Blood Orange Gummies with Kombucha (AIP)

Usually Valentine’s day is filled with indulgences like copious amounts sweets & decadent meals, but we’re going a different route this year. Husband had a sinus procedure yesterday, so we’re in recovery mode for the next several days, making sure he fully heals as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

We are hopeful that our paleo habits will help his healing process, but just to make sure, I’m incorporating extra nutrient dense foods into his diet.  I’ll still be cooking a special Valentine’s dinner of braised beef short ribs (this recipe is one of my favorites, just omit the tomato paste & black pepper to make it AIP), but we’ll also be eating more grassfed gelatin in things like these gummies and also in panna cotta, incorporating extra collagen into smoothies & into an upped intake of homemade broths, increasing protein portions, eating more offal (like chicken liver pâté) and seafood, & drinking extra kombucha for the probiotic properties.

These blood orange gummies with kombucha pack a lot of good nutrients into each piece. They’ve got both the protein/amino acids found in gelatin & the good probiotics (especially excellent for replenishing after antibiotic usage) found in Kombucha. They’re slightly sweet, but not overly sugary. By leaving in the pulp in with the juice, they’re slightly reminiscent of marmalade & a bit more fiber-rich than traditional juice gummies. Because it’s Valentine’s Day & I already had the perfect mold, I made these gummies heart shaped. But certainly any other shape could be made, or they could be cut into squares.


Blood Orange Gummies with Kombucha

1 c (220 g) Blood Orange Juice/Pulp--approximately 2.5 medium blood oranges
4 Tbl (28 g) Grass Fed gelatin (red can)
2 Tbl (42 g) Honey
1 c Blood Orange Kombucha (I like this brand best)

1. Remove the kombucha from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Peel the blood oranges & divide into sections. Place into a high speed blender and puree. Measure out 1 cup or 220 g. 
2. Pour the juice/pulp into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Whisk to combine & allow to bloom for 5 minutes. 
3. Add the honey to the bloomed juice & heat over medium heat , whisking constantly, until the mixture just warms & liquifies.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool down to body temperature--about 10 minutes.
4. Whisk in the kombucha & transfer the mixture to a vessel with a spout for easier pouring. Portion into small silicone molds (place onto a plate or pan before pouring in the liquid for easy transport). Any leftover liquid can be poured into a glass dish or into ramekins. 
5. Refrigerate the molds/dish until firm, approximately 1-2 hrs. Gently, pop the gummies out of the silicone molds, or cut them into shapes. Store in the refrigerator.

Note: If you do not have access to blood orange kombucha, feel free to sub another flavor (ginger might be nice) or simply double the amount of blood orange juice. 

This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Sweet Treats. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Chocolate Stout Truffles & GF White Chocolate Lavender Truffles

Chocolate and I..... we’re not the best of friends. It’s been a couple years since I’ve ventured much into the world of candy making (well, excluding my love of marshmallows and peeps and homemade candy corn). 

But Valentine’s Day is soon! Friday! I’ve been in such a cookie fog the past couple weeks.... Baking, decorating, packaging, shipping cookies to a few of my family members and the winner of the contest. So, instead of making more cookies, I decided to put aside my distain for working with chocolate and make truffles!  

I don’t mind the mess of bread dough, or cookie dough, or icing etc. But as soon as there’s melted chocolate in the mix, I tend to go a bit crazy. . Somehow, even though I try to keep things as clean and tidy as possible, chocolate making seems to be eternally messy.... Even the littlest bit of melted chocolate on my skin makes me instantly want to wash my hands... And don’t even get me started on tempering chocolate at home! My past attempts have been less than stellar.....  

