Holiday Spiced Granola (vegan, gluten free, oil free, refined sugar free, soy free)

Holiday Spiced Granola

(gluten free, vegan, soy free, refined sugar free, oil free)

Let's be honest, we all love Granola. But store bought Granola can have a lot of added oils and sugars. I, personally, always feel like store bought Granola is either too sweet or a little oily. But, obviously, that depends on the brand.

Still, homemade Granola is the best, and what is even better during Christmas and wintertime, is Holiday Spiced Granola!

Holiday Spiced Granola

Serves: 1 packed baking tray
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 200g rolles oats (not quick oats!)
• 100g quinoa flakes
• 50g nuts of choice (I used a blend of almonds, cashews and hazelnuts)
• 30g cacao nibs or vegan chocolate chips
• 20g pumpkin seeds
• 100g pure maple syrup (or agave/rice syrup/...)
• 30g nut butter of choice (I used organic peanut butter - make sure they don't contain any added sugar)
• 30g dried raisins (or dried cranberries)
• 40g dried apricots (or dried prunes)
• 15g raw cacao powder (make sure you use cacao, not cocoa - so there's no added sugar inside)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• pinch of ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Instructions

• preheat the oven to 180°C
• roughly chop the nuts and dried fruits
• mix together all ingredients and make sure that everything is coated well with the maple syrup 
• put in the oven for around 35 minutes or until golden brown, flip around after around 15 minutes to make sure it's baked evenly
• let cool before storing or serve right away

Vanillekipferl (vegan, gluten free, opt. refined sugar free, soy free)

Vanillekipferl

(gluten free, vegan, soy free, optional: refined sugar free)

I love Vanillekipferl. Their sweet, nutty vanilla flavor gives me the perfect Christmas vibes. Unfortunately, they usually contain wheat and eggs.

So I decided to try making my own, gluten free and vegan ones. I tried the recipe last year for the first time and they turned out pretty good! Some broke, but that's the problem with every Vanillekipferl recipe out there, if you roll them too thinly or work the dough when it's too warm.

This year I changed the recipe a little bit and they didn't break! They're super easy to make and taste just as the original.

Vanillekipferl

Serves: 1 1/2 baking trays
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Rest time: 2 hours
Total time: around 3 hours

Ingredients

• 100g gluten free flour blend (I used the one by Schär) or Buckwheat flour
• 50g white rice flour
• 45g coconut sugar (you can use any solid sugar you like)
• 100g vegan margarine (You may be able to sub for coconut oil or almond butter but I can't promise a safe product with this)
• 55g ground almonds or ground hazelnuts (I used hazelnuts. Don't use nut flour!)
• dash of vanilla extract (for a non-refined sugar free version: a package of vanilla sugar = 8g)
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds + 3 tbsp water

For decoration: powdered sugar (you can dip the ends in melted chocolate instead of covering it in sugar - but then it's not a Vanillekipferl anymore)

Instructions

• make your flax egg, set aside
• combine the rest of the ingredients, add the flax egg
• make a dough, cover it (or wrap it in plastic foil) and let it rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours
• preheat your oven to 180°C
• pop the dough out of the fridge and divide it in 4 parts
• roll each part to a sausage shape, divide it into more parts
• form small 'Kipferl' out of the dough and set them on a lined baking sheet (be careful, the dough might break! That's normal. Just work it a little more and it will be fine)
• Put them into the oven for around 15 minutes, depending on the size of your Kipferl
• When the edges turn a little brown, they're ready
• Let cool for around 10 minutes and cover them in powdered sugar
• Let cool completely before putting them into a box (or eat right away)

Linzeraugen (gluten free, vegan, soy free, nut free, opt. refined sugar free)

Linzeraugen

Okay so this one is for all my friends with a sweet, fruity tooth. I used to hate Linzeraugen when I was a kid. The jam inside of cookies was just not my thing. I loved Gingerbread, Chocolate dipped cookies, Vanillekipferl, Spekulatius cookies and pretty much every other cookie who hasn't seen jam or marmelade in its life. (Okay that is a lie, I didn't like those coffee cookies either!)

