Black Bean Brownies Bigger Better Faster -- gluten free goodness

Welcome to the dark side, friends. A place where the perfect brownie is made with black bean flour. A place where the perfect brownie is a dense, fudgey square of cake filled with chocolate, flavour, and deliciousness. A place where brownie lover go to give up their 'I hate gluten-free baking' card. These brownies use black bean flour instead of black beans themselves, and are  a perfect cake texture -- dense but not gummy. Fluffy but not light. I mean, a brownie has got to have substance. This is no angel cake, dears. Far too ... naughty ... for that. It really doesn't get better than this.

One caveat -- they are best when baked 1 day before you need them. Why? I don't know. It's just the way it is.

equipment needed:

mixing bowl
mixing spoon
measuring cups
measuring spoons
square baking dish (I used silicone but glass is good too -- just make sure you grease it well with coconut oil and maybe line the bottom with parchment)
a grinder for the chia seeds if you buy whole and grind them yourself (or buy ground chia)
oven (obvi)


ingredients:

a)
1 cup black bean flour
1 1/4 cup coconut sugar   (or as an alt: 1 cup xylitol + 1/4 cup coconut sugar +1/4 cup date sugar)
1/2 cup date sugar
1/2 cup raw cacao

b)
1/4 cup ground chia seed
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp tonka bean powder
1 tsp xanthan gum (stabilizer)

c)
 1 cup warm water + 2 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup cold water (total water is 2 cups)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

d)
1 cup chocolate chips -- fair trade, please

e)
2 tbsp coconut sugar to sprinkle on top



directions:

preheat oven to 345 and prepare your baking pan!!

1. combine 1 cup warm water and 2 tbsp coconut oil and let it melt
2. in a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients from parts a) and b) and stir until completely homogeneous.
3. in a small mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients from part c)
4. combine all of the above, and mix well
5. once the ingredients from a) b) and c) have been righteously integrated, stir in your chocolate chips (part d)
6. pour the batter into the baking pan, and make sure it's smooth and even
7. sprinkle the top of the batter with  the coconut sugar from part e)
8. bake at 345 for 40-45 minutes
9. Cool and then enjoy the NEXT DAY

seriously.

my husband eats them right away, and says they are great, but even he agrees they are BETTER the next day.


MAKE AHEAD MAKE AHEAD MAKE AHEAD

this is not a recipe for immediate gratification.

A Power Snack -- the trail-mix cookies

A third version of our now favourite trail-mix cookies. Delicious. Good for you. Goooooooood for you. Vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, full of mother-nature's bounty. And definitely kid approved.

ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup date sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp ground vanilla bean

1/4 cup ground chia seeds
1/4 cup raw cacao
1/4 cup carob powder
1 cup ground up hemp hearts
1 cup sunflower seed flour
1/4 cup pea protein powder

1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup whole sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup organic raisins, picked through
1/2 cup krisda chocolate chips


directions:

1. preheat the oven to 345
2. combine the ingredients in the order listed
3. form balls of the dough, and place on a lined baking sheet (lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat)
4. flatten the balls with a fork dipped in water
5. bake at 345 for 20 minutes
6. will make 2 trays -- 3 to 4 dozen depending on size

Sweet Potato Biscuits -- what???

I came across a recipe for sweet potato biscuits somewhere, and thought "what?".

A few months later, I came up with this alternative version.
Not gluten-free.
Yes vegan.
Yes dairy-free.
Yes sugar free (but sweet potato-full).

Hey, they are kind of fun! And depending on what colour of sweet potatoes you use, they could look really orange, or really purple.

ingredients:

1 cup of cooked sweet potato (I used a white fleshed Asian sweetie and baked it in the toasted oven until soft)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

6 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

1 1/2 - 2 cups kamut flour
1 cup almond flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt


directions:

1. puree the sweet potato with the water and the apple cider vinegar
2. in a bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, and the sea salt
3. cut the coconut oil into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse pebbly sand
4. fold the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture until it becomes a dough
5. chill the dough for at least 30 minutes
6. pat it out to 1 inch thick, and cut with a  biscuit cutter (I did 1/4 of the dough at a time), and place the biscuits on a baking sheet. Rather than reform the dough and then pat it out again, I loosely encouraged the scraps into the biscuit shape, then 'cut' them again, so as to avoid toughness.
7. bake in a preheated oven at 345 for 30-35 minutes

These biscuits are super carb-a-licious -- flakey, buttery, soft, tender, melt-in-your-mouth good. :)
I'll make 'em with purple sweet potatoes next time.

Kitchen Sink Muffins -- or should I say, everything but the? Gluten free!

These muffins were inspired by the idea of variety.  They have something of the breakfast muffin about them. They put me in mind of a bran muffin or a morning glory muffin. But unlike their donut store counter-parts, they will fuel you up and keep you in fighting form (or loving form, if you're a lover, not a fighter) for hours.


ingredients:

1 cup water, warmed
2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground vanilla
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1/4 cup ground flax
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp raw cacao
1 tbsp carob powder

1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup pecan meal
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup coconut flour

2 tbsp chopped goji berries (you don't have to chop 'em if you don't want to. I thought it would be more appealing to the littlies if the goji-bits were small)
2 tbsp diced dried apricots (use unsulphured)
2 tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp raisins

(and next time?
add 2 tbsp chopped walnuts
and 2 tbsp callebaut bittersweet morsels
for something ... even punchier)




directions:

1. preheat oven to 345
2. combine warm water and coconut oil to melt the oil
3. stir in the vinegar and coconut sugar
4. add the salt, vanilla, and cinnamon
5. beat in the eggs
6. add the flax and chia
7. add the cacao and carob
8. add the pecan meal and almond meal
9. add the baking soda
10. add the coconut flour
11. add the assorted additional ingredients ... you can pretty much go wild here, sticking with dried fruit, seeds, and nuts for the most part. If you add fresh or frozen fruit, the extra moisture will cause issues ...
12. scoop your batter into 12 prepared muffin cups, and bake at 345 for 30 minutes
13. cool in the cups and then remove to a cooling rack
14. store in an airtight container. They will remain moist and fresh tasting for days.