But truffles are a little different....  They’re easy, yet still impressive! And they don’t require tempering chocolate!  yay!  Hot cream is poured over chocolate pieces and mixed to form a ganache--the ratio of cream to chocolate varies depending on whether white, milk, or dark chocolate is used. Once the ganache cools, it is portioned and rolled into bit-sized balls. After rolling, the truffle is usually coated in something (cocoa powder, nuts, coarse sugar, sprinkles etc.) and then it is ready to be served. Pretty simple, in the world of candy-making :) 

But you can customize them too, as I’ve done today.  I like to think of my two combinations as “His and Hers” truffles.  I’m not trying to actively give them gender roles... But I know my husband really enjoys my chocolate stout desserts, thus “his” is a chocolate stout truffle rolled in crushed pretzels--who doesn’t love a little salty with their sweet). “Hers” is the one created for me: gluten free white chocolate lavender truffles coated in sparkly sanding sugar. Due to some health issues, I’ve had to cross into the white chocolate camp, but I decided to make my white chocolate truffle a little more exciting by infusing it with one of my favorite scents/flavors: lavender.  

In addition to the essential ingredients of heavy cream and good quality chocolate--seriously, truffle-making is not the time to skimp on chocolate... buy the best quality you can find and/or afford)--I’ve added very small quantities of a couple additional items. Butter helps to enhance flavors, while keeping the truffle center smooth and firm with a good mouthfeel. Corn Syrup (or glucose would be even better, if you have access to it) binds with moisture particles, thus decreasing the water activity in the truffle and increasing the overall shelf life. It also reduces the risk of crystallization--a truffle should be creamy in the middle, not crunchy from sugar crystals. If you ever want to read more behind the science of chocolate, one of my favorite resources is Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner by Peter P Greweling. 

While I *technically* made these truffles for Valentine’s Day, don’t tell anyone if we start sampling them early. In addition to eating them outright, I intend to drop a couple into mugs of hot milk to make a somewhat “instant” hot cocoa :)  Even with the short amount of time before Valentine’s Day, you could still quickly whip up a batch of truffles for your loved ones :) 

Chocolate Stout Truffles

yields approximately 22 truffles 

inspired by  Edible Ireland & The Modern Cafe

1 c Stout, (I used Guinness Extra Stout) 

7 oz Milk Chocolate, finely chopped 

1/2 c Heavy Cream

1 Tbl Corn Syrup**

Pretzel sticks, for coating

1.  In a small sauce pan, bring the stout to a boil over medium high heat--watch it carefully, just in case it boils over. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium and allow the beer to simmer until it is reduced to 1/4th the original amount (approximately 1/4 c). For me, the process took between 15 and 20 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate & place it into a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Once the stout is reduced, heat the heavy cream in another small saucepan until it just barely simmers (some steam should be visible & there should be tiny bubbles around the edges of the pan). 
4. Pour the heated cream over the chopped chocolate. Allow to sit for 30 seconds, then whisk until all the chocolate is melted.  Add the stout and the corn syrup & whisk until smooth. 
5. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and chill until the mixture firms, but is still pliable enough to mold. Stir every 30 minutes during the refrigeration process.  Mine took several hours to come to a cookie-dough-like consistency.  If it gets too hard to scoop, allow to sit at room temperature for a bit. 
6. Meanwhile, prepare the pretzel coating. Chop small pretzel sticks into small bits, using a very sharp chef knife. Alternately, a food processor may be used, but I find it pulverizes the pretzels a bit too much for my liking. Place the pretzel pieces into a small bowl. 
7. Use a small cookie scoop to portion the truffles onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Refrigerate the whole pan for 20 minutes, if the truffles become too soft. Otherwise, after the truffles are scooped, roll them gently with clean hands to make them round & roll them in the chopped pretzels.  
8. Store the truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Allow them to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to warm up (they’ll taste better that way) before serving. Know that the pretzels will begin to get soggy over time, so it is best to serve these as soon as possible.  

**The corn syrup helps to keep the truffle from crystalizing and also increases the shelf life.  Glucose is preferred to  corn syrup, but I don’t have any available to me where I live...  You can skip the syrup all together if it really bothers you to use it.

