During Christmas, my favorite cookie to make (and eat) are Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread cookies but this was before switching to the Paleo lifestyle. With that being said I was on a mission this year to make a version of my favorite cookie…. but Paleo-ized. I have to say the results sent me to dreamland. After taking the first bite and proceeding to eat the cookie in record time I didn’t miss the “old” version at all! That says a lot and I bet if you made these for your friends and family they wouldn’t believe you that they were Paleo. In that case, don’t even tell them…it’s your little secret. That’s what I did when my husband bit into one and proceeded to say….oh wow these are good. However, my husband knows all too well if I bake these days it’s most likely Paleo and he was then pleasantly surprised. Maybe I might convince him on walking down the Paleo road after all. Hmmmm…..might have to take a little more work, perhaps more of these cookies. Only kidding here folks as we all know these little cookies are a special treat. And since it’s the holidays, a special treat is in order. Now for those of you that prefer a crispy and crunchy cookie, these aren’t for you at all. These are what the title says….chewy! And very soft. Which in my opinion is the way a cookie is supposed to be….like I’ve said in the past when sharing other chewy and soft cookies.
I was originally planning to bring the Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins to the upcoming holiday brunch at my Crossfit gym, but these might be made instead. Or maybe I’ll just bring both. Choices….
Happy baking everyone and have a great weekend. I’ll be back next week with some other holiday treats you can hand out to friends and family this holiday season.
Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
10 medjool dates, pitted
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup almond meal
¼ cup cacao powder
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips/chunks (I used Enjoy Life New Chocolate Chunks)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Add dates to a small bowl with 1 tablespoon water and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Mash dates with a fork and add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and mash more.
Add date mixture, coconut oil, eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract to a food processor and pulse until smooth.
In a small bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (almond flour/meal through cloves). Add dry ingredients to the date mixture and process mixture until well combined, scraping the bowl as needed. Stir in dark chocolate.
Spoon tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Leave at least an inch and half of room for the cookies to spread.
Bake 8-10 minutes until puffy. The cookies will be soft but will harden slightly when cooled. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes before removing. Release the cookies from the pan with a spatula.
These cookies are best kept in the refrigerator (if not eaten right away) or they freeze well.
Makes 15 to 18 cookies
It’s Friday, the end of the work week, so why not end it with a Paleo treat! I actually made these back in August and haven’t posted them….shame on me because they are delicious! My whole thought process was I didn’t want to shower you with treats since Paleo is not about the treats but all about the other good for you stuff. I also knew I would be going away on vacation which meant I would be away from my kitchen which meant no cooking. I did some extra cooking before my trip so I would have enough recipes to share with all of you. So here we go…a Paleo treat that is so worth the wait! I call it a brownie but it’s really almost like a fudgy chocolate bar. It’s no bake and easy to put together and even easier to eat. Warning: they can be a little addicting. My little ones loved these and they weren’t around too long. Which was perfectly ok with me because it meant they weren’t around too long for me to eat. I was also perfectly ok with that because these bars are a whole lot healthier than some of those other things out there on the market for kids.
Enjoy these fudgy Paleo chocolate treats and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I’ll be back in my kitchen this weekend figuring out what Paleo recipe I can share with everyone next week….so stay tune. Right now I’m thinking something involving sweet potatoes and maybe something involving salmon. We’ll see. I also have a Halloween treat brewing! All very exciting and I can’t wait to share!
Fudgy Cranberry Paleo Brownie Bars
2 ¼ cup pecans, lightly toasted
½ unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
15 large medjool dates, pits removed
1 small to medium ripe banana (about 1/3 cup)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
¼ cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, plus more to sprinkle on tops of bars
Instructions:
Blend pecans, unsweetened cocoa powder and cinnamon in food processor until combined and coarsely ground.
Add in dates and banana and process until blended into dry ingredients.
Process in vanilla and honey until well combined.
Stir or work in dried cranberries and chocolate chips with spoon or by hand.
Press mixture into a 8×8-inch baking dish and sprinkle with additional chocolate chips, gently pressing down the chocolate chips. Freeze for 1 hour, or until firm, then cut into squares.
Enjoy!
As you read this post I will be flying high in the sky on route to Arizona….to celebrate my birthday! My mom called me a couple months ago with the idea of a getaway for my birthday. Not just any getaway but a spa and hiking getaway to Sedona, Arizona. It didn’t take much convincing and I’ve been excited ever since. But I didn’t want to leave without a treat. Since it’s my birthday a treat is needed and this treat comes in the form of a Paleo-ish Pumpkin Cookie Sandwich with Paleo Pumpkin Ice Cream sandwiched in between….I’m telling you this is the perfect treat to celebrate a birthday with in a Paleo fashion. Since I’m leaving on my birthday we had to celebrate in my house and my request was not to have the traditional cake or ice cream so instead we had these! They were heavenly and I have to say I’m so happy it’s that time of the year for pumpkin. I love the stuff!
Ok, before I leave you I have one more treat….a giveaway! The lovely folks at Taste of Home sent me two copies of their latest cookbook that just hit the bookstores. It’s jammed pack with 800 baking recipes, which even include a few gluten-free items. I’ll be giving away 1 copy to 2 readers.
Here’s what you have to do to enter:
1.) Leave a comment below telling me why you would love to have a copy of this cookbook.
2.) Follow Multiply Delicious on Twitter
3.) Follow Taste of Home on Twitter
4.) Follow Multiply Delicious on Facebook
5.) Follow Taste of Home of Facebook
Leave a comment for each of the above for more chances to win!
Rules:
Sorry only within the US.
Please comment by midnight EST on Monday October 3rd for chance to win. On Tuesday I will announce the winners of the cookbooks.
Good Luck!!
