5 Minute Coconut Cream Cheese Paleo, dairy-free

Okay, so you may say that this title is misleading. The cream cheese has to ferment for 18 to 24 hours. But that's not work-time for you. That's just the cheese doin' it's thing while you sleep and wake up and go for a bike ride or whatever it is you do. The actual prep time to make this dairy-free cream cheese it literally 5 minutes. So easy. Of course you could leave out the probiotics, and then it would be 5 minutes from start to finish, but it won't taste nearly as good, and it won't be nearly as good for you. Trust me—follow the directions and you will be so happy :-)

5 Minute Coconut Cream Cheese

dairy-free, Paleo

Ingredients:

2 (13 oz) cans of full-fat coconut milk OR 1 (33 oz) carton of coconut cream (THIS one or THIS one work best. They are less expensive purchased in Asian grocery stores.)

1 tbsp maple syrup

the contents of enough dairy-free probiotics to equal about 37 billion* 

Note: This method (directions below) of straining the coconut milk/cream in a cloth napkin will NOT work with coconut milk that contains gum, like Thai Kitchen (I've tried!). 

Directions:

The only trick is that the milk/cream needs to be separated. If it isn't separated when you open it, then put it in the fridge over night to get it to separate. Sometimes that won't work either (I know, it's so frustrating) and in that case you can pour the milk/cream into a large bowl and freeze it completely to get it to separate. Then you have to let it thaw at room temperature (which takes a long time), because heating it will make it emulsify again.

But the majority of the time both of these brands have separated for me when I refrigerate them, if they aren't already separated at room temperature.

Place a thin cloth napkin over a large mixing bowl and pour the contents of the separated milk/cream over the napkin.

Lift the napkin and squeeze some of the water out. Don't go crazy squeezing or your coconut cream will be too dry. Just remove most of the water. When you open the napkin it will look like a ball of soft cheese (above), which is what gave me the idea to make this cream cheese.

Now all you need to do is pour the water out, add the cream (the ball) to the bowl, and mix in the maple syrup and probiotics. (Make sure that the bowl is sterile first.)

Put this mixture in a sterile glass dish with a lid. Put the dish on top of a heating pad sandwiched between two kitchen towels, as seen HERE. (Click on THIS link for a heating pad with NO automatic shut-off.) OR keep the container in a warm place. Leave it to ferment for 18 to 24 hours, or until it tastes to your liking.

Refrigerate the cream cheese to set. Let it come to room temperature before using. (It will be hard straight from the fridge.)

The cream cheese above is spread on rolls that are made with THIS onion bagel recipe. But I omitted the gum, so they fall apart a lot. 

*Ther-biotic Complete by Klaire Labs are the best probiotics, but you have to get them from a healthcare practitioner. This cream cheese WILL work another brand. I just had to mention it because I know some of you will

ask :-)


♥, Kelly

Snickerdoodles

(photos and recipe courtesy of Slim Palate)

I'm in the "third trimester" of my fourth cookbook, feeling like, "I'm never doing this again!" (again). Then the book will be born, and I will be so elated that I will forget it all, and be ready to have another.

As I'm sure you've noticed I haven't been able to post any new recipes lately... because I don't have any :-) All of my time has been spent wrapping up Paleo Chocolate Lovers, which is due (pun intended) in just 2 weeks.

So I asked my friend Josh (see a photo of us in Austin HERE ) if I could share one of his recipes with you (thanks Josh!). It was really hard to decide. All of Josh's recipes and photos are amazing. And what's even more amazing is that Josh started his blog when he was just 16-years-old. If you aren't already a fan of his, take a minute to read his incredible story. Josh is such an inspiration to us all, and I'm so grateful for his friendship.

