Real Deal Nanaimo Bars (Primal)

The first time I made Nanaimo Bars, I had no idea what I was in for. It was an assignment, per say, and I was just along for the ride. Guys, I'm just going to spoil the story now and tell you that in this case, trusting in the journey was the right move --> those bars were amazing. 

A few months later I made Nanaimo Bars again, but this time it was my own inspiration that got me in the kitchen. I want to put a little twist on the classic Canadian dessert. I added lime zest to the custardy filling and topped each slice with candied lime peel. Those bars were 💛💚💛💚💛.

So of course I didn't just move on when I dropped grains from my diet: I found a way to make a whole-food, real-deal Nanaimo Bar. One that uses unrefined sweeteners (maple syrup nonetheless, to make these Canadian bars even more Canadian!), grain-free flours, and no custard powder (which is a key ingredient in most Nanaimo Bars), and real cocoa powder (I used this cocoa powder, from Anthony's Goods). 

If you're guessing that these real-deal bars are even better than that first batch I ever made, you're right! 💯 There is no reason to go back to the other bars. 

Anthony's Goods provided me with product for this blog post, but the recipes and opinions are all my own. Working with brands to develop wholesome recipes is one way I keep Foraged Dish going! Anthony's Goods helps me stock the pantry and keep the blog going. I only work with brands that I truly enjoy and use.  

Real Deal Nanaimo Bars

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free,    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

This dessert is a traditional Canadian dessert. My spin used grain-free flours and maple syrup, for real-deal flavor.

Serves: 12   |    Total Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

Base layer:
• 1-1/4 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)

Middle Layer:
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 2/3 sticks butter, sliced into 1/4-inch pats

Top Layer:
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare your baking pan: line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment, or grease it well with coconut oil. Then, prepare the base layer: In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the almond meal, cocoa powder, shredded coconut, coconut flour, salt, and baking soda. Then, stir in the melted coconut oil and the honey until a consistent dough forms. Press dough into 9x9 pan in an even layer. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from heat and set on cool wrack.
2. Next, make the middle layer: whisk the egg yolk until frothy in a medium-sized mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Pour the maple syrup into a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Boil until a candy thermometer reads 240°F or the syrup just begins to reach the soft ball stage (drop a bit of syrup into a glass of cold water—the syrup should stay as a drop, rather than dissolving immediately into the water, however it should be moldable between your fingers). For the next part, move quickly: while beating the egg yolk with an electric mixer, slowly pour the maple syrup into the bowl in a steady stream. Doing this slowly will allow you to whisk the syrup in with out getting scrambled eggs! Once the syrup has been poured in, continue to beat for 5 more minutes. Then, add the butter 1 pat at a time to the bowl, beating the whole time. Once the pat is creamed into the maple mixture, add another. Repeat until all of the butter is creamed in and the frosting is fluffy.
3. Wait until the base layer is 100% cool to the touch before adding the frosting (I let mine cool in the fridge for several hours). Then, spread the frosting over the cookie layer. Place in freezer.
4. Finally, make the topping: melt coconut oil and maple syrup in a small sauce pan. Once melted, whisk in cocoa powder. Set aside to cool at least 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove bars from the freezer and pour the chocolate mixture over top, gently spreading it around so that the entire top is covered. Return to freezer for 15 more minutes before slicing into squares and serving. Store in freezer in air-tight container.

Grain-Free Gingerbread Men

Holidays were sweet at my Mom's house--between the occasional sweet bread and a few biscotti, there was always a pile of sugar cookies, which we would decorate one by one with softly colored icing and plenty of sprinkles. 

Prompted by the holiday carols on the radio and the snow outside, I've been thinking about holiday cookies a lot lately. Is there anything sweeter than an afternoon inside, decorating cookies while humming little songs? 

These cookies are crispy and snappy. They're full of warm gingerbread spices, which makes them perfect for dipping in a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Best of all, they'll fill any craving for holiday sweets or cookie decorating afternoons. 

While there are a lot of frosting recipes out there, and quite few recipes for Paleo Royal Icing, I actually just decorated these with straight coconut butter. It's simple, it's easy, and it's super creamy. Coconut butter on a spoon? Yuum! Coconut butter on a cookie? Double yum! Personally, I find the cookies sweet enough. If you want to decorate these cookies with something more traditional, go for it! To be totally honest: plenty of these cookies were eaten before they finished cooling down, which means they never got frosted at all! Oops. 

