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You are here: Home / Archives for pecans

Chocolate Almond Butter Thumbprints with Maple Caramel (Gluten free, Grain free)

December 6, 2018 By Becky Leave a Comment

This post is sponsored by ALDI USA.

Chocolate Almond Butter Thumbprints with Maple Caramel (Gluten free, Grain free)

Who’s ready to make some cookies to share with Santa (or keep for yourself)? These chocolate almond butter thumbprints are easy to make and filled with a salty-sweet maple caramel. They’re perfect for sharing with loved ones who are following a grain-free or paleo diet!

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Filed Under: dessert, gluten free, recipe Tagged With: almond butter, caramel, chocolate, Christmas, cookies, grain free, maple, pecans, sponsored, winter

Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Pie (Gluten-free, No-bake)

November 19, 2018 By Becky 8 Comments

This pumpkin caramel cheesecake pie requires no cooking, and all the layers are made in the food processor with no need to wash it in between. It’s the perfect last-minute Thanksgiving dessert! This pie was originally published in fall of 2013. I’ve tweaked the recipe and updated the photos.

This pie is so easy, and so good!  If you already have your caramel sauce made (try salted caramel, salted maple caramel, or even store-bought), there is no cooking required–just a few rounds of food processing.  And, in case you need another reason to make this, there’s pumpkin involved!  There’s also caramel, whipped cream, and a delicious two-ingredient crust.  The cheesecake layer is rich, but not overpowering–I think even people who don’t love cheesecake will probably love this.

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Filed Under: dessert, gluten free, recipe Tagged With: caramel, cheesecake, dates, fall, no-bake, pecans, pie, pumpkin, Thanksgiving, whipped cream

Summer Kale Salad with Peaches and Candied Pecans

July 18, 2016 By Becky 14 Comments

Summer Kale Salad with Peaches and Candied Pecans

This refreshing summer kale salad is packed with seasonal superfoods and topped with creamy goat cheese and crunchy candied pecans.

Kale salads. How do you feel? I was a little suspicious back in the day, but if I give the kale a good massage and add a lot of different toppings, I can now get pretty excited about them. If you’re not into kale salads yet, let me see if I can sell you: we’re adding juicy peaches and blueberries, creamy goat cheese, and perfectly salty-sweet candied pecans.

CANDIED PECANS! Sorry to shout, but they’re so good, and they’re super easy and quick to make on the stovetop in less than ten minutes. No fuss, no oven. And you may want to make a double batch, because it’s hard to stop snacking on them. I ate a lot of mine before the salad even got dressed!

Summer Kale Salad with Peaches and Candied Pecans

In other news, I have a serious peach problem. Last summer, we got down to Chattanooga at the end of peach session, right after The Peach Truck had left town. I was so mad I had missed out. All year I waited and checked the schedule. And when they came to East Ridge a little over a week ago, I was there. I bought a 25-pound box of peaches and a one-pound bag of pecans.

Since then, it’s been all peaches all the time. In addition to eating an embarrassing number of them out of hand, juice dripping everywhere, I’ve made a peach dutch baby, peach margaritas (I shared the full recipe on Insta–they’re so good!), peach muffins, and peach ice cream.

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Filed Under: #30MinuteMondays, dinner, gluten free, recipe, sides, vegetarian Tagged With: blueberry, goat cheese, grain free, kale, peach, pecans, salad, summer

Easy Texas Sheet Cake

June 6, 2016 By Becky 20 Comments

Easy Texas Sheet Cake (Gluten free, Grain free, Dairy free)

When you need grain-free, dairy-free cake for a crowd, this easy Texas sheet cake is here for you! It’s simple to make (no mixed needed!) and impossibly delicious. This post is sponsored by Dream in partnership with Honest Cooking.

