Oh! All that steam! The pudding had just been taken out of the cauldron…. Thirty seconds later, Mrs. Cratchit entered, her face crimson, but smiling proudly, with the pudding resembling a cannon ball, all speckled, very firm, sprinkled with brandy in flames, and decorated with a spring of holly stuck in the center. Oh! The marvelous pudding!
The Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Most of us no longer make the traditional plum pudding (though I plan to someday), but we do carry on the tradition of making special sweets and treats this time of year for our family and friends. Unfortunately, not only do most of our desserts have much more sweetener than really needed ( I was looking up a pumpkin bread recipe and was shocked to discover that the recipe called for three cups of white sugar! Ick), but we also have moved more and more to refined sweeteners.
This carnival is dedicated to bringing back more wholesome sweeteners to our celebrations, and I can’t wait to see what you all have to share! I am sharing a recipe for honey sweetened, dark chocolate macadamia nuts (and I also have a few more sweet recipes to share with you later this week, so stay tuned).
Here’s the rules:
Your entry must be using a wholesome sweetener, such as those found in my guide to natural sweeteners (you aren’t limited solely to those listed since I only listed the ones I personally use, but no artificial sweeteners, or white and regular brown sugar, please).
If you are a blogger, please post your recipe on your blog, having a link back to this post. If you don’t have a blog, please leave your recipe in the comment section.
Since the Mr. Linky site it not up and running right now, we will be doing this one slightly different. Simply email your post link to me @ kimi.harris@gmail.com, and I will keep updating this page to include everyone’s recipes. (This is actually more helpful to you as a blogger because mr. linky links don’t help your google ranking). I will also be able to make small comments on everyone’s post here, which will be great fun as well.
Enjoy!
Nourishing Sweets and Treats Carnival Posts
I will start this carnival out with my Honey Sweetened, Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nuts, these decadent little treats make a great gift (that’s frugal and nourishing too).
Spencer has some luscious raw brownie bites made from raw nuts, nut butter, cocoa and natural sweeteners.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop has two delicious ice cream recipes, a vanilla and chocolate one, using maple syrup to sweeten it with.
Sarah, at Sarah’s Musings has two recipes to contribute. Her gingerbread cookies sound so flavorful and are sweetened with molasses and rapadura. And her gingersnap cookies sound wonderful as well, with the addition of crystallized ginger, orange peel and juice, and other spices. (I think she likes ginger, what do you think? *smile)
Stacy has some wonderful sounding brownies that everyone should check out, sweetened with rapadura (which makes a heavenly brownie!). I appreciate how simple this recipe is. Simple recipes are often the best, after all.
Speaking of brownies, Cheeseslave made some Gluten Free Coconut Flour brownies, made with grassfed butter and cream and sweetened with maple syrup and rapadura, which look divine (and hey, no white flour or gluten!).
Bloggin’ Mama has a lovely recipe for banana bread, also sweetened with rapadura (we have a theme here, don’t we! Rapadura seems to be the popular sugar of choice).
Michele at Frugal Granola, contributed two recipes, a chocolate truffle recipe containing cream, chocolate and nuts, and a gluten free cranberry almond shortbread, sweetened with honey. Yum!
And Carrie, over at The Thrifty Oreganic, has a creative recipe for sugar free peppermint bark, sweetened with stevia! This delicious looking treat contains raw cocoa nibs, soaked and dehydrated almonds, vanilla creme stevia, coconut oil and peppermint extract. Looks like such a nourishing treat!
Lindsay, at Passionate Homemaking, has a wonderful recipe for pumpkin pie using cream, lots of spices, and sweetened with rapadura. She also included some other wonderful recipes, such as holiday egg nog and egg nog ice cream, sweetened with maple syrup or honey, and chocolate peanut butter ice cream,
Over at healthy indulgences, Lauren shared a gluten free, protein packed, Honey Nut Cookie recipe (sweetened with honey and stevia) that looks so beautiful, and she also was so kind to explain how to make your own almond flour as well. Thanks Lauren!
At Simple Natural Nourishing, Shannon shared a lovely recipe for gluten free, dairy free, Coconut Flour Orange Cake, with Coconut Oil Frosting! She sweetened it with honey, with, of course, that added orange zest for that wonderful orange flavor. You also should check out her beautiful photograph.
Anita, at Whole Food Cookin, has a decadent looking Dark Chocolate Fudge recipe that is sweetened with rapadura, and uses ricemellow creme for a healthier version of marshmallow fluff. Looks wonderful!
Michelle from What Does Your Body Good entered a very pretty Christmas cookie sweetened with maple syrup instead of the usual brown sugar, and spelt for the usual white flour. Check out her Cranberry Nut Balls.
Susanna from Homemade Livin’ shared a beautiful recipe for Baked Citrus Spiced Pears, sweetened with rapadura. They sound very flavorful with the addition of citrus zests and juice and a lot of spices. Thanks, Susanna!
