Stephanie's Test Kitchen

I’ve been a bit slack lately with getting posts up. I do have heaps of posts that are partly completed so hopefully I can get some posted soon.

I have a confession: I’m obsessed with anything carrot cake. Traditional carrot cake (gluten free for me of course), raw vegan carrot cake with cashew cream frosting, carrot cake oats for brekky and two new carrot cake delights; carrot cake pancakes and carrot cake cookies.

Healthy carrot cake is the perfect way to have a sweet treat whilst also getting in a dose of veg. I needed to stock up on healthy snacks to eat after work so these carrot cake cookies were the perfect find as I’m trying to include as much veg in my diet as I can, including my snacks.

This cookies recipe called for almond butter but I didn’t have any so I used organic peanut butter, which is always a good idea, but it over powered the rest of the flavours in the cookies. I also had to cook them longer then the recipe stated but they turned out nice and chewy just the way I like cookies.

Some mornings I wake up with the desire to have pancakes for brekky and one Saturday morning I was flipping through Jessica Sepel’s healthy recipe book and came across her section on pancake variations. Lucky for me there was a carrot cake pancake recipe, combining two of my favourite sweet treats. I just had to make them. I love a pancake stack and just like when I make carrot cake oats, I topped the stack with 100% peanut butter and a drizzle of pure maple syrup. I love that the recipe included sultanas and walnuts, because to me, carrot cake should always include those two ingredients as they did an extra something to crunch on.

I used coconut flour for the pancakes and I recommend if you use coconut flour rather then almond meal to add extra liquid as the pancake batter was too crumbly but still cooked up well and tasted awesome.

Carrot Cake Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• Seeds of one vanilla pod or 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 cup of coconut sugar or sweetner of your choice
• 1 cup almond butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/2 cup sultanas

Recipe:

1. Place all the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl give them a good stir.
2. Add the almond butter, eggs, carrot and sultana and mix well
3. Roll the cookie dough into balls and place them on a lined tray.
4. Press them lightly with the back of a fork.
5. Pop the tray into the frige for an hour.
6. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
7. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are nice and golden.
8. They keep well in the fridge for about a week if they last that long. They also freeze well.

*Recipe Tested from Lola Berry’s new book ‘The Happy Life’*

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp almond milk(more if using coconut flour)
• 1 cup almond meal or 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tbsp oats
• 1 carrot, grated
• 5-10 walnuts, crushed
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tbsp sultanas
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• Topping of choice

Recipe:

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs.
2. Add in all the ingredients and combine well, adding more liquid if required
3. Melt coconut oil on a non stick frying pan over a medium heat.
4. Spoon mixture and cook each side for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.
6. Top pancakes with desired toppings and enjoy.

*Recipe Tested from Jessica Sepel’s Book ‘The Healthy Life’*