Category Archives: Desserts

Desserts

Chocolate Avocado Smoothie. (Tastes like pudding!)

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I know you’re thinking I must be crazy, right?!  I was hesitant when I ran across this recipe in one of my mags that I had.  I thought why not try it, my youngest daughter is so underweight that the calories (all good) would be a great start to the day.  Protein, good fats… it’s all good.  Both of my girls loved it!  I snuck a taste and it tasted like pudding – even had that consistency to be honest.  I put them on table, started making my breakfast and the next thing I heard was slurping sounds coming from their straws. Enough said!

Ingredients:

Makes 2 – 2 cup servings

1 ripe avocado, halved and pitted
2 cups of vanilla almond milk
3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey
2 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
14 ice cubes

Directions:

Into your blender or Vitamix, add all of the ingredients.  Blend until creamy.  This will have a thick, pudding like appearance.  Pour slowly into  your glasses.  Top with a few chocolate chips.  Enjoy!

Eeek!  Chocolate for breakfast and it is oh so good!

*Adapted from Eating Well.

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Thin Mint Brownies.

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It’s that time of year again and the Girl Scout cookies are out!  I purchased many boxes as a donation but one to keep for baking purposes.  I knew I wanted to create some fun recipes with these cookies and this is the first of many.  Tonight we’re hosting some swimmers and coaches for a carb fest before our Championship swim meet tomorrow.  I thought everyone would enjoy these after their pasta dinner.  They smell like minty heaven sadly, I wish I loved brownies as much as everyone else does!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of a good quality cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup of boiling water
2 cups of sugar
2 eggs, room temp.
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur’s)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp mint extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your 13×9 glass pan with baking spray and then line it with parchment paper – spray again (over the parchment).  Set aside.

In your stand mixer, blend the cocoa, soda, boiling water and 1/3 c of vegetable oil.  Mix until blended.  Then stir in the sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup vegetable oil.  Finally, add the flour, vanilla and salt.  Mix until combined only.  Avoid over-mixing.  Then blend in by hand the crushed up Thin Mints.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely (for about an hour) and remove by gently pulling up on the parchment paper.  Slice and dust with powdered sugar or leave plain.

*Brownie recipe adapted from Food.com.

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Peanut Butter Cookie Bars with Chocolate.

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Tomorrow night we’re hosting a Carb Fest for our swimmers and some our of swimming friends that are competing on Saturday in a Championship meet.  We thought it would be fun to open our home up and feed the swimmers (and some coaches) in preparation for our big meet.  I wanted to make a fun, easy dessert that had peanut butter in it that would also provide some protein along with carbs to follow the pasta dinner that we’re serving.  These instantly came to mind and hey they’re kids… they will burn the calories off in an instant!

I’m behaving and not touching these ;)

*Cookie recipe was inspired by Williams Sonoma.
Ingredients:

1/2 cup of melted butter (unsalted)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup of all purpose flour (I used King Arthur’s)
1 teaspoon ground flax seed meal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of dark or milk chocolate chips

Directions:

In your stand mixer, paddle attached, cream the melted butter, sugars, peanut butter, egg and vanilla together.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, powder, soda, flax and salt together.  Then in thirds, add this mixture to the stand mixture and blend until just incorporated.  The dough will be crumbly.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a 8×8 or 9×9 glass pan – spray baking spray with flour on the bottom and the sides.  Then add a larger piece of wax paper over top fitting into the corners. Spray that with the baking spray as well.  Then dump your cookie mixture in the the pan pressing firmly until you have an even level of batter.  Bake for 18 minutes or so.  Until the dough is firm to the touch and lightly golden.  Then remove and pour your chips over the top, spreading them out evenly.  Place back in the oven and bake for another 2-4 minutes.  Remove and spread the chocolate evenly.  You can add additional peanut butter in and swirl it if you like or leave it with a plain chocolate layer.

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Birthday Funfetti Chobani Protein Smoothie.

