Gingerbread Donut Cupcakes with Maple Ginger Glaze

For the Cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
• 3/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• small pinch of allspice 
• small pinch of cloves
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 cup each of maple syrup and honey
• 1 egg white
• 1 T unsweetened applesauce 
• 1 T malted butter 

Directions:


Sift dry ingredients together, then whisk in wet.  Pour into muffin cups and bake for about 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Let cool.






For the Glaze:

• 2 T melted butter
• 1 T rice milk
• 3 T maple syrup 
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• scant 1/8 tsp. grated ginger 

Directions:


Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl and drizzle, pour, or slather over cooled cupcakes.




Warning: This recipe only make 5 cupcakes.



enjoy!

Chocolate Raspberry Cups

The Story Behind this Decadent Treat!

Once upon a time, there was a chocolatier who lived in Switzerland.  Every day he would come to work and find handfulls of raspberries tossed toward his bowls of chocolate.  After a week and a half of the nonsense, he furiously exclaimed, "Who are the foolish beings who continue to throw raspberries at my bowls of chocolate!?  If one ever lands in one of those, it'll be sure to ruin the whole batch!  The swiss cocoa I use is mighty expensive, and I sure don't want to see any of it wasted!"  On Thursday, he arrived at work at exactly 7:45am. and caught two innocent looking children throwing handfulls of raspberries at his chocolate.  "Who are you, and why do you continuously toss these berries at my chocolate?", he asked.  They quickly answered, "Sir, we never ment to harm anything, we just thought that raspberries might taste wonderful with your dark chocolate."  "Well then", he said doubtfully, "Lets just see about your little theory."  He snatched up a raspberry, scooped up some melted dark chocolate, put the raspberry on top, and took a taste.  "Oh my!", he exclaimed, "This is just wonderful, wonderful!  Come back at half past two, and I'll have a nice chocolate raspberry treat for you!"  The children left and he promptly began coming up with a bunch of chocolate raspberry recipes, all of which he thought were astounding, but there was one in particular that was his favorite...he called them Chocolate Raspberry Cups.  Two ingredients, so simple, yet so delicious.  He could not wait for the children to return so that they could taste his creation.

And this is what he came up with...

What you will need: 

• frozen or fresh raspberries 
• dark chocolate (anything 70% or above, I used 72%)
• a muffin pan and muffin cups 

Directions:

Let frozen raspberries thaw out a bit (if using fresh raspberries, skip this step). Smoosh raspberries up with a fork.  Melt chocolate in the microwave.  Fill only the bottom layer of the cupcake liner with a bit of melted chocolate.  Put the cupcake liner with the chocolate in it in the freezer for a few minutes until it hardens up.  Take it out and spread a layer of mashed raspberries onto the hardened chocolate.  Pour the rest of the melted chocolate over the raspberries and freeze until hardened.

enjoy!

Healthy, Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

All you will need is....

• dark chocolate (anything 70% or above for it to be healthy, I used 72%)
• nut butter (I used almond because almonds are the only nuts I'm not allergic to)
• a muffin pan and muffin cups

Directions:


Line a muffin pan (any size you want) with paper liners.


Melt chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler.  Pour a layer of chocolat into the bottoms of your muffin cups, about 1/4 of the way full.  Freeze for about 5-10 minutes, or until hardened.  Scoop 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp. (or more or less) of nut  butter on top of the hardened chocolate and flatten just a bit with the back of a spoon.  Cove nut butter with the remaining melted chocolate and freeze again for about 30 minutes, or until hardened.  Keep refrigerated so that they don't melt!

enjoy!

Chewy, Creamy Nut Butter Balls

All you will need is....

• 2 T oatmeal (plus more for rolling)
• 2 T nut butter (I used almond, so good!)
• 2 tsp. maple syrup

Directions:


Combine all ingredients, and then form into balls and roll in additional oatmeal.  Refrigerate.


enjoy!

Orange Mango Sorbet

All you will need is....

• 12 oz. frozen mango
• 1 cup orange juice
• optional: orange zest

Directions:

In a food processor or blender combine all ingredients until smooth.  Serve immediately.

enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Very Berry Sauce

Muffins

• 1 3/4 c oats
• 3 egg whites (whipped)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt 
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar (or 2 tsp. vinegar)
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup honey (more if you want a sweeter cupcake reduce liquid if adding more)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (more if you want a sweeter cupcake reduce liquid if adding more)
• 2 T nut butter (I used almond)
• Very Berry Sauce (recipe follows)

    Directions:

Combine all ingredients except for the egg whites.  Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture, being very careful not to deflate.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool and top with a layer of Very Berry Sauce.

Sauce

• 1 1/3 cups frozen berry blend
• scant 1/8 cup honey
• 1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/3 cup water

Directions:

I a small sauce pan over medium-high heat bring all ingredients to a boil for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 4 minutes.  Let cool.

enjoy!

Bella Bean

Just so ya'll know, this is my cute, sweet baby dog named Bella Bean!  She is a mix between a maltese and a poodle (a multipoo, we think she's mostly poodle though).  She's a vicious little fur ball sometimes, but we love her anyway!  And she's just a little bit spoiled.... <3 <3 <3 <3

Pumpkin Pie Filled Chocolate Bombs

                                                   Pumpkin Pie Filled Chocolate Bombs

• 3/4 cup white-whole wheat flour
• 6 T plus 1 tsp cocoa powder
• scant 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup maple syrup 
• 2 T honey
• 2 T maple syrup  
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 T plus 2 tsp oil
• 3 T pureed pumpkin
• 3 T nut butter (I used almond)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 T maple syrup
• 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 330 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and 1/4 cup maple syrup and mix very well. Add honey, 2 T maple syrup, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and oil and mix again to form dough. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, nut butter, cinnamon, 1/2 T maple syrup, and 1/8 tsp. vanilla to make the filling. Using about a heaping tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball and then flatten. Place about 1 tsp. of the filling in the center and fold up the sides of the dough. Form into a ball.  Don't worry if the sides crack, they don't need to be absolutely perfect.  Bake for 10 minutes, and then let them cool for 10 minutes.

enjoy!