Lemon-infused Coconut Flour Cookies

Sunday has quickly become my favourite day of the week. Why? Because (allowing that I'm not at work) it's appeared to have become my zen day, and preferably consists of all those little things that I like to do when I have lots of hours to spare - my Sunday essentials to pass the time of day being baking, exercising, reading, and writing. Yep, you heard right - I count exercise as an antidote to boredom. It's also a massive stress-buster for me, and eases off my ever-increasing mood swings - damn you, hormones/life/work problems...

Moving swifting onwards and upwards, today I had a massive craving to bake something sweet (it's been a while/a fair few days), and preferably something sweet involving coconut flour.

I know there's a bit of baker's controversy when it comes to coconut flour - it's a bit of a tricky one in the flour department, due to its higher absorbency - which usually calls for a lot of eggs as a necessary compensatory recipe agent. Alas, I searched high and low for egg-less coconut flour recipes (props to Google, my saviour alongside Pinterest - a growing favourite in the social networking race) and found one that seemed legit, and BONUS - was easy enough for me to follow without a load of Katie-klutz-y mishaps occurring (because I decided dropping my boyfriend's dinner allll over the kitchen floor was quite enough for the one day). Le sigh.



These cookies/biscuits require a mere few ingredients, so they are a swizz to prepare (and also don't take too long to cook, and sends sensual aromas of coconut and lemon wafting throughout the house - always a massive side bonus of baking on the regs). This makes 6 mini biscuits - go ahead and double the recipe if you wanna.

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons Coconut Flour
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1 Tablespoon Honey
1/2 Tablespoon Agave Nectar
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Himalayan sea salt
Juice of half a lemon, plus zest (optional)
Raisins for additional sweetness (optional)
(Note: if more liquid is necessary, add a splash of almond milk to get the desired consistency)

Go ahead and mix the dry ingredients before adding the coconut oil, honey, agave, vanilla extract and lemon juice, plus any dried fruit if you're choosing to include it. I have done previously, and it worked well - however, the version I made today were sans-fruit...I'm just using my photos from before due to plain laziness (I'm a bad blogger, don't judge me okay).



Prepare in little cookie-shaped dollops atop a greased, foil-lined baking tray, and bake in the oven at gas mark 4 (350c) for around 10 minutes (or until the cookies are burning crisping slightly on the top. Give them a little poke if you're not sure, but remember they do firm as they cool).

And there we have it - super healthy, low-carb biscuits that are tasty, sweet and ultimately meet that all-important criteria of a biscuit/cookie: crispy on the outside, soft in the middle. Made in the same amount of time it would've taken you to drive to your nearest supermarket and actually buy some cookies - these are seriously impressive.

Check out my Pinterest board of recipes - there are a load on there that I'm desperate to try, and I hope to make the time to do so soon. Perhaps eventually I'll get through them, but we'll take it one Sunday at a time for now...

Faux-Reece's Peanut Butter cups (Healthified!)

If I were to relapse against the whole 'eat clean' diet thing (and I do, more or less daily - especially at work. The parmesan and chilli soda bread is to die for, and don't get me started on those blimin' petit fours), I'd rekindle my love for Reece's peanut butter cups. Those, to me, were perfection, and by far the best offering in the entire sweet/chocolate aisle. Quite a statement, huh?

Even so, despite my previous devotion to all things Reece's, I think I might've just found a recipe to replicate that familiar feeling of stomach-fulfilment without the preceding guilt; introducing the wonder that is the all-healthy, all singing-and-dancing, homemade faux-Reece's cups. These are the bomb, and an absolute must-make recipe for all my fellow Reece's fanatics out there (and somehow I'm pretty sure there are a lot of you). Recipe found at Detoxinista, altered/healthified (even more) by me.



Ingredients:

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter (salted)
2 over-ripe bananas
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 tablespoons coconut flour
40g dark chocolate (4 squares of Lindt 90%)
1 teaspoon coconut oil

As always, the process is simples: mash the bananas and combine with the peanut butter, agave and coconut flour in a mixing bowl until the consistency is creamy and irresistible. Grab a baking tray and place the mix into scoops onto the tray (I used mini cupcake holders to recreate that 'cup' effect - y'know, with the crinkled edges and all. I love that shit, and it's all part-and-parcel of the whole mind-blown oh-god-these-are--actually-as-good-as-Reece's effect).



Place the tray in the freezer to set whilst melting your chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Stir to combine, before fetching the tray once more to drizzle on the melted chocolate/oil, filling in the little gaps at the edges (or, if you chose to scoop sans-cups, drizzle on as best as you can to cover the balls). If your 'balls' are able to be picked up and dipped into the chocolate (as they should be, according to the original recipe. Doh), by all means do so to cover the entire thing (mine were too 'moist'. Yep, I said it...sorry).

Set in the freezer once more for at least 10 minutes before re-experiencing that chocolate/PB love affair (but with a banana-y, coconutty twist). Oh, yes - those were the glory days (and your taste buds are about to be taken back - hurrah)!