If you haven’t yet heard, Wednesdays are our Guest Blogger Series day! It’s a day where Stacy and I get a bit of a mid-week break while getting to share with you some of our favorite online bloggers. And for their hard work, they get the benefit of your readership – we encourage you to please show all of them your support by visiting their blog and social media links at the end of this post!
Today’s guest is Danielle from the blog Fresh4Five. I recommend you go over to that beautiful blog right away! You won’t be sorry! She is sharing a delicious looking recipe for Chocolate Orange Tassies that I am going to get on right away!
I am very excited to have the opportunity to share a recipe with the wonderful readers of The Paleo Parents; Matt and Stacy.
I discovered The Paleo Parents about a year ago when I saw the recipe for Paleo Monkey Bread (where have you been all my life!). I am not sure how it could be, that this former bread addict had never heard of Monkey Bread. Maybe it isn’t a Canadian thing, or clearly not something my family or friends ate. For the record, their Paleo Monkey Bread is exactly what we ate for breakfast while opening gifts last year and it will be what we eat again this year! It was amazing! We can’t eat nuts in my house, so for anyone interested; I straight-up subbed ground raw sunflower seeds for the almond flour and sprinkled on a variety of seeds instead of the walnuts. It was perfection! OK enough gushing….
A little about myself, I started blogging about food, a couple of years ago. My blogging started out to be about learning to eat real, whole foods. However, when we learned about my youngest sons’ severe food intolerances, everything in our house changed (for the better!). I quickly realized that I had many of the same issues my baby boy had, Asthma, Eczema, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Oral Allergy Syndrome and I now carry an epi-pen for food in the latex fruit family. My husband and I embarked on a 30 day elimination diet and today we resemble something a lot like Paleo or AIP even.
I wanted to share with you, a few ideas for giving homemade Paleo gifts this Holiday Season AND a recipe for some delicious Chocolate Orange Tassies. I have always loved giving homemade food gifts to my friends and family. I usually gift homemade preserves and cookies. I do a lot of canning throughout the year, something I learned from my Grandma. She is 1 of 14 kids and grew up in the wake of the great depression; the woman knows how to preserve and stretch out her food. I use to make jam and jelly’s using the typical white sugar like her, but for the last 3 years I have been using maple syrup with great success. Last year, I gave this delicious Pear and Currant Conserve and my Award Winning Ground Cherry Jam, as well as boxes of homemade cookies.
This year, I am obsessed with Homemade Pomegranate Molasses; you can see my series for this recipe here and these amazing Chocolate Orange Tassies.
I first made this recipe last year for Valentine’s Day. It started out as Chocolate Orange Truffles and then turned that into tartlets. I redid that tart recipe (now that I am not eating oats) to make the crust grain free and wanted to share it with you. It turned out amazing if I do say so myself.
Chocolate Orange Tassies
Crust
Ingredients
3/4 cup ground raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tbsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. coconut oil
Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Grease a mini muffin tin and preheat oven to 400F
- Whisk together the ground sunflower seeds, tapioca flour, coconut flour and sea salt.
- Add the vanilla, maple syrup and coconut oil.
- Using a pastry cutter or potato masher, cut the dough until it forms a coarse crumble.
- Using your hands, form little balls with the delicate dough and place them in the muffin tin.
- Using your fingers press the crumbly dough into the little cups to form a shell (leaving a bowl) that will be filled later.
- Bake in the oven for approx. 8 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool completely before removing from the tin.
Makes 16
Filling
Ingredients
2 tbsp. sunflower seed butter
2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. apple butter
1 tbsp. coconut oil
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
3 tbsp dairy free milk
1 tbsp vanilla
The zest of one orange
1 tsp agar agar Flakes
1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)
- In a medium sauce pan, whisk together all of the ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) over medium-low heat.
- Allow the mixture to bubble for a few (3-5 minutes) to infuse the flavors, melt everything, and activate the agar flakes.
- Remove from heat and allow it to cool slightly before adding the chocolate (you don’t want to burn the chocolate) stir to combine.
- I then put the whole mixture into my blender (magic bullet) to smooth out the orange zest, but this is optional.
- Now spoon the filling into the tassie shells.
- Place in an airtight container and keep in the fridge. These also freeze well. I have to freeze my Christmas baking, or else I will have nothing to give as gift because someone in my house [who shall remain nameless] will eat them all before I get a chance!
Happy Holidays!
Danielle Rouse is the creative energy behind the allergy friendly recipe blog, Fresh4Five Real Food | Fresh Ideas This mother of three has a passion for nutrition and cooking with fresh and wholesome ingredients. Danielle has become and expert at developing recipes to meet the complex dietary needs of her family. Fresh4Five hosts an array of family friendly recipes that are free of Gluten, Dairy, Soy, and Nuts.
