Chocolate Marble Pound Cake

This is a great recipe I found at www.godairyfree.org . I love the So Delicious line of coconut milk products and we use them frequently in our house. I'm always afraid of web pages disappearing, so I'm copying the recipe here, but you can go to the page here to see the original page with recipe. The only changes I made where adding a touch of salt and adding options for the fat (coconut oil or ghee) and eliminating a step or two in the directions (I'm all about simplifying and creating less dirty dishes when possible!).

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
⅔ cup So Delicious Dairy Free Original Almond Plus Almond Milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup dairy-free margarine (or coconut oil or ghee)
1½ cups cane sugar
¾ cup So Delicious Dairy Free Plain Cultured Coconut Milk (Yogurt)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat together dairy-free margarine with sugar until light and creamy. Add the coconut milk yogurt and vanilla extract and mix well. Add half the flour mixture, mix, then add the almond milk, mix again, and finally end with the remaining flour mixture until combined. Remove 1/2 cup of the batter to a small bowl and mix in the cocoa powder to make a small amount of chocolate batter. Pour vanilla cake batter into the prepared pan, then scoop the chocolate batter on top. Use a knife or skewer or chopstick to swirl batter lightly. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool. Cake can be stored covered for 2-3 days at room temp, or 5-6 days in the fridge. Makes 10 slices.

Magic Bars

Magic Bars are...well...Magic! Some call them 7 Layer Bars or Hello Dollys, but I grew up calling them Magic Bars. You will need a prepared recipe of Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk (see previous post) for this recipe.

1/2 c shortening, coconut oil, or ghee
2 c safe graham cracker crumbs
Flaked coconut
Safe semi sweet chocolate chips
Chopped nuts of choice
anything else your heart desires as toppings...
1 recipe Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Add shortening to a 9x13 pan, and put in the oven to melt the shortening. Remove pan from oven and swirl melted shortening to distribute evenly in the pan. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over the melted shortening and press lightly to form a crust. Add a handful or two each of flaked coconut, safe chocolate chips, chopped nuts, chopped MSPI safe candy bars, dried fruit, whatever you like. Just distribute toppings evenly over the crust. Pour the sweetened condensed coconut milk evenly over the top of everything, making sure to coat the top as much as possible (paying attention to the edges too). Bake for about 30 minutes or so, until the edges are golden brown and bubbly and the top is light brown. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into bars. They will fall apart if you cut them when hot.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

There are so many times you go to make a dessert and need sweetened condensed milk... I used to use it quite a bit. So...here's a safe version!!!

Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

1 (14 oz) can coconut milk (full-fat)
1/2 c granulated sugar

In a medium pot, bring the coconut milk to a boil, stirring frequently. Watch closely, because once it starts to boil, it will boil over in a heartbeat. Turn heat down so the coconut milk is simmering and stir in the sugar, whisking until it's completely dissolved. Allow to simmer for 30-45 minutes, until the volume is reduced by half. Remove from heat and cool completely before using in recipes. Store in fridge in a covered container. It should last a week or more.

Breakfast Musings

So much of breakfast seems to revolve around the dreaded "D"...dairy. It took me a little while to be comfortable experimenting, but I'm glad I did. Here are a few of our favorite breakfast foods and what I've done to modify them to be MSPI friendly:

Pancakes: Buttermilk-less Buttermilk Pancakes

French Toast: I substituted non-dairy coffee creamer for the milk I'd normally add to the eggs

Scrambled eggs: Whisk them with water or with non-dairy creamer for a richer taste

Cinnamon rolls: I substituted rice milk for the regular milk in my favorite recipe, then instead of brushing/spooning butter on the dough, I used coconut oil. They are fabulous!

Muffins: Substitute rice milk for the regular milk, adding a little lemon juice if the recipe calls for buttermilk. My son loves chocolate muffins, so I'll often buy a MSPI friendly chocolate cake mix and instead of following package directions, I'll add 1 small can of pumpkin and 1 egg, beating until smooth, possibly adding some dairy-free/soy-free chocolate chips. Bake in muffin liners. The pumpkin is nearly undetectable and adds vitamins and fiber. Eat within a day or two or freeze (they are very moist and go bad quickly).

Baking powder biscuits: Again, substitute rice milk for the regular milk

For cereal (hot or cold) my son prefers using almond milk (especially dark chocolate almond milk!)

Chocolate coconut milk (or almond milk, if you prefer...but we like using the coconut milk because it's naturally a little sweeter) heated up makes a good hot chocolate. Toss in a few marshmallows and it's perfect!

Milk Options

There are a lot of "milk" options out there, and it can be very confusing! Oat milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, rice milk, hazelnut milk, almond milk, cashew milk...so many possibilities!

The first thing to keep in mind when choosing a milk alternative is nothing tastes like dairy milk except dairy milk! None of the options taste like "milk". They each have a different flavor, and some are suited to some things more than others. I personally haven't tried hemp milk or oat milk, so I can't comment on them. When we eliminated dairy milk from my son's diet, we switched to chocolate almond milk for drinking and for using on cereal. His preference before the switch was always chocolate milk, so I thought starting with a chocolate version of the non-dairy milk would be the easiest, and I chose almond milk because almond milk naturally has a higher fat content that rice milk, and therefore would hopefully have a better 'mouth feel' than the others. My son loves chocolate almond milk, and I think it's pretty good too (reminds me of rocky road ice cream).

Once I started cooking, I realized the need for keeping different milk alternatives in the house. I found that almond milk has a fairly strong taste, and it changes the taste of baked goods (yup...found that out the hard way!). For most baking and cooking, I use rice milk. If I'm looking for a slightly sweet flavor and a richer, creamier, buttery texture, I use coconut milk (which is an excellent source of medium chain fatty acids). For sauces (white sauce, gravies, etc.) I typically use a combination of rice milk and non-dairy creamer, either with or without broth.

Don't be afraid to buy small bottles of different types of milk and experiment with each of them in different ways, for different uses. Find out what works for you!