Healthy Agave Recipes

This cake is a spin on bizcocho mojadito, which is often served at celebrations in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We made this gluten-free almond cake using a cup-for-cup blend with xanthan gum, such as King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour. If gluten-free isn't your priority, you can substitute 1 cup all-purpose flour and 3/4 cup white whole-wheat flour for the GF flour.

This striking red and black margarita is the perfect Halloween party cocktail. Hibiscus tea and pomegranate juice give the citrusy cocktail its red color, and rimming the glass with black lava salt makes it just a little creepy. Use regular kosher salt in place of the black lava salt (or skip the salt altogether) for a cocktail that works any time of year. We love the tartness of this margarita, but feel free to add a little agave nectar if you prefer a sweeter cocktail.

A pretty cupcake topped with a fresh carrot garnish has everything you love about carrot cake with cream cheese frosting in a handy treat.

Pick up rosemary, cucumbers and lemons to concoct this grown-up lemonade that will keep you cool on a hot day.

These popcorn balls are made with agave nectar and peanut butter and are spiked with chocolate covered pretzels and dried cherries for a special treat. Try making them for your Halloween party this year.

When blended with frozen ripe bananas, coconut meat (a.k.a. coconut manna or coconut butter) is transformed into the base for this creamy banana-coconut dairy-free ice cream. This dairy-free banana-coconut ice cream recipe uses coconut butter, which is made from finely ground whole coconut meat and has the texture of natural peanut butter. Coconut butter can be found in jars near other nut butters, baking oils and sometimes even in the supplement department of natural-foods stores and well-stocked supermarkets.

These fall treats have just enough caramel to give a nice hit of salty-sweet flavor in each bite.

A bûche de Noël--a cake decorated like a yule log--is a traditional dessert served around Christmastime in France, Belgium, Canada and some other French-speaking countries. Our gluten-free recipe, which is just as tasty served cold as it is at room temperature, is lighter than air. The chocolate brown-butter génoise cake is easy to roll up and it's covered with a billowy espresso-spiked 7-minute frosting. We've substituted agave nectar for white sugar in the frosting. It's pretty garnished with meringue mushrooms and sugared rosemary.

This melt-in-your-mouth custard is delicately flavored with vanilla bean and lightly sweetened with agave syrup. Crunchy caramelized walnuts are an addictively delicious topping. Adapted from Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta: Recipes from the World-Famous Spa (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2008) by Deborah Szekely and Deborah M. Schneider with Chef Jesús González, Chef of La Cocina Que Canta.

These popcorn balls are held together with a flavorful combination of agave nectar and peanut butter. Macadamia nuts and coconut give them a delightful twist. They make a fun treat for Halloween.

No other dessert turns heads like a trifle. Festive in every way, this trifle recipe glows from within with scarlet layers of juicy cranberries. The filling is made from an astounding 6 cups of antioxidant-packed cranberries! We made the custard “skinny” with a combination of low-fat milk and light coconut milk. From-scratch brown-butter sponge cake, made with whole-wheat pastry flour, stands in for store-bought ladyfingers.

No other dessert turns heads like a trifle. Festive in every way, this trifle recipe glows from within with scarlet layers of juicy cranberries. The filling is made from an astounding 6 cups of antioxidant-packed cranberries! We made the custard “skinny” with a combination of low-fat milk and light coconut milk. From-scratch brown-butter sponge cake (gluten-free!) stands in for store-bought ladyfingers.

A bûche de Noël--a cake decorated like a yule log--is a traditional dessert served around Christmastime in France, Belgium, Canada and some other French-speaking countries. Our recipe, which is just as tasty served cold as it is at room temperature, is lighter than air. The chocolate brown-butter génoise cake made with whole-grain flour is easy to roll up and it's covered with a billowy espresso-spiked 7-minute frosting. We've substituted agave nectar for white sugar in the frosting. It's pretty garnished with meringue mushrooms and sugared rosemary.