Category: cookies / biscuits

Vanilla Extract

Kitchen Tip – Easy Way To Get The Cap Off A Vanilla Extract Bottle

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If you’ve ever known the struggle of baking cookies and not being able to get the little cap off of the vanilla extract bottle, this one’s for you.

Here’s the secret –

Wrap a few thin rubber bands around the cap of the vanilla extract. The rubber bands make the smooth metal of the cap easier to grip. The bottle of extract should be a breeze to open after that.

I use the rubber bands that come wrapped around vegetables like kale, or green onions, or bunches of cilantro or parsley. It’s a thrifty solution, and makes baking with vanilla extract much much easier.

This idea for this came to me when I was testing the recipe for the maple vanilla sugar cookies. For a moment I was concerned that I was not going to be able to get the cap off of the bottle of extract, and I actually thought for a second “Do I really need vanilla in this recipe?”

The answer was “Yes. You do need vanilla in maple vanilla sugar cookies.” So I had to come up with a solution pretty quickly, and here we are!

I hope that this kitchen tip helps you to never again be held back from your baking dreams by another difficult to open vanilla extract cap!

Happy Baking!

 

Maple Vanilla Icing

Maple Vanilla Icing – Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Vegan

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No gingerbread cookies or sugar cookies would be complete without icing! This is a super easy and allergy friendly icing for gingerbread cookies, and sugar cookies. Perfect for decorating cookies around the holidays!

Maple Vanilla Icing

Makes about 1/4 cup

Ingredients

3 tbsp + 2 tsp maple syrup

3 tbsp sweet rice flour (I used the Koda Farms Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour)

3 tbsp + ½ tsp melted refined coconut oil (I used one from Trader Joes)

¼ tsp + 1/8 tsp vanilla extract

tiny tiny pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Stir together the maple syrup, sweet rice flour, and vanilla extract until smooth.

2. Add in the melted refined coconut oil and stir until well combined.

3. Allow the icing to sit for a minute or two until the coconut oil cools a little and it’s easier to spread or pipe onto cookies.

To get a glossy finish on the cookies, ice the cookies while the icing is still warm, and use the back of a teaspoon smooth the icing to the edges of the cookie. If the icing firms up too much to frost with, just put the icing over a double boiler to gently melt the coconut oil and it will smooth right out again.

You can also use this icing to pipe with. I just scooped the icing in to a ziploc bag, cut off a tiny bit of the corner of the bag and used it to pipe the frosting onto the cookies.

If you want to pipe with the frosting, add in about 1/4 – 1/2 tsp more of the sweet rice flour to the frosting (to get a firmer frosting) and pipe the icing while the icing is still a warm.

If the icing gets firm to pipe with, scoop it out of the bag, heat it in a double boiler again, allow to cool for a minute and then scoop the icing back in to the bag, and pipe the icing as usual.

If it does look a little rough in places, you can dip your finger in some warm water and smooth down the rough edges, or use a wet toothpick for ever more precision in cleaning up the edges of your icing.

 

 

Maple Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Maple Vanilla Sugar Cookies – Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Vegan

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These are great cookies, and super simple to make. They are sort of a cross between a traditional sugar cookie, and a fortune cookie. They have a wonderful crunchiness and the maple gives them a lovely sweetness.

Another good thing about these cookies is that they don’t contain any baking soda or baking powder, so the shape of the cookies don’t spread out or distort at all during baking.

The shape that you put the cookies into the oven is the same shape that they come out of the oven, perfect for holiday cookies.

You make them exactly the same way as the gingerbread cookies (hence the same instructions are repeated here) and the maple vanilla flavor really shines through in these cookies.

They aren’t too sweet, and I love them most when they are completely frosted with the maple vanilla icing. If you also love sweeter cookies, you can double the icing recipe. They frosting really gives the cookies a very polished look and makes them taste even more amazing.

 

Maple Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Makes 10 – 12 cookies

 

Ingredients

 

2 tbsp water

½ level tsp psyllium husk powder *

 

tiny pinch of sea salt

1 ¼ cup + 2 tbsp oat flour **

 

 

¼ cup + 1 tsp maple syrup

½ tsp + 1/8 tsp vanilla extract

 

2 tbsp + 2 tsp melted refined coconut oil ***

 

Notes – *Psyllium husk powder gels like nothing else, and there’s no great substitute for it. I found mine in the bulk spice section of the local Fred Meyer, but Whole Foods, Trader Joes have been known to carry it as well. If it’s not in the natural foods, or bulk spice section, check the dietary supplement/ digestive health (where the Metamucil is) section of the store or pharmacy as it’s sometimes sold there as well.

