Author: seasonsfamilycentre

Halloween Sweet Table!

We’ve been hired to create a sweet table for a Halloween birthday party, we thought some of you may be interested in the step-by-step process of creating a sweet table. We did a post similar to this a while back but didn’t focus on the steps for baking  . The first step is pick your theme/colour combo and then plan your desserts/baked goods around both. It’s easy for us since the theme was already picked and we went with black and white as colours. Remember the key to a sweet table is levels! We will put our cookies on flat dishes in the front and then have a few cupcake towers and use boxes to elevate some of our other desserts. The other key thing to do is plan ahead and use your freezer!!! We have made all the sugar cookies and iced them and are now storing them in the freezer for one week. The trick to proper storage, is to use air tight containers and parchment paper between each cookie. Let them defrost …

Pumpkin Seed Cranberry Biscotti

Our teen cooking class made these in their class and they were just delicious, they were moist and not too hard and didn’t even need to be dipped in coffee, they were just perfect on their own! Ingredients 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/4 cup canola oil 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup salted pumpkin seeds 1/2 cup dried cranberries Directions Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, beat sugar, eggs, oil and extracts. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in pumpkin seeds and cranberries (dough will be sticky). Divide dough in half; place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. With lightly floured hands, shape each portion into a 12×2-in. rectangle. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully remove to wire racks; cool 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board; cut diagonally with a serrated knife into 3/4-in. slices. Place cut side down on ungreased baking sheets. …

Maple Coconut Butternut Squash Bread 

 Try and say it in one go! Quite a mouthful, but wait till you get an actual mouthful of the bread! Another successful gluten and refined sugar free recipe.  1/2 cup buckwheat flour 1/2 cup coconut flour  1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp nutmeg ½ cup butternut squash puree ¾ cups maple syrup 1 tbsp vanilla ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted 2 eggs 2 tbsp walnut pieces Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. In a separate large bowl combine butternut, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla and maple syrup. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients and pour batter into a greased loaf pan. I sprinkled some extra walnut pieces and cinnamon on the top of the bread. Bake for about 30-40mins depending on your oven. Serve warm with butter, mmmmmm. 

Haunted Gingerbread House

      In preparation for our upcoming haunted gingerbread workshop, I thought I would make my very own. I’ve made plenty of holiday gingerbread houses but never a haunted one! It was lots of fun and easy to make. Plus, there’s tons of Halloween candies out already so easy to get supplies. If you would like to join our workshop, check out our website for more details.   

Sweet Potato Bread

My wee little babe has started eating solids, which really is a game changer in the world of babies. She’s started sleeping longer at night which is just fabulous for this overtired mama. I started her introduction to solids with sweet potato, which means I ended up with a lot of leftovers. I tried making pancakes, more brownies and then this bread. Warmed up with a little butter and a cup of tea is just the perfect solution to the hunger wall at 2pm. Not sure how, paleo butter is but sometimes you just have to live a little 😉 1 cooked sweet potato 1 cup of buckwheat flour 4 tbsp of arrowroot flour 1 tsp of baking soda 1 tsp of salt 1 tsp of vanilla 1 egg 1/2 cup raisins 1/4 cup of seeds Mix the sweet potato in an electric mixer and then add all the other ingredients to the mixer (except seeds). Line a bread pan with parchment paper and put dough in pan. Sprinkle seeds on the top. Bake at …

guilt-free chocolate chip cookies

Yes, I said the magic words “guilt-free” now, if only I could apply that to my parenting skills. These cookies are actually made from kidney beans, which initially I thought was kind of gross, but surprisingly they were very yummy! I got the recipe from thatcleanlife, I also made double dark chocolate chip cookies using the same recipe but swamping the kidney beans for black beans and replaced the coconut flour with cacao powder. Ingredients: 1 can Kidney Beans (no salt added, drained and rinsed) 1/8 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk 1/8 cup All Natural Peanut Butter 2 tbsps Coconut Oil (melted) 1/2 cup Coconut Flour 4 tbsps Raw Honey 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1/8 tsp Sea Salt 1/4 cup Organic Dark Chocolate Chips Directions: Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Measure out 1.5 cups kidney beans. Combine beans, almond milk, peanut butter and coconut oil together in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add in coconut flour, honey, cinnamon and sea salt. Process again until creamy. Use a rubber spatula to …

My little Superhero

It’s hard for me to believe that my wee, little guy isn’t so little anymore. I mean in the grand scheme of things he’s still little, after all we’re not counting his grey hairs at 3 years old! However, he still seems so big compared to just a few short years ago. As they say, “the days are long, the years are short”. This year we had a superhero themed birthday party for him, it was tons of fun! The best part is that he wanted to be Wonder Woman – at least for 20 minutes before deciding he would share his costume with his big cousin (it was hers to begin with). Here are some pics from our party:       

Apple Scones and Coconut Cream

 Another gluten-free winner! I’m really enjoying experimenting with all these recipes, some definitely don’t pass the taste test but the ones that do are worth sharing. Ingredients 1 cup minced apple 2 cups almond flour  1/4 cup shredded coconut  1 tablespoon cinnamon  1 teaspoon baking soda pinch of sea salt 1 egg at room temperature 2 tbsp of honey  Instructions Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 Celsius) In a large bowl, combine almond flour, apple, shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking soda, and sea salt In a smaller bowl mix the egg and honey until well blended Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well Knead the dough with your hands if necessary to ensure an even distribution of ingredients Form dough into 2 circles approximately ½ inch thick Cut each circle like a pizza into 6 or 8 slices depending on the size you want your scones Transfer to a baking sheet  Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Coconut cream  2 cans of coconut milk (chilled in fridge overnight)  1 tbsp …

Sweet Potato Brownies 

  These brownies are unbelievable! They have no refined sugar in, are gluten free and actually taste like brownies! Ingredients  1 sweet potato baked and mashed  2 eggs  1/2 cup of honey  1 tbsp vanilla  1/2 cup of coconut oil melted  1 cup of cocoa  1 tsp of baking powder  1/2 tsp baking soda  2 tbsp of coconut flour 2 tbsp of cacoa nibs  Icing  3 tbsp cocoa 3 tbsp melted coconut oil 3 tbsp of coconut milk  3 tbsp of honey  Mix ingredients together and let sit for 30 mins – icing will get thicker.  Brownies Preheat oven to 365f. Mix sweet potato, vanilla, eggs, coconut oil and honey together in a bowl. Mix cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and coconut flour together. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Bake for approximately 20 mins or until knife comes out clean when inserted. Once cooled add icing and top with cacoa nibs. 

Mini Cakes 

Our last few posts have focused on “healthier recipes”, and so now for something completely different! On Sunday we hosted another one of our mini cake workshops and it was a big success. We’re sharing the recipe for the cake and icing we used. If you’re interested in making a mini cake, simply cut 2 small pieces (equal in size) from the larger cake. Put icing between them like a sandwich and then mask the entire cake. We covered our mini cakes in fondant after that and decorated them. Traditional White Cake Ingredients 2 ¾ cups of sifted cake flour 4 tsp of baking powder ¾ tsp of salt 4 egg whites 1 ½ cups of white sugar ¾ cup of butter 1 cup of milk 2 tsp of vanilla extract 1 batch of royal icing fondant Directions 1. Measure sifted flour, baking powder and salt, sift three times together 2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs whites until foamy. Add ½ cup of sugar gradually, and continue beating only until meringue will hold in …