Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Week one of the Open 2014 I brought this tasty treat to CrossFit Wachusett to share! They went over pretty well so I thought I would repost the recipe.

The original recipe is from HERE... seriously, check out this amazing food blog. Its called "Living Healthy with Chocolate," I mean, how can you go wrong with that!?!? Of course be careful with the word "paleo" as the chocolate is not exactly 100% paleo and dependant on the brands and types of ingredients you use. 

Also, I doubled the recipe that is listed on the website link because I was making them for a large group. I divided the pan up into 60 small servings. I put the recipe into My Fitness Pal and this is the result of one serving:  Cal. 103, Carb 5g, Fat 8g, Protein 2g.

What you need for the Base:

2/3 C. Pecans

1 C Almond Flour

8 Tbsp Cacao Powder

10 Pitted Dates

1 Tsp Vanilla

1 Tbsp Melted Coconut Oil

What you need for the Top:

1/2 C. Melted Coconut Oil

6 Tbsp Full Fat Coconut Milk

3 Tsp Vanilla

2 Tbsp Honey

3 C. Almond Flour

1 C. Enjoy Life Chips

What You Do:

- In a food processor grid up pecans, put them in a small bowl and set aside

- In the same food processor grind up dates (with no pits) into a paste, might need to add a little water to get it to loosen up.

- In a bowl using a spatula mix together the pecans with almond flour, cacao powder, dates, vanilla and coconut oil. This is not an easy process and will look like it is going to take forever to come together. Don’t add more water just keep working it, it will happen.

- Line a 13X9 pan with parchment paper and press the mixture into the bottom. Set it aside

- Mix together coconut oil, coconut milk, vanilla and honey in a large bowl.

- Add almond flour, do not over mix

- Fold in chips.

- Spread “cookie” over base and refrigerate for at least an hour.

- Enjoy!

 *this pic also came from her website, I forgot to take a good pic before they got devoured!!

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, you read that correct... BACON chocolate chip cookies... and they are (and I quote) "de-friggen-lightful!"

Got the recipe from the "Make it Paleo" cookbook by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason... I wish I could take credit for it because they are that good!!


*Disclaimer: though the chocolate chips are dairy, nut and soy free they are not considered totally Paleo, so if you are doing a Paleo Challenge or staying completely 100% Paleo this recipe will cost you points. Also for the bacon to be considered Paleo it should be nitrate free.*

What you need:
- 6 Slices of Bacon (I use the thick sliced applewood from the deli counter, the thicker the better)

- 1/4 Cup Pure Maple Syrup

- 3 Cups Almond Flour

- 1 Tsp Baking Soda

- 1 Tsp Salt

- 2 Eggs

- 1/2 Cup Pure Maple Syrup

- 1 Tsp Vanilla

- 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

- Half a bag of chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life)

What you do:
- Preheat oven to 350 Degrees

- Put 6 slices of bacon in a small dish and pour 1/4 Cup of maple syrup over them and toss around to coat each slice.

- Lay bacon on parchment lined (or tin foil lined) baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes

- Remove from oven and allow to cool than crumble into small pieces

- Adjust oven temp to 375 Degrees

- In large bowl mix almond flour, baking soda and salt

- In a smaller bowl with a hand mixer, mix eggs, 1/2 cup maple syrup and vanilla

- Add wet ingredients into dry and mix with hand mixer

- Melt coconut oil and add to mix with hand mixer

- Stir in chocolate chips and bacon bits

- Drop tablespoon size balls on cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

- Remove immediately from cookie sheet and put on cooling rack

- Surprise all your friends at how good BACON is in a chocolate chip cookie!!  

Paleo Banana Bread Muffins

Original recipe comes from Robb Wolfe, http://robbwolf.com/2011/04/21/recipe-paleo-banana-bread/, I tried it first as a loaf, but prefer the muffins. This makes 15 muffins.

*Disclaimer: Honey is considered Paleo in moderation. If doing a Paleo Challenge check the "rules" of your challenge to be sure that it s allowed in moderation or risk losing points.*

What you need:

- 2 cups almond flour

- 1/4 cup flax seed meal

- 2 tsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 2/3 cup pecans

- 4 really ripe bananas

- 2 tbsp honey

- 4 eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla

 

What you do:
- Preheat oven to 375

- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl

- Mash bananas in a food processor or masher

- Mix all wet ingredients together with bananas in a separate bowl from dry

 

- Make a well in the dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and fold together

 

- Grease muffin pan with coconut oil

- Fill each muffin about 3/4 of the way up

 

- Bake for 20-25 minutes (or until toothpick is clean)

Jalapeno and Garlic Burger

What I like about these is the ZIP that the burger has from the jalepeno... and the garlic flavor is just an added bonus. You can dress this one any way you want!! Its gooood!!

