Vegan Oats & Almond Meal Coconut Raisin Cookies

If you include grains like Oats, you should definitely try this cookie out. With Oats, Almond Meal, Coconut, Raisin, Maple Syrup these cookies are absolutely delicious. I used to make these cookies frequently before oats, wheat & barley were eliminated from our house hold. I still continue to make these for people who eat this high fiber grain and baking couple of batches to be put in gift boxes to be distributed for the New Year. If you are looking for vegan cookie recipe, this one is a must try. Happen to try this, let me know how you liked it. Will be very happy to know the feedback.



Cooking Time - 15 minutes

Preparation Time - 10 minutes

Yields - Around 20-24 Cookies depending on the size





Ingredients



Oats Flour  - 1 1/4 Cup(Grind 1 1/4 Cup of Oats into a fine flour in a food processor)

Quick Cooking Oats – 1 Cup

Almonds - 1 cup

Maple Syrup - 1/2 cup

Coconut Oil – 1/3 Cup

Thawed grated coconut – 1/2 Cup

Raisins – 1/3 Cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda – 1/2 Tsp

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp





Method





1) Place the almonds in a food processor and grind into a a coarse meal

2) Combine the Oats flour , Almond and the rest of the Oats, Salt, baking soda and Cinnamon powder.

3) Add Oil, Maple syrup, grated coconut , raisins and  mix thoroughly to form a dough.

4) If the dough is very sticky chill in the refrigerator for 5 minutes, if the dough is dry add little bit of more oil. Because I used coconut from the freezer, it had a little bit of moisture content which will help to bind the flour. So depending what type of coconut you are using adjust the dough.

5) Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie tray with parchment paper.

6) Roll the dough into small balls and flatten them in your hand and place them in the cookie tray one after another leaving enough space between the cookies as they will expand.

7) Bake for 10-15 minutes until well baked, they get baked quickly so keep a watch on them otherwise you will get brown or burnt cookies.

8) Cool them and transfer to a airtight container.

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Mango Jelly using Xylitol

 

I hope all of you are having a great Holiday Season. Happy Holiday wishes to all my readers and friends. Life is become so hectic with all the holiday gift shopping, school vacation, work, year end Doctor visits so blogging has been pushed into back seat. But hoping to be quite regular in a few days. It is been a while since I posted any recipe and to end this void thought of publishing this unseasonal post. This has been lying in my drafts from Summer. I love mangoes so much,  I make mango puree and freeze them in season which I use in various recipes when this lovely fruit is not in available.  So whenever you can get hold of this yummy fruit or if you also freeze the pulp like me, do  try out this Jelly. I used xylitol as the sweetener and I loved it but you can go ahead and substitute the sweetener of your choice.

Preparation Time – 15 Minutes
Cooking Time – 15  Minutes


Ingredients


Mangoes – 2 Big or 3 Medium sized
Water – 1 Cup
Xylitol – 1/4 Cup (Increase the sweetener measure based on the sweetness of your mangoes)
Lemon juice – Juice of 1 lime
Salt – pinch
Agar agar flakes – 2 Tbsp

Method


1)  Soak the agar agar flakes in half cup of water and let this sit for few 15 to 20  minutes.
2) Peel, cube the mangoes and puree to a fine pulp by adding half cup of water. Add xylitol to this and keep this aside.
3) Heat the soaked agar agar flakes and boil till the flakes are completely dissolved, now add the mango pulp and cook for 10 minutes. Switch off the flame and add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly.
4) Leave this aside to cool for 5-10 minutes, while it is hot pour into containers and leave it aside to set.
5) Keeps in refrigerator for at least a month.

Events

Sending this to Zesty Palette’s New You Series 3 hosted by Vardhini.