Gluten Free White Chocolate Lavender Truffles

Yields approximately 18 truffles 

Inspired by Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner

46 g Heavy Cream, plus extra, as needed

1/2 tsp Lavender Buds

250 g White Chocolate, finely chopped (I used Lindt White Chocolate)   

10 g Butter

10 g Corn Syrup**

1 drop Essential Lavender Oil 

Sanding sugar

Additional Lavender for decoration, optional 

1. Combine the heavy cream and lavender in a very small sauce pan.  Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, then cover & remove from the heat. Allow to steep, covered, for 20 minutes.  
2. Chop the chocolate into small pieces & place into a medium sized heat-safe bowl (such as stainless steel, tempered glass or ceramic) that fits over a medium saucepan. Set the chocolate aside. Fill the saucepan with 2”-3” of water, and bring to a simmer on the stove. 
3. After the cream has steeped, place the chocolate bowl onto the scale with a fine strainer in the bowl. Zero the scale with the strainer on it. Pour the liquid into the bowl, straining out any lavender buds. If the scale does not measure 46g of cream, add some additional fresh cream to make up the difference. Remove the strainer & discard the used lavender. 
4. Place the chocolate/steeped cream over sauce pan with simmering water to form a double boiler. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula until the chocolate is completely melted. The mixture may look a little grainy or separated, but that is ok.  Remove from the heat and add the butter and corn syrup.  Stir until well combined. If the mixture continues to look separated, return to the double boiler system & stir constantly until everything has emulsified (i.e. come together) into a ganache. 
5. Remove the white chocolate ganache from the heat & taste a little bit of it.  If you prefer a stronger lavender flavor (which I did), add a drop of essential lavender oil. Only add a little bit--we don’t want it to taste like soap! Remember that when the chocolate is cold, the lavender flavor will not be as pronounced. 
6. Transfer the ganache to a separate bowl & chill in the refrigerator until it firms slightly, but still is pliable enough to mold. Mine took about an hour to set up. 
7. Use a 
8. 1 tablespoon scoop to portion the truffles onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Refrigerate the whole pan for 30 minutes. 
9. Once the truffles are chilled roll them gently with clean hands to make them round & cover each truffle in coarse sanding sugar. Press a single bud of lavender to the top of the truffle, if desired. 
10. Store the truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Allow them to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to warm up (they’ll taste better that way) before serving.

**The corn syrup helps to keep the truffle from crystalizing and also increases the shelf life.  Glucose is preferred to  corn syrup, but I don’t have any available to me where I live...  You can skip the syrup all together if it really bothers you to use it.  

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

GF Red Velvet Valentines' Cookies and A Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! 

I find that people generally fall into one of two camps when it comes to Valentine’s Day: they either love the holiday or they hate it.

I tend to fall into the “love it” category, but really I love any holiday that gives me an excuse to make festive treats & decorate custom sugar cookies.  (Seriously, I just spent the better part of three days working on these cookies!)

The same thing seems true, in my experience, when it comes to red velvet cake: people either love it or they dislike it. I admit, I’m not crazy about red velvet cake, but I did really enjoy the red velvet macarons I made last year.

A couple of years ago, I saw red velvet cut out cookies on the esteemed Sugar Belle’s blog, and I filed the idea away for a future Valentine’s season. This year, I decided to give the recipe a try & convert it to a Gluten Free option.  I love my regular sugar cookie recipe, but it’s always fun to add a new variety to the arsenal.

Part of the reason I was intrigued with Callye’s recipe is that it used a couple unusual-to-me ingredients: Red Velvet Emulsion & Buttermilk Powder . I don’t always have the greatest success finding out-of-the-ordinary ingredients in my local grocery stores, but luckily I was able to find both at Walmart (though Amazon.com also carries them).

Along with imparting that particular red velvet flavor, the red velvet emulsion also contains red coloring, which then meant I didn’t have to add any additional red to the dough. And I am very intrigued by the buttermilk powder--I look forward to experimenting with adding it to other baked goods too…

While I was shopping for the red velvet emulsion, I also discovered Cream Cheese Emulsion. Since red velvet cake is traditionally paired with cream cheese frosting (and the cream cheese emulsion was free from oil--royal icing’s enemy), it seemed serendipitous to make a cream cheese flavored royal icing for the decorations. Though a word of caution, a little goes a long way when it comes to cream cheese emulsion!

And this brings me to a giveaway! In the 4+ years that I’ve been posting, I’ve never done a giveaway. But I’d like to start doing a few from time to time...  This particular giveaway will feature some of the red velvet cookies you see in this post and some of my classic Valentine’s decorated sugar cookies.