But things change and now I am actually in love. I haven't had proper Christmas cookies for about two years before I decided to make my own vegan and gluten free ones. Last year they were a success, so I made them again and here we are, success again!

Had I known it was that easy and not entirely impossible to make vegan and gluten free cookies without nuts, I would have made them earlier.

It's kind of a little bit of a shame, that so many gluten free products, especially here in middle Europe, have eggs and dairy to bind the product (instead of the gluten). I mean, it's good if you try to loose weight, as you simply won't find a cookie to eat, so you won't eat it, but as that's not the case for me, I am even more happ to be able to enjoy my own perfect Christmas cookies!

I hope you like them as much as I do, and if you bake them, make sure to tag me on Instagram, so that I can see them!

(gluten free, vegan, nut free, soy free, optional: refined sugar free)

Linzeraugen

Serves: 1 1/2 baking trays
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Rest time: 2 hours
Total time: around 3 hours

Ingredients

• 150g gluten free flour blend (I used the one by Schär) or Buckwheat flour
• 50g white rice flour (add more if your dough is too runny. The original recipe called for a sum of 250g flour. I found 200g worked well.)
• 100g coconut sugar (you can use any solid sugar you like)
• 125g vegan margarine (You may be able to sub for coconut oil but I can't promise a safe product with this)
• juice of 1/4 lemon
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds + 3 tbsp water
• jam of choice (I used wild berry jam. Apricot jam is amazing as well.)

For decoration: powdered sugar (you can dip the ends in melted chocolate instead of covering it in sugar - but then it's not a Vanillekipferl anymore)

Instructions

• make your flax egg, set aside
• combine the rest of the ingredients, add the flax egg
• make a dough, cover it (or wrap it in plastic foil) and let it rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours
• preheat your oven to 180°C
• pop the dough out of the fridge and divide it in 2 parts - pop one back into the fridge
• roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter for 'Linzeraugen' (it has the option to remove a part so that it can cut out both a normal cookie, as well as a cookie with one or more holes)
• cut out your cookies and put them into the oven for around 15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.
• When the edges turn a little brown, they're ready
• do the same thing with the other half of the dough, except this time, use the other setting of your cookie cutter
• Let cool and cover the upper part (so the one with the holes) in powdered sugar
• put some jam of choice on top of the lower part (not too much, otherwise it will overflow at the edges)
• Pop your upper part on top and let them cool before serving

Tip: If you don't have a cutter like that, you can easily use a straw or smaller cookie cutter to make the holes into your cookies!

 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (gluten free, vegan, soy free, oil free, nut free, refined sugar free)

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

(gluten free, vegan, soy free, oil free, nut free, refined sugar free)

Who hasn't ever cut open a pumpkin, scraped out the seeds and put them into the trash? I guess we all didn't like the feeling when throwing them away.

So what if I tell you, that you don't have to do that ever again?

These roasted pumpkin seeds are super easy to make, don't have to be peeled and can be made in every flavor you're dreaming of.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Serves: depending on your serving size and pumpkin
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• seeds of 1 pumpkin
• water for washing
• (paper) towels
• an oven

Instructions

• wash your seeds until there is no rest of pumpkin on anymore
• dry on some (paper) towels and remove the last bits of pumpkin (they don't have to be 100% dry)
• place on to a lined baking tray, season as preferred and place in the oven for 10 minutes
• open the oven, let the steam out, turn the seeds around as good as possible and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the part of the skin on the outer side (it's really thin) comes off easily
• let cool and store them in a dry place or enjoy hot

Chocolate Sweet Potato Boats (gluten free, vegan, oil free, refined sugar free, soy free)

Chocolate Sweet Potato Boats

(vegan, gluten free, oil free, soy free, refined sugar free)

Okay, who has never had the craving after a hot, comforting, filling, creamy chocolate cake? And who was either too lazy or found it too much of a guilt to treat this craving? And who kept thinking it's too complicated to make a single serving?

Well, this recipe is perfect for everyone who said yes, and for everyone who didn't!

All you need is a sweet potato in the size of your choice and your favorite toppings. And as this is a recipe for chocolate sweet potato boats, I'm gonna show you how to treat yourself with a chocolaty sweet breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert.

