I love making cookies, especially chocolate cookies of any kind. Today, I tried something that I have never done before—an orange chocolate cookie. I’ve made orange chocolate truffles before, but not cookies, and they were even better than I’d imagined. Orange is the perfect seasonal flavor to welcome spring and complements the rich chocolate so well. If you like chocolate (who doesn’t?) you are going to absolutely love these gluten-free Chocolate Orange Truffle Cookies. 

These Chocolate Orange Truffle Cookies are simply the best. They are almost like brownies, with an intense chocolate flavor. Rich and fudgy with a touch of citrus, these will satisfy any chocolate craving.

For the orange juice that gives these cookies their delicious citrus flavor, I choose Florida’s Natural Orange Juice. Florida’s Natural comes from pure Florida oranges. There are no artificial flavors or ingredients, and Florida’s Natural only uses oranges hand-picked from their grower-owned orange groves in Florida. Plus, Florida’s Natural orange juice is full of vitamins and minerals like potassium and vitamin C.

This recipe calls for two types of chocolate, which gives the cookies their sensational brownie flavor. I wanted to keep my cookies strictly orange and chocolate so the flavors would really stand out, but you can also include add-ons to the recipe, such as walnuts or pecans that will add just a little bit of crunch.

These Chocolate Orange Truffle Cookies are decadent, exceptionally tasty and perfect for any chocolate lover. If you are looking for a cookie with a rich, fudgy texture and intense chocolate flavor, this is your recipe.

Enjoy!

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Chocolate orange truffle cookies

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 24 cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp Florida’s Natural^® Orange Juice
• 12 oz dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened or Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Celtic salt
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• Flaky sea salt, optional

Directions:

Melt 8oz of the chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave. If using the microwave, cook in 20-second increments, stirring after each until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to slightly cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and remaining 4oz of chocolate chips together. Set aside.

Transfer the melted chocolate to a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs and orange zest and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add the coconut oil and mix for another minute or so on medium speed, until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Transfer the dough to the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to two hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper.

Spoon the dough onto baking sheets, using approximately 2 tbsp of dough for each cookie, placed 3 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges appear set. The centers will look a little soft.

Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If desired, top cookies with a pinch of flaky sea salt.

 

 

 

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Do you want to learn how to make one of your favorite drinks 3 unique ways? Not only Daiquiri cocktails are are very classic and enjoyable drink but they are a great option to keep cool this summer. Daiquiri 3 ways is sure to be a hit with family and friends on any BBQ or gathering this summer. Whether you drink alcohol or not, these recipes will give you options to server everyone.

Not only are Daiquiris delicious, but they are so fun to drink and a great way to keep cool during
the heat of late-summer. Over the past few months, I’ve been having fun making variations of
different drinks, and these recipes were no exception. I love serving Daiquiris to my family,
especially my kids. (A virgin version, of course!) When we travelled to Mexico one of their
favorite memories was drinking Virgin Daiquiris by the pool— fruity, colorful, refreshing drinks
that they really enjoyed. To make sure everyone can get in on the fun, I created three unique
Daiquiri recipes that are sure to be a hit with family and friends at any BBQ or gathering.  

In addition to the Virgin Daiquiri, I created an amazing Spicy Daiquiri and a Frozen Strawberry
Orange Daiquiri. The Spicy Daiquiri turned out to be a crowd favorite—for some reason, we are
liking all the spicy cocktails variations I am making this summer. Very unique!

For these cocktails, I use the one and only Florida's Natural. Florida’s Natural® Brand Orange
Juice is crafted with care by five generations of Florida families, and it’s made from 100 percent
real Florida oranges. They use only hand-picked oranges, never frozen concentrate.

If you are looking for some unique cocktail recipes to add to your summer menu, these recipes are a great place to start. Tasty, unique and full of flavor, these Daiquiri variations are sure to be a hit amongst family and friends!

Enjoy!