For a chance to win, leave a comment telling me your favorite Valentine treat.  And please make sure to include your email address so that I can contact you, should you be the winner! The contest will run through midnight central time on Sunday, February 9, 2014. Because this giveaway is completely sponsored (i.e. funded) by me, it is only open to residents of the United States.

Giveaway is now closed!  Thanks to all who entered! 

Quilted/Tufted Cookie Tutorial
(inspired by Sugar Belle  and Sweet Ambs)

Use a Food Writer Pen and a ruler to draw diagonal lines 0.5” apart from each other. Then, draw lines perpendicular to the original ones to form a grid system. (I started by drawing a line down the center of the heart & using that as a guide with my clear ruler and my edible food marker.)

Use 20 second icing & a #1 tip to begin filling in the squares, making sure that no two squares are touching in any manner (see above photo). I usually try to fill in just inside the lines. Allow to dry for 20ish minutes to create a 3D look.

Go back and begin filling in the squares again (see photo above) Allow to dry again for 20ish minutes.
Fill in the remaining squares & allow to dry 20ish minutes if adding edible pearls (using a tweezers make this process easiest), or dry completely if piping dots in a contrasting color.

Further Technique Resources: 

For the (above) wet-on-wet flower technique or the (below) brush embroidery technique (or video here), visit Sweet Ambs.

For the piped lace designs, visit Sugar Belle and Bake at 350.

GF Red Velvet Cut Out Cookies
Adapted from Sugar Belle 

8 oz / 2 sticks / 1 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
8 oz / 2 cups Confectioners Sugar
1 egg, room temperature
2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste 
1 Tbl Lorann Red Velvet Emulsion 
2 Tbl Milk
1.5 oz / 1/2 c Hershey’s Cocoa Powder
23 g  / 1/4 c Buttermilk Powder
13.8 oz / 3 1/4 c GF Flour {I used Jeanne's GF AP Mix; or use regular AP if not GF}
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
additional tapioca starch for dusting (optional) 

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the unsalted butter & the confectioners sugar on low speed until they are well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
2. Add the egg, vanilla, red velvet emulsion and milk. Mix on low speed to combine & scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
3. Meanwhile, sift together the dry ingredients (cocoa, buttermilk powder, GF flour, baking powder, and fine grain sea salt) in a separate bowl. 
4. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl & mix on low speed.  When the dry ingredients are halfway combined, add the vinegar and continue to mix until a dough forms.  If the dough is very sticky, add an extra 1/4 c GF flour, if the dough is still crumbly, add an additional Tbl of milk.  (note, mine required extra flour, but the original recipe did not call for any additional flour). 
5. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
6. Preheat the oven to 400 F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. 
7. Roll out the chilled dough either between two pieces of parchment, or on surface well dusted a tapioca starch .
8. Cut out shapes & place on the prepared baking sheets. 
9. Bake at 400 for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the cutouts. 
10. Cool completely before decorating with Almond Cream Cheese Royal Icing (recipe follows). 

Almond Cream Cheese Royal Icing

2# confectioners sugar

2.25 oz Meringue Powder

3/4 c Warm Water

3/4 tsp Imitation Almond Extract **see note below**

1 tsp Cream Cheese Emulsion 

1. In the bowl of a very clean stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the confectioners sugar and meringue powder.  Mix on low speed to combine. 
2. With the machine running, add the warm water. Increase the speed to medium until all the confectioners sugar/meringue powder is combined. Then increase the speed to high & continue mixing for 5 additional minutes (or until very stiff and glossy).  
3. Add the imitation almond extract and the cream cheese emulsion.  Mix on medium speed to combine.  
4. Color the icing as desired and thin to the desired consistency for decorating. Remember that colors containing lots of reds/pinks/blacks will continue to develop color & should be made at least 12 hours before use for proper color development.
5. Store the icing in a clean, airtight container in the refrigerator. Top with a wet paper towel to keep the surface of the icing from drying out. 

**Note: Why use imitation almond extract? Real almond extract uses almond oil & oil is an enemy of royal icing, so imitation almond extract (which does not contain almond oil) is required.**

note: this post may contain affiliate links. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad