Carmely Chocolate Chip Cookies

As a follow-up to my Carmely Chocolate Chip Cookie Balls (almost raw/no-bake), I made a few alterations and baked off a batch. They’re still grain free and naturally gluten-free, oil free, and the only sugar comes from the chocolate chips.

Carmely Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c almond meal

1/2 c date paste

1 flax egg (1 TBSP flax + 2-3 TBSP water)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

dash salt

1/4 – 1/2 c chocolate chips

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Evenly scoop onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. (I used my new cookie scoop.) Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

These cookies took quite a while to firm up. I think is the first time I’ve tried to bake with almond meal. The flavor was excellent, so don’t be put-off by the longer cook time.

Recipe Review: Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I thought I already posted this. I can’t believe I didn’t. I’ve made this recipe three times. Yes. Three times. I hardly ever make desserts more than once let alone three times. So yes, they are that good!

I found this recipe through Pinterest.  I love Pinterest, by the way. Love, love, love it! I keep finding all of these wonderful recipes. (Along with fitness, fashion and decoration inspiration.) The original recipe isn’t vegan, but it easily converted to vegan. All I had to do was sub out the egg for a flax egg. I used golden flax so it matched the peanut butter, and it was totally undetectable. Plus, without the egg, you can worrilessly lick the spoon and bowl

Aside from replacing the egg with a flax egg, I also reduced the liquid sugar to 1/4 cup of maple syrup. With the chocolate chips, the cookies are plenty sweet enough.

The first time I made these cookies, my batch only made nine cookies. The recipe says it makes 24, which I thought was weird. Until I pulled the cookies out of the oven. Surprisingly, they expand! The cookies from my first batch were total peanut butter fest. Wowza! Talk about rich. So, the second time I made them, I used my cookie scoop (love my Christmas gift from Mr. M!) for the first time and made 20 much smaller cookies. Ah…much better. I also shared some of this batch with a friend, who raved about them!

Because I had such success with the first two batches, I tried this recipe again, but switched up the nut butter and added some walnuts (because the friend I made them for loves walnuts in chocolate chip cookies). I had a jar of TJ’s sunflower seed butter hanging out in the fridge annoying me (I didn’t care for it – weird), and there was about a cup left, which was prefect. Again, I used golden flax for a flax egg and 1/4 c maple syrup, which was plenty sweet. I ended up using about 1/2 c of toasted walnuts (I spread them out on the parchment paper covered cookie sheet and toasted them while the oven was warming – worked perfectly) and a heaping 1/2 c of chocolate chips since this batch was going to someone used to SAD cookies. The resulting cookies was delicious!

I didn’t think I’d like these cookies because I hate nuts in cookies, and I wasn’t a big fan of the sunflower seed butter in its natural state. But I thought wrong. I had to taste at least a bite of one to make sure they were edible, and I ended up eating two. Ha ha!

Another surprise about these cookies (besides their deliciousness) was the inside – it’s black! Apparently sunflower seed butter turns black when it’s heated?! Or maybe it was from some sort of reaction to the flax?? Whatever the reason, it was a little weird-looking, but it didn’t deter my friend from digging into the cookies, so no biggie.

The thing I love the most about these cookies is that they’re grain free. I’ve been trying more grain-free recipes, and I’m really enjoying them. And, being grain free, these cookies are also naturally gluten-free (if your flax isn’t cross-contaminated). Perfect!

Carmely Chocolate Chip Cookie Balls

I made date paste last weekend for a batch of Pumpkin Spice Muffins, and I didn’t use it all. I meant to put some in my giant green smoothies, but I kept forgetting. All week. Nice self. Real nice. But, it’s all good – and so was the date paste, so I made some cookie balls. And, unexpectedly, the dates added a nice, caremly flavor to the dough. I love surprises like that!

Carmely Chocolate Chip Cookie Balls

Carmely Chocolate Chip Cookie Balls (Almost Raw)

1 c almond meal

1/4 – 1/2 c date paste (depending on how loose you want your dough)

1 TBSP melted coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

dash salt

1/4 – 1/2 c chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Form into balls. (I used one of the cookie scoops I got for Christmas…finally.) Place balls on parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze. Once firm, transfer to an airtight container, and store in the freezer.

My dough made nine pretty-good-sized balls.

If you want to make these truly raw, make your own almond meal (I used store-bought, which may or may not be raw) and your own chocolate chips (with equal parts raw cocoa powder, coconut oil, and liquid sweetener or stevia – mix to combine, flatten onto parchment, freeze, and cut into chocolate chunks. Store in the freezer.). I used store-bought mini-chips for this batch of dough.

