GF Carrot Cake Cupcakes w/Cashew frosting

I saw something the other day on instagram — it was a photo of a vegan carrot cake using real carrots and a bunch of other amazing ingredients. It planted a seed in my sugar-craving carrot cake loving brain 🥕 🍰 …. so today, once my work was done (and in light of the 25 degree temps and all-day snow we’ve had), I gave myself permission to play in the kitchen a bit. 👩‍🍳

I went looking for cupcakes, for easier freezing and sharing, and found THIS RECIPE.

I had all of the ingredients at home AND I’ve never made a frosting by blending nuts, so I thought- “ what the heck!” 😋 🥕

Whipped up the batter and mine was really dry/crumbly when all mixed together so I added more applesauce and a bit more olive oil. I am still using coconut flour in all of my baking experiments (and I think it does dry out the batter quite a bit). The only other modification I made was to reduce the sugar by about 1/2c., because — these things will also have frosting on them!

As has been the case with most items I’ve baked using coconut flour, out of the oven these muffins looked drier and crackier than a normal muffin would be BUT they tasted good! And mixing up the frosting was much easier than I expected. (I soaked the cashews for an hour as instructed and then added them + the other ingredients to my silver bullet mixer and gave it a whirl). It took a bit of coaxing, stirring, and starting again, but eventually I had frosting (ish -it still had some cashew chunks in it, but the bullet had had enough).

Once I popped them in the fridge for awhile and let them set up, I pulled one out for the final taste test. Honestly - as healthy as these are, they are REALLY good. Next time I’ll use a proper blender for the frosting.
And maybe grind up walnuts to sprinkle on the frosting. Overall though, highly recommend !

Orange Cookies

So—— in the leadup to the lockdown, I doubled-down on sources of Vitamin C, including oranges and Tangelos…. and now I’ve got a few more than I can probably eat…. well, maybe not but you know what I mean. (When in doubt, bake cookies #amIright). Let’s be clear -this only involves the peel so yeah, I’ll be eating the rest of the peeled oranges…. but I digress.

Who craves an ORANGE cookie? I sure didn’t. Until tonight…. went in search of ones that don’t require frosting or “Caster sugar” (WTH?) and found this one - super simple. Sold.

Naturally, I used far more orange 🍊 peel than the measly 4 tsp the recipe called for (hello people I’m trying to dress cookies up as health food)….

I subbed coconut flour for regular flour. They turned out GREAT! The smell of oranges from the oven was a win all by itself.
beverage: blended one of the peeled oranges with some ginger juice and ice. Yum. Sliced the other orange.

So yes, friends, it’s 🍊 on 🍊 on 🍊 tonight. Because #immunity. 😘

Matcha Sugar Cookies on a cold snowy night

So — I find myself down with the sinus infection that’s making its rounds, plus a bonus addition, an ear infection which I apparently got from flying on planes with said sinus crud, which sent it right into my ears. What am I, like, 5 years old? I didn’t even know adults got ear infections. The worst part is that my ears have been full since last Wednesday, so I’m going on a week strong now of just barely being able to hear. Occasionally the ears will “pop” and clear, but then they fill back up again.

So - -that plus the 20-some degrees outside plus snow that’s been falling (again -sigh) most of this month now, and I’m hunkering down for a chill night at home. And- the urge to bake once again came up for me. I took stock of what I’ve got in the house with a mostly-empty fridge after weeks of being gone and found I’ve got just the stuff to make matcha sugar cookies.

Googled recipes and found this one, the simplest and easiest one, which looked delish.

Batch one I made with my preferred sugar, pure unrefined cane sugar, which is brown. Hence the brownish/greenish hue… while they taste good, I had to admit the color isn’t super appetizing.

So I baked up a second batch using white sugar and they look MUCH cuter in their bright green color!

I baked them a full 15 minutes and once again refrigerated the dough in the fridge 10-15 minutes before rolling into balls to bake on the pan. They came out BEAUTIFULLY. Lightly brown on the bottom and soft inside. Yum. This IS the cure for cold snowy evenings.

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Matcha Protein Cookies: Victory Round

Ok - I still had matcha protein powder to use up (and candidly, after so many smoothies, I’m looking for ways to bake with it). ;)

I am hosting friends this weekend and want to have some yummy cookies to serve for dessert. So- I went looking for a new recipe for protein cookies.

