Meltaway shortbread cookies

These shortbread-like biscuits have almost become a pantry staple in our house, where, thanks to the 3 year old, they have become known as "circle bikkies", despite being only roughly round. They are more circle-shaped than "egg bikkies" (oval-shaped milk arrowroot biscuits) and Tiny Teddies, hence the name. ;-)

This recipe was adapted from the Meltaway Cookie recipe on Landee See, Landee Do, where the blogger ices them with enticing-looking cream cheese icing, but I have never felt the need to make these any sweeter. If you wanted to make the icing you could simply substitute dextrose for the powdered sugar at a 1:1 ratio. 


Meltaway shortbread cookies (AKA "circle bikkies")

Makes about 40 cookies, fitting on 3 large trays. 

• 250g butter (salted, or add a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter)
• 3/4 cup cornflour (cornstarch)
• 3/4 cup dextrose
• 1 cup plain (all purpose) flour

In a medium bowl, cream the butter until fluffy. Add cornflour and dextrose and blend well. Beat in flour until thoroughly mixed. Drop by small teaspoons onto baking sheet and flatten out with the bottom of a glass, dipping the glass in dextrose each time to prevent sticking. Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes or until just starting to brown. Allow to cool before storing in airtight container. 

Orange chocolate truffles

Has anyone noticed this blog has quite a chocolate theme?! Cutting out fructose has left me seeking my chocolate fix in ways not involving the consumption of chocolate blocks... but it hasn't stopped me wanting it. I've heard that women crave chocolate because they need magnesium, so I guess a simple fix could be to take magnesium supplements... but that doesn't sound quite as appetising as chocolate! 

I have had numerous attempts to make a satisfactory chocolate, but nothing has quite cut it... until these truffles. I've tried chocolate variations using unsweetened baker's chocolate (AKA cacao liquor), raw cacao powder, and normal baking cocoa powder; I've mixed them with cacao butter and coconut oil (bleurgh); I've sweetened them with rice malt syrup, dextrose-based syrup and stevia; I've added vanilla and/or coffee to try to compensate for the lack of flavour. I've found that using unsweetened chocolate (I have some Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate a friend kindly brought back from USA) or raw cacao powder result in an overpowering, bitter chocolate taste (like licking cocoa powder off the spoon), which is difficult to mask. And the chocolate is either waxy or chewy. 

For my first couple of attempts making these truffles I used Nestle baking cocoa powder, then raw cacao powder, and both were very nice, but VERY dark tasting and a little on the bitter side, and I added extra sweetening to compensate. I have now discovered that using the less acidic dutch processed cocoa powder results in a friendlier chocolate. Yes, raw cacao powder may have more magnesium and other minerals to benefit my body, but when it comes to chocolate it's the taste buds I aim to please. ;) (And from what I've read, raw cacao powder doesn't strictly meet the requirements for raw food anyway, if you're concerned about that sort of thing.)

You could try using this chocolate coating recipe to make eating chocolate or choc chips for baking if you like... It is not my ideal chocolate by a long shot, but it is the best fructose-free option I have discovered, and I'm happy enough for it to coat these extremely delicious orange truffles. OR you could coat the truffles in 85% cocoa chocolate, or some store-bought fructose-free chocolate such as Plamil's No Added Sugar Organic Chocolate (which I got from Flannery's). 

Adapted from http://www.againstallgrain.com/2012/04/22/paleo-mandarin-chocolate-truffles/

Makes about 18 truffles

Truffle filling

• 30g (3 tablespoons or 1/4 cup) cacao butter, chopped
• 2 tablespoons (40ml) coconut oil (I used unrefined, cold-pressed extra virgin coconut oil, which has quite a coconut flavour, but is not noticeable in these truffles)
• 1/4 cup (60ml) rice malt syrup
• 2 tablespoons (40ml) coconut butter (make a batch of this first, if you haven't made it in advance)
• 1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder (I used Nestle Plaistowe premium cocoa. You can use normal baking cocoa powder or raw cacao powder, but the truffles will have more of a bitter taste and you may wish to add more sweetening to compensate.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup (3 tablespoons) strained fresh orange or mandarin juice (takes about 1/2 a large orange)
• 1 teaspoon orange or mandarin zest (from 1 large orange)
• 5 drops liquid stevia (optional. Adjust to taste.)
• pinch of sea salt 

