Healthy Butterfinger Brownies and Healthy Homemade Butterfingers Candy, Gluten Free and Refined Sugar Free

Healthy Butterfingers?  Healthy Brownies?  What?  I know, hear me out—these, believe it or not, are made with no refined sugars and are gluten free.  The Butterfingers candy is even vegan.  Not that I really care about that, but my son who is vegan does and he admitted these taste great and just like the candy bars!  While deciding to start blogging again, I thought of an idea.  I collect cookbooks and love following along with favorite bloggers.  With my diet changes, I can’t just make every recipe I want anymore.  Well, I can make them, I have just chosen not to eat certain things.  It’s been kind of boring.  I’ve missed just indulging!  My new idea is to make something in a cookbook or from a blog that I think looks great and make the recipe as written once, then change it up to suit my needs another way and share it here. 

I recently got to purchase The Recipe Girl Cookbook from one of my longest known food blogger friends, Lori from Recipe Girl.  Looking through her cookbook, which you can still get on the link I left for Amazon, besides drooling at all the pictures, I was drawn to one that I remember from way-back-when that I made when she first came out with the recipe not long after I started blogging in 2008 for these Butterfinger Brownies.  I remembered that they were so good and decided I wanted to make them again.  I made her full recipe for Butterfinger Brownies as written in her book and found on her blog (linked).   Here’s the Recipe Girl’s Butterfinger Brownies.  

They are great and were eaten up by others around here.  But I decided to take the idea and make some I could eat, too.  I did a little homework on finding some Butterfingers that were made healthy, I knew I could find some from somewhere online as there are a lot of fantastic bloggers and recipes for candies made healthier out there.  I found these Healthier Homemade Butterfingers at Megan’s blog, Detoxinista. She mentions they can be made with either honey or maple syrup.  I tried them with both.  I definitely like them better with maple syrup and made them twice that way.  The honey ones didn’t set up the same.  Maybe I didn’t let the boiling honey come to the correct temperature, but the maple syrup Butterfingers taste GREAT!  They ARE healthier, but probably should still be eaten in moderation!

I made just a few small changes in the way I made them so I will post that, but all inspiration and detailed instructions that I used came from Megan’s post, so definitely read it before just diving in to my simplified version.  Once you add the peanut butter to the boiled maple syrup, it begins hardening to that crispy Butterfinger goodness.  I realized I was adding natural peanut butter that I store in the fridge to that hot syrup and it would seize up quickly.  So I now warm the peanut butter so it is smooth and a little runny and it mixes a lot nicer and is easily spread into the pan.  Megan scores hers before chilling so they are easily cut into bars before dunking them in melted chocolate, but since I was just using mine for chopped up mix-ins, they didn’t need that.  I just spread the melted chocolate over the whole panful, then removed it from the pan and foil and broke it into pieces and chopped the pieces with a knife. 

I tried a few different brownie recipes that I adapted, but ultimately chose one that I adapted from my favorite brownies.  These are made with coconut oil, coconut sugar, a little raw honey and a gluten free flour blend.  I’m telling you, I don’t think anyone would have a clue if you didn’t tell them.  I love how these brownies turned out, so I made them again and added the chopped Healthy Butterfingers.  Heavenly!  They are fudgy and have a perfect chocolate and peanut butter ratio.  I was actually going to put a chocolate-peanut butter drizzle on the brownies, but decided they didn’t need it.

Healthy Gluten Free Butterfinger Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

½ cup coconut oil

½ cup cocoa powder

¾ cup coconut sugar

¼ cup maple syrup or honey (I liked the results with honey better but both worked)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

¼ cup gluten free flour blend

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

¾ cup, divided, *Healthy Homemade Butterfingers candy, chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with nonstick foil. Spray lightly with coconut oil or brush it on. Set aside. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the coconut oil and cocoa powder over medium-low heat. Remove it from the heat when just barely melted. Let sit for a few minutes. Add the coconut sugar and honey or maple syrup and the vanilla and whisk together. Whisk in the eggs and combine well. Stir in the salt and flour. Fold in ½ cup of the chopped Butterfingers. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Scatter the remaining ½ cup of Butterfingers over the top of the batter. Bake for 23-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Let brownies cool completely on wire rack. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until ready to cut and serve. Refrigeration not necessary, but gives them a great fudginess.

