Monster "Smashies" (cookies)

Cookies are one culinary endeavor that are fun to experiment with, but also, easy to mess up. I love to experiment and make my own cookies but often times the result are not all that fruitful! I made these cookies two days before I journeyed back to school for my second semester of sophomore year. My inspiration was Kelly's monster cookie recipe. The soaked and cooked teff I had waiting on the counter was just calling to me to be turned into some ingenious cookie creation!

How could I resist? I didn't, and started throwing things together. And what's more fun than this - I made this recipe using one bowl and only one utensil to mix it with, a potato masher! Yes, go back and read that sentence. One bowl, one utensil. It's easy! The kids in your life will love helping you make these cookies.

They cooked beautifully in the oven and when they were all cooled and ready to be sampled I couldn't wait! My family and I all tried one and loved them! These are so tasty and they are packed with chocolate chips - the best part of any cookie! There are also mild hints of banana, walnut and raisin.

Monster Smashie cookies

makes about two dozen cookies

1/4 cup teff grain, soaked in whey and water for 24 hours, cooked and cooled - after this process the teff makes 1 full cup

1 medium banana

1 REAL egg

1/2 cup raw organic almond butter (roasted would probably be fine too)

1/3 cup organic maple syrup

5 drops stevia

1/4 stick REAL butter

2 Tbsp organic coconut flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

pinch xantham gum

~

1 cup organic raisins

1 cup chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life - I will try cocoa nibs sometime!)

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup walnut halves + pieces

To make your cookies:

1. Add teff and banana to a large mixing bowl. Mash together. Add egg and butter. Add maple syrup, stevia, coconut flour, salt, xantham gum. Mash, mash, mash.

2. Dump in the last 4 ingredients, your delicious mix-ins. Or mash-ins, as we should call them.

3. Use a cookie scoop to place them on 2 half baking sheets. Use your Silpats, they're lovely ;) or parchment paper of course.

4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. They do set more as they cool - don't over bake! These keep their shape, so either keep them in a ball from the cookie scoop, or flatten them out with a fork.

5. Cool, please-resist, before eating.

6. Eat and enjoy (hide them before the whole family eats them)... or wrap them in plastic wrap and put them in a large plastic baggy and take them to California with you. Oh, wait... that's what I am doing today!

Because as you read this I am probably flying on a jet plane back to California, don't despair! This does mean I will be extremely busy with all my new classes (when I get my final schedule I will update you) and that I probably will not be posting every week. Or every month. But I will try to post some things that I've had going in the mix - recipes that I've cooked and done photo shoots for but haven't quite made it to the site. I will miss you all. I do love blogging. Please pray for me and my semester.

Until the next update,

Meagan

Homemade Almond Joy Ice Cream

This recipe.

Heaven.

Unfortunately you will only get tempted by the picture, because if I gave the recipe away then I would have two boys in the house who would be very upset if they learned I have shared the recipe for our special Almond Joy ice cream. I wouldn't want to upset them, would I?

Imagine the best ice cream you've ever eaten... multiply times 10 or 100, and you've got it.

Ice cream has always been a favorite in our house, and now I feel better because when I make it I know how nourishing it is! It's so much better than store bought. I make the ice cream using ingredients like raw cream and organic coconut milk. Each scoop is full of nourishing and essential saturated fats!

Sorry about picture quality - it was at night so of course that means no natural lighting to take a photo! The ice cream on the bottom is my homemade chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream, which I will be sharing within the coming weeks!

Cinnamon Scones

My lovely brother has been begging for scones lately. And considering he gave me this pan for Christmas, the making of scones today (we are having another snow day) was unavoidable. He requested cinnamon scones especially so I sought out a recipe and went to work!

Cinnamon Scones

adapted from Chelsea Lincoln

1/2 cup organic coconut flour

1 cup sorghum flour

1/4 cup potato starch

1 cup organic cane sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup raw whole buttermilk

1/3 cup butter

turbinando sugar crystals, for sprinkling

To make your scones:

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.

2. Using a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles small peas.

3. Pour in buttermilk and stir until moistened.

4. Spoon batter into a greased scone pan or cut into 8 separate scones and place on a baking sheet.

5. Bake at 450 degrees until the tops have browned and the scones do not feel overly puffed up in the middle.

6. LET COOL - if you try to eat one too soon it will crumble!

This recipe tasted amazing. My brother could not wait until breakfast in the morning, so I pulled out a still warm scone (that's why I know about the crumbling) and we all sampled a piece. G still eats wheat, so to see his face light up in reaction to the taste of this GF scone, it speaks volumes! We all agreed that this is definitely a great scone recipe. The recipe called for other various mix-ins. Try it with chocolate chips, lemon zest, raisins, coconut, nuts, dried fruit, or whatever you like best in your scones. Also, if you don't like your scones very sweet, decrease the sugar.

*Note- I was not happy with the way the scones cooked. I might decrease the oven temperature to 400 degrees and see what happens. Also, next time I will be adding some xantham gum to help hold the crumb together. When they are fully cool in the morning I will tell you if the crumbling is better. I will also upload a better photo!

1/20/10 - The scones are still crumbly. But as I anticipated, a completely cool scone comes out of the pan nicely (as long as they were greased). Next time, which will be soon since G only has 2 scones left, I will add some xantham gum and adjust oven times/temperatures. Unbelieveably (haha!), last night G ate the scone that I had prepped for this mornings photo shoot! So these photos are not as pretty as I wanted them, but as my mom always says "It doesn't matter what it looks like, it's all going to the same place anyway" - which is funny, but I must admit I do not entirely agree. Making a pretty presentation is fun! Look at the texture those scones!

1/28/10 - I made these scones again. I added a pinch of xantham gum, decreased the sugar by 1/2 cup and decreased the oven temperature to 400 degrees. They cooked for 20 minutes. End result: they did not crumble as much, they were less cinnamony, they were more dense and not as airy, and were less sugary. The no crumble factor is no doubt because of the xantham gum, yipee! That part is fixed. I think I decreased the sugar too much, I will probably do 3/4 cup sugar next time or add some stevia or honey; stevia for sweetness, honey for moisture. I do not know why they tasted less cinnamony - maybe I will up the cinnamon factor even more and do a whole tablespoon! I will also increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees, the puff factor of the scones was less than last time (the scones were more dense) so upping the oven temperature will help the scones rise more quickly. Stay tuned for this summer when I will have some time to finalize this scone recipe.