Photography and creative director: The Eternal Child

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In honor of the Holidays, The Eternal Child and I teamed up to bring you guys some healthy versions of the famous Peppermint Mocha that everyone is running to Starbucks for PLUS an AMAZING coconut and ginger scone (with frosting - because it's cheat month sooo why the hell not).

I'm not normally a huge fan of sweets but when the craving does finally hit, I'm usually the person that prefers a gluten free cookie with almond milk rather than a fist full of M&M's, you feel me?

I like it to feel like a treat but I don't like feeling like I'm just eating bags of sugar for the hell of it, ALSOO that just makes me feel like complete crap afterwards. 

That's why when we created this recipe we tested it out a few times to see what worked and what didn't. Originally we tried using gluten free flour but apparently that tends to make whatever your baking turn out SUPER dry so we swapped it out for almond meal and coconut flour and found the perfect balance. 

COCONUT & GINGER SCONES

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED 

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1 Cup Almond Meal

1 Cup Coconut Flour

1/2 Cup Coconut Flakes

2 Tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/8 Tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Almond Milk

3 Tsp Maple Syrup

1 Tbsp Coconut Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

5 Tsp Coconut oil

1 Cup Apple Sauce

2 Eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F/180-degrees C.

2. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir to mix. 

3. In a small bowl, mix all wet ingredients.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the large bowl with the dry mixture and combine until dough forms. 

7. With your hands, take the dough and shape it out into 1/2 inch thick triangles and place onto a lined baking sheet. For the round ones with toppings, make the formation then add pieces of shredded coconut and ginger, then drizzle with maple syrup. 

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes, keeping an eye on them after 10 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

9. Let cool for 10 minutes. 

ROYAL ICING INGREDIENTS: 

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- 2 lb Bag of Powdered Sugar

- 1/2 Cup Meringue Powder

- 1 Cup Water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add the Meringue powder and water into a bowl and beat for a few minutes until it's frothy. 

2. Add in the sugar and mix together slowly until all the liquid and powdered sugar is combined. 

3. If you have a stand mixture, set it at a medium-high speed and beat it together for 4 minutes with the paddle attachment, don't forget to set a timer!

4. Your icing should have semi stiff peaks (see the photo!) when it is ready, not floppy peaks!

5. If the icing is not quite stiff enough, then watch closely and beat for one more minute and check again. 

6. Icing not thinned with water (made with meringue powder can be kept on the counter top for a week or so, it may require a little remixing after a day or two as the water can separate at the bottom of the bowl.

Now let's quickly go over maybe the best part?? 

THE SKINNY SKINNYYYY PEPPERMINT MOCHA

I am obsessed with this and sooo stoked that The Eternal Child took me back to the basics with this festive drink that tends to turn into like a million calories when you get it from other places. There are only THREE ingredients in this gem. And you can make it for super cheap.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 

- 1 Tablespoon of cacao powder (we got ours from Trader Joe's - as usual)

- 1 Cup Vanilla Almond Milk

- 1/8th Teaspoon of Peppermint Extract 

DIRECTIONS: 

1. Heat the almond milk up on the stovetop on LOW heat, slowly whisk in the cocoa powder and the peppermint extract. 

2. Simply pour yourself 1/2 a cup of coffee and fill the rest up with your peppermint mocha mixture!

We literally had like 4 cups of coffee the afternoon we worked on this because it was just so damn good, and I had like 3 scones probably by the time we were done so PLEASE go enjoy yourself. 

Make some for your family to have or bring some to your friends:)

Oh, and enjoy that SKINNY peppermint mocha whenever you want because you're saving yourself TONS of calories simply by not getting it from Starbucks, and it's SO easy!!

Talk soon :) Let me know if you make these by commenting below and don't forget to head over to The Eternal Child to see more pictures and get lost in her other amazing recipes.