Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

I found another way to eat Nutella for breakfast.

Saying of the Day:

When Breakfast gets boring, just add Nutella.

Seriously guys, it's true.

When, a couple of days ago, I felt as though my breakfasts were getting a bit boring, I used some of my delicious Date Sweetened Nutella to whip up a batch of Banana Muffins with a Nutella swirl.  Ummm, yum.

Boring breakfast no more!

And... just to make things even awesomer (because that's totally a word), these muffins are also:

• sweetened only with fruit
• vegan (when using vegan yogurt)
• whole wheat
• super easy 
• can be frozen for quick breakfasts

I think I know what you'll be baking tomorrow!

Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt (greek, vegan, etc)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tbsp date paste
• 1/4 cup Date Sweetened Nutella or regular Nutella

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place dry ingredients in a large bowl, and mix together.  In another bowl, mash bananas.  Add yogurt, milk, and date paste.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until a smooth batter forms.  Scoop batter into lined muffin tins until about 3/4 cup full.  Add a dollop of Nutella and swirl a bit.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Store in airtight container for up to 4 days, or freeze to laste longer.  Recipe makes 10 muffins.

Muffin + Banana + Nutella = Best Day Ever!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Not Your Average Blueberry Muffins

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

I sort of make it a point to try every chocolate layer cake I can find.

When eating out, when passing bakeries, when at someone's house.  If it's chocolate and layered I am going to try it.  It's become a sort of tradition, and I'm not even sure why.

But anyway, I've had so many cakes that I've started to rank them in my head.  There's the bronze, silver, and gold cake.  The gold cake has stayed gold for some time now, never to be beaten by anything else I've tried.

You know what's so special about it?  It was made with beets!

I had never heard of that before, but as soon as I tasted the cake, I knew it was something I had to replicate at home!

These cupcakes are about as close as I've gotten so far.  They're super chocolate-y and have a light texture just like the #1 cake I tried.  The beets not only help to create the perfect texture, but also add an earthiness that's pairs perfectly with the chocolate flavor.

Whether you're doubtful or not, you've got to try them.

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

For cake (makes 18 cupcakes):

• 260 g beets, cut into very small pieces or grated
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup date paste
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (make your own by combining 1/2 cup milk with 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice or letting it it)
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp spelt flour
• 1 scant tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1/3 cup extra dark cocoa powder

For Frosting:

• 2/3 cup 2% greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup date paste
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp egg whites

Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine first 6 ingredients for cake in a food processor and process until smooth.  In a large bowl, mix together remaining ingredients for cake.  Pour wet ingredients from food processor into dry ingredients.  Mix until well combined.  Scoop batter into paper lined or sprayed muffin tins.  Bake in preheated oven for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
While cupcakes are baking, make your frosting.  To do this, mix together the yogurt, date paste, and milk called for in the frosting ingredients in a small bowl.  Slowly stir in the cocoa powder until combined.  Mix in egg whites.  When cupcakes are ready, place a large dollop of the frosting on each one.  Store cupcakes in fridge.

As for the making these cupcakes into a layer cake, I'm still working on that.  Though I think I've got the cake recipe down, I'm still trying to figure out a good frosting recipe.

The one used for these cupcakes is delicious, but not quite as thick and fudgy as I'd like.  Don't worry though, I will recreate that golden cake.

But in the meantime... Why don't you make some cupcakes?

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Single Serving Mocha Cake

Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip

Greek yogurt has a special place in my heart.

I used to not like yogurt at all.  In fact, when I was a kid, just the smell of it made me gag.

So, even when Greek yogurt started to pop up everywhere, it wasn't something I necessarily wanted to try.  That is, until I started to hear about all it's amazing nutritional benefits.  Especially the protein.

Protein is always something I've struggled to get into my diet.  I eat a mostly vegetarian diet, and eggs and nuts have never really been my favorites, so sometimes it's hard to be sure I'm getting enough of that essential nutrient.  Greek yogurt helped me fix that problem.

At first I didn't like it.  It was too tangy for me, and the only way I could even slightly enjoy it was with lots of honey and fruit.  I kept trying it different ways though.  You see, I wanted to like Greek yogurt really really bad.  And eventually that happened.

One day, something just clicked.  I'm honestly not really sure what happened, but I had a bowl of plain Greek yogurt with nothing on it at all, and then, I wanted more.  And more and more and more.

Greek yogurt went from being something I extremely disliked, to something I eat almost every day in just a matter of months.

Now, I use Greek yogurt in almost everything.  Sure, not everything works out, but the things that do are absolutely delicious.  Like this fruit dip, for instance.

