Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

I hope you don't mind more muffins.  I certainly don't.  After all, muffins are basically cupcakes you can eat for breakfast.  What's not to love about that?

And these particular muffins are chocolate.  Chocolate!  Are you getting all this?  So far we have a recipe that is essentially a chocolate cupcake that's ok to eat for breakfast.  Now who's complaining about two muffin recipes in a row?

But I'm not done yet.  Oh no, not even close.

As if little guys don't have enough going for them already, I also made them, you guessed it, healthy!

Instead of using all spelt flour, which is what I would normally do, I decided to switch it up with a half whole wheat, half spelt flour mixture.  Let me tell you, you cannot tell there's whole wheat in these guys.  The texture is just perfect!  None of the dense and gummy stuff that sometimes comes along with whole wheat flour.

The awesomeness continues with the fact that these muffins are 100% fat free.  There aren't even any chocolate chips it them to ruin that claim (although if you'd like to add them I won't complain).  But like with the flour, you can't tell.  PERFECT texture.

Can you tell I just love these muffins?

It's just so much fun when you find a recipe that's healthy, but doesn't taste it at all.  And it's even better when said recipe entitles you to chocolate "cake" before 9am.  Hey, these muffins do have pumpkin, whole wheat flour, and no fat.  Totally breakfast acceptable ;)

Fat Free Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup honey (if you like things really sweet, you may want to add more)
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a muffin tin well (!!!).  In a medium sized bowl, mix together pumpkin, honey, egg whites, yogurt, and vanilla.  In another large bowl, combine cocoa powder, flours, baking soda, and baking powder.  Min until incorporated.  Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture.  Mix until a smooth, but thick batter has formed.  Your batter should be almost like brownie batter, it's so thick.  Scoop batter evenly between 12 muffin tin cups.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool before removing from pan and storing muffins in an airtight container.  Muffins will keep for 3-4 days on the counter, and can be frozen as well.

See that texture up there?  You must make these!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

More muffins for you: Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

Fluffy Chocolate Donuts

These are the fluffiest fat free donuts you will ever try.  I can promise you that.

Sometimes fat free baked goods are known for being gummy and dense.  No one wants to eat something like that.  It's like eating a brick!

Today I'm proving once and for all that fat free does not mean gummy.  When done right, a fat free donut can be even better than a normal one.  It sounds crazy, but it's true.  Proof = these donuts.

I swear these Chocolate Donuts are just as good, if not better, than anything you can pick up at the chain store down the street.  They're light, they're fluffy, and they're completely delicious, all without one little teaspoon of butter, oil, or margarine.

I don't follow a low fat diet, but I find it pretty incredible.

And these guys are super easy too.  You need two bowls, a spatula, a donut pan and that's all.  No frying required!  In fact, you don't really need a donut pan at all.  A muffin tin will work just fine.

Oh, and one more quick thing.  I decided to be nice this time and not throw in any weirdo ingredients.  That means no beans, no cauliflower, and no tofu.  You may already have everything you need to make these in the house.

I'm honestly not sure why you're still reading this.  Skip right in down to the recipe folks, if you've got any common sense at all.

Fluffy Chocolate Donuts

• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup honey (if you like things extra sweet, feel free to ude a bit more and reduce milk accordingly)
• ¼ cup buttermilk
• ¼ tsp. vanilla
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 Tbs. ground flaxseed
• ½ Tbs. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbs. cornstarch
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup spelt flour

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. In a small bowl mix together all the wet ingredients.
3. In another larger bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
4. Add wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just incorporated.  Do not overmix.
5. Scoop donuts into a greased donut pan.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.
7. Makes about 18 mini-donuts, but number will vary depending on the size of your pan.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:


Apple Cinnamon Bread

Recipe ReDux - Chocolate Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting.

Is it just me or did April fly by?

I swear, it felt like I was reading the new Recipe ReDux theme just yesterday.  Maybe it's because this months theme was finally in my comfort zone again?

