Baking

For as long as I can recall, apple crumble (also known as apple brown betty and apple crisp ) has been one of my favorite desserts. For years as a child (when I still followed cookbook recipes) I would make the New York Times Cookbook 's apple brown betty recipe. That cookbook is still kicking around in my childhood home, hanging together by a few threads and some duck tape. That book opened me to up the world of baking and pastry. I learned to make everything from pie crust to meringue, amazingly with no illustrations or images (which is almost unheard of today)! It is a classic book I recommend to anyone. I created this unusually delicious crumble recipe as part of my involvement with the Recipe Redux challenge. Each month, member bloggers are challenged with a theme. They are asked to create new recipes that are in line with that theme that also happen to be nutritious and healthier than the average dessert. This month the challenge involved cooking or baking with unusual sp...

I like brownies. My husband LOVES brownies. There are about a million things I would rather make first but it must be love because I found myself baking brownies tonight. And he didn't even ask... My philosophy on brownies goes something like this -- make them as healthy as possible. Why? Because I'm not a brownie die hard so if I am going to eat them I'd rather they not be 80% butter and 20% sugar. Enter these gorgeous brownies. Just look at them, glimmering in the glow of my stove light. They look so...decadent. So inviting. And yet they're about 99% healthy plant food. Sweet potatoes, avocado, buckwheat flour, raw cacao and virgin coconut oil. Who knew that those superstar ingredients could create these! No grains, no gluten, vegan and loaded with nutrients. Sweetened with stevia and a tiny bit of maple syrup. Oh and they're dead simple to make. Blitz, spread, bake, eat.  If you don't try these you're crazy! Healthy Brownies 1 cup steamed, peeled sweet po...

OK so I'm just going to say it...I'm not a huge pumpkin fan. I like it fine, it doesn't bother me, but its not my favourite. I imagine I've just lost all my followers. Sigh. For those of you who haven't slammed your laptop shut in rage, its growing on me. I bought a can last week and tried to bake with it but was...dissatisfied. But so many posts on Instagram and Pinterest  are celebrating pumpkin that I had to give it another go. Lucky I did because these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are not only light and healthy, but also totally delicious. You need to make these. Even you pumpkin skeptics need to. Chickpeas, buckwheat flour, pumpkin puree... Sounds more like a vegan burger than cookies but trust me these are great! And did I mention easy to make? Blitz in a food processor and you're nearly in business. These cookies are a lighter and softer version of my recently posted chocolate chip cookies. They are very different flavour and texture wise. The pumpkin i...

Its getting very chilly -- Fall is definitely here and in full swing. Since today was my rest day and was too cold for crazy walking adventures, I decided to spend some time baking. Little did I know I would stumble onto the best gluten free chocolate chip cookies I've ever made! You may have noticed that I bake cookies a lot, especially chocolate chip cookies. I started to think about why I do that so frequently since they actually aren't much of a childhood favorite for me. When I was a wee baker, I did bake chocolate chip cookies often...and often was nonplussed by the result. My Oma (grandma) was a fabulous baker so I used her recipe but it was never great-- way too sweet and almost undercooked. I ended up almost exclusively buying chocolate chip cookies out after that and developed a passion for the well made dense and buttery chocolate chip cookies I found in cafes. Sweet but not crazy sweet, salty, buttery, vanilla scented, dense and chewy. To me that's a perfect cho...

  There are no words for how amazingly delicious this avocado chocolate mousse is. I have made this dessert for years and this is the first time I can say I'm really proud of this version. For years I made the mistake of using bananas or only avocado in my raw chocolate mousse. I was consistently disappointed by the results. They were always too banana-y or too avocado-y. I have finally found the solution: pears. Why it took me so long to throw pears in my raw chocolate mousse is beyond me. They are sinfully sweet, velvety smooth when blended and totally affordable. Not to mention avocados are known as alligator pears! It seems like a no-brainer in hindsight.  Today's recipe is a new favourite and is so so good for you. I had it for brunch in fact! Oh, and it's ridiculously easy. Like "chop, blend, eat" easy. So really what's not to love about that! This recipe will nourish your body with vitamins, minerals, good fat, protein and fiber! If you are a woman, avo...