Gingerbread S'mores Cookies

 

Happy New Year!

I know I've continued to be AWOL for a while, but I have several holiday recipes to post in the next few days. Also, will probably be updating my health saga on a separate page, since of course there's a new development on that front as well.

The good stuff: Gingerbread Marshmallow S'more's Cookies! Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Dairy-free, as always.  These were my favorite Christmas cookies this year- festive and quite delicious!

THE RECIPE:

Dough:

Look at that creaming action! So light! So fluffy!

1/4 c (non-virgin) coconut oil
1/4 ghee
3/4 c coconut sugar             

--> cream fats and sugar until mixture lightens in color and increases in volume (takes 5-10 minutes)

2 eggs
1/4 c brown rice syrup         

--> add wet ingredients, mix thoroughly

1 1/4 c teff flour
1 c millet flour
1/2 c tapioca flour
1/2 c gluten-free oat flour     --> combine flours

2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt                          --> add other dry ingredients to flour mixture

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; mix thoroughly.

Roll out a portion of cough between two sheets of waxed paper, until 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut with your favorite cookie cutters.  Grease cookie sheets with an acceptable oil/fat, or line with parchment paper to prevent cookie-sticking.

The un-broken (aka, un-eaten) batch.

Bake at 350 for ~6 minutes, or until top of cookies just begins to be firm to the touch.  They won't brown much, so don't wait too long to take them out!

If you didn't use parchment paper (which I did not), use a metal spatula to remove cookies immediately from sheet. If you wait til they cool (or the usual 10 minutes), they will stick and break! And then you will be forced to eat stomachfuls of headless, armless gingerbread girls to destroy the evidence.

At this stage, cookies can be eaten as-is, OR they can be TAKEN TO THE NEXT LEVEL and s'more-ified.


S'MORE-IFICATION:

You will need these two essential components:

Two gingerbread girls: one light, one dark...

1. vegan marshmallow fluff   (ingredients: brown rice syrup, guar gum... plus MAGIC)

2. chocolate filling/frosting:   (extra can also can be used as truffle shells!*)

4 oz unsweetened solid chocolate
3/8 c coconut sugar
3 tbs agave nectar
2 tbs coconut oil    --> use a double-boiled to melt chocolate over medium heat, then mix in other ingredients.

S'mored!

Take two cookies of corresponding shapes. Spread marshmallow fluff over one, and chocolate over the other-- then BAM sandwich them together.

Decorating options based on how lazy you are feeling:

Pretty Lazy - dip a toothpick into chocolate filling and 'paint' chocolate onto cookies
Medium Lazy - put chocolate into a piping bag, and pipe on decorations
Zero Lazy - make some other frosting, all-natural-food-color it, etc., and knock yourself out.

 

S'mored AND beautified. Check out Slutty New Year's Dress Girl on the left there.

* To use this as truffle coating:

Option A, and Option B. Option C? Eat that chocolate plain!

a) use silicone ice-cube trays, preferably pre-greased with coconut oil, and coat with chocolate. Add a dollop of whatever filling, then cover that with a layer of chocolate. Place in freezer to set, then move to fridge. (They will look pretty!

b) use waxed paper - place a 1cm-to-1inch sized dollop of chocolate on waxed paper. Then dollop your filling on top of that, and then seal it all in a final coat of chocolate. Place in freezer/fridge to set. (Lots of dollops. And they will look lumpy.)


I used extra povitica filling for the inside of the truffles... this recipe will be up next! Stay tuned.

Dark Chocolate Ribbon Fudge

In addition to being delicious, this fudge is incredibly flexible when sliced into thin strips. The sculpting possibilities are endless, but of course I ate it all before getting around to shape more than a simple spiral. I also added raspberry sauce, home-made with raspberries from my back yard.

THE RECIPE:

1/2 c coconut oil
8oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 c agave + small dump (~2 tbs)
1 c coconut sugar
1/3 c cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp sea salt (or, to taste)

Line a 8x8 baking pan with waxed paper.

Use a double boiler to prevent chocolate from burning. Before pan is hot, add all ingredients except vanilla and sea salt.  Turn heat on to medium, and stir continuously until chocolate is just melted, and all ingredients are combined. Do NOT overheat. Then add vanilla and salt, stir to mix.

Pour fudge into lined pan, and set in fridge to cool. (Takes about 2 hours)

After the fudge has set, when it is left out of the fridge for a few minutes, thin strips will be very flexible- hence, it's "ribbon fudge!"

Also-- RASPBERRY SAUCE
THE RECIPE:

~2c raspberries
~1/4 c orange juice concentrate
agave - to taste

Bring all ingredients to a boil and mix. Let cool, and keep in fridge.

Golden Snitch Snack Balls

I open at the close.......

As I'm still behind in my posts, I made these in honor of the opening weekend of the Deathly Hallows, Part II, and ate them for lunch before heading to the theater to watch the show (complete with Dark Mark on arm.)

What did I think of the show? As with all of the HP movies, it wasn't quite as good as the book, and certainly botched a few key moments (like Neville's heroic moment! ...fail) but overall it was quality entertainment... and, succeeded in making me tear up on multiple occasions. I really lost it at the end when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all grown up, sending their own kids off to Hogwarts. When I met the Harry Potter franchise, Harry was younger than I was-- and now all of a sudden, he was an adult, married, with children, and the magical saga had reached its conclusion. If Harry had grown that much over the years, where does that put me?

Sentimentality aside, these snitch balls are a super easy way to have a magical lunch.

THE RECIPE:

mozzerella soy cheese

Peeves, my first favorite character.

flaxseed meal

Snitch filling:
1/2 avocado
2(or more) fresh basil leaves
2(or more) spinach leaves
dash of salt                              ---> pulse in Magic Bullet until leaves are chopped and a paste forms

Roll in flaxseed meal to form a "golden" ball. ****
Slice soy cheese, and cut slices into matching diamond shapes. Stick into ball to form wings of the snitch.

Place mouth on snitch and let it "open at the close" ....of your mouth. As it explodes in flavor and awesomeness.

**** Really want to take it to the next level? Put a whole hazelnut inside to replicate the Ressurection Stone.

Luna Lovegood, my other favorite character (that's MEE!)

BONUS: take the Harry Potter Comprehensive Sorting Test HERE and let me know what you get!
(I'm an all-out Ravenclaw :) )

Mis Uñas

I have a lot of free time on my hands right now.
Also, I am not diving daily in chlorine/bromine -laden pools, and I'm not doing much manual labor involving my hands.

This means I can actually put effort into painting my nails.

Design #1: Marbling

It's so much easier than it looks! Take a (disposable) cup of room-temperature water, and drop in alternating colors of nail polish. Drops should form a film on the surface. Use a toothpick to swirl, then dip your fingers in to transfer the design. Work quickly as the polish hardens quickly in water. Then have fun acetoning off the non-nail portions of your fingers....

Design #2: Dark French

Black tips! Fun twist on the traditional style... keepin it classy. Also, I impressed myself by freehanding the tips.