Laissez les bons temps rouler! Mardi Gras is tomorrow, which means it’s King Cake time. Don’t ask me what makes this traditional New Orleans dessert so yummy, but man it’s amazing. Growing up, my family in Louisiana would always send us one and my sisters and I would devour it trying to find the baby. In case you aren’t familiar, a King Cake is actually more like a monkey bread. A plastic baby is baked in it, and whoever has the slice with the baby will have good fortune bestowed upon them.

Kick off Mardi Gras with this delicious twist to the classic King Cake!

Now aside from King Cake and beignets, I love pralines. I love them on ice cream, in cookies, by themselves – I’d eat them all day. When I found a recipe, of course on Pinterest, that combined a King Cake AND pralines, I knew I had to share it.

Originally, this recipe called for butter, which of course I swapped out for coconut oil. I’m also working more with coconut sugar in place of white and brown sugar. Coconut sugar has less calories and carbs, and is a low-glycemic index food. I also replaced the flour with a gluten-free flour – although you can experiment with replacing it with almond or coconut flour (which requires just a little more math).

Ingredients

1 cup Kelapo Coconut Oil, softened

1¾ cup coconut sugar, divided

2 Tbs ground cinnamon, divided

3 egg yolks

1 Tbs honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp lemon extract

2½ cups gluten-free flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cream of tartar

Pecan Praline Topping:

2 cups coconut sugar

½ cup evaporated milk

2 tbsps Kelapo Coconut Oil

1¼ cups pecan halves

¼ tsp vanilla extract

*optional sprinkles/edible glitter for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In large bowl, cream coconut oil, 1¼ cups sugar, and ½ Tbs ground cinnamon until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg yolks, honey, vanilla and lemon extracts.
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cream of tartar and gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
5. In a shallow bowl or baking dish combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. (Depending on how much you like cinnamon you may adjust your cinnamon and sugar mixture to taste.)
6. Shape a heaping tablespoon of dough first into a golf ball size ball, then roll a 6″ log. Roll the log into the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
7. Take your log roll and loosely wind into a circular spiral.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.

For the topping:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine coconut sugar and milk. Bring to a boil.
2. Stir in coconut oil, pecans and vanilla. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool 2-5 minutes. Unlike making an actual praline, you want the consistency to be liquid enough to “glaze” over the cookie but thick enough to set. Continue stirring until desired consistency is reached. Pour over your spiral lovelies.
3. Sprinkle with purple, gold and green sprinkles to get the full Mardi Gras effect.

-Michelle