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Monday, November 11, 2013

Turning 5: A Baking Birthday Party!


Eva loves to help make things, especially in the kitchen. I decided to throw her a little baking party for her 5th birthday. The challenge I faced was that everything had to be gluten free, dairy free, sugar and dye free. It took a little effort, but the results were amazing. I love knowing that even a birthday party can be healthy! On the menu- fruit pizza..


We decorated aprons for the occasion. For the girls we added red flowers to cream colored aprons, while for the boys we added whimsical mustaches onto red aprons. Then we used fabric paints to add each child's initials. These will need to be made ahead of time in order for the paint to dry (I had to stick a fan on them to get them to dry faster!)

Next we made baker's hats. We used poster board for the bands and stapled tissue paper to the inside. We added flowers made out of paper cupcake liners and stapled those on as well. These were a lot of fun!


I made a banner out of burlap triangles and used fabric paint to write her name...


The girls and I made garlands out of cupcake liners and strung them onto thread from the ceiling, as well as Christmas lights.


For our fruit pizza crust I used a gluten-free oat cookie recipe (included below). The kids had fun rolling out the dough. We baked these on parchment paper so it was easy to transfer back and forth without taking the risk of the crusts breaking. The crust looks dark brown because we used coconut sugar...


They enjoyed a glass of dairy free milk while their crusts were cooling off. We served milk inside pint sized mason jars with red & white straws.


Each child had their own foil tray covered with a doily (found inexpensively at the dollar store). I placed the topping ingredients in small serving dishes. I made an orange icing out of cashews to put on the pizza crusts. You can find the recipe here. I only used the icing part of the recipe. The only substitution I made was that I used an orange instead of a clementine. I also doubled the recipe so that I would have plenty of icing to go around. For the toppings I used sliced strawberries, kiwis and mandarin orange slices as well as mini chocolate chips (we use Enjoy Life brand because they are dairy and soy free).



The kids enjoyed making their own pizzas. They could lick and make a mess, because they got to eat their own pizzas! 




One of the finished pizzas. They tasted SO good! 


Our littlest baker watched from the sidelines :)


The following recipe is adapted from Nourishing Meals Oatmeal Heart Cut-Out Cookies. The original recipe can be found here. I doubled the recipe to make 6 good sized fruit pizzas. You could probably easily get 8 made. Any more than that and I would make a third batch. Even though I doubled the recipe, I recommend only making one batch at a time in your food processor. I made the dough the day before and refrigerated it. I took it out of the fridge for a while before I had the kids begin rolling the dough out.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Fruit Pizza Crust:

1 1/2 cups gluten free oat flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
scant 1 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup organic coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla

Place all the ingredients in a food processor fitted with a "S" blade. Process until mixture forms a ball. Remove from food processor and finish kneading with your hands. Place in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 350. Place dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Roll into a round disc to about a 1/4 - inch thickness. Bake for 15-16 minutes. Let cool on wire rack before icing.

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