Celebration Food we have had recently

This post is about some celebration food we ha have had over the last couple of weeks.
One of the things we changed for Rogan's birthday was to eliminate the party bags and replace with some  other special 'party food'.
Frankly I am not convinced we achieved much with this as we had a small amount of lollies and the younger children especially responded to the sugar in them as well as the sugar in Rogan's bought packet mix, even though it was gluten free.
It also took a lot of time to prepare this extra party food and so the time spent on birthday  preparation for this took away from the birthday time doing other things.
So we may just consider putting the party bags back on the menu, perhaps with a selection of the birthday child's favourites and simply deal with he aftermath as a special occasion deal

So for now here are the recipes we used for his birthday and a few other special occasions we had recently~

For breakfast we had pancakes using this  packet mix - Orgran Buckwheat Pancake Mix. We really are enjoying this mix and it does not contain wheat but does  contain rice flour.

These are the start of Ice cream cup cakes from Elana's Gluten Free Cupcake Book,, we borrowed this from the library.. These weren't a huge favourite as the cake was cooked inside the ice cream cones (gluten free if you can)  on a low heat and they just didn't seem to cook properly. To finish them we put chocolate cream on top: melted chocolate mixed in with whipped cream. (image below)

Peppermint Patties from Elana's Pantry 
( we adjusted this for our tastes)
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cup honey
½ teaspoon peppermint essence
½ to 1 cup chocolate melted

1. In a small bowl, combine coconut oil, agave and peppermint oil, mixing with a spoon
2. Smash clumps of coconut oil against side of bowl until mixture is smooth
3. Freeze mixture for a few minutes until it starts to harden, then remove from freezer
4. Use a teas spoon measure out little balls onto a biscuit tray
5. Place tray in freezer to firm up mint balls; when firm, remove from freezer
6. Squish balls down into flat little patties on parchment paper
7. Melt chocolate over very low heat; allow to cool slightly
8. Dip patties into melted chocolate (use spoon to drop patty into melted chocolate, dip and remove)
9. Place patties on parchment paper to harden (takes 10 minutes though on a summer day you may need to refreeze)
   Makes about 12 patties

Apple Crisp Muffins-  from here
 ( we make this a fair bit but recently added nutmeg instead of cinnamon and I think they are even better)
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp sea salt
3 large eggs
1/3 cup honey (we prefer clover honey, as it's mild flavor makes it a perfect choice baking)
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Apple Crisp Topping: ( we actually at least double the topping recipe for ours  )
½ cup finely diced apple
¼ cup of finely chopped crispy nuts, (we use almonds mainly)
 1 tbsp coconut sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Method~
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
 Line a muffin tin with 10 baking cups.
 In a small bowl, mix almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, honey, coconut oil and vanilla until well blended.
 Add dry ingredients to wet and whisk until well combined. In another small bowl, mix together the apple crisp topping.
Add one spoonful of batter to prepared muffins cups.
Lift muffin pan with both hands and evenly tap bottom of the pan on the counter to flatten batter.
 Then add a spoonful of the apple crisp mixture.
Top with another spoonful of batter, tap pan to flatten batter.
Top with remaining apple crisp mixture.
Bake 25-28 minutes, until muffins are slightly brown and an inserted knife comes out clean.
 Allow to cool in muffin pan.

This is the birthday goodies plate we had. We added a few  lollies of choice to the mix as well.

On the 30th of April we had the Feast Day of St Catherine of Siena who  is Autumn and Vellvin's Confirmation saints. We made this very nice Chocolate Mousse Cake with no flour of any kind . I got it from here. This is my favourite chocolate cake. It is very 'fudgy' and muddy and I love that it has no flour of any kind.
Ingredients

• 1 and 1/4 cup cocoa powder (carob works well too)
• 1 and 1/4 cup butter
• 6 eggs
• 2/3 cup coconut sugar
• 2 Tbsp Kahlua (or substitute real vanilla extract and dismiss the tsp of vanilla below) (we only used vanilla)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method of Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch round pan. In a double boiler (you may also use a glass or metal bowl that fits snugly over a pan of simmering water) melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder. Let cool slightly, about 10 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk 2 of the eggs and the additional 4 eggs yolks (reserving the whites!) until well combined. Stir into the eggs only 1/3 cup of the sugar, the chocolate mixture (if it’s to warm it will begin to cook the eggs! As a precaution always stir while pouring in the warm mixture), Kahlua, vanilla, and a small pinch of salt. Blend until combined. In a mixer with balloon whisk attachment (can be done by hand as well) beat the 4 remaining egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. While beating, gradually add in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar.
Once combined turn off.

Stir a large spoonful of the beaten egg into the chocolate mixture to help lighten it for ease in folding the rest of the whites in. Once the spoonful has been incorporated, gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Pour into the pan and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the top cracks.

Now, even as wonderfully fluffy as it looks, the nature of this cake is to fall. Cool for a few hours before serving to allow it to rest as needed. Slice and serve!

Whipped cream is a fantastic accompainment to this!

As part of our wedding anniversary the children made the cake below and put cream on top along with a flower heart wreath. This is one of the most  successul cakes we have as well

Banana Cake

• 3 cups almond flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup light olive oil
• 3 eggs, whisked
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• appprox 1 cup or  chocolate chips or sultanas. I love the sultana version best!
• 2 bananas (about one cup) mashed

1. In a large bowl, mix together almond flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a smaller bowl, combine honey, light olive oil, eggs and vanilla, then stir in bananas
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry
4. Place batter in a round pan, or one of your choice.
5. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool

Serves 12

Rogan's Birthday beehive cake was a packet mix  Deliciously Free Moist Chocolate Mud Cake this has sugar in it though so not as good as we would have liked.
Once again our 'icing' of choice is whipped cream ( we have always used this instead of an icing mixture so the change to sugar free frosting has only been slight for us)
For this one to get the colour I added a small amount of dissolved coffee and a little bit of honey.

And for more celebrations I will be  sharing our special wedding anniversary meal and Rogan's Zoo party soon!

Blessings to you and your homes,