Why bake with Xyla?

This was my very question. With the growth of alternative sweeteners that have no impact on blood sugar levels, I wanted to know what made xylitol stand out from the rest.

I’m a maple syrup and honey kind of girl. So I need to be convinced when something “new” and trendy hits the market. I also need to be 100% sure that it is 100% natural in order for me to even consider it.

Since Xylitol comes from a wood fiber, I thought I would give it a chance!

Some background:

Xylitol is… a natural sweetener found in fibrous vegetables and fruits, as well as in several hardwood trees.  It’s extracted and purified into a crystalline form to create a substance that looks, bakes, and tastes like regular white sugar.  But the similarities end there – xylitol has antimicrobial properties that don’t promote or feed dangerous bacteria and fungi.  Plus, it is all natural!

Where it can be used:

Anywhere you use sugar.  Replace it cup-for-cup in baking or sweetening.

The benefits:

- Alkalizing and anti-aging

- Slows a steady release of energy

- Inhibits yeast growth

- Increases absorption of B-vitamins and calcium

- Inhibits plaque and dental cavities by up to 80%, it also remineralizes tooth enamel, increases saliva production and protects saliva proteins, and reduces infections in the mouth and nasopharynx

- Natural insulin stabilizer, diabetic-friendly, and has a lower glycemic index than honey (and even lentils!)

- Diminishes sugar and carb cravings

- Prevents osteoporosis, middle ear infections, and maintains hormonal balance

This was news to me!

I had no idea I could use Xyla in anything and everything to replace sugar. I was told it has no after taste like stevia, so I had to put this to the test. I thought I would mix it in to one of my brownie recipes and see how it matched up. To be honest, I have to say that they turned out pretty good. I could definitely tell that they weren’t as sweet. And it’s not that they had an aftertaste, but more that I couldn’t taste the normal sweetness of what I usually use (namely maple syrup). It was definitely interesting pouring something WHITE into my recipe that looks just like sugar, but I can assure you that it’s not even close.

So will I continue to use it?

I think I will experiment with it in other recipes, but I am not ready to make any kind of switch over in my kitchen. I know it is extremely beneficial for those with diabetes and other blood sugar disorders and I would surely recommend it to such an individual. But for me and my regular crowd – I think I am going to stick with my tried, tested and true maple syrup, coconut nectar, coconut sugar and honey!

Chewy Chocolate Banana Brownies

What’s In It?

1 cup oat or spelt flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 cup xylitol

1 mashed ripe banana

1/3 cup organic coconut oil

½ cup vanilla rice milk

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

How It’s Made

1. Oil an 8×8 baking pan and set aside.
2. Measure oat flour into a large bowl, add the cocoa, baking powder, salt and whisk together.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together xylitol, banana and oil. Add the rice milk and vanilla extract and blend well.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, using a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chips.
5. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
6. Bake for 35 minutes, or until tester in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting.

Brazilian Banana Berry Buckwheat Muffins

Say that 10 times! I bet you can’t! It may not be worth saying it but, they are worth making!

Now every time I make some version of nut milk, I am inspired to try something new with the leftover pulp (fiber). Just about this time of year, every year there is something that has me craving muffins!

I made a fresh batch of Brazil nut milk the other day, complete with all the same goodies I use in my almond milk recipe. Brazil nuts are truly something special. They are not only the largest of the nuts, but they have such an interesting taste. Did you know that you only need 2 a day to get in your daily dose of selenium ( a major cancer-fighting antioxidant). Whether it is the whole nut or in milk form – you will still get the same benefit (well maybe not exactly but and for the sake of this recipe!)

Even though the milk and the fiber are separate after making nut milk – I put them back together in this recipe. So using this as my base and source of inspiration, I chose buckwheat flour for some reason to combine it with – maybe it had to do with the letter B?

Buckwheat – being gluten free, despite “wheat” in it’s name is loaded with magnesium and flavenoids  and helps to reduce the risk of cholesterol and heart disease. It has an intense and some would call it “bitter” taste. But to me, it is hearty, rustic and satisfying.

So now that I got the base covered – this recipe was starting to seem like my Moist Banana loaf, and since B was the theme, I decided to keep going with it. So in Banana’s went and for a change, some berries (blue and cran).

So their you have it – a gluten free, vegan muffin that is sure to get your energy levels going in the morning.

