Allergy- Friendly Snowball Donuts

It's that time of year again, when elves, or in our case Nordic Pixies, start to appear. (Think along the line of Elf on a Shelf, but Pixies can be touched and played with. . . . which. . . ahem. . . saves my momma sanity!!  ) 

 In our house our pixies always arrive somewhere around the beginning of December, and they always greet the girls with a breakfast of  "snowball donuts". 

Snowball Donuts, otherwise know as powdered sugar donut holes,  are easy to make, and always a big hit! 

For this recipe I used a cake pop maker that makes 9 donut holes at a time.  ( I got mine on sale on Black Friday a few years ago for around $10). 

This recipe makes about 24 donut holes. 

Pre-heat the cake pop maker, and give a spray with non-stick cooking spray. 

In mixing bowl #1, combine together the coconut milk (I like the Silk brand), and apple cider vinegar. Give a quick mix and allow it to sit while you combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. This gives the coconut milk a chance to curdle and create a type of buttermilk. 

In bowl #2, mix together the flour blend, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix these together and set aside. 

Now go back to bowl #1 and add in the sugar, melted butter substitute ( I use Earth Balance Soy Free),  and vanilla extract. Give this a stir and then add in your dry ingredients from bowl #2. Mix until it's all combined. 

Transfer the mix (this is one of my favorite Sandra Lee tricks) to a plastic freezer bag, cut off the tip to pipe them into the cake pop holes. Close the lid and let these little babies cook. I usually let mine cook a few minutes longer after the "read" light turns off. 

Once all of the donut holes are made, turn them into "snowballs" by rolling them through powered sugar. They should still be slightly warm, so the powdered sugar will stick right to them.  

These are a quick and easy way to add Christmas cheer to any morning. . . . or can be used anytime you're in the mood for powdered sugar donut holes 😜

Happy Baking! 

Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I first started creating allergy-friendly recipes my main goal was to create food that tasted just like the original. I wanted to be able to serve what I was making to everyone. 

Steve and the girls are always my first taste-testers. If they give me recipe the thumbs up, I'll often bring in samples for my coworkers to taste and critique as well. 

When I brought in these cookies, they all agreed they were dead on!! Several of them asked for the recipe too. That to me, is always a sign that the recipe is a winner. 

This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies. I've also doubled this recipe and frozen the dough, so I have it on hand if I need a last minute dessert or treat. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I always line my cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up. 

In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

In a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and room temperature soy-free vegan butter. Add in coconut milk (I like Silk Original Coconut Milk), and pure vanilla extract. Mix until blended. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mini chocolate chips and stir until combined. 

I like to use my tablespoon to measure out my dough and help make each cookie the same size so they cook evenly. Bake for 8-12 minutes, until the edges start to brown, but the center is still soft to the touch. * The flour blend will not brown like a traditional cookie, but the edges will. 

Allergy- Friendly Baked Donuts

It seems like every year around St. Patrick's Day, we a get a major snow storm. This year was no exception! 

To celebrate our snow day, we whipped up a batch of mini baked donuts. . . . and then at 4:00, when the first batch had disappeared. . . we whipped up another :) 

#sorrynotsorry #theyaremini

This recipe makes a dozen mini-donuts or 6 regular sized. 

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

In mixing bowl #1, combine together the coconut milk (I like the Silk brand), and apple cider vinegar. Give a quick mix and allow it to sit while you combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. This gives the coconut milk a chance to curdle and create a type of buttermilk. 

In bowl #2, mix together the flour blend, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix these together and set aside. 

Now go back to bowl #1 and add in the sugar, melted vegan butter ( I use Earth Balance Soy Free),  and vanilla extract. Give this a stir and then add in your dry ingredients from bowl #2. Mix until it's all combined. 

Transfer the mix (this is one of my favorite Sandra Lee tricks) to a plastic freezer bag, cut off the tip and pipe them into the donut forms. This little steps makes this process so much cleaner and easier!! 

** If you don't have a donut pan you can use a muffin tins, with aluminum foil tubes in the middle. Just cut the foil into long strips, roll into tubes, and place in the middle of each pan. 

Be sure to spray your donut pan (or muffin tins) generously to make it easier to get the donuts out. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes and then let cool. 

My family loves to top theses with chocolate frosting, but you also use vanilla, cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar. . . . the possibilities are endless!! 

I used this recipe for our frosting. It takes a bit of eyeballing to get to the right consistency, so be sure to add just a tiny amount of liquid at a time. 

*This recipe contains powdered sugar, if you have a corn sensitivity please see note below.

Whisk ingredients together until smooth. I like my frosting to be a bit thinner so I can dunk my donut tops right into them. 

*Powdered sugars often contain corn starch. You can create your own corn-free powdered sugar by grinding 1 cup of granulated sugar, plus 1 tsp of tapioca starch in a food processor or coffee grinder. 

Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Chip Scones

Give me a scone and a good cup of coffee and I'm a happy girl! 

I love the versatility of scones.  You can easily add and subtract a few ingredients to make them taste totally different. They're a perfectly acceptable breakfast item or a perfect snack, not as heavy as a muffin, more filling than a cookie. . . . I could go on and on. 

Anywho, when I was working on creating this recipe I wanted to create that same flavor and texture. 

So put the coffee on, these babies are quick to make and will disappear from your kitchen even faster!

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. 

In a bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

Cut the vegan butter ( I use Earth Balance Soy Free) into small chunks and add it in.  I like to use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this recipe, but you could certainly mix it by hand, or use a food processor. Mix on medium speed until the butter is broken up into little pea sized balls. Add in the coconut milk and vanilla. 

Once this is mixed thoroughly, add in the chocolate chips and give it one last whirl to combine everything and evenly distribute the chips. 

On a floured surface, divide the dough in two. From the dough into two loaf shapes, and flatten them out so they are about 1 inch thick. Cut the loaves into triangle shapes. I usually get 8- 10 scones total. 

Place the triangles on to parchment lined baking sheets and cook for 17-20 minutes. 

Vola! Yummy, flaky, goodness that everyone can enjoy!! 

Corn Syrup Substitute

My daughter Edy and husband, love sweets!! The stickier, the better!! 

There were several recipes that my family enjoyed that called for corn syrup. It's sticky gooey goodness works perfectly in many sweet treats. We try and limit corn with Elli's allergies. Luckily, there is a quick and easy substitute. . . simple syrups! 

   

On the stove top combine the sugar and water over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Let the syrup cool, and add the desired amount to your recipe. Extra syrup can be stored in a mason jar in the fridge for a few days.