Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies {Gluten free}

 

 

A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook a while back for Secretly Healthy Chocolate Brownie Cookies, so of course I was intrigued and had to check it out. Especially since the author of the recipe claimed they were healthy enough to eat for breakfast. It turns out though that she and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to what is "healthy" I also discovered that this recipe had been slightly adapted several times by different people and the recipe actually originates here. What I also found interesting is that the original version was actually the healthiest and each time it was adapted it was made slightly worse.

 

Even though there are already multiple versions of this cookie floating around out there, I am going to add mine any way, because I think its pretty awesome. I also doubled the recipe because the original was really small.

 

2 Cans black beans rinsed and drained

1/4 C Almond Milk (skim milk would also work)

3 Tbs Natural Peanut Butter

1/4 Coconut Oil

2 C Packed Fresh Spinach (OF COURSE)

3/4 C Honey

1/2 C Cocoa Powder

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

6 Tbs Oat Flour (whole wheat would also work)

2 Tbs Ground Flax Meal

2 Tbs Quinoa Flakes (These are optional if you can't find them, but they add a good amount of protein and fiber. I get mine at our grocery store by the oat flour)

2/3 C Dark Chocolate Chips

 

Combine black beans, almond milk, peanut butter, coconut oil, and spinach in a food processor or high powered blender and process until smooth. Add in the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT the chocolate chips and process again until very smooth and mousse like (2-3 minutes) Stir in Chocolate chips.

 

spoon out about 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter for each cookie onto a cookie sheet and bake @ 375 degrees for 9 or 10 minutes.

 

Yields aproximately 2 dozen. Could be more if you make really small cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Whole Wheat Crepes {plus a delicious bonus}

We really only use crepes for one purpose in our house, and that is to stuff them with strawberries and whipped cream. We call them Swedish pancakes, because in Sweden they eat them for dessert after a dinner of pea soup. We skip the pea soup and just go straight to dessert for dinner. I would like to try a few savory crepe dishes sometime soon and see how my family reacts to them.

This was my first attempt at modifying the recipe and it turned out great. Next time I want to try using coconut oil instead of butter.

3 Eggs
1 1/2 Tbs Honey
3/4 tsp Salt
3 C Milk
2 1/4 -2 1/2 C Whole wheat flour
1 Stick butter, melted

Combine first five ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add melted butter and blend to combine. Let sit 30 minutes.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter in the pan and swirl it around until very thin (mine usually end up much thicker than they should but my family never complains) cook until top side is dry and flip. Cook another 30 seconds or so and stack on a plate. If you've never made crepes before and need a visual here is a video.

Yields about 18-20 crepes

To make Swedish Pancakes you need a batch of crepes, sliced strawberries, and fresh whipped cream. In the past of course I always made my whipped cream with plain old powdered sugar but since I don't use white sugar anymore I had to come up with a different plan.

Coconut sugar is a great substitute because it has a much lower glycemic index so you don't get the spikes in blood sugar levels that you do with white processed sugar and it also contains many nutrients, minerals, and amino acids. I get mine at one of our local health food stores, but you can also order it on amazon. It is a brown sugar though so it does have a slight molasses flavor. I used a "blonde" variety for the whipped cream which is a little lighter in color and has a more mild flavor. If you look close you can see small specks of brown, but my kids didn't notice at all.

In order to turn the coconut sugar into coconut powdered sugar simply put it in a food processor or blender with a little bit of corn starch (up to 1 tablespoon per cup of sugar) and beat until powdery.

Set up a work station on your counter that looks like this.

Stuff those crepes with strawberries and whipped cream and enjoy every bite!

Oh, and be sure to use paper plates because that makes them really fancy!

Healthy "er" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wasn't sure how my kids were going react to these because the one thing I am famous for in our house are my chocolate chip cookies. I'm not the greatest cook, but cookies are my thing. I was even prepared to call them brown sugar cookies so they wouldn't expect them to taste like the normal ones.

Obviously I should not have worried!

Even though these cookies did taste really good and are much better health wise than the original recipe, I have a feeling I'm not done tweaking. So, this is just a first draft, but a great one!

1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Coconut Oil
1 C Sucanat or Coconut Sugar
1/4 C Honey
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
Dark Chocolate Chips

No one really needs instructions for how to make chocolate chip cookies, but here they are anyway.

Cream together butter, oil, sucanat, and honey until light and creamy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Mix in chocolate chips and bake @350 for 8-10 minutes.

Pineapple Chips

We are loving pineapple at our house right now and really, what's not to love? It's sweet and juicy and reminds me that warmer weather is coming. Usually I just cut it up to eat fresh or occasionally for dinner if we are grilling I will throw it on the grill to eat warm, but this week I was in the mood for something crunchy. Have you ever had the vacuum fried pineapple chips from Trader Joe's? Yum! I'm not going to lie and say these taste exactly like those, because they don't. (Does anyone have any idea how to vacuum fry?) But they certainly have a little more depth to them than simply drying them.

Start by slicing the pineapple very thin either using a knife or mandolin. Don't cut out the center. I cut mine in half so that it would fit on my mandolin. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer. Parchment paper would be great, but I only had 3 inches left on my roll when I took it out.

Brush both sides with melted coconut oil and lightly sprinkle with either Truvia, Coconut sugar or Sucanat.

Bake @ 200 degrees for anywhere from 1 1/2- 2 1/2 hours until golden brown. It really varies by oven so keep an eye on them. The longer they cook the crispier they will become, but you don't want them to burn.

Chocolate Zucchini Waffles (with spinach of course!)

After I made my Double Chocolate Muffins I started thinking about other things I could add zucchini to as well. My kids love waffles and have been really sad that we don't buy the big Sam's Club box of Eggo's anymore, so I decided to give chocolate zucchini waffles a try. I based my recipe off of  this one, which was already pretty good but she did use some white flour and brown sugar. I had to throw in some spinach of course and I usually always add some plain yogurt for moisture and protein. I also doubled it so I could freeze half of them, but my kids will most likely have them eaten by the end of the week so I will either need to get a bigger mixer so I can do a triple batch or just be prepared to make waffles once a week.

 

1 Med-Large Zucchini
1 Handful of Spinach
1/2 C plain Greek Yogurt
2 Eggs
1/4 C Honey or Coconut Sugar (I've done both)
1/4 C Coconut oil melted
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 3/4 C Almond Milk
1/2 C Cocoal Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon'
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 C Whole Wheat /flour

Wash and cut the ends off of the zucchini. If using a food processor than you can just slice the zucchini, but if you are using a blendor it might be easier to grate it first.

Puree the zucchini, spinach, and yogurt in a food processor or high powered blender. Pour into a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix all the ingredients together until well combined, but don't over mix.

This single recipe yields about 9 round waffles. As you can tell from the picture I have two different waffle irons and I can't believe I ever sat in the kitchen making one waffle at a time. Two is definitely the way to go!