And as so many of you asked on my Instagram, I'm going to share the recipe for my dark chocolate cream again right here.

Make sure to tag me on Instagram, if you make any of my recipes. I hope you'll give this one a try, as it's for sure the best sweet treat for a cold autumn day I've made so far.

Sweet Potato Boats

Serves: 1
Cooking time: 35 to 50 minutes (depending on the size of your potato)

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato of your choice (I used a purple sweet potato which had a weight of around 700g)

Instructions

1. with a fork, poke some holes into your potato
2. place on a baking tray 
3. bake in the oven at 200°C until a fork slides through easily (mine took 50 minutes)
4. slice lengthwise
5. put your favorite toppings on top

Dark Chocolate Cream

Serves: 1
Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 100g unsweetened plant based yogurt (I used Ja!Natürlich almond yogurt)
• 5g cacao powder

Instructions

1. mix the cacao powder under the yogurt
2. optional: add sweetener of choice

Note: The cacao powder will give your yogurt a thick, pudding like texture. If you want your cream to be more like a sauce, you may want to add some plant milk to this.

Cookie Dough Bites (no bake, vegan, gluten free, oil free, soy free, refined sugar free)

Cookie Dough Bites

(no bake, vegan, gluten free, oil free, soy free, refined sugar free)

Okay so what's better than a melting, chewy cookie? - Yep, the raw cookie dough. But we all know, raw cookie dough isn't h
ealthy at all! Vegan raw cookie dough is better, as it doesn't contain any eggs. (Salmonella, yes, we all know about that.)

And we can even go one step further: Sugar free, flour free, raw cookie dough!

How is that possible? Well, you'll see in a second.

Cookie Dough Bites

Serves: about 24 balls
Cooking time: -
Total time: 10 to 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (my can was 800g or 580g drained)
• a hand full of cacao nibs or vegan chocolate chips
• 50mL Maple Syrup (or any liquid sweetener of choice)
• pinch of vanilla extract / vanilla powder
• pinch of salt
• 50g coconut flour (you can use almond/peanut/oat flour instead)
• 3 tbsp plant milk of choice 

Instructions

1. blend the chickpeas with the milk until you get a uniform mixture
2. add the rest of the ingredients (except the cacao nibs/chocolate chips) and blend until fully combined
3. form balls with your hands and let sit on a lined baking sheet until you don't have any dough left (add more milk/flour/sweetener if needed)
4. decorate with your cacao nibs/chocolate chips
5. enjoy right away or store in the fridge for up to a week, in the freezer for up to a month

Baked Oatmeal (gluten free, vegan, oil free, soy free, refined sugar free)

Baked Oatmeal

( vegan, gluten free, oil free, soy free, refined sugar free)

Let's be honest, we all love chewy, sweet, fruity, chocolaty treats. And we love oatmeal, at least I do. And because of that, I decided to give the famous 'baked oatmeal' a try!

And I have to tell you: It's worth the 1 hour wait (while it's in the oven)! The flavors go together perfectly and will give you a firework in your mouth. And yes, you can totally change the ingredients.  You can pretty much put in whatever you want to!

Also, if you wanna know how to make the amazing dark chocolate cream I served the oatmeal with, check out this link right here.

So here we go, my favorite baked oatmeal recipe:

Baked Oatmeal

Serves: 4 to 6
Cooking time: around 60 minutes, depending on your oven
Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats (gluten free if needed)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour (or almond flour, or shredded coconut, ...)
• 2 tbsp chia seeds 
• 2 cups plant milk (I used 1 cup coconut and 1 cup almond milk)
• 1/2 to 1 cup water (depending on the consistency)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• juice and zest of 1/2 a lime
• 4 medjool dates
• 1/4 cup almond slices/pieces
• 1 chopped apple
• 1 chopped banana
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup nut butter (I used almond butter)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (you could use coconut/agave/rice syrup instead)
• optional: more nuts/seeds/dried fruit (change or add whatever you like)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C 
2. Add all your dry ingredients, mix well
3. Add the wet ingredients, mix until everything is nicely combined
4. Let sit for about 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture starts absorbing some of the liquid
5. Add more water if your mixture is too dry. You're aiming for a wet but not liquidy consistency (or more oats if it's too wet)
6. Add the mixture to an oven safe container and place aluminium foil on top 
7. Put into the oven for about 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until nicely browned and/or crispy on top
8. Enjoy hot or cold with yogurt, jam, milk, fruit, nuts, ....

