Valentine's Day Archives - A Calculated Whisk

Weekday Morning Paleo Dutch Baby (Cranberry or Plain)

February 7, 2017 By Becky 57 Comments

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This paleo dutch baby takes less than half an hour start to finish, making it the perfect treat for weekday mornings. Whip one up for your valentine this week!

Ready to switch things up? Try my new chocolate paleo dutch baby recipe!

A couple of weeks ago I shared a picture of a cranberry dutch baby on Instagram, and people got really excited. Several people messaged me asking for the recipe early because they couldn’t wait until I posted it on here to make it. I can understand the excitement–these paleo dutch babies are pretty fabulous, especially because they’re simple to make in less than half an hour.

I have to be at work at 7:45 on Wednesday mornings, and I often roll out of bed at 6:15 and whip one of these up. Just because it’s early on a weekday doesn’t mean we don’t have time to make a hearty and indulgent breakfast!

This paleo dutch baby is a streamlined, small-batch version of the German Apple Pancake from my cookbook, Paleo Planet. I find myself making this weekday morning variation much more often than the original–so often, in fact, that I have the ingredients and quantities memorized. If you have a two-tablespoon measure (otherwise known as a standard coffee scoop!), the process is especially easy.

22 Grain-Free Treats for Valentine’s Day

February 3, 2017 By Becky 12 Comments

22 Grain-free Treats for Valentine's Day

This roundup of grain-free treats for Valentine’s Day has something for everyone, from chocolate lovers to fruit fans to caramel enthusiasts.

Valentine’s Day (or Valentime’s Day, as my students always called it–this makes sense because it happens at a specific time every year!) is right around the corner. Whether or not you’re into the whole idea of a romantic holiday, it never hurts to make a special treat for yourself or someone you love, right?

Here’s a roundup of 22 grain-free treats for Valentine’s Day that anyone would be thrilled to receive. We’ve got chocolate desserts, fruit desserts, a few with both chocolate and fruit, and a bit of caramel–a little something for everyone. I’ve marked the ones that are vegan, dairy free, egg free, and nut free in case you’re looking for those.

This post was hard for me to put together because I’m still in the midst of a Whole30, but Ben graciously agreed that we can push Valentine’s Day back and celebrate when I’m finished. When February 24th rolls around, you can bet we’ll be indulging in at least one of these grain-free desserts!

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Are you making a dessert (paleo or otherwise)? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Without further ado, here are 22 grain-free, paleo-friendly treats for your Valentine’s Day cooking pleasure!

Grain-free Chocolate Treats for Valentine’s Day

22 Grain-free Treats for Valentine's Day

Mocha Ricotta Pie with Strawberries: Possibly my favorite dessert of all time. The intriguing flavor of this pie is reminiscent of a great cannoli and will have everyone coming back for seconds and thirds.

Blood Orange Curd (Dairy free)

February 12, 2016 By Becky 6 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualify purchases.

This dairy free blood orange curd is sweetened with honey and tastes amazing on its own, on ice cream, with chocolate cake, or on top of pancakes.

At the risk of having someone say that there are too many curd recipes on my site, I’m bringing you a dairy-free, honey-sweetened blood orange curd today. The very first recipe I ever posted here on A Calculated Whisk was for a classic lemon curd, and I also have ones for strawberry curd and dairy-free lemon curd. Oh, and there’s a paleo lemon curd in my cookbook, Paleo Planet.

Why more curd? The short answer: because blood oranges (see Exhibit A below–how can anyone resist?). The longer answer is that I wanted to see how simple and wholesome a citrus curd could get by using a base of just freshly-squeezed juices, eggs, and honey. There are two more ingredients–a tiny splash of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt–to help the orange flavor pop a little more, but that’s all you need to make this blood orange curd. It’s simple and it’s real food, but it tastes like the melted creamsicle sauce of your dreams.

If you can’t find blood oranges, you can use regular ones. The color will of course be different, but the curd will still be scrumptious. If you find Cara Cara oranges, those would be a nice compromise–I recently ate one that was darker in color than some of the blood oranges I used to make this curd.

In case you’re not entirely sure what a citrus curd is, I’ll tell you: it’s like a cross between a jam and a custard but it’s better than both, and it’s traditionally served with scones and clotted cream for high tea in England. Lemon curd is the standard, but curd can be made with any kind of citrus, or with citrus and a variety of other fruits. The basic formula is lemon juice, egg, sugar, and butter, but here I’ve omitted the butter and used raw, local honey instead of sugar without making any sacrifices in flavor or texture. This curd does come out a little thinner than other curds I’ve made because of those changes, but that actually makes it perfect for how I prefer to use it: as a sauce to elevate all manner of grain-free desserts and breakfasts from good to just ridiculous.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Brownies

February 12, 2014 By Becky 8 Comments

The large amount of frosting on these brownies represents the large amount of love I have for you! It constantly makes my day that people actually read my blog, and I’m even more thrilled when I get a comment or get to connect with you on FB, Twitter, or IG. You are the best, and that is why I made you the best brownies.

I’ve been wanting to make frosted brownies for a while now. They just seem fabulously over the top–because once you’ve baked a rich and fudgy brownie, you totally need a big pile of buttercream on top, right? (Hint: the answer is yes!)

Lemon Sugar Cookies (Vegan, Nut-free)

November 30, 2013 By Becky 4 Comments

I was invited to a Hanukah party last night, and needed to bring a dessert that was nut-free and vegan. I wanted to bring a traditional Hanukah dessert, but soon realized I didn’t know of any. I guess I never really made it past the mountains of latkes at my family’s Hanukah celebrations. A quick search revealed that oily, fried foods like jelly-filled doughnuts are often eaten at Hanukah, but I wasn’t about to fry up a big pile of donuts to be eaten hours later. I also don’t really like jelly-filled desserts; I feel that jelly belongs at breakfast. Since I had dreidel and Star of David cookie cutters, I decided Hanukah sugar cookies would have to be traditional enough. I also got out my snowman and snowflake cookie cutters, since winter is almost here.

My next task was to find a great vegan cookie recipe. Since the cookies had to be nut-free, I soon realized it would be very hard to make them gluten-free as well. So, these cookies are a total gluten bomb. I promise to be back with more gluten-free eats very soon!