** I grind oats into oat flour using a blender. Don’t grind the oats in a food processor because the flour won’t be fine enough.

Any extra oat flour I don’t use in the recipe goes into an airtight container and I use it for another recipe.

If you’re making the cookies for someone who has celiac disease, use certified gluten free oats, as the oats from the bulk bins can sometimes be processed on the same equipment as wheat.

*** I used the refined coconut oil from Trader Joes, which is filtered and not bleached. It’s the fat of coconut oil, without the flavor which works great for these cookies. You can use regular coconut oil for this recipe, but it probably will give the cookies a mild coconut flavor. Because I used the refined coconut oil, these cookies didn’t taste of coconut at all.

 

Instructions

1. In a small bowl stir together the water and psyllium husk, try to stir out all the lumps. Set aside for a few minutes and let it gel.

2. In a medium size bowl, sift the oat flour, and salt together.

3. Add the maple syrup, and vanilla to the oat flour mixture, and stir until well combined. Add in the gelled psylium husk and stir until you no longer see any bits of the gel.

4. Add the melted refined coconut oil to the mixture and stir until well combined. It will look very sticky, but don’t worry. There’s no need to add any additional flour, the coconut oil will firm up in the fridge and the dough will sort itself out.

5. Let the dough sit in the bowl for 2-3 minutes and it should be firm enough to scoop onto some plastic wrap. Wrap it up and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

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6. Preheat your oven to 325 F. Cut the top and sides off of a gallon size Ziploc bag and open it and lay it flat to form a long rectangle.

Dip a paper towel in a little bit of neutral flavored oil (like avocado oil or vegetable oil) and oil the inside of the plastic. Don’t use the coconut oil for this, it solidifies too quickly and the dough ends up sticking to it.

7. Take the dough out of the fridge and cut it in half. Wrap the half you’re not working with in plastic wrap and set to the side.

If the dough breaks when you try to roll it out, you can knead it with your hands for a little bit so that the coconut oil in the dough melts a little from the heat in your hands. It should soften up and become easier to work with after this.

If the dough is too sticky to work with, you can add about 1 tbsp of oat flour, and knead it into the dough to combine, or put it back into the fridge to firm up for a few minutes.

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Roll out your dough between the layers of oiled plastic to 1/4 of an inch thick, re-oiling the plastic each time your re-roll out the dough.

Cut out the shapes with the cookie cutters. Use something like the flat edge of the back of a butter knife (an offset spatula would be perfect for this) and run it under the cookies to get them to release from the plastic.

If there are any little bits of the dough stuck to the plastic after you peel your cookies off, make a little ball out of your scrap dough, and drag it over the plastic and it should clean it right off.

If your finding it difficult to remove the cookies from the plastic (especially for more complex shapes like snowflakes), cut the cookie shapes out using the cookie cutters, and remove the excess cookie dough from around your cookies. Then lay the cookies that are stuck on the plastic onto a plate and stick them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. After that, the cookies should be firm enough to peel off the plastic and set them onto the baking sheet.

I usually use my finger to press the sides of the cookies smooth, just to clean up the edges.

Place the cookies onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 325 for 34- 38 minutes (I baked them for 36 minutes) until just lightly golden brown about the edges and firm to the touch.

Allow the cookies to cool before icing.

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Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free, Nut Free, Vegan

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It just doesn’t really feel like Christmas without gingerbread cookies.

These cookies are free from nuts, gluten, refined sugar, dairy, egg free and completely vegan.

They are also delicious.

They are actually the best gingerbread cookies I’ve ever had. Who knew you could make amazing gingerbread cookies that work with so many dietary restrictions?

These cookies are crunchy, and not too sweet. They have a lovely warm flavor to them, and are perfectly spiced (without being too spicy) so they are perfect for kids as well.

The black pepper is optional, but I do think that it gives the cookies a wonderful complex rich flavor.

Another good thing about these cookies is that they don’t contain any baking soda or baking powder, so the shape of the cookies don’t spread out or distort at all during baking.

The shape that you put the cookies into the oven is the same shape that they come out of the oven, perfect for holiday cookies.

