gluten-free Gingerbread Cookies, Go Ahead Honey!

As you may know if you follow my blog, I've been recreating Scandinavian cookies to be gluten-free, casein-free, and refined sugar-free. I'm half Danish, and we like to incorporate as many traditions into our Christmas holiday as possible. First I made Thumbprint Cookies, and lots of you tried them and loved them. Then I had to make Coconut Dreams. We can't resist anything coconut after all ;-)

My husband has fond memories of making gingerbread cookies with his mom and sisters when he was little. I'm afraid I've been putting off making spunky gingerbread cookies for far too long. But when Carol at Simply Gluten-Free announced her theme for Go Ahead Honey was Family Traditions I decided it was time.

We always make cookies with cookie cutters, but these are our first gingerbread cookies. None of us could be happier about how they came out. I'm so excited to have another cookie to add to our Christmas traditions =)

After we finished decorating our bears and Scandinavian hearts Ashley got to go wild with the leftover frosting in the piping bag =) She squeezed it all over her cookies, and then ate the rest with a spoon. It was great—everyone got to make their own cookies.

This recipe was really easy. I just took my chocolate chip cookie recipe, left out the chips, and added spices. I also added more coconut sugar to make them sweeter and darker in color. Usually the gingerbread cookie color comes from brown sugar and molasses. Using low glycemic index coconut sugar worked out perfectly instead.

gluten-free Gingerbread Cookies

Add to bowl:

1/2 cup applesauce

3 tbsp flax seed meal or 1.5 tbsp Chia Seed meal

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

12 drops vanilla liquid stevia

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup coconut sugar (which is low glycemic index, but has that nice brown color)

1/4 cup coconut oil or ghee (which is casein-free), liquified

1/4 tsp allspice

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1.5 tsp ginger

Mix with electric mixer.

Add:

1 cup almond meal flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder (Grain-free Baking Powder Recipe)

Mix again.

Lightly flour the side you're rolling out with a little coconut flour.

Roll to desired thickness and use cookie cutters.

Bake on unbleached parchment paper at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness.

Makes about 14 cookies.

Frosting

Puree in food processor:

1/2 cup macadamia nuts

1/4 cup honey or agave

1 tsp ghee or coconut oil

1 tbsp coconut milk

Add the frosting to a plastic bag and cut the tip just barely to pipe your cookies after they have cooled.

♥, Kelly

Vanilla Shake (vegan, dairy-free, refined sugar-free)

Sometimes I want to get my protein quickly and easily. And sometimes it's not about protein, it's about me just wanting a smoothie =) I think I lived on smoothies as a child and teen. Either for health reasons or not, there's no better way than this vanilla shake.

When I first saw hemp protein powder I got excited. Hemp is so good for you. In addition to 11 grams of protein, and 14 grams of fiber, one serving of this powder is also packed with 600 mg of omega-3, 1800 mg of omega-6, and 300 mg of omega-9. Love it!

I must warn you though: If you're not a person who likes protein powder then you may not be a fan. I personally grew up drinking protein powder, and the girls and I adore the stuff. My hubby however, was never into it. He doesn't like the texture.

And now on to my new favorite vanilla shake!

Vanilla Shake

vegan, dairy-free, refined sugar-free

Add to blender (I use Blendtec):

2 tbsp plain cashews (I use organic cashew pieces)

1 tbsp almond butter

2 to 4 pitted dates, depending on your taste

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup Manitoba Harvest, Organic Hemp Pro Fiber

about 6 ice cubes

1 cup water

Puree till creamy and smooth. Serve with these cool stainless straws.

Makes one large or two small shakes.

♥, Kelly

Cauliflower Mock Mashed Potatoes

Don't these mock mashed potatoes look amazing? They are =) I got the idea from my friend, Elana. You can see her recipe here. Although I do eat white potatoes once in a while, I don't like to eat them constantly. But to have "mashed potatoes" more often sounds like a good idea to me. So today when I was shopping for my Christmas groceries and I saw all the lovely cauliflower, I thought of Elana's recipe, and I bought one.

