the best chocolate chip cookies EVAH

******** hey y'all*******updated recipe********improved!

wanted to make these with half sunbutter and half tahini, plus i wanted to fiddle with the texture to make them softer...so i added an extra egg...now they are perfect!

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ok. paleo or not, these are just ridiculous.

without a doubt the best cookies i have ever wrapped my teeth around,

and i have eaten a lot of cookies in 42 years

these are safe for my little man as they are grain-free, dairy-free and nut-free.

enough speaking. just go make these...

right now.

for approx. 24 cookies, you'll need:

1 cup tahini (sesame seed butter...better results if you pour off the oil that collects on top and save for another use)
1/3 cup organic coconut sugar
2 pastured eggs
2 t pure vanilla extract
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t sea salt
3/4 cup dairy free chocolate chips or chunks

mix together all ingredients in a bowl (i used my stand mixerfor all of it except the chocolate chips as my tahini was a bit thick and chunky). scoop by tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie pans and squash each cookie down a bit as they don't spread much in the oven. bake at 350 for exactly 12 minutes...these burn easily, do not overbake.

toll house, eat your heart out.

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lemon-coconut meltaways

i love all things lemon, don't you?

well, you should :-)

anyway, i also love simple recipes and cookies, so this little gem is a win-win...and it's grain-free, too :-)

we don't use a lot of butter around here, but when we indulge in it, we use a grass-fed variety, like Kerrygold and that's what i used in these lemon cookies.

for a dairy free version, use coconut oil.

for 12 tiny cookies, you'll need:

6 T coconut flour
4 T grass-fed butter, ghee, or coconut oil, cold
1 T raw honey
2 T coconut sugar
2 pinches sea salt
zest of one lemon
juice from one lemon
coconut sugar for dusting

mix everything together in food processor. drop by rounded teaspoons onto parchment lined pans. press lightly with the bottom of a flat glass and dust with sugar. bake at 365 degrees for approx. 9 minutes. do not overbake. let cool a minute or two and just try not to eat every single one of them in one sitting! (notice there are only 9 left on my rack?)

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Paleo cocoa-sunflour waffles

welcome back! where ya been?

i've been making waffles

we recently discovered that in addition to my son being sensitive to gluten and allergic to dairy, he is allergic to all tree nuts.

that means no cashews, brazil nuts, pecans,

or almonds

that is devastation, right there, because as you may or may not know, Paleo baking's lynchpin is typically some type of nut flour, usually almond.

i was thrown into a near panic.

but then, i put on my big girl panties and got to work.

and discovered something quite amazing...

sunflower flour

yep, that's right. flour made from good old, everyday sunflower seeds. so, not only can i substitute it for almond flour....wait for it...it's about HALF the price of almonds!

yippee!!

and also? i can substitute sunflour for some of the eggs in my coconut flour recipes and just add in a wee bit more liquid, like in my waffle recipe which normally calls for 8 eggs...and 8 pastured, organic eggs cost, like, a million bucks, so this is great news!

we decided we were in the mood for chocolate waffles, so i omitted the cinnamon in my regular recipe and put in a hefty dose of cocoa powder, cut the eggs in half and threw in the sunflour along with a bit of orange juice and...these babies taste like chocolate donuts and don't even need any syrup or honey to make them outstanding.

my son is happy and his belly is full.

which makes this mama very, very happy.

for approx. 5 waffles you'll need:

4 pastured eggs
1/4 c melted coconut oil or other oil
1 T pure vanilla
1.5 t baking soda
1/4 t sea salt
2 heaping T cocoa powder
2/3 c full fat organic coconut milk (from a can, not the beverage)
1/2 c organic coconut flour
1/2 c organic sunflour (grind hulled sunflower seeds in food processor, vitamix or coffee grinder)
1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice
2 T melted raw honey
1 small very ripe banana

this recipe is the easy peasy bomb...just throw everything into your blender of choice, zoom it up and pour into your waffle iron...cook till done and enjoy plain or with some pure maple syrup.

nomnom.

Paleo banana bread granola

we love granola around here...but it ain't usually paleo, what with all those oats running around it.

so i did some research and smushed together a few recipes and came up with this...

enjoy!


for about 10 cups:

1 cup raw pecans
1 cup raw cashews
2 cups raw almonds
2 cups raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup ground golden flax
1 whole egg
3T coconut oil, solid
2 cups shredded coconut (sweet or unsweet, up to you)
2 very ripe bananas
1/4 pure maple syrup
2T cinnamon
1T pure vanilla
generous pinch sea salt

dried fruit, totaling 1-2 cups

in  your food processor, grind up nuts until they resemble oats and no longer resemble nuts :-) add in sunflower seeds, flax and the egg...pulse a few times. dump into a big bowl and add oil, coconut, bananas, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla and sea salt.

get your kids to mix it up since its really, really sticky :-)

drop tablespoon-sized clumps of it onto cookie sheets, leaving some spaces like in the below picture. pop it in the oven at about 250 degrees for about 1.5 hours or until as done as you like it. it will crisp up a bit as it cools.

add in your dried fruit and let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. enjoy with almond or coconut milk or over cultured almond yogurt.

feel free to customize ALL ingredients and ratios...it is uber-flexible.