HERE was the one I decided to try tonight. I cut the sugar it calls for in over half, and instead used a bit more salt — and I went with the larger granular salt. OH. MY. GOODNESS. The chunks of salt in the cookies combined with the subtle matcha taste/sweetness, combined with the dark chocolate chips. Good grief, folks, we’ve got a winner.

Also - can I just say (albeit sheepishly) how MUCH IT HELPS To put the dough in the fridge for awhile before prepping the cookie dough balls on the pan?! Talk about PERFECT dough-balls, which translates to PERFECT cookies (and far-less-messy fingers). Wow. All this time of rushing to get the cookies in the oven, and that 15 minutes in the fridge made all the difference. Old dog. New tricks.

Do yourself a favor and make these.

For the protein powder I used the MODE (now known as ATAQ) matcha protein powder.

Tonight I’m pairing the cookies with caffeine-free AVEDA The’Tea (licorice-forward tea, yum).

Cacao muffins - er, cookies...

My beloved next-door neighbors had to say goodbye to their VERY beloved 15-year old Golden Retriever, Gator, this weekend. We’ve known it was coming as his health declined, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I’m learning that I really love baking for others to show I love them and care about them and am thinking about them. As I’ve tested out my various cookie recipes on them, they’ve given me their candid feedback and no question they’ve tended to prefer the ones on the sweeter end of the spectrum as opposed to “sugar-free” ones ;)

So- I went in search of more superfoods in my cupboards combined with just-sweet-enough recipes to deliver them some feel-good foods in their time of heartbreak … . and VIOLA! I found this one that I liked: Cacao Muffins! In fact “they” say we should eat it every day!

What is so great about cacao (other than it’s been sold to us as the health sibling of milk chocolate which we all love!?!).

For starters, “Cocoa is one of the richest sources of polyphenols. It’s especially abundant in flavanols, which have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.” And my personal favorite perk: mood enhancer! “In addition to cocoa’s positive impact on age-related mental degeneration, its effect on the brain may also improve mood and symptoms of depression. The positive effects on mood may be due to cocoa’s flavanols, the conversion of tryptophan to the natural mood stabilizer serotonin, its caffeine content or simply the sensory pleasure of eating chocolate.” - Source HERE.

So-it tastes good, like chocolate in fact, helps my mood and contains antioxidants and offers anti-inflammatory effects. Yes HELL yes.

My Notes about the recipe linked above: I was all out of honey so I substituted a little bit of good ol’ basic sugar along with applesauce for honey, and I used coconut oil instead of butter. I also used Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour.

In a nutshell …. these muffins did NOT work out, at all. They baked into crumbly crumbles… I am sure it was user error or perhaps I pushed the ingredient substitution too far. Either way- not successful here.

Rather than toss them out, since they were so full of good quality ingredients, I called an audible, emptied the muffin wrapper contents into glass/plastic containers, added some oats and will add almond milk and warm at the office this week for a delicious breakfast treat. Muffin fail. Nevertheless, she persisted.

Next- I switched to making cookies. Oats and cacao, please, google …

Recipe HERE.

Yes… much better. Cookies, flowers, and card — delivered to my wonderful neighbors tonight. And that’s a wrap of this weekend! Tomorrow is Monday, #letsdothis.

Quick run to the store for flowers. And TP. Just the essentials.

And a bonus squirrel sighting in my backyard today. ;)

Turmeric cookies

“The most active component of turmeric—and responsible for many of its health benefits—curcumin is known for its powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s been shown to influence more than 700 genes in the body, and it can inhibit both the activity and the synthesis of enzymes that cause inflammation. ”

— https://www.nwphysicians.com/the-benefits-of-tumeric/

In what has become a series I could have called, “baking with superfoods,” I now present the Turmeric Cookie … What gives with the blog posts of cookies? Honestly, I’m loving this process of learning how to use my camera, what images I like and don’t like, paired with using items in my pantry that cost me money and have not been used. Today, my eye stumbled on the bag of turmeric powder; a purchase I use only occasionally to make Turmeric Lattes (google it, they’re yummy). I have been on a turmeric kick in the last few months after learning it’s a powerful natural anti-inflammatory. Best consumed with pepper for maximum absorption, I was hoping it would be my new ibuprofen … .

