Halloween Vegan and Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

They appear more orange in color in person

My sweet husband put this recipe together for my daughter who suffers from some common and some not so common allergies. This recipe was adapted from THIS recipe which looks to be adapted from another recipe. I love how creative we all can be! My daughter loves them. Enjoy.

1/4 cup Tapioca Starch

1/4 cup Brown Rice Flour

1/4 cup Sorghum Flour

1/4 cup Potato Starch

1/4 cup Coconut Palm Sugar or Rapadura

1/4 tsp Xanthan gum (non GMO)

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Real Salt

1/4 cup Red Palm Oil (this gives it the orange color), or for regular cookies use Coconut Oil

1/3 cup Pure Grade B Maple Syrup

1 1/2 tsps Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips (check out how to make your own HERE)

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet(s) with natural parchment paper or silpat.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add liquid ingredients individually by hand or with mixer. The dough may be thin. Fold in chocolate chips and let dough stand for 10 minutes to thicken.

Drop cookie dough mixture by tablespoon onto your prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes. Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for another 2 minutes. Move cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

Store in airtight container. This should make 16-18 cookies depending on the size you choose.

Rich Chocolate Pudding

You may be surprised by the main ingredient of this rich chocolate pudding but I promise no one will even know!

2 ripe medium AVOCADOS!!!
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave
1 tsp pure vanilla

Blend the insides of the avocados in a food processor or blender in till smooth. Add the remanding ingredients and process again till fully blended. Your pudding should turn out to be smooth, rich, and chocolaty! You may enjoy right away but it's better served chilled. This is also delicious topped with bananas, strawberries or even raspberries. Enjoy!

* Verdict from my kid taste testers ~ I served this to four kids ages 10, 7, 5 and 3. Next time I will double the recipe because they all LOVED IT! They were absolutely clueless it was made from avocado. My 10 year old hates, I mean HATES avocado and he was licking him bowl asking for more. I will be keeping this one a secret for awhile, but I sure can't wait to tell him. ;)

Orange Upside-Down Cake

I made this for Easter and fell in love. It is a healthier variation of a recipe I found on another cooking website. The next time I make this I will be more careful of the orange presentation. Try to eat this one sparingly. If you can!

1/2 cup Honey
1/4 cup Orange Juice
1 Orange, unpeeled and sliced thin (discard ends)
3/4 cup Earth Balance or other butter substitute
3/4 cup Agave
2 large Eggs or egg substitute
1 tablespoon grated Orange Peel
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 teaspoon non-aluminium Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Real Salt
1/3 cup whole Goat's Milk

In a 9-10 inch nonstick, oven proof pan (sloping sides preferred) add honey and orange juice. Heat on medium-high cook without stirring until mixture starts to thicken and becomes foamy (temperature reading should be about 230 degrees). Tilt the pan slightly to get a good temperature reading. It cooks fairly quickly so use caution. Let it cool to thicken as you set it aside.

In a large bowl add butter substitute through orange peel and beat with a mixer until smooth.

In a different bowl add all dry ingredients and whisk together until fully incorporated. Add about half of the flour mixture to butter substitute mixture and beat together. Add milk and beat together then add the rest of the flour mixture and beat again until smooth and creamy.

Place orange slices over thickened honey in an aesthetically pleasing circle spiral. Gently pour cake batter over the orange slices and honey. Be careful not to push oranges out to the edge of pan like I did wink, wink.

Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick from the center of the cake comes out clean. This will take about 30-40 minutes. Let cake cool for 5-10 minutes. Then, invert cake on to a flat plate. Be careful as the hot syrup may spill out.

Let the cake cool completely and refrigerate until you serve.

Carrot Cake Bliss

This is a healthier variation to a Wilton recipe I love. Very rich in taste, I feel like there only needs to be a dollop of frosting to go with. Enjoy sparingly, although that may be hard!

1 Banana, mashed
4 cups Carrots, shredded
2/3 cup Pecans, chopped
1/2 cup Golden Raisins
1/2 cup fresh Pineapple, crushed and drained
2 1/2 cups Agave
1 tsp Vanilla flavoring or extract
3 cups Flax Meal
2 cups unbleached Wheat Flour or Cake Flour, sifted
2 tsp Baking Soda, non-aluminum
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp each of Nutmeg, Cloves, Allspice, and Real Salt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together first seven ingredients through vanilla. In a separate medium sized bowl mix the rest of the ingredients and thoroughly incorporate. Next, pour the dry ingredients into the wet gradually, folding together until wet. Pour cake mixture into 2, 8 inch cake pans, lightly sprayed with olive oil and floured.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool cakes in pans for at least 10 minutes on cooling grid or rack. Then cool completely out of the pans on cooling grid or rack.

These cakes do well being frozen especially when frosting perfection is desired as well as a moister cake. For frosting I just used an organic frosting mix out of convenience. One day I will have a perfected recipe to share. Til then, enjoy!

Lemon "Curd" or Syrup

Depending on how much coconut cream concentrate you add to this recipe you could make either syrup or a curd like dessert. Add more concentrate to make thicker. If used as a syrup it could serve 2-4 people. If used as "curd" it would serve more like 1 person. You can always double or triple this recipe.