That's right, today we are back to desserts!  Thank god!

To quote the Recipe ReDux people, this months theme cantered around "The Cupcake Conundrum".  Our job was to to do one of the following: "If you think cupcakes never go out of style, show us your most delicious 'ReDux-ed' mini-cake creation. Or if you're in the camp that cupcakes have been a bit overdone, share your favorite hand-held dessert destined to be the next big trend"

Well, I don't know about you, but in my mind cupcakes never get old.  Especially when there's cookie dough involved!

This was by far the easiest Recipe ReDux theme yet.  As soon as I read the theme, I knew just what to do.

It was Cookie Dough Frosting time!

I made a simple chocolate cupcake in my mini muffin pan, and then used a big scoop of my Healthy Cookie Dough recipe to frost them.  Delicious!

If you want a cute + healthier dessert for a party, your family, or just for you to hog, this is your recipe!  They.  Are.  So.  Adorable!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting
Cupcakes:

• 2  1/2 tbsp ground flax
• 7 1/2 tbsp water
• 2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup honey (note that these cupcakes are not super sweet, if you like things on the sweeter side, add a bit more honey and reduce milk accordingly)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp milk

Frosting:

• 3/4 - 1 cup Healthy Cookie Dough (you can make this up to 2 days ahead of time) (for vegan cupcakes make vegan version of cookie dough)

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a small bowl, mix together flax and water.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Add in applesauce, honey, vanilla, milk, and flax/water mixture.  Mix until a smooth batter forms.  Scoop batter into greased mini muffin tins and bake for 10 minutes.  Let cool before removing from pan and frosting with a big (around a heaping 1/2 tbsp) scoop of (premade) Healthy Cookie Dough.  Recipe makes 18-20 cupcakes.

The cupcake trend is so not over.  Now with these little guys around!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Food Processor Chocolate Cupcakes

Whole Wheat English Muffins

If I learned one thing from this recipe, it's that toasted English Muffins taste really good with warm peanut butter.  Really good.

Call me crazy, but I've always overlooked English Muffins.  I mean, they're sorta boring, right?  People always put jam on them to make them good, and I'm not really a jam person, so I didn't really know what to do with them.  Well, I know now.

Two words: Peanut Butter.

Oh my god, so good.   It's all melty, and sticky, and just plain yummy.  Can you guess where all my homemade English Muffins went?

Yeah, along with all my Peanut Butter.

Ok, so let's talk about the actual recipe I'm sharing today.  It's one for Whole Wheat English Muffins.

They're tasty, they're healthy, they're surprisingly easy.  You should make them and then slather peanut butter on top.  Enough said.

Whole Wheat English Muffins

• 1/2 cup warm water (115F)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 cups spelt flour (or all purpose)
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 2 tsp ground flax
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• cooking spray
• 1/4 cup cornmeal

1. Combine warm water, honey, and yeast in a large bowl.  Let stand for 5 minutes or so, until yeast has dissolved.  In another bowl, mix together flours, oats, wheat bran, salt, and flax
2. Add dry ingredients to bowl with yeast.  Pour buttermilk into yeast bowl.  Mix until flour is almost completely incorporated.
3. Turn mixture onto a well floured surface and knead until a smooth ball of dough forms.  
4. Lightly coat a large bowl with cooking spray.  Place dough in bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.
5. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for another 1-2 minutes.  Roll out dough to a 1/2" thickness.  Use a 3-inch round cutter (I used the top of a cup) to cut out rounds of dough.  Continus to roll out and cut the scraps until all dough has been used.
6. Place rounds on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until puffy, about 20 minutes.
7. Heat a large griddle or 12 inch skillet over low heat.  Dust rounds with cornmeal before placing on griddle in batches of 3-4.
8. Cook for 8-10 minutes on each side, until dry anf slightly browned.  Let cool at least 30 minutes before slicing.
9. English muffins will keep for about a week in the fridge.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Lemon Zucchini Bread

Good Ol' Banana Bread

Oh, Banana Bread, how I love you.