Daiquiri 3 ways

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 1 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

 Spicy Daiquiri

• 2 ounces rum
• 1/4 cup  Florida's Natural orange juice
• 1 inch chilli, mulled
• 1 tbsp maple syrup, optional

Frozen Strawberry and Orange Daiquiri

• 2 ounces rum
• 1/4 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/4 cup  Florida's Natural orange juice
• 1 tbsp maple syrup, optional
• Fresh pineapple, for garnish, optional

Virgin Daiquiri

• 1/2 cup  Florida's Natural orange juice
• 1/4 frozen pineapple
• 1 tbsp maple syrup, optional
• Fresh pineapple, for garnish, optional

 

Directions:

Spicy Daiquiri

In a glass, muddle chili with 1 oz of rum and maple syrup, if using. Strain the mixture into a glass over ice. Pour in the rest of the rum and orange juice and stir to mix. Garnish with additional chili slices.

with chili slices.

Frozen Strawberry and Orange Daiquiri

Add rum, frozen strawberries, orange juice and maple syrup, if using, to a blender. Blend on high until well mixed. Pour into a glass and garnish with fresh strawberries.

Virgin Daiquiri

Add orange juice, frozen pineapple and maple syrup, if using, to a blender. Blend on high until well mixed. Pour into a glass and garnish with fresh pineapple.

The post Daiquiri 3 ways appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

How are your new year resolutions going so far? New eating habits are one of the most popular new year resolutions, so I decided to share this roasted vegetable salad with orange vinaigrette. The dressing is what makes this salad superb. It’s a perfect pairing in this recipe, but you can get creative and use it on others!

In short, the dressing is simple yet flavorful. I think it has become one of my favorite dressings to use across salads because of its citrus flavor profile. I’ve all together quit buying dressing at the grocery store because of the long ingredients list. Store bought salad dressings often have a long ingredients list, with some being artificial. Making your own and keeping it in the fridge for future consumption is perfect.  And, salad dressings keep well. I have had homemade salad dressings for over two weeks in the fridge and they are still good. Making your own is a win-win. Since making your own dressing is super easy, I would rather do that because it also allows me to get creative.

For this roasted vegetable salad with orange vinaigrette, I used vegetables that are in season, but you can use any vegetables you prefer. I thought the butternut squash, red onions and beets made for a great combination. I am usually not a fan of butternut squash or beets, but I am striving to introduce new and different vegetable combinations into our family meals this year.  We really enjoyed how the salad came together.

When you use orange juice in this recipe, opt for Florida’s Natural® Brand Orange Juice which is made from one simple ingredient — Florida oranges. And only Florida oranges. No water, sugar or preservatives are added.

Florida’s Natural orange juice comes from pure Florida oranges. There are no artificial flavors or ingredients. Florida’s Natural doesn’t fuss with their farmers’ oranges — they’re simply squeezed, gently pasteurized and poured into cartons that ensure a straight-from-the-grove taste that my family loves. I feel good about using Florida’s Natural as a key ingredient in many of my recipes and dressings.

If your new year resolution is centered around your diet, try for small changes at first. For example, try to incorporate one new veggie each week, have one less drink, or even try a new kitchen hack to keep you inspired and enjoying meal prep. Starting right now, you can make your own salad dressing!

Try this roasted vegetable salad with orange vinaigrette. Swap any veggies of your choice, the dressing is truly what makes the recipe, so I hope you like it.

Enjoy!

Roasted vegetable salad with orange vinaigrette

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 red beets, cubed
• 2 large red onions, cubed
• 1 lb butternut squash, cubed
• 6 oz fresh spinach
• 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 8 oz goat cheese
• 1 tsp Celtic salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

For the dressing

• 1/2 cup Florida's Natural orange juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tbs raw honey
• 2 tbs rice vinegar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F

Place the sliced beets on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper.

In another baking sheet, place the sliced butternut squash and red onions. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Roast the veggies for 20 minutes or until tender. Set aside to cool for at least 10-15 minutes.

While the beets are roasting, prepare the dressing. Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add the roasted veggies. Add the fresh spinach and salad dressing, then toss to combine. Divide salad among four plates and sprinkle the goat cheese over the salad. Serve immediately.

I like to store my salad dressings in salad dressing jars. So convenient!!