*Healthy Homemade Butterfingers, (vegan) by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Detoxinista

1 cup Grade A or B pure maple syrup

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup natural peanut butter, warmed and stirred until smooth

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips (or chocolate of your choosing), melted

In a tall saucepan, combine the maple syrup and cream of tartar. Attach a candy thermometer to the saucepan. Set heat to medium. Let the mixture come to a boil, do not stir, this could take 5-10 minutes. Prepare a 9x9 inch square pan with nonstick foil. When the syrup has reached 300 degrees on the thermometer, remove from heat and add the warmed peanut butter and salt. Stir quickly to combine well. Spread mixture in the prepared pan. Spread the melted chocolate over the top of the Butterfinger mixture. Cool/harden in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove from pan/foil and break into desired sized pieces for sharing and snacking.

Easy Three Ingredient Berry Ice Cream

I know super easy “ice creams” made with frozen fruit, especially bananas has been done many times and I’ve made it many times myself.  I usually make it with only bananas and sometimes add peanut butter and/or chocolate to it, which IS probably my favorite.  But last night I had a hankering for a sweet treat and saw how much frozen fruit I have in my freezer right now so I threw some in the food processor and made this heavenly version.

 

SO easy!  Perfect.  Healthy.  I even was so kind to share some with Parker, who is trying out veganism right now.  Going crazy trying to keep him fed!  This is my kid whose favorite foods were bacon and A1 Steak Sauce and steak.  I’m going crazy and hope this doesn’t last too long for him.  To each his own, but I think someone shouldn’t go all certain-diet crazy unless they can buy their own food and feed themselves!  Back to the delicious treat!

 

I went a little crazy (ha!) and drizzled some melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips on mine.  It was just like Magic Shell, but way, way healthier!  Love!

 

Easy Three Ingredient Berry Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

 

1 cup frozen bananas

1 cup frozen strawberries and blueberries (there were probably more strawberries)

2 tablespoons Enjoy Life (or any of your choice) chocolate chips, optional

 

You can easily do 2-3 cups of any fruit of your choosing.

Add the frozen fruit to a food processor.  Blend for 3-5 minutes until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl every minute or so.

While it is blending, melt the chocolate in a small microwaveable dish in 20-30 second intervals until melted.  Drizzle over ice cream. Yum!

 

I know this probably isn’t a very exciting post and something you’ve seen before but I decided to document it on my blog, which has been suffering from neglect lately. I’m going to try to get back into sharing……and making more goodies!  I miss it!

 

No Bake Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip Oat Bites

A perfect, easy, sweet treat!

 

These would be great for any Almond Joy lover, but someone looking for something a little more healthy.  Like me.

 

I know, it’s been a month since I posted anything.  I’ve been in a bit of a baking, sweet sharing slump.  I’ll never be gone for good, but seem to just be slowing down a bit with things I must share.  I whipped these super simple no bake bites up today and decided to get them posted for you. 

 

I will say, I got my inspiration for these from a blog, The Beaming Baker, when her No Bake Peanut Butter Coconut Bites showed up on Pinterest and Facebook.  I changed up her recipe since I’d just made some homemade almond butter and had finished off a jar of peanut butter.  These will sure be nice to have around for a snack as sometimes I can’t find anything I’m hankering for and it needs to be somewhat sweet.  Otherwise, I eat sugar snap peas like they are Lays potato chips and I can only eat so many of them before I’ll have pea sprouts coming out my ears or something. ; )

 

No Bake Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip Oat Bites, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free

 

3/4 cup almond butter (I made homemade with raw almonds, but you can use a purchased one also)

1/4 cup raw honey (I also added another tablespoon of honey after decided it needed a bit more, start with 1/4 cup)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

3/4 cup gluten free old fashioned oats

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 cup chopped almonds

6 tablespoons Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

 

In a medium sized bowl, combine the almond butter, honey and vanilla.  Stir together well.  Add the coconut, oats, flaxseed, almonds and chocolate chips.  Stir until all combined.  Decide if it needs a little more honey by making a ball of the mixture in your hands and squeezing it together.  When I make almond butter, it’s a little thicker than the store bought kind, so using a runnier one may make the mixture wet/sticky enough to combine.  Using your hands, form the mixture into about 1 inch balls, squeezing the mixture together so it stays in its shape.  Lay them on a waxed paper lined sheet.  Makes 16-20 depending on size.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

 

Easy peasy and yummy!

World Nutella Day—Homemade Healthy Nutella

 

Happy World Nutella Day!  What does that mean for me?  I’ve always liked Nutella.  But it has lots of sugar and I don’t eat it anymore.  What did I do about this dilemma?  I made my own!  And you can, too!  It’s super easy and taste pretty darn good.  Is it exactly the same?  According to my boys, NO!  But for me, it works and I’m happy.

