Paleo Cut Out (Sugar) Cookies

As promised I am sharing my new Paleo cookie recipe I have been working on. It took a few practice batches for me to get the cookies the right texture and taste. They are not as sweet as regular sugar cookies. The almond flour gives these cookies a semi sweet nutty taste.

Paleo Cut Out Cookies

Ingredients:

2 Cups Almond Meal Flour

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

1/8 Cup Raw Honey or Maple Syrup

1/8 Cup Coconut Sugar ( or other sweetener such as honey or mayple syrup)

1 Egg

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Sea Salt

1/4 Tsp Vanilla

Arrowroot Flour as needed.

Preheat oven to 350F. Warm honey and coconut oil in a double boiler. In a medium bowl add the melted honey, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla, mix well. In a separate bowl mix together almond flour, baking soda and sea salt  Combine the dry and wet ingredients together mixing well. If the dough is very wet add a little arrowroot flour until the dough forms a wet ball. The dough will be wet and a little sticky. This is the character of almond meal. It does not absorb moister as well as wheat flour. Wrap the dough in cling wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 min. Once the dough has become firm it will roll easily. Roll the dough between two sheets of cling wrap or parchment paper. Then cut with desired cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 min. until edges are lightly browned.  I used small cookie cutters and got 20 cookies. 

This is a batch I made in my crock pot. You can read about Crock Pot Cookies here. Have you whipped up any special or healthy recipes lately?

Crock Pot Cookies

As promised here is the second half of our busy weekend post. Sunday's main event went down a lot quicker than our long Saturday. 

We were expecting our grandson Little Bug to visit on Sunday afternoon. When ever Little Bug stops over to visit he likes to have a treat or two from grandma and grandpa. I usually make him cookies or buttermilk biscuits. Both are his favorite. I do plan to share these two recipes with you all soon. They are very unique recipes as they are gluten free and paleo based. I made up the cookie dough and set it in the refrigerator to chill. Then I put dinner in the oven to bake. I decided to mix up a batch of biscuits to go with our dinner. 

Just as I turned to set the biscuit dough on the stove top to rise a loud bang came from inside the oven. A big puff of smoke came out the back of the oven. The control panel on the stove top went blank. 

Not sure what happened at this point my husband turned off the breaker to the stove and set about lighting the grill out on our deck. While my husband finished making dinner on the grill. I fretted over not having a treat in our house that Little Bug would be allowed to eat. Then I remembered seeing a recipe some where about baking a cake in a crock pot. If someone could bake a cake in a crock pot I figured I cold bake cookies in my crock pot. 

This is what I did. First I turned the crock pot on high(with the lid on). I found a 7 inch cake pan that fit nicely inside. I rolled out and cut the dough. I fit cookies in the pan. Then I laid three spoons in the bottom of the crock pot to keep the pan off the bottom and allow air to circulate under the pan. I put the pan in the crock pot trying to keep it in the center with a little space on the sides. I first set a timer for 20 minutes and checked often. After 45 minutes the cookies were done.  

Our visit with Little Bug went over perfectly. He had his special treats and I learned a new cooking skill. My oven is not working until now. We are waiting on a part that had to be ordered. Next time I buy a new stove I will not be buying one with a digital control panel. I will get an old fashioned gas stove! Lesson learned modern is not always great. 

Smiley Cookies for Christmas

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday my family and I had the opportunity to try Christmas Cookies from Smiley Cookies. I am a cookieholic. If given a package of cookies I can eat and eat until they are all gone. So I would not eat my self in to sugar shock I shared the cookies with my family after Thanksgiving dinner.

First off the packaging is fantastic. The cookies arrive in a shipping box and in side the nice packed box is a smiley carton and in that is a plastic package of cookies. The Smiley carton is of keepsake quality. I will be using my carton to keep holiday cards in. If you were planning to give cookies as a gift their packaging is perfect for this. I am thinking about ordering a package to be sent to relatives out of state that have nut allergies. All I have to do is order their nut free Christmas cookies. Then I will have one gift marked off my long list.

So, let me tell you what my family thought about these very special cookies. Pooh Bear thought they were and I quote, "yummy." Grandpa had a couple gingerbread cookies with his coffee and thought they were just perfect. I like the sugar cookies they were soft, fresh and sweet just like a sugar cookie should be.

If you want to put a smile on your child or grandchild's face then I recommend Smiley cookies for their Christmas stocking. Smiley Cookies want to help you save a little this holiday season. You can use the coupon code "BLOG10" at checkout to get 10% of any of our Christmas cookie gifts! 

 Disclaimer:

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Chocolate NuStevia

NuNaturals has a new product that I have been trying this week. It's Alcohol Free Chocolate NuStevia. With Christmas fast approaching. I wanted to make some sugar free treats for my grandchildren that would make them feel like they are getting sweets just like their little friends. I decided to make some meringue cookies.
This recipe is very simple and easy to make. The meringues come out light and fluffy.

