Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free • gaps)

This recipe has been revisited and revised.  It's new and IMPROVED!!

One of my favorite cookies is a shortbread cookie.  I just love that buttery sweet flavor that melts in your mouth.    Here, I have attempted to make a healthy, sugar free version.  I am pretty darn happy with them too.   This recipe is also really easy and can be whipped up super quick!

I find that Almond Flour is better for cakes and cupcakes, but the almond meal also works great for most cookie recipes and muffins (plus it's often cheaper).  Mixing half of each works well too.  Almond flour is almonds ground up with the skins removed, almond meal leaves the skins on.

The secret to good shortbread is the quality of the butter and vanilla extract.  Don't skimp on these and you will have a fantastic cookie on your hands!

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
gluten free, sugar free, dairy free options, GAPS options

For a delicious variation, and to make them GAPS legal, use 1/4 C raw honey, omit the applesauce and stevia, and reduce the cooking time to 30 minutes!


Ingredients:

• 1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted room temperature Butter, Ghee or Coconut Oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  
• 1/4 C Organic Unsweetened Applesauce, bring close to room temperature
• 2 C Almond Flour or Meal (or a mix of both)
• 3 Tb Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp Pure Stevia Extract Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Blend together softened butter, applesauce and vanilla extract until smooth.
3. Whisk together almond meal, cocoa powder, stevia and salt.
4. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and blend till everything is well combined.  I usually have to hold my mixer up while still spinning to fling the extra batter off.
5. Let dough chill in the refrigerator for atleast one hour.
   
6. Spoon out a rounded Tablespoon of batter, roll into balls, and place 2" apart onto a cookie sheet covered with a silicone baking sheet (or you could use parchment paper).  Us a fork to flatten cookie in a cross pattern.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes.  You want them to be a little soft still, but then cool harder.
   
8. Cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cool.
9. Enjoy!

Makes about 20 cookies.

I store these on the counter in an airtight container.  I am not sure how long they should be good for cuz we usually eat them up within a few days.



This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade and the Healthy Home Economist's Monday Mania.

Healthy Peanut Butter Cup Pie (sugar free • gluten free • low carb)

Thank you sooooo much to Lauren over at Healthy Indulgences for scheming up this recipe. I made it over the weekend for a family gathering and it was delicious. I will definitely have to make the filling sweeter next time, it seemed to be lacking in this department (pretty much everyone agreed). I might literally double it, but other then that, it was fantastic!

Cheesecake Muffins With Fruit Topping (sugar free • gluten free • low carb)

I recently posted a recipe for mini cheesecake muffins. The recipe was given to me by my sister, who had gotten it from her neighbor. They were yummy, but I couldn't help buy play around with it and change things up a bit. I wanted them bigger, the original ones would shrink down really small and were very dense. I also wanted a yummy topping. After a couple of tries, and quite a few changes, this is what I have come up with. I love these little muffins, they are so good. They have been a big hit with my taste testers and no one can tell they are sugar free. They really taste just like little cheesecakes... mmmmmmm!

Letting them cool slowly, in steps, will help to keep the muffins from sinking down too far, although they will sink a little.

Cheesecake Muffins
Makes 12 Muffins

• 3 Eggs
• 2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
  
• 1/4 C heavy whipping cream
  
• 1 tsp baking powder (made with 2 parts cream of tartar to one part baking soda)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
  
• 1/8 tsp + 1/4 tsp pure stevia extract powder
  

1. Set oven to 325.
2. Bring cream cheese to room temperature (If I don't have time to wait, I will put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes at 50% power).
3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a hand mixer until well blended.
   
4. Place batter into muffin pan using paper muffin cups or a greased silicone muffin pan.
5. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.
6. Turn off oven, but leave door closed for 20 minutes.
7. Crack oven door and leave muffins in there for another 40 minutes.
8. Put in refrigerator overnight. They are MUCH better the next day.
9. Top with fruit spread (My favorite is Trader Joe's Organic Blueberry Fruit Spread).
   

The muffins sink in a little in the middle, leaving the perfect little spot for a topping. You could also try fresh fruit or chocolate.

Strawberry Smoothies (sugar free • gluten free • low carb)

I have been on a smoothie kick for quite a while now. They taste delicious, are easy to throw together and you can make them chock-full of nutrition. I like to add homemade whey to mine to add more protein and nutrients, but they are just as delicious without. I mix it all up in my ninja, but any blender that blends ice really well will work.

The recipe below is just a basic strawberry one, but you can use anything you want. Blueberries or bananas are great in with the strawberry, or you can make a tropical one with mangos and pineapple, the possiblities are pretty much endless. I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here, most people know how to make smoothies, but I wanted to share my favorite combination .... Soooo good!!

Strawberry Smoothies
Makes 2 Servings

2 C strawberries
1 C plain whole milk yogurt
1 Tb homemade whey, optional
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp pure stevia extract powder (or some other sweetener of your choice, or none at all)
2-3 C ice

Mix all ingredients in a blenda. Enjoy!

Mini Cheesecake Muffins

My sister tried these at a party the other day and shared the recipe with me. You can whip them up and have them in the oven in just a couple of minutes and be on your way. They taste like cheesecake and they are oooooh sooooo good!!

