Leaving Las Vegas, with S'mores

Once again, I've disappeared for a bit. But you'll forgive me, won't you? This time it was so that I could move back to Alaska, which has been loads of work, but is inspiring all over again. Instead of sweating my buns off in Vegas, ruing the thought of even approaching the oven, now I get beachside campfires, glorious wild berries, a monthly local market to bake for and old friends to share with. In short, I have more motivation to bake and create than ever.

This month I've come up with one more cookie recipe for the Holiday book, no dairy, low fructose pudding, and have two great cake recipes in the works which just need some refining. My favorite achievement though has been polishing my recipe for truly nummy Graham Crackers. Yay! (Except that I can't stop eating them.) They're destined for the summer section of the forthcoming holiday book, right next to the corn syrup free marshmallows I perfected just before leaving Las Vegas. 

I've also tested a nut free version of my beloved chocolate chip cookies with truly glorious results. I might be persuaded to post that one here for everyone if there was enough interest... Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean?

Till then, I'm off to dive head first into a patch of red huckleberries. God, I love them! I think red huckleberries deserve their own dessert. Don't you? For anyone Ketchikan way the first Saturday in August, I will be at the Blueberry Festival, possibly selling some miraculous new recipe full of glorious red huckleberries, selling and signing books and even peddling some baked goods. See you there!

Magic is happening, even when I forget to show you

I know I can be bad about posting regularly, but around here we are truly never idle. So when I disappear, it usually means there's something awesome going on.

This week I've finished these amazing low carb, grain free wonders:

Fluffy pancakes

Awesome salmon cakes

Lucious Lamb Burgers

Dairy Optional Whipped Cream

Divine mini cheesecakes 

60 second pizza sauce

And I have in progress:

Good, easy crackers

Those pesky, never perfect brownies

A couple nummy sauces and...

(Trumpets sound... Drum roll.. Symbol crash!)

Tada!

Extremely promising paleo pizza crust

It made a hell of a lunch today! :-)

I can't wait to share a whole new book with you all! Until then, I'll be working really hard to make it worthy of all your taste buds, and able to support and enhance your health, too.

XO,

Dawn

Salsa on the Brain

Sometimes I just get stuck.

An idea will capture me, and my mind will churn and bubble and plan, and I simply will not be able to extract myself from it. I will experiment and create and obsess, but the one thing I can't seem to do is change the subject. Today I am jailed by visions of salsa, and quite frankly, I like it.

I love salsa, but I only started making my own in the last year, recently enough that I only had my own recipes for Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, a favorite of mine, and a flavorful, thick, fiery Habanero Hot Sauce, which I can't seem to live without. I took some of my tomatillo salsa to a get together this week and fell into salsa conversation with a friend over it. He talked about the recipes he'd tried and their plusses and minuses, and the brain started it's bubbling. I began thinking over the many flavors I've loved or loathed over the years, and I knew I had to have more. Two little recipes, however great, cannot quench the salsa lust.

So what am I doing now? I'm making salsa of course! What? I should be making dinner for my kids? But, salsa! It's past my bedtime? There's still this salsa, you see... It's 3 am? SALSA! The only down side is that I've no idea how I'm ever going to eat it all. But I'm going to love trying.

Happiness is turning this

into this.

So, like it or not, we can all look forward to a little more spice in our lives, or at least in my next book.

Seeking Low Carb, GF Brownie Perfection

  

Just in case you've never spent 5 minutes in the same room with me, I'll tell you something that everyone who has, already knows. I am a perfectionist.

By perfectionist, I don't mean, I'm meeting every goal, or I'm striving for excellence, or doing my personal best or any of that nonsense that was drilled into us in high school. No, I mean perfect-ionist. Some people will tell you, "there's no such thing as perfection," but I beg to differ. My most persuasive argument against this accusation is simply to feed the offending imperfectionist my Chocolate Butter Cake cupcakes, and that tends to convert them all on it's own. I have tasted perfection. 

Thanks to that taste I've developed for perfection, I'm also acutely aware of the imperfections in so many of my recipes. This recipe is NOT perfect. It's good. Satisfying. Enjoyable even. But perfect, it is not. I will continue to bake and re-bake, as I always do, in search of low carb brownie perfection. Meanwhile, here is the merely good and satisfying for you to enjoy at your leisure.

(This recipe is a part of my low carb GF diet project and calls for natural alternative sweeteners)

Low Carb Coconut Brownies

Yields one 8x8 pan of brownies or 9-12 servings

(Approximately 1-2.5 effective carbs per 1/9th depending upon your choice of cocoa brands)

Preheat Oven to 325*F/165*C

Dry Bowl:

Sift into bowl

   1C (86g) Cocoa Powder (I use Rapunzel. It can be hard to find, but it's sooo good, and ultra low in carbs too!)

Add, then whisk all together to combine

   1/2 C (40g) Desiccated Coconut

   1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum

   1/2 tsp Salt

Mixer Bowl:

Cream together until well combined and almost fluffy

   1C (216g) Coconut Oil

   1/2 C (68g) Chicory Root Fiber (I used a brand called Just Like Sugar that I found at Whole Foods)

   1/4 C (49g) Erythritol (You could probably get away with a little less of this if you care to)

Scrape down the sides of the mixer and beat in 

   3 Large Eggs

   1 Tb Vanilla Extract

Slow the mixer to a stir and add in the dry ingredients a little at a time

Once they're stirred in, bring up the mixer speed and beat until well combined and uniform

8x8 Baking Dish:

Grease the bottom and sides of your baking dish lightly with a little oil or palm oil shortening

Spread the thick batter/dough** into the pan as evenly as possible

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the center no longer appears damp and springs back when touched lightly 

Cool at least 10 minutes before attempting to slice, they will also taste more sweet the more you let them cool

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container

**Warning- Ridiculous Dawn Rant:

Seriously, what's up with brownie batter? I mean it's so bloody thick, you can hardly call it a batter. But on the other hand, it is a bit damp for a dough. So what is it really? Stiff batter? Damp dough? Maybe it's the missing batter-dough link, like a doubat or a badough... Yes, it must be a badough. 

Thanks for helping me to work through that.