If you like your cookies on the sweeter side, double the recipe for the Maple Vanilla Icing and give those cookies a good coating of icing. So good…

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Gingerbread Cookies

Makes 10 – 12 cookies

 

Ingredients

 

2 tbsp water

½ level tsp psyllium husk powder *

 

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp + 1 tsp maple syrup

1 tbsp + ½ tsp organic unsulfered blackstrap molasses

 

1/8 level tsp ground black pepper (optional)

¾ level tsp ground ginger

1 ¼ level tsp + 1/8 level tsp ground cinnamon

1 ¼ cup oat flour + 3 tbsp oat flour **

tiny pinch of sea salt

 

3 tbsp + 1 tsp melted refined coconut oil ***

 

Notes – *Psyllium husk powder gels like nothing else, and there’s no great substitute for it. I found mine in the bulk spice section of the local Fred Meyer, but Whole Foods, Trader Joes have been known to carry it as well. If it’s not in the natural foods, or bulk spice section, check the dietary supplement/ digestive health (where the Metamucil is) section of the store or pharmacy as it’s sometimes sold there as well.

** I grind oats into oat flour using a blender. Don’t grind the oats in a food processor because the flour won’t be fine enough.

Any extra oat flour I don’t use in the recipe goes into an airtight container and I use it for another recipe.

If you’re making the cookies for someone who has celiac disease, use certified gluten free oats, as the oats from the bulk bins can sometimes be processed on the same equipment as wheat.

*** I used the refined coconut oil from Trader Joes, which is filtered and not bleached. It’s the fat of coconut oil, without the flavor which works great for these cookies. You can use regular coconut oil for this recipe, but it probably will give the cookies a mild coconut flavor. Because I used the refined coconut oil, these cookies didn’t taste of coconut at all.

 

Instructions

1. In a small bowl stir together the water and psyllium husk, try to stir out all the lumps. Set aside for a few minutes and let it gel.

2. In a medium size bowl, sift the oat flour, spices and salt together.

3. Add the maple syrup, molasses and vanilla to the oat flour mixture, and stir until well combined. Add in the gelled psylium husk and stir until you no longer see any bits of the gel.

4. Add the melted refined coconut oil to the mixture and stir until well combined. It will look very sticky, but don’t worry. There’s no need to add any additional flour, the coconut oil will firm up in the fridge and the dough will sort itself out.

5. Let the dough sit in the bowl for 2-3 minutes and it should be firm enough to scoop onto some plastic wrap. Wrap it up and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

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6. Preheat your oven to 325 F. Cut the top and sides off of a gallon size Ziploc bag and open it and lay it flat to form a long rectangle.

Dip a paper towel in a little bit of neutral flavored oil (like avocado oil or vegetable oil) and oil the inside of the plastic. Don’t use the coconut oil for this, it solidifies too quickly and the dough ends up sticking to it.

7. Take the dough out of the fridge and cut it in half. Wrap the half you’re not working with in plastic wrap and set to the side.

If the dough breaks when you try to roll it out, you can knead it with your hands for a little bit so that the coconut oil in the dough melts a little from the heat in your hands. It should soften up and become easier to work with after this.

If the dough is too sticky to work with, you can add about 1 tbsp of oat flour, and knead it into the dough to combine, or put it back into the fridge to firm up for a few minutes.

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Roll out your dough between the layers of oiled plastic to 1/4 of an inch thick, re-oiling the plastic each time your re-roll out the dough.

Cut out the shapes with the cookie cutters. Use something like the flat edge of the back of a butter knife (an offset spatula would be perfect for this) and run it under the cookies to get them to release from the plastic.

If there are any little bits of the dough stuck to the plastic after you peel your cookies off, make a little ball out of your scrap dough, and drag it over the plastic and it should clean it right off.

If your finding it difficult to remove the cookies from the plastic (especially for more complex shapes like snowflakes), cut the cookie shapes out using the cookie cutters, and remove the excess cookie dough from around your cookies. Then lay the cookies that are stuck on the plastic onto a plate and stick them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. After that, the cookies should be firm enough to peel off the plastic and set them onto the baking sheet.

I usually use my finger to press the sides of the cookies smooth, just to clean up the edges.

Place the cookies onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 325 for 34- 38 minutes (I baked them for 36 minutes) until just slightly darkened about the edges and firm to the touch.

