Pear & Cranberry Loaf - GF/DF...

This is a firm family favourite at our house because it's tasty without being sickly sweet, and it's gluten and dairy free which means my husband can eat it as often as he likes without getting an upset tummy.

Ingredients:

5 canned pear halves, strained of juice

2 eggs

grated rind of one orange (or lemon if you prefer)

1/4 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup dessicated coconut (finely grated coconut, not coconut flour)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 grated carrot

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C or 375F

Blitz the pears, eggs, rind and oil in a blender.

Mix the almond meal, coconut and baking powder in a bowl.
Stir through the cranberries.

Pour in the blended pears/eggs/rind/oil and mix well.

Stir through the grated carrot.

Line a loaf tin with baking paper (my tin measures 4.5 inches x 10 inches) and pour in the loaf mix.

You can sprinkle flaked almonds or pumpkin seeds across the top, which is what I usually do.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Use the paper edges to carefully lift the loaf out of the tin, and place on a cooling rack - don't turn the loaf upside down to remove as the loaf may break before it cools. 

After 5 minutes carefully slide off the baking paper and leave the loaf to cool completely before serving.

If you'd like to save and print the recipe download the pdf here.

You can replace the pears with apple sauce, pureed bananas or tinned apricots, but keep the volume to about 3/4 cup.

Replace the cranberries with raisins, dates, dried apricots, sour cherries...be creative. 

The grated carrot helps bind the mix together, and you could use parsnip or fresh beetroot instead, but don't use zucchini because the water content is too high.

Enjoy!

Grain-free apple pie & coconut cream...

I was really missing pie last weekend. 

So I went hunting for a good grain free base that was nutritious and tasty!

I found some good ideas at Elana's Pantry and just tweaked things a little to suit what I had on hand.  

THE BASE...

Preheat the oven to 180C (375F)

1 1/2 cups nuts (such as pecan, walnut, almonds or macadamias) blitzed to a breadcrumb texture in your food processor.

Add a tablespoon of coconut flour (or almond meal), 1 egg, a teaspoon mixed spice, and a pinch of good quality sea salt - pulse in your processor for about 20 seconds.

Spread across the base of a greased pie plate.

THE TOPPING...

Peel, core and finely slice 4 Granny Smith apples.

Grate 2 whole apples down to the core.

Mix the apples in a bowl with a tablespoon of gluten free cornflour, 1 1/2 tablespoons raw honey, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Spread the apple mix over the top of the nut base.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil from the pie, add small dobs of butter across the top of the apple mix (about 2 tablespoons worth of butter), and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve with Vanilla Coconut Cream...

Chill a can of coconut cream in the fridge for at least four hours.

Place the contents of the can in a bowl with a teaspoon of pure vanilla essence, or the seeds from one vanilla pod (extra delicious!), and beat for a minute till they are combined and you have a lovely thick cream texture.

It's yummy served warm and really does taste like apple pie.

We ate the cold remains like pieces of pizza the next day and the day after that...still delicious.

Let me know if you try this recipe and what changes you may have made, ok? 

I'm always looking for good 'tweaks' that give recipes alternate personalities!

hugs