble mixture on http://recipes.sparkpeople.com

Ingredients
serves 3-4
500 g rhubarb
2 tsp honey
1 tsp arrowroot powder

2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 large egg
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
475 ml almond flour



Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Take the skin off the rhubarb and cut into 2 cm big pieces. Put them in a bowl and add the honey and arrowroot powder. Let sit for a few minutes.
Mix together the egg, coconut oil, cinnamon and almond flour.
Put the rhubarb on the bottom of an oven proof dish and add the crumble on top. Drizzle some honey on top of the crumble and cook in the oven for about 35 minutes.

Serve with some whipped cream with vanilla