Strawberry Santas (the dairy-free version!)

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free

I've seen photos of these strawberry Santas going around a lot lately.  They look  really great.  The only problem is that the ones I've seen are made with whipped cream and Jacob can't have dairy.  So we came up with our own solution - cashew nut cream!  I've posted my recipe for cashew nut cream before.  It makes a great filling for strawberry Santas.  You will need to add slightly less coconut milk to this recipe though to make these.  The cashew nut cream needs to be a pipe-able consistency otherwise they will just collapse.

Ingredients
20 strawberries
2 quantities cashew nut cream (with slightly less coconut milk) 
a handful of black chia seeds

Method
Slice off the leafy end of the strawberry so the strawberries sit flat.
Then slice off the tip to make a hat. 
Put your cashew nut cream into a piping bag and pipe swirls on the top of the strawberry base. Replace hat.
Add a dollop of cashew nut cream to the top of the hat and down the Santa's front. 
Add two chia seeds to each Santa for eyes (we actually used flaxseeds as we didn't have black chia seeds!)

Enjoy! 

Anzac Biscuits

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free

Ingredients
1 cup blanched almond flour
1 cup GF rolled oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup rapadura sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 cup hot water

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Line 2 trays with baking paper.
In a mixing bowl combine your almond meal, coconut, rapadura, cinnamon and oats.
Melt the coconut oil and golden syrup in a small saucepan.
Combine the bicarb and water then add to the coconut oil and golden syrup.
Add the frothy mix to your dry mix and combine it well.
With wet hands, shape small balls of the dough.
Place them onto the tray and press down to flatten them a little.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Original recipe from this blog but I have made some alterations in my version.  

Chocolate Chip Biscuits

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, no refined sugar*

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate*

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt and baking soda.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil, agave nectar, and vanilla extract.
Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined.  Fold in the chocolate, then place the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Spoon a heaped tablespoon onto the tray and press down firmly with your hand to flatten.
Cook for about 20 minutes or until slightly golden.  Leave to cool before serving.

*These biscuits will be sugar-free if using vegan chocolate like the Loving Earth brand or my hubby's own raw chocolate.  

This recipe is from Elana's Amsterdam's 'Gluten-Free Almond Flour cookbook'.  Check out her blog too - there's lots of other recipes suitable for those with allergies. 

Gingerbread

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, no refined sugar

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 1/4 tsps cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup golden syrup
1 large egg

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda, and cloves.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil, agave nectar, vanilla extract, golden syrup and egg.
Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined.  Cover the dough and let chill in the freezer for an hour or so.
Roll out the dough to about half a cm thickness between two sheets of baking paper.  Dust with some almond flour if it is a little sticky.
Remove the top sheet of baking paper and cut out the biscuits using biscuit cutters.  It takes a little practice to work with this dough as it's stickier than gluten containing doughs.  You can try dusting your cutters with almond flour or dipping in hot water between cutting each biscuit to help with this.
Transfer the biscuits onto the trays and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool on the trays for about 30 minutes.

This recipe is originally from Elana's Amsterdam's 'Gluten-Free Almond Flour cookbook'.  However I have made a few changes to the original. 

Muesli Bars

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, no refined sugar

Ingredients
1 cup dry roasted almonds, chopped
1 cup GF rolled oats
1 cup puffed rice
1/4 cup pepitas
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup blanched almond meal
50g coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 egg

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Line a slice tin with baking paper.
Mix the almond meal, oats, puffed rice, pepitas, apricots, sultanas and almonds together in a large bowl.
Melt the coconut sugar, honey and coconut oil in a saucepan until combined.
Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and then stir in the egg. 
Press into slice tin.
Cook at 180 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Leave to cool and cut into slices (it's easier to cut into slices when the slice has been refrigerated). 

Cashew nut cream

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free

Cashew nut cream is an all round favourite in our house.  We use it as a sweet dip for fruit and as a replacement for yoghurt and cream seeing Jacob can't have dairy.  It's amazing how yum it is with just a few simple ingredients.   

Cashew Nut Cream 

Ingredients
115g raw cashew nuts
125ml coconut milk
1 tablespoon maple syrup, or to taste
1/2-1tsp natural vanilla extract, or to taste

Method
Soak the nuts and 1/2tsp of salt in a bowl of water overnight at room temperature.
Strain the nuts and rinse well.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until very smooth (the thermomix is great for getting it really smooth!) Adjust the sweetness with maple syrup and vanilla, as desired.  The cashew nut cream will keep for a week in the fridge.

Recipe originally from Jude Blereau's 'Wholefood for children'. 