Additional information

Here is another batch I made recently. I added a tbsp more chia seeds, subbed the berries for cubed pumpkin and added some pumpkin pie spice as well. Instead of coconut flour, I used oat flour and instead of almond slices, I added cacao nibs and dried cranberries. It turned out amazing! 

When your baking dish is tall enough, you can slice the baked oats once they're cooled and take them as 'oatmeal bars' with you. They're perfect for uni, work, school, ... :D

Fluffy Rustic Bread (gluten free, vegan, oil free)

Fluffy Rustic Bread

( vegan, gluten free, oil free)

Bread. For most people, it's a staple. It's cheap, delicious and used in different ways. Where I come from, it's one of the key ingredients of the national cuisine. But what if you can't eat it?

Buying gluten free bread can be three things:
1) expensive
2) disgusting (and if you've tried vakuum packaged store bought gluten free bread before, you probably know what I mean)
3) still giving you stomache and gut problems, etc. because of different other ingredients but gluten.

I've tried many different recipes to create a bread that tastes similar to our delicious, "normal" bread, but I failed miserably. Rock hard dough balls, sticky gummy dough balls, moldy dough balls, I've had everything but a normal bread. So I did a little more research...

And finally, after all these sad (yes, I definitely started crying a lot of times. I was just missing bread...), miserable moments, I've created a recipe (first per accident to be honest), that is actually really a bread recipe that works!

The result: A fluffy, delicious bread with a crisp crust, just like normal, glutenous bread. without adding too many additional things!

I've tried the recipe several times now, just to make sure it really works, and here we are, with a perfect and easy bread recipe. And the best part? You don't even have to make a lot of effort. The bread will do it's own thing to become a bread.

So here we go!

Fluffy Rustic Bread

Serves: 1 - 2 (depending on if you wanna eat the whole loaf in one go - or not)
Cooking time: 45 to 55 minutes, depending on your oven
Total time: about 2 - 4 hours

Ingredients

• 75g white rice flour
• 3g Xanthan gum (OR skip if you're using a universal baking mixture which already has a binder inside. I tried SCHÄR Mix B (Brot Mix) and it worked perfectly fine!)
• 20g Chickpea flour
• 15g Chestnut flour 
• 1/4 block fresh yeast (I've tried using dried yeast several times and it didn't work!)
• 4g organic cane sugar (or any other sugar, don't skip this part, the yeast will eat it anyways)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 - 2 tbsp bread herbs (fennel, caraway, cumin, coriander) (depending on your preferences)
• 100g warm water (it's important to be warm, not boiling)

Instructions

• crumble the yeast into a bowl with 50g of the water and pour the sugar on top
• mix until the yeast is dissolved
• pour about 20g of the rice flour on top and let sit until bubbly. (That's to make sure the yeast is alive and working)
• Whisk together the rest of the flour along with your herbs and salt
• When bubbly, add the yeast mixture to your dry ingredients and mix in softly
• Add the remaining water and mix, until a wet and still sticky dough is formed (not runny tho)
• Place a kitchen towel on top of your bowl and let sit in a warm place for about 1 hour to 75 minutes, until the dough has at least doubled in size
• In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 220°C
• When your dough has risen, don't push it down! Carefully push it onto the baking sheet and form as good as possible, to create a shape you like
• Put in the oven for about 45 to 55 minutes, until the top is browned
• When putting it out of the oven, knocking on the bottom should sound hollow. If it's not, put it back
• let cool completely before cutting

IMPORTANT: 

Don't use any metal utensils! I dunno what it is, but gluten free bread doesn't like metal.

The two different breads you can see here, are the same recipe. The one with the marmelade on is made with rice flour, the other one is made with Schär Brot Mix B. Both work amazingly and both are delicious. I'm sure, your bread will look and taste amazing too!

Let me know how yours has turned out, if you try the recipe.