Chocolate coating

• 25g (2 ½) tablespoons cacao butter
• 3 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder (I haven't successfully made the coating with dutch processed cocoa yet – it seized and I have run out of the cocoa powder – but assuming it wasn't the type of cocoa powder that caused it to seize, I would recommend dutch processed cocoa for flavour. I have successfully made the coating with raw cacao powder.)
• 1 tablespoon rice malt syrup, warmed till very runny
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 drops liquid stevia

Directions

Make a batch of coconut butter if you don't have any on hand by throwing a whole packet (I use 500g) of dessicated coconut into a food processor and blitzing until it turns runny. It may take around 15 minutes, and you will probably need to scrape the sides of the bowl several times. NOTE: You need to make a large quantity of coconut butter for the food processor to handle it. There are plenty of ways to use it up! Don't worry about cleaning your food processor yet as you are going to put the coconut butter back in shortly with other ingredients.

Place the 30g cacao butter in a double boiler over the boiling water. Stir for 1-2 minutes until it has started to melt, but there are still some solid pieces. Turn off the heat, then whisk in the 2 Tbs coconut oil and 60ml rice malt syrup.

Pour the mixture into a food processor, then add the ½ cup cacao powder, 2 Tbs coconut butter, 1 tsp vanilla, ¼ cup orange juice, 1 tsp zest, 5 drops stevia and small dash of salt. Process for about a minute until your mixture is smooth and thick.

Refrigerate truffle mixture for 45 minutes.

After the truffle mixture has chilled, use a spoon to scoop out balls (about 1/2 or 2/3 of a tablespoon in size) from the bowl. Roll them between your palms to form smooth balls. (Use disposable food handling gloves if you'd rather not get your hands messy! Alternatively, rub some coconut oil onto your hands to stop the chocolate sticking too much.) Place the balls on a tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate at least 15 minutes. Be careful not to roll the balls too much or the heat from your hands can melt the chocolate.

For the chocolate coating, melt the cacao butter over a double boiler until it reaches 50 degrees Celsius (122F). Take care no water or steam (from the double boiler or elsewhere) gets into the bowl at any stage, else the chocolate will seize.

Add the warmed rice malt syrup, vanilla, stevia and cocoa powder. Mix until all combined and the mixture reaches 50 degrees Celsius again.

Remove the chocolate from heat and allow to cool slightly. Take the truffles out of the fridge and dip each truffle in the chocolate (or hold the truffle over the melted chocolate – you can use a toothpick – while spooning the melted chocolate over it). Place truffles on a fresh sheet of baking paper on the refrigerated tray and allow them to cool and harden at room temperature before storing in the fridge.

Yeah, I used to think that making truffles by mixing chopped chocolate with cream was fiddly. Well, these are totally worth the fiddling in my opinion! Yum! 

Excuse the daggy photo - I may take a better one someday, but in the meantime, check out the pretty pictures from the original Mandarin Chocolate Truffle recipe. :)

Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes

I have probably made these cupcakes (or variations of them) more than any other recipe in my entire life.  This has been adapted from a few different recipes, and I have made many different variations just using the same basics of coconut flour and eggs.  It's hard to go wrong with these two key ingredients!  Just note with coconut flour that a little goes a long way - you definitely don't need the same sort of quantities that you would use with wheat flour. 

This version is gluten free as well as fructose free, and if using coconut oil (and no cream cheese icing) it is also dairy free - all of which come in useful in our extended family with all sorts of food intolerances.

These cupcakes are beautifully moist and dense. They have received compliments from so many people who had no idea that they were fructose or gluten free.  And as with most coconut flour recipes, they actually get better after a couple of days in the fridge - they keep really well for at least 5 days or so, and they freeze great too.

(with blueberry cream cheese icing)

Coconut vanilla cupcakes

(makes 12)

6 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Beat eggs and add coconut oil, syrup and vanilla. Beat to combine.

Add dry ingredients. Blend with a hand mixer until smooth.

Pour into well greased muffin tins or into cupcake papers.

Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes.


These go with lots of different icings and fillings, but my favourite is cream cheese icing.


Cream Cheese Icing

250g cream cheese
100g butter (optional)
Dextrose or rice syrup to taste (around 1/2 to 1 cup)
Vanilla extract

Soften cream cheese and butter and mix until smooth. Add dextrose and vanilla and mix to combine.



