Laura's Chocolate Mousse - Gluten Free and Vegan

Topped with fresh blackberries from my brother and sister in law's garden. Yum!

Another Ode to Laura, this recipe is one she made when she came to visit Marie right after Aiden was born last summer. Sorry it's such a fuzzy shot but I love this one. Aiden was just a tiny peanut here. Laura shared her recipe in this post.  

There are so many recipes I haven't taken the time to blog lately. Life has been busier than it used to be and I've been sharing the computer and desk with my hubby so getting to it isn't always working out. This is one treat that has been a draft for nearly a year so it's time to make it blog official.

I've made it well more than a dozen times since Laura served this but was surprised to find I had actually made it and posted it earlier that year! 

My nephew told me it was already there when I mentioned I had to get it on my blog so he could find it. Oh my gosh, I'm getting old and losing my mind already. 

Check out the filling for my yummy but not so pretty Creamy Chocolate Filled Coconut Whoopie Pies! 

This is such a great recipe, naturally gluten free and vegan. It takes five minutes to put together, is a great make ahead dessert and everyone loves it. The recipe below is a small tweak from Laura's and from my filling.

Don't you love the way Laura packed them up to serve? I usually use smaller mason jars because I tend to serve these as part of a dessert table.

Because they are rich and creamy, a small serving is satisfying but because it isn't heavy or overly sweet a large serving is perfect, too.

 Laura's Chocolate Mousse - Gluten Free and Vegan

1 Can Full Fat Coconut Milk

1/2 cup (8) Organic Medjool Dates, roughly chopped

1/3 Cup Cocoa or Cacoa Powder

1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Powder

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender (I use my Vitamix) or food processor until creamy and well mixed. There will be flecks of dates in the chocolate cream if you use a food processor. 

I like to fill tiny glasses with the mouse, chill and top with raspberries just like Laura when serving.

Enjoy!

This recipe has been happily shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays!

March Muffin Madness With Gluten Free Easily!

I am so excited to be a part of Shirley Braden's March Muffin Madness over at her amazing site: Gluten Free Easily.

Every day this month Shirley has been featuring a different muffin recipe from various gluten free bloggers. It's been so fun to check out each recipe - they are all so different and they all look delicious. Check them all out and be sure to comment on her posts as she has some amazing prizes lined up!

And spend some time on Gluten Free Easily. I've told many friends that I wish I'd known of it when we first went gluten free. Not only does Shirley have dozens of her own wonderful recipes, she features lots of other bloggers on GFE Facebook page and her all dessert site: All Gluten-Free Desserts All the Time!

Shirley will be featuring one of my very favorite, high protein muffins, my Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins.  My family cannot taste the sneaky ingredient and I love that they're getting extra nutrition.

Now, go! Check out March Muffin Madness and all the wonderful muffin recipes! Enjoy!

Praline Blondies - Gluten Free & Grain Free

Last night Marc, Marie and sweet Aiden came for dinner and I wanted to make something a little different for dessert. My Praline Buttercream sounded really good, but I didn't have a lot of time to bake and ice a cake or cupcakes. Instead I made the ingredients for Praline Buttercream the basis of a pan of quick and easy blondies.

Creaming together the butter, coconut sugar and vanilla powder I simply added a cup of Moon Rabbit Foods Cassava Flour, eggs and a dash of salt, then some chopped pecans and mini chocolate chips for good measure were stirred in. Super simple to whip up, quick to bake and so delicious.

The combination of coconut sugar and butter gives these blondies that amazing praline flavor so easily. Cassava flour provides a mild flavor and wonderful texture. No gluten free gums are necessary at all. The bars cut beautifully even when warm. Gluten free doesn't have to be hard and you don't need a bunch of different flours.

Praline Blondies
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and have a 9x13 pan ready (no greasing necessary)

Cream together

1 cup            Butter (I use Kerrygold)
1 3/4 cup      Coconut Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Powder

When well mixed, add:

1 cup           Cassava Flour (I use Moon Rabbit Foods)
3 large          Eggs
1/2 cup         Raw Pecans, chopped
1 cup            Mini Chocolate Chips
pinch            Sea Salt

Spread into 9x13 pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool and enjoy!