I made the Nutella  copycat and decided I needed to have it on some toast.  I don’t often have gluten free bread, but happened to have some I’d recently bought at Costco.  It comes in an interesting shape.  After slathering on the Nutella, I noticed it kind of reminded me of a ghost.  Then since it’s not Halloween, which would be super cute and fun to make these then, I made a second piece of toast and another cute ghost with a red mouth (although it looks more like a nose)—perfect!  Now they look like a perfect Valentine pair—don’t they?  Ready to dance the day away!

The recipe made a half quart (so 2 pints, it’s the wider but shorter jar), right?  Yeah, I know, I could check on the world wide web or ask my mom, but I’m too lazy and just can’t wait to tell you about this.  I know homemade versions of Nutella have been done before and I looked at some of them, but ultimately decided on my own amounts and ingredients.  Some had added coconut oil and regular sugar, etc.  I didn’t think that was necessary.  I like the maple syrup I used in this, but I’m interested next time in trying to make it with raw honey, too.  It’s definitely not too sweet, I’m now so used to things not being very sweet since I don’t eat much sugar/sweet things anymore, so this was just right for me.  I believe it would even be considered Paleo and vegan.

Homemade Healthy Nutella, by Katrina, Baking and Boys! (Paleo, vegan, refined sugar free, gluten free, dairy free)

1 ½ cups toasted (and skinned) hazelnuts, chopped (I bought some that are already toasted and chopped, which I prefer over toasting and skinning them myself.)

½ cup cocoa powder

½ cup almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

½ cup Grade B maple syrup (Grade A is okay)

Put the hazelnuts in the bowl of a blender (I have a Blendtec, which is super powerful!). You could also use a food processor, but note that it does take a lot longer to grind the nuts into a butter, maybe 10 minutes. Pulse nuts in the blender, scraping down the sides every 10-20 seconds. In the Blendtec this literally only takes about 2 minutes until it’s a pretty smooth butter. Add the cocoa powder and half the almond milk and pulse to combine. Add the rest of the almond milk, vanilla and salt and pulse to combine well. Add about half the maple syrup and combine, taste and add more to your liking, up to half a cup. I used the full amount.  I am going to try it with raw honey next time, I just like the flavor better. Store in a jar in the refrigerator. Makes half a quart/2 pints. This would be perfect to put in little jars for gifts, but it would be hard not to eat it instead.

I mean, really, this looks like it totally needed a companion.  And I needed a second slice of toast with this Homemade Healthy Nutella on it, too.  So it was a win for both of us.  Until this started happening……..

Sorry ghosts on toast, it had to happen. ; )

You can find a whole lotta Nuttela greatness and love on the Facebook page and on Twitter.  #WorldNutellaDay  You can also find a lot more Nutella laden recipes (and mouth-watering photos) on my blog.  I’ve been posting something for World Nutella Day since 2009!  And guess what—my blog will be 8 years old in less than two weeks!  How cool is that!

PB2 Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free, Make with Coconut Oil)

Yay for cookies!  Sometimes I really miss cookies.  I’ve made some in the past (that follow my new requirements of gluten free, refined sugar free, healthier, etc.), but I don’t get to make and enjoy them as often as I used to and that was sure a fun part of my life.  Yes, I still make cookies for others and I love doing that, but it’s not the same as trying a new recipe, or coming up with something that I can actually eat, too.  So when that happens, it’s a big YAY for me. 

I like that I am eating healthier (for my health’s sake) these days, but I just miss grabbing something, trying things I haven’t had before and not worrying about it.  We all have things like that in our lives that come up and we just have to deal with it.  But blah, blah, this is getting boring—I made cookies!  And they are so good!  They are still a bit of a splurge for me, but I don’t feel guilty about having 1 or 2 now and then and it’s nice to know I have a little treat when I need one, okay—WANT one. ; )

I cannot and will not take all credit for these.  Jane at The Heritage Cook, a great gluten free pal of mine, whose blog I love visiting and finding great recipes, recently posted some cookies she made using PB2, which is a powdered peanut butter (healthier with all the oil removed, less fat, but still pretty darn tasty).  I had just bought some for the first time last week for our trip to Chicago as I wanted to be able to put peanut butter in my chocolate Shakeology shakes I make for breakfast every morning while we were there.  Normally at home, I just put in a tablespoon of peanut butter, but the PB2 seemed like a great thing to try while travelling.  It was perfect with my shakes and making them in the handheld blender I bought just for the trip with a little added banana I’d get from the hotel continental breakfast.  The link to Jane’s blog above has her recipe!