The post Roasted vegetable salad with orange vinaigrette. appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Baking is one of my favorite ways to spend time in the kitchen. Baking helps me decompress and is a form of therapy for me. Breads are a special choice for me to make whenever I feel like I want to spend more time in the kitchen. This time in the kitchen, I chose to make a batch of quick orange sweet rolls that don’t require multiple dough rises.

Coincidentally, tomorrow is National Orange Juice Day! What better day for these orange-flavored treats?

Roll recipes can take quite a long time to prepare given that most recipes call for multiple dough rising times. However, with this recipe you don’t have to waste much time with the rising step.

The only rising time you need is after rolling and placing them in the pan prior to baking. They rise for one hour, then you can start baking. Once you place the rolls in the oven, they will keep rising and you will obtain the desired fluffiness and rise of conventional cinnamon rolls.

I was quite pleased with how these quick orange sweet rolls turned out. My family enjoyed them thoroughly and on top of that, the rolls weren’t too sweet!

It was also my first time using cream cheese for the frosting. It is definitely my favorite way to frost rolls now and going forward, this is what I will be using.

For the perfect orange flavor, I chose Florida’s Natural^® Brand Orange Juice. Whenever possible, I choose top notch, quality ingredients to make sure my recipes turn out when it comes to flavor, and Florida’s Natural delivers.

Florida’s Natural is made from one simple ingredient — Florida oranges. And only Florida oranges. No water, sugar or preservatives are added. The orange juice comes from pure Florida oranges. There are no artificial flavors or ingredients. I choose Florida’s Natural because the oranges are simply squeezed, flash-pasteurized and poured into cartons that ensure a fresh straight-from-the-grove taste.

Finally, I prefer this recipe because the rolls aren’t too sugary or sweet.  If you prefer your rolls on the sweeter side, you can add more frosting. For my family, a teaspoon on each roll is good.

If you have any leftover frosting, you can also freeze it for the next time you make these quick orange sweet rolls. I intend to use it next time I make these rolls…which will be very soon!

If you are looking to bake in the upcoming days, give these quick orange sweet rolls a try. These are one of the best roll recipes I have made to date.

Enjoy!

.    .   

Orange sweet rolls

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1 cup Florida's Natural orange juice
• 1/2 cup lukewarm milk, any kind will work
• 3 tsp active dried yeast
• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar
• 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 1 cup unrefined sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamon
• 2 egg whites

Cream cheese frosting:

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2-3 tps orange juice
• ¾ cup powdered sugar replacement
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a bowl of an electric mixer, add warm milk, yeast, sugar, butter and orange juice. Mix until combined.

Place dough hook-on mixer, add the flour, 1 cup at at time, and knead dough on medium speed for 5-6 minutes. Dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. (The consistency of the dough should be slightly sticky)

Transfer dough over a large flat piece of plastic wrap and roll out into a 14x9 inch rectangle. In a small bowl, mix together sugar, cinnamon, cardamon and egg whites. Spread filling over dough leaving a ¼ inch margin at the far side of the dough.

Tightly roll dough up, starting from the 9 inch side and place seam side down making sure to seal the edges of the dough as best you can. Cut into 2-3 inch sections with a serrated knife.

Place cinnamon rolls in a greased baking pan. Cover with a clean warm towel and let rise for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove towel and bake orange rolls for 25-30 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges.

While the rolls are baking, in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, orange juice, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Spread over orange rolls and serve immediately. (Allow rolls to cool for a 15 minutes before frosting)

NOTE: If you don't have a stand mixer you can use a wooden spatula to mix ingredients and use your hands for kneading the dough. 

The post Quick orange sweet rolls appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

If you want something easy and delicious to have as an appetizer for Thanksgiving or at any other gathering this is it. This goat cheese and chia cranberry crostini is very unique. If you don’t like goat cheese you can use ricotta cheese or any soft cheese of your choice, even cream cheese would work and if you want to make it vegan just use vegan cream cheese.

The chia seed cranberry jam in this recipe comes from a recipe I made a couple of days ago. It is also very easy to make and delicious so I hope you give it a try. No need to buy jams anymore.

