Wow, one week since my last post…

Sorry, but it is the season…and I am quite going crazy with all of the things that need to get done before Christmas day!!

Anyhow, I have been using cranberries lately for a lot of my desserts. I really like the tart of the cranberries mixed in with the sweetness that baking brings with them.

I am lucky enough to be able to get some organic cranberries at the store. A little bit more expensive, but never the less better :-)

For the purpose of taking pictures I used the classic sugar glaze for the cinnamon rolls however you can use maple syrup instead. It is also great with the cinnamon rolls and much better for you!

These rolls will take you a bit longer to make because whole wheat flour has less gluten thus the rising of the dough will take you longer, but be patient. This are a bit denser than the regular counter parts but they are still really really good.

Here you can see some of the other rolls I have made in the past:

Dark chocolate and hazelnut cinnamon rolls
Whole grain cinnamon rolls

I have actually frozen half of my batch, as I am going to reserved some cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I think this would be a nice treat for the kids right before they open their presents.

Enjoy!!

This is how the dough looks like before and after the first rising. It took about 2 hours, maybe a tiny bit longer.

After the dough rises roll out the dough in a greased surface and spread the cranberry filling over it. Roll it through, making sure you don’t do it tightly.

Cut the roll into little buns and place them on a greased floured 9×13 baking pan for about 2 hours until they rise again. Right picture.

This is how the rolls looked like after baking them for about 30 minutes at 375F.

These cinnamon cranberry rolls are out of this world. I hope you get to try them soon!! and remember, you can use maple syrup in place of the sugar glaze for the rolls

Cranberry cinamon rolls

Yield: 16 rolls

Total Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup low fat milk
• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup old fashion rolled oats
• 4 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour plus 2-4 tablespoons

Filling

• 16 oz of fresh organic cranberries
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the glaze

• 1/2 cup coconut cream, or cream cheese
• 3 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

In a mixing bowl mix all of the dough ingredients. Knead it with your hands 2 to 3 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly buttered bowl covered with plastic wrap. Let it stand for to 2 hours until double in bulk.

On the mean time prepare the cranberry filling. Place cranberries and honey in a sauce pan over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, until cranberries have soften.

Deflate the dough and transfer to a lightly greased work surface. Roll and pat it into a rectangle and spread the cranberry filling over the dough, like in the pictures.

Roll the dough into a log, and using a serrated knife cut it into pieces. Place the buns on a greased and floured a baking pan (or parchment paper) spacing them evenly making sure they won't touch each other. Cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and let them rise for another 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375F. Bake buns for 25-35 minutes. Remove them from the oven and after 5 minutes invert the rolls onto the rack and invert them back again onto a platter.

In a small bowl, mix the coconut cream and maple syrup. Dollop glaze over each roll and spread. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition facts calculated based on the recipe giving 16 rolls

The post Whole wheat cranberry cinnamon rolls appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

This lemon cake? to die for.

This cake is easy, tasty and refreshing. Perfect for the summer days coming ahead.

I have actually seen this all over the Internet and not until a couple of days ago that I saw the recipe again I was reminded that this lemon cake was on my to do baking list. Since I had all of the ingredients on hand, I could not wait to try this.

I was able to tweak my recipe for the coconut and lime cake and come with this variation, superb!!

Next time making this, I am going to use almond flour though. I didn’t have any on hand because I am actually waiting for my bulk almond shipment to arrive, can’t wait.

I have used oat flour for this lemon cake but if you don’t have any, just make it like I did. It is easy peasy. You just need a cup of old fashion oats, a food processor and a minute or two.

Anyhow, I think you need to try this cake, it is lemony, easy to make and not that bad for you. A little goes a long way so don’t eat it all at once.

You must know that in a couple of weeks I will have another giveaway, just  before I go away for a month and close the blog for

Enjoy!!

How to make your own oat flour: Place 1 cup of old fashion oats into your food processor and pulverized the oats for about 1 minute. You don’t need to buy any, just make your own like I did, it is that easy :-)

Here you can see the batter right before being placed in the oven at 350F for about 40-50 minutes.

Here you can see the cake completely cooled and frosting/whip topping, which is not that sweet at all. Only 3 tablespoons of confectioner sugar in it!! You can also use maple syrup :-)

This cake is to die for. I hope you get to try it soon. You will like it a lot…. that is if you like lemon :-)

Whole grain lemonade cake and how to make your own oat flour

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup frozen lemon concentrate, thawed out
• 3 organic eggs
• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar, more if you like
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking soda

Frosting

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup frozen lemon concentrate, thawed out
• Zest of 1 lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 8x8 inch square baking pan and set aside.

Mix first 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl, I do this using a regular wire whisk. Incorporate flours, baking powder, and baking soda.

Pour over prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

For the frosting. In a medium mixing bowl, with a hand mixer, whip heavy cream and maple syrup together until whipped. Fold in Greek yogurt, lemon concentrate and lemon zest. Frost entire cake with the frosting or just individual pieces that are to be served. This is what I did.