Apricot balls

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free

Apricot Balls

Ingredients
2 cups cashews
1/4 cup coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g dried apricots
1 tbsp coconut oil
extra coconut for dusting

Method
Place cashews, coconut, vanilla and apricots into thermomix.  Blend until finely ground (about 1 minute on speed 6) 
Add the coconut oil and mix until it comes together.
Roll into small balls and dust with coconut

Chocolate Truffles (the healthy version!)

Gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, sugar-free

I'm experimented with a few different versions of these chocolate truffles before but this is the first time I've found a recipe that I've absolutely loved as soon as I tasted it.  No one would ever guess that these truffles were healthy!  The original recipe is from here.  I used the same ingredients but simplified it by chucking everything in the thermomix to blend up.  Easy!  The hardest bit was rolling them into balls (and I got the kids to help with that anyway). 

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients
2 cups natural almonds
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp ground cinammon
1 tsp vanilla bean (I used vanilla bean paste)
16 dried dates
2 tbsp water
extra cocoa and coconut for dusting

Method
Place almonds, cocoa, cinammon, vanilla and dried dates into thermomix.  Blend until finely ground (about 1 minute on speed 6) 
Add the water and mix until it comes together.
Roll into small balls and dust with cocoa or coconut - whatever you prefer.

Daddy made swirly bread!

Now that Jacob is gluten-free we've had to come up with bread alternatives for him.  Chris has always made our bread for us but gluten-free bread has presented him with some ummm, shall we say challenges?!  It's very sticky and hard to work with.  And it's pretty tasteless compared to regular wheat bread (although Chris is working on improving that too!)  Jacob is also very fussy about his food and finds it hard when things change (that's a kid with ASD if ever I saw one!)  The first loaf of plain white GF bread Chris made we were told tasted like poo (now there's a nice image!) but I did notice that Jacob kept eating it....Anyway, Chris used to make a marbled rye loaf that Jacob absolutely loved.  He would always request that Daddy made 'swirly bread'  When Jacob knew that he had to have special bread he asked Daddy if he could make him his own swirly bread.  And so good old Daddy agreed to attempt it.  The above photo is the end result.  I think he's done an awesome job.  And swirly bread has now become a staple in the freezer for Jacob.  I thought I'd share the recipe in case anyone wanted to give it a go...

SWIRLY BREAD

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Soy-free

This recipe makes two standard sized loaves.  The instructions are for two doughs - a white and a brown - which will be put together to create a marbled bread. 

Ingredients

White bread
520g gluten free white bread flour blend*
300g lukewarm water
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 egg, beaten, for brushing
60g seed mix (sesame, pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds)

Brown bread
500g gluten free white bread flour blend*
310g lukewarm water 
20g cocoa
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 egg, beaten, for brushing
60g seed mix (sesame, pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds)
Method 
Grind the seeds into a powder. 
In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients
In another bowl combine the wet ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix
Knead until the dough comes together (add more flour if needed).
Split the white bread dough into two and the brown bread dough into two (you will need one of each colour per loaf). 
Roll each piece of bread dough into a rectangle roughly the width of the bread tin. 
Place the brown bread dough on top of the white.
Roll into a tight spiral.  Place roll in tin, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size (approx 90mins)
Brush top with beaten egg.
Bake at 220C for approx 40mins or until golden brown.  

*we make our own bread flour blend by combining 450g white rice flour, 115g potato flour, 60g tapioca flour, 60g cornflour and 4 tsp xanthum gum. 

Raspberry and Coconut Muffins

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Soy-free

Now that Jacob is on a gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free diet, you'll probably be seeing quite a few recipe posts like this as I experiment with new recipes.  As soon as I saw the recipe for these muffins I knew I wanted to make them.  The original recipe is dairy-free but not gluten-free so I had to make some adjustments.  Replacing the wheat flour with GF flour (we make our mix of GF flour using rice flour, potato flour and tapioca flour) was easy enough.  But I also halved the recipe and added an extra egg so it wouldn't be so crumbly with the gluten-free flour. Here's my adjusted recipe...

Raspberry and Coconut Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup GF flour 

1/2 cup castor sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup coconut cream

1/4 cup shredded coconut

1 cup raspberries

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  

Put everything except for the raspberries and shredded coconut into a bowl and mix really well.  

Add the raspberries and coconut and mix gently until just combined.

Spoon into patty pans and cook in oven until brown and a skewer comes out clean.  

Leave in tin for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool.  

Enjoy!

I don't particularly like the texture of GF flour but I didn't have a problem with these muffins.  I think the coconut cream made them really moist and not dry like gluten-free things tend to be. Next time I make them I will try substituting the castor sugar with 1/4 cup coconut sugar instead so there's not so much processed sugar in them.