Happy almost Easter! I survived having the kiddos home on Spring break last week and also hosted four of my daughter’s nine-year-old friends for her birthday sleepover. It never fails to surprise me at how rambunctious and LOUD a small group of young girls can …
May I just take a moment to tempt your taste buds with these AMAZING dark chocolate lava cakes? Okay good! These perfect little confections have been given a slight makeover in the nutrition department. I’ve made them gluten free (you can still use regular flour if …
By now my family has completed nearly all of the pre-Christmas traditions. We’ve put up our tree and decorated the house inside and out. Santa rode right down our street perched atop a festive fire truck for the annual Santa parade this year which was VERY exciting to my 4 year old son and we attending a walking “tour of Bethlehem” at a local church. We ended the pre-Christmas traditions with this weekend’s cookie and candy making where my girls and I conquered krumkake, a few varieties of chocolate truffles, English toffee and these awesome coconut spritz cookies.
Coconut spritz cookies are a holiday indulgence based on traditional Swedish spritz cookies. In this case, I’ve used coconut flour blended with an all purpose gluten free flour which gives them a uniquely delicious coconutty flavor instead of the traditional almond, vanilla or lemon. The flavor of the coconut is complemented with cardamom to make these coconut spritz cookies really stand out.
You can make these with butter or use a palm shortening to make them dairy free but they won’t get as crisp if you use the shortening. I’ve found that this coconut flour based dough is much easier to press through a cookie press with prettier results than the traditional recipe. I opted to sprinkle the tops of some cookies with a bit of toasted coconut while my kiddos, naturally, choose to use a bit of colored sugar sprinkles to make them festive. Santa will certainly put you on the “nice” list when you leave a plate of these coconut spritz out for him to enjoy! From my kitchen to yours, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
My dad always enjoyed the weird (read: not kid friendly) vegetables like parsnips, asparagus and eggplant. They might be the only veggies I actually saw him eat that weren’t potatoes now that I’m thinking about it. Now that I’m older I realize those veggies aren’t all …
Eating your veggies for dessert? Okay, I’m sold! Yes, I’ve officially boarded the pumpkin pie train. I’ve honestly never made a pumpkin pie since my all time favorite holiday pie is sour cream raisin or even mincemeat (I know, weird). Given that my husband absolutely MUST have pumpkin …
I’m officially a deer hunter’s widow for the next 5 days while the hubs is off gallivanting in the woods attempting to track down a deer or two with my family. It’s the one time of year he is able to get away from work and family obligations and unplug in the wilderness for multiple days at a time. I’ll admit, it nice to have a little break from each other from time to time as it gives you a moment to realize how much you appreciate them. I already miss him though and it’s only day 1. It might be a long weekend. Which is why I have awesome comfort food planned. I’m making up a healthier tater tot hotdish tonight (you betcha, I’m a true Minnesotan) but I’m totally cheating on the potato topping and using waffle fries instead. Gotta have a little convenience when it’s just me and the kids, right? For breakfast, we’re having these baked apple donuts with caramel glaze… total comfort food if you ask me!
These apple donuts are based on my vanilla pear donut recipe and are also baked to perfection in a cutesy donut pan. To top them, I mixed together maple syrup, butter and coconut milk and coconut sugar to create a delicious maple caramel glaze. They’re the ideal mix of just enough sweetness and just enough gooey to make you think you’re eating something really naughty. Cheers to apple donuts, a sweet comforting start to the weekend!
We spent the weekend in much needed relaxation mode schmoozing with good friends on Friday night, having an awesome bonfire just me and my hubby on Saturday and then our somewhat productive Sunday afternoon quickly turned totally non-productive sitting out on the lawn with our neighbors. What can I say, …
It’s an exciting day…I have plums!!!! As in plums directly from my neighbor’s plum tree and not from a supermarket. Holy cannoli are they TASTY! Tart and lightly sweet, these lovely little stone fruit have been a delightful treat all week. Since I was graced with a large bucket of them, I just had to make plum …
I get excited when fun things arrive at my doorstep. Today, the postwoman brought me a delivery of 50 alpine strawberry plants!!! I’m way super excited but I haven’t quite figured out where I’m planting all of them. The coolest thing about these plants is that they don’t produce runners so they won’t spread like regular strawberries. They’re actually a cultivar that’s typically wild and the berries are much smaller and much more flavorful than the ones you find in the local market. I’m hoping that by next summer they’ll be producing at least some fruit. I am totally stoked about these little guys!
Speaking of awesome and nutritious berries, my wonderful dad and step-mom brought me a big ol’ bucket of fresh raspberries from their farm this past week. Since my raspberry patch is just starting out here at the new place, I won’t have enough quantity to do much with other than eat a few nibbles here and there. It just so happens that my middle daughter has recently fallen in love with honey raspberry jam from the farmer’s market so the fresh bucket of red wonderful berries was just the right amount to experiment with and freshen up my jam making skills that I haven’t used in nearly 10 years.
I made two batches of jam… one with regular sugar and simply reduced the amount of many current recipes to be comparable to the amount used in my grandmother’s days of making jam. How do I know this? My grandmother happened to leave me a very old canning book with a few of her hand written notes in it. It’s missing the front cover but judging by the images in the book it’s probably from the 60’s. Pretty cool. The other batch I made was a honey raspberry jam so it has a bit more nutrition than using regular white sugar, tastes just as delicious or maybe even more-so, and was equally as simple. The only real difference I noticed was that the jam turns out a little lighter in color and more vibrant with the honey. It’s perfectly tart , is great on toast and even better on a dish of ice cream!!
“Whoa, Mom! These are GOOD!” exclaimed my oldest daughter with her mouthful of Swedish pancakes. That was exactly the sentiment I was hoping for from my picky “dad-makes-the-best-pancakes” crowd. It occurred to me over a plate of huge fluffy pancakes this past weekend that I have …