Praline Buttercream & Chocolate Cashew Cake

Praline Buttercream may be my favorite way to top a cake ever - even if it isn't chocolate. A couple of months ago I experimented with with a basic buttercream recipe. (On that day it crowned the Moon Rabbit Foods chocolate cupcakes). I had wanted to use coconut sugar which has a really rich, wonderful flavor. I decided to whirl it in the food processor until it was almost as fine as powdered sugar, but with a little bit of texture left for a bit of a praline crunch. Beating the ground coconut sugar with yummy Kerrygold butter and a bit of ground vanilla powder made the most amazing flavor and texture. While not exactly health food, both the coconut sugar and Kerrygold have lots of benefits.

Marc, Mom, Aiden, Dad & Marie.

Yesterday I made Praline Buttercream again with a quick from-scratch cake for an early birthday celebration for Marc. 

Marc's cake was made from cashew meal, honey, eggs and cocoa - so good and so easy in the Vitamix. 

I think it would have been just as delicious if I'd used a stand mixer but using the Vitamix made the cashew meal very smooth and gave the cake a light texture. Again, the cake wasn't exactly health food but it was full of protein to balance the sugar.

Praline Buttercream & Chocolate Cashew Cake

For the Buttercream:

2 cups         Organic Coconut Sugar

1 cup           Kerrygold Butter, softened

1 teaspoon   Ground Vanilla Bean Powder

In a food processor whirl coconut sugar until almost powdery. You'll probably have a little sugar dust escape through the vent and it should look something like mine does here. You will notice it will get a shade or two lighter.

Transfer sugar to mixing bowl and beat with butter and vanilla powder. I have used both the whisk and paddle attachments in my stand mixer and both worked well. I would assume a hand mixer would work just as well. Beat until creamy and set aside until the cake has cooled.

For the Cake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and butter the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan.

Place the following ingredients into Vitamix in order. 

4                Eggs

1 lb.           Cashew Meal

1 cup         Honey

1/2 cup      Cocoa

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Using the tamper through the lid, turn the Vitamix on low and scrape the ingredients down toward the blades so that everything is thoroughly mixed. Adjust the Vitamix to high while continuing to use the tamper for about a minute. 

Using a spatula pour cake mix into pan and spread evenly. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until just set. Center will be springy to touch.

Cool and spread Praline Buttercream over the cake, then serve to the people you love.

Enjoy!

Friday Finds - Pamela's Whenever Bars

Pamela's Whenever Oat Chocolate Chip Coconut Bars have called my name many times in many different stores for a while but on a visit to Harmony Farms a couple of weeks ago I finally grabbed a box. I had really tried not to give in because I knew I'd have another Pamela's addiction. Pamela's pancake and bread mixes are always in my pantry. Everyone - gluten free or not loves them. As predicted, these are absolutely amazing. The Oat Chocolate Chip Coconut flavor is perfect. Moist, chewy oats and the perfect balance of chocolate and coconut - two of my favorite flavors.

This morning Joe had to get his wisdom teeth out and we had to leave really early. My Joe is a breakfast guy so leaving without eating wasn't easy for him and I didn't want to eat in front of him. I stuck some into my bag for Chris and I to eat after Joe went back to surgery.

Lots of coffee and one and a half bars later I'm still going strong. While the bars aren't big they are really satisfying. They're a great size to keep in your bag or backpack for those times you get stuck out longer than you expect and can't find something healthy and gluten free. I'll be picking up another box (or two) today.

And please don't forget about The Raleigh Gluten and Allergen Free Wellness Event next month. So many favorites will be there.

GF Raw Macaroons & Tea With Pattie

Pattie was coming by for a quick cup of tea in the garden this morning and I wanted to make something quick but special. It also needed to be light and healthy. I remembered some amazing raw macaroons my friend Laura had made a while back and decided to try to recreate them. Since my guys are gone on a road trip I purposefully made a small batch so that I wouldn't have too many left over to gorge on. These may not be exactly like Laura's but we really enjoyed them. The almond extract is a stage 2 Feingold ingredient but you can skip it and they will be delicious. Not only are these treats gluten free but they are also casein free and vegan. Perfect for so many of our friends' diets these day.