For small cookies (about 1-1.5 inches in size) bake for 22-24 minutes, until slightly darker around the edges.

Allow the cookies to cool before icing.

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Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

 

Mini Chocolate Peppermint Pies – Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free Tarts

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Before I cut out gluten, dairy, and refined sugar out of my diet, one of the things that I looked forward to every Christmas was the arrival of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Peppermint Bark Squares at the local grocery stores.

How I loved those little squares… so creamy, and rich, and wonderful. I loved opening each of those little brightly colored red and white wrappers.

I loved the little crunchy bits of that swirled in amongst the smooth bright flavor of the peppermint white chocolate. They were so festive, and eating each one felt like such a treat.

 

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This year, I decided that I would come up with a recipe to get that same sort of feeling of eating a chocolate peppermint treat at Christmastime, (but one that I could eat with my dietary restrictions) so that I wouldn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.

These little tarts are vegan, and nut (without the cashew cream) / soy / and gluten free, so they will work with a variety of food sensitivities and food allergies, and would be a good dessert to bring for any holiday party.

You can make this mixture ahead of time and spoon it into the tart shells right before serving. You can eat them as is, or top them with some cashew whipped cream, or a little star made from the scraps of your pie crust for a more festive look.

Any way that you eat them, I hope that you really enjoy them this holiday season!

 

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Makes 6 tarts

(Ingredient amounts for 12 tarts listed at the end of the post)

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup roasted sweet potato puree

5 tbsp maple syrup

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used the Ghirardelli’s brand one)

1 tsp strong coffee or espresso*

6 tbsp melted coconut oil **

1/8 tsp peppermint extract (I used the McCormick brand one) ***

tiny pinch of sea salt to taste

 

Instructions

1. Melt the coconut oil, and add it along with all the other ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth.

2. Taste the mixture, and if the peppermint flavor isn’t strong enough, add another drop of peppermint extract at a time to the mixture until you’re happy with the flavor.

Peppermint extract can be very strong, and there’s a very fine line between it being perfectly minty in flavor, and way too strong.

If you accidentally add too much extract, you can add in a little more of the other ingredients to balance the flavor out again. This recipe is pretty forgiving and can take a little tweaking if need be.

If your sweet potato puree was cold from the fridge before you blended the mixture together, the coconut oil may have set before it had a chance to incorporate with the rest of the ingredients. What you can do in this case is gently heat and stir the mixture over a double boiler until it’s glossy and smooth.

For serving, if you want the mixture to be sort of soft and pudding-like, you can gently heat the mixture up again using a double boiler, just until the coconut oil melts and the mixture turns glossy, and then spoon it into the tart shells. Coconut oil melts at 76 °F, so it won’t take long to heat up. For the pictures in this post, I heated the filling using this method before dolloping the filling into the shells, which gives the tarts a beautiful finish.

I prefer the texture when the filling has been refrigerated. It’s like a cross between a fudgy peppermint chocolate frosting and a chocolate mousse. Once you spoon it into the tart shells, you can give the filling a glossy finish (it won’t have the same “dollop” look, but will still look really nice) by dipping a teaspoon into hot water, and smoothing out the tops of the tarts before topping them with cashew whipped cream, a little pie crust star, or leaving them as they are.

3. Spoon the filling into the tart shells and serve immediately.

 

I used this recipe for the tart shells. For the stars, I used the scrap dough, cut them out using a small star shaped cookie cutter and baked them on a silpat at 375 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

 

* I add 1 tsp ground Italian Roast Coffee to a mug with 1/4 cup of hot water, allow it to cool, cover with plastic wrap and then refrigerate this overnight. This strong coffee is good to have on hand for this recipe, but also for adding a depth of flavor to other chocolate things like hot chocolate, brownies, and even chocolate frosting.

**I used regular coconut oil, and there is the faintest hint of coconut flavor in these tarts. If you that’s not really your thing, you can used refined coconut oil instead so that you don’t get that hint of coconut flavor in the tarts.

*** I would prefer to use an organic peppermint extract, but this is just the one that I had on hand, and the flavor is good.