I wasn't skeptical. I knew it would be delicious. My husband on the other hand... was less than sure. Well, when he took a spoonful, seconds after I snapped this photo, he said, "Wow. I can't believe it." Teehee =)

Perhaps you may want to give them a try too.

Cauliflower Mock Mashed Potatoes

Cut one large head of cauliflower into bits and steam until fork tender.

Add the steamed cauliflower to the food processor with:

1/2 tsp Herbamare seasoning

1 tbsp ghee (which is casein-free), or other butter substitute

2 to 3 tablespoons cashew milk

(How to Make Cashew Milk Video)

Puree. Scrape the sides and continue to puree till creamy and smooth.

Top with fresh parsley.

Makes 4 servings.

♥, Kelly

Merry Christmas Menu Planning

I'm sitting here in my kitchen, planning my shopping list for Christmas dinner. Some of the ingredients I want to use aren't available at my local health food store. So I'm going to have to make a special trip to Boulder to get certain things, like the lingonberry sauce, and the ground meat for my meatballs.

As always, I'm making my Green Bean Casserole, which is time consuming, but extremely worth it. And I love that after I make this casserole (and everything we're planning to have) there will be leftovers for a couple days. Meaning: I wont have to cook again for days.

We can't have our Scandinavian-inspired Christmas without Swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce. This year I'm going to make them with half ground pork and half ground chicken because I have a hard time digesting beef and therefore almost never eat it. I think the meatballs will still be good though. You can find that recipe in my first cookbook.

On the side I'm going to serve Rosemary & Garlic Rolls with olive oil. I wish I had one right now. Mmm...

And finally we're going to offer Pumpkin Pie and rice pudding (from my first cookbook) for dessert. Zoe will have to have the rice pudding to see if she finds the almond in hers, which she usually does. :-)

What traditions do you have for your holiday meal? Tell us in the comments and leave a recipe or a link if you like :-)

♥, Kelly

Goji Chocolate Pie & Green Lemonade

I don't have any new recipes to share with you today, so I thought I would just photograph and talk about what I've been eating a lot of lately :-) Above is my Goji Chocolate Pie, which I first posted almost a year ago, when I was doing an iHerb giveaway. It's also in my new cookbook, Grain-Free Baked Goods & Desserts. If you check out the recipe post, don't forget—that giveaway ended last January!

When I made this pie this week I was wondering what else you could use in place of the goji berries. Some other kind of dried fruit... I recently found dried organic pineapple at Costco. Hmm... I don't know. Do pineapple and chocolate go together?

Anyway I've been eating this pie for breakfast along with Green Lemonade, from The Raw Food Detox Diet. I haven't made green lemonade in years (when I first got into raw food, leading to my raw-inspired recipes), then the other day I had a sudden craving for it. Maybe it was because I had just broken the Breville to juice a dozen organic grapefruit, so I had juicing on the brain ;-)

What have you been eating lately?

♥, Kelly

Kerstin's Almond Squares (gluten-free, casein-free)

If you follow me on the Spunky Coconut Facebook Page then you know that I was trying to make a Scandinavian jelly roll this morning. Well, technically, at 9:30PM last night, and again this morning. They didn't work, but maybe I'll figure them out later :D

In the meantime, I switched gears to tackle Kerstin's Almond Squares, on page 125 in Swedish Cakes and Cookies. Although most of the cookbook uses wheat, this book has been a great reference for traditional Scandinavian treats. This particular recipe happened to already be gluten-free, but I wanted to make it more spunky-style ;-)

Basically Kerstin's Almond Squares are just orange, eggs, and almond paste. But you know me, I wasn't about to hunt down almond paste (I have no idea where to even look for it) that's just almonds and refined sugar. So I looked up an almond paste recipe. I found two and they were basically the same: Half almonds, half refined sugar.

I decided I could get away with almond meal flour and my blend of sweeteners instead, and sure enough it worked out beautifully. I also added a touch of allspice (which is classically Scandinavian if you ask me) and it gave the bars such a Christmasy taste. Yum.

