Thin Mints

Beat the girl scout cookie temptation with these sugar free, nothing artificial, protien packed thin mints :)

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup xylitol
1 egg
4 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp mint extract, divided
3 1/2 cups blanched almond flour 

chocolate dip:
This can be done a few ways. I like to use Simply Lite bars (dark chocolate for these) from Trader Joe's, (3 bars should be enough for this recipe). If you'd like something less processed you may melt down butter or coocnut oil, unsweetened chocolate, vanilla extract + pepermint extract, cinnamon, and powdered xylitol or stevia to taste.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter and sweetener together. Add the egg, mint, salt, and baking soda to the bowl and blend well. Slowly add in the almond flour and the cocoa powder.

Make 1 inch balls using your hands, place on baking sheet and flatten ball with the bottom of a measuring cup or any kind of flat surface to make a round cookie. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the start to brown along the edges. Remove from oven and cool the cookies completely before removing from the cookie sheet. If you have time to freeze them before dipping, it works best. 

In a double boiler melt down your chocolate or your chocolate ingredients and you may either dip the cookie on both sides or use a spoon to smooth chocolate on each side before placing it on wax or parchment paper to cool in the refrigerator. These are great if stored and/or eaten frozen for a few mos also! 

Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookie Balls

Well, Hello! Sorry I have not posted anything in a while, things have been super hectic but I have tons of recipes to refine and lots in my head I wanna make so stay tuned because I'm on vacation next week so I will update the site! For the most part, I try to avoid or limit grains and gluten whenever possible because I've primarily been on the advanced plan but lately I have been dropping back down to the core plan and adding in sprouted and whole grains once in a while. I LOVE using Ezekiel tortillas for pizzas or Ezekiel break for pesto and tomato grilled cheeses with raw cheese! No bake cookies are one of my favorite things so I decided to healthify some for those of you who are on the core plan! The point is to moderate grains and watch out for the quality of them. Organic sprouted grains and stone ground grains are the best, if you have an issue with gluten steer clear of these items and try other alternatives with almond flour or you can order paleo bread online. The problem arises when we are sick and fuel the fire with a high sugar, high carb diet and/or it becomes a habit for us. Carbohydrates break down immediately to sugar and sugar wreaks havoc on your body in a multitude of ways, it is at the root of nearly all disease so it is best to enjoy them occasionally and find fun ways to replace them.

* coconut sugar really yummy low glycemic sweetener that is a great alternative for brown sugar, I used it because I ran out of xylitol so you can replace it for xylitol. 


3 cups of gluten free stone ground oats
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup xylitol
4 tbs coco powder
1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk, unsweetened coconut milk or unsweetened almond milk
1 cup natural peanut butter, valencia if possible
(check the label, no added sugar or oil... just peanuts)
1 stick of organic butter
1 tsp natural vanilla extract

Blend oats, xylitol, coconut sugar and coco powder in a mixing bowl. Melt down your butter and stir in vanilla and peanut butter til smooth. Scoop out with a spatula and blend together until well mixed. Roll into 1 inch balls on wax paper and chill in refrigerator. Makes 30 cookie balls.

Raw Cinnamon Raisan Cookies :)

I LOVE oatmeal raisin cookies, but since I'm dodging grains and gluten oats don't make the cut. Luckily, these are delicious and quench my cravings perfectly :) Best of all? Delicious, full of health benefiting ingredients AND you don't have to throw on the oven in this summer heat :) hope you love them!

what you need:
1 cup raw cashews

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp coconut nectar or natures hollow honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

2 pinches of salt

6 tablespoons raisins (no sugar added)* can chop up simply lite chocolate bars instead of raisins of on advanced plan, or go without!

what to do:

Place the cashews in the food processor and process until finely ground. Add the coconut and process again to combine. Add the coconut oil, sweetener, cinnamon, vanilla and salt and process again until well combined and a sticky dough has formed. Stir in the raisins by hand. With your hands, form the dough into 6 cookies. Place in the freezer for 1 hour to firm or Dehydrate at 115 degrees 24 hours. Hope you love it :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

2.5 cups almond flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 Tsp sea salt
1/2 cup xylitol
1 organic vegetarian fed eggs
1 stick of organic butter (raw if possible)
1 tbsp vanilla  (no sugar added, check label)
3/4 cup Trader Joe's valencia peanut butter

In a medium sized bowl, blend together almond flour, baking soda, salt and xylitol. Melt down butter and peanut butter in a sauce pan until smoothly blended. Once it's taken off the heat, add in the vanilla and pour over dry mix. Blend together well. Add in an egg and blend that well. Grease pan and shape into one inch or so balls, flatten in a criss cross pattern with fork.