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Sugar free Almond Flour Cookies(Gluten, Grain & Egg free)

I make cookies only with Almond Flour nowadays for my family,  they are not alone gluten, grain free but also high in protein and very nutritious. But you will still see some cookies with whole wheat, oats etc in future posts which were all done in my earlier attempt few years back and which I still bake for people who are on a nut free diet.  In all my almond flour cookie recipes I use maple syrup as sweetener which is all natural and doesn’t cause cavities like sugar does. So they are safe for dental health but still they are sweetener which will increase blood sugar for people with diabetes. So I tried using Stevia and Xylitol as the sweetening agent couple of times before I nailed down this recipe. Stevia definitely had an after taste and with xylitol the taste was good but with almond flour which is gluten free and no eggs, the cookie didn’t have a structure and was all crumbly.  Bean flours are used as binding agent in lot of gluten free cooking and taking that as an inspiration, I tried to combine almond flour and split chick pea flour(besan) with xylitol and the cookie was much better than the stevia and the earlier xylitol version. If you are on a low glycemic diet do try this one out and do let me know how you liked it.

Preparation Time – 10 Minutes

Cooking Time – 10 to 12 Minutes

Makes Around – 10 to 12 Cookies

Ingredients

Almond flour - 1/2 Cup

Besan(Split Chick Pea flour) - 1/3 Cup

Vanilla extract - 1/4 tsp (Saffron & cardamom, Cinnamom, Cardamom & Rose Water, Orange extract & Orange rind are the different flavors I tried and liked them all)

Xlitol powdered - 1/4 cup

Clarified butter - 1/4 cup

Baking Soda – pinch

Salt – pinch

Almond flakes – 1 Tbsp

Method

1)  Combine the almond flour, split chick pea flour, powdered xylitol, baking soda and salt.

2) To this add vanilla extract and clarified butter and make a smooth dough.

3) Preheat an oven to 350 degree Fahrehiet and line a cookie tray with parchment paper.

4) Make 10 to 12 equal sized balls out of the cookie dough and with your hands press them gently into flat balls and place them with equal distance in the baking tray. Take some flaked almonds in your hand and gently top each cookie with few flakes and press with your finger so that the flakes touch the dough and hold on without falling.

5) Bake for 10-12 minutes till the cookies are slightly browned, remove the tray and let it sit out for 2-3 minutes and then remove the cookies and cool in a wire rack.

6) Store in an airtight container once completely cooled and keeps good at room temperature for 4-5 days.

Events

Sending this to Julie’s Christmas Delicacy Event

Sending this to Cookie Love- Blog Hop guest hosted by Raji of Vegetarian Tastebuds.

Sending this to Cakes and More - Cookie Fest.

Off to Spicy Treat’s Bake Fest #2 an event started by Vardhini.

Off to Edible entertainment’s Jingle all the way.

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Spinach, Peas & Paneer(Cottage Cheese) Brown Rice

Brown rice was the every day food in my house couple of years before. It’s been almost two years since Quinoa, replaced this wonderful grain. There are lot of posts still lying in my draft with brown rice as the star ingredient. I love this grain and even though I don’t cook with it very often like before now, I do make dishes occasionally using this high fiber grain.  If you include brown rice in your diet do try this recipe out and I am sure you are going to love it.  Do not forget to presoak your brown rice, I normally soak it for 12-18 hours.



Preparation Time – 20 Minutes

Cooking Time – 30 to 45 Minutes

Serves – 3 to 4





Ingredients





Brown Basmati Rice – 1 1/4 Cup(Soaked for 12-18 hours, rinsed and drained)

Spinach – 1 Bunch(Rinsed, drained, thick stalks removed and chopped)

Frozen thawed peas – 3/4 Cup

Paneer(Indian style cottage cheese cubes) – 3/4 Cup

Coconut Oil or clarified butter (ghee) – 1 Tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1/2 Tsp

Yogurt Sour – 1/3 Cup

Salt – 1 Tsp or to taste

Green Chili  & Coriander Paste (Handful of coriander(cilantro), green chili 2 or to taste, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds ground into a coarse to fine paste)

Water – 3 Cups

Cashews – 1 Tbsp

Cinnamon stick, Star Anise, Clove – 2, 1, 1 each

Method





1) Heat a Tsp of oil in a thick bottomed pan, add the cinnamon stick, star anise, clove and once they are slightly brown and fragrant add the green peas and saute for  5 minutes.