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Brazilian Banana Berry Buckwheat Muffin

1 cup fresh Brazil Nut Pulp (fiber)

1 cup buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp mesquite

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp sea salt

2-3 ripe bananas (depending on their size)

½ cup brazil nut milk

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

¼ cup maple syrup or coconut nectar

1/3 cup applesauce + 1 tbsp ground chia

1 cup blueberries and cranberries

How it’s made!

1. Pre heat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately.
3. Use a large bowl for the dry ingredients. Then mix wet ingredients into dry and fold slowly, and mix together until there are no lumps. Stir in blueberries or chocolate chips.
4. Drop by spoonfuls into an oiled muffin tray or pour batter into a loaf pan.
5. Bake for 20 minutes if these are muffins or 40-50 minutes if this is a loaf.

Raw-freshing Mango Delights!

Delight your palette with this late summer treat!

With summer coming to a close (sorry to say that out loud)- I am getting in my last bits of creativity for summer raw, frozen desserts. When it comes to desserts, it’s all about something refreshing, dense, slightly sweet – and overall delicious. You don’t want to overwhelm your palette with too many things – and no one likes a filmy, sugary residue on their teeth!

The inspiration for this recipe came from tasting a tart similar to these years ago at a raw food demo I attended. I just haven’t been able to get them out or my mind. And if you can believe, it has taken me until yesterday to finally re-create what I could remember of them.

All I remember is the filling being super creamy, moist and tart. The crust being crumbly, chewy and rich. So I gathered my most favourite of raw ingredients and started creating.

Instead of doing a large pie, I opted for mini tarts. That way I could freeze them, and grab them. As oppose to trying to cut a “healthy portion” each time I wanted a slice. This way I could also decorate them individually… and they are just so cute!

They are bite size and easy to eat for a quick snack or dessert. Take them to a friends for a potluck or stash them in your freezer and keep them for yourself

Creamy Mango Delight

Crust:

2 cups dried coconut

1/2 cup raw cashews

3 tablespoons coconut nectar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons dried coconut

2 tablespoons dried goji berries and/or cacao nibs

Filling:

2 cups dried mango, soaked for 3 hours in 2 cups water with half a lemon wedge

1/4 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup raw macadamia nuts

1 tablespoon coconut butter or coconut manna

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. In food processor – add the coconut, lemon zest, coconut nectar and salt until mixture forms a ball and is fully blended.

2. Press into a tart pan or mini tart pan and set aside.

3. In a high speed blender or Vita Mix - blend the soaked mango (set the soaking water aside) dates, macadamia nuts, coconut butter and lemon juice.

4. Blend until creamy, may need to fold with a rubber spatula for optimum consistency. Pour mixture into pie tart crusts and garnish with coconut and goji berries!

5. Place in fridge or freezer for a few hours so that it sets.

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Triple Coconut – Ice cream Cookie Chipwich

Last week me and my assistant Abby took on our own recipe testing challenge: making an ice cream cookie sandwich. Something we have been drooling over and talking about for weeks and something I have never made before nor have I eaten in a long time. The last time I had a cookie sandwich I think I was at a baseball game,  or some kind of theme park and was most likely under the age of 10. So this was an exciting challenge to take on.

We found a cookie that we wanted to use as our base in a gluten free recipe book “The Gluten Free Vegan” By Susan O’Brien. Although most of the ingredients were totally up to par, we still made our own adjustments. Using three kinds of coconut ingredients these cookies could not fail to please our palette. The flour base we used was an all purpose flour from Cuisine Soleil a gluten free Canadian bakery that specializes in allergy free flour blends. This particular flour was a blend of tapioca, chickpea, brown rice flour. This gave the cookie a unique nutty flavour and allowed it to hold together. When it comes to gluten free baking it’s important to have the right blend so that your cookie doesn’t fall apart. Gluten free cookies will always be more crumbly and dense – but they can still taste amazing.

Since we had never made this recipe before, we weren’t really  totally sure how much the cookies were going to spread. So we plopped a whole bunch of cookies onto the tray and did batch number one:

They didn’t spread very much. So when there isn’t enough surface area, the bottom takes on the heat and starts to burn + all the chocolate chips shifted to the bottom which also caused them to burn. These cookies were too small and top heavy to make into cookie sandwiches so we put them on top of coconut ice cream for a small treat before the next batch:

For the second tray (of the same batter) I decided to press the cookie dough down flat so that they would form wider and larger cookies:

As you can see, now we have a great cookie to work with to make the perfect cookie sandwich!

