Raisin Breakfast Muffins

My son loves this type of muffin for breakfast. We often give him a muffin with some slices of apple and a glass of raw milk for breakfast. With no sweetener other than the raisins, and lots of nuts and seeds, these muffins will do a good job of keeping your blood sugar stable, and fuelling you for playground fun regardless of your age.

ingredients:

2 cups water
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
4 eggs

1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp ground vanilla bean
3 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp ginger

1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup flax meal
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups almond flour

1 cup raisins


diretions:

pre heat the oven to 345

1. if it's not hot enough in your house that the coconut oil is liquid (it's summer here in Toronto so mine sure is!), heat the water before combining the oil and water
2. add the sea salt, vanilla, cinnamon, an ginger
3. add the hemp, chia, flax, sesame, and shredded coconut
4. mix in the baking soda and eggs
5. add the almond flour
6. stir in the raisins


bake at 345 for 35 minutes

Chocolate Cookies -- what's not to love

My husband gave these the two thumbs up, and by the rate at which they disappeared, I think these are probably in his top 10 cookie fave list. Then again, they are chocolate. What I like about them is that they are without sweetener other than dates. And they are chock full of things that keep your blood sugar stable even with the datey goodness.

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil (organic and unrefined)
1 cup pitted honey dates
1/4 cup water
2 eggs

1/2 cup raw cacao
1 tbsp ground vanilla bean
1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup ground flax
1/4 cup ground black sesame seeds
1 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda


directions:

1. combine the hot water and dates, then puree with an immersion blender. Add the coconut oil and puree again. Finally, add the eggs, and process with the immersion blender until smooth.

2. stir in the raw cacao, vanilla bean, and sea salt. If you are nuts like me, you can add a little black pepper.

3. mix in the shredded coconut, ground flax, ground sesame seeds, and baking soda

4. finally stir in the almond flour.
5. scoop into an airtight container and chill
6. roll into balls when chilled
7. flatten and bake at 345 for 12 minutes
8. cool on a wire rack
9. store in an airtight container when cool

After mixing up the cookie dough, I realized I had no time to bake them, so I put the dough into an airtight container and stored it in the freezer. When I was ready to bake them, I took the dough out and let it soften a little. It's easier to roll into balls when it's cold. Anyway, this dough stores well in the freezer, and makes good cookies.

Enjoy!!!

Lemon Date Squares -- the whole foods, lemony, vegan, delicious, low sugar version.

Well, I was trying to figure out what would make an elegant dessert for mother's day.  One that would make all the moms happy. Chocolate cake? Too heavy for lunch. Coffee cake? Too prosaic. Well, inspired by an article in the Globe and Mail of all places, I came up with this lemony date square, to be served with lemon coconut milk ice cream.  Yes, I am amazing. Bow down. Just kidding. But this simple and elegant dessert rocks. Seriously. But only if you like date squares. Which we do.

ingredients:


date filling:

2½ cups honey dates, pitted and chopped
2 cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tbsp ground  vanilla
pinch sea salt
a little black pepper

ingredients:

crust:

1 cup shredded coconut

2 cups almond flour

1 tsp ceylon cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt
(hey if you're like me and you are a fiend for black pepper you can add some to this too)
1 tsp ground vanilla

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1/4 cup coconut sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

directions:

crust:

1. combine the ingredients for the crust. Use a fork. Add the liquid last after everything else has been successfully mixed together

2. in a greased glass 8 x 11 pan: line with parchment and firmly press 2/3 - 3/4 of the mixture, reserving 1/4 - 1/3 as topping

directions:

date filling:

1. combine the chopped dates, lemon juice, vanilla, sea salt, black pepper and water in a pot and simmer for 5 minutes or until the dates are nice and soft and melty.

directions:

combining the two:

preheat the oven to 300

2. evenly spread the date mixture onto the pressed in crust from above

3. sprinkle the date mixture with the crumbly remains of the crust ingredients

4. bake at 300 for 60 minutes

parchment lined and greased 2L baking dish

the crust pressed in

date filling spread on the crust

remaining crust ingredients crumbled on top

after baking

plated with lemon coconut milk ice cream