Banana Muffins
These muffins are a new favorite in our home! I typically make them plain, but have also added some homemade dark chocolate chips to them for a fun, chocolatey twist. They make a nice snack during the day or side for breakfast.
To see the recipe, see my guest post at The Nourishing Gourmet here.
Shared at Allergy-Free Wednesdays.
No-Bake Cookies (Paleo)
No-bake cookies are a quick and easy dessert usually consisting of oatmeal and refined sugar. This recipe uses coconut as the “main” ingredient and uses honey instead of granulated sugar. The cookies don’t set-up quite as fast as traditional no-bakes, but are still a tasty treat!
N0-Bake Cookies
Ingredients:
1/3 cup honey (you can probably reduce the amount of honey even more)
1 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
1/3 cup coconut oil or butter
1/3 cup almond butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups dried, unsweetened coconut
Directions:
1. Put honey, cocoa, and coconut oil (or butter) in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and immediately remove from heat.
3. Stir in the almond butter and vanilla until it is incorporated.
4. Stir in coconut.
5. Scoop by spoonfuls unto wax paper or parchment paper and put in the fridge until hardened and set.
*Store at room temperature or the fridge. I prefer the texture of the cookies out of the fridge.
Grasshopper Pie (Grain-free, Dairy-free!!)
This was our Valentine’s Day Dessert this year! It isn’t as simple as opening a box of ice cream and a package of oreos, but this way it is grain-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free! It combines a few different recipes that I’ve already posted.
Grasshopper Pie
Ingredients:
2-3 cups prepared Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (we used 3 cups, but this is more than one recipe of the ice cream…)
3/4 cup almond flour
3/4 cup almonds, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup raw honey
3 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted (or butter)
3 Tbsp. cocoa or cacao
Coconut Whipped Cream and/or melted chocolate chips for garnish
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine almond flour, almonds, salt, honey, butter and cocoa in a bowl.
3. Press into a 9″ pie plate.
4. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
5. Cool completely and place in freezer.
6. If your ice cream is already prepared and in the freezer, let it stand at room temperature until you can scoop and spread it fairly easily. Fill frozen pie shell with softened ice cream and place back into freezer to firm up. (If you prepare your ice cream after making the crust, you can pour it right into the crust from the ice cream maker.)
7. (Optional) Decorate pie with prepared coconut whipped cream and/or melted chocolate. Place back in the freezer until ready to serve! Remove pie from freezer for a few minutes before cutting and serving.
*I have only made this recipe once, and even though we loved it, we did have a bit of trouble with the crust coming apart from the ice cream section…if anyone has any tips that would help that, let me know!
Shared on Allergy-Free Wednesdays and Proverbs 31 Thursdays Link-Up!
Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
This Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is my new favorite dessert…I hope you like it as well!! I can’t wait to try using more spinach and seeing if the taste is still unnoticeable. I’ve tried this both with raw spinach and steamed and couldn’t taste it in either batch. I have read that eating cooked spinach is better than raw, but I’m sure that is disputed. So decide for yourself which way you think is healthier and make it that way.
Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 can full-fat coconut milk (I love the Thai brand)
1/2 cup baby spinach leaves, lightly steamed (or raw, if preferred)
3-4 Tbsp. raw honey
1 tsp. peppermint flavoring
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 – 1/3 cup Homemade Dark Chocolate Chips or store-bought dark chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Put spinach, coconut milk and honey in a blender and blend on high speed until there are no spinach pieces left. (In mine, you can barely see little flecks of green. If your blender isn’t powerful to blend fully, strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer.)
2. Add peppermint and vanilla and blend briefly to combine. Taste and adjust flavoring/sweeteners to your liking.
3. Pour mixture into frozen bowl of ice cream maker and follow directions for your ice cream maker to make into ice cream.
4. Once ice cream is soft-serve consistency, stir in chocolate chips by hand and enjoy or freeze in a sealed container for later!
Almond Butter Cookie Cups
Finally! A recipe I am going to put in the “Christmas Goodies” category! So…these are bit time-consuming, as so many things are with paleo if you are going to try to avoid refined sugars and such–but, we voted the end result was worth it! They are messy as the chocolate doesn’t seem to harden up like typical “candy”, but still tasty. Basically, I’ve combined my Almond Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with the Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups recipe, made a few minor changes and this is the end result.