2) Now add the spinach and saute for 2-3 minutes. Now to this add the soaked and drained brown rice, water, salt, turmeric powder, chili & cilantro paste, yogurt and cover and cook stirring in between.



3) Once the rice is 3/4 Cooked and still with some water add the paneer(cottage cheese) cubes and cook till the rice is well cooked and the water is all absorbed.



4) Heat the rest of the oil and fry the cashews till golden and transfer the cashews with the oil to the cooked rice and mix gently and thoroughly with a fork and serve hot with raita(yogurt dip) of your choice.

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Vegan Chocolate Banana Pancake(Gluten & Grain free)

If something is gluten free does it mean it is healthy? Nay, lot of gluten free mixes are made up of high starchy ingredients and the taste is also not that great. So far after trying lot of different gluten free mixes and with still half left in each one of them and unnecessarily occupying my pantry space, I have decided not to spend any more money on them. But the gluten free substitutions that really works for me is almond flour for cookies, cheese cake crusts, pancakes. But for bread and cakes I still haven’t nailed out a good recipe to share with but I am seriously trying to. One thing I found in this process is lot of these gluten free mixes have some bad tasting bean flour as one of the ingredient, but the split chick pea flour that is used in Indian cuisine in lot of dishes including sweets is such a great binder. So when a saw a ripe black banana, I was all set to try this pancake with besan and it did taste good. My kids liked it and  I didn’t face any questions from my elder one, who normally ask  “Why aren’t we eating normal food"?”  when something doesn’t taste good. If you have tried out gluten free baking with not so starchy ingredients sans eggs, please do leave a comment. I would love to try it.



Preparation Time – 10 Minutes

Cooking Time – 10 to 15 Minutes

Serves – makes 5 Pancakes



Ingredients



Besan(Split Chick Pea Flour) - 1 Cup

Banana - 1

Water - 3/4 Cup

Chocolate powder - 2 Tsp

Powdered Xylitol - 1 Tbsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Baking powder - 1 Tsp

salt - pinch

Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tsp

Cinnamon powder – 1 Tsp to cover up the besan smell

flaked almonds -  5 Tbsp

Coconut oil – 5 Tsp



Method 



1) Mix the besan, salt, baking soda, baking powder, powdered xylitol, chocolate powder, cinnamon powder.

2) To this add pureed banana, water, vanilla extract and mix with an egg beater without lumps.

3) Heat a Iron griddle and once it is warm, take a ladle full of batter and make a medium sized circle and take a handful of almond flakes and slightly press it on the top of the pancake batter, drizzle some coconut oil around it and cover and cook.

4) After 1-2 minutes open the cover and see if the top portion is not sticky and well cooked, now turn over and cook the other side. Repeat the same thing for the rest of the batter and serve it with butter, honey, maple syrup or anything of your choice.

5) I served it with some home made strawberry preservers sweetened with xylitol.

 

Events

Sending this to Kid's delight - deceptively delicious hosted by Pavani an event started by Srivalli.

Also going to Julie's Christmas Delicacy event.

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Almond Flour Coconut, Cashew Cookies(Gluten, Grain, Egg Free)

Cookies are definitely a must in after school snacks along with some protein rich nuts, veggies, fruits and a glass of milk in my household. It is been a while since my kids touched store bought cookies, so I have to make them something interesting each week. This time I decided to add some coconut to the cookie flour and they were so good. Made with protein rich almond flour, casein free clarified butter, coconut and studded with cashew, these are very easy to make and tastes absolutely delicious. I know this is the time of season to bake all different kinds of cookies and cakes. So if you are looking for a gluten free and a delicious and healthy cookie, do try this out  and let me know how you liked them.