(photos and recipe courtesy of Slim Palate)

And without further ado, here are Josh's snickerdoodles, which he recently shared with some of his high school friends, who said they were amazing.
♥, Kelly

Snickerdoodles by Slim Palate

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
¼ cup coconut oil or butter (both variations work but the best tasting results were with butter of course)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt if using coconut oil
¾ teaspoon liquid stevia with ¼ cup almond milk or ½ cup honey (you may have to add more coconut flour if using honey see notes section)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
pinch of salt

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2) In a medium bowl combine almond flour, coconut flour, salt and baking soda until well combined.
3) In a small bowl add egg, vanilla extract, coconut oil or butter, and liquid stevia plus almond milk or honey and whisk together.
4) Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until thoroughly incorporated and combined.
5) Roll dough into equal sized balls about an inch in diameter and place them on the baking sheet for now.
6) In a small ramekin or bowl place 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and roll each ball around in the cinnamon until completely coated and place back on the baking sheet evenly spaced apart with enough room for flattening them.
7) Dip either the bottom of a mason jar or cup with a rounded bottom into cinnamon and flatten each cookie about to about ½ inch thickness.
8) Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the center of the cookies are no longer completely soft and have a slight resistance to the touch.
9) Place on a wire rack and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.

Notes: If you’re using honey you may need to add more coconut flour to have the dough thick enough to roll into balls. Just make it normally and if you need to add more simply add it by the tablespoon and incorporate it thoroughly until you can roll the dough into balls.

Cashew Cheese (full of probiotics) and a Savory Cheesecake for Mother's Day

Today Elana and I were talking about fermented nut cheese and how much we love it. It got me thinking about my Savory Caprese Cheesecake. I haven't made it in far too long.

And I think it would be perfect to make for Mother's Day. 

Like all of my recipes it's dairy-free, but you will never know the difference. To get my recipe click HERE.

You can also see our video of how to make this delicious nut cheese, full of probiotics:




Have a fantastic week!

♥, Kelly

Sweet Potato Noodles

I posted this photo (above) on Instagram today, and a bunch of people were curious what it was and how to make it, so I thought I would write a quick explanation. These are sweet potato noodles. Not store-bought noodles that have sweet potato mixed with flour, but noodles literally made from spiralized sweet potato. I cook my sweet potato noodles in lard over about medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  It couldn't be faster or easier.

Since I don't have a sauce for you today I wanted to link to THIS recipe for sweet potato noodles, which I have been meaning to try for some time now. These noodles are made exactly the same way, they just use a different setting on the spiralizer (the difference between fettuccine and spaghetti).

Also, I have only ever sauteed my sweet potato noodles, but THIS soaking method is on my list of things to try.

I use one of my favorite tools to create these noodles in a matter of seconds: The Benriner Turning Slicer, which you can see in another one of my recipes HERE.

Below is one of my photos demonstrating how the spiralizer works:

I think a food processor with the julienne slicer setting would also work.

Meanwhile I'm a month away from my Paleo Chocolate Lovers deadline. If you've missed my teaser photos on Facebook, you can see them on Instagram HERE.

♥, Kelly

German Apple Pancakes & Caveman Feast

I'm a fearlessly impulsive kind of person. When I decide to do something I do it right away, like when Ginger and I jumped on a plane last month to go to PFX, and like last night when I decided to buy Caveman Feast then immediately made this recipe. When I say we should do something my husband often jokes, "...Oh— you mean right now!"

In Austin I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with George, the author of Caveman Feast, but it doesn't take long to become a fan of his. George will tell you he's in a constant "state of happiness" and you can feel it when you're around him or reading his blog. It's contagious.

I tweeted George last night, as I looked through his book, that I am in awe of his meat recipes—I could really use help in that department. But I couldn't wait until I bought ingredients to try something, which is why I made his German Apple Pancakes this morning. However, I will be making a grocery list for those mouth-watering meat dishes.

(Click the recipe to see it larger.) This morning for some reason I couldn't find my ramekins (how cute are they in ramekins?!) so I used my 12 inch cast iron skillet. I put the skillet in the oven then turned on the heat (425 as George says). This way the cast iron got nice and hot while I made the apples and blended the batter.

If you use a cast iron skillet be sure to remember NOT to touch the hot skillet! Add 2 tbsp of coconut oil to the hot pan, pour in the batter, then top with the apples. Mine took about 18 minutes using this technique.

