Chocolate Chunk Bar

 

Chocolate Chunk Bar

 

 Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup raw agave nectar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/8 cups unbleached, flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 "unsweetened" chocolate baking bar (I used Ghirardelli), broken in chunks

What to do:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray a baking pan with olive oil or cooking spray

Melt butter, mix with sugar, agave, and vanilla. Add the egg.
Mix in flour & baking soda, and chocolate chunks.

Pour batter into baking pan - bake for 18 minutes until golden brown.



Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Because most recipes call for granulated sugar and brown sugar, it's been a great way for me to experiment in the kitchen by changing recipes around. This one uses PURE maple syrup as a substitute in the recipe for the sweetener. It adds a little more Fall flavor with the pumpkin too.

PUMPKIN WALNUT BREAD

Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached, organic flour (or your choice of flour)
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger, ground
1/4 tsp. allspice
dash of salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Spray a bread loaf pan (9"x5") or a cake pan (9"x13") with spray (or coat with melted butter).
In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add eggs, water, syrup, pumpkin and oil to another bowl, mixing well. Combine the dry ingredients with the moist ingredients. Stir in vanilla and walnuts.
Pour into choice of pan.
Bake for 30 minutes if using a cake pan or for 50 minutes if using a bread loaf pan. *I used cake pan today because I couldn't find my loaf pan.* Check for doneness using a toothpick.

Would be tasty with a cream cheese icing on top, I'm sure.

Coconut Sugar Frosting

I've been looking for alternatives to the usual powdered sugar frosting and have not really found any frosting recipes or icings that were worth writing about...(or trying again) until today!

If you do not have powdered sugar on hand, there is a seldom known fact that you can make your own. What you do is grind granulated sugar into the fine powdered texture of powdered or confectioners sugar. Now, if you do not have a coffee grinder in your house, this isn't going to work very well. (I've tried doing this in food processors and it doesn't get to the right texture or consistency.)

Since this worked with granulated cane sugar, I thought I'd give it a spin with granulated coconut nectar. The results were unexpected. I poured the coconut sugar into my clean coffee grinder, set the grind to espresso (fine) and turned it on. The granules turned into a fine powder with an almost caramel-ish aroma. Using the following recipe, I made a pretty tasty frosting that I used to top a homemade vanilla cake.

Mix together:
1 cup granulated coconut sugar* (Madhava brand is what I used).
*Grind to a fine powder in a coffee grinder.
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, unsalted
1/8 cup whipping cream, heavy
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
4 oz. fat free cream cheese (1/2 a brick)
For best results, pre-whip the whipping cream. Add the butter, sugar and vanilla and cream cheese until smooth.

Homemade cake from scratch - using coconut sugar in place of granulated

Delicious Homemade CAKE

Delicious!

CAKE RECIPE:

• 2 cups flour (I used Hodgson Mills unbleached, unenriched, gail safe flour)
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup canola oil (or any for binding)
• 3/4 cup water

Mix together well. Pour into greased 9 inch cake pan. Bake for 27 minutes at 350 degrees F.
This recipe has no eggs, so it's vegan friendly if that helps... Can double the recipe to make 2 round cakes for a layered cake.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE FROSTING:

For this I finely chopped an 85% dark chocolate bar (these have very little sugar and are pretty bitter). Meanwhile, I boiled 1 cup heavy cream in a small saucepan. When the cream was bubbling, I poured it over the chocolate chunks... I stirred this together. This mixture smoothed out a bit but didn't look good enough to top my cake. I chilled this concoction for about 15 minutes. Once chilled, I added 1 TBSP. agave nectar and 1 tsp. vanilla and whipped it up like I would whipping cream. What a great idea!

Banana Shake (without ice cream)

My dietary restraints keep me from eating that rich, creamy, frozen dairy concoction that is known as ice cream. So, as a recovering "ice cream a-holic", it amazes me that something as simple as this recipe takes those cravings away.

What you need:
One frozen banana
1/2 cup of milk (I use organic 1%)
Blender (we have a Ninja, but any would work)

What to do:
Pulse the ingredients until well blended. Pour into a cup, grab a straw, enjoy!

You will be absolutely amazed that all you are drinking is a banana mixed with milk. The texture is that of a milkshake. The temperature is that of a frozen beverage. You can add flavoring to it if you want to, but the taste is very mild banana. Just think - low fat, low calories, natural sugars, delicious!

Look for more Banana recipes soon.

All Natural Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I was recently told by my doctor that I needed to cut processed sugars from my diet. This has encouraged me to experiment with natural sugars such as honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, and coconut sugars. I adapted my chocolate chip cookie bar recipe to share.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. unsifted flour (I use unbleached/unenriched)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
4 Tbsp. amber agave nectar (replaces white granulated sugar)
6 Tbsp. coconut sugar (replaces brown sugar)
4 squares of unsweetened chocolate (I used Ghirardelli, yum!)
handful of hazelnuts/filbert nuts

Directions:
Mix together the butter or margarine with the agave nectar, coconut sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Using a food processor, chop the unsweetened chocolate and hazelnuts until finely ground. Add this mixture to the butter mixture. Hand stir in the flour and baking soda. Mix until combined.

Pour into a 9"x11" baking dish that was sprayed with olive oil (or pam spray).
Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
*This makes a cakey cookie bar that is deliciously low in sugar*

Mayonnaise Cake - Better than it sounds

This is an Ebey family recipe that was passed along to me by my mother-in-law. It is the birthday cake that my husband and his sisters grew up with. I looked up the origin and found that it is also known as "Depression Era Cake" or "World War II Cake". I still make it for my husband's birthday, and for family gatherings on his side.

I am including my adapted recipe where I recently used homemade Mayonnaise (*Note: you can use jarred mayo in any form. I've tried low-fat, full-fat, miracle whip & hellman's real mayo.*)

Cake Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

pinch of salt

2 cups sifted flour

1 cup sugar (*September 2012 - I used 1 cup coconut sugar)

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1 cup of mayonnaise (either jarred or follow the recipe below)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Add the salt and sugar, stirring the dry ingredients together. Stir in the milk and vanilla extract. It will be a smooth batter. Fold in the mayonnaise to the batter. It will fluff up the consistency. Pour ingredients into a greased 8" pan (I use a springform pan, but any will do).

BAKE for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Cool.