 

P.S. I’ll let you in on a little secret – this recipe makes enough filling for about 7 1/2 tarts, but what that means is that you can fill the 6 tart shells, and save the extra filling as a treat to eat later after all the holiday parties. When you get home, you can look forward to having a quiet moment to yourself to sit in your jammies, and eat this and fall asleep watching Christmas specials on TV. No one will ever know…

 

 

For 12 tarts

1 cup roasted sweet potato puree

10 tbsp maple syrup

8 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used the Ghirardelli’s brand one)

2 tsp strong coffee or espresso

12 tbsp melted coconut oil

1/4 tsp peppermint extract (I used the McCormick brand one)

tiny pinch of sea salt to taste

 

pumpkin muffins

Pumpkin Bread Muffins – Gluten Free, Dairy Free

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These little muffins are wonderfully spiced and perfect for when you’re craving pumpkin bread. They have a better texture the next day, so I usually bake them the night before, set them out on a plate on the counter and cover them with a paper towel. The next morning they have dried out a little, and the texture and flavor are even better than they are fresh out of the oven.

When you take them out of the oven, they will be nice and puffy, but the will flatten as they cool. Don’t worry about this, as they will still be delicious. They are wonderfully creamy in the middle and taste just like your favorite pumpkin bread.

You can either bake them as 6 full sized muffins, or as 9 snack sized (flatter) muffins. I normally prefer to bake them as 9 instead of 6 muffins, as it’s harder to wolf down 9 muffins in one sitting than 6 muffins, (trust me on this, I know). Either way, they taste amazing! I hope that you like them.

I’ve included the measurements for 12 muffins below, just in case you need them.

Pumpkin Bread Muffins
Makes 6 full sized muffins – or 9 snack sized ones.

Ingredients

¾ level tsp ground cinnamon

¼ level tsp + 1/8 level tsp ground ginger

1/8 level tsp ground cloves

1 cup oat flour (I just grind the oats in a blender until they become a fine flour)

¼ level tsp + 1/8 level tsp baking soda

1 small pinch of salt

 

¾ cup + 2 tbsp pumpkin puree (or sweet potato puree)

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

4 ½ tbsp. melted coconut oil (or a neutral flavored oil)

¼ cup + 2 tbsp maple syrup

1 egg

 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2. Grease and flour the muffin pan using coconut oil (or neutral oil) and oat flour. Here’s my trick to doing this.

3. In a large bowl, sift the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, oat flour, baking soda and salt together. In a separate bowl mix the pumpkin puree, water, apple cider vinegar, oil, eggs and maple syrup.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until well combined.

For 6 muffins – divide the batter evenly between 6 muffin cups, and use the back of a spoon to smooth down the batter in each muffin cup so that the tops of the scoops of batter are flat.

Bake for 30 min at 350, then turn the oven down to 300 for another 10 minutes.

Let them cool in the pan. To remove them, run a butter knife around the edge of each muffin and pop them out and set them onto a plate.

For 9 flatter muffins – divide the batter equally between 9 muffin cups. Use the back of a spoon to smooth down the batter in each muffin cup so that the tops of the scoops of batter are flat.

Bake for 30 min at 350. Let them cool in the pan. To remove them, run a butter knife around the edge of each muffin and pop them out and set them onto a plate.


Note – I made the little decorative leaves from the extra scrap dough from making the tart shells. I used a small paring knife to cut the shape of the leaves and the tines of a fork to make the little indentations. Bake the leaves at 375 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

 

For 12 muffins

1 ½ level tsp ground cinnamon

¾ level tsp ground ginger

¼ level tsp ground cloves

2 cups oat flour

¾ level tsp baking soda

2 small pinches of salt

1 ¾ cup pumpkin puree (or sweet potato puree)

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

9 tbsp melted coconut oil (or a neutral flavored oil)

¾ cup maple syrup

2 eggs

 

apple tarts

Apple Tarts – Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Vegan

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Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a bonus recipe, my gift to you for Thanksgiving! I hope that your family will enjoy them as much as my family does.

Apple tarts are full of fall flavors, and conjure up happy memories (or simply lovely daydreams) of wearing plaid (lots of plaid), and being bundled up in warm hats, scarves and mittens, and going to the local orchard for a fun day of apple pickin’ with friends and family.

These tarts are simple to make, they just require about 35 minutes of your time, and a bit of stirring. I made up a batch of apple filling last night, and it’s just sitting in the fridge as we speak. I’ll spoon it into the tart crusts and top them with some cashew whipped cream right before serving.

You can easily double the batch to make the filling for 12 tarts, and I’ll leave the measurements for 12 tarts at the bottom of post, just in case you need them. You may have to slightly adjust the cooking times for the bigger batch.

