dairy free Archives - Page 9 of 11

Homemade Vanilla Sugar & Vanilla Salt (Great Gift Idea!)

November 22, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

Do you agree with me and the Barenaked Ladies that vanilla is the finest of the flavors? If you do, and/or if you remember that song, you should definitely make some vanilla-infused gifts this holiday season.

Vanilla sugar can be used anywhere you would use granulated sugar, but it’s especially wonderful as a finishing sugar, sprinkled on top of cakes, cupcakes, creme brulee, homemade caramels, or ice cream. You can also put it in your coffee or tea for a delicious touch of creamy sweetness. Are you sold on vanilla sugar yet? If not, I’m not sure what to do with you! You can even make it with coconut sugar for a paleo-friendly vanilla treat. You know you want to!

If you love sweet and salty flavors together, you will love this vanilla sea salt. I made mine with Celtic gray coarse sea salt, and it’s strikingly beautiful, fragrant, and complex. You can sprinkle it on top of any dessert that needs a salty finish (like these cupcakes or these bars), or even try adding it to savory dishes. I used a bunch in a batch of chocolate bark I made last night, and it was amazing (recipe coming soon)! Once you make this, you’ll realize that salt and vanilla are meant to be together. You’ll start wishing all your vanilla were salted, and all your salt vanilla-ed.

I made a bunch of little jars of vanilla sugar to give out as favors to all my friends and family who are coming for Thanksgiving. I love the idea of giving guests something delicious that they can take home and use for a long time. Both of these would also make great stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, and wedding favors. The best part is that they only take about five minutes to make!

Quick Curried Pumpkin Soup

November 18, 2013 By Becky 1 Comment

I’m on a really big soup kick right now. It’s so comforting to sit down with a bowl of soup on a chilly fall day, especially a soup that’s both kinds of hot: warm and a little spicy. The only problem with soup is that it sometimes takes a while to make. Not this one, though. You can have this soup on the table in less than 15 minutes! It’s a deliciously creamy, warmly spiced fall soup that has a depth of flavor not usually achieved in super fast recipes. If you have a well-stocked pantry, you can whip up this soup at a moment’s notice. It’s great for lunch when paired with a big salad, and would also make a great Thanksgiving starter!

I used homemade chicken stock made from a rotisserie chicken for this soup. It was my first time making chicken stock, and I’m so glad I took the time to do it! It made the whole house smell wonderful, and I felt like I was being really frugal. I froze some of the stock in an ice cube tray, so now I have a bag of homemade stock cubes to use to make sauces and other recipes. This recipe will also work with store-bought stock, though–the real flavor star here is the curry paste.

To make the soup vegan or vegetarian, just omit the fish sauce or use a splash of coconut aminos instead. The soup will still be nice and flavorful with just the curry paste, stock, and pumpkin. You can even omit the sunbutter or almond butter if you’re out, but it adds a nice richness to the soup.

Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Ganache (Paleo, Gluten-free, Dairy-free)

October 21, 2013 By Becky 10 Comments

Ben and I celebrated the two-year anniversary of our first date yesterday. In addition to being an important relationship milestone, I thought having an anniversary was a great excuse to bake. I asked Ben what dessert I should make for our special day, and he said, “Why don’t you make a cake?”.

It was such a brilliant idea, not only because cakes are the most majestic of all the desserts, but also because I have not posted any cakes on this blog yet. I’ve posted lots of cupcakes (too many, some might say), but no actual cakes.

I set off in search of a great paleo chocolate cake recipe to use, since I haven’t really made any paleo chocolate cupcakes that I could adapt (although these muffins came pretty close). When I found this recipe from Zenbelly Catering, I could tell it was a hit from the dozens of raving comments. Food blogs are the best! Try to find that many (or any) reader responses to a recipe in an actual print cookbook.

All those readers were right–this is an awesome cake! I made a few changes to the cake recipe, including adding some coffee to deepen the chocolate flavor. Don’t worry, the cake won’t taste like coffee (or coconut, or almonds–the flavor is pure chocolate!).

For the ganache, though, I wanted to try something a little different, so I added peppermint extract. If you don’t like mint and chocolate, you can just leave that out. Ben and I both loved it, but we are the kind of people who drink hot chocolates with peppermint schnapps all winter long. (Is it time for those yet? Almost? They are basically the only thing I like about cold weather).

I wanted to make a whipped cream filling as suggested in the original recipe, but my coconut cream didn’t have enough time to set up in the fridge. Make sure you click on over to the original recipe if you want to try the cream layer for your cake–it sounds amazing! I’m all over that for our third anniversary, or the next time another cake-worthy occasion comes along.

Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream (Vegan, Paleo, Gluten-free)

September 17, 2013 By Becky 20 Comments

Did you know there was once a molasses flood in Boston? A five-story high molasses tank exploded on an unusually hot day in 1919 and surged through the North End, destroying a fire station and leaving a path of sticky destruction in its wake. Some say that when the weather is really warm, you can still smell the molasses on the city streets almost 100 years later.