Almond Butter Cookie Cups
Ingredients:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. honey
2 tsp. coconut oil
2/3 cup almond butter
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. arrowroot
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup almond butter
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
2/3 cup unsweetened coconut
Directions:
*Disclaimer: I have two different sized “mini-muffin pans”. I used the smaller of the two for the candy cups and the bigger of the two for the cookies so the cups would fit in them…I have not figured out a good way to do this if you don’t have two different sized pans…sorry.
1. Line [smaller] mini-muffin pan with 24 mini-muffin paper liners.
2. Melt unsweetened chocolate, honey and coconut oil in a double-boiler over low heat.
3. Using a spoon or pastry brush, coat bottom (and sides if you can) of paper liners with melted chocolate. Place pan in fridge.
4. Combine 2/3 cup almond butter, 1/4 tsp. salt, 2 Tbsp. honey, 2 Tbsp. arrowroot and 1 tsp. vanilla in a small bowl.
5. Once chocolate has hardened, spoon almond butter mixture over the bottom of each cup.
6. Top with more of the melted chocolate. Place pan back in fridge to harden. Once hardened, remove cups from pan and remove papers from candies. Place candies in fridge or freezer until cookies are ready.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Combine last section of ingredients and mix well. Scoop dough evenly among 24 greased [larger mini-muffin pan] cups.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 7-9 minutes or until edges are starting to brown.
10. Remove pan from oven and immediately press one chocolate almond butter cup into each cookie (press down). Let cool completely in pan, remove from pan and enjoy!
*Notes: The chocolate doesn’t seem to harden up like a typical candy. If you use my other recipe for Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups using dark chocolate chips, it should harden up more in the fridge. I was trying to figure out a way to make a chocolate that didn’t contain soy lecithin and refined sugar…hence the unsweetened chocolate. Let me know which way you try and if you like it!
Rocky Road Brownies
Now, I will warn you up-front that this is a time-consuming dessert if you make the marshmallows and chocolate pieces from scratch–but in my opinion, worth the time. This recipe combines 3 different recipes of mine: Homemade Chocolate Chips, Homemade Honey-Sweetened Marshmallows, and Zucchini Brownies. I hope you like it!
Homemade Honey-Sweetened Marshmallows
Ingredients:
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup cold water, divided
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 egg white
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
1. Line a 8×8 pan or loaf pan with parchment paper (the size of pan will determine how thick your marshmallows are).
2. Dissolve the unflavored gelatin in (1/4) cup cold water in a heat-proof bowl. (It will probably turn to a solid, but that is just fine.)
3. Heat honey & (1/4) cup water in saucepan on medium-high heat. Stir until dissolved, then stop stirring. Insert a candy thermometer and heat mixture until it reaches 240 degrees.
4. Meanwhile, whip egg white until soft peaks form.
5. Once mixture reaches 240 degrees, pour it into gelatin water and stir to combine. (The hot liquid will soften up the gelatin mass.) Add vanilla.
6. Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes, then pour mixture in a steady stream into whipped egg white, whipping to incorporate (a hand mixer works great for this). Whip until stiff peaks form. Pour into prepared pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove and cut into desired shapes.
Homemade Dark Chocolate Chips
Yield: 3/4 cup chips
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1/4 cup cacao or cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. arrowroot
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
1. Bring 1/2 inch of water in the bottom pan of a double-boiler to a simmer. Place top pan of double-boiler on simmering water and melt oil, cocoa, honey, and arrowroot in it. Cook two minutes more after it is all melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add vanilla. Stir.
3. Lift off top pan of double-boiler and carefully wipe off any condensation or water on the bottom of it. (You want to be sure no water gets into the chocolate or it may seize.)
4. Pour into small pan lined with parchment paper. (I used a bread pan and it didn’t even cover the entire bottom of the pan.)
5. Put in fridge for 2 or more hours.
6. Cut into little chunks and store in airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
ROCKY ROAD BROWNIES
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup raw honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted
2/3 cup chopped walnuts, divided
1 recipe Honey-Sweetened Marshmallows (prepared–see above)
1/2 cup Homemade Dark Chocolate Chips (prepared–see above)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine eggs, zucchini, applesauce, honey, and vanilla. Mix well.
