Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've taken a break from blogging for a while. School has started and things have been busy!  I've been planning on posting this recipe for a long time but just haven't gotten around to it. I've been trying different chocolate chip cookie recipes for a while but haven't been happy with the results. Finally I came up with this recipe and it's a keeper!  The cookies are soft and gooey. Just the way I like it!!

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/4 cup palm shortening
2 eggs
3 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp molasses
1 c coconut palm sugar
2 1/2 c almond flour
1/4 c coconut flour
1/2 bag enjoy life chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375
Add shortening, eggs, vanilla, sugar, molasses, salt, honey, baking soda to a bowl. Mix with a hand mixer.
Stir in almond flour and coconut flour
Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon out dough onto a cookie sheet and press down very softly to shape. I use a baking mat but spraying with olive oil works well too.
Bake for 7 minutes
Cool and enjoy!!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (gf/df/paleo)

Back home there used to be a restaurant called Lox, Stock & Bagel.  It was one of our favorites.  Their chocolate chip muffins are the best!!  I was feeling nostalgic so I thought I would create a gf/df/paleo version of one of my childhood treats.  It turned out exactly like I had hoped.  If you live in the League City, Texas area and are interested in ordering Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins, please contact me at...
www.facebook.com/littleekitchen
littleekitchenemail@gmail.com

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

coconut flour
eggs
vanilla
honey
almond milk/coconut milk (original flavor)

bananas

Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
baking soda
salt
olive oil spray

Paleo Brownies (that actually taste good!!)

I have experimented with so many different paleo brownie recipes and I just haven't found "the one."  They are either too chewy, too dry, or too crumbly.  I decided to try making up my own recipe. These paleo brownies taste just like the traditional brownies that you would make from a box or from scratch.  No really- I promise!  Sometimes I feel like the pictures of some of the paleo recipes can be deceiving!  They looked really good in the picture... but when I made the recipe, they didn't quite make the cut.  I am really excited with how these turned out!

Paleo Brownies (that actually taste good!!)
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/8 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup water or almond milk/coconut milk
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
2/3 + 2 tbsp cup cocoa
2/3 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350
Mix eggs, coconut oil, honey, vanilla, water (or almond milk/coconut milk) in a bowl with a hand mixer
Add coconut palm sugar, cocoa, almond flour, salt, and baking soda to the liquid mixture and stir with a spoon until lump free
Spray a small rectangular pan with olive oil spray
Bake for 13 minutes

Paleo Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

My birthday was in April and I really wanted to have a cake.  I was so new to paleo and I hadn't made any cakes yet.  I was nervous to make my own from scratch so I ordered a paleo cake mix.  The cake turned out okay, but it wasn't your typical chocolate cake.  It was really heavy and so rich.  Since then, I have created many different cakes and coffee cakes that are delicious.    My Paleo Pineapple Upside Down Cake is very moist and perfectly sweet.  Last weekend, I decided to try my hand at chocolate cake.  The end result was so moist and the frosting was perfect!  According to my husband, it is his favorite cake I've made so far.  What is your favorite cake flavor?!  Leave a comment and I'll work on the recipe!

Paleo Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

Cake Ingredients:
ghee (or butter)
coconut oil
coconut palm sugar
eggs
coconut flour
baking soda
salt
unsweetened original almond milk (or coconut milk)

enjoy life chocolate chips

cocoa powder

Frosting Ingredients:

coconut milk 

hazelnuts

almond butter

enjoy life chocolate chips

vanilla

salt

coconut oil

stevia

unflavored gelatin

If you live in the League City, Texas area and are interested in ordering cupcakes, please contact me at...
www.facebook.com/littleekitchen
littleekitchenemail@gmail.com

Fill and Grill Bananas

I first saw this idea at The Paleo Mom.  The original recipe sounds and looks AMAZING!!  I decided to try my own version of the recipe.  We made this last night and Chet was drooling over the results.  It was DELICIOUS!  Ooey, gooey, chocolate goodness!!

