Persimmon Chips

Even here on Oahu, persimmons are in abundance in late October (at least at our commissary). We've been eating them raw, either like an apple or peeled and sliced over a salad.  I wanted to try persimmon "chips".  So easy, and quite delicious.

Preheat oven to 350.  Slice your persimmons (I used my scary mandoline) thinly.  Put on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (I sprayed mine with coconut oil) and sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  Bake for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for 10 minutes more.  At this point, I decided I wanted mine more crispy and did 1 min per side on High Broil.

Paleo Christmas Bark

I needed something "festive" to bring to a holiday party, so I went on searching on good old Pinterest. Although this looks nothing like the beautiful picture of the recipe that I found from a blog called "She Talks", it actually tastes delicious.  I didn't have any coconut butter, so I ended up making my own.

1 cup coconut butter, melted (instructions to follow if you don't have any on hand)
2 TBS coconut oil
2 TBS cocoa powder
4 TBS maple syrup (you could probably get away with 3, maybe 2, but 4 made it nice and sweet)
dried fruits and nuts for topping (I used dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and sliced almonds)
sprinkle of coarse sea salt (my own addition, and it added a really nice touch)

Melt coconut butter in small pot over low heat stirring constantly.  Add coconut oil and keep stirring until melted.  Add cocoa powder and maple syrup and stir until smooth. Pour mixture onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (I had to kind of press it down and smooth it out with my fingers until it was about 1/4 inch thick).  Add toppings and press into chocolate (this is when I sprinkled the sea salt on).  Freeze for 15 minutes. Cut or break into pieces and store in airtight container in the fridge.

For the coconut butter:
Blend 4 cups of coconut flakes in food processor for about 10 minutes, scrapping down the sides as needed.  It goes through a couple of different stages: grainy, lumpy liquid, and then finally smooth liquid.  It just takes patience.  :-)

Chunky Monkey Muffins

Okay, so this recipe is more "treat" than Paleo, but it's still gluten and dairy free (if you use dairy free chocolate chips, such as Good Life chocolate chips--I didn't have any on hand, so I just used regular dark chocolate chips).  I got the recipe from here.  The only sub I did was to replace the butter with coconut oil.  I'm glad that I'm bringing them to a potluck tonight, because I could easily eat half of the recipe in one sitting.  Like I said, it's a treat.  :-)

Preheat oven to 350.

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour (first time using it, and it definitely makes them more "cakey" than almond flour--I found it in the same area I find the coconut or almond flours)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup coconut crystals
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chocolate chips, such as Good Life (dairy and soy free)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix flours and baking soda together in a bowl.  In a larger bowl, combine coconut oil, coconut crystals, bananas, vanilla and eggs.  Add flour mixture to wet ingredients.  Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.  Spoon into muffin tins lined with foil liners (or use those nifty silicone liners placed on a baking sheet!).  Bake for about 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.  Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Just Peachy Crisp

We recently moved to the midwest, and I was craving something from back home.  Specifically, a good ol' peach cobbler.  I don't normally do much baking, and this is a far cry from my old canned peaches and biscuit topped cobbler, but it hit the spot (and made the house smell heavenly!).  It has honey and coconut crystals in the recipe, so it's not for the purists, but it's a nice once in a while treat.

8 peaches, sliced
1/2 cup raw honey (I also tried using 1/4 cup, and while it was good, it wasn't quite sweet enough for what I wanted, but you can play with it)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBS vanilla

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup coconut crystals
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 TBS cinnamon
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375.  In a small bowl, melt honey for about 30 seconds in microwave, then stir in 1 tsp cinnamon and vanilla.  Pour over sliced peaches and toss to coat.  Place peaches in baking dish.
Melt coconut oil in a large bowl for about a minute, until liquid.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well (I used my hands).  Press mixture over peaches.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Paleo Pina Colada Cake

Desserts are few and far between in the Paleo world (which is usually fine for me), but sometimes you want something cake-y.  This was pretty darn good, but next time I think I'll add a little (maybe 3 TBS?) of melted coconut oil to the batter so that it's a little more moist.  But my girls loved it, so I guess that's what counts!

1/2 fresh pineapple, diced (about 1.5 cups, although you could use more)
1 TBS coconut oil
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375.  In a saucepan, melt coconut oil.  Add pineapple and saute until it starts to caramelize, about 10 minutes.  Place in a pie plate, greased with a little coconut oil.  In a food processor, add coconut milk, coconut flour, vanilla, nutmeg and eggs and blend until smooth.  Pour over pineapple and bake for about 45 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes and then serve.

Summer Strawberry Pie

My daughter and I picked 7lbs of fresh strawberries today, so I needed something to make with them.  Okay, so while this might not satisfy your sweet tooth if you've been indulging in lots of sugary treats, it's pretty good if you haven't had any of the "real stuff" for a bit. :-)  I researched online for a recipe that spoke to me, but didn't find one that seemed to do what I wanted it to do, so I came up with my own, albeit inspired by several others.
If you're not too concerned about natural sweeteners, such as honey or agave syrup, the crust and filling could benefit from a TBS or so in each.

Pie Crust

1.5 cups almond flour (almonds ground in the food processor until they resemble a coarse flour)
1/2 cup ground coconut flakes
1/4 tsp sea salt
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut oil

Mix well and press into a pie tin.

Filling

1 ripe banana, mashed well
3/4 cup (5.5 oz can) coconut milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed strawberries

1/2 pint or so of fresh strawberries






Place filling in prepared pie crust.  Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until set.  Cool completely in fridge.

Slice fresh strawberries and starting from the outside crust, arrange in a spiral shape overlapping all the way into the middle.  Refrigerate.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Casserole

I needed a "dessert", so I came up with this...believe me, if you're not eating sugar, this tastes pretty darn good!

6 sweet potatoes (I like to make up a bunch at a time--I find that they keep for a good 5 days in the fridge)
1 TBS coconut oil
1 tsp cinnamon
S&P to taste
3/4 cup (more or less) Flaked unsweetened dried coconut (I find mine at the Fresh Market)
1/2 cup (more or less) Chopped walnuts

Bake the sweet potatoes at 400 for about an hour until nice and soft (I usually do it on a foil lined cookie sheet so that there's less mess).  Once you can handle them, peel them and mash them up, along with the coconut oil, cinnamon, and S&P.  Spread mixture into a casserole dish and sprinkle with the coconut and walnuts.  If you really want to get crazy, you can put that in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes or until the coconut starts to get a little golden.