I think these might be good baked, too. I’m going to make another batch with a couple more ingredients (to make them oven worthy) and see what happens. I’ll share the results, of course

Chocolate Peanut Butter Freezer Cups

I made these chocolate peanut butter cups a couple of  weeks ago and never got around to posting the recipe. That turned out to be a good thing, because with the leftovers, I made chocolate peanut butter banana ice cream! That’s right, folks. This is a two-for-one post

Chocolate Peanut Butter Freezer Cup

Chocolate Peanut Butter Freezer Cups

1/2 c cashews

1/2 c Brazil nuts

1/4 – 1/2 c water

1/4 - 1/2 c cocoa powder

1/4 c maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c natural peanut butter (organic preferred)

Dash salt if peanut butter isn’t salted

Blend nuts, water, sweetener, cocoa powder, and vanilla in a bullet style blender. Put container in the freezer for a few minutes while you assemble the bottom of the peanut butter cups.

In a mini muffin tin or mini cupcake silicone molds, add a dollop of peanut butter. Once all cups are filled, remove chocolate mixture from freezer and top each cup with desired amount of chocolate goodness. Decorate cups as desired.

I added some mini chips to a few of peanut butter cups and some sliced almonds to a few others. I think some shredded coconut would be a nice topper too.

Freeze cups until firm and store in the freezer to maintain desired consistency.

And if, like me, you need the freezer space for more goodies, turn your chocolate peanut butter freezer cups into chocolate peanut butter banana ice cream!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

4 frozen bananas, chunked

6 or more Chocolate Peanut Butter Freezer Cups

Splash of non-dairy milk

Combine everything in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Eat immediately or store in the freezer.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

I used my new Vitamix to make this ice cream, and I found the Vitamix’s nemesis – frozen peanut butter! You may want to let your Chocolate Peanut Butter Freezer Cups warm up a little bit before you try to blend them. I stalled out the motor on my new toy…twice!

Coconut Lemon Bars

I’m sorry my posts have been few and far between lately. My course load this semester is a quite a bit heavier than I expected (although my pay isn’t…of course), and it’s taking up a lot more time than I anticipated. I hope to add a few more posts during the week as I get settled into a routine. I hope

Luckily, I’ve been able to keep my Sundays free for cooking and recipe development, and Sunday I came up with a delicious treat: Coconut Lemon Bars. If you like coconut and lemon, these bars are for you. Even if you’re on the fence about coconut (or, as Mr. M mockingly says, you don’t seek out the coconut), you’ll probably like these rich, little treats. They were a HUGE hit at work. I need to make them again just so everyone who wanted to can try them - and so the people who got to try them can have some more. Yup. They’re that good.

Coconut Lemon Bars

Coconut Lemon Bars

Bar Base

3/4 c almonds*

1/4 c sunflower seeds

1/2 c dates

1/2 c prunes

2 TBSP coconut butter**

Blend/food process nuts, seeds, and dates until they form a sticky crumble. Press the mixture into a small pan, or make mini bites by pressing the mix into mini-muffin tins or silicone molds. You can also form the bars into the shape of your choice on parchment or wax paper (Valentine hearts?!).

Coconut Lemon Bars Base

Coconut Topping

1/2 c coconut butter**

2 TBSP maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of your choice)

Juice & Zest of one organic lemon (about 2 TBSP juice & 1 TBSP zest)

Water as needed by the tsp

Blend all ingredients into a thick, frosting like consistency. If your mixture is too thick, add water by the teaspoon-full until desired consistency is achieved. Spread over bar base and freeze or refrigerate bars until coconut topping is firm/solid. Cut into bite sized pieces. (Mine made 20 one inch by one square bites.)

*Try replacing the almonds with pumpkin seeds (pepitas). I meant to try this myself, but forgot. Oops! It’s my plan for the next batch

**Make your own coconut butter! Add two bags of unsweetened, desiccated coconut flakes (or shreds) to a food processor and run on high until a thick, creamy butter forms. Depending upon the power of your processor, it should take about 8-10 minutes. My old, wimpy food processor took about 10 minutes, and my new, heavy-duty one takes about 8. Store your super cheap (less than $2.50 from my local Kroger) coconut butter in a glass container and keep it in a cool, dry place. DO NOT put it in the refrigerator. I did that, and it turned into a coconut rock. But…it returned to its soft, buttery state after a few minutes in a warm water bath. So, if someone accidentally refrigerates your coconut butter, just warm it up, and you’ll be good to go.

I couldn't resist a bite of my own

I’d love to know how these bars turn out for you if you try them. I was shocked by how many of my coworkers liked them. I guess people occasionally like something other than chocolate for dessert. Who knew?!