These cookies are perfectly chewy and have a great salty peanutty taste with just a few bites of chocolate here and there.  

We got back from our trip and a few days later Jane posted cookies she’d made with PB2.  Well, I took that as a big sign that I needed to make cookies with it, too.  I totally followed her recipe, but did make some changes.  Besides using a gluten free flour blend (which Jane did also), I used coconut oil instead of butter and some honey instead of some of the sugar.  I also added more PB2 than her recipe.  Definitely credit and props to her and I can’t wait to make these again.  “Oh, Honey, I’ll need some MORE PB2 soon!”  Maybe I’ll try the chocolate version of PB2 next.  It does have a little added sugar in it, but for two tablespoons of the powder (1 serving) it only has 1 gram of sugar, so it isn’t much and I’m calling it good enough for me.

PB2 Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Jane at The Heritage Cook

1 cup gluten free flour blend

3 tablespoons PB2 powdered peanut butter

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup organic coconut oil

1/2 cup organic brown cane sugar (not tightly packed)

1/4 cup raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large backyard fresh egg

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

1/3-1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or any chocolate of your choice)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.  In a medium sized bowl, combine the gluten free flour, PB2, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Whisk together.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, brown sugar, and honey and stir together until well combined.  It takes a little stirring by hand until the coconut oil is all combined, but don’t give up, it happens.  Add the vanilla and egg and whisk until well combined.  Stir in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Stir in the peanuts and chocolate chips.  Using a cookie scoop, cookie dough into cookies spaced about 2 inches apart on baking sheet.  Bake for 9-10 minutes.  Remove from oven let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes.  Move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  I used a medium sized (regular sized) cookie/ice cream scoop and got 15 cookies.

 You know you want a bite!  Or your own cookie! ; )

 

Raspberry Hot Cereal with Driscoll Raspberries

So the wonderful folks at Driscoll's sent me some more coupons for berries.  Happy Dance!  Thanks, Driscoll’s.  They didn’t ask me to do a post or anything, I’m just doing it because I wanted to tell you about my favorite breakfast as of late.  I was having smoothies everyday, but it’s just been too cold and I don’t want smoothies right now.  Since deciding to eat gluten free, I found some Gluten Free Hot Cereal that I’ve been using for my morning breakfasts. 
I don’t really have an exact recipe, but this is so delicious, you could try it with oats, too.  In fact, I usually do a couple tablespoons of the dry hot cereal and a couple tablespoons of gluten free quick oats.  I put them in a small saucepan with some almond milk.  Of course, you could use any milk or even water, but I definitely prefer my hot cereal made with milk.  I add a pinch of salt and then I add some washed raspberries, probably about half a cup.  Let it all start cooking away over medium-low heat.

Stir it a bit.  The raspberries will start to break down (ha, I almost typed break dance!).  Stir occasionally and if it starts to bubble and boil too much, turn the heat down.

It needs to cook for a good 5-10 minutes.  When the milk is all absorbed into the cereal, it will be ready.

Doesn’t that look good?  That would be fine as is, but I can’t ever seem to leave certain things out of my food—like chocolate and peanut butter.  After putting the hot cereal into a bowl, I always sprinkle it with some Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips and add a spoonful of natural peanut butter.  While eating this wonderful warm breakfast, I swirl the peanut butter and chocolate around so there is some of the melty deliciousness in each bite.  Looks so decadent—but it’s actually pretty darn healthy!  Try it.  And as your momma always told you not to, go ahead—play with your food!   What’s your favorite thing to add to hot cereal/oatmeal? 

I had been also drizzling the cereal with a little agave nectar, sometimes honey or you could even do some maple syrup, but lately I’ve not been adding any of those and I still think the cereal is sweet enough without any of those.  Speaking of this delicious raspberry hot cereal breakfast, it’s that time right now.  And I know just what I’m going to make!

Crazy Nutty Gluten Free Granola

I have been craving crunchy things.  With eating gluten free, refined sugar free and even cutting back on lots of grains, I felt like I just needed to crunch something.  I used to eat homemade granola almost everyday and was really missing it.  (Know what else I miss, sometimes just taking a big chug of fat free milk…..I’ve cut back on dairy, too, and have heard fat free has all kinds of chemicals in it, so I don’t drink it anymore, but it’d sure be nice after one of these Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies that are so good you’d never know they are gluten free or refined sugar free.  They are SO good chilled in the fridge, too.  Must make more.