I was fascinated by the molasses flood as a kid and did a report on it in elementary school. I think that was the last time I thought about molasses, though, because I almost never cook with it. But, while making a failed batch of pumpkin bread over the weekend, I ran out of honey and needed another sweetener. The molasses in the back of my cupboard seemed like just the thing, and it was (the pumpkin bread only failed because I asked Ben to watch it for me, and it ended up baking for almost three hours). Molasses has a spicy flavor that goes really well with pumpkin, and contributes to this ice cream’s rich orange color. I did a little research and there seems to be some debate as to whether molasses is truly paleo, but I’m sure that this ice cream would still be delicious if you added more honey instead, or even tried maple syrup.

Grain-free Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream

September 9, 2013 By Becky 9 Comments

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Grain-free Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream (Gluten free, Nut free) | acalculatedwhisk.com

Treat yourself to small batch of paleo-friendly, grain-free vanilla bean cupcakes with mocha buttercream! They’re made with coconut flour, so they’re also nut free.

I’ve really been craving a classic vanilla cupcake recently, and wanted to try my hand at making grain-free vanilla bean cupcakes. To me, vanilla beans are the epitome of classic elegance in dessert flavor form. I ordered half a pound of vanilla beans online months ago, used half of them to make a bunch of little bottles of homemade vanilla extract (find out how to do that yourself here!), and still have a bunch left. I highly recommend ordering beans online in bulk, since it’s much more economical and they’re likely to be much fresher than overpriced grocery store beans.

These cupcakes are light and fluffy, because they’re made with coconut flour instead of almond flour. Of all the paleo & gluten-free treats I’ve made, these may be the closest in taste and texture to their gluten-laden cousins. I highly recommend them! They’re also perfect for people with nut allergies or for bringing to birthday celebrations in nut-free classrooms. This recipe makes a very small batch (good for people like me with no restraint), but can easily be doubled.

Spiced Honey & Corn Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream (Gluten free, Paleo)

September 7, 2013 By Becky 4 Comments

I wanted to make a fabulous end-of-summer, beginning-of-fall cupcake, and here it is! These have corn kernels baked right in, and a batter laced with fall spices. The frosting is my favorite part: butter and coconut cream are delicious together, with a little honey and maple sugar for sweetness. I tested the frosting with and without butter, and it’s great both ways.

Some people don’t include corn in their paleo diet, so feel free to leave it out. If you wanted to substitute something else, I bet these would also be delicious with little chunks of apple instead. Let me know if you try it!

Oh, and do you love these parchment cupcake cups as much as I do? I got the idea from this post on Alexandra’s Kitchen. They take a few minutes to make, but I love their rustic look. The BEST part is that NONE of the cake crumbs stick to the paper! And, the cup unfolds into a nice little placemat to put your cupcake on between bites. You can also use parchment to line a loaf pan if you are making banana bread or something like that, and you don’t even need to grease it.

Cherry Blondies & Homemade Almond Butter (Paleo, Gluten free)

August 29, 2013 By Becky 7 Comments

These are so good! Elana of Elana’s Pantry is a total genius, because she figured out that almond butter, eggs, and honey will magically bake up into BLONDIES. Yes! Fudgy, delicious blondies. When you read the recipe, you’ll think there must be a mistake. I am here to tell you there isn’t! Almonds prove themselves here once again as a miracle food. I promise you will love these. You don’t even have to add cherries; you can just make them without for regular blondies. And don’t worry about the almond extract. I was trying to play up the almond flavor a little, but it didn’t really come through. So you could leave it out, leave it in, or even try a full teaspoon if you want that little hint of marzipan flavor.

Brownie Batter Truffles (Gluten free, Paleo)

August 25, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

Yesterday I wanted brownies, but the thought of waiting for them to bake and then cool was disagreeable. I thought about making brownie batter truffles instead. Since there’s no egg in this recipe, you can taste as you’re making it and adjust the sweetness as desired. If you’re in a really big hurry, you can skip melting the chocolate and roll these in cocoa powder or shredded coconut. You can get your brownie fix on pretty fast.

Crepes with Cherry Orange Syrup (Paleo, Gluten free)

August 24, 2013 By Becky 4 Comments

On weekend mornings, I like to start the day with something a little bit special. Eggs are great, but what I really want on a lazy Saturday morning is something sweet. As you may have noticed, I have already made lots of paleo and gluten free pancakes. So, I decided to give gluten free crepes a try.

Orange Ginger Chicken Thighs & Yu Hsiang Eggplant

August 22, 2013 By Becky Leave a Comment

Chicken thighs are my new favorite dinner. They are easy to make, not very expensive, and very hard to overcook. Since I’m paranoid about undercooking chicken, I like a cut that can stand up to my tendency to cook things a little bit too long. Chicken thighs are also delicious, and the perfect size–not huge and dry like chicken breasts often are.

Figs & Pancetta

August 18, 2013 By Becky 6 Comments

This simple appetizer is an amazing way to showcase some delicious figs. I’d been wanting to wrap figs in prosciutto for a while now, but accidentally got slices of pancetta instead. I think in my mind I’d filed them as being the same thing. I did a little research and it seems like pancetta is thicker and less pliable, and cured with more spices than prosciutto. You can use either one here–prosciutto would probably be easier to wrap around the figs, and you might not even need the toothpicks.

Banana Pecan Pancakes

August 15, 2013 By Becky Leave a Comment

More pancakes! In case you missed it, I’ve already made three kinds: pancakes with blueberry compote, strawberry banana pancakes, and blueberry pancakes with a secret ingredient. So, there’s been no shortage of pancakes around here–but you can never have too many pancakes, right?