Breakfast cookies (vegan and gluten free)

On a rainy day, nothing's better than baking at home. I didn't have much left in my cupboards and I wanted something quick to make and to bake, so I looked for a cookies recipe, preferably vegan as I'm trying to avoid eggs for a while. I found Amélie's lovely blog, adapted the recipe with what I had and the result is brilliant! I'll definitely use the recipe again. So here is my adapted recipe:

For about 10 cookies

The base:

- 110 g of gluten free flour (I used 100 g of whole rice flour + 10 g of kokkoh cream)
- 1/2 tsp of GF baking powder
- 70 g of brown sugar (next time I'll try with a bit less sugar)
- 30 g of margarine
- 40 g of almond butter
- 25 g of rice milk

Add whatever you like in, I put:
- cinnamon
- buckwheat flakes
- raisins
- candied fruits
- coconut flakes

Instructions

Cream the margarine and almond butter with the sugar. Add the milk. Then add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. To finish, add everything else. Easy :)
On a tray lined with greaseproof paper, form the cookie balls, flatten them with your hand.
Cook for about 10 minutes. The cookies should still be soft when you take them out. Leave them to cool down for a few minutes and enjoy!

Almond milk chocolate pudding

One of the downsides of eating dairy-free is that you can't have all those little treats for dessert, you know the ones you conveniently find in everyone's fridge, ready to be grabbed as soon as the main course is over! Usually I don't mind having a fruit for dessert (maybe followed by a chocolate bar), but sometimes I really miss those treats! And as I don't eat soy, I can't even make do with soy puddings.

So when I found this recipe on Scally's blog I thought it was high time to try and make the dairy free treats I longued for. It's very easy to make and super-quick, plus it's a good way to use egg yolks when you need the whites for another recipe (e.g. macaroons). And on top of that they are truly delicious, I will definitely make them again (soon and on a regular basis!).

Ingredients (for 4 pots)

3 egg yolks

25g of sugar

25 cl of almond milk

1 leveled tbsp of almond butter (optional, but it adds creaminess to the pudding)

125 g of dark chocolate (not too bitter) 

Directions

1/ Melt the chocolate in a bowl. Keep aside.

2/  In a pan, heat up the almond milk and almond butter on medium heat until the milk starts to boil. 

3/ In the meantime, wheap the egg yolks and the sugar together. When the milk has started to boil, pour on the egg and sugar mixture little by little while whisking at the same time. Put everything back in the pan on low heat and keep whisking until the mixture has thickened.

4/ Fold the thickened mixture in the melted chocolate with a spatula, a little at a time. Pour in pudding ramequins and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Patiently wait until they set :)

Enjoy their light & creamy texture :)

Amazing brownies

I've been looking for the perfect GF/DF brownies recipe. The one where you wouldn't feel like something is lacking. It's really easy to replace the flour since brownies don't contain much, but I was sceptic as far as butter was concerned. Surfing French cooking blogs, I found the lovely blog Bien fait pour ta pomme and a recipe using almond butter instead of butter. I had to try it :)

Ingredients (for a big brownie)

- 400 g of dark chocolate

- 180 g of caster sugar (or 100 g of caster sugar and 80 g of muscovado sugar)

- 55 g of corn flour

- 4 eggs

- 70 g of almond butter

- 70 g of vegetable oil

- 2 tbsp of cocoa powder

- 60 g of nuts (I used half hazelnuts/half almonds)

- 50 g of dark chocolate chips

Directions

1/ Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2/ Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Stir in the almond butter and the oil to get a smooth mixture.

3/ Stir in the sugar, then the eggs (one at a time until well incorporated). Sieve in the corn flour and cocoa powder. Add the nuts (whole or chopped, as you prefer) and the chocolate chips. Stir well.

4/ Pour the mixture in a square tin lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 25 minutes.

I have done the recipe twice so far and both were a huge success (although the first one was with half of the proportions only and I found the brownie far too thin, that's why I'm doubling it!)

Variations : You can replace the almond butter by another nut butter (I still need to try with peanut butter!), add cranberries, raisins, etc., use all different kinds of nuts. Enjoy!