Sometimes it is so nice to just follow someone else's recipe :-) I really enjoyed this, and I can't wait to make more! Almond Jalapeno Burgers, Breakfast Burritos, Pumpkin Chicken Chili, and Eggs Benedict Over Savory Waffles are at the top of my must-make list.

♥, Kelly

Relish: An illustrated food memoir by Lucy Knisley

Hi all, it’s Andrew here with another book review.

Did you know that Kelly and I met in art school? We went to the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Kelly majored in photography, and I studied graphic design. (I love that these two things come together every day in the Spunky Coconut books and blog.)

While in school I knew of a couple students who drew serious comic books, but for the most part I had thought of “comics” as either superheroes or the funny pages. After joining Twitter a few years ago I stumbled upon the independent comic book community. The artists in this genre tell thoughtful and humorous stories in an illustrated form. One of the comic artists I follow is Lucy Knisley. Her newest book, Relish, was released earlier this month, and her publisher was nice enough to send me a copy to review.

Knisley’s Relish is a charming foodie-autobiography. Readers are treated to tales of childhood family dinners; bustling restaurant kitchens; work on her mother’s farm and catering business (where she brought coffee to a shivering Kate Hudson at Vanity Fair photo shoot!); culinary trips to Mexico, Japan, and Italy; and post-college cooking on her own. The stories are a meaningful mix of food and her relationships with parents and friends.

Lucy has a delightfully illustrated book tour schedule on her blog. For the next few days she’ll be in Portland, OR, then she’s off to Seattle. This review is coming in after most of the tour dates, but you can be sure that those bookstores still have copies for sale.

There are illustrated recipes too, and lots of them happen to be gluten-free!

—Andrew


Note to parents: I’d say this book is best for teens and older (not for little kids). There isn’t anything graphically shocking in here, but I should mention that one of her stories discusses how a fox killed one of her mom’s chickens, and another story pokes fun of her 15-year-old friend who bought nudie magazines in Mexico.

Banana Silver Dollar Coconut Flour Pancakes

Yesterday I took a day off from work on my next cookbook. My friend Aran and I went to Lucille's in Longmont and caught up on all that has been going on in our lives over bacon, potatoes and eggs. Then the kids had some classes before we all went to Boulder to stop by Aran's book signing. While we were there we ran into our old neighbor, who we miss so much, and a friend of ours from Tyler, who also lives in Boulder now. It was so great. Then we spent the rest of the evening with Elana, and I was so glad that all I had eaten at Whole Foods was a (fab) green smoothie. Elana had all sorts of awesome Paleo salads and cookies. Everyone was laughing, playing, sharing stories and eating good food. I couldn't imagine a better day off.

This morning I wanted something light and easy for breakfast, and that's exactly what these yummy little silver dollar pancakes are. And now I must post this recipe and get back to business :-) Have a great weekend!

Banana Silver Dollar Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/3 cup mashed banana 

1/4 cup almond milk

2 tbsp (22 g) coconut flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

pinch of ground cinnamon

Directions:

1) Puree all of the ingredients in the blender.

2) Add a little coconut oil to a large frying pan, preheated heated over low to medium heat.

3) Pour small "silver dollar" pancakes about 3 inches wide.

4) Flip when they are ready, and cook on the second side until done.

5) Add more coconut oil to the pan between batches.

Makes about 15 silver dollar (3 inch) pancakes.

Note: I don't think that these would work as regular sized pancakes.

♥, Kelly

UPDATES: These pancakes are not going to taste the same as my pancakes (and other recipes) that use a blend of flours. You could say that my family and I have developed a more minimal ingredient style with time, and the less we use, the less we mind :-) However, if you're game to try these, I want to point out two things:

1) Weight (grams) is more accurate than volume (cups). If your pancake batter is super runny (and perhaps you're using volume) then add another tablespoon or so of coconut flour (or try using weight instead).

2) In the directions it says "low to medium heat", and "cook until done". Unlike usual pancakes, these require lower heat so that the inside cooks before the outside burns. And they do take longer to cook than usual pancakes.