Blueberry Muffins (Gluten and Sugar Free!)

After years of attempting to make gluten free muffins that don't taste like gritty cardboard, I've finally done it!!! 

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS (gluten and sugar free)

INGREDIENTS

½ cup unsalted butter, melted

½ cup maple syrup
(if you want them to be sweeter add an additional .25 cup syrup, but take out the aquivelent amount of milk)

1 cup milk

2 large eggs, separate the yolks from the whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups gluten free flour blend 

½ cup tapioca flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend includes this already)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom

⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1½ cup (fresh or frozen) blueberries

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter in a glass mixing bowl. Whisk maple syrup into the melted butter. Add milk and do the same.

Separate the eggs (yolk from whites) and put the egg whites aside for now to be frothed later. Whisk the yolks in with the liquid mixture, add the vanilla extract.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined.  

Beat the egg whites that you had set aside on high with a stand or hand mixer until stiff peaks appear. Fold the egg whites into the batter.

Prep your muffin pan by spraying with non stick baking spray (or use muffin liners) and add about a tablespoon of the batter to each muffin cup. I was able to make 12 large and 12 mini muffins. 

Fold the blueberries into the batter, then divide evenly into the pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for ~20 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Light and Fluffy Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Ingredients

1/4 cup wheat bran

2 cups flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt 

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 t vanilla

2 large egg whites

1 cup chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

- Whisk together wheat bran, flour, baking soda, salt. Set aside.

- Cream in a mixer brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter.

- Add vanilla and egg whites to the creamed mixture.

- Stir chocolate chips into flour mixture.

- Combine wet and dry mixtures with a spatula. Do not over mix. 

-  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Do not over cook. 

- Let cool on wire racks. 

Sweet & Salty Scones

Like all WFD recipes, this sweet scone recipe is a random tasty thing that makes me smile:) The WFD blog got me through the social distancing exercises of grad school and moving around the country chasing post-grad training. I'm going to lean back into WFD for some smile-inducing recipes now that much more serious social distancing is required to help our community get through the pandemic.

We have some great scone recipes already posted on WFD (Cranberry Oat, Jalapeno Cheddar, and Oatmeal Pumpkin). We need a scone to satisfy the sweet-salty niche. I normally seek refuge in the sweet-salty corner of the pantry after the kids go to bed, but there is no excuse for waiting that long in the day. This scone recipe comes from the Simply Scones book by Leslie Weiner and Barbara Albright, where it's listed as "Cashew Scones." That original recipe uses white chocolate chips and cashews. Sarah came up with our favorite version that I just made--butterscotch chips and pecans. But I imagine that any combination of sweet chips and salty nuts would work.

Time: 10 minutes prep, 20 minutes baking
Makes: 6 scones

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• ¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 cup chopped nuts (peanuts, cashews, pecans, etc.)
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup sweet chips or chopped chocolate (chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, etc.)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 and lightly butter baking sheet.
2. Stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt
3. Cut butter into pieces and cut the pieces into the flour mixture until it becomes coarse crumbs
4. Stir in the chopped nuts
5. In separate bowl stir together milk, egg, and vanilla
6. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stir to combine, then mix with floured hands
7. Mix in chips
8. Divide dough into 6 equal-sized balls and press onto lightly buttered baking sheet
9. Brush the tops with milk
10. Bake 18 minutes, check if toothpick comes out clean, and bake up to 5 more minutes until it does
11. Cool baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove scones to wire rack and serve when warm

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I’m just gonna leave this here in case anyone needs it.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/flourless-chocolate-cake-remember

Cake

• 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch-process cocoa preferred