Inspired by Baked Bree

Nutrition facts calculated based on the recipe giving 8 servings.

The post Whole grain lemonade cake and how to make your own oat flour appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I have been thinking about baking with different flours for a while. I have used oat, and barley flour quite a bit in the past but I think I am also going to incorporate some buckwheat, and coconut flour as well, maybe a little bit of almond flour.

I would love to use more almond flour….. it’s just that it is too expensive though :-(

I will still use whole wheat pastry flour, just a little bit less of it though. I just want to incorporate more flours that are gluten and wheat free. Nothing wrong with that right?

Also, I am going to try to decrease the sugar content of my baking goods even further. I have been doing so for a while and as you decrease the sugar and train your palate, the minute you try something normally sweet it just tastes way too sweet.

Anyhow, slowly but shortly I will healthify my baking goods a little bit more :-)

OK onto this post now.

This is one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes I have come up with. Remember I posted something about making some fresh mint chocolate chip cookies on facebook a while ago? Well I did make them, I just found them not perfect enough with the texture and consistency so I wanted to give them another try before posting the recipe.

I figured, to count down on prep time, I just bake a giant cookie and call it a day. Anyways it was fun for the kids, and different. I think kids like anything giant especially when it comes to sweets and baking.

The recipe comes from my old giant chocolate chip cookie I made a while back. For this version I baked it in a different baking pan, I decreased the sugar even further and used a mixture of flours. In this case barley and whole wheat pastry flour, but I think you can use any of the other flours if you prefer.

Anyhow, this is a great way to bake your cookies. I am taking this cookie pie to a barbecue tomorrow. I hope you give it a try :-)

Enjoy!!

The mint is taking over the parsley, cilantro and basil so I had to chopped some off to let the sun help the other herbs grow as well!!  By the way, I cleaned the mint with a dry paper towel and scrape whatever sand was on them. Make sure you add them to the batter completely dried.

Here you can see the chopped mint which I added to the batter on the last step. Then just mix the mint through.

Here you can see the mint mix in with the batter. Pad down the dough onto the prepared baking tart and bake for about 22 minutes at 350F.

Here I was cooling down the cookie pie for about 20 minutes before I did cut into it. Try to wait a bit longer if you can, I just wanted to dig into it because the mint smell was making me nuts!!

This cookie pie is not that sweet at all so if you like you can add an extra 1/4 cup of sugar. I am just starting to go onto the extra lower sweet end of things :-)

Whole grain mint and dark chocolate chip cookie pie

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup unrefined sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup barley flour
1/3 cup fresh chopped mint, make sure it is completely dry
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2  cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9 inch pie or tart pan. I used a tart pan with removable bottom.

In a bowl mix sugar, oil, egg, vanilla extract and butter. I used a wire whisk to do this.

Stir in the flours, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips and blend well. Incorporate the fresh mint and mix through. Pat down onto the prepared pan until you obtain a giant cookie, just like in the picture. I do this with my hands and a rubber spatula.

Bake cookies for 22-24 minutes. Cut into wedges 2-4 minutes after getting out of the oven, it is easier this way.

Inspired by chocolate and carrots

Nutrition facts calculated based on the recipe giving 8 servings.

The post Whole grain mint and dark chocolate chip cookie pie appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Dark chocolate brownies are to the max….yea that is how I called these amazing brownies not only because they were super fudgy, but also because they tasted awesome. Irish cream cheese brownies!

Chocolate brownies with home made Irish cream? What could go wrong with this combination?…nothing at all!

I used Irish cream in the brownies, in the cream cheese topping and in the heavy cream. It can’t get better than that!!

I know my cream cheese brownie swirl didn’t turn out as good as I would have hoped for, but never the less it was OK. Next time around I just hope it turns out a bit thicker so less Irish cream in the topping may work better.

I will leave you with this sensational brownie combination hopping you try it soon and if you do I hope that you like it as much as we do.  This Irish cream cheese brownies are the best. A great treat for the days coming up ahead.

Enjoy!!

Here you can see the brownie mix. Pretty thick and super chocolaty.

The cream cheese brownie swirl did not look as good as I would have hoped. I think I put too much Irish cream. I did adjusted the quantity in the recipe though so you won’t have the same problem.

To the max irish cream chocolate cream cheese brownies

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 10-12 servings

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil
2 organic eggs
1/2 cup Irish cream liquor, I used my home made Irish cream version
1/3 cup unrefined sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, minus two tablespoons
1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
12 oz dark chocolate chips

Cream cheese topping

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbs maple syrup
1 organic egg
2 tbs Irish cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 8x8 square baking pan and set aside.

In a mixing bowl whisk first 5 ingredients. Add flour and baking powder and incorporate well.