What you need:

- 1lb Ground Beef

- Sliced jalapenos (as small as you want and as many as you want)

- 2 Tbsp Minced Garlic

- 1/3 Cup Almond Flour

- Salt and Pepper

- Optional Toppings, Sun Dried Tomato, Avocado, Portabella Mushrooms

What you do:
- Mash beef with jalapenos, garlic, salt, pepper and almond flour until mixed well

- Heat skillet to Medium

- Cook burgers to preferred doneness

- Garnish with your choice of topping!

This one has a portabella mushroom bun and sun dried tomatos...

This one has a side of asparagus and mushrooms and it is garnished with avocado and sun dried tomato...

Paleo Coffee Cake

I got this recipe here… http://paleoninjas.com/2011/09/06/paleo-coffee-cake/, I made it for Christmas morning at my parents house. It came out ok... I know I want to heat the coconut oil a little less for the topping next time... practice makes perfect on this one!

*Disclaimer: Honey is considered Paleo in moderation. If doing a Paleo Challenge check the "rules" of your challenge to be sure that it s allowed in moderation or risk losing points.*

What you need:

Cake

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups almond flour

1/2 cup arrowroot powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Topping

2 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 cup coconut oil

3 tbsp honey

What you do:
- Preheat oven to 325
- Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl
- In smaller bowl mix wet ingredients
- Slowly mix wet into dry

- Pour into 8X8 pan greased with coconut oil

- Mix topping ingredients, and swirl with a knife into cake

- Bake 25-20 minutes

Fig Pinwheel Cookie (redemption)

So, after my horrible experience with the cupcakes I had to do something yummy to redeem myself! My friend at worked lent me a paleo cookbook and it had a "treats and cheats" section. I wish I could remember the name of the book... I just copied a few recipes out of it.

*Disclaimer: Honey is considered paleo in moderation. If doing a Paleo Challenge check the "rules" of your challenge to be sure that it is allowed in moderation or risk losing points.*

This is one of them... I have now made these 4 times. They are DYNAMITE!! Absolutely redeemed myself from the epic fail!!

These take a little while to make, and they are a little complicated, but once you get the hang of it they get easier!

What you need:
- 3 Cups Almond Flour
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 Cup Pure Maple Syrup
- 1 Tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
- 1 Cup Dried Figs
- 1/2 Cup Pomegranate Juice

What you do:
- Chop the figs up (or cut them with kitchen scissors), let them soak in pomegranate juice for an hour
- While they are soaking start the batter by mixing all the dry ingredients (save a little almond flour for flouring the wax paper for rolling)
- In another bowl mix the eggs, maple syrup and vanilla
- Mix the dry and the wet together slowly
- Melt Coconut oil than add to the batter
- Chill dough in freezer for 20 minutes
- Preheat oven to 375
- Heat figs (after the hour is up) over medium-low heat till they are soft than blend in food processor. Set aside until cool, you dont want to make the roll with hot filling.
- Once dough is cold and filling is cool roll out dough between two pieces of wax paper (coating the bottom with a little almond flour to prevent sticking)
- Spread filling over rolled out dough
- Roll up as tightly as possible
- Return roll to freezer for 20 minutes
- Slice into 1/2" Pinwheels
- Coat cookie sheet with thin layer of coconut oil
- Leave enough space on cookie sheet (they will spread)
- Bake for 10-15 minutes (till brown) and remove immediately from cookie sheet for cooling.
- ENJOY!!

Almond Flour Breaded Chicken

We make this quite a bit, it originated in the scallopini recipe, but we like it so much we have made it with speghetti squash and organic pasta sauce with mushrooms. You can substitute this chicken anywhere you would have breaded chicken. Its great alone or with a topping.

What you need:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1/2 C almond meal

1 T dried parsley

pinch sea salt and 1 tsp. black pepper

What you do:
- Pound chicken breasts pretty thin (about 1/4 inch).
- Combine almond meal, parsley, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan.
- Dredge chicken breasts in almond flour mixture.
- Brown chicken breast in olive oil, about 5 minutes on each side.

At this point you can continue with the scallopini recipe or you ca do what we did here, serve with spaghetti squash and organic sauce.