It's Cut! And A Quick Apple Galette and Chocolate Muffins

Okay, got Sam's hair cut today.  I knew it was time for a trim,

but come on, I could not cut off those curls!  Some may not even be able to tell it's been cut, but I sure can.  I love his curls!  (Mom, I don't care how mad he may be at me someday, these just can't be cut off!)

He looks just a little bit more like a little boy and not my baby, but since he still acts like my baby in every way, I guess it's okay.  The curls actually curl up a little more now, instead of hanging down in ringlets!

Our friend, Tes, cut his hair at the JCPenney salon she works at.  He was so thrilled at being there and so in awe that he sat so nicely in the booster chair and just let her snip away.  All the ladies getting their hair done thought he was just the cutest thing ever!

Sorry for the picture overkill, I couldn't resist!  Sam was thrilled to death that Tes gave him a sucker when he was done.  I don't think he's had a sucker before and he loved it!  He wasn't, however, thrilled with his sticky hands while we were on our way to pick Taylor up from school!

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Now a couple quick recipes.   Chocolate Muffins with Yogurt

Anna at Cookie Madness, made some chocolate muffins yesterday and they sure looked good.  She wanted me to try them, so I did!  (I'll always take an opportunity to bake!)  I only made ONE change to the recipes she used on the link above and that is instead of 3/4 cup sour cream, I used 3/4 cup plain yogurt.  The muffin is good.  I'm not sure I'd make them again, but only because if I'm going to have something chocolate, I would rather have a chocolate chip cookie or even a brownie and can't really talk myself in to having a chocolate muffin for breakfast.  These aren't as sweet as a cupcake, well, because they are muffins, but they are chocolatey, they rose up nice and big and they make a great "treat" for the kids.  I actually baked some big ones (15 min.), some mini ones (13:30 min, should have just done 12) and a few "cookies" or muffin tops (10 min.) and just for kicks, I sprinkled a few with some sliced almonds.  Crunch is good and I would actually love them with nuts inside.  I also think a banana mashed up and added to these would make them more moist and just that much more tasty!

Tonight for snack, I put some leftover frosting on them with a few sprinkles and the boys gobbled them up.  Well, except Parker, he took a few bites and said he didn't want it and asked if he could have an apple!

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And then, I made the pot pie yesterday and mentioned that I had leftover crust.  So I made a quick Apple Galette with it.  There isn't a recipe.  I threw it together in a matter of minutes and baked it for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.

I rolled out the dough, this dough is whole wheat (pastry flour) and was just a tad dry and a bit crumbly to work with, but was still workable.  I transferred it do a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  I sliced up 3-4 (can't remember) small Granny Smith apples and laid them around the crust in circles until they filled the crust, leaving about an inch border.  I sprinkled about 2 teaspoons of xylitol (the natural sugar I've been using lately, so you could use sugar).  I then sprinkled a bit of cinnamon over that, folded up the edges and brushed them with some milk and baked it.  So the crust does have some butter, but overall it's not a bad, lower fat, lower calorie treat.  Again, it's not the prettiest thing, but tasted great!

  

And then, I'm so silly, I found this cute plate today and had to get it.  I've started a new hobby with all my baking and am buying up lots of cute dishes and plates to take pictures of all my goodies on.  So I saw this plate and thought it would be great to make an apple dessert and serve it on it and take pictures.  It wasn't until I plated up a piece of this APPLE galette with a bit of fat free vanilla frozen yogurt that I realized the plate is in the shape of a pear, not an apple.  DUH!  I totally was thinking it was an apple the whole time since I bought it today.  I'm losing my mind, I'm telling you, people!  SO, no harm done, the plate is still super cute (on clearance at Target) and let's just pretend the galette was made with pears, not apples! ;)   Later.....still going to post the yummy banana cookies I made recently, next!