If you have everything on hand you can be eating them in minutes. Store them in the fridge and they will melt in your mouth.

I've just shared them over at Gluten Free Cat's Raw Thursdays! Gluten Free Cat is one of my favorite gluten free blogs and one of my Link Loves.

Raw Macaroons

Make 8 but can easily be doubled or tripled.

1 1/2 Cups Shredded Coconut

3 Organic Medjool Dates (if not very moist, soak in water for a few minutes)

3 Tablespoons Coconut Cream Concentrate, Coconut Butter or Coconut Manna depending on brand

1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil

1 Teaspoon GF Vanilla Extract

1 Teaspoon GF Almond Extract

In a food processor combine all ingredients, except the shredded coconut and mix until the dates are completely pureed. Add coconut and process just long enough to mix. You want a bit of texture.

Scoop into one tablespoon balls either rolling by hand or using the tablespoon to shape.

Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Easter Blessing and a Sweet Treat!

Happily shared on Gluten Free Wednesdays April 12, 2014!

I was beyond blessed to celebrate Easter with the people I love at Bobby and Bev's beautiful house. Bev invited our Feks and it was so fun to see the kiddos enjoy meeting all the pups and dipping their toes in the cold pool water!

And what a treat to have an entirely gluten free Easter meal thanks to Trevor! Yep, another one bit the dust and we gluten free family members are growing. Trevor apparently tipped the scales in our favor!

Everyone brought awesome gluten free goodies to share. Since we've also got some vegetarians our salads and sides have been changing and getting better with each gathering. Yay Carmen and Dev! Quinoa, black rice, pesto, spinach and  beets - those wouldn't have seen the table even a couple of years ago but we had several delicious salads lined up to choose from.

Chris' favorite was the potato salad Marie made with tiny potatoes and Dijon mustard. I couldn't decide between the pesto quinoa salad or the beet salad - they were so, so good.

There was still ham and Bev's scalloped potatoes and homemade mac and cheese for the purists in the group. Gabby's beachy fruit salad made a first time appearance to rave reviews.

The dessert table was smaller but awesome - mom's gluten free chocolate cupcakes with her amazing dark chocolate frosting, Carmen's cheesecake with blueberries and blackberries swirled in, Aunt Leora's Coconut Pie sprinkled with chocolate chips and some super simple chocolate crispy rice treats.

Hoppy Easter!

The crispy rice treats are a variation of a treat the wonderful Shirley Braden of Gluten Free Easily posted on Facebook a few days ago. The original Easter Chocolate Crackle from The Gluten and Dairy Free Bakehouse were made in Easter molds and look so pretty.

Milk chocolate and crispy rice is a combination Joe loves so I made a quick batch when I read Shirley's post. I couldn't find my molds so just spread the mixture out on a parchment lined baking sheet. We broke of delicious hunks of candy and devoured it in no time.

Easter morning after I popped Leora's Coconut Pie in the oven I made them again. This time I used a larger amount of crispy rice cereal and scooped the mixture into a mini muffin pan (thanks Shirley!) filled with paper liners with a cookie scoop.

Joe loves the ratio of crunch to chocolate and says they remind him of his old favorite Kit Kat bars. We haven't had a Kit Kat since 2005 when we joined Feingold and began avoiding food dyes and additives so I can't really vouch for the accuracy of that opinion. But he loves these and that's what is important.

So, here's all I did to make these treats:

Line 18 mini muffin wells with paper liners.

Melt one package Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips over very low heat in a skillet.

When melted through, add two cups of Crispy Rice Cereal, I used Erewhon's. Stir quickly to cover all the cereal.

Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon, fill each liner evenly.

Chill about fifteen minutes to set.

Serve and store at room temperature. We haven't had any last beyond the next day so I can't tell you how long they will keep.

I think this recipe has a lot of potential for easy variations, too. Next time I'll cut the crispy rice in half and add some coconut. Dried fruit, nuts and/or seeds could all by good. Of course dark chocolate would be delicious, too.

Enjoy!