Maple syrup is all natural and is taken out of tree sap and doesn’t cause any cavities like sugar, so between sugar and maple syrup the latter is a definitely a better choice. But if you are looking for a sweetener which will not elevate blood sugar xylitol and stevia are the best choice of natural sweeteners.

Preparation Time – 10 Minutes

Cooking Time – 12-15 Minutes

Serves – Makes around 30 Cookies depending on the size

Ingredients

Almond flour - 3 Cups

Coconut - 1/2 Cup (Grated, frozen, thawed to room temperature)

Maple syrup - 1/2 Cup

Clarified Butter(Ghee) - 1/3 cup

Baking soda - 1/2 Tsp

Salt – 1/4 Tsp

Vanilla extract – 1/4 Tsp

Cashews - 30

Method

1) Combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, to this add maple syrup, clarified butter, vanilla extract, grated coconut and make the cookie dough.

2) If you think the cookie dough is too sticky to handle refrigerate for 10 minutes(not more than that).

3) Preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

4) Take out the cookie dough and make 30 equal sized balls and press them gently to form a circle, on top of it stud with a cashew.

5) Bake for 12-15 Minutes till cookies are slightly browned and baked. Cool in a wire rack and store in an airtight container. Holds good for 4 to 5 days at room temperature.

Events

Sending this to Julie’s Christmas Delicacy Event

Also going to Srav’s Holiday Baking Event.

Sending this to Cookie Love- Blog Hop guest hosted by Raji of Vegetarian Tastebuds.

Sending this to Cakes and More - Cookie Fest.

Sending this to Let’s Cook#10 - Radhika’s Let’s Cook Baked Goodies.

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Ragi(Finger Millet), Black Chick Pea, Green Mung Bean Porridge

I totally agree with the fact that, we eat with our eyes first. But lot of times appearance are deceptive. This porridge might look dull and in not so pleasing color. But I assure you it tastes great and more than that it is too good for the body. If you are looking for a gluten free, high protein and low carbohydrate breakfast and that is easy and quick to do. Then this is surely for you. This porridge can be made by adding yogurt or without it, seasoned with green chilies, ginger, raw onion and grated cucumber. This is such a wholesome breakfast. Do try this out and let me know how you liked it.

Preparation Time - 5 Minutes

Cooking Time - 10 Minutes

Serves - 1 to 2

Ingredients

Ragi, Mung Bean and Black Chickpea flour mixture - 1/2 Cup

Sour Yogurt - 1/2 Cup (for vegan diet replace with 1/2 Cup water)

Water - 2 1/2 Cups

Asafoetida - small piece(avoid this if you have gluten intolerance)

Cucumber - 1/2 (Half of a cucumber, peeled and grated)

Onion - 1 (Small, peeled and chopped)

Green chili - 1 to 2 as per your taste

Salt - 1 Tsp or to taste

Lime - Juice of 1 if you are using all water or cut down to 1/2 if using sour yogurt

Coconut Oil - 1 Tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 Tsp

Chopped curry leaves - 2 Tbsp optional

Chopped ginger - 1 Tsp

Chopped Cilantro – handful

Method

1) Combine the yogurt if using, water, salt, ragi flour mixture using an egg beater and combine till smooth without any lumps.

2) Heat a wide mouthed, thick bottom pan and once the pan is hot add the coconut oil. When the oil is warm enough, add the mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds stop spluttering add chopped ginger, green chili, curry leaves, asafoetida and add the ragi mixture.

3) Keep stirring and cook till the mixture thickens. Switch off and add the chopped onion.

4) Once the mixture is cooled  little bit, add the chopped cilantro, grated cucumber and lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

5) Serve.

Notes - I make this porridge atleast couple of days a week, so in a 10 lb container. I mix 6 parts of ragi flour, 2 parts of black chick pea flour, 2 parts of whole green mung flour and combine thoroughly and keep it ready. All these 3 flours can be found in the Asian Indian grocery store.

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