UPDATE: Winners are Kimberly and Julie!!! Yippee!! I’ll be sending emails to you soon!!
Now let’s get to the treat. First off the cookies! Now there are a couple ways you can make these. With or without the chocolate chips. I did half the cookies with and half without. Either way they are delicious.
Paleo Pumpkin Spice Cookies
2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, plus more for sprinkling on tops of cookies
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
1 small ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
In a small bowl mix together pumpkin puree, mashed banana, maple syrup (if using), vanilla extract.
Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until combine. Then add melted coconut oil and stir to incorporate. If you are using chocolate chips stir those into the batter.
Drop spoonful of batter (about 1 to 2 tablespoons in size) onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with additional pumpkin pie spice. Bake cookies for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.
Cookies are best kept in a airtight container in the refrigerator.
Paleo Pumpkin Ice Cream
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions:
In a bowl whisk together all ingredients until well combine.
Pour into the bowl of a ice cream machine and follow the directions of your ice cream machine.
To assemble sandwiches:
On one side of the bottom of a cookie place a scoop of ice cream. Take another cookie and place flat side down on top of ice cream and slightly press down. Eat right away or wrap in plastic wrap or airtight container and store in freezer.
Note: It’s best to assemble sandwiches when ice cream is soft.
I thought I would end the week with a little “treat”. A Paleo treat of course. These little bites I’m calling “cakies” because they aren’t really “cookies”. These little “cakies” are soft which if you ask some people a cookie should not be. But if you ask me, a cookies MUST be soft, not crunchy and crispy. Everybody is different and prefers their cookies different so that is why I’m making up my own name and calling these a cakie instead of a cookie. And because these little treats are soft, they are my little heaven in a Paleo diet world. They have no added sugar, just the sweetness of the banana, and have the protein, fat, and fiber from the almond flour and almond butter. I’m telling you these are great for someone like me that has an occasional sweet tooth and needs an “occasional” treat. Even better, they are super easy to make and make only a small baking sheet of cookies. So you don’t have to worry about having dozens of cookies around the house to tempt you.
My little ones actually helped in making these with me, so again super easy and fast to make. And to top it off they have no eggs, so the little ones love them even more because they can lick the bowl. The only problem in my house is the fight that incurs of who gets the last lick. To solve that battle I took the last bite. Luckily, just then the timer went off and the cookies were done and I had to eager little girls waiting for the cookies to cool off so they could try their creation. Love having them in the kitchen with me!
I have to warn you these will be eaten very quickly, but if by any reason they aren’t I would suggest you store the rest in the refrigerator or freezer to keep them fresh. Since they are so soft they don’t keep as well if kept out on the counter.
Banana Chocolate Chip “Cakies”
1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 1 large banana
2 tablespoons creamy almond butter
1 tablespoons apple butter (optional)*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
1 ¼ cup almond flour
¼ cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free – delicious)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
With a hand mixer, blend together the banana, almond butter, apple butter, vanilla extract, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add in almond flour and chocolate chips and stir to combine.
Using a 1 ½” ice cream scoop, scoop dough into even scoops and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 11-14 minutes or until cookies are slightly golden on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from pan. Again, these are soft so if you remove too soon you’ll have a soft cookie crumb mess.
Enjoy!
*Note: For the apple butter, look for a brand that uses apples only no added sugars or additives. My favorite brand is Kime’s Cider Mill, which I find at my local Whole Foods.
08.19.11
Since going Paleo 3 weeks ago I have been looking for a go-to quick and easy snack for after my CrossFit workouts, but I also wanted to find something my kids could enjoy and I could add to their lunch box that was a healthy protein packed bar. After playing around in the kitchen I think I found the perfect little bar. And these bars are totally grain free. The bars are made up of nuts and dried fruit and because I couldn’t resist, a little dark chocolate. The fruits are mostly what makes these bars sweet, but I did add a little honey but you could leave out if you want. Of course when you are first starting out on a Paleo lifestyle diet nuts and dried fruit should be limited so these are truly are a treat for me, like one of those things I only have once or twice a week. However, for the kids they are a great lunchbox add on. I have slowly tried to switch their diet to at least being gluten-free and as much organic as I can. Not that they didn’t have a pretty much all organic diet from birth, but trying to make changes. Especially after reading several things in regards to gluten in a child’s diet. The switch to gluten-free hasn’t been a huge deal for my kids especially with more things on the market these days that are gluten-free friendly. Vegetables on the other hand are still a battle in my house. Hopefully one of these days that battle won’t be a battle at all. Wishful thinking on my part! Any ways, these bars have been a hit in my house and have been asked for in their lunch boxes all week. I take that as a sign that they like them. And as for me, they are a great little treat especially after a workout or even in the afternoon when I’m looking for an afternoon pick me up. It’s a quick grab and go bar.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Fruity Chocolate Protein (Paleo) Bars
1 ½ cups slivered almonds (unbalanced)
1 cup pecans, lightly toasted
1/3 cup ground flax meal
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup dried unsweetened cranberries
7 large medjool dates, pits removed
1/3 cup dried unsweetened blueberries
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ tablespoon honey
4-5 tablespoons water
1/3 cup Enjoy Life (Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Dairy-Free) chocolate chips
Instructions:
Place almonds, pecans, flax meal, cinnamon, cranberries, dates, blueberries, vanilla in a food processor and process until well ground. Then pulse in honey and 3 tablespoons of water. You want the mixture to form into a ball. If it’s not after the 3 tablespoons of water add in additional water and process until the mixture begins to form a ball.
Remove from food processor and stir in chocolate chips. Then press into a 8×8 inch baking dish.
Place bars in refrigerator for an hour and then slice into bars and serve.
Bars are best kept in the refrigerator. Bars can also be wrapped individually and placed in an airtight container in the freezer.
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