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Category Archives: Dessert

Fun With Coconut Flour

31 Jul

I love anything made with coconut, but coconut flour can be a little scary to use at first.  My first few recipes made with coconut flour had me questioning if I even read them right and I found myself thinking, “you want me to use a dozen eggs for this little bit of flour?” In the end though, everything worked out and delicious baked goods ended up being consumed en masse.  Because of this new affinity for coconut flour, I have been working on a master recipe that I have used as a biscuit for everything from breakfast sandwiches, burgers, and sloppy joes to cobbler and shortcake with jut a few small tweaks.

Blueberry Cobbler with coconut flour biscuit topping

Blueberry cobbler with coconut flour topping

Basic Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 t baking powder
  • a generous pinch of salt
  • a 400 degree oven
  • a parchment lined cookie sheet

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If you are looking to make a more savory biscuit for sammiches, burgers, or whatever then add in 1 small pureed onion (or 1/2 of a large) and maybe even a generous pinch of garlic.  Garlic makes everything better! If I am using them for sammies I like to spread them out a bit thinner with the back of a spoon to give myself a nice surface area for stuffing with meat, but if I am just doing drop biscuits as a side dish then they just get plopped on the parchment and left as is.  Bake these for about 17-23 minutes or until they are nice and browned around the edges and  they hold together nicely.  Be sure cool them on a wire rack so they don’t get soggy.

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Burger with spinach, sautéed onions, and Bubbies pickles. P.A.F

For the dessert version, you leave out the onion and add in a teaspoon of vanilla extract.  This is the exact same recipe I used in my strawberry shortcake recipe a few weeks back.

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All that coconut flour paleo goodness from just one recipe.

 
2 Comments

Posted by on July 31, 2013 in Dessert, Random

 

I Stole This Recipe…Sort of

21 Jun

The Prudent Wife has a recipe for a sugar-free Vanilla Coconut Flour Cookies that really piqued my interest.  I have been craving baked goods of all sorts lately(and have been eating them more than I probably should).

Blueberry pancakes anyone?

Blueberry pancakes anyone?

This cookie recipe seemed too good to be true; easy, delicious, and I already have the ingredients lying around.  Sign me up!  You start off blending 6 eggs, 1 cup coconut milk, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 TB vanilla extract, and some vanilla stevia to taste in a blender.  Then add in 1/4 tea salt and 3/4 cup coconut flour.  This is when disaster struck!  You know how carpenters always say “measure twice, cut once,” well I think there needs to be some kitchen cliché that reminds people to make sure they have enough of everything before making a vanilla-egg-coconut soup.  I ended up with 1/2 cup coconut flour left in my bag, so I used that and frantically searched my kitchen for a replacement.  After debating for a moment, I chose to start dumping in grated dried coconut.  I added about 1 1/8 cups and a tablespoon of coconut butter(because everything is better with coconut butter).  I also added in some almond extract and voilà, vanilla almond coconut cookies were born!  Which is good, because I would have been really pissed if I had to dump out a whole batch of batter because I was too stupid to make sure I had enough of everything first.

I cant believe this worked!

I cant believe this worked!

Don’t forget to check out all of these fabulous Beyond Bacon reviews and giveaways over at the Paleo Parents site while you are sitting in front of the computer in your underpants doing nothing.

 
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Posted by on June 21, 2013 in Dessert

 

Summer Dessert Series: Strawberry Shortcake

01 May

This recipe brings me right back to my childhood.  My mom used to make strawberry shortcake as soon as the weather got nice every year.  This is, hands down, my favorite paleo dessert right now so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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For the biscuits:

  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Thats it.  Easy enough to throw together on a weeknight! Preheat your oven to 400F and mix everything together.  Now a lot of people tell you to combine the dry ingredients and whisk the wet, then sift one into the other, blah blah, blah.  I don’t do that, just throw it all together and combine well and you should be fine.  All those extra steps just mean more dishes to wash.

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Drop them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.  When you check them, they should be brown on the bottom and very firm on the top with golden brown edges.  Once the biscuits are done move them to a wire rack to cool.  Don’t skip this step or else they could get pretty soggy, if you have worked with coconut flour before you know how well it soaks up liquids.  If you are not going to use all four of these right away store them on a wire rack on your counter or in the microwave, do not cover them up.

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Topping:

  • 2lb Sliced strawberries
  • Stevia or honey (just a small amount to taste)
  • Heavy Cream

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Put the berries and sweetener in a bowl and let them marinate in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.  When you’re ready to serve whip up some heavy cream and divide the toppings evenly and enjoy.

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1 Comment

Posted by on May 1, 2013 in Dessert, Favorites

 

Bacon Egg Nog

17 Dec

This week is porkapcolypse! We got our beautiful berkshire hog and are eating so much pork that I feel obliged to share several new pork recipes with you.  To kick of porkapalooza, I thought I would start with everyone’s 3 favorite things, bacon, booze, and dessert.

D has never looked sexier than he does holding a gigantic slab of pork belly.

D has never looked sexier than he does holding a gigantic slab of pork belly.

This is what happiness looks like

This is what happiness looks like

For the fabulous bacon egg nog protein shake you will need:

  • 6 slices of bacon
  • One can of coconut milk
  • 5 pastured egg yolks
  • A tablespoon of maple syrup (optional)
  • A scoop of vanilla protein powder (also optional, but it gives the drink very good texture)
  • A sprinkle of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  That’s right, a sprinkle, no need to dirty up any spoons

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Start by cooking up your bacon and set it aside to cool, while you separate your eggs.  Add your ingredients to a blender and let them mix for a minute before slowly pouring in some of your hot bacon grease.  Let the mixture emulsify while you clean up and you are done.  I served this in small whiskey glasses(add actual whiskey for happy-pork-fun-time) garnished with a sprig of bacon.  It was about 4 small servings, and yes I cooked extra bacon on purpose for snacking.

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Before battering your senses with an onslaught of epic life changing new pork recipes, lets take a look back at Primal Smoke’s porky past:
Home Smoked Bacon
Pork Tenderloin
Smoked Pork Butt
Spare Ribs
Baby Back Ribs
Jeez you think we would be sick of ribs by now

 
3 Comments

Posted by on December 17, 2012 in Bacon, Dessert

 

Smoketacular Brownies

06 Sep
Smoketacular Brownies

So, do you ever have an idea that seems totally freaking crazy and it actually works out perfectly? That is what these brownies are for me. The only thing that popped into my head after the first bite was, “holy crap I can’t believe that worked”

These are aztec brownies, which means they have a little kick to them which I thought was appropriate considering the cooking method.  If you dont like spicy food, or are just a boring old traditionalist then feel free to leave them out, but I promise you it isnt overpowering.

You will need:

  • 1/4 cup grass-fed butter (or coconut oil if butter is not an option)
  • 2 medium sweet potatos
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup honey (you can add more to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon saigon cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons coconut flour
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (less if you dont like want a strong dark chocolate flavor)
  • 4 ounces of baking chocolate- no i dont have a scale, I just used the whole bar…ya know…figure it out
  • 3/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips
  • dash of salt

triple chocolate = triple delicious…also there is a pen, don’t put that in the brownies

Ok, time to start your grill.  I used 3/4 of a chimney of pure hardwood charcoal and made a fire in half of the Weber 22 inch grill.  Slice your sweet potatoes in half and brush them with olive oil, then throw ’em on the grill, I cooked mine off to the side of the direct flame so they wouldn’t totally burn.  Just cook them until they “give” on the sides, even if you are an amateur cook you can squeeze a tater and tell if it is done.

Feel free to start making your batter while your taters are cooking, takes about 20-25 minutes.  Melt the chocolate bar and the butter together, then whisk them with the other wet ingredients.  I strongly recommend having an electric mixer here unless you want a really good upper body workout.  After you incorporate all of your dry ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, and mix some more, you can get started on your sweet potatoes.  If you’re smart, and I am not, you will wait until they have cooled completely to try to scrape the flesh away from the skin, but I was in a hurry.

I put my sweet potato flesh and my batter mixture into a Ninja, but you can use a blender or food processor.  This gets all the chunks out…super duper important!  Next I set up the pan…I am not sure if this is paranoid or genius but I put a 7×11 Pyrex baking dish into a foil pan so that they brownies wouldn’t burn on the bottom from being directly on the heat, and so my pan wouldn’t get ruined.  I know…I thought of everything!

my setup

I put some foil in the bottom too, so there is actually a space between the Pyrex and the foil.  Also the handles rest nicely on the edges.  How freaking awesome is that?

Don’t forget to lick these clean!

Next step is so easy a caveman could do it, I greased my pan with some coconut oil, poured the batter in and mixed in most of my chocolate chips.  I reserved a few for sprinkling over the top just because it looks pretty.

oh look my shadow!

