Dairy-Free
Oh, chai. Sigh. Everyone loves you, it seems. Oh, Paleo diet. Every other person loves you, too. So why not marry the chai lovers with the people eating perfectly-Paleo, with a capital P (really- Paleo has earned its own capital P)? Done. I stumbled across this recipe because I’ve been wondering about eating a bit […]
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I know these cookies sound gross. (Unless you’re the type who loves avocados, and if that’s the case, this is your fantasy sit-on-the-couch-binge-food. So pull up a blanket and get ready for your guilt-free cookie feeding.) This recipe is so healthy that it deserves to taste like a combination of prison mush and cardboard (that might […]
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Wondering what hokey pokey is? Oh, you’re going to want to know. It’s a lot more than a goofy song that we all know and love (to hate)… (but really- Urban Dictionary online actually defines Hokey Pokey as “a satanic ritual which requires one to put the right foot in and then the right foot […]
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I heard a rumor that it’s spring, and since I’m an eternal optimist I am inherently forced to believe it. The date says it’s spring, but Mother Nature must have one hell of a hangover because she’s still in massive hibernation mode. It’s okay though, because I’ve found the remedy for winter weather: spring desserts. […]
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Holy sh*#. (Oops, maybe I shouldn’t swear, given that this is a post about angels and all.) But seriously- holy crap. Imagine a cake that’s pretty and springy and fluffy and fragrant and tasty and fat free. No, you’re not dreaming. That’s the thing about angel food cake- it’s all of the above, and almost […]
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There are people who are just drawn to the splendid concoction of chocolate and peanut butter… in the same way that some can’t get over the whole chocolate-mint thing. (I happen to love both, by the way. Oh, and chocolate with caramel. Don’t forget chocolate and coconut, though- there’s a time and a place for […]
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Is it possible for something to be good for you and easy at the same time? Anything that has whole wheat in it, is virtually fat free, and can be made by tossing the ingredients into a blender is a friend of mine. Oh, and if it tastes wicked too, then I’m a fan for life. (Wicked meant in the east coast way of saying ‘cool’- not ‘evil’, although that works too.)
So this cake is a takeoff on the Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake that I have love love loved for years (yes, worthy of three love’s). Why not substitute the mandarin oranges for peaches, I ask? Why not substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the tried and true (but slightly less fibrous) all-purpose white wonder? (Note- whole wheat pastry flour is much friendlier to the taste buds than whole wheat flour is- it’s almost interchangeable with regular flour, so sneak it in everywhere you can.)
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Rise and shine!
Why not wake up to a muffin full of flavor and just the right amount of sweetness to get you going? Plus, it’s so exciting to bite into something with so many ingredients. It’s like a party for your taste buds… so many textures, so many tastes, and yes, you can bet that they all play nicely together. (Who knew that fruits and veggies could join in unison and create a hit?)
Like with any muffin, these are pretty easy to make- the only annoyance comes from having to measure out so many ingredients. Oh, and from grating the carrots- but since I started using the grater thingy on my food processor (you know- this disc that you attach to the blade in the middle), life has gotten so very very much easier. Less time grating carrots means more time baking.
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Oh dear.
Sometimes a new cookie comes into your life when you’re just not expecting it. And it changes everything. It changes the whole cookie rotation (you know what I mean- the unconscious order you have when baking your tried & true recipes that you make no matter what new & fancy cookie recipe pops up- like how I know it’s time to make my chocolate chip & pecan cookies soon, just because.)
So why have these cookies have inserted themselves into my cookie repertoire, just like that? Excellent question.
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There are some “not unhealthy” recipes I make where people are generally “pleased” with the outcome, and then there are some where people go all ape-poo. These cookies have caused quite a stir, because they’re just really, really good. Despite being really, really not bad for you.
Consider these to be a cross between a cookie and a brownie… like you made a brownie batter and then decided you absolutely had to have cookies instead. (Hm- I just thought of making these as brownies next time. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll keep you informed.) These have an intense chocolate hit (no issue there, I know) because both bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder make an appearance. And as discussed, these are health-ified by taking out added fats (like butter or oil), using egg whites, and replacing processed white sugar (the evil yet deliciously addictive crack-cocaine of the kitchen) with Sucanat and a teeny bit of brown sugar (because these are cookies, after all).
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I was made aware of some profoundly disturbing news the other day through a one-liner email from my friend Sharon:
“Did you hear about the world wide vanilla shortage?”
I swallowed hard. I hadn’t heard the news.