We’re talking about granola here though.  So I set out to make me a crunchy gluten free granola.  The only sweetener in this is raw honey.  You could use maple syrup or agave, too.  I decided to put a bunch of nuts and seeds in this.  I’m so happy with how it turned out—perfect, I must say. ;)  I wanted a clumpy granola and there is a perfect “trick” to that.  Once it comes out of the oven, don’t stir it.  When it is completely cooled, it will have stuck all together and you can break it in to any sized pieces you’d like.

This is the perfect kind of granola to just take a baggie full somewhere for a snack on hand.  But if you break up the pieces a little smaller, it’s also great on top of yogurt with some fresh berries.  One of my favorite things.

Look how clumpy that is!  Of course, you don’t have to make it gluten free, I just used gluten free oats—this is still a great granola with any kind of oats.

Crazy Nutty Gluten Free Granola (Refined Sugar Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 cups gluten-free oats

3 tablespoons ground flax meal

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

¼ cup raw almonds

½ cup raw pecans

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup raw honey

3 tablespoons organic coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax, sesame seeds, coconut, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds and salt. Stir together.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the honey and coconut oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir together with a whisk until well combined. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until everything looks wet. Spread the mixture evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-22 minutes until fragrant and browned. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Do not touch the mix during this time as it is setting up and will be clumpy. Once it is completely cooled, you can break it in to clumps and store in an airtight container. *You can use any nuts and seeds you’d like or have on hand, just make it nutty!

I think I’ll go snitch a bit of the granola right now.

Grain Free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Refined Sugar Free)

Yesterday I posted the Healthy Fudgy Brownie Bites and mentioned how they are now one of my favorite treats.  On Facebook I also mentioned that besides those I have found some fantastic, perfectly chewy, you'd-never-know-they-were-healthy chocolate chip cookies.  I think I might just keep a running stock of these two things and I’ll be good for a long time—though that wouldn’t be fun to not keep trying new things, would it? ;)

Well, these are definitely great chocolate chip cookies and if you didn’t tell anyone, I think they’d never know they didn’t have flour or refined sugar.  I plan to make them again, maybe even today.  They have some coconut in them, which might add to the chewiness.  I think I’ll try them without the coconut, but with lots of nuts and see if they are still pretty much the same.  These also have no added oil or butter—just almond butter.  Instead of loads of sugar they just have a little honey in them.  I used the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips, which happen to be soy free, dairy free, refined sugar free and grain free.  You could use any kind that suits your diet needs. 

Once again I found these cookies at Jennifer’s blog, Unrefined Kitchen.  She has so many recipes that I want to try.  SO glad I tried these.  Looking through the recipe, I didn’t really change anything, so the link goes to her recipe.  She mentioned using 1/3 cup of honey and more if you’d like—I only used 1/3 cup and they are perfectly sweet.  She also suggested trying nuts in place of some of the coconut, so that is what I did—1/3 cup of unsweetened coconut and 1/3 cup of pecans.  My next try (today?) will be leaving out the coconut.  I love the coconut, but some people who are taste testers of mine don’t like it.  I baked the cookies about 10 minutes.  My scoop must be a bit bigger than Jennifer’s scoop, as I only got 16 cookies and she said the recipe makes about 20.  I used homemade almond butter.

Yep, just finishing up this post and seeing these photos, I need to make these again—today.  Need to run and get more chocolate chips first.  Give them a try.

Here’s the link again for Jennifer’s Almond Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies at Unrefined Kitchen.

I tried, but you still can’t see the amazing texture and chewiness these cookies have in the crosscut photo, you’ll just have to taste them for yourself.

Healthy Fudgy Brownie Bites (Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free, Paleo)

Yay for another perfectly simple and deliciously chocolaty treat that is also healthy, grain free, refined sugar free and did I mention so simple to make.  They are also no-bake treats.  I’m loving these kinds of things.  Plus when I make a batch and I’m the only one here who will eat them, they last me days and days.

I just found these Healthy Fudgy Brownie Bites at Averie Cooks this morning and whipped some up.  They have raw cashews in them and I bought a big bag of them from the bulk bin at the grocery store a couple days ago. 

