Paleo Comfort Foods

Yay! I have been eagerly waiting for my cookbook to be here and it finally arrived this week! I have been checking out the Paleo Comfort Foods blog for a few months now and have absolutely loved their flavorful recipes and easy going spirit. I also like all of the giveaways they have had lately (even though I have yet to win)! Either way I am super excited to have my cookbook in my hands now and have been looking through the book and can't decide what recipe to experiment with first! All of them seem pretty simple to make and most of the ingredients are things I try to keep around anyway. So keep looking for my Paleo Comfort Food cooking adventures in the upcoming weeks :)

Paleo Chocolate Chip Orange Scones

I have been spending way too much time on Pinterest. It is an easy way to distract myself from all of the other work that I should be doing. It has been a stressful start to the new school year. However, I have been thoroughly enjoying the weekends to experiment with different arts and crafts projects and recipe adventures I have found from Pinterest. This weekend I made two delicious recipes from Elana's Pantry. If you haven't checked her out, she has some amazing gluten free recipes. I stumbled upon her blog earlier this summer, but didn't make anything until this weekend. I don't know why it took me so long because both recipes I made this weekend were super easy and amazing, I even had all of the ingredients at home already. I made the Paleo Bread yesterday (I will be experimenting on different variations soon and most likely sharing those later) and this morning I made these scones.

Paleo Orange Chocolate Chip Scones

from Elana's Pantry

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour/meal (the recipe called for blanched almond flour, however I mixed  it half and half with regular almond meal and blanched almond flour)
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips 
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons agave nectar

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients (almond flour,  baking soda, chocolate chips, orange zest) in large bowl.
2. Mix egg and agave together and combine with dry ingredients.
3. Knead the dough with your hands to create a ball (My dough was very sticky). Flatten the dough to about ½ inch thick circle.
4. Cut the dough into mini pizza slices and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Step 3

Step 4

Enjoy :)

Chocalate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Do you love chocolate and peanut butter? If so...these cupcakes are amazing and I can almost guarantee that you will love this "sweet treat"! I found this recipe on Pinterest and knew that I needed to try them out ASAP. Of course when my sisters birthday came around, I jumped on the chance to make them. I love being able to use a packaged cake mix and doctor it to make it better. I was rushed to make the cupcakes that I didn't have a chance to take my step by step tutorials. I also hope I can start making more time to share all of my craft adventures :)

Cupcakes

1 package devil’s food cake mix
1 (3.4 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
3/4 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Reese’s Miniatures peanut butter cups, frozen (you will need one for each cupcake)

Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 lbs powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp milk (I used Almond Milk because that is what I had on hand but you can use regular milk too)
Reese's peanut butter cups miniatures
 

Directions:

Cupcakes

Fresh out of the oven :)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with liners and set aside.
2. Mix all ingredients except for peanut butter cups until well mixed.
3. Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons batter in the cupcakes liners Place a frozen peanut butter cup in the batter.
4. Bake for 18-22 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. 
5. Allow to cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.  

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
1. Mix butter and peanut butter in a stand mixer.
2. Add the powdered sugar carefully (in small amounts) until well mixed. 
3. Add the milk and vanilla. Be sure that all of the frosting is being mixed. Keep mixing for 5 to 7 minutes until desired frosting consistency. 
4. Use a round tip or star tip in a decorator bag to pip frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a mini peanut butter cup. 


Enjoy :)