It's Christmas Eve and I have spent a lot of the day baking cookies for little gift bags I want to give to each of the 19 people present at our family Christmas lunch tomorrow. I tested some on Saturday using recipes I found on gluten-free or paleo food blogs but two lots of the resultant cookies were pretty awful … [Read more...] about Christmas Cookies – gifts for all – gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free
Sugar-Free Treats
Chocolate Marshmallow Slice – gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free
Today's offering is multi-layered and quite delicious. It is, of course, gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free. The only part I might need to play with is the base. I found the recipe for it on The Healthy Foodie blog. I did, however, use brown rice flour instead of spelt flour and added raisins to the mixture. Because of my stupid, erratic oven, the top started to burn before it was cooked so I placed some tin foil on it but I think I still pulled it out of the oven too soon because it was a bit sloppy. Of course the changing of the flour might have mucked around with the chemistry a bit. It also was not very sweet at all and a little tasteless but this doesn't matter because of the top two layers. I think I will try a different base next time. The marshmallow layer worked really well but you do have to follow the directions carefully. I found the recipe at The Urban Poser blog. The top frosting is the same that I used on my chocolate carrot cake and is totally delicious. I … [Read more...] about Chocolate Marshmallow Slice – gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free
Chocolate, Banana, Coconut Slice – sugar, gluten & dairy-free
I have cracked the gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free muffin and this weekend I attempted a slice that said decadent yet had no gluten, dairy or sugar. It was quite a mission and I had to gather together a few different ideas from recipes I had seen around the food blog world but none eliminated all three elements so I had to experiment and I have succeeded in making something rather wonderful. You do have to like banana, coconut and chocolate but if you do, this is your new best friend. I got the idea for the middle layer from The Life of Clare. This is not a low Fodmap recipe. Chocolate, Banana, Coconut Slice Print Serves: 28 small squares or 14 larger ones Ingredients For the bottom layer: 4 tbsp unsalted peanut butter (with no added sugar) 4 tbsp coconut butter 3 tbsp cocoa powder 2 ripe bananas For the middle layer: 1 cup walnuts ¼ cup dried coconut 2 tbsp coconut oil 9 soft dates ½ tsp teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ cup cacao nibs 1 … [Read more...] about Chocolate, Banana, Coconut Slice – sugar, gluten & dairy-free
Banana Strawberry Muffins – gluten, dairy and sugar-free
My mission was to make a gluten, dairy and sugar-free muffins. Last week, I made some muffins which were close so I used that base recipe and replaced the normal flour with a mixture of gluten-free flour and almond meal. I added strawberries because I had them in the fridge and the muffins turned out wonderfully. Then I decided I wanted to try a coconut cream frosting and I know muffins don't usually have frosting but these ones do. Again, I was determined to make this frosting without added sugar and I managed it. I whipped up the coconut cream until it was stiff, then, separately I pureed strawberries and dates in my trusty Cuisinart Mini Processor and added them to the cream. You could certainly add a little Stevia (made from the South American sweetleaf plant) if you want it sweeter but I don't think it is needed. Both Dario and Adriano have eaten some and they approve wholeheartedly. I set up the muffins, pre-frosting, in front of our lounge window looking out over the ocean and … [Read more...] about Banana Strawberry Muffins – gluten, dairy and sugar-free
Cranberry, Chocolate and Date Truffles
The muffins I made on Saturday were disappearing at a rapid pace so on Sunday I decided I had to make something else to get us through the week but I wanted to stay on my sugarless path. Dates are one of the best foods to use as a sweetener and I had quite a few in the fridge. But they were rather on the hard side and I didn't think my dear little Cuisinart Mini Processor would manage, as fabulous as it is at chopping almost anything up finely. So I soaked them for an hour before blending them with the other ingredients and that worked well. I added cocoa to make them chocolatey, coconut to make them coconutty, walnuts to make them nutty... Anyway, you get the idea - I added whatever was in my fridge, Including a bit of thickened cream to make them a little richer. But no sugar and they are definitely sweet enough. So thank you dates! This is not a low Fodmap recipe. Cranberry, Chocolate and Date Truffles Print Prep time 15 mins Total time 15 mins … [Read more...] about Cranberry, Chocolate and Date Truffles
Banana, Chocolate, Cranberry & Coconut Muffins
I have just joined the Chocolate Party! It is a great group of food bloggers who bake with chocolate and each month they decide on an extra compulsory ingredient. This month, it is cranberries. I am on a mission to reduce my intake of sugar and that might seem a little contradictory with joining the Chocolate Party but I did say 'reduce' not 'eliminate'. These muffins I made are completely without added sugar except for what is in the chocolate. I found the recipe at The Life of Clare blog and thought they mightn't be sweet enough but was willing to give them a try. In fact, the bananas are enough and that makes these muffins sugarless apart from the chocolate content. How amazing is that? And they taste good! You might have noticed that I am using a new recipe set up, Ziplist. If you click on Save in the recipe, you then create a free account. After that, each time you click on the save button, you add the recipe to your personal recipe box. You can also create a shopping list … [Read more...] about Banana, Chocolate, Cranberry & Coconut Muffins