Ok so no, it doesn’t work quite like that. But the power of this stuff is undeniable. So - I went in search of recipes using Turmeric and the first one that popped up was TURMERIC SUGAR COOKIES! Yes please.

HERE is the recipe I found and used.

I made one major change : instead of using all of that sugar, I only used 2/3 cup of sugar and substituted the rest with shredded coconut.

I also used coconut flour and GF 1-to-1 flour (both Bobs’s brand) instead of processed gluten-filled flour.

Next, I debated what beverage might pair well with them… . I pulled out my non-alcoholic drink stash and settled immediately on the Seedlip Citrus. As a non-drinker for the last 2 years, now going on 3, I’ve been following along with these companies making “dry” spirits- especially those who promise no sugar (or stevia or monk fruit, gross!). This one is my favorite so far. It’s not cheap- but neither is alcohol, so I figure I’m still coming out way ahead.

I added some seltzer and an orange, and stirred with my favorite drinking utensil: An Infinity Straw. Yum.

So — what’s so great about turmeric, exactly?

Well - the benefits are almost too numerous to list! But the takeaway is that it really, really helps with inflammation and oxidative damage. More HERE.

“A tablespoon of ground turmeric offers 29 calories, nearly a gram of protein, 2 grams of fiber and 6 grams of carbohydrates. It contains minerals such as manganese, phosphorus and potassium. Turmeric also contains magical nutrients — the kind that practically cast spells to keep you strong and healthy.”

— https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/why-ls-turmeric-good-for-me

Matcha cookies

It’s the season of eradication and elimination around here. By that, I mean I’ve been hitting cabinets and cupboards like it’s my job. Discovering bags and containers of unused and neglected protein powders and other powders, like matcha, sent me to google looking for recipes. In this case I wanted to use up the matcha protein powder AND matcha powder.

Mission accomplished. (I also added some dark chocolate cacao nibs from my cupboard stash to the tops of some and it tastes subtly sweet and delicious)!

It’s not easy being green, until it is. Take notes, Kermit.

Here I’m using up things around the house, not spending any money on extra groceries, making healthy snacks to fuel my work days, AND getting this wonderdrug aka matcha, into my diet. I plan to freeze the extra cookies and bet they’ll reheat well.
Note: it pairs well with an almond milk matcha latte, especially when served in a green mug.

Why do we love Matcha? Let me count the ways…

Loads of antioxidants. Slight pick-me-up without the jitters. Amino acids that aid in “relaxed alertness.” Boosts metabolism and burns fat. Tastes great.

“One of the major health benefits of matcha tea is that it delivers a mega dose of antioxidants in every sip. According to the latest innovation in antioxidant research, matcha is packed with exponentially more antioxidants than any other ‘superfood’.” — Matchasource.com

“Matcha is rich in L-Theanine, a rare amino acid that actually promotes a state of relaxation and well-being by acting upon the brains functioning.” - Matchasource.com

“It has an adaptogenic quality: if you're frazzled, it calms you; if you're feeling sluggish, it energizes you.” - Business Insider (more HERE).

Interested in making some the right way, perhaps as a new morning ritual? Learn how, HERE. And what kind of matcha to buy? Here are some ideas.

OK but for now —-back to the cookies ….

Photo credit: me ;)

Recipe: (Adapted from https://create.ora.organic/recipes/vegan-matcha-cookies/):

• 1 cup coconut oil

• 1 egg (or substitute)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ¾ cup -1 cup coconut flour

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 1-2 tsp matcha powder

• 2 scoops MODE Matcha Protein Powder (order here: https://ataqfuel.com/). #NotSponsored.

• Optional: add a bit of ground flaxseed, honey, sugar, coconut sprinkles, chocolate chips, etcetera.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Melt the coconut oil in a bowl and combine it with the vanilla extract and egg; Whisk together, then add the dry ingredients.

3. Mix together until the dough forms a consistency you can work with. If it’s a bit too crumbly, consider adding a little honey or water.

4. Roll dough into small balls, then press/flatten slightly on the tops once on the pan.

5. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until the edge touching the pan turns golden brown. *Add Cocao nibs to the top when cookies are warm, right out of the oven!