I’m sharing this recipe with the awesome readers of Wellness Weekends  at Diet Dessert and Dogs, Allergy Friendly Friday at Cybele Pascal’s Allergen Free Cuisine, and submitting it to the Valentine’s Day Bake-Off at Forks and Beans.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosted Blondies

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosted Blondies

Do I really even need to write anything to go with this recipe? The pictures kind of speak for themselves

Waiting for a Bite

(Almost Raw) Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosted Blondies

Blondie

3/4 c walnuts

1/4 c almonds

1 c raisins

1 tsp vanilla

Processes nuts, raisins and vanilla until mixture forms a large, sticky ball. Press blondie mix into a small, rectangular dish (or a mini-muffin tin or mini-silicone molds – or go all out and make full-sized brownies or cupcakes).

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

1/4 c peanut butter

1/4 c vanilla soy creamer (or vanilla almond milk)

2 TBSP maple syrup

3-4 TBSP water (depending upon desired consistency of frosting)

2-4 TBSP chocolate chips/chunks

Optional: Additional sweetener (blondies are sweet enough for me), 2 TBSP Cashews - either blended into the frosting for extra richness, chopped and mixed into frosting, or crushed and sprinkled on top

Place all ingredients except chips and nuts (if using) in blender/food processor and blend until creamy. Add water until desired consistency is reached. Stir in chocolate chips/chunks and/or nuts. Spread frosting evenly on top of blondies and sprinkle with crushed nuts (if using). Cover with plastic wrap and freeze to set frosting.

Cut into 16 small pieces and store in freezer or refrigerator.

The peanut butter flavor in the frosting is very subtle. If you’re looking for a more peanutty flavor, add additional peanut butter, but you’ll also have to add additional liquid. Also, the frosting is bitter-sweet, especially if you use home-made chocolate chips (equal parts cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, and liquid sweetener – or 10+ drops of liquid stevia). I find the sweetness of the blondies carries over nicely, so if the frosting was any sweeter, the whole thing would be too much for me. But feel free to sweeten it up!

I’m submitting this to Wellness Weekends and the Valentine’s Day Bake Off. Check out Ricki and Cara’s sites if you haven’t already; they’re both awesome!

Almost Raw Black & Tan Cupcakes

Sorry. These are alcohol free. Guinness isn’t vegan anyway

In an attempt to make more gluten-free desserts, I’ve making more raw treats. Well, almost raw. I’m allergic to agave, so my liquid sweetener of choice is maple syrup. (I just bought two pints at Sam’s yesterday.) And, I don’t have any raw cocoa powder for my chocolate treats, so that’s not raw either. See…almost raw desserts!

This is what I came up with last weekend.

Black & Tan Cupcake

I thought I was going to make a blondie inspired by Amber’s 5 Minute, Single-Serve Raw Vegan Blondie. But after I made it, I wanted chocolate. So much for the blondie. Chocolate sprinkles didn’t quite work (they wouldn’t stick), so I opted for chocolate frosting. I’m so glad I opted for chocolate frosting.

Almost Raw Black & Tan Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1/2 c raw pecans

1/4 c raw almonds

1/2 c dates

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp (or less) salt

Blend ingredients in a food processor or blender. (You may need to blend nuts and dates separately.) Mixture will be course but should stay together when pressed. Press mixture into 4 regular cupcake molds (or 8 small molds or 2 large molds).

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 c cashews

1/4 c non-dairy milk

1/4 c cocoa powder

2 TBSP maple syrup

dash salt

Combine everything in a food processor or blender until smooth. Spread evenly over cupcakes. Sprinkle with crushed chocolate pieces. (I finely chopped a couple of pieces of Endangered Spieces chocolate bar in my Magic Bullet.)

Remove cupcakes from metal mold or leave cupcakes in silicone molds and place  in a covered container and refrigerate or freeze until firm. Store in freezer for firmest texture. (Cupcakes thaw in a few minutes.)

Good Enough to Eat!

The next time I make these, I’ll make them in mini molds. Half of a regular sized cupcake was plenty, and a whole one almost gave me the sugar shakes, but mmm mmm mmm…worth every bite!

I’m submitting this recipe to Cara’s Valentine’s Day Bake Off at Fork and Beans, Ricki’s Wellness Weekends at Diet, Dessert and Dogs, Amy’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at SSGF, and Cybele’s Allergy Friendly Fridays at Alergen-Free Cuisine.

Recipe Review: Gingerbread Biscotti

I finally found some gingerbread I like! Woohoo!

