Tag Archives: maple syrup

Homemade Nutella Filled Cookies

19 Mar

Homemade-Nutella-Filled-Cookies

Back in the day, you could find me in front of the cupboard with a knife eating nutella. When I finally took a look at the list of ingredients, it was enough to turn me off of it forever. Then one day it dawned on me… I could totally make this with regular food! So, off I went trying out a number of combinations before I finally got it. So satisfying!

The cookies are so delicious. They are light and buttery, which is amazing since there is no butter in them. They’re crumbly and taste amazing with the nutella. These cookies came much easier after all the experimenting I did with my girl scout cookies. I tried adding almond milk but that made the batter too wet. I tried it again without the almond milk and that seemed to do the trick. I also tried these using spelt flour and while they were really good, the flavor overpowered the hazelnut.

Homemade-Nutella

For the Nutella:
Ingredients:
1 cup dry roasted hazelnuts
2 tbsp coco powder
1 tbsp confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp stevia (optional)
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

Directions:

  1. In a food processor fitted with an S blade, process the hazelnuts, coco powder, confectioners sugar, stevia (if using) and vanilla.
  2. Through the feed tube, slowly drizzle in the coconut oil and continue processing until smooth.

For the Cookies:
Ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325o
  2. Combine the almond flour and baking powder in a bowl.
  3. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla until creamy.
  4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour and turn the speed up to medium.
  5. Form balls with the dough and flatten out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Rotating the baking sheet 180o half way through.
  7. Allow the cookies to cool on a baking rack.
  8. Once the cookies are cool, spread the nutella on one cookie and top with another.

As always, enjoy!

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Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

5 Mar

Pancakes-Cooked

Who doesn’t love pancakes, especially for dinner! The other night I decided to change things up and make “brinner” as Michael likes to call it. He also said that these were the best pancakes he has ever had. Another bonus is that they re-heat really well. Just throw them back on the griddle or into a skillet and you’re good to go!

Just a note, I used King Arthur flour which is higher in protein than other whole wheat flours. As a result, the flour soaks up a lot of moisture so I need to use more almond milk. If you use all-purpose flour or another type of flour, you may need to decrease the amount of milk.

Pancake-Batter

Pancakes-Cooking

Ingredients:
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
21/2 cups milk of choice (I used homemade almond milk)
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1/2 cup blueberries

Directions:
Makes approximately 12 pancakes

  1. Combine the flour and the baking powder in a large bowl
  2. In a small bowl, mix the ground flax and water together to make a paste (vegan bakers use this mixture as an egg substitute). Add the maple syrup, vanilla and coconut oil to the flax and mix together
  3. Add the flax mixture and milk to the flour and stir until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, you don’t want the batter to get thick
  4. Stir in blueberries to the batter
  5. Heat oil on a griddle or skillet over medium heat
  6. Add about a 1/4 cup of batter to the pan or griddle. The edges of the batter will begin to bubble when the pancake is ready to be flipped over

As always, enjoy!

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Homemade Vanilla Almond Milk

4 Mar

Almond-Complete

I was always curious about the hype surrounding almond milk, but was hesitant to try the store-bought milks because they contain fillers and other junk that I prefer to avoid. As is usually the case, I was left with no choice but to try to make my own. After tasting the outcome, I can see why everyone is up in arms about almond milk. It’s rich, sweet, nutty and just all around delicious. Not to mention really fun to make!

I researched how to make your own nut milk and I found that the nut to milk ratio was pretty much always the same. I did try different combinations of sweeteners and I found that stevia was much too strong and you can’t really achieve a smooth texture with sucanat. Maple syrup alone wasn’t sweet enough, so I added dates.

A few other things I learned are that you should use vanilla extract that doesn’t contain alcohol. If your extract contains alcohol it will give your milk a distinct alcohol aftertaste that isn’t very pleasant. This is because you’re not cooking out the alcohol. I was able to find vanilla extract without alcohol at Trader Joe’s. Another thing I found helpful was to heat the dates in the microwave for 10 seconds which made them nice and soft.

You will need to stir the milk before use.

Ingredients:
1 cup almonds, soaked for a minimum of 6 hours
4 cups filtered water
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 dates, softened

Directions:

  1. Drain soaked almonds and discard soaking water
  2. Combine almonds and water in a blender and blend until well combined
  3. Strain the almond water mixture in a cheese cloth or nut bag. Squeeze all the liquid out of the cloth or bag so you will be left with a clay like ball of almonds
  4. Return the strained liquid back to the blender and add in the dates, vanilla and maple syrup. Blend until the dates are well combined into the liquid.

Almond-Straining

Almond-Squeezing

As always, enjoy!

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