God Jul!

Ok, so I'm little behind in regards to this post. I meant to share this before Christmas. But as is usually the case at this time of year, things were quite hectic & busy. Plus combined with the fact that it was my first White Christmas, & first Christmas in Sweden, my thoughts weren't exactly on updating my blog.

So the day may have passed, but I still want to share with you what I had for Christmas. Being the only one in my (new) family who is heavily intolerant to a lot of foods, I decided to make myself some sweet Christmas treats, so I wouldn't feel like I was missing out on anything. Here's my spread:

I do wish I had taken more photos, I apologise for that not being the best shot. But you get the idea. I made myself choc-hazelnut truffles, Scandinavian thumbprint cookies, gingerbread cookies, & blueberry raspberry blondies. The gingerbread was my own recipe concoction I've been playing around with for a while (since so many of the spices in gingerbread are so very good in helping to combat Candida). The truffles I made where another bit of guesswork, based on Elana's various truffle recipes; the Scandinavian thumbprint cookies were my alteration of Kelly's recipe, & the blondies were another alteration of a recipe, this time courtesy of Amy

I'll post my altered recipes for each soon, as well as my yummy gingerbread. H was very impressed with my spread (even helping me eat my blondies & thumbprint cookies!). His mum tried my gingerbread & said that it tasted just like pepparkakor, just without the crunchiness the original ones contain (mine are rather soft, as there is no syrup in them to harden them).

Sugar-Free/Gluten-Free/Flour-Free Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

½dl (50g) coconut flour

½dl (50g) soy flour (can alternate with other bean flours if soy is not tolerated)

1 tablespoon (15g) psyllium husk

½dl (50 mls) water

½dl (50 mls) milk (for dairy free, use soy/oat/rice/almond/coconut milk)

1 egg

2 teaspoons liquid sweetener (equals 100g sugar)

1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1½ teaspoons dried ground ginger

1 teaspoon cardemom

1 teaspoon ground cloves

2 mls vanilla essence

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of salt

Method:

- Sift the flours into a bowl. Add the rest of the dry ingredients & mix well.

- Melt coconut oil & butter. Whisk egg in another bowl, & add the rest of the wet ingredients. Stir together.

- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients & stir together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or place the dough into an airtight container & leave it in the fridge overnight.

- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

- Roll dough flat with a rolling pin, then cut into cookies using cutters. Place the cookies on a tray covered with baking paper & bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy! Writing about this now makes me want to go & bake another batch...