Samoas Girl Scout Cookies

'Tis the season :)

COOKIES:
1 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1 cup coconut oil or 1 stick of organic butter
1 cup xylitol
1 egg
1 tsp celtic sea salt

COCONUT CARAMEL:
1 cup xylitol
6 TBS organic butter
1/2 cup organic heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut


CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE:4 TBS coconut oil
4 squares of unsweetened bakers chocolate
1/4 cup powdered xylitol (may use more if desired, powder in magic bullet for a smoother chocolate)
2 tsp cinnamon



COOKIE INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, xylitol and egg until very fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add in the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth. 

In between 2 pieces of parchment paper, roll the dough out into 1/4 in thick dough. Using circle cut-outs, glasses, shot glases... whatever you have that's circular haha :)... cut into Samoa cookie shapes.

Place cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake in preheated oven until golden around the edges. Cool completely on the baking sheet before removing from cookie sheet.



COCONUT CARAMEL INSTRUCTIONS:
 Before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. If you don't work fast, the sweetener will burn. Heat butter on high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As soon as it comes to a boil, watch for specks of brown, immediately add the xylitol and cream to the pan. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass jar or measuring cup and let sit to cool to room temperature. Stir in dried coconut flakes. Place 1-2 TBS of this mixture on top of each circle. Set in freezer to set. 
CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE INSTRUCTIONS:
Place the coconut oil and chocolate squares in a double boiler, stir well until just melted. Add in the cream, sweetener (adjust to desired sweetness) and cinnamon.  Stir until smooth. Place 1/2 the chocolate in a shallow bowl and dip the bottom of the cookies into the chocolate. Place on parchment paper. With a spoon drizzle chocolate back and forth over the top of the cookies. You can do this instead too... put the other 1/2 of the chocolate in a small ziplock bag. Cut the corner of the bag and use to pipe stripes over the cookies. Makes 24 cookies.

inspired by maria emmerich :)

Raspberry Filled Almond "Sugar" Cookies

One of my Aunt's used to make raspberry filled sugar cookies for me every once in a while when I was little because I used to loooooove them. I got a bunch of stuff from Nature's Hollow to play with and this is what I thought of to do with the raspberry jam (sweetened with xylitol) :) Came out REALLY yummy so I was excited :) Hope you love em!

2.5 Cups Blanched Almond Flour
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
1/2 Cup xylitol
1 Cage Free Vegetarian Fed Egg
1 stick Organic Butter (Raw if possible, can try subbing coconut oil if dairy is an issue)
1 Tbsp Almond Extract (No sugar added, check label)
Nature's Hollow Raspberry Jam (Natureshollow.com or amazon)

INSTRUCTIONSCombine all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl, blend with a spoon. Melt down butter in a saucepan (NO MICROWAVES! :p), once melted put a separate dish and mix with egg and vanilla. Mix wet and dry ingredients together until smoothly blended. Grease a cookie sheet and roll dough into 1-1.5 inch balls. With a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon, press down in the center making a indentation for the filling.

Bake at 350 until fluffed up and lightly golden, I'm sorry I have a bad habit of not timing anything and just eyeballing it.. I'll try to be better. You may need to press down the center with the measuring spoon once again when they come out.  Fill with raspberry jam and allow to cool :) You can also fill the middle a little bit before they are done baking and allow the filling to bake into them for a few minutes, delicious either way.