Kerstin's Almond Squares

gluten-free, casein-free, dairy-free

Add to a mixing bowl:

1 & 1/4 cup almond meal flour (I use Bob's)

1/4 cup coconut (or other) sugar

1/4 cup applesauce

1/8 tsp vanilla liquid stevia

1 tbsp orange zest (from about 1/2 an orange)

1/3 cup orange juice (from the same orange where you got the zest)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp allspice

Add to another mixing bowl:

4 egg whites

Drop the yolks into the first bowl and mix with an electric mixer.

Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks.

Add the whites (now stiff peaks) to the mixture and carefully fold them in.

Pour into a large rectangular dish lined with parchment paper and then greased.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. (Keep a close eye on it since ovens vary. It may take more or less time in your oven.)

Top with 1.5 bars of grated dairy-free chocolate. I use Chocolove. OR sprinkle with dairy-free chocolate chips.

The heat of the bars will melt the chocolate.

Sprinkle about 1/4 cup chopped almonds over the melting chocolate.

♥, Kelly

Cool Metric to English chart poster & tea towels

Hi all. This is Kelly's husband, Andrew. I follow a lot of graphic designers online and noticed these awesome cooking measurement prints designed and sold by Hero Design Studio in Buffalo, NY. I thought I'd share the find here.

These are silk screened prints in four different colors. So cool. I want one to frame on the kitchen wall. And just this month they released the same design as red or green ink tea towels, available on their Etsy shop. The husband wife design team, Beth and Mark are gluten-free. Beth also runs a gluten-free food blog, Tasty-yummies.com

pizza, pizza, pizza... oh, the gluten-free pizza here in Coloado

Soon you will be able to go to any pizza place in Boulder and the surrounding area, and order a gluten-free pizza. Maybe we're already there. I can think of more pizza places that offer gluten-free pizza than I can think of ones that don't. It's remarkable. If food plays an important role in your choice of places to go on vacation, then you should really consider here.

Lately, I've been introduced to two more pizza places serving up gluten-free pizzas. My friend, Annie, told me I had to go to Martinos Pizzeria in Lafayette, and that they also offer Daiya vegan cheese (my favorite vegan cheese). I had a good feeling that we wouldn't be disappointed when I found out that they get their crust from one of my favorite local gluten-free bakeries, Sweet Escape. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that night, but it was Yum-O. And considering we had a gluten-free pizza with Daiya, the price was surprisingly low.

Then today my hubby went out for lunch with a friend who just arrived in town. His friend suggested they go to Basil Flats here in Longmont. I was doubtful they would have gluten-free—I don't know why. My reaction should have been, "I'm sure they'll have gluten-free!" since almost everywhere now does. I Googled it quickly and sure enough...

Doesn't that look delicious? I gave hubby my camera so he snapped us this photo. He said it was very good and only around $10 for a 10 inch gluten-free pizza. I can't wait to go there with the kids :D

To get a small idea of how many places offer gluten-free here, click on this Sweet Escape link and see all the restaurants that offer their bread, pasta, etc. But remember there are quite a few other excellent gluten-free bakeries here, who supply many more restaurants too. And feel free to share your favorite places to eat gluten-free in the comments :-)

♥, Kelly

Coconut Dreams (gluten-free, egg-free)

A few days ago I posted my variation of Scandinavian Thumbprint Cookies, and many of you tried them and love them :-) I wanted to try another recipe from the cookbook which inspired the thumbprint cookies, Swedish Cakes and Cookies.

The second recipe comes from the same page as the first, and is called Coconut Dreams. Because my version is gluten-free I needed applesauce and chia meal (or an egg would probably work too) to help hold it together.

They came out really yummy. I hope you all enjoy them too!

Coconut Dreams

gluten-free, egg-free

Add to bowl:

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tbsp Chia Seed meal (I grind my seeds in coffee grinder or Magic Bullet. 1 tbsp meal is equal to about 1/2 tbsp seeds)

1/4 cup honey (or other sugar)

15 drops vanilla liquid stevia

1/4 cup melted ghee

1/4 cup coconut oil, liquified

optional: 1/4 tsp almond extract

Mix with electric mixer.

