Clementine-cranberry scones (icing optional)

This is a recipe I first posted on my other blog.

I've managed to create a clementine-cranberry scone that is gluten, grain, soy, and dairy free! Well, OK.....the icing I put on top is not grain free because powdered sugar has cornstarch in it, but you can skip the icing if you desire.

Ingredients:

Scones:
4 eggs
1/4 C coconut oil, melted
3 T agave syrup
several drops (8 - 10) of liquid stevia to taste
1 T clementine (or orange or tangerine) zest
Freshly squeezed juice from 2 clementines (about 3 T juice)
1 C fresh cranberries
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C coconut flour
1/3 C almond flour**
1 T flax meal
1/2 tsp baking powder

Icing:
3/4 C powdered sugar
orange or clementine juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil, and agave syrup until well mixed; add the clementine juice and zest. Coarsely chop the cranberries in a food processor, then add them to the egg mixture. Combine the salt, coconut and almond flours, flax meal and baking powder in a separate bowl, then stir into the egg-oil mixture, blending well. Add the stevia drop by drop to taste (scones aren't supposed to be very sweet), and mix thoroughly.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for approximately 16-20 minutes (start checking them at about 16 minutes), until beginning to develop golden-brown spots on tops. Makes 8 scones.

Optional icing: Let scones cool, then make clementine (or orange) icing by stirring a couple of teaspoons of juice at a time into the powdered sugar until it reaches the desired consistency. Drizzle icing over scones; let sit long enough for icing to harden a bit, then serve.

**Note: I am following Elana Amsterdam's suggestion and using ONLY finely ground blanched almond flour. Some almond flours on the market simply are not fine enough to give a good texture to baked goods. For example, Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour just doesn't work. The flour that I'm currently using is Honeyville's Blanched Almond Flour.

P.S. These scones are not the typical shortbread type scones, they're a lot moister.

Pumpkin Cheesecake: Grain Free, Sugar Free

I found this recipe at a site that publishes low carb recipes! Yum!

Ingredients

Crust:
1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 teaspoon each of ginger and cinnamon
4 Tablespoons melted butter
Sugar substitute equal to 4 Tablespoons sugar (try 1/4 tsp liquid stevia)

Filling:
3 8 oz packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sugar substitute equal to 1 1/2 cups sugar (try 3 - 3 1/2 tsp liquid stevia, to taste)
1 can (about 15 oz) pumpkin
1 Tablespoon vanilla
5 eggs, preferably room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

Heat oven to 375 F.

Prepare springform pan: put a piece of parchment paper over the bottom of the pan -- no need to cut it to size, just snap it into place when you put the tighten the sides. Wrap the bottom and sides of the pan in heavy-duty foil, to protect from leaks.

1) Combine ingredients for crust, and press into the bottom of a springform pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until fragrant and beginning to brown.

2) Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and beaters. This step will be repeated several times and is important. The mixture will gradually become lighter, and the denser stuff has a tendency to cling to the bowl. You won't be able to incorporate it as well later, so keep scraping.

3) Add spices and sweetener. Beat again, scrape again.

4) Add pumpkin and vanilla. Beat well, scrape.

5) Add 3 eggs. Beat well (about a minute), scrape.

6) Add the other 2 eggs and cream and beat another minute. Pour mixture into pan over crust.

7) Place pan in a baking pan and pour boiling water around the sides, about halfway up. Lower the oven temperature to 325 F. and bake for for 60 to 90 minutes, checking often after an hour. When the cake is firm to touch but slightly soft in the center, or the center reaches 150 to 155 F, remove from oven.

8) Remove sides from pan. Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature, or up to 3 hours. Cover and chill, ideally for another 3 to 4 hours.

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Ingredients

2 lbs broccoli florets or 3 large heads of broccoli, cut up and steamed until tender
1 1/2 cups cream of mushroom soup, gluten free (can make with arrowroot for grain free)
milk or cream
4 - 5 C of cheddar cheese, grated
2 jars Kraft Old English Cheese Spread
1 cup diced chives or diced green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
garlic powder (1-2 tsp)
dill weed (a few pinches)
rosemary (a few pinches)
thyme (a few pinches)
1 tsp dry mustard

Dump the mushroom soup in a medium sized saucepan, heat and stir while adding most of the grated cheese (reserve a bit for topping), the Kraft spread, the diced veggies and seasonings to taste. Cheese sauce should be thick; add a bit of milk or cream if it seems overly thick, but remember that you'll be adding the steamed broccoli, which has some water content that will thin out the sauce too.

Combine steamed broccoli with the cheese sauce mixture, add salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a casserole dish, top with cheese and crushed potato chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until bubbly around the edges.

Mushrooms Parmesan

Ingredients

3 T. butter

1 1/2 lbs mushrooms
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
3 T. butter
2 T arrowroot
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
salt, pepper to taste
grain free crumbs (from a grain-free biscuit)

Directions

Clean and slice the mushrooms (I like the slices fairly thick myself). Melt the first 3 T. butter in a large skillet and saute the mushrooms until wilted. Drain.