3. Add baking soda, salt, cocoa and coconut flour. Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated into wet ingredients.
4. Fold in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts.
5. Pour into a greased deep baking pan and bake for 20-35 minutes (depending on size of pan) or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (I used a 12 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ stone baker and it took 31 minutes.)
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle marshmallows over the top of the brownies. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips over the top of the marshmallows.
7. Return baking pan to oven and cook for 3-5 more minutes.
8. Remove from oven and devour!! (I used a spoon to serve it.)
New & Improved Paleo Zucchini Brownies
I have been given zucchini by three different people and I have had so much fun trying different zucchini recipes! I do have to admit though, that the ones I’m liking the best are baked goods…so yet again, another zucchini brownie recipe. In my opinion, these are better than the other zucchini brownies I posted. These are very moist and yummy.
Paleo Zucchini Brownies
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana) or 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup raw honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup cocoa or cacao
1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine wet ingredients. Mix well.
3. Add dry ingredients. Mix well again.
4. Pour into a greased 9×9 square baking pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Mine took 24 minutes in a 9×9 stone.)
*I am thinking that substituting unsweetened applesauce for the banana would work, but I haven’t tried it yet. Let me know if you try it and how it works!
*EDIT: I have tried unsweetened applesauce in place of the banana–works great!
Vanilla Cupcakes with Coconut Flour
This recipe comes from Comfy Belly and is found here. We were quite pleased with the taste and texture. I wish I could claim this recipe as my own, but it most definitely is not. Thanks, Comfy Belly for the delicious cupcake recipe!
Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sitfted coconut flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
4 eggs
1/3 cup coconut oil or butter (melted)
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine all the dry in ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well (a hand mixer works great).
4. Divide batter among 8 cupcakes.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool and then frost.
*Store in a airtight container at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge for about a week.
Chocolate Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. cocoa
Whip together and frost! I would like to try making the frosting using coconut oil, but I am currently out. I think the texture would be a bit lighter.
Vanilla Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
Whip together and frost! As mentioned above, I’d love to try this with coconut oil and see how it turns out.
Note: One batch of frosting was more than enough to do the 8 cupcakes (the way I frosted them in the picture).
Paleo Coconut Flour Brownies (with secret ingredient–zucchini!)
I was given some zucchini and was having fun experimenting with different things I could do with it. I tried zucchini chocolate cupcakes but they had a very strange texture…I decided to make my Coconut Flour Brownie recipe and add a bit of zucchini and see what would happen. The result was great! It made the brownies more moist and you can’t taste the zucchini. So without further ado, the Zucchini Brownie Recipe:
Coconut Flour Brownies (with secret ingredient–zucchini!)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup shredded zucchini
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Directions:
1. Melt the butter or oil in a saucepan. Stir in the cocoa powder and remove from heat.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, honey, salt, baking powder & vanilla.
3. Pour cocoa/butter or oil mixture into the egg mixture and mix well.
4. Add flour and whisk until there are no lumps (I find using a hand mixer works great).
5. Add zucchini and mix well.
6. Fold in nuts (if using).
7. Pour into a 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes. (It took mine 15 minutes to be done.)
Notes:
*You can also use an 8×8 or a 9×9 pan–just increase the time a bit. When you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean, they are done! We like to eat them with cut up bananas and fresh berries on top or Vanilla Ice Cream (with coconut milk) Enjoy!
*You can make a mint brownie version by adding 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract to the batter–this is also very yummy!
Chocolate Cream Trifle — Unrefined Style
Making a trifle has been on my “recipe to-do list” ever since I heard there were non-dairy alternatives to whipped cream and pudding. Here is my first one!
Chocolate Cream Trifle
1 recipe Coconut Flour Brownies
1 recipe Chocolate Pudding
1 recipe Coconut Whipped Cream
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
1. Cut cooled brownies into 1″ chunks. Put 1/3 of the brownie pieces in the bottom of a trifle bowl or serving dish.
2. Put 1/3 of the chocolate pudding on top of the brownies.
3. Put 1/3 of the whipped cream on top of the pudding.
4. Sprinkle 1/3 of the chopped nuts on the whipped cream.
5. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used! Refrigerate a few hours before serving. Enjoy!