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Today is my oldest daughter’s 14th birthday!  I figured what better way to come home from school than to a funfetti smoothie that’s actually packed with protein (thanks Chobani) and is good for you.  After all, we do have swim practice to go to.  She gobbled this down, along with my husband and my other daughter.  Rave reviews are a good thing :)

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
1 cup of vanilla almond milk
3 tablespoons of Funfetti cake mix (the powder only)
1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder
6 ice cubes
1/4 cup of vanilla Chobani yogurt
6 strawberries (fresh or frozen) to give it a fun pink color
Sprinkles (garnish)

Directions:

Into your Vitamix or blender add all of the ingredients.  Blend until smooth.  Makes 3 smoothies.  Top with sprinkles and add a fun straw.  Watch it disappear.

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Chocolate Chobani Mint Muffins.

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Today, while out discovering this amazingly huge kitchen store that I didn’t know even existed near me – I found these awesome Guittard Mint Chips and just knew I had to buy them! I’m a huge fan of Guittard chips and these green little treats had my name written all over them.

So I took my famed Double Chocolate Chobani muffin recipe and morphed it into these fabulous little treats.  They are the quintessential after-school snack.  How cute would these be for St. Patty’s day too!?!

Ingredients:

1 c of all purpose flour
1/2 c of good quality dark cocoa powder (I used Wilbur)
2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
3/4 c of sugar
1 c of non fat vanilla Chobani yogurt
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of mint extract
1/2 c of canola oil
1/2 c of mint chips (I used Guittard) or more if you like :)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your muffin pan (I used a mini muffin pan) with non stick floured baking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift you flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Then add sugar and mix to combine.  In your stand mixer, paddle attached, add yogurt, eggs, vanilla and oil.  Combine.  Then add the dry ingredients to the wet. Combine, avoid over-mixing.  Then fold in the mint chips by hand.

Using a small scoop (I use a melon baller) add batter to the muffin tins.  Fill 3/4 of the way allowing room for the muffin to grow.  I baked mini muffins for 18-20 minutes.  I inserted  a toothpick to ensure the muffins were done baking.  Some chocolate from the chips may be on the toothpick but as long as the batter isn’t present, they are done.

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Chocolate Chip PB Cup Minis.

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This is one of those OHHHHH mmmmm GEEE recipes.  It’s the perfect storm of chocolate, chocolate and oh wait, peanut butter!  I made these for our concession stand “contribution” for our swim meet tomorrow.  Standard protocol for sweets at a swim meet.  I think it should be dubbed “Junk food heaven” if you asked me. I digress, if you love chocolate chip cookies and Reese Peanut Butter cups – you will totally love these!  Would be fun for your Super Bowl party this weekend or a special treat for your Valentine too!

Ingredients:

1 bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (small but not the mini size) that are wrapped in foil – remove the foil and paper and set aside
1 cup + 2 tbl of all purpose flour (I used King Arthur’s)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of butter or butter substitute, at room temperature
5 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
10 ounces of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  I used a mini muffin pan and lined with little paper cup liners.  In a small bowl or large measuring cup, combine the flour, soda and salt.  Set aside.

In your stand mixer, cream butter and sugars.  Then add the egg.  Blend.  Then add the vanilla extract.  Blend again.  In thirds, add the flour mixture.  Beat after each addition.  Avoid over mixing.  Add the chocolate chips and blend.  Then fill each muffin cup with about 3/4 of the dough.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden.  Remove and immediately place a peanut butter cup in the center, gently pushing down, until each cookie has a pb cup.  This recipe yielded 42 mini cookies for me.

This cookie recipe is adapted from Guittard Chocolate.  

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Lemon Bars.

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{Will take better finished product/staged photos tomorrow – just got home from a fabulous party and daylight is gone.}

My husband is allergic to chocolate, cocoa specifically, and never really gets to eat dessert that I make for the family (not that he’s a big dessert fan).  Today, I wanted to make a recipe using my Magimix Food Processor that I’m also giving away tonight.  This recipe is a little thank you because he bought me a new car yesterday and I wanted to do something nice for him.  Plus my kids love lemons and I had a ton on hand so I thought I would give it a whirl.