Sugar Cookies -- lots of flavour, but no sugar

A couple of days ago I posted a recipe for sugar cookies made without sugar and without any grain flour. To be honest, these gluten-free cookies remind me a little of short bread cookies -- they have that kind of texture. Today I decided to make a sugar cookie without sugar, but in these I used some whole grain kamut flour in addition to almond flour. The texture is delicate and almost fluffy. They are pleasant and simple. Just the right kind of cookie to go with a cup of tea. And they partner well with the vanilla bean cookies from the other day -- different, yet charming in their own unique ways. The sweetener I have used is a clear, raw agave. I personally find cane sugar, whether organic or not, tastes great but disagrees with me. Agave is extremely sweet, so you need less of it, and I find it doesn't give me the headaches and racing heart I can get from cane sugar.

These aren't as sweet as the ones made with coconut flour and the reason for this is simple. Coconut flour absorbs so much liquid that you need very little of it, so that all the flavours and sweetners in the confection have much more potency. With these cookies, we are using twice as much flour, thus the potency of the sweetners and flavours are cut by half. If you followed this ramble, then it will be no surprise to you when I say the two cookies are different than each other.

ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1/4 cup clear agave

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 eggs

1 tsp finely minced orange zest (optional -- or lemon zest -- or go crazy and try lime)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean

1 tsp cinnamon (I used ceylon cinnamon)

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup kamut flour

directions:

1. lightly melt the oil and combine with the agave

2. add in the vanilla and lemon juice

3. mix in the eggs (and zest if you are using)

4. add the sea salt, vanilla bean, and cinnamon

5. stir in the almond flour, followed by the baking soda

6. add the kamut flour last, and stir until fully combined

7. as with any recipe using a flour that contains gluten, try to stir it as little as possible, and work it as little as possible. This will prevent the gluten from 'activating', and limit the toughness that will ensue. All you pie pastry makers out there know what I'm talking about ...

8. wrap the dough in parchment and put it in an airtight container. Refrigerate until fully chilled.

9. divide the dough into quarters, and roll each piece between two pieces of parchment

10. cut with your favourite cutter, and place on a lined baking sheet

12. this recipe will fill two baking sheets

13. bake for a total of 14 minutes in the upper half of an oven that has been pre-heated to 345. If you are baking 2 sheets at once, switch their positions halfway through.

14. once the cookies have come out of the oven,  remove them from the baking sheets to cool on a cooling rack

15. store in an airtight container

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies -- Sans Sugar, and Gluten-Free

I always really liked sugar cookies. I liked the simple, vanilla redolent flavour, I liked the light texture, and I liked the cute shapes. When we were teenagers, my friend Jennifer and I made a huge batch of sugar cookies that we cut by hand into fantastic shapes and decorated with bright amazing colours of icing. We then took the whole batch down to Sick Kids hospital to give to the kids. A nurse confiscated them and promised they'd be distributed to the kids who were allowed to eat them. To this day, I have my secret doubts, and am at least halfway convinced that there were a lot of doctors and nurses grooving on the psychedelic effects of our beautiful creations. They were gorgeous, and back in the 80's, we all still believed sugar was good for you ... :)

Keeping with the theme of 'holiday' type cookies, I wanted to come up with a recipe for a sugar cookie that includes no sugar, and can be enjoyed without qualms. Like the gingerbread people of a couple weeks ago, these ones are also gluten-free. I'll do a not gluten free but still healthy alternative later on.

Coconut flour is an interesting flour. It absorbs water so prodigiously that you need much less of it than you would another flour. In fact, it could probably be used for disaster clean up following flooding ... I find the texture of cookies made with coconut flour improves after a couple of days, and then is really great, and keeps well for a number of weeks, even. In addition, coconut flour is very high in protein, with a good amount of fiber, won't spike anyone's insulin, is gluten free, and doesn't have the same inflammatory effects that many people experience with grain flours, even whole grain.

ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1/4 cup agave

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean (this is more or less optional, because it's a bit more esoteric, and the cookies will be nice without it, too)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 cup almond flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup coconut flour

directions:

1. warm the oil to melt it

2. mix in the agave

3. mix in the eggs

4. add the vanilla and lemon

5. add the sea salt and vanilla bean

6. add the almond flour

7. add the baking soda

8. add the coconut flour, and mix well

9. wrap the finished dough in parchment, put it in an airtight container, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (this will make it easier to work with)

10. divide the dough in half

11. roll half the dough between 2 pieces of parchment until reasonably thin, and cut with your favourite cookie cutters and transfer the shapes to a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet

12. amass the scraps and repeat until the dough is gone.

13. repeat with the second half

14. you should fill two baking sheets. The number of cookies will depend on the size of the cutters ...

15. preheat the oven to 300, and bake the trays for 20 minutes in the upper half of the oven. After 10 minutes cooking time,  switch their positions halfway through.

16. After 20 minutes total cooking time, shut the oven off, and leave the cookies in the oven for another 10 minutes.

17. After 30 minutes total cooking time, remove the cookies from the oven, and leave to cool for a few minutes.

18. remove the cookies to a cooling rack.

19. store in an airtight container.

20. these cookies keep really well, and in my opinion improve with age, and are at their best after a few days after baking