Ok so I finally decided what we are having for thanksgiving besides a few appetizers. BBQ chicken with a veggie stir fry mixture, I know it is not turkey but we really don’t care for it. I am not much of a meat or poultry eater either and I don’t cook it too often so I am sure my family will be thrilled with this recipe.

Well I hope everyone has a great holiday. This is my short post right before the holidays. Stay safe my friends and be careful traveling places, the weather here in NJ is not too good thus far!

Enjoy!

I toasted my baguette under the broiler but you can do it on a toaster if you like. Just make sure you keep an eye on the bread because it burns really quickly.

Goat cheese and chia cranberry crostini

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 20-24 crostinis

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 8 oz chia seed orange cranberry jam
• 4 oz goat cheese, vegan cream cheese for a vegan version
• 1 whole grain baguette
• Orange zest

Directions:

Cut the baguette into slices. Toast the baguette slices under the broiler on both sides or on a toaster.

Place about 2 teaspoons of goat cheese followed by 2 teaspoons of orange cranberry jam and the orange zest. Serve.

The post Goat cheese and chia cranberry crostini appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I am in love with these rolls. I have actually made them twice in the span of one week and tried to experiment with the whole wheat content of the dough. While both turned out good the one that used a mixture of whole wheat and all purpose flour worked best. The texture was more spongy like.

I am actually going to try to make them again just all whole wheat because I really hate having all purpose flour in the mixture. I like them to be 100% whole wheat so I am trying once more and if they are as good or better than the last batch I will change the recipe to 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour instead :-)

Anyhow, I know that these rolls require a little bit of time but they are worth every minute. If you venture and try them out I suggest you try to get 12 little rolls out of each circle instead of 8 like I did. Either way they will be good, I just think they will be better being a bit smaller.

By the way these rolls are not that sweet at all. They are just perfect!!

Enjoy!!

Dough pictures before and after rising. It took about 2-3 hours. If using all 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour it will take longer. If choosing to use 3 cups whole wheat flour for the bread, add 1 teaspoon of gluten if you have it. It will help with the rising of the dough as well as the texture.

Place 2-3 tablespoons of marmalade, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of shredded coconut over each circle. Then with a pizza cutter divide each circle into 12 if you can. I did into 8 :-)

Left picture depicts the rolls before rising which probably took about 1-2 hours. The right picture was after the rolls risen. I baked it that night and the next morning half the batch was pretty much gone :-)

The dough itself is not that sweet even with the marmalade and all so the glaze complements these rolls very good. You can omit it if you like but I do recommend it!!

You can add what ever marmalade you like to the rolls. I had raspberry on hand but any would work perfectly.

Raspberry and orange sweet rolls

Yield: 16-20 rolls

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup unrefined sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose flour, I am going to try to get rid of this in the recipe next time, I was just experimenting

Filling

4-6 tablespoons raspberry marmalade
2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
4 tablespoons sugar
zest of two organic oranges

Glaze

1/2 cup confectioner sugar
2-3 tablespoons orange juice

Directions:

In a bowl add sugar, oil, eggs, yeast and yogurt. Add 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour and 3/4 cup of all purpose flour, mix well. (I do all of this with my hands). If the dough appears too sticky, add the remaining 1/4 cup all purpose flour.

Cover dough with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in a warm place, about 2 hours. Divide dough in half and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out each half into a 12-inch circle.

Spread 2-3 tablespoons of marmalade on each circle and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar plus 1 tablespoon of coconut on each circle. Divide the orange zest among both circles.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the circle into 12 equal slices. (I cut mine into 8 but 12 would work a lot better). Starting on the wide end, roll up each slice like a croissant.

In a greased 9x13-inch baking pan, lay the rolls pointed end down. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Alternatively, cover with foil and allow to rise in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush (you can also use your fingers) each roll with egg wash (1 egg mixed in with 1 tsp of water or milk) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Mix the glaze ingredients and pour over the rolls. Served while still warm or completely cooled.

adapted from the pastry affair

 Nutrition facts calculated based on the recipe giving 18 rolls.

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