I found this recipe from Fat Free Vegan a few weeks ago, and it’s been on my must make list since. Honestly, I’ve never tried anything of Susan’s that I haven’t loved (she and I must have a very similar pallet), so I was pretty sure her combo of gingerbread spices would work for me. And they did!

I somehow picked up on the idea that biscotti was hard to make. It’s not. It’s very simple. The only difficult part, if you call pulling a pan from an oven and then replacing it to said over difficult, was baking the cookies three times (even though biscotti literally means twice cooked/baked).

Biscotti and Tea

While I loved the flavor of this biscotti, I did have trouble with the dough being too dry. I don’t know if the liquid is missing from the ingredient’s list, or if it just needed more liquid because I used whole wheat flour, but I ended up adding about 1/4 c of coconut nog (I’m sure any non-dairy milk or non-dairy coffee creamer would work just fine, but I need to use my coconut nog before it expires.) to get the flour to incorporate. Then, after I thrice baked the cookies, I couldn’t figure out how to keep them crunchy! I’ve read numerous times to keep cookies crunchy, store them in a glass container, but I don’t have a glass container big enough for biscotti planks, so I wrapped mine with foil, but they got soft. The next day they were even softer – after having been transferred to a loosely covered plastic container. If anyone knows how to keep biscotti crunchy, please let me know! (It was crunchy before I wrapped it up for the night; I was so disappointed the next more.)

Overall, another successful recipe from FFV!

An Almost Raw Dessert

To go with my raw kale salad, I also made an almost raw dessert. It was only almost raw because I don’t have any raw cocoa powder (yet!).

The original recipe for the Chocolate Cashew Tarts only made two tarts, but I thought that might be a little bit much for me (in calories and richness), so I made mine in mini muffin tins. I had to make a double batch of the chocolate cream (and there was  a little left, which I was ecstatic to eat directly from my finger the blender cup.

The flavor of these tarts is amazing. I can’t believe how decadent they are. Even with a pretty significant amount of maple syrup (I can’t use agave, so again, not raw with the maple syrup), the sweetness of this dessert doesn’t make me crave more sugar. I’ve been noticing lately (thank you, holiday baking season!) that processed sugar REALLY makes me crave more sugar. (That and processed, white flour.)

I didn’t run the numbers on these little babies, but I’m sure they don’t come at calorie bargain. They are really, really rich, though, so you definitely don’t need more than one!

The one thing I will do differently when I make these again (yes, I will be making these again!) is to use more raisins (or dates or prunes) in the “crust.” Mine was too crumbly and not nearly sticky enough. It barely stayed together on most of the tarts. I’m guessing the original recipe assumes you’ll eat the tarts with a fork, but I prefer my fingers

Recipe Review: Macaroons

As you know, I’ve been doing a lot of baking over winter break. I’ve already shared my adventures in snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies, and gingerbread/molasses cookies, but, of course, I’ve been baking other goodies too. I guess I’ve been using this time to make some of the more decadent treats that have caught my attention but that I haven’t wanted in the house to tempt me. This time of years is the prefect excuse to bake something you only want one of because you can give the rest away, and people are more excited than leery.

One of the cookies I’ve been dying to make is Chocolate Covered Katie’s Four-Minute Coconut Macaroons. I came across the recipe again one day a couple of weeks ago, knew I had all the ingredients on-hand, and knew I would be having lunch with a serious coconut fan the next day. Perfect!

I assembled my ingredients, but after I opened my can of coconut milk, I realized it was full fat, although the cream at the top wasn’t very creamy, and hoped that wouldn’t make much of a difference during the cooking process. I don’t know if it did or not, but I had to add an extra TBSP of oat flour (which may have also played havoc with the consistency) to the mix and cook it WAY longer than suggested to make the coconut mixture thick and dough-like as opposed to runny and soup-like. It tasted awesome, so I guess cooking it for a while longer didn’t affect the flavor. I also cooked my cookies less time than suggested because the tiny shred of coconut that stuck out away from the cookie started to burn. Again, this didn’t seem to affect the taste at all, and after I let the cookies sit for a few minutes on the hot cookie sheet, their consistency was fine.

Naked Macaroon

After I sampled one (as good cookies do – ha ha), I decided they needed something to cut the intense sweetness, so I melted one square of Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled it on each cookie by the spoonful. Then I set the chocolate drizzled macaroons in the freezer over-night to set. The resulting product was super delicious – and super rich! I thought they were very reminiscent of a mounds bar, but double the sweetness.

All dressed up with some place to be.

My friend said she and her parents all ate one of the macaroons the day I sent them home with her. Woohoo – omnivores eating vegan cookies equals success!