Gluten Free Goodness

I’ve had been under the weather this month, necessitating some ingenuity to whip up some tasty allergen friendly treats that are super easy to make. My three favorites? Chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, chocolate covered clementines and pistachio brittle (pumpkin seed brittle, just sub in pistachios). Easy, elegant, low stress, and huge on taste. Vegan and top 8 allergen free too! Totally my style.

I don’t know where I first got the idea of coating pom seeds with chocolate, but I couldn’t resist giving it a try, and it couldn’t be easier! The idea for dipping clementines is from a grad school friend, Michelle, who is an amazing hostess.

If you’re not a huge pom fiend, you should be. IMHO, they’re the yummiest winter fruit and chock full of antioxidants and, of course, flavor. According to Greek mythology, we’re stuck with winter because Persephone, daughter of the goddess of the Harvest was kidnapped and taken off to the underworld. She was miserable, and didn’t eat but couldn’t resist pom seeds! Rules are if you eat in the underworld, you stay. So when she is stuck “down there” we’re all stuck up here with winter, as the goddess of the harvest is mourning. Now here I thought I didn’t learn anything in junior high. Funny what sticks in your head.

Giving recipes for these is almost a joke, but here goes! Melt chocolate. Add fruit. Allow to cool. Accept compliments and smile.

Here’s a bit more detail:
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
3 oz bittersweet chocolate

Heat chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 sec (it takes about 2 min total). A double boiler works too, but I’m WAY too lazy. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Stir in pom seeds thoroughly, drop onto wax paper or muffin liners. Allow to cool at room temp. You can put them in the fridge but they won’t look as nice.

I didn’t measure the amount of chocolate for the clementines, but I dipped one half in semi sweet and allowed them to cool on wax paper.
WHB is the baby of Kalyn’s Kitchen, and now our kind hostess is Haalo. Did you see her cherry coconut slice? Looks delish!

Have a relaxing and delicious holiday season!!!

Tags: corn free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, soy free, vegan

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 20th, 2008 at 9:32 pm and is filed under dessert, recipe, weekend herb blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.