Sugar Free Strawberry Jam

I love strawberries! I love going to the strawberry farm with my daughter, Kristina, and spending the afternoon picking berries. Then to come home and have a dessert of just berries...yummm!  But, then what to do with the rest of  them??

I have been making strawberry jam for years but I was a little worried how sugar free jam would turn out. I scoured the internet looking for recipes. Most I found used fruit juice, grape juice, splenda, plain gelatin or strawberry jello...or any combination of the above.  I could not find any recipes that used the natural sweeteners I have become so fond of. Even the recipe in the "no sugar needed" pectin box used splenda.

So what did I do? Experimented of course! And I am pretty pleased with the results. I hope you give it a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients
1 box pectin (I used sure-jell no sugar needed, in the pink box)
3 cups crushed strawberries
1/2 cup water
1 tsp fresh orange zest
1/2 cup xyletol

Pour berries, zest, water and pectin into a large saucepan; stirring to dissolve the pectin. Place pan on med-high heat. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.

Let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add xyletol, stirring to combine.

Pour into jars and process as you normally would. Alternatively, you can place in freezer containers and store in the freezer.

NOTE: This jam does have a softer texture than regular jam, so I did put it into freezer containers for my use.

coconut flour

I recently read an article about coconut flour. It said that coconut flour absorbs moisture...it was one of those head slap, duh moments..lol.  In my baking experiments I did notice that batters were thicker when using more coconut flour, but I like the flavor and the way recipes turn out when using it. The article said to adjust the recipe by adding more liquid or eggs. Just thought I would share, in case you want to start experimenting on your own.

Raspberry Muffins

Last weekend I made blackberry muffins (see recipe below). This weekend I found raspberries on sale so decided to try the same recipe with those. The batter was too thick for the delicate raspberries, so I made just a couple little changes. I decreased the white rice flour to 1 cup and added an extra egg. The muffins taste great, but don't come off the paper well.  I think next time I will use the original recipe I came up with, but freeze the raspberries before hand so they don't fall apart when I fold them in. I'll let you know how it works.

Blackberry Muffins

I think these are my best muffins so far. Not nearly as heavy as previous muffins. I used blackberries, but I am sure you could use blueberries just as easily. Please let me know if you make these and how you like them!

ingredients

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup zyletol
3/4 cup stevia
3 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp xanthum gum
2 cups sour cream
2 cups blackberries

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl cream together butter, xyletol and stevia. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon juice and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Gently fold in berries. Fill paper lined muffin cups nearly full. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans to finish cooling.

White Bean Hummus

ok...so technically if it's not made out of chickpeas, its not hummus....but I am not a huge fan of chickpeas. I think its mostly due to the texture of some commercial hummus' I have had...it can be a bit grainy. So when I decided to make my own hummus, I made it with Great Northern Beans...mostly because this is what I had in the pantry! Keep in mind this is one of those recipes that can very easily be changed or adjusted to individual tastes.

Ingredients
1 can beans. I used great northern beans, but feel free to use garbanzo beans if your a traditionalist.
1/2 tablespoon seseme seed oil
1 teaspoon chili paste with garlic (found in the oriental food section of your favorite supermarket)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (yes, I like garlic)
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.

a couple notes:
1) chili paste is HOT. If you like spice, alright...if not, leave it out or adjust the amount.
2) White beans are generaly a softer bean...if you decide to use a different firmer vareity you may need to adjust the amount of oil.
3) I forgot to add the cumin the first time I made this...while good, it was missing "something" lol
4) This tasted better the next day after the flavors had a chance to get know each other.

Let me know if you make this, and what changes you made. Your ideas may be better than mine!
Enjoy!!

Chocolate Amaretto Muffins

I started out with the thought that I was going to make another batch of Coconut Pecan Muffins, to tweak that recipe just a touch to see if I can get them to be less crumbly before posting that recipe. However, once I got to the the kitchen, I switched gears and decided to create a new recipe. The Chocolate Amaretto Muffins turned out pretty good for a first run. I think they still need a little tweaking, but the recipe will stand on its own as well.


Ingredients

3/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup wheat free all purpose flour substitute (I used Red Mill brand)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup xyletol
1/4 cup stevia
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 cup almond milk

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix xyletol, stevia and oil. Add eggs one at a time and mix until well blended.Add extracts.
In a seperate bowl mix together flours, coco, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum.
Add flour mixture to batter, alternately with almond milk.
Using a cookie scoop, fill mini muffin tins. Batter is thick.
Bake for 13 minutes.
Makes 3 dozen mini muffins.

I tried using a different wheat free flour and have decided that I don't really like the flavor, so next time I will use all coconut flour instead of a blend. Also, I think the recipe would be good with a little texture, so perhaps some almonds or almond meal. I will post the the new recipe when I try it out. In  the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one.

New and Improved No Bake Cookies

I have shared these cookies with a few people and they keep asking me if I have blogged the recipe yet, so I am taking a break from homework tonight to get this posted. This is very reminiscent of the no bake cookies my mom use to make for me and I use to make for my kids. i have swapped out the sugar and sugar laden ingredients. I also made them without oatmeal, which is in the original version and instead used pecan meal. Next time i make them I want to try almond meal. I think with almond, chocolate and coconut they would be like almond joys! I hope you enjoy them and as always if you have any thoughts please share them!

1 stick butter
1 cup natural peanut butter (no sugar added)
8 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup Stevia
1 cup Xylitol
1 T vanilla
1 1/4 unsweetened shredded coconut
2 cups pecan meal

melt together butter, peanut butter, and chocolate. Add Stevia, Xylitol and vanilla, blending until smooth. Add coconut and pecan meal, mixing well. More pecan meal can be added to get desired consistency. Drop by spoonfuls onto lined baking sheet ( I use a 1 oz cookie scoop). Place in fridge until set. After this set I bag them a few at a time in snack bags and throw them in the freezer. This made about 6 dozen cookies.

I will add photos of these soon!!  In the mean time there is a photo on my facebook!

Enjoy! Sandie

Sugar Free, Wheat Free!

I am on the search for sugar free, wheat free  recipes. They are as easy to find as one would think. And when you do find some, they seem rather complicated. So begins my journey into creating my own recipes.
This recipe started out completely different and went through a couple transformations before I got it just the way I wanted. There is always room for improvement so if you come up with something better drop me a line! Also keep in mind i have no formal training in creating and writing recipes....just my own trial and error.
Enjoy!

Sandie's Chocolate Fudge Cookies

1 1/2 Cups Xyletol
1/2 Cup Stevia
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa
2 1/2 Cups Walnuts or Pecans
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Coconut Flour
1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. 
Stir together xyletol, stevia and cocoa. Mix in eggs, one at a time until blended. fold in sour cream. Add nuts and coconut flour just until blended.

I use a large scoop to form my cookies. If you use a smaller (read "normal" here..lol) size scoop you may need to adjust cooking time. Place cookies on baking sheet and mush down slightly. Bake for 16 minutes.

Let cool on baking sheet before removing.
This yielded 15 large cookies.

This produced a soft, fudgy, chewey cookie =0)

YUMMM