egg yolk Archives

The first time I met Kerstin, she was piping something, perfectly, in the St. Philip kitchen. She asked if I wanted to try what she was making and I responded that I couldn’t, that I wasn’t eating dairy or gluten. And with her head down, intently making the most uniform desserts you could possibly imagine, she said she didn’t either. I walked away {more than} a bit confused. Shortly after, my construction focus switched from St. Philip to Uchi Dallas. And that was that.

What feels like tens of years {but was actually only one year} later, we connected on Facebook after I photographed food for Juniper, a soon-to-be-open Austin restaurant where Kerstin is heading up pastry. And when I saw this picture of paleo cacao nib cookies on my newsfeed, the chain of thought went something like pretty cookies! -> paleo cookies? -> how can paleo cookies look so much like fancy pants bakery cookies? -> oh, they’re Kerstin’s cookies -> Kerstin is a pastry superhero -> I want to make fancy pants superhero paleo cookies -> I wonder if she’ll share the recipe?.

I “liked” the photo and sent an inquiring message, not knowing how receptive she’d be to sharing. And before another thought entered my busy bee brain, she replied that sharing the recipe would be awesome and she’d send the recipe over as soon as she got home.

To say I’ve been looking forward to baking these cookies all week is the most giant of understatements. After sixty-ish weekly Dallas trips and the recent flood of weekend getaways, my body is in major need of the good for you stuff. And as I get back on the gluten-free, dairy-free train, I’m so thankful to know that these delish cookies will have my back, keeping me company when temptation is near.

Thank you, Kerstin, for allowing me to share this recipe with the FoodFash world!

P.S. I used carob chips instead of cacao nibs because.. accident.

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Resisting the most adorable casserole dish in the world, I could not. I scooped it up without concern that I rarely make casseroles. I’d figure something out, right? Pinterest would certainly guide me in the right direction.

While I didn’t find the recipe on Pinterest, it did spark a memory of Shepherd’s Pie. I’d often seen it on menus, but couldn’t recall if Shepherd’s Pie was something I had ever actually tried. I sifted through recipes and came to the conclusion that anything topped with mashed potatoes was worth giving a shot.

I settled on Alton Brown’s Shepherd’s Pie recipe. Partly because I trust Alton Brown, but mostly because I was excited about cooking with ground lamb.

I swapped out {more than} a handful of ingredients to make this dish void of dairy and gluten. There were initial nerves about how mashed potatoes with coconut milk and oil would taste. But after whipping them up and sampling the meat/veggie mix, I knew I was 25 baking minutes away from the coziest of meals in the coziest of casserole dishes.

A modified version of Alton Brown’s recipe is below:

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