Over at Our Side of the Mountain, Melissa shares a “Try it, You’ll Like it” Black Bean Brownie recipe, sweetened with agave. She promises that this gluten free brownie doesn’t taste beany, just moist and delicious.
And Stacy, at Delighting in the Days has posted another post for this carnival, sharing three scrumptious recipes using natural sweeteners. Her Cranberry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, sweetened with sucanat, sound delish, and her honey sweetened Apple Crumble sounds wonderful! Perfect for a cold night, and even better when served with the Raw Vanilla Sauce she also shared (made from cashews).
Kerry Ann kindly shared a recipe for Nut Butter Brownies that are just fascinating! They are sweetened with honey, and the secret ingredient to them is squash puree! I never thought of that addition before, but it sounds exciting to try. A must try for me!
Russell, over at Raw Fusion, shares a raw nut based strawberry ice cream (sweetened with agave) that he says that both kids and adults love. I love the beautiful, natural pink color this pretty ice cream has.
Nicole from My Year Without shares a gingersnap recipe sweetened with molasses and date sugar. I was so happy to receive this recipe because I was hoping to get a few recipes using date sugar (an unexplored sugar for me). Nicole says this recipe is “husband tested”, and it certainly does sound delicious. Thanks Nicole!
And Stephanie, from Keeper of the Home, shares many ideas for both savory and sweet treats in her post, Guilt Free Christmas Snacking, including a lovely recipe for honey sweetened cheesecake that is so very simple to make.
And thank you everyone for making this carnival such a success! Make sure you check out the comment section, for there are several more recipes to be found there as well.
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Well, I just posted a Dark Chocolate Fudge Recipe. Mmmmm!
I wish I had time to convert an old recipe or two. I did post a reference to the carnival hoping to at least bring you some traffic.
The recipes up so far sound great. I’m thankful for things like this When your just plain too busy there is still a place to go to find nourishing recipes!
Oops Kimi…my daughter pointed out to me that you linked me to your own blog…LOL. It’s early LOL
Thanks Sarah and Anita for letting me know. This is the weird thing, Anita, the reason that happened is because the URL for YOUR post is the url for my post. I have never seen this happen before! Weird! So I wasn’t able to post a link to your specific post, instead just to your blog.
I was going to put up a lovely post today for the carnival, but wasn’t able to pull it off in time. I’ll share my recipe with you guys now and roll out the photos in a blog post later this week.
Old-Fashioned Hot Chocolate Pudding
Combine in a saucepan:
1/3 C. Rapadura
3 T. arrowroot powder
2 T. Dutch cocoa
2 C. milk
Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.
Just as it begins to thicken, add:
1 t. vanilla
1 T. butter
Stir until smooth, and serve hot.
YUM.
Happy holiday cooking!
-KristenM
Are you serious. Let me check that out. LOL
Fix, it was weird. For some reason your link was in the title link field. I have no idea why! Have a wonderful day!
Kristen,
Yummy recipe! My family did a similar one growing up, which I adored. I would be glad to add your post later in the week, if you ever have the chance to blog about it too!
Anita,
It’s so weird! I have checked it several times, and it always shows the link to this post! LOL
Yeah, it’s basically a modified version from the More-With-Less cookbook, which seems to have been around forever. They used white sugar and cornstarch, and I use rapadura and arrowroot powder (in slightly different quantities).
Okay…I just made KristenM’s Old-Fashioned Hot Chocolate Pudding for the kid’s afternoon snack…YUM IS RIGHT!!! It was very easy to make and it’s being gobbled up as I write.
This is a Cranberry Pudding, similar to a traditional plum pudding. It’s really tasty but worth noting that the cake itself is dark and a little tangy from the cranberries – not especially sweet. The vanilla sauce really completes it and makes it a sweet dessert!
Cranberry Steamed Pudding:
3 c raw cranberries, defrosted
3/4 c molasses
3 tsp soda dissolved in 3/4 c hot water
2 1/4 c flour
Mix ingredients. Put in greased (coffee size) can 2/3 full. Put an inch of water in the bottom of a crockpot and put can in with crockpot lid on. Cook on hi for 2-3 hours. Cool on rack before slicing and serving with vanilla sauce. I’m sure this could also be done in a dutch oven or something on the stove or in the oven.
Vanilla Sauce:
1/2 c. butter
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. honey
1 c. milk
Mix all ingredient in saucepan and heat through. Serve over pudding.
-Meghan Czarnecki
Hey Meghan,
What a lovely sounding recipe. It sounds so traditional (I love desserts that connect back to the past.). Thanks for sharing!
You know, Kimi, I really like doing the carnival this way, as opposed to Mr. Linky. There’s just something more interesting and personal about it.
Thanks for a great carnival! 🙂