It’s pretty easy these days to find gluten free pumpkin pie, or at least a gluten free crust, but if you have a sensitivity to dairy or eggs, you might think that pumpkin pie is totally off the (Christmas) table―but fear not! This recipe comes to the rescue! We use grass-fed gelatin to “set” the pie and hold it together in place of eggs, and use canned coconut milk to replace the dairy.
Maple Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Muffins [grain-free, gluten-free, option for dairy free and nut free]
These muffins use coconut flour to make them totally grain free. They are free of refined sugar, using real maple syrup as a whole food sweetener. They make an excellent addition to Sunday brunch!
Recipe: Paleo Russian Teacakes
Have you ever had Russian tea cakes? You know, the kind that are little round shortbread balls rolled in powdered sugar? They were always one of my mother’s favorite kinds of cookies and she made them frequently when I was growing up. I always loved how buttery and delicious they were. She decided recently to make them again, and I, being jealous, decided to make a batch for myself that were grain free and dairy free.
Copycat Recipe: Cherry Garcia Ice Cream [Dairy Free, Vegan]
CHERRY GARCIA! I never thought a dairy free, egg free ice cream could taste this good, but it did. The boyfriend used to love Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, so I decided to try to replicate it as best I could using some good quality ingredients. It also needed to be totally vegan, since he was going off dairy and eggs for the month of January, and I’m off dairy and eggs until further notice (boo, IgG allergies!). I’ve had mixed luck with coconut milk ice creams because it never quite lends the same creamy consistency as real cream, and when I first made this batch with a base of coconut milk, it didn’t thicken up at all, and then when I put it in the freezer, it turned into a huge ice cube. Sigh. So, I did some Googling to see what other people did to make a coconut milk ice cream actually turn out well, and I found a trick of using arrowroot starch to thicken up the coconut milk and allowing the mixture to chill. When it freezes, it has an amazing creamy texture that I thought I’d never be able to achieve with dairy-free ice cream!
Recipe: Dairy Free Peppermint Chocolate Pudding
An acquaintance gave me a recipe from The Bulletproof Diet for a chocolate truffle pudding. I wanted to try to make it for Christmas, but didn’t have all the ingredients and couldn’t have the butter that it called for. So, in Rosemary fashion, I gave it a few tweaks (read: make it completely unrecognizable from the original recipe), and what turned out was perfect! I am a huge, huge fan of peppermint chocolate. I used to be obsessed with those Andes Mints back in the day (helloooo, sugar addiction!) and this reminded me of that.
Recipe: Chocolate Orange-Cardamom Cookies
So… I know that it’s a bit strange to post a cookie recipe right after my last posts talking about my sugar addiction struggles. 😀 But, I know that during this time of year when we’re all attending Christmas gatherings galore, it can be difficult staying on track. First, you don’t want to feel like you’re missing out when everyone is eating dessert. I know that the times when I feel like I’m missing out are the times I’m most likely to way overindulge. That bowl of dark chocolate squares will be history in about fourteen minutes. Also, you never know for sure when you attend a party whether there will be any paleo food available, and you worry that it will be just you and the nut bowl again (but not the peanuts. You pick those out.) Solution? Bring your own treats to share!