As a baker who goes through a significant amount of vanilla (the good vanilla, the Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla bought by the quart), this was not a happy, smiley-face-emoticon kind of email to read. So what’s a girl with a penchant for the good stuff to do, when it’s on the brink of extinction? You do what they did during the days of prohibition- you go hogwild. You make the most special vanilla recipe you have, and celebrate every last tiny bean before the pasty chefs start bootlegging vanilla into the country (and carrying guns).
So- what special dessert to choose? Crème brûlée is special, and not just because it has three different accents in its title.
No, this dessert tops the favorite list for many (other than raging chocoholics) for many delectable reasons:
* It’s one part creamy, one part crunchy. This stunning juxtaposition of textures makes for some serious cravings.
* It’s fun. Breaking through the caramelized sugar crust with a spoon is unexplainably entertaining. (It helps that the custard waiting for you underneath the crunchy roof oozes a bit through the sugar shards that are left behind.)
* It tastes freaking amazing. That might be the only reason that matters, folks.
These are very healthy, so don’t ever say that “More Sweets, Please” is all about sinful, sweet, rich, decadent, unhealthy, over the top desserts. (I would actually consider that to be a real compliment.) No, these cookies are the cousins of the Healthy Almond Butter & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies, and they upped the fiber […]
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I grew up loving banana bread, and had no idea the Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe my Mom used was a virtually fat-free one until finding the recipe online last year. (I have distinct memories of spreading gratuitous amounts of margarine on the bread– negating the whole fat-free thing, of course. Not that I cared about fat when I was nine years old.) (And yes, we used margarine. But my Mom also smoked a pack a day when she was pregnant and so we can chalk that and the margarine thing up to “they didn’t know better back then”.)
I stumbled upon my own Official Favorite Banana Bread Recipe around 1999 and have been almost faithful to it ever since. (I found a fluffy chocolate banana muffin recipe that caused my eye to wander last year, but it was a short-lived affair.)
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Some desserts surprise me. While I have always had a deep and meaningful affection for macaroons, I understand that not everyone likes the same things that I do. (Case in point- licorice allsorts. You either love them- like me- or hate them with a venomous, candy-licorice-coated passion.) So I am pleasantly surprised when macaroons go like hotcakes- I’m pleased that others like what I like, and pleased that others like a dessert that’s so wonderfully easy to make. Double win.
I have been making a simple macaroon classic forever, which just happens to be gluten-free (for those of you who care)… and it’s Recipe #1 below. I also added an egg white version- Recipe #2- which just happens to be dairy-free (for the even smaller amount of you who care). FYI- when The Husband (a.k.a. kitchen guinea pig) was forced to choose his preference in a blind macaroon tasting event, he chose the classic (Recipe #1). Sweetened condensed milk is hard to compete with, Mr. and Mrs. Egg White.
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When I say “Healthy”, I’m not messing around.
These Healthy Almond Butter & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies are a serious departure from the More Sweets, Please mantra (something along the lines of More is Better, the Sweeter the Better, etc.), and they differ wildly from my general respect for all things decadent and ooey and gooey and bingeworthy (read: not “good” for you).
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“”Guilt-Free”. Let’s talk about that for a moment, shall we?
If you like the sounds of “almost entirely fat free”, you’ll probably agree that there is very little guilt to go around when it comes to this cake.
(Really. There is one lone little egg in this recipe, and if you use the glaze- which I am going to demand that you do- one teeny pat of butter. So if you divide that minute amount of fat around a cake with 8 servings, it’s not even worth me doing the math to tell you what the fat content is or isn’t. Sounds guilt-free to me, unless you eat 3/4 of the cake on your own as your dinner as soon as it’s cool enough to eat. But I can’t help you with that problem.)
Biscotti is one of those strange desserts to me. People gobble them up, and it might be because they think they’re healthy (maybe things that are crispy seem healthier, compared to their sinfully gooey cousins?). The evil truth of it all is that biscotti is usually just as decadent as chocolate chip cookies- just disguised as a dried out stick looking for a cup of coffee to dunk itself into to come to life.
Good news, though, sinner! This version of a dark chocolate biscotti is one you don’t have to feel piggish about. Eat ’em up, and know that you’ve taken in some whole wheat and flaxy goodness… not to mention an almost-absence of fatty fat fat. The chocolate keeps the biscotti respectable in the dessert department, and the ginger, well. The ginger takes it to a whole new level.
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Carrot cake has always held a special place in my heart. (It has also been known to hold a special place on my belly over the years, but that’s another story.)
When playing the “If You Were on Death Row and Had to Choose Your Last Meal, What Would It Be?” game, carrot cake would make the cut. (Carrot cake or a deep, rich pecan pie. Or something caramelly and chocolatey, oozing together. Sorry- carried away there for a sec.)
The 4 Keys to a Kick-Ass Carrot Cake:
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