We were knee-deep in flan this past week, making 210 servings for our church’s annual Women’s Christmas Dinner. We learned: do NOT let 2 1/2 lb. of sugar get to the golden stage- it’ll be too late! (Turns out, the sugar gets to critical mass, continuing right past the golden stage, right on to the stinky brown stage, before you can even get it out of the pan and into the baking dish…) But hey, a single recipe of this should turn out just fine 🙂
I recently brought this to a church picnic for the pie contest. It didn’t win first place, though it won a few fans, OK, so those fans were my good friends, who also try to limit their sugar intake. They figured the pie should’ve won first place, and that it was the fault of judging team’s composition that it didn’t win: four guys who love sugar were the judges. In other words, maybe you wouldn’t serve this to a very traditional group, that expects a pie to be a vehicle for a gooey, jam-like substance. BUT, for those of us who love eating more whole, natural foods, we can splurge on this and still feel great!
Use a crockpot to warm chocolate and coconut oil, for the easiest chocolate fountain ever. I served this at a women’s retreat this spring, at a camp with minimal kitchen conveniences, and it worked. For minimal effort in serving, set the chocolate out with baskets of graham crackers and marshmallows, pretzel sticks, and strawberries. Hardly any prep involved, but so fun to eat.
This is one elegant dessert, but pretty easy to make. And… OMG- gluten-free!
I usually have frozen berries on hand, and even some gelatin, since I like using it in morning drinks to get the anti-inflammatory benefits.
What I’m saying is… You can probably pull this dessert together (if you’re like me, haha…). And everyone’s tummy will thank you. Nom nom…
Had a reason to celebrate- my friend came off her 30-day cleansing diet. Now we needed a yummy chocolate dessert, gluten-free. nicely garnished. Tricky part: there are no good strawberries in winter to garnish this stuff! Solution: I made a raspberry chocolate bark by boiling down frozen raspberries, spreading on melted chocolate, chilling, and breaking into pieces. YuM!
This isn’t pecan pie. But it seems to be the “sensible”, rich cousin (cuz it has no nuts- get it?). A vehicle for butter, cream, egg yolks, brown sugar… Oh, & a buttery, oatmeal cookie crust!
I had a giant bag of cocoa powder on hand, some Ceylon cinnamon (because that’s so healthy for you). AND, a serious chocolate craving. Well, this recipe satisfied those cravings, while still being healthier (no sugar, but lightly honey-sweetened). Full of good ole’ coconut oil too, which is good for the metabolism and brain health. My friends even liked it, and they’re not hard-core health nuts like me!
You can make a lot of Rice Krispie Treats with very little time commitment! And even though I also offered chocolate quinoa cupcakes at last week’s retreat, these treats were the most popular. A total crowd-pleaser. Oh, and they’re even gluten-free!
This is a take on the traditional “Pavlova”, which typically has fresh fruits garnishing a meringue crust, with plenty of whipped cream in between. I wanted to use the egg yolks though, so the chocolate mousse gave me a way to work those in. I guess you could also call this “Gluten-free Chocolate Dessert”, since that’s trendy. Or maybe, “Healthy Chocolate Pie”, since it uses bittersweet chocolate and not very much sugar. Oh, who am I kidding?! I just love meringue, and take any excuse to eat it!
It’s Granny Smith apple season! They make the best applesauce- you don’t even need sugar. Well, IMO anyway. And they make awesome pies! But they are also perfect for this super-easy apple cake. It gets kind of busy this time of year, so it’s nice to have a dessert I can literally whip up in a few minutes. YUM.