This easy Texas sheet cake is perfect for times when you need a cake that serves a lot of people, but is simple and straightforward to make. It’s ideal for feeding folks with dietary restrictions since it’s paleo-friendly and free of gluten, grains, and dairy. And it’s also just the thing for when you suddenly need chocolate cake on a random afternoon and don’t want to wait too long to get your fix. With a chocolate sheet cake, you don’t have to worry about un-molding, stacking, or leveling multiple layers of cake. And since sheet cakes are thin, they cool quickly so you don’t have to wait long to frost them. You can make this whole thing, start to finish, in less than an hour. It’s also just really fun to look at such a vast expanse of cake!

Easy Texas Sheet Cake (Gluten free, Grain free, Dairy free)

This cake also has the best texture of any paleo-friendly chocolate cake I’ve ever made–it really tastes just like a regular cake! But, like a really good, homemade regular cake–not a store-bought one, of course. I looked to classic, gluten-laden Texas sheet cake recipes for guidance in developing this recipe, and discovered that they are usually made with buttermilk. Buttermilk works together with baking soda to help cakes rise, and also helps create a tender crumb. For this recipe, I made a super simple dairy-free buttermilk replacement using Dream Ultimate Almond Unsweetened Almond Beverage and a little bit of apple cider vinegar.

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Filed Under: dessert, gluten free, paleo, recipe Tagged With: almonds, cake, chocolate, dairy free, grain free, pecans, sponsored

Cider-Glazed Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower Rice

January 25, 2016 By Becky 20 Comments

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

Cider-Glazed Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower Rice (Paleo, Whole30) | acalculatedwhisk.com

This cider-glazed chicken with roasted cauliflower rice is an easy but gourmet paleo meal that comes together quickly. It’s also Whole30-compliant!

I’ve had a jug of local cider in the fridge since Christmas, and have been wanting to reduce it into some kind of sauce for a savory dish. The idea got stuck in my head right away, so even though I love to have a glass of cider on its own, I’ve pretty much just been saving it, biding my time until a great idea for something savory with cider sauce came along.

Ingredients for with Roasted Cauliflower Rice with Brussels Sprouts and Pecans (Paleo, Whole30) | acalculatedwhisk.com

Serendipitously, I found the idea as soon as I started exploring Erin’s blog, The Spiffy Cookie, which was my assignment for this month’s Secret Recipe Club reveal. Erin has an index of all her gluten-free recipes, which made it really easy to find good candidates for me to adapt into paleo-friendly dishes. (I had to avert my eyes from all of her ridiculously good-looking desserts, but will be back to browse those once my Whole30 is over!) Before the gluten-free recipes page had even fully loaded, Erin’s cider-glazed chicken with browned-butter pecan rice caught my eye.

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Filed Under: dinner, gluten free, paleo, recipe, whole30 Tagged With: Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, chicken, fall, pecans, winter

Grain-free Cranberry Orange Bread

November 21, 2014 By Becky 10 Comments

Grain-free Cranberry Orange Bread
My family doesn’t have a well-defined set of Thanksgiving traditions.  Growing up with divorced parents, I often divided my time between two Thanksgiving dinners, having the main meal at one house and dessert at another.  Things always felt briefly desolate as I was shuttled between the two under the cover of early nightfall, but a slice of pie (or three) put an end to that pretty fast.  And I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on spending time with either of my families.
My mom and I usually had dinner at a friends’ house, and didn’t have to do much of the cooking.  (I don’t think either of us has ever roasted a whole turkey, unless she did a bunch of turkey-roasting before I was born and neglected to tell me about it.)

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Filed Under: dessert, gluten free, paleo, recipe Tagged With: baking, bread, cake, cranberry, fall, grain free, orange, pecans, primal, Thanksgiving, winter

Maple Apple Spice Cake

October 20, 2014 By Becky 16 Comments

My boyfriend doesn’t like things made with apples, pumpkin, or squash, so fall is kind of a hard time for us.  I’m all like, “It’s time to apple-pumpkin-squashify all the things!” and he’s all like, “Oh, it looks like there’s some bread over there for toast.”  Literally, he had toast for lunch the other day.  I could not even get him to try a bite of this butternut squash soup with fried garlic and chili oil.

I’ve been a paleo food blogger for long enough that I feel like a little bit of a failure when my boyfriend has toast for lunch.