Individual Cheesecakes (Low Fat and Low Calorie)

I wanted to try to make cheesecake using xylitol in place of sugar after Anna at Cookie Madness made this low fat and low calorie cheesecake.  I'm really excited about xylitol and that it is an all natural sugar.  I really cannot taste the difference in the things I've made with it so far (unlike Splenda and other sweeteners, which have a strange aftertaste).  I didn't want to make an entire cheesecake with the xylitol, in case for some reason it didn't work out, so I cut the recipe Anna posted in half and made individual ones using cupcake liners in muffin tins.  These turned out cute and fun and most importantly--yummy!

You can get the full recipe from the link on Cookie Madness if you want to make a really good cheesecake (noting that nothing beats a full fat delicious cheesecake), but save yourself some fat and calories.  Here is the recipe as I made it for the individual ones.  I actually changed quite a few things from the one Anna made.  I made these and we had company over just hours later and they were pretty good, but they were even better the next day, as most cheesecakes are after they have time for all the flavor to develop.  One thing I did to note was make the full recipe amount of graham cracker crust but halved the cheesecake.  It came out perfect to make 20 individual cups each holding one tablespoon or so of crust and 2 good sized tablespoons of filling.

Individual Cheesecake Cups (Low Fat and Low Calorie)

Crust:

12 rectangles of graham crackers

4 tablespoons melted butter (I should have used Smart Balance!)

Filling:

1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese

4 1/4 oz. fat free cream cheese

4 1/4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese

1/2 cup xylitol (can be substituted for sugar or sugar substitute)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornstrach

1/2 cup Egg Beaters w/touch of yolk

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 20 muffins cups with paper cupcake liners.  Set aside.

Process graham crackers in food processor until fine crumbs.  Add melted butter and pulse until mixed.  Press one heaping tablespoon mix into each cupcake liner with back of tablespoon coming up the sides a little.  Set aside.

In cleaned bowl of food processor, process cottage cheese until very smooth.  Add both cream cheeses and xylitol.  Process until smooth.  Scrape sides of processor.  Add extracts and pulse together.  Add Egg Beaters and process until well mixed then add flour and cornstarch again processing until smooth and well mixed.  Scrape sides of bowl again.  Finally, add sour cream and blend all until fully incorporated. 

Add two heaping tablespoons of filling to each graham cracker cup.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, checking after 12 for doneness.  The center of each should be set.   Best when chilled overnight, but still good after a few hours in the refrigerator.  Serve with fresh berries on top. 

  

Update:  Here's the nutrition stats for these:  1 cheesecake cup has 130 calories, 19.5 carbs, 5 grams fat, 3.5 grams protein

Mixed Berry Crumble Cake

This was SO good and actually quite healthy!  I haven't tried it yet with a scoop of low fat vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, but I know it would be good.  My husband loved it warmed up.  I had some slightly warm from the oven and it was to die for!  You can use all one kind of any berries or a mix.

For the cake--

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup xylitol (natural sweetener) or you could use 1/2 cup granulated sugar (I taste nothing different in this cake using the xylitol)

3 tablespoons wheat germ, toasted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup fat free milk

1/4 cup Egg Beaters with a touch of yolk (or you could use 1 large egg)

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt (you could use plain)

1/2 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup blackberries (fresh or frozen)

1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

For the crumble topping--

1/3 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, wheat germ, salt, baking soda, baking powder and xylitol or sugar.  Whisk together and set aside. 

In a large bowl, combine the milk, egg, oil, and yogurt.  Stir to combine.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon just until combined.  Do not over mix.  Put all but 1 1/2 cups reserved mix in baking pan and spread evenly.  Next, put all the berries over the top of cake batter.  Dot the remaining batter over the berries. 

Mix the oats, pecans, cinnamon and brown sugar in a medium bowl until combined.  Sprinkle evenly over top.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Begin checking cake with toothpick inserted at 25 minutes.  If toothpick comes out clean, remove cake from oven to cool on wire rack.  If not, return to oven for two minutes at a time until done.  Serve warm with scoop of vanilla ice cream, or serve as a great breakfast "treat".  Makes 16 servings.