2 8oz packages cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 C sweetener of choice (I used 1/2 C Erythritol and 1/8 tsp pure stevia extract powder)
1 Tb cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together, Put it in muffin pan in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes (or when they are not as shiny on the top) then turn the oven off, crack the door open, and let it cool in the oven for about an hour.

They bake up, then shrink back down once you turn the oven off. They only end up being about a 1/2 " to 3/4" tall, but they are sure tasty!

Love these!!

Healthy Cake Pops? No Way! (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free)

Healthy Cake Pops?! Is that even possible? Are they actually any good? I was on a quest to find out... and it turns out that you can, in fact, make cake pops that are not only healthy and nutritious for you, but delicious too!

I initially decided to make these for our superbowl party with my friend Gina's son in mind. He has food allergies and I wanted him to be able to eat the dessert that all of the other kids were eating too. He can't have gluten or dairy and I also wanted to make them sugar free, without the use of any "fake sugars" or highly processed alternatives either. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I figured there had to be a way.

My sister makes traditional cake pops often and they are always a huge hit. All she does is make a boxed cake, crumble it up, mix in icing with the already baked cake, roll into balls and coat them with different flavors of candy coating. They are yummy and everyone raves about them. Plus, they are super cute to boot!

I wanted to try to take that idea and make it healthy and safe for my gluten-free, dairy-free little friend. Ofcourse, there are no recipes out there for this, that I could find. So I had to kinda wing it. I might make some adjustments in the future to play around with it a little more, but I was pretty happy with the results and everyone who tried them at the party really like them as well. No one could believe they were actually good for you!

I started by making a chocolate cake with almond flour, some baking soda, sea salt, eggs, vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa powder, unsweetened apple sauce and a little pure stevia extract powder. I was pretty excited when it came out of the oven actually resembling a chocolate cake! You can see some tiny apple chunks in it. I only had chunky applesauce on hand, which I tried to mash up further but obviously not enough. Next time I would definitely use a more creamy applesauce. It was a last minute decision to add it in, and I had to work with what I had.


After I took the first pic, my camera flaked out on me. It started (sorta) working again the next day. So the rest of the pics are taken with my blackberry. Sorry for the crappiness! I am working on getting a new camera for Valentine's Day. I have been drooling over a particular one and am long overdue.... wish me luck!

After I baked the cake and let it cool completely, I added in some rasberry fruit spread (instead of the icing my sister usually uses) and mashed it all around. I got this idea from a recipe from Elana's Pantry. I also used her chocolate cake recipe for inspiration, but she uses agave nectar, which is actually worse for you then high fructose corn syrup, so I had to change things up quite a bit. If you have been using this in an attempt to be healthy, please do some research and consider another alternative. Agave nectar is really no good for you at all.

I love the Trader Joe brand fruit spreads. They are delicious and are only sweetened with fruit juice. I love them in the morning with breakfast on some toast or a muffin!


Once the fruit spread was mixed throughout, I rolled little 1" balls in my hands and placed them on parchment paper to cool in the freezer for a couple of hours while I ran some errands.


After I got back, I melted down a chocolate baking bar and added a little vanilla and stevia. I used a Sunspire organic unsweetened baking bar that I found at Whole Foods. There was nothing icky added to this bad boy when it was made, nothing but pure unsweetened chocolate. I then stuck the lollipop sticks into the balls and dipped them into the melted chocolate. I stuck each one in a styrofoam block to cool. They didn't take long, as the frozen cake balls cooled the melted chocolate pretty quickly.


Here are the lollipop sticks and treat bags I used to assemble the cake pops.


After they cooled, I pulled a treat bag over the top and tied it with a ribbon. I think strings would work better, but I already had the ribbons on hand.


Here is the full recipe. If you try them out, please let me know!

Healthy Chocolate Cake Pops
Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free
Makes about 50 Cake Pops

Special Equipment Needed:
Lollipop Sticks
Styrofoam blocks
Small Treat bags
Ribbon or String

For Chocolate Cake Insides:

• 4 cups almond flour (not almond meal)
  
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1.5 cup applesauce
• 6 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pure stevia extract powder
• 1 C Raspberry Fruit Spread, no sugar added (for after the cake is baked)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease a 13x9-inch cake pan with coconut oil.
3. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and stevia with a large whisk.
4. In a medium bowl, combine applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract with large whisk.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry until thoroughly combined.
6. Pour Batter into cake pan.
7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
   
8. Let the cake cool completely before moving on to the next step.
9. Crumble cake in large bowl and mix/mash in raspberry fruit spread until well combine.
10. Roll mixture into 1" balls and place on a tray covered in parchment paper.
11. Set cake balls in Freezer for atleast 1 hour.
    

Chocolate Candy Coating

• 2 (4oz) unsweetened 100% Cacao chocolate baking bar
• pure stevia extract powder, to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Melt Chocolate in a small sauce pan over very low heat.
   
2. Add in vanilla extract and stevia to taste. Start with a very small amount of stevia, taste, then add more if needed.
3. Once melted and mixed together, insert lollipop sticks into cake balls and dip into melted chocolate.
4. Insert into a styrofoam block until cooled.

Final Assembly
Once the cake pops have cooled completely and candy coating has hardened, place a treat bag over each pop and tie with a ribbon. Store them in the refrigerater until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

I have added this recipe to the Monday Mania Carnival. You can check out lots of other whole foods recipes there too.