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!