Paleo Cocoa Puffs Cereal by way of PaleOMG and Real Sustenance

Yesterday I was surfing on Facebook and came across this post from PaleOMG: Guest Post: Paleo Cocoa Puffs with this photo.

Here is Juli's post with the recipe. Or get it here Paleo Cocoa Puffs Cereal. (Gluten/Dairy/Refined Sugar Free) from Real Sustenance. Please look at both of these blogs.  They are fantastic!!

I said to myself, "OK, this is one recipe I have to try."  My kid loves cereal and since we are trying not to eat grains she had to give cereal up. I had all of the ingredients so I made the puffs.

 These are the "puffs" before they went into the oven.

These are baked halfway. See how much larger they got!

These are finished baking.

These taste so good!!  My daughter had some for breakfast this morning as cereal.  She only ate a little bit before she felt full.  The puffs are great as a snack too.  They get very crispy like amaretti cookies.  It got over 60 with this batch.  I put half of them in the freezer for another time.  A person COULD make a sandwich cookie with these using coconut butter as a filling.

Elana's Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other week we were craving cookies!!  So I looked around and decided to try out this recipe from Elana's Pantry.
They were so delicious.  Although, in the recipe she said to form them into balls and place on parchment.  My dough was not stiff enough to do that so I just dropped the dough from a spoon!  Didn't matter  - these were very good and did not last long.  My non-Primal husband even loved them!!

Make sure you give this recipe a try.  I cannot wait until I get her cookbook!!!

Butter Pecan Cookies

I was wanted to make some cookies today.  I had seen a recipe on the King Arthur website that looked really yummy but the dough had to sit overnight.  I wanted a cookie today!!  I found this recipe on Simply Recipes. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/butter_pecan_cookies/

I got a few more cookies than she did.  They taste great but are a bit crumbly.  Next time I will sift my flour and see if it makes a difference.  I also rolled the cookie balls into Sugar in the Raw and flattened them a bit with a glass.

Butter Pecan Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for coating
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°. On a baking sheet, toast pecans until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Let cool completely; finely chop.

2 With an electric mixer, cream butter for about a minute. Add 1/3 cup sugar and cream until light, about 1 minute more. Beat in vanilla, salt, and flour, scraping down sides of bowl, just until dough comes together. Fold in pecans.

3 Separate dough into 12 pieces; squeeze dough to shape into balls. Roll in sugar. Place, 3 inches apart, on a baking sheet.
4 Gently flatten with the bottom of a glass (reshape sides if necessary). Sprinkle with sugar.

5 Bake until golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more sugar. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Gingerbread Biscotti

I was hungry for a cookie.  Susan over at Sticky, Gooey mentioned on FB that she was going to make some biscotti.  I found this recipe over at Joy of Baking http://www.joyofbaking.com/biscotti/GingerbreadBiscotti.html but I modified it because I don't have a food processor to make the oatmeal flour and I was out of raisins.

So here's my recipe for Gingerbread Biscotti adapted from the one above:

Gingerbread Biscotti Recipe:

3/4 cup (100 grams) pecans , toasted and coarsely chopped (can also use hazelnuts or walnuts)

1/2 cup (50 grams) old fashioned rolled oats

2 1/4 cups  all purpose flour

3/4 cup (160 grams) dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 large eggs

1/4 cup (60 ml) unsulphured molasses (such as Grandma's Molasses)

2 tablespoons light olive oil (or corn oil)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 sections of roasted preserved oranges, finely diced http://isgrocooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/roasted-preserved-oranges.html

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Place pecans on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until brown and fragrant. Chop when cooled.

 

In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. 

 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, molasses, oil, and vanilla extract. 

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, and beat until combined. 

Mix in the pecans and oranges and beat just until incorporated.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide the dough in half. Take each half of dough and form it into a log, about 12 inches (30 cm) long and 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). 

Transfer the logs to a cutting board and cut into 3/4 inch slices.

Place the cookies cut side down and bake for 6-8 minutes, then turn them over and bake again for 6-8 minutes or until dry and firm.

Remove from the oven and let cool.

Store in an airtight container for several weeks.

Julie's Cookies

Today I made some cookies from Julie's blog. http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2010/11/15/cookies-cocoa/
Mine actually looked like hers!  These cookies are very good and super sweet.
The dough was a little sticky for me so I popped the bowl in the fridge for a bit before I made the second tray full.
Sophia really liked them. 
Try them out!!
Something a little different for Christmas cookies. You could make the balls smaller and it would be a sweet amuse bouche. The term is French, literally translated to "mouth amuser".