Some variations I have tried to this recipe:

Lemon and coconut - add lemon rind, lemon juice and dessicated/shredded coconut

Raspberry and white chocolate - add fresh or frozen raspberries and white chocolate drops (make your own out of cocoa butter and sweetener for a fructose free version), and use melted cocoa butter instead of butter in the icing for an extra chocolate-y taste

Strawberry and dark chocolate - add a whole strawberry (I used tinned ones in the middle of winter) and a piece of 70% or 85% Lindt chocolate to the centre before baking - particularly nice to eat straight from the oven without any icing, and a great easy dessert to whip up at the last minute :-)

Mango and cream cheese - add a slice of mango and chunk of cream cheese to the centre instead of icing

And pretty much anything else you can think of! Coconut flour is great to work with because it is quite hard to mess it up! I rarely measure my ingredients, and several times I have completely messed up quantities by doubling the recipe but forgetting to double everything, or deciding to make 18 muffins instead of 12 but accidentally doubling some ingredients instead, and they have always turned out ok!

Enjoy! :-)

Flourless almond brownie slice

This is from the recipe for Grain-Free Brownie Bites at http://detoxinista.com/2012/03/grain-free-brownie-bites. The only changes I have made are substituting the honey in the original recipe for rice malt syrup to make it low-fructose, and baking it in a rectangular pan instead of mini-muffin cups. Also, the original recipe suggests flax "eggs". I have made this several times using hens' eggs, but last time I used chia gel "eggs", and it tasted great. However, it went really soft and stuck to the serving platter after I had it out of the fridge for a while. I will have to test it again to see whether it is the chia gel that caused this. It is rather fantastic straight out of the freezer though, and holds its shape that way!

To make chia or flax "egg" as a substitute for one lightly beaten egg, soak 1 Tbs chia or freshly ground flax seeds in 1/4 cup (60ml, or 3 tablespoons) of water for 15 minutes. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. You can ground the chia seeds first if you prefer, as they are (just) visible and do give a very slight crunch, but I quite like them (and couldn't be bothered to grind them!). They look much like fig seeds in this brownie. Chia seeds are quite the super-food (packed with protein, omega-3, fibre and antioxidants), and can be used in lots of different ways, if you want to google them!

Flourless almond brownie slice

• 1 cup blanched almond flour (almond meal)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Van Houten brand)
• 1/2 cup rice malt syrup (original recipe used honey)
• 125g (1/2 cup) melted butter (or coconut oil, but so far I have only tried butter)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten (or 3 flax eggs or 3 chia eggs)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid stevia (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F), and grease and line a 15 x 20cm lamington tin.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except walnuts and mix until a gooey, thick batter forms.
3. Spoon the batter into the pan and place walnuts on top, if using. (Note: Walnuts make this brownie difficult to cut through!)
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes. (I had to bake in my slow oven for 25min at 200C.)
5. Allow to cool in pan before slicing.

These brownies should last a few days stored at room temperature, or you can store them in the freezer for a longer shelf-life. (They're yummy when eaten straight from the freezer, too!)

Vanilla ice cream with homemade condensed milk

Have you ever made that ice-cream sandwich slice where you mix together condensed milk, whipped cream and a crushed chocolate bar, and sandwich it between two layers of malt biscuits? I love it every time, despite the fatty layer it leaves on the roof of your mouth. :D This is that recipe, with a homemade fructose-free condensed milk... minus the chocolate bar and biscuits, but still with the roof-of-the-mouth coating. If you give this a try, hopefully you'll agree with me that it proves it's not just the chocolate and biscuits that make it so good. 

Make condensed milk:

• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 1/3 cups dry milk powder (unsweetened. Maybe double-check that yours is gluten-free if you need that. My Coles brand milk powder lists only milk and soy emulsifier in the ingredients.)
• 2/3 cup dextrose (NOTE: I have updated this from 3/4 cup to 2/3 cup as it was very sweet.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Stir milk into cold water.

Microwave on high 45 seconds to 1 minute until steaming, then stir in dextrose & vanilla.

Refrigerate till cool before using.

You can use this condensed milk for other recipes, but I haven't tried it yet myself. It does seem much thinner than the canned stuff. 

After chilling, add

600ml thickened cream

Whip cream and condensed milk together until thick, then transfer to sealed container (at least 1.5L) and freeze. 