In a large bowl place chocolate chips and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir well. Continue microwaving in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Incorporate melted chocolate into the batter and mix through. Pour batter into prepared pan.

In another bowl mix cream cheese topping ingredients until smooth and pour over the brownie batter making a swirl effect. You made want to use a toothpick or other item of same sort for the effect.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Let the brownies cool in the pan for 10-20 minutes. Remove brownies and cut and serve as desired. I used heavy cream infused with Irish cream to decorate the brownies:-)

The post To the max irish cream cheese brownies appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I make pizza at least once a week and this is the first time I have made plain pizza. It will not be the last….. it is so good…….

I made sure the tomato sauce base is exceptional so the pizza tastes even better :-)

I normally mix organic marinara tomato sauce I get from Trader Joe’s and add some tomato paste to it so that the sauce is not too runny, I don’t like wet pizzas.

Anyhow, this one is a definite keeper that I will be making often. If you like pizza this one is a must try.

Enjoy!!

The rising of the dough takes about 1 hour and after rolling it out and placing in it the pizza stones another 30 minutes to rest.

It is pretty straight forward. The only thing you need is a little bit of time for the rising of the dough. I also use whole wheat pastry flour instead of just whole wheat flour and it always works really good.

I used two pizza stones I go from Pampered chef which work really good but you can use any other baking dish you have, that is what I used to do for my pizzas before I got these stones and the pizzas worked really good!!

Whole grain plain pizza

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 2 extra large pies

Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

Dough for two pies

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon unrefined sugar
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 teaspoon gluten, you can omit it if you don't have it
4 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoon celtic salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Dry spices such as oregano, basil and rosemary

Topping

1/2 cup tomato sauce, I normally do a mixture of tomato paste and marinara tomato sauce
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, more or less if you like, I normally do more
1 tablespoon oregano

Directions:

In a bowl mix the dough ingredients, and knead to make a smooth crust. It will take about 5 minutes. I do this process by hand (you can use your mixer, I just don't have one, never cared for one really, I do my mixes the old fashion way, with my hands!!)

If the dough is to wet, just add a bit more oat flour.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, and let rise till very puffy, and doubled in size about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Half the dough and sprinkle some flour on your work surface where you will roll out the pizza. With a rolling pin roll out each piece to fit the pizza stone of choice or baking dish. Transfer the rolled dough onto the pizza stone and let the dough rest for 30 minutes or so.

Preheat oven to 425F. Place 1/4 cup of tomato sauce over each pie (more or less if you like) followed by the mozzarella. Sprinkle the oregano over the top and bake for 15-20 minutes.

The post Whole grain plain pizza appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I made these beautiful valentine’s cookies a while back, and while they were really good I wanted to find an even healthier option. We know that valentine’s day it’s just around the corner so I figured I make these again.

I experimented with the coconut oil and they turned out beautifully. They are not that sweet and the coconut flavor is even better now that I added the coconut oil. I also opted for using a smaller cookie cutter this time so the cooking time was less.

You can just go ahead and used the 3/4 cup of butter instead if you don’t have the coconut oil, they will still be perfectly fine and yummy. Next time I make these, which I will for my daughter’s birthday party, I will add an extra 1/4 cup sugar though.

Anyhow, you can make these valentine’s coconut cookies which ever shape you prefer. I got a new hello kitty cookie cutter for my 2 year old daughter so I figured I make some for her as well.

If you try them let me know….I hope they turn out as good as they did for us :-)

Enjoy!!

This is how I rolled the cookies. In between plastic wrap. Make sure you don’t cut the cookies too think otherwise they won’t cook very good, they will become crumbly when you eat them!!

You can see the slight brown color around the cookies after baking them for 10-12 minutes. I made some pink and some purple.

My kids of course ate the hello kitty shaped cookies first :-) and as you can see no fancy decoration techniques here :-)

My job decorating the cookies was not very elaborate and I actually hardly used any glaze on them. They weren’t too sweet at all so next time I will use and extra 1/4 cup of sugar.

100% whole grain valentine's cookies Round 2

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup unrefined sugar, you may want to do 3/4 cup because the cookies aren't that sweet at all
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup butter, room temperature, 1 stick
1/4 cup coconut oil, room temperature
5-7 tablespoons milk, I used low fat
1 teaspoon coconut extract, optional
A couple of drops of pink food coloring

GLAZE

7 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
3-4 tablespoons low fat milk

 

Directions:

In a bowl, with your hands mix flour and butter until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Add coconut oil, sugar, coconut, milk, coconut extract and food coloring. Mix until you form a soft dough.

Preheat oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and stamp out hearts using a cookie cutter (I roll out the dough in between plastic wrap which I find very easy to do also you can use any other cookie cutter shape you like).

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool in the baking sheet for 5 minutes or so and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

To decorate cookies mix glaze ingredients and drizzle it over the cookies.

The post 100% whole grain valentine’s cookies Round 2 appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.