Things are going a little bit better on the apple front, though, because Ben really liked this cake.  Unless you’re the one to stir the grated apple into the batter, which would be a pretty major tipoff, you probably won’t know that there’s any apple in it.  It does help make the batter extra moist, though, kind of like the zucchini in zucchini bread, and also adds a little more sweetness.

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Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, gluten free, paleo, recipe, uncategorized Tagged With: ACW original, apple, baking, cake, fall, grain free, maple, pecans, primal, spice

Cranberry Chocolate Truffles (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten-free)

December 18, 2013 By Becky Leave a Comment

I promise that after today’s post we will take a *short* break from all the cranberries.
Did you make a batch of cranberry maple syrup and cran-maple compote yet?  You’re going to need it for these amazing cranberry chocolate truffles!
The inside of these candies is a beautiful dark pink color thanks to the cranberry maple syrup, and has just a hint of cocoa powder.  The truffles are dipped in dark chocolate to make their snappy outer shell, and then sprinkled with shredded coconut or chopped pecans just before the coating has time to set.  They may be the most festive thing I’ve ever made, other than this tart.  They are great for gifting.  I love the way the tart cranberry filling tastes with the rich dark chocolate, and I bet you and your lucky giftees will, too.
I think I just made up a word.  It’s probably time to for me to stop and just get on with the recipe.
One more thing: these are adorable packaged in an egg carton.  Wrap that all up and see how befuddled people are when they open it and think you’re giving them a carton of eggs for Christmas.

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Filed Under: dessert, gluten free, paleo, recipe, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: candy, chocolate, Christmas, coconut, cranberry, dairy free, holiday, maple syrup, pecans, truffles, winter

Cranberry Orange Tart (Paleo, Gluten-free, Dairy-free)

December 9, 2013 By Becky 5 Comments

I had this bag of cranberries left over from Thanksgiving that was begging to be used up, and it had been far too long since I’d made any kind of a curd.  I came up with an idea: a cranberry orange tart that would give me the chance to use up my cranberries, make a curd, and finally do something with my tart pan.
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Filed Under: dessert, gluten free, paleo, recipe Tagged With: almond flour, baking, cranberry, curd, dairy free, eggs, fall, holiday, orange, pecans, tart, whipped cream, winter

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.

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Filed Under: dessert, gluten free, paleo, recipe Tagged With: almond flour, baking, cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, coconut flour, coconut oil, dairy free, maple syrup, pecans, peppermint

Pumpkin Cake with Molasses Cream (Paleo, Gluten-free)

September 21, 2013 By Becky 7 Comments

It is only September 21st, and I may already be tired of pumpkin.
I mean, “tired” is a little extreme–I probably just need one week off, and then I’ll be ready to get back on the pumpkin train.
The reason is that I had to make this pumpkin cake four or five times.  The first time, I tried to make a vegan version using flax eggs.  I baked the cake for a long, long time, but it still did not set completely.  It had a fabulous flavor, but it was like a pudding-cake.  After cutting off a few slices, the rest of the loaf couldn’t even hold itself together, and slumped into the delicious pumpkin version of an old, dilapidated house.
The next time I made it, it ended up staying in the oven for over three hours (not on purpose).  You can see it here (and I’d be thrilled if you followed me on Instagram!).  The third time, I substituted molasses for the honey, and the cake was so dark that it looked burnt even though it wasn’t.  I wanted a nice orange color, at least on the inside of the cake, so I tried a fourth time.  I loved the molasses flavor, so I used it in the glaze, along with some creme fraiche (my new favorite thing).  Finally, I got a cake I loved!  It’s still very moist, but it hasn’t fallen apart yet.  The molasses cream and pecans really take it over the top.  If you’re not a nut person, you could try adding a similar amount of chocolate chunks.  I added them to the first batch and it was fabulous.
So, hopefully you’re not tired of pumpkin!  I promise to feature a different main ingredient in my next recipe.
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Filed Under: gluten free, paleo Tagged With: coconut flour, creme fraiche, fall, honey, molasses, nut free, pecans, pumpkin, spice

Hi, I’m Becky!

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