Healthified Oreo's

Lets face facts, when presented the opportunity, I can power through a sleeve of oreo's and milk like no one's business, and since we stopped seeing each other in early 2010... I can't say I'm over them :p Unfortunately, with the damaged fats our bodies can't process and high fructose corn syrup, among the slew of other unhealthy ingredients, oreo's are not a food which should be continually consumed, or really consumed at all. Lucky for you,  this cookie tastes nearly identical, the filling is a little off but gets the craving done :) Hope love them :)

1/2 cup Jay Robb Vanilla Whey Protein
3/4 cup blanched almond flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1/4 cup organic butter (can try coconut oil if dairy allergy)
1/4 cup xylitol2-4 TBS water(just enough to hold dough together) 
4 TBS cocoa powder (I recommend this one)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the whey, almond flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your fingers until the butter lumps are smaller than peas (pastry blenders are only a few dollars at walmart or you can try and use a fork!) Stir in the water a little at a time to form a stiff dough. On a cookie sheet, place 1/4 inch balls 2 inches apart. Flatten balls into circles using the bottom of a cup or any flat surface. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges are lightly browned. Cool in oven to crisp up.


FILLING:
8 oz organic cream cheese (can try coconut cream if dairy allergy)
2 TBS unsweetened almond milk OR organic heavy cream2 tsp vanilla extract (no sugar added, I love the vanilla bourbon one from Trader Joe's)
4 TBS xylitol 


Throw all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Fill cookies & enjoy :)

Serve with unsweetened coconut or almond milk, raw milk if possible.

In the Atlanta area? Check out http://vineyardfarms.blogspot.com/ some creamy farm fresh raw milk
or contact Anna at vaagen@bellsouth.net :)

"Nutter Butters"

These used to be my favorite cookies growing up! Now you can enjoy them not at the expense of your health or guilt. Hope you enjoy.




1/2 cup vanilla whey protein powder (Jay Robb is my favorite)
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp celtic sea salt
1/4 cup natural peanut butter @ room temp (no sugar or bad oils added, check label)
1/4 cup xylitol
2 TBS water (just enough to hold dough together)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the whey, almond flour, baking soda and salt. Stir natural peanut butter together and blend well in the mixture until it is in minute crumbles then mix in the water. On a cookie sheet place down cookie cutter and smoosh down batter into the mold,  place 1/4 apart. Bake just until edges are lightly browned. Allow time for them to cool and crisp before adding filling.
FILLING:
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup organic cream cheese (raw if possible) 
1/4 cup xylitol

Blend all in a food processor and adapt ratio to taste if necessary :)


Serve with coconut milk or almond milk and enjoy!

Coffee Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies

What you'll need:
2.5 Cups Blanched Almond Flour
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Xylitol
1 Cage Free Vegetarian Fed Egg
1 stick of Organic Butter (Raw if possible)
1 Tbsp Coffee Extract  (No sugar added, check label)
1 Milk Chocolate Simply Lite Bar (Trader Joe's sells these, Or can be purchased online)
( ^ these are advanced plan shortcut, approved in moderation because they are sweetened with maltitol, a sugar alcohol which doesn't spike blood sugar.. if you'd like something less processed, melt down unsweetened chocolate and blend with powdered xylitol and cinnamon to taste. Spread thinly across wax paper until cool and chop into chunks)

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl, blend with a spoon. Melt down butter in a saucepan (NO MICROWAVES! :p), once melted put a separate dish and mix with egg and coffee extract. Mix wet and dry ingredients together until smoothly blended. Chop up 1 Milk Chocolate Simply Lite bar into chunks and fold in.  Roll a into cookie shapes about an inch apart from one another. Bake at 350 until  golden brown around the edges. 

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

INGREDIENTS
2.5 Cups Blanched Almond Flour
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
1/2 or 3/4 Cup Xylitol
1 Cage Free Vegetarian Fed Egg
1 stick Organic Butter (Raw if possible)
1 Tbsp Vanilla (No sugar added, check label)
1 Milk Chocolate Simply Lite Bar (Trader Joe's sells these! Or can be purchased online)

 ( ^ these are advanced plan approved in moderation because they are sweetened with maltitol, a sugar alcohol which doesn't spike blood sugar.. if you'd like something less processed, melt down unsweetened chocolate and blend with powdered xylitol and cinnamon to taste. Spread thinly across wax paper until cool and chop into chunks or use dark chocolate)

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl, blend with a spoon. Melt down butter in a saucepan (NO MICROWAVES! :p), once melted put a separate dish and mix with egg and vanilla. Mix wet and dry ingredients together until smoothly blended. Chop up 1 Milk Chocolate Simply Lite bar into chunks and fold in.  Drop about a tablespoon of batter in neat cookie shapes about an inch apart from one another. Bake at 350 until lightly golden brown around the edges.