Put cashews and cocoa powder in a food processor.  Pulse (carefully, it leaves a nice dusting of cocoa powder all over) until the mixture is coarse ground.  Chop the dates—I always rough chop them because I have learned that even though something says “pitted”, there is always a surprise pit left in one or two and the food processor doesn’t like that. ;)  (Found one today!)  Add the dates to the food processor and pulse until everything is coarsely chopped.  Add the vanilla and a tablespoon of honey.  Pulse some more, then add more honey if it is not all starting to stick together.  I ended up using three tablespoons of honey.  Roll them into balls about an inch in diameter.  I then ground some cashews in my small food processor just until they were a fine powder and rolled half the balls in the ground cashews.  Averie rolled hers in colorful sprinkles, which would be fun, but since I didn’t want any added sugar, I didn’t do that.

Here’s the raw dough, ready to roll.  It was a perfect consistency to just pinch off amounts and roll them into balls.  I got 16 of them, plus the little bit I ate before they were finished being rolled, so maybe even 17. ;)

For anyone (like me) who wants to know, these are gluten free, grain free, soy free, refined sugar free, Paleo and could be vegan if you use agave nectar or maple syrup instead of honey.  Did I mention they are really good?

Healthy Fudgy Brownie Bites (Grain Free, Paleo, Refined Sugar Free), adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Averie Cooks

2/3 cup raw cashews plus 1/4 cup raw cashews (divided use)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

pinch of sea salt

1 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3-4 tablespoons raw honey (or agave nectar or maple syrup)

In a food processor, add the 2/3 cup of cashews and the cocoa powder, pulse until coarsely ground.  Add the chopped dates and pinch of salt.  Pulse until all is coarsely chopped.  Add the vanilla and one tablespoon of the raw honey.  Continue pulsing until a dough begins to form.  Add another tablespoon of honey and pulse more.  Add another tablespoon of honey and continue pulsing until it all begins to stick together and forms a ball of dough.  Roll about one inch balls of dough and put them on a wax paper lined plate or baking sheet.  Optional, grind 1/4 cup of cashews just until they are finely ground.  Roll some or all of the brownie bites in the ground cashews.  Store in the refrigerator.  Makes 16.

You know what I think I kind of like about these?  They have just a hint of taste and chewiness that reminds me of Tootsie Rolls.  There are definitely some candies I miss and Tootsie Rolls (my homemade recipe here) are one that I love.  These are similar with just a little nuttiness.   Happy me!

Healthy Eatmore Fudge Squares—Paleo, Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free—Delicious!

These fudgy squares of slightly frozen chocolate banana gooey-ness are not only no-bake, they are also grain free (Paleo), refined sugar free and dairy free.  I can’t wait to make them again, but after making them a few weeks ago, I still have a few of them left.  They are a perfect treat when I need something and the rest of the family is enjoying ice cream or something else I’m not eating right now.

I’ve been having fun searching the world wide web for healthy treats and finding there are so many options for gluten free, grain free, sugar free goodies.  So far I have liked all the things I’ve tried and am excited to try more recipes.  This one today is from  Christal at Nutritionist in the Kitch.  The fudgy bottom layer is simply some dates, almonds, walnuts and cocoa powder (I added a touch of raw honey).  This made a perfect no-bake, healthy fudge that would also be good by itself or even just rolled in to balls.  After that is spread into a pan, a frozen pudding-like topping is made with bananas, almond butter, cocoa powder and honey.   Once that layer is added the dessert is put in the freezer for a short time. 

Once the squares are frozen enough, you must hurry to take their picture or they will start melting! ;)

‘Course, never fear—they are delicious frozen, too!  (Just give them a few minutes at room temperature and they are perfect.)

Healthy Eatmore Fudge Squares, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted slightly from Nutrition in the Kitch (Give it up for Christal and check out her blog!)

Bottom Layer--

1 cup pitted dates

1/2 cup almonds, toasted

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon raw honey (optional)

Top Layer--

2 ripe bananas

1/4 cup cocoa powder

4 tablespoons almond butter

4 tablespoons raw honey

Soak dates in a bowl with warm water for 30 minutes.  Drain.  Line a 9x5 bread pan or an 8x8 square baking pan with non-stick foil.  Put the dates, almonds and walnuts in a food processor and pulse until it is starting to chop everything up nicely.  Add the cocoa powder and honey and process until everything starts sticking together, almost forming a ball.  Spread it in the pan and press down making an even layer. 

In the food processor (no need to wash it out), combine the bananas, cocoa powder, almond butter and honey and mix until well blended.  Pour this mixture over the dates layer and spread evenly.  Place pan in the freezer for an hour.  Remove from pan lifting the sides of the foil and cut into squares.  Store in the freezer.

