Just Enough

Friends, this is a shot of my refrigerator that I snapped this morning before a grocery trip was made, while a few whole beets were roasting. No doubt it will not stay like this, but minimalism is the aim this week. We've got 1/2 a head red cabbage, cream, almond flour, some on-the-verge milk reserved for baking on the bottom, 3 eggs, 1/2 a breast leftover chicken, butternut puree, pecorino, leftover butternut chunks in the middle, a probiotic, a little leftover gluten-free beer, the fridge baking soda, homemade vegan coconut caramel sauce and a newer mini-milk for coffee purposes on the top.

And in the spirit of minimalism, I thought I'd share the cookies I'm currently crazy about from Minimalist Baker. I love their site and often feel inspired by their under-7-ingredient approach to baking, especially during times when I'm in no mood for fumbling. They turn out great stuff and these cookies are no exception. Not only are they mostly Paleo and Grain-free (well, with the exception of my splash of oat flour I'll discuss shortly) they are also quite hearty and healthy. 

The base recipe is the almond meal cookies from the Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook, which contain coconut-oil, a little sugar (I used coconut sugar), shredded coconut, dark chocolate and almond meal bound with just a tad egg. They are super easy to mix up, and delicious in their own right. I made them like that last week. Then I discovered Dana from Minimalist's samoa hack on these same cookies and it makes them even better. I happened to have some coconut caramel sauce I'd made, on hand, so naturally, the samoa version was meant to happen. 

One thing to note is the use of almond meal versus flour. The recipe specifies meal. I use Honeyville almond flour which is very fine--less mealy. But in order to "meal-up" the dry ingredients more, I used a little less almond flour and supplemented with a hint each ground almond and ground oats. I found this worked well.

Also, there's another recipe you may find interesting if you haven't already seen it. I've baked it twice in the last few weeks. These ridiculously minimalist and healthy buckwheat-date muffins from Anja's Food For Thought. Gluten-free and sugar-free, these muffins are sweetened with dates only, risen with baking soda, moistened by olive oil and egg and based off just a little buckwheat flour- I'm shocked that just 1/4 c buckwheat flour yields four muffins but it does!

I love them particularly with a soft boiled or fried egg on the side for a breakfast as they are that perfect middle road muffin that can accompany eggs but not distract by being that sweet and solo berry muffin or decadent scone that deserves the spotlight. In fact, they are quite light. Her technique is a little similar to these bran muffins I like so much. She has you make a hot date paste by simmering dates with milk and baking soda, then pureeing it before adding in everything else. Definitely worth a try if you're looking for another gluten-free morning treat.

 And served with honey-butter, always. Be back soon with a new recipe : ) xx