Homemade granola bars.

Granola bars always work great as a quick breakfast, snack or even a little treat. They are even better when made at home with a few ingredients, without any chemicals.

To be honest, it took me almost 2 years to try making my own granola bars at home. Of course, it’s easier just grab some on the shelf at the grocery store and not spending time in the kitchen cooking them. But it took me about 10 minutes to make them and they turned out 100% better than the store bought ones.

I am sharing my recipe with you today. Feel free to add your favorite seeds, nuts and dried fruit. I personally used pecans and dried cherries.

 

Homemade granola bars.

Ingredients:

1,5 cups rolled oats

1cup rice crisp cereal ( I used brown rice crisp cereal from Whole Foods)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2tbps. chia seeds

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/2 cup almond or any other nut butter

1/4 cup coconut nectar syrup or brown rice syrup

1tsp. vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

1.5 tbsp. chocolate chips

dried cherries

 

Line the pan with parchment paper.

Ina large bowl, stir together the oats, rice crisp cereal, pecans, coconut, chia seeds, dried cherries.

In a medium pot over low heat, melt the coconut oil. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond butter, coconut nectar and vanilla until smooth.

Pour the wet mixture over dry and stir well until thorougly combined. Add a pinch of salt and stir again.

Transfer the mixture tot he prepared pan, spreading it out into an even layer.Lightly wet your hands and press doen on the mixture to even it out. Use a pastry roller to compact the mixture firmly and evenly. This helps the bars hold together better.

Place the pan in the freezer, uncovered for 10-15 minutes.

Lift the oat square out of the pan and place it on a cutting board. Slice the square into bars.

Store them in the fridge or freezer.

P.S. These bars don’t hold together perfectly, so don’t let them sit at the room temperature.

 

Crispy Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Easy and delicious cookies recipe I am sharing today is vegan, gluten, dairy, refined sugars free.

It does has nuts in it, but to make it nut free, you can use sunflower seeds butter instead of the nut butter and replace almond meal with extra oat flour.

These are my favorite ones because they are crispy and chewy at the same time.

Crispy Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp glound flaxseed

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup nut butter( I used Nuttzo)

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup gluten-free oat flour( rolled oats blended into a flour)

1 cup almond meal

1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips

 

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, mix together the flaxseed and water and set aside for 5 min.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the coconut oil and nut butter. Add sugar, flaxseed mixture and vanilla until combined. One by one, beat in the baking soda, baking powder, salt, oat flour, and almond meal. The dough should be lightly sticky. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Shape the dough into balls. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet , leaving 2 to 3 inches of space between them. There is no need to flatten them as the cookies spread out as they bake.

Bake for 12-14 min., until golden brown on the bottom. The cookied will be soft coming out from the oven, but they will harden as they cool. Let them cool and enjoy!!!!!!

Candied pecans. Vegan.

There is an easy recipe I have been making a lot recently and I would like to share it with you today.

When the holiday season and cold weather comes the best thing is to stay at home with your family, drink hot cocoa, eat cookies etc.

I made this crunchy snack a month ago for the first time and now my daughter is asking to make ” yummy nuts” every other day.

Of course I am not making them too often but we always have them now for the family movie nights.

You can even make them and put in the glass jar, as a piece of a holiday present for your friend or a family member.

It takes very little time to make and makes everybody happy.

Vegan, gluten free recipe.

Candied pecans.

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut sugar

2 cups pecans, or any other type of nuts (slivered almonds, walnut halves etc.)

pinch kosher salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Line a cooling rack with a parchment paper and set aside.

Heat coconut sugar with a little water, spices in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Stir occasionally with wooden spoon. After several minutes, the sugar will begin to look sticky. Continue to stir. After several more minutes, the sugar will begin to melt. Continue to stir gently. When sugar is completely melted, add nuts.

Empty contents of skillet into thin layer onto prepared rack. Heat the oven to 250F and put the nuts in the oven for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Let cool and break into pieces. Store in cookie tin or glass jar with tightly fitting lid.

Enjoy.

 

Citrus Coconut Cookies.

I always experiment with cookies recipes because cookies are popular in our house. Who doesn’t like cookies? They are easy to make and last for a long time. It’s simple snack or dessert which I prefer making myself instead of buying at the grocery store.

One of my favorite combination in cookies is citrus and coconut. I love the smell, the taste and the freshness of these two ingredients mixing together.

The recipe I am sharing today is vegan, gluten, refined sugars, dairy, wheat free.

 

Citrus Coconut Cookies.

Ingredients:

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup ground almonds or almond flour
4 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
4 tbsp honey
zest of one lemon or orange
juice of one lemon or orange
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
a pinch of sea salt
pecans for sprinkling

 

Preheat the oven to 320 F, and line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a food processor, add all of the ingredients. Blend for 1-2 minutes, or until the mixture starts to mix together like a dough.

Use your hands to form small balls, and place apart on the baking trays. Press down on the balls lightly to flatten, and then sprinkle with the pecans or any other nuts.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until crispy and golden on the outside.

Leave to cool completely, and then enjoy!

Kids Approved!!!!

 

Chocolate Olive Oil Bundt Cake. Gluten Free.

Coming back to work left me lack of time for trying to cook something new. I still cook, but something that I tried before and know the result of this dish, otherwise we have chances to stay hungry.

Last weekend when it was cold and rainy we stayed home, so I took this time to cook some new dessert.

It was ready pretty quickly and was eaten pretty quickly as well.

The recipe is gluten and dairy free and finally I found the recipe where I can use the brown rice flour and doesn’t taste the brown rice in it, as I usually do.

Chocolate Olive Oil Bundt Cake.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup almond flour
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/3 cup raw cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder) + more for coating pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 free-range eggs
1 cup coconut palm sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup hot water
coconut oil for greasing

 

chocolate ganache

2 ounces dairy and gluten free chocolate chips
1.5 ounces full-fat coconut milk

 

Instruction:

 

Preheat oven to 350° and grease an 8 or 9-inch bundt pan with coconut oil, place a couple teaspoons of cacao powder in the pan. Gently shake the pan to disperse the powder evenly; tip and bump to clear excess powder, set aside
In a large bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients with a whisk; set aside – break up any clumps with your fingers
In another large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until thoroughly combined – about 1 minute. add the vanilla and oil; add the hot water while whisking
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until combined. Carefully pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan.

Transfer to oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Make the ganache.

In a small saucepan, heat the coconut milk until boiling, remove from heat and add the chocolate chips. Let it rest for about 5 minutes and stir to combine
Drizzle chocolate evenly over the top of the cake, then top with your favorite nuts.
Enjoy!!!!

Raw Chocolate Almond Bars.

Raw Chocolate Dessert Again. It tastes as good as it looks.

I use one special ingredient in the recipe this time: Coconut Manna.

It is a whole-food product, meaning it is 100% coconut with very little processing. The difference between this and coconut oil is that coconut oil is put through a cold expresser process to get the oil out. Both are fresh-harvest coconut

It’s that are dried, but the Manna is ground into a very fine powder right after drying.  Then, they add some of their coconut oil.  Manna is lower in calories than coconut oil.  Nutiva Organic Coconut Manna contains 12% fiber and 9% protein, whereas coconut oil contains none.

You need to soften the product and mix thoroughly to truly appreciate the full spectrum of this amazing product.  It must be softened by achieving a temperature above 76 degrees and then mixed thoroughly. If you live in a warm climate, you won’t have to worry about softening.  To soften:

Run tap water to the very hottest setting, then fill a bowl and put the Manna container in the bowl for 10-15 minutes.  You may need to replace the water several times to get the butter real soft. Boil water in a tea kettle and pour into a large bowl, placing the mana jar in the center.  Allow it to soften.If you have a food dehydrator, open the lid of the Manna container and put it in the dehydrator on 105 degrees.   After 15 minutes, stir the Manna, and then put back in for another 15 minutes, then mix well before serving.

You can find it at any health food store, Amazon.com, Whole Foods. By the way, Whole Foods has it on sale most of the times.

Raw Chocolate Almond Bars.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup cacao powder
1 cup dates
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch sea salt

1. Put all ingredients in the blender and mix them together. Make the first layer of the bars, pressing your almond, chocolate dough into the form. Put in refrigerator while making toping. The bottom layer should be set up (but not completely hard) before adding the next layer.

Coconut Layer

2 cups of dried, unsweetened, raw coconut

2/3 cup coconut butter, or Coconut Manna

3 tablespoons raw maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of choice)

1. Place coconut in medium bowl.

2. Whisk coconut butter or manna, and agave. Pour over coconut and mix well.

3. Pat over first layer, top with chopped almonds and chocolate sauce( I mixed 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, with 1 tablespoon of cocoa and 1 teaspoon of maple syrup)

4. Refrigerate to set.

Enjoy!!!!

Pecan Citrus Cookies.

The other cookies recipe is completely dairy, gluten, wheat, grain free. Vegan, healthy and will work for any tea party or a little sweet bite.

I made those cookies when my mom was visiting us and she really liked them. ( I was trying to teach her how to cook healthy dishes).

Pecan Citrus Cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup ground almonds
4 tbsp organic nut butter (you can use any type of nut butter)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
4 tbsp honey
zest of 2 lemons
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp baking soda
about 1/2 cup pecans for decorating (optional)
a pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 360°F, and grease a baking tray with coconut oil or line with baking paper.

In a food processor add the ground almonds, nut butter, honey, shredded coconut, lemon rind, lemon juice, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Process until a dough like texture is achieved. You can add more almond flour if the dough is a little wet.

Using your hands form small balls and place them on to the baking paper, a couple of centimeters apart as they expand a little.

Press down on each ball to flatten in half. Place a single pecan on top of each cookie.

Place in to the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or until nice and golden on the outside.