Paleo Sweet (ch)Eats:Pound Cake and Nutella!

Food is a huge part of holiday traditions and though most are still recovering from St. Patrick's Day (I forgot to wear green and did not go out- shame on me...I'm a bad domer), I've already started thinking about Easter. I knew it was Easter season when all the shops ditched the shamrocks and Irish soda bread for chocolate bunnies and pastels. So it got me thinking, what are some paleo-friendly options for this sweet holiday? Gluten, casein, and sugar-free blogger Kelly, from The Spunky Coconut is hosting an "Our Spunky Holiday" gluten-free carnival for the holiday so I'm participating with this Paleo Sweet (ch)Eat and be sure to check out her round-up of recipes the week before Easter!

With homemade nutella

Paleo Pound Cake
1 cup honey
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup almond milk
3 eggs
Lemon zest (or lime)
1 3/4 cup coconut flour
1 3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg




Melt the coconut oil and whisk with the honey, almond milk, eggs, and zest. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and then slowly fold into the wet ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350F and "grease" loaf pans with coconut oil. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan and smooth out with a spatula. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. My mini-loaves took about 35 minutes but one larger loaf (about a 9x5" pan) will probably take closer to an hour. Remove from the oven, and let cool before removing from the pan and cutting. This pound cake is sweet enough on its own but I've been dreaming of homemade nutella for months and made the spread to go with!

Homemade Nutella
1 cup hazelnuts
1/4 cup cocoa powder
5 tbsp honey
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp hazelnut oil (I didn't have hazelnut oil so I used almond extract instead)
1/2-1 cup coconut milk

Ready for storage!

Bake the hazelnuts at 350F for 8-10 minutes, or until they have browned and they are fragrant. If you can, remove the skins with a towel (I took a towel and rolled the hazelnuts around on the baking sheet to pull the skins off).  Transfer the hazelnuts to a food processor and grind to a smooth consistency. Add the remaining ingredients and process until well mixed. The amount of coconut milk varies on your desired consistency.

Fresh out of the oven and peeling away

Store in a glass container in the fridge and let it come to room temperature before serving. Serve it with... well... everything!