Ingredients

2 egg whites

1/8 tsp of salt

1/8 tsp of cream of tartar

1/2 cup white sugar 1/4 cup PreSweet Tagatose(also from NuNaturals)

8 drops Alcohol Free Chocolate NuStevia

Directions

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil. Beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in a large glass or metal mixing bowl until soft peaks form. This does take a little time. Gradually add the PreSweet Tagatose and Chocolate NuStevia. Be very careful to add the sweeteners slowly. Beat until stiff peaks form. Drop by spoonful on to baking sheets. Bake 1 1/2 hours until dry. Turn off oven and let sit until cool. Do not remove from oven until completely cool.

The above recipe can be changed up for the holiday season. My first batch went so quickly I did not get a picture. I made a second batch with Peppermint NuStevia Liquid instead of the Chocolate NuStevia. I also added one drop each of green and red food coloring to the meringue.

You can also substitute any one or more of these NuStevia flavors for the Chocolate NuStevia.

Lemon, orange or vanilla NuStevia liquids. Turns out my favorite flavor is Peppermint NuStevia Liquid.

Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned products from NuNaturals to facilitate the creation of the above recipe and for product review purposes. 



It's Clearly a Chocolate Day

I don't know about you but I need chocolate today!

If you feel the need for some chocloate try one of these coupons and enjoy!

I hope you have a chocolaty day.

Recipe: Pooh Bears Birthday Cookies

This recipe is a special chocolate chip cookie recipe that I made up for Pooh Bear. He is always asking for birthday cookies. One time Pooh Bear was given a store bought soft sugar cookie with colorful confetti sprinkles which he immediately claimed was a birthday cookie. I figured a good chocolate chip cookie recipe with some colorful m&ms might fit the bill. When I made them he was so happy to see the colorful dots in the cookies he did not miss the frosting at all. Next time I will try to make them a little healthier.



 Pooh Bear Birthday Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 package semisweet chocolate chips

1 package mini m&ms

Preheat oven 350deg. Mix all dry ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Cream together in a large bowl butter and both sugars add eggs vanilla and mix well. Slowly stir in dry ingredients add chocolate chips and m&ms. Mix well. Drop by teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until slightly browned on edges. I like to make them mini cookies when I am making them for my grandchildren.

Valentine's Day Cookie Review

One of my favorite holidays beside Thanksgiving is Valentine's Day! I have been given the opportunity to review One Dozen Heart Shaped Valentine's Day Cookies from Smiley Cookie.  I am so hmm, full! I need to say I shared these cookies with my family. I also confess I had three for myself today. Now usually I can eat a cookie and stop but in this case the heart shaped cookies were calling out to me, "eat me, eat me"! Well, at least that is my excuse. I believe they lasted about 2 hours and the whole dozen were gone! My family is very picky about cookies and I usually bake about a dozen or two a week depending on who and how many visitors we are having. We really do not eat store bought cookies very often. Now, these valentine day cookies are about to change my cookie habit. I liked how fresh they were when the cookies arrived. Not, one broken cookie!(you will see below how great the packaging is) The taste was just perfect for our picky little eaters. 
As you all know I really enjoy sending my grandchildren little gifts now and then. We live so far apart from my granddaughters that we like to mail them grandpa and grandma love you reminders. With Valentines Day on the way a valentines day gift basket will make a great we love you reminder. 
You won't have to worry about broken cookies arriving to your family or friends because the packaging is out of this world. Check out the package I received.

I thought you might want to know they are baked in a nut-free facility! 

The cookie dance!!!

And finally the taste test.

MMM, Good! 

If you are planning to order some Valentines Day Cookies, Smiley Cookies has a code for you. Use the coupon code "BLOG10" at checkout to get 10% of any cookie gifts, except gift cards! 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Oatmeal Bars

This is a family favorite. The recipe can be made as cookies but I like to make them bars which take less time and with such a busy schedule we can all use an extra 5 minutes in our day.

Oatmeal Bars/Cookies 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 cups quick cooking oats

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars. Then beat in two eggs, add vanilla and mix well.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill 

dough for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease  cake pan. Press dough into pan. Bake 20  to 30 minutes until lightly brown on edges and tooth pick comes out clean. 

Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting. Transfer to a plate or wire rack.

If you would like cookies instead - grease your cookie sheets. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack or plate.

Please enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookie/Brownies

I love Peanut Butter cookies and I love Brownies so I decided to combined the two recipes and see what I get.
I preheated the oven to a setting between 350 and 375 degrees. I choose to set it between the brownie temperature and the cookie temperature.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup any style peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 cups white flour

Cream butter and peanut butter together slowly add sugar while mixing. Mix in eggs.

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together. Add creamed mixture with dry ingredients. 

Press the dough into the bottom of a 9 x 9 baking pan.

Brownies

1 cup  softened butter

2 cups sugar

3eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup white flour 

Mix butter, sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Pour the batter over the peanut butter cookie dough.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes. Test with a tooth pick. The baking time is the best estimate I could come up with.

My brownies took 45 minutes.  Cool and frost if desired.