Try not to eat them all in one sitting.  Ha.   I feel like they are actually quite filling and one square will do ya—then they’ll last longer, especially if you don’t share them.  My boys were not even interested when I told them they had dates in them.   I’ll try something else and fool them one of these days.  Head over to Christal's blog, Nutrition in the Kitch to find more ideas and great recipes.

Apricot Date Coconut Logs—Paleo, Vegan, No Sugar Added—And Some News

These were so easy to make and are a super healthy, but perfect sweet treat.  Have you ever gotten them from a bulk bin at the store?  I have tried them a few times and they were good.  Decided there was no reason not to make them at home.  Four simple ingredients is all it takes.  There is no added sugar, they are vegan and Paleo.  Don’t be thinking with all those issues they must not be good.  They are delicious!

Apricot Date Coconut Logs, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup pitted dates

1/3 cup dried apricots

1/4 cup almond flour (almond meal)

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

In a food processor, pulse together the dates and apricots until they are all small bits.  Add the almond flour and pulse until all combined.  Roll the mixture into 12 tablespoon-size logs (you could roll them into balls, too).  Roll them each in the coconut and store in an airtight container.

Told you they were easy.  I’ve also had ones from those bulk bins that are just apricot and rolled in coconut.  Two ingredients.  So good.

I’ve told all my Facebook friends and followers.  Not sure if all my blog readers know yet, but I was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis).  Long story.  What it means for me is that I will be taking some different turns in the foods I eat.  Right now I plan to go gluten free and no refined sugars.  Never fear—I’ll still be baking up yummy treats of all kinds for my family and friends.  But from time to time I’ll have things that I think are great, healthier treats to share here, too. 

I’ve known about the MS for the last year and a half, but the last few months it kind of bit me in the rear.  I was ignoring it before, but am now on the road to kicking it in the rear big time and kicking it out the door.  It won’t rule my life.  I’m in charge. 

I tried going completely Paleo for a week.  No grains, no dairy, no sugar, and no legumes, which includes peanut butter!  That wasn’t so easy.  I asked my doctor about those kinds of diets.  She advised me to just eat a healthy, balanced diet and not go crazy with too many things.  So I stopped being completely Paleo crazed and decided there are benefits to trying gluten free, I plan to use mostly healthy, whole grains and it certainly can’t hurt to give up refined sugar.  I’ll have plenty of things up my sleeve with healthy coconut oil, agave, raw honey, coconut sugar and some other great gluten free flours.  Stay tuned.  I’m excited to see what is out there and what else I can come up with. 

For fun, while I was not eating peanut butter (and I actually still haven’t--going on more than two weeks now) I have been making my own nut butters.  Stay tuned for the sunflower seed butter I made and the delicious home roasted and homemade almond butter.  Next up, I’ll be trying pecan butter, which hopefully is fantastic as pecans are my favorite nut.  A little sneak peek, here’s what I had for lunch yesterday.

That’s the almond butter.  I could just spoon it right into my mouth.  But I love it on celery and carrots.  I made my most favorite breakfast smoothie with some sunflower seed butter, too.  I’ll be sharing that soon as well, it has a secret ingredient that is so good!  You’ll have to wait and come back for that.

We’ll be going on a vacation next week, so I’ll probably not be able to blog until once July comes around!  Happy Summer! 

Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies (Whole Grain, Could Be Made Gluten Free)

Love these cookies!  One of our grocery stores recently remodeled and added a nice bulk section and natural foods aisle.  I love it.  While looking over the new things, I saw that they had buckwheat flour and decided to get some.  They also had oat bran which I have wanted to get a few times but never found it readily available around here without having to make an hour drive.. These are the cookies I came up with and I’m super happy with how they turned out on the first try.  

Besides being made with all whole grains, they are also made with natural cane sugar (and a little molasses to make homemade brown sugar) and coconut oil instead of butter.  Since coconut oil is used instead of butter, the dough can be made in a bowl with a spoon—a mixer is not necessary.  The dark chocolate chips do have a little sugar (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Chips, you can use any chocolate you’d like.  They also have some unsweetened coconut.  You might be thinking they don’t sound sweet enough, but they certainly are!

Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2/3 cup coconut oil

1 cup natural cane sugar and 1 teaspoon molasses, mixed with a fork and/or your fingers until all combined (Homemade Brown Sugar!)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup buckwheat flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup oat flour (made by grinding oats in food processor until finely ground)

1/2 cup oat bran

3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder

1  1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I chop them up a bit since the Ghirardelli chips are larger)

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (don’t want coconut, leave it out)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In a large sized bowl, combine the cane sugar and molasses.  Mix it together with a fork, then rub the sugar between your fingers until it all becomes moist, like brown sugar.  Add the coconut oil to the sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.  Add the vanilla and eggs and stir until well mixed.  In a separate bowl, combine the buckwheat flour, oats, oat flour, dry milk powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk it together to sift.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and fold together until all combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips, walnuts and coconut.  Scoop dough (about 2 tablespoonsful) on to baking sheet spacing about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 9-10 minutes.  Let sit on baking sheet for a couple minutes the move cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes 24 cookies. 

I love these cookies and that they are much healthier, so I don’t feel as guilty eating 3, 4 5, 6 of them. (ha)  They have a great chewiness and wonderful nutty flavor—and chocolate! ;)

Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting—Secret Recipe Club

Nope, feeling no guilt here.  But doesn’t that cupcake look decadent and delicious.  I know you’re dying to sink your teeth into it.  I was.

These cupcakes are low in fat and have a brown sugar I made with natural cane sugar and molasses in them.  They are also made with whole wheat flour, unsweetened applesauce and a carrot puree (instead of grated carrots).  I decided to make these for some of the Easter desserts we had with family when I saw them on my assigned Secret Recipe Club blog this month.  I was assigned Miranda’s blog, Biting Life.  I had not heard of her blog before and enjoyed looking through it.  Besides lots of yummy recipes, she also blogs about reviews on books she’s read, and all the things going on in her life. 

She made these Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes and used Splenda for the sugar substitute.  I decided to use cane sugar, which I also used for the brown sugar in the recipe and made my own brown sugar with cane sugar and molasses.  I love doing that!

I just took half a cup of cane sugar and added 1/2 teaspoon of molasses to it and kept mashing it together with a fork until it was all combined and looked just like brown sugar!  You can also do that with regular granulated sugar.  If you’d like a dark brown sugar, add a little more molasses.  The recipe also only had egg whites and instead of breaking open three eggs, I used some powdered egg whites that I have a couple big cans of and need to use more often.  The egg powder is just mixed with warm water and whisked until it is the consistency of egg whites.  Love it!  I have never been able to tell a difference and have even used it for some meringue cookies!  It’s perfect for times when I don’t want to have egg yolks with no use and I hate just throwing them away.  Also in Miranda’s recipe, it calls for regular skim milk, but I decided to use lowfat buttermilk.  So the only fat in the actual cupcakes is from the little bit of lowfat buttermilk.  You really wouldn’t even know they are so low in fat.  Especially after you top them with a cream cheese frosting—that of course, I made a little lower in fat with the 1/3 less fat cream cheese, just a little butter, and skim milk. 

Yep, I am calling these pretty guiltless!

I was happy with how these baked.  I wasn’t sure since they have so many different ingredients from regular cupcakes.  Then I was a little worried that they would also stick to the cupcake liners.  But after they were totally cool, they came off the papers great!

Guiltless Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Miranda at Biting Life

1  1/4 cup (150 grams) whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

3 egg whites (I used powdered egg whites)

1/2 cup brown sugar (I used homemade with cane sugar and molasses)

1/4 cup cane sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 ounces carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 cup plain unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan with paper liners (or spray the pan with cooking spray if you aren’t using paper liners).

Boil carrots in saucepan with water covering them for about 10 minutes, until tender.  Remove from heat and drain.  Put the carrot in the bowl a food processor and pulse to mash the carrots into a puree.  Let sit while you prepare the rest of the cupcake mixture.

Combine in a bowl the whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt and spices.  Whisk to sift together.  Stir together in a separate bowl the egg whites, sugars, and vanilla. 

Add the applesauce and buttermilk to the carrot puree and pulse to combine.  Add the carrot mixture to the egg white mixture and whisk together until all combined.  Stir in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until well combined.   

With an ice cream scoop, fill each cup with batter.  Bake for 20-30 minutes (I forgot to write down how long they baked, probably around 25 minutes.)  Remove from oven and let cool in cupcake pan for a few minutes.  Then move each cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.  Pipe frosting on to cupcakes.  Makes 12.

Less Guilt Cream Cheese Frosting, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 tablespoon softened unsalted butter

2 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2-3 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons skim milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese.  Beat until smooth.  Add the vanilla, salt and powdered sugar.  Start the mixer and add a tablespoon of milk at a time until frosting is desired consistency.  You can start with just two cups of powdered sugar and add more if you’d like.