Fruitcake!

'Tis that time of year for Christmas goodies.  And even if you don't celebrate Christmas, this is quite a yummy cake!  It's non-alcoholic; if you'd like an alcoholic fruit cake simply substitute 1/4 cup of brandy for 1/4 cup orange juice.  Also, this is not a "make weeks before you eat it" type of fruitcake.  It's best eaten the day it's made, though it would keep in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Fruitcake!

Ingredients
6 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup melted butter

4 cups chopped fruit (see note)
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar

1 lb almond flour (approx. 5 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt

note:  For this batch I used about 4 oz each of mission figs, calimyrna figs, and dried apricots.  Plus 8 ounces of candied cherries, 8 ounces of candied pineapple, 1/8 cup candied lemon and 1/8 cup candied orange.  Feel free and adjust fruits as you like, just try to have about 4 cup of chopped fruit.  Other good options are figs (remember, they have maltose), currants, golden and regular raisins, dried cranberries, and dried cherries.

Method
Preheat oven to 300°.

Whisk eggs in the bowl until they are light and fluffy, approx. 5 minutes in a stand mixer.  Whisk in coconut flour, let stand at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter and prep fruit. 

Roughly chop the fruit you're using.  If I were precise about the chopping it'd be about 1/4" dice, but for this recipe precision is definitely not necessary.  To the fruit, add the orange juice, molasses, and brown sugar.

In yet another bowl, combine the almond flour with the salt, spices, and baking soda.

Returning to the first bowl, the one with the eggs and coconut flour, whisk in the butter.  In two additions, add the fruit mixture and the almond flour to the egg mixture.  Mix gently, but mix well.

Pour batter into a parchement-lined pan and bake for about an hour, or until golden and firm to the touch.  Cool in pan 5-10 minutes before serving.

Make 15 servings, with less than 1 gram of starch* and approximately 45 grams of carbohydrate per serving.
*starch content varies by fruit type.  To completely eliminate starch, do not use figs or raisins.

Peanutty Kisses

This recipe was inspired by one of our family's favorite Christmas cookies: Peanut Blossom Cookies. I hope you love them as much as we do!



Peanutty Kisses

2 eggs
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (plus more for rolling the cookies)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
Hershey kisses (about 2 dozen, maybe more depending on the size of your cookies)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine the first five ingredients, mix well. I just dumped it all in to my stand mixer and mixed it until the Hershey kisses were unwrapped, but you could certainly do it by hand.

Unwrap Hershey Kisses.

Roll dough into about 1" balls. Roll in granulated sugar.

Place cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet, do not flatten. Bake for 8 minutes. Quickly place a Hershey kiss on the top of each cookie, bake another 2-3 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before placing cookies on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Better than Sweet Potato Casserole

We love sweet potato casserole. Not the one made with mini marshmallows, but the one that appeared in a previous post (originally it was made exclusively with sweet potatoes). mmmm, sweet potatoes....

Recently I created- mostly by accident- a new casserole that will absolutely be a Thanksgiving sweet potato stand-in, and I expect it will appear on the table at other holiday meals too. The kids loved it, I loved it... it's fantastic. I hope you love it too! Best of all, this has only about 3 grams of starch per serving, and no maltose.


Sweet Squash Casserole

3 acorn squash (or squash of your choice
2 bananas
1 egg
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup flaked coconut (optional, but highly recommended)
2 tablespoons oat flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened


Roast the acorn squash at 350° until tender. I like to simply stick them in the oven in a pan until done. Let them cool for a few minutes, then cut open and remove seeds. Peel skins off squash (they will come off very easily).

While cleaning the squash, roast the bananas at 350° for about 10 minutes until skins are black and bananas are done. You can roast them in the same pan to save time in clean up.

Smash squash, banana, white sugar and egg together until mostly smooth. Place mixture in a 8x8 (1.5 quart) casserole dish. Combine remaining ingredients and sprinkle topping over casserole. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes or until topping is browned and squash is slightly bubbly on the edges.




Easy Sunday Dinner Version:

This version uses just four ingredients of the casserole, and is super yummy with less prep time.

3 acorn squash
2 bananas
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup coconut

Roast squash the same as above. While cleaning the squash, roast the bananas as above.

Smash the squash together with the banana. While you are doing that, toast the coconut in the oven. You can use the same pan, and watch it carefully as it will only take a minute or so to toast.

Add the toasted coconut and the brown sugar to the squash/banana mixture. Mix well, serve.

Crustless Pumpkin "Pie"

This is a pie so delicious that you won't miss the crust. We like to have pumpkin pie and cranberries for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving but the topping is a little much for breakfast, so I make two pies and omit the struesel topping on the second pie. It's great both ways, and there are less than 3 grams of starch per serving, making this not-so-indulgent for those who have to limit their starch intake. You can decrease the starch amount even more (by about half) by using freshly baked or steamed pumpkin instead of canned.

Crustless Pumpkin "Pie" with Spiced Whipped Cream
pie
* 2 cups mashed pumpkin (or one 15oz can)
* 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
* 2 egg yolks
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 egg whites
topping
* 2 tablespoons oat flour
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons butter, chilled
* 1 cup chopped walnuts
spiced whipped cream
* 1 cup whipping cream
* 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg


1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour filling into a 1.5 quart casserole dish.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. While the pie is baking, prepare the streusel topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Blend in the cold butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Mix in the chopped nuts. Sprinkle the topping over the pie.
4. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake an additional 40 minutes, or until set.
5. Combine whipped cream ingredients in a clean metal or glass bowl. Whip until soft peaks form, serve over cooled pumpkin pie.