Apple Tarts

Makes 6

Ingredients

2 Fuji Apples – cut into 1/4 inch dice (about 2 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 1/2 cups water

 

1/4 level tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp avocado oil (or any neutral flavored oil)

 

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan (if doubling the recipe, us a large pot instead) cook the apples, water and maple syrup over medium high heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Wear an oven mitt and a shirt with long sleeves to stir the mixture, as the steam from the cooking apples can be hot.

2. Turn the heat to medium, and cook for another 10 minutes stirring constantly.

Don’t touch the mixture with your hands during the final 10 minutes, or until it cools, as we’re basically making a caramel with apples in it. You don’t want to burn yourself from the hot sugar mixture.

The pieces of diced apple will become golden brown, and there shouldn’t be any more pools of liquid in the pan. The mixture will become more difficult to stir, and lots of tiny tiny bubbles will form on the bottom of the pan while you stir.

The mixture is done cooking when you can turn your spoon to the side and most of the apple mixture on the spoon will stick to the spoon instead of falling back into the pot.

3. Take the pan off the heat, and carefully scrape the mixture into a bowl and allow to cool.

 

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I kinda love how the middle tart almost looks like an apple pie version of a golden snitch. An apple tart with the wings of golden (gluten free) pie crust!

4. Add the cinnamon, vanilla extract, and oil to the cooled apple mixture and stir to combine. Spoon about 2 tbsp of the apple mixture onto each tart shell, and top with a dollop of cashew whipped cream. Serve immediately.

 

For 12 tarts

4 Fuji Apples – cut into 1/4 inch dice (about 5 cups)

1 cup maple syrup

3 cups water

1/2 level tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tsp avocado oil (or any neutral flavored oil)

 

 

 

Cashew Whipped Cream

Cashew Whipped Cream – Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Vegan

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This cashew whipped cream is a great alternative to store bought whipped topping, and it’s super easy to make.

On it’s own, this cashew whipped cream isn’t super flavorful, but poured over a fresh summer peach it is absolutely spectacular, and it gives a wonderful creaminess when dolloped over mini pecan tarts, or pumpkin tarts at Thanksgiving.

Once it’s blended, you can add another tsp. of maple syrup, or a little more vanilla to taste, but the pie fillings will already be quite sweet, so try the cashew cream on a tart with some pie filing before adjusting the flavor of the cashew cream.

The oil may seem like a little bit of an odd addition, but it gives the cashew cream a little extra richness, and rounds out the flavor of the cashew whipped cream along with the sweetness of the maple syrup.

If you’re making a lot of tarts, you can easily double this recipe if need be. You can make this in advance and then keep it in an airtight container in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

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Cashew Whipped Cream

Makes about ¾ cup.

Ingredients

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp maple syrup

½ cup raw cashews (soaked overnight)

5 ½ tbsp. water

1 -1 ½ tsp avocado oil, or any neutral flavored oil (optional)


Instructions

1. Soak the cashews overnight, and drain. Add the cashews to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.

2. Spoon over fresh fruit or mini tarts. Serve.

Note – If you forget to soak the cashews, you can boil them for 50 minutes (it’s a long time I know, but they plump right up), adding water the pot occasionally if the water runs low. Drain them and allow them to cool to room temp before using

Pecan Tarts

Pecan Tarts – Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Vegan

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These pecan tarts are awesome! They really taste like pecan pie. The pinch of salt really makes these mini pecan pies sing. I hope that you love them as much as I do.

You can make the filling ahead of time, and just stir through the toasted pecans through right before serving. I’d make the candied pecans the day you want to serve them so that they stay crunchy.

This recipe makes 4 tarts, which is sort of a funny amount, so I’ll put the measurements for 12 tarts at the bottom of post just in case you want to make 12 instead. You may have to slightly adjust the cooking times for the bigger batch of toasted and candied pecans.

You can use this recipe to make the gluten free tart shells.

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Pecan Tarts

Makes 4 tarts

For the filling

¼ ts. vanilla extract

1/3 cup raw cashews

3 tbsp. maple syrup

6 diglet dates – about a scant 1/3 cup

1 tbsp. water

pinch salt

Instructions

1. Grind the cashews in a food processor until they look like breadcrumbs. Scrape down the sides of the processor occasionally, and add in the maple syrup and blend until the mixture looks like heavy cream, with little bits of cashews running through it.