Make a roux with the second 3 T. of butter and brown rice flour by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and quickly blending in the arrowroot to form a paste; cook briefly, do not burn it! Add the heavy cream and whisk to ensure no lumps; simmer and stir until it thickens, slowly add the milk and simmer and stir again until thick. If too thick add a bit more milk. Lastly add most of the Parmesan cheese (reserve a bit to put on top) and the nutmeg. The sauce should be quite thick at this point, almost like a thick batter, because the mushrooms will still retain and release some liquid, even though they've been drained, which will thin out the sauce when they are added.

Add the mushrooms to the sauce, stir well, pour into a casserole dish and top with reserved Parmesan, crumbs and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until bubbly and starting to brown slightly on top.

Grain-Free Banana Blueberry Muffins

Another recipe for grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free muffins!

This recipe makes approximately 20 muffins, if you fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full.

Ingredients:

2 large (or 3 small) very ripe bananas, about 1 1/2 - 2 cups mashed
1/4 C melted coconut oil or grapeseed oil
3/4 C agave nectar
6 eggs
3/4 C coconut flour
1 C plus 3 T almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 rounded C blueberries (if fresh, dry them well after washing)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin pans generously with shortening (I've used both Crisco and Spectrum).

In a large bowl mash the banana and beat until smooth; add the eggs, agave, and oil and beat with a hand-held mixer or stand mixer until smooth and "emulsified" (meaning there should not be a skim of oil on top, but the oil should be completely incorporated). In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Dump the dry ingredients into the banana mixture; mix together thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently. Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon muffin batter into greased muffin pans. Bake at 350 for approximately 20 - 23 minutes, depending on your oven, until beginning to brown on top. Allow the muffins to cool in the pans for 10 - 15 minutes, then remove them to wire racks to finish cooling.

NOTE: the muffins will be very fragile just out of the oven, and will feel overly moist, even oily on the bottoms. But as they cool, they firm up and absorb the excess moisture and oil. This is likely due to the absorbent properties of the coconut flour; it allows the muffins to stay moist and delicious for days.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins: grain, gluten, and dairy free!

Here is a recipe for scrumptious gluten, grain, dairy (and sugar) free pumpkin muffins I came up with recently. I did post this first on my other blog, but will always archive the recipe here as well.


This recipe makes approximately 21 muffins, if you fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Ingredients:

1/4 C melted coconut oil or grapeseed oil
1 C agave nectar
1 15-oz can pumpkin (100% pure pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie mix)
6 eggs
3/4 C coconut flour
1 C plus 3 T almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp (rounded) ginger
1/8 tsp cloves

NOTE: 1 15-oz can of pumpkin is approximately 1 3/4 C of pumpkin puree, at least for Libby's pumpkin!

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin pans generously with shortening (I've used both Crisco and Spectrum).

In a large bowl combine the eggs, agave, oil, and canned pumpkin with a hand-held mixer until smooth and "emulsified" (meaning there should not be a skim of oil on top, but the oil should be completely incorporated). In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. Dump the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture; mix together thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently.

Spoon muffin batter into greased muffin pans. Bake at 350 for approximately 21 - 23 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow the muffins to cool in the pans for 10 - 15 minutes, then remove them to wire racks to finish cooling.

NOTE: the muffins will be very fragile just out of the oven, and will feel overly moist, even oily on the bottoms. But as they cool, they firm up and absorb the excess moisture and oil. This is likely due to the absorbent properties of the coconut flour; it allows the muffins to stay moist and delicious for days.

As I mentioned before, I made 21 muffins by filling the muffin cups about 2/3 full. If you fill yours with more batter, you will have larger (fewer) muffins and may have to bake them a bit longer.

Grain Free Oven "Fried" Chicken

Another grain-free recipe we've been enjoying lately....

Ingredients:

2 C almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill because it's a bit chunky - good texture for breading)
1 C Parmesan Cheese, grated
2-3 tsp Old Bay Seasoning (to taste)
1 T garlic powder
2 tsp Herbes de Provence (or Italian Herb Mix)
4 eggs
3 - 3 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 T each butter and olive oil for pan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter and olive oil in baking pan (should be large enough to accomodate all of the chicken in a single layer, leaving a bit of space between pieces if possible), and place the pan on a rack in the center of the oven. You want the pan and oil-butter mixture to be hot when the chicken goes in.

Mix all dry ingredients in a pie pan; beat the eggs in a separate pie pan. Immerse each chicken breast in the beaten eggs, coating well. Next, dredge the chicken in the almond flour mixture, pressing it in with your fingers....make sure each piece is well covered. Remove the hot baking pan from the oven and place the chicken pieces in the olive oil-butter mixture. Try to separate the chicken pieces from each other in the pan if possible.

Bake for about 20 minutes, then turn the chicken and bake for another 20 - 25 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your chicken breasts.

Enjoy!