Not So Sinfully Sweet

Total indulgence of all things sinful on vacay leaves us no choice, but to scale it back today, but not entirely! Skipping our treat day would be sinful in itself! These Dark Chocolate Maple Pecan Butter Cookies meet all of our requirements (dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and sweet tooth satisfying). Devilishly delicious without the guilt!

Ingredients

• 1 cup pecan butter*

• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup

• 1/4 cup melted extra virgin coconut oil

• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup gluten free oat flour

• 1/2 cup almond flour

• 1/4 cup cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teasoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

• flaky sea salt, for topping

*to make the pecan butter, add 2 heaping cups of raw pecans into your blender and process until creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the container, about 5 minutes.

Directions

1 in a large bowl, mix together the flours, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  in another large bowl, whisk together the pecan butter, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla.  add the dry ingredients a little at a time until everything is combined.  then fold in the chocolate chips.  cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or freeze for 30 min.

2 preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

3 scoop cookie dough onto your prepared cookie sheets.  bake in the center of your oven for 12 minutes, checking for doneness at 10 minutes, until the edges are just golden brown. dust cookies with sea salt.

4 cool the cookies on a rack, then feel satisfied!

* recipe inspired by Dolly and Oatmeal

A Sweet Break

What a week! With a staycation, vacation, anniversary, and birthday this past week, our families have had lots of celebrations and loads of sugar. We’ve decided to take a little bit of a break from our normal Saturday sweet cheat treat day and bake up something a little bit healthier. Peanut Power Cookies have just enough sweetness in them to trick our sweet tooth but still get our healthy eating back on track. And this comes in perfect timing since we have another birthday to celebrate next weekend. A week’s break will do us good. Happy Saturday! 😃 

Power Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup raisins 

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup agave

1/4 cup natural peanut butter 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Drop the dough into 12 even mounds on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are just set in the center.

Enjoy!

*recipe inspired by Fantastic Food

Our Motto: Be Nice & Eat Sweets!

The title says it all. Be nice and eat sweets! Are there really any other words this important to live by? Sure there are, but not this Saturday! We’re going to be kind to our bodies and satisfy our sugar cravings with healthy Strawberry Banana Nice Cream! All natural and totally indulgent. And don’t worry we’ll be gracious and share!

Strawberry Banana Nice Cream

Ingredients

1 frozen bananas

1 cup strawberries

Directions

1. Place 1 frozen banana, cut into chunks and 1 cup of frozen strawberry slices in a blender.

2. Blend until smooth. 

3.  Eat immediately!

It’s that easy! Really! 

Sweet That Pops

We happily cheated and treated our way through winter break. But now all of that holiday goodness has left us with that about to “pop” feeling. Are you there too? This Saturday we are getting back on track with a sinfully sweet and salty snack – Chocopop. Using the superfoods of whole grain popcorn, unsweetened cocoa powder, and coconut oil we can munch away on this scrumptious chocolate popcorn without feeling guilty. “Pop” a batch and discover for yourself why this has become one of our most”pop”ular recipes. 

Chocopop

  
Ingredients

1/3 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 cup coconut oil 

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 

1/4 cup agave syrup 

2 tablespoons almond milk 

1 teaspoon corn starch

Directions
Preheat oven to 250F and grease cookie sheet or 9×13 pan.

Make a large bowl of air popped popcorn 

In a small dish mix milk and starch and stir to combine.

In a small pan on low to medium heat combine all ingredients. While stirring constantly, heat until thick.

While still hot, pour sauce over popcorn and stir until all popcorn is covered.

Place popcorn on prepared pan.

Bake for 20 minutes stirring every 10 minutes to break popcorn apart.

*recipe adapted from The Happy Healthy Wife

The Sweet Side of Gathering

The countdown is on. Thanksgiving is just 12 days away.  We’re lucky enough that we don’t have to host this year. However, we’ve never had to be bribed to bring a dessert. Against better judgement, we believe it’s never too early to start preparing! While searching through our recipe cards (truthfully Pinterest pins) we selected Pumpkin-Pear Crumble as the lucky winner in this Saturday’s bake off. We’ve lightened up this old favorite saving us plenty of calories to spend on what else-more treats! What are you making for dessert this Turkey Day? We’ll be over! 

Pumpkin-Pear Crumble

  
Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

6 pears chopped 

1 1/2 cups gluten free rolled oats

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup agave syrup

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400.

Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan 

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. 

Add pears and stir to toss pears with pumpkin mixture.

Spread into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, combine oats, nuts, and sea salt.

Add agave syrup, and stir to combine.

Spread on top of fruit mixture.

Bake 35 minutes, or until lightly golden and crispy on top.
* Recipe adapted from Kim’s Welcoming Kitchen

Sweet Delite

Have you realized that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner? Because we always take our cheating up a notch during this time of year, we’ve decided to scale back our sweet treating a bit. However, what would a Saturday be without a little sinful indulgence? We’re filling our sugar void with Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Baked Oatmeal. It’s loaded with peanut buttery cocoa yumminess without the guilt. Two thumbs up for sweet satisfaction!

Reeses Oatmeal Recipe:

Ingredients (Serves 1)

1/2 cup rolled oats 

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup mashed banana 

2 Tbsp almond milk 

1 1/2 tbsp agave

1/8 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1-2 tbsp peanut butter 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 380 degrees. Combine all ingredients and mix well. (If peanut butter was in the fridge, you might want to heat it up a little so it’s easier to stir.) Pour into a greased 1-cup ramekin, or two 1/2-cup ramekins, or a mini-loaf pan. Cook for 20 minutes or more, until it gets firm. Finally, set your oven to “high broil” for 3 more minutes, or until it reaches desired crispy-ness.

Frosting Recipe:

Ingredients

1/4 cup peanut butter 

4-8 tsp agave 

2 tbsp cocoa powder

4 tsp almond milk 

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Blend everything in a small food processor. If you have a bigger processor, it might be best to double the recipe so everything blends more smoothly. 

*recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie

* frosting recipe Chocolate Covered Katie