So the big question…What are the THREE types of coconut used in this recipe?

Coconut Secrets Coconut Nectar + Coconut Sugar, Coconut Oil and Coconut Bliss Ice Cream – together helped to make the best cookie chip-wich we have ever tasted!

Note that this cookie is not only gluten free, but it is vegan, nut free, naturally sweetened with low glycemic sweeteners and full of superfood ingredients!

Coconut Cookie Chipwich

1 cup virgin coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut nectar

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1 tablespoon gound chia + 3 tbsp water (equals 1 egg)

2 1/2 cups Cuisine Soleil All purpose gluten free flour mix

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a mixing bowl combine the coconut oil with coconut sugar and nectar and mix well.

3. Once the mixture is fully combined, add the vanilla and chia mixture and stir.

4. In another bowl, put in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

5. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix well.

6. Add the chocolate chips and stir together.

7. Scoop even balls of cookie dough on baking tray  and press down to flatten.

8. Bake for 15 minutes until bottoms are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Yams or Sweet Potatoes… what’s the difference?

There is so much confusion between yams and sweet potatoes. They look the same, they taste the same and you never really know which you are eating at any given time.
So I am going to do my best and give you some information on why these two roots are different from each other and not to be mistaken. However you can still choose to interchange them in recipes-I always do!

Yams were first cultivated in Africa and are part of the tuber family. They are very popular in tropical regions of the world. They are round and elongated with a thick, scaly or rough skin and it’s flesh can be either white, ivory, cream, pink or purple. Yams are typically mores starchy and dry. However the most common variety has a deep orange flesh, which is why they are often mistaken for sweet potatoes. Most of the time they are also mislabeled in stores and are actually sweet potatoes!

Sweet Potatoes on the other hand, are native to South America and is part of the morning glory family. Sweet potatoes are actually not at all related to Yams or Potatoes. They are very sweet and dark and sometimes mislabeled as Yams. Sweet potatoes have a wide center and taper at both ends. They also have a thin and smooth skin. Sweet potatoes are also sometimes mislabeled when actually they are yams.

I know it can be confusing…but when it comes to their nutritional content and health benefits they are pretty much the same with a few unique qualities between the two.
They are both amazing sources of beta carotene, an antioxidant found in most orange fleshed foods such as mangoes and carrots. They are both high in vitamin A and C with a good amount of thiamine. They are nourishing to the spleen, pancreas and stomach. Yams are particularly known for it’s properties to help regulate menses and prevent miscarriages. Yams also help to treat fatigue, inflammation, spasms and stress.

For more information on the differences between Yams and Sweet potatoes you can read many articles and resources available on the web with sometimes confusing, but insightful information these root veggies. Or you can always check out Rebecca Wood’s Whole Foods Encyclopedia for a small description on the health benefits and uses for each.

So in conclusion, both yams and sweet potatoes are amazing for their own unique properties. Now you can be just a bit more aware of which varieties you are eating (if it is labeled correctly). Either way both are sure to please your palate and make wonderful ingredients for side dishes, soups, dips, pancakes or pies!

Yummy Yam Pecan Pie

Crust:

1 cup almonds, ground
1 cup brown rice flour
2 tablespoon maple crystals
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of sea salt
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup

Filling:

2 cups mashed or cooked yams or sweet potatoes (you can always buy canned organic sweet potatoes or yams if necessary)
1 cup vanilla almond or rice milk
3/4 cup maple sugar, coconut sugar or sucanat
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fair trade vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup chopped pecans, mixed with 1 tablespoon maple syrup and 1 tablespoon coconut oil and roasted for 5-10 minutes at 200F

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil a 9 in tart pan or a few mini tart pans.
For the Crust:
2. In food processor, grind nuts to meal. In mixing bowl, combine nuts, flour, maple crystals, baking powder and salt.
3. In separate small bowl, whish together oil and maple syrup
4. Mix wet ingredients (oil and syrup) into dry ingredients (nut meal and flours).
5. Press crust mixture into tart pan.
For the Filling:
1. Blend all the ingredients in a vita mix or a blender until well combined.
2. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 45-60 minutes.
3. Cool on rack and then refrigerate over night before serving.

Sweet Pleasures

Delicious Desserts without Guilt!