Tag: soy-free

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pretzel Sandwiches

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Sweet, creamy cookie dough. Crunchy salty pretzels. Smooth silky chocolate. Everyone will love these bite-sized sandwiches. For a soy-free batch, I used crispy plantain chips instead of the pretzels… which was a truly awesome experiment.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pretzel Sandwiches

1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup vegan buttery spread, such as Earth Balance
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup sorghum flour
2/3 cup tapioca flour
2/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
About 64 knot-shaped pretzels (I use Snyders Gluten-Free)
2 teaspoons coconut oil
Fine sea salt (optional, but recommended)

Put the maple syrup, vegan buttery spread, and vanilla extract in a bowl or a stand mixer. Using a hand mixer or the stand mixer, beat until well combined. Add the flour, icing sugar, and salt. Beat until fluffy and well-mixed. Add 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips and beat until combined.

Lay a piece of waxed paper on a large plate. Use your hands to roll the mixture into truffle-sized balls (about 32). Squish each ball to about 1-inch thick between two pretzels to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining balls and pretzels. Put in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Nearing the end of the 15 minutes, put the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals on medium-power, stirring between each one, until melted and smooth.

Dip half of each sandwich into the melted chocolate, then put it back on the waxed paper. Sprinkle with salt, if desired. Freeze or refrigerate until chocolate is set. Store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer.

Three Seed Crackers

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Once you have all of the ingredients on hand, you can prep and bake these crackers in under 15 minutes, which is great timing to coincide with heating up some soup to dunk them into. These crackers are ridiculously easy, loaded with nutrition, and make a huge batch: the perfect soup companion. Mix and match the flours and add-ins to your taste–they are pretty foolproof.

crackers

Three Seed Crackers

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup teff flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup hemp seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds
2 tablespoons black or white sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 to 3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 450F. Tear off a sheet of parchment paper the size of your baking pan. If you want very thin crackers, use two baking sheets.

Put the sorghum flour, teff flour, baking powder, seeds and salt in a large bowl. Whisk well. Add the olive oil and about 1/4 cup water. Stir to mix, adding additional water for it to become cohesive.

Place the dough directly on the parchment paper. Roll thinly—the thinner the dough, the thinner the crackers will be. If necessary, divide on two parchment sheets for thin crisp-style crackers. Cut the dough with a sharp knife into squares; you don’t have to pull them apart, just cut through to the pan.

Transfer sheets to oven and bake for about 3 to 5 minutes, until they are firm enough to move (very thin crackers will take only a few minutes). They will slightly shrink, making it easy to flip the crackers using a metal spatula. Bake for another 4 to 5 minutes, depending on thickness. Let cool on the pan before serving or storing. They will become more firm as they cool.

Tomato and Basil Tart with Sunflower Seed Cheese

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An easy to put together tart highlighting juicy tomatoes and fresh basil. Feel free to add herbs, garlic, fresh ground pepper, and other ingredients to the basic “cheese” recipe to suit your favourite flavors. The sunflower seed cheese process needs to be started a day ahead with some soaking.

raw tomato sunflower tart

Raw Tomato and Basil Tart with Sunflower Seed Cheese

Almond Crust:
1 1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons water

Sunflower Seed Cheese:
1 cup hulled sunflower seeds, soaked 8 hours
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
6 large basil leaves
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Topping:
Mixture of colourful tomatoes, sliced 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick
Small handful fresh basil, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

To make the crust, put the almonds, flaxseed, basil, and salt in a food processor. Process until the almonds are finely ground. Drizzle in the coconut oil. Pulse about 6 times to mix. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing just until the mixture begins to stick together. Scrape the mixture into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing firmly into the bottom and up the sides. Transfer to the refrigerator.

To make the sunflower seed cheese, drain the sunflower seeds and put them in the food processor with the remaining ingredients, scraping down the sides as necessary (add a few splashed of water, if needed). Test for seasonings, adding additional salt, pepper, or lemon zest if desired. Spread the mixture onto the crust. Top with the tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

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