Einkorn Chocolate Chip cookies

Original recipe and photo credit found here.

I've had a 1 lb box of Einkorn berries in my pantry to try out for quite some time now. Since any wheat (whole wheat especially, but even Kamut and Spelt) send my sugar levels through the roof, we normally stick to gluten free flours when we want treats. I decided to give Einkorn a go though- it's SO much better for you than other wheats! And I'm happy to report that I didn't seem to suffer any from eating a couple last night- Hooray! It's still pretty expensive, so we probably won't be eating it too much, but it's nice to know there's something else out there we can use.

Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies

ingredients:
* 8 TBSP softened butter (115g)
* 3/4 sucanat (150g)
* 1/2 tsp salt (3g)
* 1/2 tsp baking soda (3g)
* 1 med. egg
* 1/2 tsp vanilla (3g)
* 3/4 cup chocolate chips (115g)
* 1 3/4  cups einkorn flour (210g)

directions:
1. Cream the butter, sugar, salt and soda together until combined well.
2. Add egg and vanilla- mix until emulsified.
3. Mix in chocolate chips gently.
4. Sift the flour before measuring, then mix into other ingredients until fully incorporated.
5. Drop by TBSP onto greased cookie sheet, about an inch apart.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for about 13 minutes.
7. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from tray.

**Some notes**
-I did weigh out my ingredients- except for the butter and vanilla.
-Sifting the flour before weighing was a bit of a pain, but well worth it.
- I didn't have any chocolate chips, so instead chopped up a bar of Organic dark choc. (soy free!) from Trader Joes. Worked perfectly.
- Next time I think I'll use less chocolate chips. I like to taste the cookie, (and these ones taste amazing!) and the chocolate is a bit overwhelming.

Irish Sponge Cake

I was pursuing my favorite Irish blog a few months ago, when I came across a recipe for an Irish Sponge Cake. Yum! I was instantly hooked and decided that this would be my birthday cake this year.

Made with homemade strawberry jam and raw cream!

I only made a few changes to the ingredients, mostly just to modify them to what we use.

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used sucanat, which is unprocessed cane sugar)
• 3/4 cups cake flour -plus two tablespoons  (we have whole wheat pastry flour that we grind ourselves)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup strawberry or raspberry jam
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar (we used maple syrup)

Optional

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (we added in her optional vanilla extract)

**For the rest of the recipe, visit Mairead's blog, Irish American Mom.

The result was a deliciously spongy cake with a coveted whipped middle and little to no sugar high. Perfect!

Here it is all candled up for my birthday!

Go here to read more about the difficulties there are when trying to convert an Irish recipe using American ingredients. Thanks Mairead for all your hard work!!

Maple Pecan Pie

My husband loves anything pecan. Unfortunately for him, I have never been able to stomach the gooey corn syrup mess that is a pecan pie. 

A few years ago, my dad came across a recipe for an oatmeal pecan pie and luckily for my husband- I liked it! So up until now that has been our go-to pecan pie recipe. 

This year however, I came across a pecan pie recipe using maple syrup instead of corn syrup and decided to give it a go! I'm still not a fan of the gooey mess, but atleast this year it was a good-for-you gooey mess. :) I think from now on, we'll stick with our oatmeal pecan pie though.

Mother's Sugar Cookies

All made up for Halloween!!

These cookies are a staple for my families Christmas goodies. I remember helping my grandmother make batches and batches of these to hand out to friends and family during the holiday season. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without them!

Now, we usually make them at Halloween time as well. Halloween sugar cookies get butter-cream frosting added to them though. :) (The ones pictured above were made to hand out, so we omitted the frosting on these ones.)

The recipe is really my Great Grandmother's, but Grandma always called them Mother's so that's the name that stuck. :) They are the softest, yummiest sugar cookies I've ever had. The addition of nutmeg (and the sugar to flour ratio!) is my favorite part about these cookies. 

