Raise your hand if you enjoy the idea of having a fruity pastry with coffee for breakfast, even though you KNOW it’s not the healthiest choice. {me me me me me, all the time me!} I always WANT to stop by a bakery and get donuts or pastries and a cup of coffee – it always SOUNDS good. Then I think about all the processed, enriched white flour and dairy filled butter — and how much my body will hate me if I actually consumed those. So I end up skipping it and going without — until now!!

Never underestimate the power of experimenting in the kitchen. Let go of the fear of making a mistake and just GO FOR IT! Whenever I do that, I end up with a delicious recipe.

For today’s recipe I simply started out by wanting to create gluten-free, vegan biscuits; that was my original idea.  It then turned into, ‘maybe I should show everyone how I make my quick morning lattes’? (I’ve posted this on Instagram before, but those get lost in the shuffle.) THEN while making the biscuits I thought, I really need something to go ON the biscuits. (Again, originally I was just going to put jelly on them and call it a day; biscuits, jelly and a cup of Joe – SURE!?) But with tomorrow being the first OFFICIAL day of FALL, I wanted to somehow tie in apples, pears and pumpkin pie spices.

This is a great combo to try on the weekend, when you want to sit around the house afterwards and enjoy the cool air of fall on your back porch. Ahhhh 🙂

Cinnamon Spiced Latte

1 mug full of your favorite hot or iced coffee
7-10 almonds
1 Medjool date (remove the pit)
1/4 tsp. coconut oil
Pinch or 2 or 3 of ground cinnamon

1. Place all the ingredients into your blender, and mix on high speed for about 1 minute.
2. (Optional) Use a milk bag to strain out the nut and date pulp, as you pour it into your cup.
3. Or simply enjoy the pulp and pour into your favorite mug and enjoy! I’ve done it both ways!

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Biscuits – Gluten-Free and Vegan

2 cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
1 TBSP. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. pink himalayan or REAL salt
4 TBSP. coconut oil
1 c. culinary coconut milk
1 TBSP. apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line an 8″x8″ baking pan with parchment paper.

1. Start off by making vegan “buttermilk”; add the apple cider vinegar to 1 c. of coconut milk. Stir well and set aside.
2. In a separate large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with a whisk.
3. Add the coconut oil into the flour mixture (it can be liquid or solid bits). Use a fork to press the coconut oil into the flour and stir well to combine. The mixture will be crumbly looking.
4. Pour half the vegan buttermilk into the flour mixture and use the fork to mix well. Add the remaining vegan buttermilk, and stir again. Ensure you get all the flour at the bottom of the bowl.
5. Refrigerate for 5 minutes. (This is a good time to prepare the baking pan with parchment paper.)
6. Remove dough from fridge. Measure out ~¼ c. or a little less of dough and use your hands to form round dough balls. Place each ball side-by-side, it’s ok if they touch, on the parchment lined pan. Squish the dough down a little for a more biscuit-like look.
7. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until a very light golden brown on top.

Makes 12 biscuits.

Step-by-step biscuit making slideshow here:

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Apple-Pear-Spice Bonus!

This was SUPER easy. I just used a mandolin to thinly and quickly slice 2 small green apples and 1 small pear. I then placed them into a small baking dish and dusted them with 1/4 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice, popped them in the already heated 450°F oven, and baked for 15 minutes.

When you forget to take an after photo with your camera, and have to pull it from Snapchat. 😀 hahaha

You might be asking yourself… ‘great, now what?’ You have these biscuits that look like more like balls than biscuits and some cooked fruit… well, we tried a couple different things.

Thing #1 was simply eat the biscuit plain with a little drizzle of honey. Easy peasy. Delicious.

Second, we cut the biscuit in half and topped it with a layer of apples and pears, added a single walnut and then drizzled it with pure maple syrup. They ended up looking like fancy little desserts!

Lastly, I crumbled up a biscuit and topped it with the fruit mixture, and drizzled it with a little honey. This way I was able to eat it with a fork!

These biscuits might look like Mexican wedding cookies, but they are a great alternative to the traditional UBER unhealthy biscuits made with butter and enriched white flour. They are also simple enough to pair with just about anything – you could go savory and use your favorite gravy even. HAVE FUN WITH THE TOPPINGS! If you try these out, please share what you’ve created below!

Now, question for YOU, would any of you be interested in downloading a FREE eBook on how to incorporate more plant-based recipes into your life? I’m toying around with the idea and wanted to gauge interest.

If the above topic doesn’t interest you, what would?