Refreshing Iced Tea (2 different ways)

Refreshing Ice Tea 

(2 ways - vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, oil free, nut free)

I loooove Iced Tea, and now that you clicked the recipe, I assume you do as well. But did you ever notice, how much sugar one small bottle of Iced Tea can contain? Isn't that crazy?

But don't worry, there's an easy way to make a sweet, delicious, fruity Ice Tea at home, that is actually good for you.

Depending on if you like the taste of tea or not, I'd suggest to use a liquid sweetener of choice. If you love tea by itself, you might not even need that. If you don't like tea in general, you should probably use a sweetener, that has a unique taste to it, such as maple syrup. (You could also use coconut sugar, but I prefer liquid sweeteners with this recipe.)

Refreshing Wildberry and Lemon Iced Tea

Serves: 1
Cooking time: 5 to 10 minutes
Total time: about 2 - 4 hours

Ingredients

• 1 bag Wildberry Tea
• 1 tsp to 1 tbsp liquid sweetener of choice (I used Agave)
• juice of half a lemon
• lemon slices (make sure your lemon is organic, so the skin doesn't contain any toxins)
• lemon balm or mint leaves (or both)
• as much water, as you'll need to fill your jar/glass/container

Instructions

• boil your water
• to your jar/glass/container, add the tea bag, sweetener, lemon juice, leaves and lemon slices and poor the boiling water on top
• mix well until the sweetener is dissolved
• leave for about 5 to 7 minutes or until the tea is strong enough for your liking
• let cool a little 
• put in the fridge until cold enough to drink (at least 2 hours)
• enjoy

Refreshing Maple Black Iced Tea

Serves: 1
Cooking time: 5 to 10 minutes
Total time: about 2 - 4 hours

Ingredients

• 1 bag black tea of choice (I used English Breakfast)
• 1 tsp to 1 tbsp maple syrup
• optional: some fresh berries of choice 
• optional: lemon balm or mint leaves (or both)
• as much water, as you'll need to fill your jar/glass/container

Instructions

• boil your water
• to your jar/glass/container, add the tea bag, maple syrup, and optional ingredients and poor the boiling water on top
• mix well until the maple syrup is dissolved
• leave for about 5 to 7 minutes or until the tea is strong enough for your liking
• let cool a little 
• put in the fridge until cold enough to drink (at least 2 hours)
• enjoy

Notes

You can create your own varieties of Iced Teas by just combining ingredients you like. It's really easy and I made tons of different variations.

Let me know your favorite Iced Tea flavor in the comments below! 

Chocolate Pancakes with Dark Chocolate Cream (vegan, gluten free, oil free, refined sugar free)

Chocolate Pancakes with Dark Chocolate Cream

(vegan, gluten free, oil free, refined sugar free)

I actually got the idea of making chocolate pancakes a while ago, when I was craving crepes with nutella. (My grandmas austrian-style 'Nutella Palatschinken' have been my total childhood obsession!) And as I'm not good at making crepes at all, I decided to give pancakes a shot. 'Cause what can go wrong? In the worst case, they would have ended up super scrambled like an austrian-style 'Kaiserschmarrn' (which they somehow did). 

So what will you need?

Chocolate Pancakes

Serves: 1
Total time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 65g buckwheat flour
• 10g coconut flour OR almond flour
• 10g cacao powder 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp maple syrup (or any other sweetener of choice)
• egg replacer of choice for 1 egg OR 1 flax egg
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar OR 1 tsp lemon juice (both work)
• 150 - 160mL almond milk (or any other plant based milk of choice - hazelnut milk is great in this recipe as well)

Instructions

• whisk together all ingredients and let sit in the fridge for around 10 minutes 
• add to a hot pan and bake on both sides over medium heat until golden brown

Dark Chocolate Cream

Serves: 1-2
Total time: 2 minutes

Ingredients

• 100g plant based yogurt without any flavor or sugar added (I used unsweetened almond yogurt)
• 5g cacao powder

Instructions

• Simply mix together with a spoon and enjoy!

Notes

If you prefer sweeter chocolate cream, you could use sweetened yogurt or add a liquid sweetener of choice.

The pancakes are also great with jam and nut butter.

You can add any toppings you like.

Let me know what you think if you try them in the comments below!