It's creamy and tart with just a hint of chocolaty-goodness.  Dip in strawberries, bananas, or maybe even spread some on your morning toast!

Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip
(makes about 1 cup)

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (vanilla would probably work too)
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp melted chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp chocolate sauce (homemade if you like)
• sweetener of choice, to taste (I used just a bit of date paste, because I wanted by dip to be pretty tart)

Mix all ingredients together in a cereal bowl until little to no clumps remain.  Alternately, if you want a very smooth dip, you can blend everything together in a blender.  Serve dip chilled with fruit or cookie/crackers (spoons work too :)).  Store any leftovers in the fridge.

If your a Greek yogurt newbie, I suggest this dip.  It's a good introduction to everything Greek yogurt has to offer, and on top of it all, it's really tasty.  I bet if someone had given this to me while I was in the "trying to like yogurt" stage, my love would have blossomed right then and there.

And, If you have leftovers, you can't go wrong with chocolate Greek yogurt dipped strawberries!  Just coat strawberries in already made dip and freeze.

Enjoy!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Peach Blueberry Breakfast Crumble

Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

It sounds impossible, I know.

How can a chocolate chip cookie contain no sugar?

Actually, scratch that, I know how a cookie can contain no sugar.  You simply leave the sugar out.  The real question is, How can a chocolate chip cookie contain no sugar and still taste good?  I bet that's the thing you're having trouble figuring out.

I'm just gonna go ahead and stop all your troubling.  It is possible.

And I did it.

I made chocolate chip cookies that not only taste great, but also have absolutely no sugar added to them at all.  Not one little grain.  And guess what?  There's no honey either.  Or maple syrup.  Or molasses.  Or stevia.  Or probably any other usual sweetener you can think of.

So how'd I do it?

Dates!

Those insanely sweet fruits are my new best friend.  All you have to do is soak them in water at least overnight, blend them a bit until they turn into a thick paste, and BAM, awesome all natural sweetener.  Pretty cool, huh?

It's even cooler when you use it to make amazing chocolate chip cookies.

Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes 7-10 small cookies)

• 1/3 cup + 1/4 cup rolled oats
• pinch salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp date paste*
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips (depending on how much chocolate you want)

In a coffee grinder or food processor grind oats down into a fine flour (if you have oat flour, you can use that too without grinding).  Then, combine newly made flour with all other dry ingredients (not chocolate chips) in a medium sized bowl.  Mix well.  Stir in wet ingredients (including date paste) until everything is smooth and no clumps remain.  Gently fold in chocolate chips.  Form dough into small balls on a sprayed cookie sheet.  They won't be the prettiest cookies in the world, but that's o.k.  Bake cookies for 5-8 minutes, or until they dough no longer seems raw, but cookies are still chewy (they may look a but underdone at first).  Let cookies cool before removing from cookie sheet and serving.

*To make date paste, fill a jar with as many dates as possible, fill any remaining space with water, and let soak at least overnight.  Then, blend the dates in a blender or food processor until they become a thick paste.

Please do yourself a favor and throw any doubts you have about these cookie out the nearest window.

Just make them.  That's all I have to say.  Well, that, and make them now.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Fun Sized Chocolate Chip Cookies

No Bake Chocolate Bites

I seriously considered calling these "Highly Snack-able and Absurdly Tasty Chocolate Balls".

After all, that is a near perfect description.

Unfortunately, it's also a bit long for a title, and not exactly as, well, sophisticated, as I would like.

Although, I have to admit, it's way better than what my whole family was calling them at first, which was "Deer Poop".  Luckily, that name flew right out the door after everyone's first bite.

Something so delicious can simply not be referred to as poop, deer or otherwise.

Though it took some time (and some tasting), my family did eventually realize that.

And I know that, no matter what interesting words may be going through your head now, after your try these delicious little snacks, you will too.

Either that or you'll want to eat only animal droppings for the rest of you life.  Your choice.

To find the original recipe go here.  The only changes I made were to lower the chocolate chip amount to about 1/2 cup, and just freeze the balls instead of baking them.  Enjoy!

I think that these No Bake Chocolate Bites are living (ok, so maybe not living) proof that you shouldn't judge something by it's looks.

Because, I'm telling you.  They.  Are.  Amazing.

Like, "This is the only dessert I'm ever eating" good.

And since these Chocolate Bites are easy, relatively healthy, and don't even require time in the oven, they very well could be the only dessert you'll ever eat again.

Or, you could be like me, and instead just eat them alongside other desserts.

Yeah, that's usually my strategy :)

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Chocolate Cake Cookies