Add:

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/3 cup coconut flour, sifted

1/2 cup almond meal flour (I used Bob's)

3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Mix again.

Roll into little balls and flatten between your hands.

Bake on unbleached parchment paper at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Makes about 20.

♥, Kelly

Scandinavian Thumbprint Cookies (gluten-free, egg-free)

You may remember my Santa Lucia post last December, where we made saffron buns. I mentioned how I'm from Danish heritage, and that we love to incorporate Scandinavian traditions at Christmas.

This book, Swedish Cakes and Cookies, is one of my favorite cookbooks, despite the fact that there are only about three gluten-free recipes in it. I love the pictures, and I get inspired by all the different ideas.

There are a few recipes that I want to adapt and post in the next couple weeks, beginning with this one, called Thumbprint Cookies.

This was actually one of the already gluten-free recipes in the cookbook. But it called for a stick of butter, an egg, and a cup of potato starch. I wanted mine to be egg-free for those of you who don't use eggs, and have less butter and starch.

They came out pretty amazing, and we all loved them. :-) I hope you do too.

Scandinavian Thumbprint Cookies

gluten-free, egg-free

Add to bowl:

1/4 cup ghee or coconut oil, liquified

3 tbsp honey or agave

1/4 cup applesauce

1 tbsp Chia Seed meal (I grind my seeds in coffee grinder or Magic Bullet. 1 tbsp meal is equal to about 1/2 tbsp seeds)

1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat with electric mixer.

Add:

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/3 cup almond meal flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)

1/3 cup coconut flour, sifted

Beat with electric mixer.

Roll into little balls and place on unbleached parchment paper.

Use you fingers to create an indentation and fill it with raspberry or strawberry jam. I use Crofter's Just Fruit Spread, but St. Dalfour is another one with no added sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Makes 15 to 20 cookies, depending on their size.

♥, Kelly

Christmas Cookies (gluten-free)

We're in full-swing Christmas spirit here, and one of our favorite ways to celebrate is by making cookies together :-) These stars are a recipe here on my blog, as well as in my second cookbook, Grain-Free Baked Goods & Desserts. The only change we made was to leave out the chocolate chips. We floured the dough lightly, rolled it out, and used two sizes of star cookie cutters. Then we melted dairy-free chocolate chips on the lowest heat. The chocolate was thick, because it we only barely melted it, giving us a nice thick frosting. We topped the cookies with sprinkles that are naturally colored and ate them with cashew milk. I get the sprinkles at the health food store, but I lost the box or I would give you the name

Happy Holidays everyone!

♥, Kelly

Creamy Italian Salad Dressing dairy-free of course :-)

Any kind of oil other than grapeseed, olive or coconut really bothers me (and Andy, and Zoe, and Ashley). For instance when I try to make vegan frosting with those shortenings they sell in the health food store we all end up... Well, lets just say it upsets our stomachs ;-) Same with any kind of store bought salad dressing. So even though there are "healthy" and organic, and even dairy-free salad dressings you can buy, I always make my own.

Fortunately it only takes a few minutes to blend a great salad dressing like this creamy Italian dressing. I've been meaning to post this one for a while now, but since we usually have it at dinner, and it's been dark at 4:30, I didn't have any light for a photo. But today we ate it for lunch, and now I can't wait to share the recipe with you :-)

Creamy Italian Dressing

dairy-free of course ;-)

Add to food processor, Blendtec, or Magic Bullet:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup plain cashews (not roasted or seasoned)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tsp Chia Seeds (loaded with calcium and omegas 3 & 6)

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Click for more good reasons to avoid dairy

♥, Kelly

PS I had to mention that I make this dressing in my Magic Bullet, which I can't believe is working. Last week I tried to make a dip in my Magic Bullet that was way too thick for it's capability, and it started to smoke, then stopped working! I was so sad, thinking I had killed my Magic Bullet. The next day I got it out to see if it had come back to life, and it had! Yay! :-)