Now I’ve never made lemon bars before.  I’m not sure exactly that I’ve ever even eaten one before.  So I went to my trusted source, foodnetwork.com and pulled a recipe.  I made it straight up like their’s and hope and pray it’s a hit with the family.

Ingredients

For the Crust:

  • Vegetable oil, for greasing
  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, diced
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, plus more for garnish
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Filling:

  • 4 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 8 lemons)

Directions

Make the crust: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with vegetable oil and line with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides; grease the foil with oil. Pulse the butter, flour, both sugars and the salt in a food processor until the dough comes together, about 1 minute. Press evenly into the bottom and about 1/2 inch up the sides of the prepared pan, making sure there are no cracks. Bake until the crust is golden, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling: Whisk the whole eggs and yolks, sugar and flour in a bowl until smooth. Whisk in the lemon zest and juice. Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the temperature to 300 degrees F. Pour the filling over the warm crust and return to the oven. Bake until the filling is just set, 35-40 minutes.

Let the bars cool in the pan on a rack, then refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. Lift out of the pan using the foil and slice. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Finished bar photos will be shared tonight.  I’m rushing off to a party this afternoon while these cool.  But wanted to share with you the process :)

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Sweet & Salty Valentine Cookie Bars.

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Adapted from Guittard Super Cookie Chip Cookie Recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of butter, softened
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 ounces of Guittard Super Cookie Chips
1/2 cup of pretzel pieces, salted
1/4 cup of M&Ms
Sprinkles (optional) Valentine Day oxoxo sprinkles used.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda and salt.  Spray the 9×9 glass pan with baking spray. Set aside.

In your stand mixer, paddle attached, cream butter and sugars.  Then beat in the egg and vanilla until creamy.  Add the flour mixture, blend.  Blend well.  By hand, stir in the chocolate chips.   Spread the dough into the pan evenly distributed.  Then press in pretzel pieces and the m&m’s throughout the top.  Bake for 20 minutes or so (until the edges are golden brown).  Let cool and then store in a container with a lid.

 

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Cookie & Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Hummus.

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This was my inaugural recipe made in my new Magimix Compact 3200 xl and oh how I love it!  It is by far the quietest appliance in my kitchen.  Worked efficiently and is a stunner in my new kitchen.  Plus love that I can select which bowl I need to use v. just using one large bowl to make a smaller batch of a recipe. Another great feature – it works quickly.  Within a few pulses, my hummus was creamy perfection.  I, like most, don’t have a lot of time to waste in the kitchen.  This certainly makes my life easier.   LOVE!  Okay now onto the recipe…

It was a really crazy day to say the least.  I wanted to make a super fun snack for my youngest daughter who started at a new private school today.  This has her name written all over it!!!  Cookie butter + peanut butter + chocolate = Instant JOY!  Plus it’s hummus and it’s packed with protein, potassium and fiber for the joy of mom/dad!

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Ingredients:

1 16 oz can of low sodium Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup of cookie butter (Trader Joe’s or Biscoff)
1/4 cup of peanut or other nut butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey, agave or maple syrup
Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Into your food processor add the first 6 ingredients and blend until nice and creamy.  This will take about 2 minutes or so.  Then by hand, blend in the chocolate chip (mini chips work well too).

Serve with graham crackers, apples or vanilla wafers.

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Red & Green Christmas Chobani.

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Take one single serving of vanilla or plain Chobani.  Divide it in half placing each in a separate bowl.  Add either strawberries or raspberries (handful) into the one bowl.  Using a hand immersion blender, blend it until all of the berries are blended.  Then add kiwi (I used two) to the other bowl and repeat with the hand immersion blender.  Layer in a cute bowl and top with extra fruit of nuts (I used sliced kiwi and chopped pistachios).  Chill until serving.  Kids love it and it won’t blow all of your gym efforts!

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