¼ cup fresh Lemon Juice
1-4 Tb Coconut Cream Concentrate
2-4 Tb Agave Nectar
1-2 tsp Vanilla Flavoring
1 tsp fresh Lemon Zest (optional)

Combine all ingredients into a Vitamix Blender or a good high speed blender. Start blending the lemon mixture on medium speed and gradually work up to a high speed for about a minute. Scrape sides of blender if needed and check consistency. It should be a nice smooth mixture. Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

This was inspired by a Simply Healthful reader! You could call this a wannabe "Nutella" recipe. If you are not fond of the amount of coconut oil in this recipe you could use your favorite cold pressed oil instead. Many people use sunflower seed oil.

¾ cup Dates, soaked in 3 Tb hot water or ¾-1 cup raw Agave Nectar
¼ cup raw Almond butter or raw Hazelnut butter (if using Agave up the amount, making it more than the Agave Nectar)
3 Tb raw Cacao powder or raw Carob powder
4 Tb+ cold pressed Coconut Oil
1 tsp Vanilla extract or Vanilla flavoring
¼ tsp Real Salt

In a food processor combine all ingredients. I usually like to do the coconut oil last, adding tablespoon by tablespoon until it is the consistency that I like. To avoid heating you could also fold in the oil after processing all other ingredients.

If stored in the refrigerator this recipe will harden into a nice fudge! Enjoy!

Almond Butter Balls

My kids love these for after school snacks!

1 cup Almond Butter or Natural Peanut Butter
2 1/2 cups Oats
1/2 cup Ground Flax Seed
1/2 cup Agave or 3/4 cup Honey
Carob Chips or Unsweetened Coconut, Optional

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, I use my hands. When it is mixed well, form into balls. Store these in the refrigerator.

Fruit Springroll with Choco Sweet Sauce

I usually wouldn't recommend eating fruit for dessert. Reason being, it is easier for you body to digest fruit on it's own and on an empty stomach. The most ideal time to eat fruit is in the morning. But, there are times, a few times, where there is a call for indulgence. Banana, Pineapple and Ginger are all aphrodisiacs too. Enjoy!

2 rice paper Spring Roll Wrappers, (optional)
½ Mango, peeled and sliced thin
½ Banana, sliced thin lengthwise
Fresh Pineapple chunks, sliced thin
1 Kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced to show middle

Sauce:

½-3/4 cup Water
2 Tb Coconut Oil (cold pressed)
1-2 tsp freshly grated Ginger
2 Tb Honey
3-4 Tb raw Carob Powder

Soak wrappers in hot water until pliable, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove wrappers from water; pat them dry with paper towels. Arrange fruit in center of wrapper. Fold in sides and then the top and bottom last (similar to a burrito). Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Sauce directions:

Place all ingredients in a blender and whirl on high for a few minutes until smooth and thick. Drizzle on fruit spring rolls or serve in a small dish for dipping, on the side.

Carob Butter-Balls

This dessert is best when chilled. Eat sparingly though. In two-three dates there can be 25 grams of sugar.

2 cups Dates (you can presoak in Rice Milk if you like)
½ cup unsweetened Rice Milk
2 cups Raw Almond Butter
½-3/4 cup Raw Carob Powder

In a food processor or Vita Mix blender, while blade is spinning drop dates and rice milk in and blend until smooth. Continue with the almond butter and blend until incorporated (you may have to stop and stir the mixture a little to blend). Put mixture into a mixing bowl and fold in carob powder. Use enough powder to make the mixture thick and be able to ball-up. Take spoonfuls of mixture and roll between hands to make balls. Roll balls into loose carob powder. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper; place balls onto cookie sheet. Chill for a few hours or overnight. You can serve them how they are or roll them again in loose carob powder and then serve.

Dark Silk Fudge

Carob is a great choice for a chocolate substitute. You can find it in most health food stores. Be careful to use chips that are sweetened. The sweetened carob usually has added milk, sugar or other things. Carob is a great naturally sweet, caffeine free option. It is safe for children and even dogs and cats. Also, it burns alkaline in the body as opposed to chocolate, which burns acidic. When majority of what we eat burns acidic it is a great "sweet" option for trying to be healthy.

1 (10 oz.) package of Carob chips (raw, unsweetened is ideal)
2 Tb Coconut Cream Concentrate
½ cup Water
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Flavoring
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Put carob chips into a double boiler. Place over hot (not boiling), water. Stir until melted. While carob is melting blend coconut cream concentrate with water in a blender on high making coconut milk (you could also use actual coconut cream/butter in the same amount). Add coconut milk slowly into melted carob, stirring constantly until smooth. Then add vanilla and blend until incorporated.

Spread carob mixture into a lightly oiled 8 inch pan. Cool in the refrigerator until set and firm, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Quinoa Super Cookies

Quinoa is a great source of protein. I would classify these cookies as a transitional food. Something on your way to being healthy.


1 cup Quinoa Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
½ cup Sugar or favorite all natural sweetner
2 teaspoons Vanilla Flavoring
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
½ cup Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs or Egg Substitute or Replacer
1-2 teaspoons Coral Calcium (100% above ground coral calcium), optional

In a large bowl, mix all wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Combine dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix by hand or with a mixer. Drop rounded tablespoons of cookie mix onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for eight minutes at 350 degrees.