Strawberry Shortcake

This shortcake is deceiving.  It is made with almond flour, and it a cross between a biscuit and shortbread.  They are not very sweet and the consistency reminds me of shortbread.  Make these shortcakes as thick or thin as you want them.  Add homemade cream and fresh strawberries to have a delicious strawberry shortcake dessert!  If paleo style is what you crave, make a coconut whipped cream to top it.  I borrowed the recipe from Elana's Pantry.  She is a gluten-free guru, and I have one of her books that is filled with great recipes.  I changed a few things about this recipe including changing the name from biscuits to shortcake.  Try this recipe with your favorite biscuit fixings (butter, jam, honey) or with the berries and whipped cream.  Let me know what you think. Are they better as biscuits or shortcake?

Need

2 1/2 c. almond flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 c. ghee
2 eggs
1 T. raw organic honey
1 t. vanilla extract

Prepare

 Preheat oven to 350

1. In a medium sized bowl combine the almond flour, salt, and baking soda.

2. In a larger bowl whisk together the ghee, eggs, honey, and vanilla.  The ghee should not be melted and may be hard to whisk.  Try using a spatula first to break down the mixture.  It will be chunky.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and mix until a dough ball forms.

4.  Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper.  Toss in a few palm-fulls of extra almond flour to prevent sticking while rolling.

5. Roll the dough to desired thickness.  

6. Using a biscuit cutter or top of mason jar, cut the dough into circles and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  You may need to repeat steps 4-6 in order to use all of the dough.  In addition, the dough does not rise.  If you want the shortcakes thick, you will have to cut them thick.

I cut mine with a mason jar.

Ready for the oven

7. Bake for 15 minutes at 350.  If your biscuits are not the same thickness, check on them after about 10 minutes.  The thinner ones might need to be removed in order to avoid being burnt at the bottom.  

The biscuits should turn slightly brown at the top.

Finished product

Strawberry Shortcake Dessert

Pumpkin Muffins

I prefer cooking to baking, but occasionally I get the baking bug. Some days I just want to crank up the tunes and start baking. Tonight I made pumpkin muffins using almond flour. I think about making them every weekend when I make the almond flour pancakes. I figured making muffins couldn't be too different. They turned out surprisingly tasty! I'm going to play around with the recipe a few times again, but here is what I did today. My belly will be very happy tomorrow morning at breakfast.

Need

2 1/2 c. almond flour
1 ripe banana
3/4 c. canned pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. apple pie spice
1 T. melted coconut oil
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/2 c. chopped toasted pecans
Ghee to coat the muffin tin cups

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the almond flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium size bowl.

Add in the mashed ripe banana, pumpkin puree, eggs, coconut oil, and maple syrup to the same bowl. Mix in the pumpkin pie spice. Lastly fold in the toasted pecans. The batter will be very thick.

Using some type of oil, coat the muffin cups. I used a small amount of ghee.
Divide the batter evenly in the muffin pan filling about 3/4 the way full. Top each muffin with a toasted pecan.

Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes. The muffins should be golden brown.

Warm in the microwave the next day to enjoy with your coffee!

Homemade Lara Bars

Lara Bars are simply dates and nuts. That is all. Because they are pure raw ingredients, they run about $1.00-$2.00 a bar. I made 1 batch of Lara Bars for about $5.00. One batch makes 10 of the store servings and you can control what goes into them. Needless to say, this recipe will be a staple in our household for a while. They are very easy to make.

Need

1 c. nuts
I used 1/2 pecans, 1/2 cashew
1.5 c PITTED dates
Food Processor

Prepare

1. Add 1 c. nuts to food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground.

2. Place the chopped nuts in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the dates to food processor. Before adding the dates, make sure that they are all pitted. Even if they say pitted, double check! I found 2 pits in mine and it will wreck your food processor.
4. Mince the dates in the food processor until it becomes a paste. It only takes about 1 minute.

5. Add the dates to the bowl with the mixed nuts.
6.Add a small amount of oil to your hands and mix the nuts and dates together. (The mix will stick to your hands without the oil)
6. Using a dish, or pan press the mixture to form a square. I used a casserole dish, which worked just fine.
7. Allow the bars to refrigerate for 25 minutes.
I served mine with a side of berries for a terrific sweet treat!

The base of these bars are just nuts and dates. You can use any kind of nuts you would like. You can also play around with the ratio of dates to nuts. I have a sweet tooth, so I put a few extra dates in mine. Next time, I'm going to try adding cinnamon, dark chocolate, or unsweetened dried cranberries. Yum!