Welcome to my crazy world of real food cooking ...

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants. -- Michael Pollan

I wish I could take credit for that because I think it sums up how we should eat. Simply -- eat stuff that really is food, instead of stuff that is food like substance. The supermarket is almost entirely food-like-substances, and, my friends, you should probably never ever eat them.

Fortunately, there is a world of deliciousness out there, and it can all be had in a way that not only doesn't harm your health, but in a way that benefits you hugely.

I think it's important to eat stuff that satisfies you, that keeps your blood sugar stable, and that gives you stuff your body really needs to run optimally.

But baby, it's gotta taste good.

I really like getting experimental in the kitchen. I love cooking, I love layering flavours, and I love coming up with really super yummy food. I have very strong opinions about what constitutes food, and there are a lot of things I won't touch in the kitchen. Bottom line? Pretty much everything I make is ridiculously good for you even if it tastes decadent. Although there are occasional big fat cheats ... but even those stick to real food, my friends.

For food that is usual gluten free, usually free of cane sugar, usually super low on the glycemic index, full of protein, fiber, flavour, and excellent energy, join me and Alice down the rabbit hole.

Every recipe on this blog is my own original effort and idea, so please pass 'em on, giving credit where credit is due.

Many thanks, and come back often. I'm really glad you are here!

:)

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Shape Cookies -- Really Delicious Rolled Cookies -- gluten free! Vegan! Sugar Free!



This is not my first bake sale. That is to say, this is not my first rodeo. What I mean, is I've made shape cookies before. However, this is really delicious. There is a sweet crunchiness to them, a pleasing intensity, and an overall harmonic synthesis of flavours that elevates the taste beyond the sum of its parts. There is alchemy afoot here.


My son (three!) and I decided to make some shape cookies today, and these are what we came up with. Chock full of goodies such as chia, flax, almond, and pecan, these cookies offer a sweet treat that won't monkey with your blood sugar, and will fuel your body. The sweetener is coconut sugar, which you may recall is very low on the glycemic index. Unlike some sweeteners, it doesn't give me headaches or a racing heart, so I love it. Plus it has a rich dark taste that works beautifully with the carob powder in these cookies. I chose carob for a few reasons. I wasn't trying to get an imitation chocolate thang going on. I love using raw cacao when going for chocolate. However, carob is a nutritional wonder of protein, minerals, vitamins etc. Additionally, it is naturally sweet, unlike cacao which requires more sweeteners to balance its dark and dirty flavour (yum). Carob goes beautifully with the spices, pecan meal, and coconut sugar flavours in this recipe, and I would recommend against substituting cacao for carob without trying the carob first.


ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
2 tsp egg replacer + 1/2 cup water, combined

2 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp ground vanilla bean
1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup ground chia seed
1/2 cup flax meal

1/2 cup carob powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup pecan meal
1/2 cup almond flour

3 tbsp coconut flour


directions:

1. lightly warm the coconut oil to melt, and mix in the coconut sugar and apple cider vinegar
2. make sure oil is not warm, and mix in the egg replacer and water
3. add the cinnamon, vanilla, and sea salt
4. mix in the chia and flax
5. add the carob
6. mix in the baking soda
7. mix in the pecan meal and almond meal
8. finally add the coconut flour, and mix well
9. preheat the oven to 345
10. roll out the dough in 2 or 3 pieces between two sheets of parchment
11. cut using your favourite cookie cutters
12. place on a lined baking sheet, and bake for 17 or 18 minutes at 345

makes about 1 1/2 or 2 trays of cookies, quantity depends on size of cookie cutters






variation: I wanted to have a bit more of a dark and dirty flavour this go around, so in addition to the 1/2 cup of carob powder, I added 2 tbsp of raw cacao. I also added one tsp of regular cinnamon to the 2 tsp of ceylon cinnamon. To make up for the difference of dry ingredients, I reduced the coconut flour from 3 tbsp to 2 tbsp. The verdict? The three year old says: MMMMMMMM!

6 comments:

MelissaDaams said...

i'm not sure where to buy all the ingredients, but i shall look... and then i hope to try these out.

do you have an idea for a sugar free glaze that i can color with out using food coloring - you know using only natural ingredients like beet or whatever... i'm working on a project to do this with kids that can't eat certain foods.

thanks for you help. :)

melissa

stacey said...

Hi there Melissa
Thanks for visiting my blog!
I don't know if 'health food stores' are popular in the Netherlands, but they are your best bet for finding the ingredients here in Canada. If you have any questions about substitutions, please let me know.

As for glaze, hmmm -- if you can use a low glycemic sweetner like coconut sugar, you could dissolve it in a little bit of brightly coloured juice (blueberry or pomegranate -- or beet) ... boiling it to get rid of most of the liquid, and then letting it cool. You could also add a little coconut oil, which is a solid at room temperature, and could add body to the glaze. It will probably take some experimenting to get the right consistency.

I've also made glazes using coconut butter, coconut oil, lemon juice, and agave, or raw cacao, coconut nectar, and coconut oil, as well as almond butter, coconut sugar, and coconut oil. Please see my recipe for chocolate layer cake for the measurements and process for the chocolate glaze and the almond butter glaze.

http://voluptuousvegetarian.blogspot.com/2011/03/birthday-cake.html

I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have more questions ...!

-stacey

Sara said...

Making these lovely morsels as we speak! Hopefully 2 regular eggs will sub the replacer... I'd love to have the 'egg' version as well as the vegan! Also, ran out of coconut flour to just added 3 more tbsp of almond.

Stacey... please please post your scrumptious tamari nut recipe, if there is such a thing. :)

stacey said...

Sara! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with these cookies.

In generally, you should be able to substitute 2 eggs (usually xl would work for the amount of water) for the 2 tsp egg replacer + 1/2 cup water.

I would suggest you'd probably need at least 6 tbsp of almond flour to make up for the 3 tbsp of coconut flour -- perhaps even more (I haven't experimented on this with this recipe). The texture will be different, but I imagine quite nice and crunchy. Coconut flour is extremely absorbent, and you need much MUCH less of it than you do of almond flour, which barely absorbs at all.

Let us know how they turn out!

stacey said...

Oh, the tamari almonds. Thanks for the great suggestion, Sara. I thought I had posted it for some reason. I'll get that up soon.

stacey said...

HAH I am not crazy.
I did post this recipe back in November:

http://voluptuousvegetarian.blogspot.com/2010/11/tamari-almonds-from-sublime-to-simple.html

enjoy :)