gluten free vegan raspberry coconut oat macaroons

I started watching a few episodes of the new show Something Borrowed, Something New on TLC, and I have to say, I'm a little disappointed with the re-worked wedding dresses. I really like the idea behind the show and was super excited to see the old wedding dresses updated and revamped. Ever since reading Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble series a couple of years ago, I've been obsessed with the idea of reworking old wedding dresses. I think it would be so much fun and so cool to do! I just wish I knew how to sew. That would help.

Anyhow. I don't know if my expectations are just way too super high -- I mean, I really know nothing about restoring and working on wedding dresses -- but I haven't been all that taken with Kelly's re-worked and re-imagined wedding dresses. They're pretty, but they just sort fall a little short for me. I think one of the problems is that some of the dresses just don't have enough structure, and they end up looking a little nightgown-ish. I'll still watch it though -- I'm holding out hope that one of these reworked wedding dresses will be ah-mazing and blow the new one out of the water!

Okay. These macaroons. Well, I guess they're not really macaroons, technically, since there are no eggs in them. But they kind of are. They're sort of like oatmeal cookies, but soft. And spherical. With coconut and raspberries. And they're super delicious. I just love the combination of coconut and raspberry -- it's so tropical and spring-y, which is just what we need right now. Sigh.

Let me tell you, I went through a lot of trial and error and recipes before I got to these macaroons. After making these, I swore I would never make macaroons again. But, now I kind of want to make them again.

And I really kind of want to attempt traditional macaroons again. With Easter coming up, I'm feeling all macaroon-y.

Initially, I used frozen raspberries with making these macaroons. Did. Not. Work. I highly recommend using fresh raspberries if you can. The results are oh so much better. No matter how much I rinsed and dried off the thawed raspberries, they continually just turned to mush in the dough, creating a weird purple-y macaroon that didn't look at all appetizing. And that spread out all over the baking sheet. No good.

Use fresh raspberries.

I know they're expensive, but they'll make an amazing macaroon. Trust me.


raspberry coconut oat macaroons
gluten free, vegan
adapted from Healthy Food for Living

// ingredients
1 cup of coconut butter
1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup of gluten free old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 ounces fresh raspberries

//directions
Preheat oven to 300 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the coconut butter and all of the ingredients, minus the raspberries, in a bowl. Once the ingredients are well combined, gently fold in the raspberries. Mash the raspberries slightly while folding them into the "dough," but don't fully mush them in. Using a small spoon (I used a melon baller, which worked great!, scoop out the dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the bottoms of the macaroons are slightly browned and toasted looking. The macaroons will be really soft, but don't worry! Take them out of the oven and let them sit for about 30 minutes -- they'll firm up. Placing the macaroons in the refrigerator will also help firm them up.

While you're enjoying your macaroons, close your eyes pretend that you're sitting in a lovely park and that it's sunny and 70 degrees. Ah, perfection.

best gingerbread ever [vegan, gluten free]

I was surprised at how shockingly well this gingerbread came out. It is the best gingerbread cake I have ever eaten. Seriously. I think I'm going to have to make this every year for Christmas. I was a bit skeptical about making a gluten-free-vegan cake. But I didn't want to leave out my vegan-dieted cousin (vegan-dieted? Is that even a term?) And I really wanted to be able to eat it too. Thus, a gluten-free-vegan gingerbread cake was born. And, omigosh. It. Was. Good. It came out nothing like I was expecting. I was fully prepared for this experiment to go awry and end up with a dry, dense, crumbly, tasteless gingerbread. But, no. Oh no. This was the exact opposite. Instead, I ended up with a gloriously moist cake with a perfect texture and consistency. Not too light, not too dense. Perfectly in the middle. It smelled absolutely delicious baking in the oven -- the house smelled exactly like Christmas should with warm cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. I think one of the key elements to this gingerbread cake is the lemon zest -- when you dig into the deliciousness, there's just this hint of lemon that goes so perfectly with the ginger. Oh so good. Just writing about it is making me crave a piece. I think that I'm not going to be able to wait until next Christmas to make some more; I might just have to make another cake like right now.

By the way, did you know that it is thought that gingerbread was invented by the Greeks in 2800 BC? Those Greeks. They were so inventive. However, the original meaning of the word gingerbread was quite different than what we think of today. Okay, etymology lesson of the day: gingerbread comes from the Latin word zingiber (meaning ginger) and the Old French word gingebras. Both of these simply referred to preserved ginger. But you can see how it evolved into gingerbread and the delicious cake we all know and love! All right, lesson over. Onto the recipe!

Best Gingerbread Ever
vegan, gluten free, soy free
recipe from Vegetarian Times, adapted to make gluten free

Ingredients:
2½ cups all purpose gluten free flour (I like to use Bob's Red Mill)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1½ teaspoon baking soda
1¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup nonhydrogenized vegetable shortening (Spectrum's Organic All Vegetable Shortening is fantastic -- and soy free!)
½ cup light or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 cup molasses
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 cup of boiling water

First, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Sift the gluten-free  flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and cloves in a large bowl. Then, beat the shortening with either a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer until it's all nice and smooth. Slowly add in the brown sugar and lemon zest to the shortening and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Then, slowly add the mixture of dry ingredients and beat until smooth. In a glass bowl, mix the molasses and vinegar together. Then, stir in 1 cup of boiling water. Slowly add the molasses mixture into the batter. Once that's all set, pour the batter in the parchment-paper lined pan. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test (toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). Let the cake cool a bit, then dig in! This cake is even more delicious with some whipped topping. If you're vegan and not concerned about soy, use some soy whip! Or you're vegan and you are concerned about soy/can't have dairy products or soy, then try some rice whip. Or, if you're not concerned at all with what type of topping you put on this delicious gingerbread cake, go for the Cool Whip. Or Reddi Whip. Whatever floats your boat. A lemon sauce would also be delicious! Dig in and enjoy!

Yummy!

Lael Cakes

So I just found this website and I felt that I must share. Emily Lael Aumiller just launched her new website, Lael Cakes. Lael Cakes is a bakery dedicated to baking vegan and gluten-free cakes.

Not only are they vegan and gluten-free, but they're beautiful cakes to boot.

I love that more places are becoming aware that there are people can't eat gluten and wheat, and lots of people are turning to veganism. Gluten-free products have certainly come a long, long way since I started eating gluten-free around 3 years ago. Just look at these gorgeous cakes! I don't think very many gluten-free cakes look liked this 3 years ago.

Yay for vegan and gluten-free!

Yay for Lael Cakes!