Fill and Grill Bananas

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana per person
2 tbsp almond butter per banana
1 tbsp honey per banana
1 tsp ghee per banana
1/2 tsp cinnamon per banana
1 tbsp coconut palm sugar per banana
2 tbsp carob chips (or enjoy life chocolate chips)
aluminum foil

Slice 1 ripe banana down the middle (don't slice all the way through)
Separate the banana from the skin so there is room to fill it (keep the bottom intact)
Spread out 2 tbsp of almond butter onto the banana
Drizzle 1 tbsp of honey over the almond butter
Sprinkle 1/2 tsp cinnamon over the honey
Take 1 tsp of ghee and spread all down the inside sides of the banana (close to the banana skin)
Sprinkle the top of the banana with coconut palm sugar
Wrap the banana in aluminum foil
Grill for 10 minutes (watch very closely)
After grilling, sprinkle grilled banana with 2 tbsp of carob chips
ENJOY!!
What toppings would you put on your Fill and Grill Banana?!

Cavegirl Mystery Basket Challenge: Mango and Watermelon Poke Cake

I just started blogging very recently.  I started following all of my favorite paleo chefs and I came across a cooking contest at Cave Girl Cuisine.  http://cavegirlcuisine.net/2013/05/15/2nd-annual-cavegirl-mystery-basket-challenge/

I decided to give it a try!  The contest rules were that you had to use 4 of the following ingredients in the dish.

Mystery Basket:
pork belly
lump crabmeat
chicken livers
beets
parsnips
macadamia nuts
pumpkin seeds
coconut flour
watermelon
mango
rainbow chard
avocado

I am ready for Summer, and was excited about the mango, watermelon, macadamia nuts, and coconut flour.  I wanted to create a Summer dish with those ingredients and came up with Mango and Watermelon Poke Cake.  I was really pleased with the way it turned out.  It is the perfect summer dessert!  The recipes are due Friday so I'll let you know how I do!  (Not expecting too much....I'm sure there are a TON of entries.)  It was so fun thinking outside of the box with different ingredients.  If you could choose 4 of these ingredients to use, what would they be?  What would you make?!

Mango and Watermelon Poke Cake

Cake Ingredients:
1/4 cup ghee (or butter)
1/4 cup coconut oil (not melted)
1 cup coconut palm sugar
1 cup macadamia nuts ground in high powered blender4 eggs
1 cup coconut flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
Zest of one large orange
jumbo cupcake tin

Mango and Watermelon Sauce:
1 cup cubed fresh mango
3/4 cup cubed watermelon
2 tbsp honey
juice of 1 lime
500ml coconut water

Preheat oven to 350
Combine coconut palm sugar, room temperature ghee, and coconut oil in a bowl
Mix sugar, ghee, and coconut oil with a hand mixer for 4 minutes *mixing the whole time is important
Separate the egg yolk from 4 eggs and save the whites in a small bowl
Pour the yolks into the sugar mixture one at a time while mixing
Add baking soda and salt to batter
Pour 1/2 cup of milk into the cake, mix
Pour 1/2 cup of coconut flour into the batter, mix
Pour 1/2 cup of the milk into the batter, mix
Pour 1/2 cup (the rest) of the coconut flour into the batter, mix
Pour 1/4 cup of milk into the batter, mix
Stir in ground macadamia nuts
Stir in orange zest
Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks
Fold egg whites into batter
Line the bottom of the tin with parchment paper
Spray the pan with olive oil spray
Pour the batter into the pan
Bake for 37 minutes
Put mango and watermelon sauce ingredients in blender and blend until smooth
Take cupcakes out of the pan and place on a cooling rack
Once cool enough to handle, take one cake in your hand and poke holes all over the bottom with a toothpick
Spoon the mango and watermelon sauce over the holes and continue poking with a toothpick to help the sauce soak in
Continue until the sauce won't soak in anymore
When ready to serve, spoon mango and watermelon sauce over the cake
Enjoy!!