One last totally honest tidbit: one year I dressed up as a gingerbread man for Halloween. My parents had to talk me out of eating my candy buttons before the 31st. I couldn't have been any older than 5, what could you expect? #EmbarrassingMoments. 

Grain-Free Gingerbread Men

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Thin and crispy, these gingerbread men have all of the snap of the traditional cookie.

Yields: 24   |    Total Time: 30 active minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1-3/4 cups almond flour
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder, plus extra for rolling out cookies
• Pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup coconut butter

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients (flour, arrowroot, baking soda, salt, spices, sugar).
2. When dry ingredients are well combined, add the butter/coconut oil to the food processor. Pulse several times, until butter is incorporated but not fully mixed in. Add the egg, and then continue to pulse until dough comes together into a sticky ball.
3. Remove dough from food processor. Roll into a ball and then flatten into a disk shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for 30 minutes.
4. When ready to bake cookies, preheat over to 350°F. Cut two pieces of parchment paper the size of your cookie sheet. Sprinkle one piece with arrowroot powder. Take dough out of the fridge, and unwrap. Place dough on piece of parchment paper, and sprinkle with more arrowroot powder — just a small amount, it keeps the dough from sticking too much. Place the second piece of parchment on top, and then use a rolling pin to roll dough out to a 1/4 of an inch thick. Peel off top parchment paper carefully. Now, using cookie cutters, cut cookie shapes about 1/2 inch apart from each other. I use the reverse cookie-cutting method to make my cookies, because this dough is fragile: Use cookie cutters, and then remove the excess bits (i.e., don’t try to move the cookies them selves) from the parchment. Then, transfer entire sheet of parchment paper to cookie sheet and bake until cookies are puffy and golden — 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Repeat this process until the dough has been used!
5. Once cookies are completely cool, melt the coconut butter. Spoon melted coconut butter into a frosting bag fitted with a fine frosting tip, and decorate cookies as desired.

Note: as coconut butter melts in warmed temperatures (around 76°F degrees, you may need to keep decorated cookies in the fridge. This will depend on how warm you keep your house (mine is much lower than 76°F, so I keep them on my counter top in an airtight container.

Grain-Free Salted Maple Pecan Pie Bars

I gotta say-- as cliche as it may sound, I never thought I'd turn out quite so much like my parents. If you had offered me a slice of pecan pie 10 years ago, I probably would've passed it up, and left more for my dad, who loves the stuff. Nowadays, I jump on the opportunity to make pecan pie, and am happy to eat it all myself. 

The first bite still makes me think of my dad, but then I'm overwhelmed by Oh my gosh, soooo gooood thoughts, and I just keep on munching. 

My mom, on the other hand was more about pumpkin pie. She would spend the week leading up to Thanksgiving pouring over copies of Living and other foodie magazines, earmarking her favorites pumpkin pie recipes (along with stuffing recipes, biscuit recipes, etc). When the big day finally came, she'd make all of the classics, with funny twists and tasteful turns. Nonsense, right? I would never spend weeks searching for every odd version of pecan pie and then finally settle on making something completely different... 😉

And if you were to ask how I decided to make Salted Maple Pecan Pie Bars instead of regular pecan pie, I'd probably open my mouth to explain. In a voice just like my mom's, I'd say something like "Oh, you know, I just was experimenting," because that's the type of thing I heard her say my whole life. 

But sometimes, experiments pay off: these gooey puppies are caramelly, nutty, and crunchy. They're sticky, but no too sweet. They don't need whipped cream/whipped coconut cream/ice cream just to cut the sweetness, but... we all know that whipped cream isn't really optional when it comes to pie.

Grain-Free Salted Maple Pecan Pie Bars

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

A thick shortbread-like crust topped with a gooey layer of maple butter filling and toasted pecans. Finished with flake sea salt.

Serves: 12   |    Total Time: 1.5 - 2 hours

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Ingredients:

• 1 recipe Paleo Pie Crust dough (unbaked)
• 1 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 teaspoons arrowroot powder
• 1 teaspoon cold water
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon fleur de sel, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make the pie crust dough according to instructions. Then, press the dough into the bottom of a 9x9 pan, working the dough so that the crust goes about 1/4 inch up the side of the pan (this creates a reservoir for the filling). The bottom of the crust will be around 1/2 centimeter thick. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in syrup, and cook until mixture is bubbling, about 1 minute. Let cool slightly, 5-6 minutes. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the arrowroot powder and water. Whisk in milk, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Slowly add warm butter mixture, whisking constantly, until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell, then arrange pecans evenly on top
3. Bake until pie is puffed and set along edges, 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.