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from http://www.glorioustreats.com/2010/04/recipe-perfectly-chocolate-cupcakes.html, which is from a Hershey's recipe.

Makes approximately 24 standard sized cupcakes

2 1/4 cups dextrose
1 3/4 cups plain (all purpose) flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Nestle baking cocoa)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cooking oil (I use coconut oil or extra light olive oil)
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup boiling water

1. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 180C.
2. In a large mixer bowl, stir together dry ingredients (dextrose, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt).
3. Add milk, oil, rice malt syrup, vanilla and eggs. Beat on medium speed for one minute. 
4. Stir in boiling water. (Don't worry if the batter seems extremely thin – this is right.)
5. Fill liners 2/3 full with batter, leaving approximately a 1cm gap from the top of the liners. The easiest way to do this is to put the batter into a large measuring cup/jug with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.
6. Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-24 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean. 
7. Cool completely on wire rack before icing. My favourites are Whipped Chocolate Cream Icing and Raspberry Cream Cheese Icing - see below.

The cupcakes photographed here actually have chocolate cream cheese icing, which I had several attempts at but never really liked. My first attempt (following the recipe linked to above) was way too sickly-sweet for me. When I reduced the sweetening it was a bit sour-chocolate-yoghurt, which is not usually what I'm after for a chocolate treat. ;-P You could make a chocolate buttercream icing, but I'm not a buttercream fan... probably overdosed as a kid! I find the cupcakes go perfectly piped with these:


Raspberry Cream Cheese Icing

This is enough for more than 12 cupcakes but not enough for all 24 cupcakes if you are extravagant when piping!

250g cream cheese (I use the spreadable version in the tub)
100g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup – 1 cup dextrose (I used 7/8 cup – ie ¾ cup + extra 1/8 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs (60ml or ¼ cup) thawed, mashed frozen raspberries (or fresh raspberries, or try substituting other berries)

Whip together. Add dextrose to taste. Transfer to piping bag and pipe on to cupcakes (or dollop/spread). Keep refrigerated!

Berry cream cheese icing
(blackberries, blueberries & raspberries)

Whipped Chocolate Cream Icing

This is enough icing for about 12 cupcakes – double if icing all 24 cupcakes

200ml thickened cream
2 tsp cocoa (I used Van Houten dutch processed cocoa powder, as it gives a darker colour)
1 ½ tablespoons dextrose
½ tsp vanilla extract

Whip together. Add extra dextrose or cocoa powder to taste. Transfer to piping bag and pipe on to 12 cupcakes (or dollop/spread). Keep refrigerated! This icing will not hold its shape for long out of the fridge.

Nutty toasted muesli (granola)

I love my cereal in the mornings, but there aren't any yummy options out there without fructose that I know of. Well, there are Weetbix and Vita-Brits, which are nice enough with rice malt syrup drizzled on top, but not that exciting when you have them everyday. Here is my recipe for toasted muesli. 

Adapted from http://sugar-is-poison.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/sugar-free-muesli.html
http://sugar-is-poison.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/one-year-sugar-free.html

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry rolled oats (use gluten-free oats if required)
• 2 cups (110g) pure puffed brown rice (or try pure puffed wheat if you don't need it gluten-free - this is just to bulk up the volume and make it a little lighter)
• 1 cup (80g)  flaked or whole almonds
• 1/2 cup (75g) pistachios
• 1 cup (150g) raw cashews
• 1/3 cup (50g) pepitas
• 1/2 cup (35g) shredded coconut
• 2 tbs linseed or flaxseed
• 2/3 cup rice malt syrup
• 2 tbs oil (eg melted coconut oil, light olive oil, macadamia oil)
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/16 tsp salt

Instructions

Mix all dry ingredients (oats, puffed rice, nuts, coconut and seeds) and scatter on a large baking tray lined with baking paper.

Combine oil, cinnamon and rice malt syrup in a cup, and sit the cup in a bowl of hot water to heat the mixture and make it runnier.

Drizzle syrup mixture over oat mixture and mix together evenly.

Cook in pre-heated oven 20-25 minutes, stirring half way through. 

Transfer to sealable container after cooling completely. 

Serve with milk, or with unsweetened natural or Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of rice malt syrup. Add fresh fruit (eg 2 sliced strawberries) when serving if you like. 


Play around with the varieties of nuts and seeds - this is just a balance that I find yummy. 



*Recipe slightly modified 6 May 2013