Paleo Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Teacher appreciation week was last week and I am so blessed to have a group of students and parents who show appreciation throughout the year with their kind words and gifts.  They are also so considerate of my different dietary needs.  Each day, the parents sent in a different treat. Bring your teacher's favorite candy bar, flowers, Starbucks gift card, etc.  Since I can't have candy bars, parents sent in Larabars, bananas, and I even had one parent send in a huge, beautiful pineapple!  The pineapple screamed "PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE!!"  So of course, I HAD to attempt it!  I have to be honest, I have never made a pineapple upside down cake before.  It turned out AMAZING!  Chet and I probably could have devoured the entire cake but we decided to take some samples into school for people to try.  Everyone thought it was delicious!  


Paleo Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Cake Ingredients:
coconut oil
coconut palm sugar
eggs
coconut flour
baking soda
salt
unsweetened original almond milk (or coconut milk)
 honey

Topping Ingredients:
Fresh pineapple
coconut palm sugar
honey

If you live in the League City, Texas are and are interested in ordering Paleo cupcakes, please contact me at...
www.facebook.com/littleekitchen
littleekitchenemail@gmail.com

littleekitchenemail@gmail.com

Mini Paleo Apple Crisp

We had field day at school today and the parents brought TONS of snacks for the kids.  We had leftover apple slices so I decided that I would use the leftovers for apple crisp.  It turned out AMAZING!!!  This recipe could easily be doubled to make a larger crisp.

Mini Paleo Apple Crisp

2 cups apples (peeled, cored, and sliced thin)
1 tsp honey
pinch of salt
2 tbsp ghee (or butter)
1 tbsp coconut palm sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
olive oil for cooking

Crumble Topping

5 tbsp almond flour
3 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 350
Combine the apples, honey, salt, coconut palm sugar, and lemon juice in a small bowl
Heat up 2 tbsp of ghee in the microwave and pour into the apple mixture
Stir the apple mixture until coated
Spray olive oil onto small baking dish
Spoon the apple mixture into a greased baking dish
Melt 3 tbsp of ghee in the microwave
Add the almond flour, coconut palm sugar, honey, cinnamon, and salt to the ghee and stir
Evenly sprinkle crumble topping over the apples with your hand
Bake for 25 minutes (or until bubbly and the apples are soft)
Serve with coconut milk, almond milk, or regular vanilla ice cream.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been trying different paleo chocolate chip recipes. This version is called Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies.  These cookies are soft and moist and they have a hint of coconut flavor.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup coconut oil
3 tbs honey
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 finely shredded coconut
bag of chocolate chips (I used 2 Lilly's Dark Chocolate bars sweetened with stevia- chopped up into chunks)

Preheat oven to 350
Melt honey and coconut oil together in microwave
Mix together wet ingredients (coconut oil, honey, eggs, vanilla) in a bowl
Stir in dry ingredients (coconut flour, baking powder, salt, coconut, chocolate chips/chunks)
Line baking sheet with parchment paper
Spoon out dough into small balls and place on parchment paper
Press down on the cookies so they look like the shape of a cooked chocolate chip cookie. (they way they look before cooking is the way they will look after cooking.)
Bake for 8 minutes (or until the bottoms are just starting to brown)

Enjoy!!

Coconut Almond Butter Cups

These are soooo good!!  And the best part....simple to make!!

Coconut Almond Butter Cups

1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I used finely shredded)
1 tsp ghee (or butter)
1 tsp salt
1 chocolate bar (I use Lilly's Dark Chocolate sweetened with stevia)
Mini cupcake tins

Heat ghee/butter in a small bowl/cup
Mix ingredients until combined
Use a spoon to measure out 1 tbsp of the almond butter mixture
Roll mixture into a ball and place in cupcake tins
Repeat until all of the almond mixture is gone
Melt chocolate bar in microwave
Spoon chocolate into the cupcake tin until it covers the almond butter mixture
Place in freezer to set for at least 30 minutes

*If you are not going to eat all of the Coconut Almond Butter Cups at one time, place back into freezer in a plastic bag so they don't melt!