Mother's Sugar Cookies:

5 c flour

2 c sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg (I always use ~ 1/2 tsp)

1 c butter, cold and cut up

3 eggs

1/2 c buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

Sift the flour into a big bowl (or mixing bowl) with 1 cup of sugar, the soda, powder, salt and nutmeg. Add butter. (My grandma always used her hands for this part, so I do too. :) ) Beat eggs slightly and add remaining sugar gradually (don't forget this part!! It's not any fun trying to knead in sugar at the end...trust me!), beating thoroughly. Blend in buttermilk and vanilla and add to the crumb base. Roll 1/4" thick in flour for more chewy cookies, 1/8" thick for crisper cookies. Cook for 8-10 minutes on greased cookie sheets in a 350 degree oven.

* There is no refrigeration needed.

** These cookies are chewy whether you roll them 1/4" or 1/8"- it just depends on how chewy you want them. :)

*** I haven't tried to use my 'good' flours or sugars with this recipe yet...I just don't think I can bring myself to change the taste.

Cookie Salad

I'm not even sure where this recipe came from...We've been having it in our family for many years now.  It's one of my favorite summer treats! As with any dessert, it's not terribly healthy- but I've managed to make a few tweaks to the original recipe to bring it a little closer to my standards.

Cookie Salad

*1 pint of strawberries (frozen can be used) 

*2 cups grapes (red or green)     

*1 small can of pineapple tidbits 

(or the equivalent of fresh cut)

*2 bananas, sliced

*12 oz cool whip 

(heavy or raw cream work well too)

*1  3 oz package of instant vanilla pudding 

(I made homemade and it worked perfectly)

*1 cup buttermilk

*1 package Lorna Dune shortbread cookies(any brand , or homemade will do)

Combine the fruit in a big bowl. Next, mix the cool whip (cream) with the pudding and buttermilk in a separate bowl. Place half the cookies in a bag and beat with a rolling pin, then add to the pudding mixture. Now add the pudding mixture to the fruit and stir until combined. Spoon half of the salad into a trifle dish and then crumb the remaining cookies in the same bag. Sprinkle half of the crumbed cookies onto the salad, add the rest of the salad on top of that and then end with the remaining cookie crumbs. Enjoy!!

Cookie Pop's

While my parents were here this summer, my mom introduced my family to cookie pops. Man am I (mostly) glad that she did!! We have tried cake pops before, but were not terribly impressed with them. These beauties on the other hand have already been made twice since our introduction. :) Thanks mom for sharing this delicious, somewhat secret, recipe with us!



*As you can see from the picture we made quite a variety: plain, peach, oatmeal peach, and peanut-butter. The toppings were chopped carob chips, peanut butter chips and walnuts. 

Zucchini Brownies!

One of the first things I did once I signed up for Abundant Harvest, was to browse their recipe section. (We've never eaten an eggplant, so how am I to know what in the world to do with it?!) When I saw this recipe, I couldn't wait to try it! My kids have been bugging me forever to make them brownies, but I have put it off, time and time again. Thinking about all the sugar in traditional brownies was enough to send me over the edge! But these brownies....They are perfect! Enough chocolate to satisfy the kiddos (and me too!), plus the added benefit of being healthier!



Preheat Oven to 350º

* 1 ¾ cup flour
* 1/3 cup baking cocoa
* ½ tsp baking soda
* ½ tsp salt

Combine in a large bowl.



* 2-3 cups zucchini, shredded

Stir into flour mixture



* 1 egg
* ¾ cup sugar
* ¾ cup brown sugar
* ½ cup plain yogurt
* ½ cup oil
* 1 tsp vanilla

Combine in a separate bowl and beat with fork. Stir into zucchini mixture. Spread evenly into greased 9 x 13 pan.



* ½ to 1 cup semisweet or mint chocolate chips
* ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)

Sprinkle over top of batter. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean 35-40 minutes


All ready to go into the oven!!! YUM!

*I used applesauce instead of oil, and I used whole wheat flour instead of white. They turned out so moist and delicious that it was hard to not eat the whole pan that night!

**recipe taken straight from the Abundant Harvest site.