Dessert

Whole Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Fall is here and it's time for all things Pumpkin.  These muffins are some of my favorites. I have been making these for years and they bring back so many memories of baking days with my kids when they were all living at home.  I am still making them for the last of the 5 kiddos and he loves them. This recipe initially came from the blog, Money Saving Mom, and I have tweaked it over the years to make them more nutrient dense.  They are both a treat and a healthy snack.  These are not difficult so give them a try.  Great way to celebrate a fall morning with a cup of coffee or tea. Whole Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (makes 24-30 muffins) 4 eggs 1 cup raw cane sugar 3/4 cup coconut sugar 1 16oz. can pumpkin puree 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 3/4 cup avocado oil 3 cups Whole Wheat, Spelt or Kamut flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 package chocolate chips Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tins with baking oil (I use coconut or avocado oil spray) or use paper liners. Using a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and blend well. Add chocolate chips and stir in gently. Fill muffins cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 16-20 minutes. Remove from muffin pan and let cool on wire [...]
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Grain Free Gooey Chocolate Brownies

  This recipe is from Ambitious Kitchen and is unbelievable.  These brownies are so gooey, chocolatey and yum yum!!  If you have not visited Monique’s website…do it now.  She has the best recipes and especially for those whose health requires them to eat gluten or grain free. I have made a few tweaks to the recipe to make it even a bit more nutrient dense.  I absolutely love these and amazingly enough they only have 11 grams of sugar per brownie. INGREDIENTS 1 cup tahini (sesame butter) 1/2 cup coconut sugar 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 eggs 1/3 cup unsweetened raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder) 1 tablespoon coconut flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips For the chocolate drizzle 2 tablespoons Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips 1 teaspoon coconut oil   DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×9 inch baking pan with coconut cooking spray. (I prefer to use a round cake pan since I like my brownies in a pie slice) In a large bowl, combine the tahini, coconut sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and eggs until smooth and well combined. Gently fold in raw cacao powder, coconut flour, salt and baking soda until batter is smooth. Fold in 1/3 cup chocolate chips into the batter. This batter should be pretty thick. Spread batter evenly in prepared baking pan. Bake for 22-30 minutes or until knife inserted into the middle comes out clean or with […]

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Sprouted Spelt Toffee Bars

This recipe was shared with me by a dear friend many years ago when I had my twin boys. She made a meal for us and brought these delicious bars over for dessert and we just loved them! The original recipe has toffee, white flour brown sugar and butter. Not exactly healthy! But at the time when I was postpartum and breastfeeding twins, these bars really made me happy. There are lots of recipes like that I have a fondness for because of the memory associated with them and I didn’t feel guilty about eating and enjoying them at all. Now, for this time in my life, I’ve adapted some of these recipes to have lower sugar and use ingredients that don’t make me feel icky. I am so happy to have these comfort food recipes on hand that really hit the spot for special occasions. My heart is filled with gratitude and thankfulness for that time in my life that was tiring and beautiful but also made so sweet by friends who loved on me through yummy food. This recipe is still an indulgence, but I’ve lowered the sugar content considerably and used spelt flour instead of white bleached flour. I used coconut sugar which is also lower on the glycemic index and the extra dark chocolate chips don’t add much sugar either. Next time you want to make something sweet for a special occassion, give these a try! One small serving will not ruin your balanced eating plan. Ingredients: 1 cup of […]

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Sown Life Apple Crisp

Fall is in full swing and that means I have been doing some more baking! Fresh, in season apples are so delicious and I love to use them any way I can this time of year. Crisps traditionally have a lot of added sugar and can be a very decadent dessert. Large quantities of sugar really does not appeal to my body so I always cut back on it when baking. This recipe has only 1/3 cup of coconut sugar in the whole dish as the sweetener. All the rest comes from the apples. I am not stingy with the butter as I believe that high-quality grass fed butter is so good for you. Plus the saltiness mixes beautifully with the sweet apples. Embracing life’s moments and the changing seasons is important! It helps us to stick to a healthy, balanced and nourishing lifestyle! Ingredients for filling: 6 medium apples, peeled, cored, and diced 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon lemon juice For topping: ½ cup almond flour ½ cup gluten-free oats 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon ⅓  cup pecans, chopped  ⅓ cup coconut sugar  6 T salted butter   Directions:  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 2. To make the filling: Peel, core and slice your apples. 3. In a medium bowl, combine apples, cinnamon and lemon juice. Stir together until apples are coated evenly. 4. To make topping: in a separate bowl, whisk together almond flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, chopped pecans and coconut sugar. 5. Use a fork or fingers to mix butter until topping […]

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