For the most part fruit salad, smoothies etc make up our sweets. Still, occasionally a person craves a baked item and if you are grain free you have a challenge on your hands. I have been experimenting with some alternative 'flours' lately and am finally getting the hang of it.
The biggest learning curve has been working with coconut flour. It is highly absorbent and can soak up many times its wt so you don't want to substitute one for one in recipes. Maybe 1/3 the amt of coconut flour as the recipe calls for in wheat. It has worked well for crusts and most recently for a light pancake.
I used two eggs and a few spoonfuls of coconut flour with some milk and a pinch of baking soda. They are VERY light.
Nut flours have been a hit too. Almond is most often included in low carb recipes. It does have a distinct taste though. We found grinding walnuts extra fine to be very workable in some recipes. It is mild though a bit gritty. Perfect for brownies <g>
We used this recipe and subbed the flour with a half cup of walnut flour and about 1/3 of coconut flour. They were not only passable but to die for.
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour a 9 by 13 inch pan.
Microwave the butter in a microwave safe bowl for until melted. Stir in the sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cocoa; beat well until well blended. Add the flour, baking powder and salt; beat well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the pan sides.
Finally we have enjoyed a pumpkin cheesecake this fall. A combo of nut and coconut flours make a decent crust though you can easily make pumpkin custards and cheesecake crustless.
Starry Sky Journal 
Kim! My very favorite dessert is grain free – it’s an almond dacquoise layered with whipped cream and topped with chocolate shavings. SO good.
This recipe has a bit of flour, but I’m sure you could adapt it.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/dacquoise?lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=recipecontent_food
It’s completely amazing. I just bake the dacquoise cut into rectangular layers and spread the whipped cream in between – no real recipe. I stole the idea from a local bakery.
So good!
I’ve never even heard of coconut flour! How did you find out about it?
Have you ever tried a flourless chocolate torte? Sooo good, even if you aren’t grain free!
where do you get your coconut flour? have you cooked much with chickpea flour? we make homemade falafel quite a bit, but never know what else to do with this delicious flour!
oh thank you for that one! Kathleen and I are both grain free for the most part and since we are so new to this way of eating we make mistakes, and we do miss baked goods, I’ll be trying those this week!!
Coconut flour??? Even I haven’t heard of that before! Does it have a bit of a coconut flavor? That could be so good…
Ditto on the coconut flour. Holly Pierlot recommended it to me eons ago. I got the cookbook she also recommended but then couldn’t find the flour anywhere around here. She swears by the stuff. (She has a celiac kid like me.)