thanks to www.againstallgrain.com for the recipe inspiration :-)

this is what it looks like as it's going in the oven:

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happy birthday to me paleo whoopie pies!

i seriously just accidentally made whoopie pies...and they are paleo :-)

ok, ok, no, cavepeople DID NOT eat whoopie pies but if they'd had an oven and a kitchen aid mixer and palm shortening, they certainly would have.

let's face it...these aren't health food by any stretch of the imagination, nor are they really paleo (non-hydrogenated palm shortening, what?) but, hey...

tomorrow is my birthday :-)

i've been on this paleo journey for 6 weeks now...i feel so much better all around...i've lost a bunch of weight, my arthritis is not nearly as bad and i've had way fewer headaches and migraines.

i am very happy.

so, in honor of the 42nd year that jesus has seen fit to give me....i made whoopie pies!

did i mention it happened by accident?

i wanted to make paleo chocolate chip cookies, but i had zero chocolate chips, so i decided to make cocoa cookies instead and just made this recipe up by the seat of my pants.

it came out nothing like what i wanted

i had envisioned a chewy, dense, chocolately, slightly-crisp-on-the-outside and soft-in-the-center type of cookie but what i got was a very light, very airy and very intensely chocolate cookie that was really very much like a slice of cake. hmmmmm......i immediately thought of whoopie pies and set out to make some kind of paleo-friendly filling...and this is what i came up with!

so...happy birthday to me!

for the 24 cookies:

3/4 c coconut oil, solid
1/2 cup coconut sugar or honey
1/2 T vanilla
5 eggs
1/8t salt
3/4 c coconut flour
1/2 c cocoa
1 tsp baking soda

beat sugar or honey with coconut oil until smooth. add eggs one at a time, beating well between additions. mix in vanilla, salt, coconut flour, cocoa and soda until well blended. using a small scoop, scoop out cookie dough onto parchment lined sheet pans, about 2 inches apart. wet the bottom of a glass and dip it into organic sugar, then use the glass to slightly flatten each cookie. bake approx 10 min at 375 degrees...do not over bake! let cool completely before frosting.

for the frosting:

1 cup palm shortening
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 T vanilla extract

whip palm shortening in a stand mixer until light and smooth. gradually add in the honey, about 1T at a time, whipping between additions. repeat with maple syrup. add vanilla and continue whipping until light and airy, approx. 10 minutes. please adjust the amounts of honey and syrup to your taste...some may like it much more sweet than i do :-) fill each whoopie pie with 2 T frosting and celebrate!!

in the picture below, i made another batch and reduced the eggs from 5 to 3 and omitted the soda in an effort to get a less-cakey version. i actually like the cakey version much better :-)

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honey pork shoulder with brussels sprouts slaw

tonight i have a recipe for you that is not dessert.

shocking, i know

but even paleo cavegirls have to eat dinner, at least once per day :-)

i wish we had taken some photos, but we ate it so fast, there was no time.

i hope you like it as much as we did...

honey pork shoulder with brussels sprouts slaw

for the pork:

3-4 pound pork shoulder
1/3 cup raw honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 T ancho chili powder
2 T Weber (tm) Chicago Steak Seasoning

mix together honey, vinegar and seasonings. rub all over pork shoulder. place pork into a heavy dutch oven, cover and cook on 300 degrees for about 4 hours or until falling apart tender. Shred pork slightly into big chunks, pour cooking liquid over the top and serve with slaw.

for the slaw:

4-5 cups shredded raw brussels sprouts
3 shredded carrots
3/4 cup paleo-friendly mayo, or homemade mayo
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (more or less to taste)
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
salt and pepper to taste

mix everything together in a big bowl, refrigerate one hour and eat :-)

even my littl'uns wolfed it all down!

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yummy paleo banana cake

hey there, hi there, ho there!

long time, no see

i so wish i had more time to blog and less time to do laundry, homeschool, grocery shop, plan meals, raise kids, go to church...

wait a minute...no i don't!

i love all those things (well, maybe not laundry, so much) but i do love my not-so-terrribly mundane life of being a jesus-loving, homeschooling, food-obsessed mother and wife.

i am blessed.

so if the posts come fast and furious some weeks and a vast desert of time in between,

forgive me?

here's my latest...a yummy banana cake recipe that I found over at www.civilizedcavemancooking.com. i didn't change a thing, it's his wholeheartedly and so, so yummy.

thanks, caveman :-)

4 bananas, yellow (they do not need to be overly ripe but you can if you want)

4 eggs

1/2 cup almond butter (or any nut butter, i.e. macadamia, pecan, etc)

4 tablespoons grass-fed butter, melted (can substitute coconut oil)

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
2. Combine your bananas, eggs, and nut butter, and grass-fed butter in a blendtec, blender, food processor, or mixing bowl and mix well (if using a mixing bowl you need a good hand-mixer)
3. Once all of your ingredients are blended, add in your coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and sea salt and mix well
4. Grease a 9×5 glass (see notes) loaf pan with a fat of your choice (I used grass-fed butter).
5. Pour in your batter and spread it evenly throughout
6. Place in your preheated oven and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean
7. Remove from oven and flip your bread out onto a cooling rack
8. Slice and serve

 

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