I believe I've mentioned it before, but banana bread has a special place in my heart.  A place containing memories of surprise after school treats, dad humming to himself as he mixes the batter, and bananas so black speckled I was afraid to go near them.

So, when I entered the kitchen a couple days ago, and was faced with bananas so brown they might as well have been chocolate bars, I knew just what to do.

It was banana bread time!

I started with those dark brown bananas I mentioned earlier, the kind no one would dare eat, unless they've been mashed and baked into bread.  As you may know, those are the absolute sweetest.

I then added all of your basic banana bread ingredients.  Flour, salt, baking powder, you know, the usual.  I skipped the fat and sugar, however.  No need for that when the bananas are so creamy and sweet themselves.

After baking away in the oven for a bit, my banana bread came out looking better than ever.  I could not wait to take pictures and slice into that thing!

Sure enough, when it came time to take my first bite, it was more than delicious.  Slightly chewy, with the perfect texture, and just the right amount of sweetness.  It was everything a classic banana bread should be.  I definitely helped myself to a second serving.

What can I say?  I love banana bread.

Classic Banana Bread

• 2 cups oat flour (make your own by grinding rolled oats in a blender until they form a flour, measure after blending)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 3 large bananas, mashed (as ripe as possible)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites (or 1 egg or 1 flax "egg")

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.  In another large bowl, whisk together bananas, vanilla, and eggs until smooth and a bit bubbly.  Add dry ingredients to wet slowly and mix until just combined.  Scoop batter unto a parchment paper lined loaf pan.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Banana Frosting

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

Apple Cinnamon Bread

I miss strawberries.  And blueberries and blackberries and raspberries.

Winter where I live is terrible in terms of fresh fruit.  There are apples, oranges, and pears and that's about it.  Don't get me wrong, I love the fruit we have, but I epecially love berries.

The frozen kind doesn't count.

Lately, I've started to see the berries I miss so much appear in the grocery store again.  Except now it's almost worse.  Because they cost way too much.  I absolutely hate buying things for too much money.

So now, I'm stuck in one of those "so close yet so far" situations.  Yeah, it stinks.

But let's start talking about the good.

I finally decided that I should just try to make the best of the fruit I've got.  You know, instead of drooling over the $10 packages of strawberries.  So I used a couple of the apples sitting on my counter to make Apple Cinnamon Bread.

You wanna know how awesome it was?  So awesome it made me forget about blueberries.  And in case you're not aware of my love for blueberries, that's pretty darn awesome.

Apple Cinnamon Bread

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oats, ground into a fine flour (oat flour)
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• pinch cloves
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• the leaves of 1 bag apple cinnamon tea (caffeine free)
• 1/3 cup egg whites (2)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp applesauce
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2/3 cup apple cider
• 1 medium/large apple, cut into small chunks

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large bowl, combine first 10 ingredients.  Whisk together.  Add in egg whites, applesauce, vanilla, molasses, and apple cider, and mix until a smooth batter forms (it will be runny).  Fold in apple chunks.  Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely before slicing or removing from pan.

Ok, so I just want to clarify one thing before you run off into your kitchen to make this (because that's obviously what you're dying to do).

It says tea in the ingredients.  That does not mean the liquid that tea has been steeped in.  No, no, no.  It literally means the tea leaves.  Like in my Mixed Berry Oatmeal and Apple Cinnamon Muffin this helps to add a ton of flavor in a very easy way.  If you don't happen to have apple cinnamon tea, then you have to go buy some this instant because it's the best thing ever I suppose you could make the bread without, but I'd definitely add some spices and taste the batter to make sure it's got enough flavor for your liking.

Alright, now you can sprint to your kitchen.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Honey Flax Bread