Cranberry Orange Cake

Cranberries and oranges go together like rosemary and potatoes!!! When I created this recipe it was my full intent to make scones but as the results kept turning out more like cake than a scone I had to concede that this beautiful baby was a cake by nature. The best part is that it has only 2-3 tablespoons of raw honey in it. When I added up the natural sugar from the fresh orange juice and the natural sugar from the honey it still only came out to 5-7 grams of sugar per slice depending on how many slices you choose to have. Dammmn that’s good!!!! Find me a cake that tastes this good and has a texture like a soft baby bum with this amount of sugar per slice and i’ll think about trying harder.

Wet ingredients
2 eggs (room temperature)
¼ plain yogurt (full fat) or Coconut Mylk yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
Zest of two oranges
½ cup fresh orange juice
2-3 tablespoons raw honey

Dry ingredients
2 cups almond flour
½ cup arrowroot flour or tapioca flour
¼ cup +1 tablespoon coconut flour (sifted)
1 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
½ cup butter (cold, shredded with a cheese grater)
¾ cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)
3 tablespoons shaved coconut

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Grate the cold butter with a cheese grater and place the butter  into the freezer
In a medium bowl add all of the wet ingredients and whisk together
In another bowl add all of the dry ingredients except for the frozen butter, shaved coconut and cranberries.
Mix the dry ingredients well with  a fork.
Add the frozen butter to the dry ingredients and crumble the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together.
Grease a deep dish glass 9 1/2” pie plate and place the batter into the pie plate.
Spread the batter out with your a spatula or your hands.
Sprinkle the cranberries on top and push them down slightly with your hand.
Sprinkle the shaved coconut and bake for 35-40 minutes

Note
You can substitute the arrowroot for cassava flour but eliminate the extra 1 tablespoon of coconut flour. It will be a little more dense but I switch back and forth depending on what I have.

Blueberry and Banana Muffins

Blueberry and banana are two of my favourite things. I original named these muffins blueberry and vanilla but for all of the banana haters out there I felt like I would have been deceiving you, so straight up, if you don’t like banana, don’t eat these beautiful babies. With that said, they do not have a strong banana flavour, the banana adds amazing moisture and depth to these babies.

Ingredients

¾ cup ripe banana (mashed)
2 eggs (room temp)
1/3 cup coconut milk (room temp)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup coconut flour (sifted)
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom (ground)
2 teaspoons  baking powder
2 tablespoons flax meal
⅛ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup fresh blueberries

Method
Preheat the oven 375 degrees F.
Combine the wet ingredients in one bowl and mix well, you can use a hand blender for this.
Combine the dry ingredients together and mix well with a spatula.
Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry (just to get rid of the lumps) then mix with a spatula until combined.
Fold in the blueberries, fill 8 muffin cups. You can sprinkle some unsweetened shredded coconut on top before baking if you would like.
Bake for 18-20  minutes

*You can use frozen blueberries but depending on the quality they will most likely turn the muffins purple but still taste amazing.

Blueberry Cardamom Scones

Scones are usually dry and full of sugar and i’m not down with that business.
These babies have only 2 TBSP of honey or maple syrup in them, they are soft, moist enough but not too moist, grain free, gluten free and sooooo delicious.
They are super easy to make, perfect way to teach your kids (if you have some) how to make “treats” that are not loaded with sugar. Oh, highly recommended you double this baby. They freeze well too.

*You can substitute arrowroot flour (starch) for the cassava flour, it is more cost effective.

Ingredients
1 ½ cups almond flour (sifted)
¼ cup cassava flour or arrowroot starch
1 TBSP baking powder 
1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon 
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup frozen blueberries
¼ cup cold butter (grated then freeze for 5 minutes)
1-2 TBSP honey or maple syrup
¼ cup coconut milk (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 egg (room temp)
2 TBSP sliced almonds (for topping)

Method

Preheat oven 375F. Shred the cold butter with a cheese grater and put it in the freezer while you gather the rest of the ingredients. 
Combine the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix until well combined.
In another bowl combine the wet ingredients and mix together well.
Add the frozen grated butter to the dry mixture to coat the frozen butter 
Add the frozen blueberries and the wet mixture to your dry ingredients and fold together. Do not over mix.
Butter or spray a  9x1 ½ inch round foil dish and add your mixture to the dish. I actually use leftover foil rounds from frozen gluten free pie shells. Smart eh?
Once you have spread the delicious mixture into the dish, use a pastry cutter and divide the dough into 6 by pushing straight down onto the pastry cutter. This is to make an imprint for each separated scones and it will be easier to divide once they are cooked. Sprinkle the slivered almonds over the top and bake for 30-35 minutes.