Matcha Mug Cake

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I made you a matcha mug cake. It's not at all Irish, but at least it's green!

I was excited to make something green for St. Patty's Day, but I don't like to use artificial coloring in my food. Since I had my heart set on making a dessert, using spinach or kale as coloring agents didn't seem very appealing. Matcha was the perfect solution.

If you haven't discovered matcha yet, I highly recommend it! It's just very finely ground green tea leaves, so it has a bit of caffeine and all the great antioxidants contained in green tea. The flavor is hard to describe, but it's exotic and a bit earthy. Matcha is delicious on its own in desserts, but also pairs well with chocolate. I've made these mug cakes with and without chocolate chips and still can't decide which one I prefer.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Paleo, Gluten-free)

This is it!  My new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Even if I weren't doing a month of paleo, I would still make these.  They are SO good--a little chewy, super chocolaty, not too sweet, with a good dose of vanilla.  In other words, perfect.

Several months ago, my friend Audrey emailed me a recipe for chocolate chip cookies with almond flour, which she said she liked better than the real thing.  I was a little skeptical, but finally tried it.  The cookies were delicious, but the recipe had no egg, and I found that the cookies fell apart easily and were a little too flat.  I tried again with a couple of eggs, which resulted in much sturdier cookies that were also delicious, but very cakey.

Hoping to strike a balance between too cakey and too flat and fall-aparty, I tried a third time.  As often happens, the third time was the charm!  I hope you make these cookies.  You won't miss the flour or the sugar (and they don't taste like honey).  They are really easy to make, and not that bad for you!  Do it!

Note: the main reason I chilled the dough here is because I wanted to leave the kitchen before I started preheating the oven (it's 100 degrees today!).  So, you can stay mostly cool and still make these cookies.  Try them!  You know you want to.


Ingredients (makes about three dozen small cookies):

8 tablespoons grass-fed butter
1/2 cup honey
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups almond flour
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (paleo chocolate exists, but I couldn't find any...so technically my cookies are just ALMOST paleo)

In a large bowl, cream the butter with a fork until smooth.  Add the honey, vanilla, and salt and stir until very smooth, then add the egg and stir to incorporate.  Add the baking soda, almond flour, and chocolate chunks and stir until combined.  Refrigerate the dough for up to 30 minutes if possible.

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper (or if you don't have three, like me, bake in batches--just be sure to let the cookie sheet cool between batches).  Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the sheet, flattening them a little if you like a flatter cookie.  They don't spread much while they bake, and will be adorably domed if you leave them alone, but I flattened some because I am planning to make ice cream sandwiches.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown on top but not burned on the bottom.  The cookies will be unstable, and need to cool on the pans for at least five minutes.  After that, carefully transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

You might also like:

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

Mocha Chip Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Almond Cookies

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

Have you ever seen quinoa flakes?  I got a package of them, fascinated not by the fact that you can eat quinoa for breakfast as a hot cereal, but by the fact that you can use it instead of oatmeal to make cookies.  There's a recipe right on the back of the bag!

I was looking for an excuse to make more cookies, and for a way to make them seem sort of healthy.  Chocolate chip quinoa cookies--done and done.

I'm bringing these to this week's link party at Shaken Together Life.  Check out all the other great things people are making!

Do you like to try back-of-the-bag recipes?  I usually find they're pretty good.  This particular one didn't call for chocolate, but I knew I needed chocolate chunks in my cookies.  I substituted almond butter for the peanut butter the recipe called for because I had some and I like it so much.

The cookies turned out great.  The almond butter gives them the great texture that peanut butter cookies always have, the quinoa adds a little crunch but is less obtrusive than oatmeal, and the honey and brown sugar combine to make a flavorful but not-too-sweet cookie.  To make these vegan, you could use margarine (the original recipe calls for it) and agave (you might need less than 1/4 cup).  To make them gluten free, use rice flour (also called for in the original recipe).

This dough is dangerously delicious (almost better than the baked cookies).  Try it without fear since it's egg-free.

Feel virtuous about all the nuts and grains in your chocolate chip cookies!

Ingredients (adapted from the back of the Ancient Harvest bag; makes two dozen):

1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
3/4 cup quinoa flakes
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chopped semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips (or use more or less to taste)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the honey, brown sugar, almond butter, and vanilla.  In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, quinoa flakes, baking soda, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop heaping teaspoons of dough onto the parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes, until just golden on top but not burned on the bottom.  Let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or so, then transfer carefully to a rack.  The cookies will seem very unstable, but firm up as they cool.

Mocha Chip Cookies and A GIVEAWAY

For my two month blogiversary, I decided to do my first giveaway!  I've been enjoying Aida Mollenkamp's cookbook, Keys to the Kitchen, and will be giving away a copy to one reader.  Scroll down to see how enter.

Keys to the Kitchen is a great cookbook because it covers basic kitchen skills, but also includes really unique recipes with interesting flavor combinations.  Each recipe is designed to teach a certain technique, and the recipes include detailed notes about equipment, substitutions, variations, and recipes-within-a-recipe ideas.

In the back of the book are tons of helpful suggestions for menu ideas, party planning, quick and stress-free recipes, and even cleaning solutions.

I had to try a recipe for chocolate chip cookies with ground coffee.  And, if you love coffee and chocolate as much as I do, this recipe is for you!

Ingredients (from Keys to the Kitchen; makes about 2 dozen cookies):

2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup finely ground coffee beans
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups milk chocolate chips (I used 1 cup dark chocolate chips since that was all I had)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, coffee, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  In a large bowl, beat the sugars and butter on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well mixed.

Add the flour mixture, and use a spatula to stir just until combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop 2-tablespoon balls of dough onto the cookie sheets, leaving two inches between cookies (they will expand a lot--mine all ran together).  You can use an ice cream scoop, but I think mine holds more than two tablespoons, so my cookies were big.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until puffed in the center and browned on the edges.  Cool on a rack.  Cookies can be stored at room temp in an airtight container for up to a week if you have lots of self control.

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