Before you throw these babies onto the grill, check your coals.  You might need to add more to heat it up.  You should be able to hold your hand over them for at least ten seconds, but they should still be hot.  If yours arent add in another 1/3 of a chimney full and check the temp again.  If you’re one of those a-holes that uses a gas grill then you could set it to 350 and bake for 25ish minutes.  This is of course where the art of grilling comes in because they will have different cook times at different temps, you have to do the high-tech “butter knife shoved in the middle” test to see if they are done.  Mine took about 35 minutes, if yours are cooking too fast on the outsides but raw in the middle you can move them off of the direct heat to finish.

I suppose you could bypass this and just bake them in the oven, but if you wanted to do that you could have just found a regular recipe on a site that isn’t about grilling.

oh yeah baby!

On a side note…I think i have a sweating problem…I dress in very comfortable clothes because it is hot as hell here in Virginia and I see people with long sleeves, jeans, and knee-high boots on.  How in the hell aren’t these women sweaty in all those clothes.? I am wearing freaking moisture wicking fabric and I still feel nasty!  Jeez

Addendum: store these brownies uncovered in a microwave or oven.  If you cover them tightly they get soggy. You can of course solve this problem by eating them all in one sitting.

 
5 Comments

Posted by on September 6, 2012 in Barbeque, Dessert, Favorites, Random

 

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Smoked Applesauce with a Basic Bison Burger

06 Sep

Now I know what you are thinking…”wow a freaking burger on a BBQ site, how original!” Well shut up, the burger isn’t the star here, it is the applesauce and I bet I know something about burgers that you don’t.

I know that is a big plate, but I don’t like my food touching

For the applesauce you need:

  • 4 apples, mine were green, you can use red though.  It really doesn’t matter
  • 2TB cinnamon
  • 2TB coconut oil
  • 1TB maple syrup
  • 1TB ground ginger
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup dried unsweetened coconut
  • pinch of salt

Before you get ahead of yourself and start cooking you need to soak your wood in water for at least 30 minutes.  I used small chunks of sugar maple to correspond with the flavor in the applesauce.  You can also go ahead and prepare a two zone fire in your grill.  We used a 22 inch Webber grill and put one who chimney of hardwood charcoal in one side, and a disposable foil pan with water in the other.  This gives you a high heat side and a low heat smoke side.

You can start by chopping up the apples and tossing them with the other ingredients in a disposable foil pan.  You can use a grill friendly cast iron pan if you wish, we use disposable foil pans most because cooking over fire will ruin your nice expensive Le Cruset stuff and then you will be really cranky.

Once your apples are ready and your grill is hot, put the wood into your little water pan and throw the apples on the “smoke side” of your grill.  Ok don’t really throw them, be gentle.  While your apples are smoking for about 25 minutes you can go inside and prepare your burgers.

We used once pound of bison with salt and pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of garlic and onion powder on each one.  I really don’t care what you use, if you don’t have any bison lying around use beef, or pork, or your neighbors cat (hey I won’t judge).

Do you know how grilled burgers come out all fat in the middle and skinny on the edges, like a big UFO made of meat?  Well I have the cure.

I know they’re not perfectly round, I was cooking for myself, when you come over for dinner I will make them perfect.

Make your burgers with indented centers, this way when they shrink up on the edges during cooking you end up with a nice flat burger that holds all your toppings nicely.  Put your burgers on the hot side of the grill and prep your toppings.

I had some dubliner lying around, you can omit of course

Cook your burgers for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through, and don’t forget to give your apples a quick stir every once in a while.  I added an extra 2TB of water to mine because they looked like they were drying out.  You have to watch because you don’t want them to get dry, but you don’t really want a ton of liquid in there either.  I left the extra two TB out in the beginning because everyone has water…and if you don’t what they hell are you doing on the internet?  You should be paying your water bill instead of your Verizon!  Priorities people!

mmmm

After 10 min put your cheese on (if you are using cheese, if not just ignore this part) then put the lid back on for another minute or two while it melts.  As you pull your burgers off move your apples to the hot side of the grill for 8-10 minutes.  Put your burgers in the house while you finish the apples, seriously, I don’t want flies all over them walk the extra 10 feet.  Stir the apples a couple of times and check every few minutes to make sure they don’t burn.  You will know when they’re done because they will be soft and melty like warm apple pie filling.

Your burger should provide a nice flat surface for piling high with toppings and the applesauce will have this amazing smoke infused flavor unlike anything you have ever experienced.

The smoke is really what makes this stand out from your average grilled food, if you have never experimented with the flavors of wood smoke I recommend this as a great place to start.  Seriously I can’t tell you how good it is, just try it!  Like, now.

 
3 Comments

Posted by on September 6, 2012 in Barbeque, Beef, Dessert

 

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