Jicama Peppermint Patties

The other day I was munching on some fresh jicama sticks. I tried dipping them in coconut oil and chilling them. It made a nice candy-bar texture over the cool, crunchy inside and my imagination started spinning with the possibilities. What about peppermint patties?

I peeled a chilled jicama and cut it into quarters and thin slices. Then, with a fork, I dipped each slice in a dish of liquid coconut oil infused with a few drops of peppermint oil and laid them all out on a wax paper lined cookie sheet which went in the fridge to chill.

Then when they were chilled, I gave them a second dipping in melted chocolate (Mine was a mixture of unsweetened baking chocolate melted with a small amount of organic coconut sugar and coconut oil. You could use any favorite dark chocolate.) and returned them to the wax paper sheet and chilled again.

The result was convincingly scrumptious.

Things I want to do differently next time. 

1.) Use less coconut oil in the chocolate mixture - it melts too quickly out of the fridge. So you have to eat them really fast - which isn't difficult - but I want something a little sturdier.

2.) Let the chocolate dip be not too warm when coating the slices for the second round because the coconut oil melts off and dilutes the chocolate mixture.

3.) Make more to share - they are too good to keep to yourself. My husband ,who'd rather have a sugary fully-loaded dessert or none at all, and declines most of my healthy creations, declared these to be really good.

Come over and have one before I eat them all.

Hearty Spice and Flax Cookies - grain and milk free

I've found the trick to getting coconut flour products to be fluffy and light - flax meal, baking soda and vinegar. Having just pulled some of these gorgeous plump, brown cookies, steaming with spicy aroma out of the oven, here's an attempt at remembering what I put into them:

In a blender, grind: 

1/4 cup flax seed

Add to blending flax seed and continue to process until creamy-looking:

1/2 cup water

Add and continue to process after each addition:

1 large yellow plantain, peeled and cut into chunks

1/3 cup oil or butter, soft or melted

2 eggs

1-2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger root

1-2 tsp grated fresh turmeric root (optional)

1 Tbsp blackstrap molasses

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Sift into a small mixing bowl:

2/3 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a large baking sheet. 

Add wet ingredients from blender to flour mixture in bowl. Add an additional 1/2 cup of water to blender jar and whirl briefly to rinse out and collect remaining batter before adding to mixing bowl. Stir with a spoon or heavy whisk until mixture becomes a stiff batter or soft dough. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet, about 3/4 inch apart. Bake at 350 for 15ish minutes or till puffy and golden brown. Remove immediately to plate or rack and enjoy warm or cold.

Plum Cake sounds better than Prune Cake

I made this spicily re-vamped version of a coffee cake recipe for my hubby today. He liked it, and I was pleased because and it's a  healthy dessert and moist enough for the lunchbox.

Yogurt-filled Plum Cake

Grease an 8x8 baking pan with butter

Combine filling ingredients, then set aside:
1 cup strained (Greek-style) yogurt (or plain yogurt mixed with 1/2 tsp xantham/guar gum to thicken)
1 egg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup raw/natural/brown sugar

Mix dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of flour (I used spelt flour)
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ginger

Cut in:
1/4 cup soft butter
Stir in:
1/2 cup prunes, snipped

Mix wet ingredients:
1 cup buttermilk (or sour milk, or room temperature milk mixed with vinegar/lemon juice)
1 egg, beaten in
1/4 cup raw/natural sugar or honey

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix till combined. Pour half the batter into your greased pan. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon. Top evenly with yogurt filling. Top with remaining batter. Sprinkle with walnuts, cinnamon or additional raw sugar crystals if desired. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or till puffy and golden brown.

Macobella

To eat Nutella with a spoon is one of the special pleasures of women in the free West - unless one happens to be allergic to chocolate and sugar, in which case she only imagines that it must be scrumptious to do so. Eating almond butter with a spoon is a pleasure less exquisite and can even tend to make one morose and non-conversant.

Enter maca-laced carob-infused almond butter, aka "Macobella". This buttery dark brown treat is not only free of sugar (and chocolate and peanuts and other troublesome things) but it is tremendously satisfying and energizing, full of protein and healthy fat. I would encourage anyone who does not usually like carob to give this a try, because the rich, buttery texture brings out the best of the carob flavor (more than many recipes in which carob is substituted for cocoa and ends up tasting like mildly sweetened dirt). The carob is used mostly for the natural sweetness it contributes.

This recipe is for one or two servings, because for some reason it seems more appetizing freshly made than if it were made in a big batch and dipped from a jar. It's a great healthy snack for those cravey times of the month, and an out-of-this-world dessert topped with frozen berries and coconut milk. I would post a picture, but that I just ate the photo subject again and am composing this post in the energy of it. 

Macobella

1 tablespoon almond butter

1 tablespoon sesame butter (or another of almond butter if you don't have sesame butter)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 heaping teaspoon carob powder

1 heaping teaspoon maca powder 

Optional additions:

1 heaping teaspoon flaked coconut

1 teaspoon flax meal

Dash of coconut milk if your mixture is too dry.

Mix everything in a small glass dish until smooth and dough-like. Eat now or later. A handful of frozen blackberries or raspberries and coconut cream poured over top are a recommended indulgence.