2. Chop the dates into ¼ inch dice and add them to the cashew mixture. Blend for 3-4 minutes until relatively smooth, a few lumps of cashews or date here and there are ok.

This is what the mixture should look like when it’s done.

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3. Scrape the mixture out into a bowl and set aside.

Toasted Chopped Pecans

¼ cup whole pecans

Instructions

1. Chop the pecans into ¼ inch dice. Cook them in a dry pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly until toasted and fragrant.

2. Add the toasted pecans to the cashew mixture and stir until mixed through.

3. Allow the pan to cool, then carefully wipe out any tiny bits of leftover toasted pecans with a bit of folded paper towel, as they can burn when you use the same pan to cook the candied pecans.

Candied Pecans

12 whole pecans (3 pecans per tart) about ¼ cup

2 tbsp. maple syrup

Instructions

1. Toast the whole pecans until fragrant in a dry pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently so they don’t scorch.

2. Add in the maple syrup and stir the pecans constantly for another 30 seconds, then take the pan off the heat. Continue stirring the pecans off the heat until the caramel coats the nuts.

3. Pour the candied pecans onto a silpat or a piece of parchment paper (on in pinch, a lightly oiled plate) and arrange them with two forks so they aren’t touching each other, and allow to cool.

Don’t touch the hot caramel or the candied nuts until they are cool. It’s super tempting to touch hot sugar, but you don’t want to burn yourself.

If you stir the nuts too long over the heat, the syrup can crystallize, and the coating on the pecans can go cloudy and rough textured. If this happens, it’s ok! It just means that the pecans will be extra crunchy, and they will still taste great.

4. Add about 1 ¾ tbsp. of filling to each tart shell. Top each tart with 3 candied pecans (4 candied pecans is two sweet, and 2 isn’t sweet enough) and serve.

Getting the leftover caramel off of utensils and saucepans is really easy. Just put the caramel covered utensils in the pot that you candied the pecans in, pour in some warm water and let the pan sit for an hour or two. The sugar will dissolve into the water, and you can just pour it out and put everything straight into the dishwasher.

For 12 tarts

For the filling

¾ ts. vanilla extract

1 cup raw cashews

½ cup + 1 tbsp. maple syrup

18 diglet dates – about a scant 1 cup

3 tbsp. water

3 pinches of salt

Toasted Chopped Pecans

 ¾ cup pecans

Candied Pecans

36 whole pecans (3 pecans per tart) about ¾ cup

6 tbsp. maple syrup

 

 

 

 

 

pumpkin tarts

Pumpkin Tarts – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan

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No Thanksgiving would complete without pumpkin pie!

When I was a kid, it was my job every year to make the classic pumpkin pie recipe from our well-loved Betty Crocker Cookbook. I made that same recipe all the way through high school and college, and missed it terribly when I found out that I couldn’t eat it anymore.

This is a quicker version, and is gluten, dairy and egg free. It’s rich, and perfectly spiced. You can top it with some cashew whipped cream for that classic pumpkin pie look and taste.

Also, another plus to this recipe is that you can secretly pretend that you’re at Hogwarts when you eat them.

You can make the filling ahead of time, and keep it in the fridge until you want to serve it.

The only to keep in mind is that you have to make the cashew whipped cream before you make this recipe because the few tablespoons of cashew cream give the pumpkin filling a lot of richness.

I’ll put the measurements for 12 tarts in case you’d like to double the recipe.

 

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Pumpkin Tarts
Makes 6 tarts

Ingredients

½ cup + 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. pumpkin puree, or roasted sweet potato puree

3 tbsp. + 1 ½ tsp. maple syrup

2 tbsp. avocado oil or any neutral flavored oil

 

¾ level tsp cinnamon

¼ + 1/8 level tsp ground ginger

tiny pinch of cloves

pinch of salt

¼ tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp. water

3 tbsp. cashew whipped cream


Instructions

1. Stir all the ingredients together. Top each tart shell with 2 tbsp. of the pumpkin pie filling, and a dollop of the cashew whipped cream. Serve.

For 12 tarts

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. pumpkin puree, or roasted sweet potato puree

7 maple syrup

4 tbsp. avocado oil or any neutral flavored oil

 

1 ½ level tsp cinnamon

¾ level tsp ground ginger

pinch of cloves

2 pinches of salt

 

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp. water

6 tbsp. cashew whipped cream