Glaze

• 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a metal 8" round cake pan; cut a piece of parchment to fit, grease it, and lay it in the bottom of the pan. See "tips," below.
2. To make the cake: Put the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat until the butter is melted and the chips are soft. Stir until the chips melt, reheating briefly if necessary. You can also do this over a burner set at very low heat. Transfer the melted chocolate/butter to a mixing bowl. 
3. Stir in the sugar, salt, espresso powder, and vanilla. Espresso enhances chocolate's flavor much as vanilla does; using 1 teaspoon will simply enhance the flavor, while 2 teaspoons will lend a hint of mocha to the cake. 
4. Add the eggs, beating briefly until smooth. Add the cocoa powder, and mix just to combine. 
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. 
6. Bake the cake for 25 minutes; the top will have formed a thin crust, and it should register at least 200°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into its center.
7. Remove it from the oven, and cool it in the pan for 5 minutes. 
8. Loosen the edges of the pan with a table knife or nylon spreader, and turn it out onto a serving plate. The top will now be on the bottom; that's fine. Also, the edges will crumble a bit, which is also fine. Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing. 
9. To make the glaze: Combine the chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat until the cream is very hot, but not simmering. Remove from the microwave, and stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is completely smooth. 
10. Spoon the glaze over the cake, spreading it to drip over the sides a bit. Allow the glaze to set for several hours before serving the cake. 
11. Yield: 8" cake, 8 to 12 servings.

Paleo Crumble

FILLING
3-4 cups roughly chopped fruit (pretty much any fruit you'd find in a pie should work)
1 tablespoon honey or coconut nectar (optional)
1 tablespoon juice from lemon (optional)
¼ cup almond or coconut milk

CRUMBLE TOPPING
1 cup almond flour
½ cup salted pistachios (or some other nut, plus salt to taste)
1 teaspoon each cinnamon and cardamon
¼ teaspoon sea salt (optional)
2 tablespoons honey or coconut nectar
4 tablespoons coconut oil

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350.
Cook fruit in sauce pan over medium-low heat until fruit begins to soften and get juicy (10'ish minutes)
Stir in lemon, sweetener, and milk.
Pour into pie dish or pyrex.
Combine almond flour, nuts, cinnamon, cardamon, and salt a food processor for ~20-30 seconds
Add sweetener and coconut oil, pulse in food processor until combined.
Crumble topping over the fruit.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Quinoa bread bars

I stumbled upon this recipe after experimenting a bit with various grain free baked items for breakfast. This one is by far the most delicious. It's essentially like baked quinoa, but more of a bread consistency.  It's incredibly versatile and very tasty. It will definitely become a staple in our house from now on.

Ingredients
2 cups cooked quinoa (cook and cool ahead of time)
1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or preferred milk)
4 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 cup tigernut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional, recommended if you prefer a savory flavor)

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray with oil a 9x13 glass pan
2. In a food processor or blender, combine the quinoa, eggs, almond milk (or preferred milk) and vanilla extract then blend for ten seconds to combine.
3. Add the melted coconut oil then blend until completely smooth.
4. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and fold together until well-combined.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.

Endurance Cookies

As my training is starting to pick back up I've been looking for easy foods to replace the typical bars you grab for on the go. With all of my current food restrictions I've had to get a little creative with recipes. In this case, I modified a lovely recipe from the blog in it 4 the LONG RUN to create a tasty cookie full of superfoods. The texture is somewhere between oatmeal raisin and coconut macaroon. The original recipe is vegan but includes honey/syrup and oats, which are off limits for me. So I replaced the oats with slivered tigernuts and the honey with a whole egg.  The results were a naturally sweet and tasty little nugget.  

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Slivered Tigernuts

1/3 cup of Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

1/3 cup Hemp Hearts

1/4 cup Goji Berries

1 T of Chia Seeds

1 t (heaping) cinnamon

1/3 cup Nut Butter

1 egg (next time I might try two)

1/4 cup Coconut or Almond Milk

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together dry ingredients. 

In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients. 

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture, stirring to form a dough,

Spoon dough in small balls (I used a tablespoon) onto a greased or parchment lined baking tray.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Store in fridge.