Snicker Bar Cookies

In the spirit of using leftover (Halloween, or otherwise) candy to make bars or cookies, I decided to use up more of our leftover candy and make some Snickers Bar Cookies (if you're interested, see the recipe for Reese's Peanut Butter Blondie Bars here).
So, these awesome little morsels use Snickers candy bars with peanut butter cookie wrapped around them.  Then you drizzle a little chocolate icing on top and wa-la, a sweet treat.  Everything in moderation.  I won't put extra fats or sugars in most recipes, but I will always still post recipes for sweets.  I definitely enjoy unhealthy treats, but I believe a healthy lifestyle includes giving in to chocolate (and other sweets) every once in awhile.  Plus, you can always a modify a recipe by using light butter, agave (or other natural sweeteners), whole wheat flour (instead of all all-purpose), etc.   I hope you enjoy these!

Ingredients:

1/2 - 1 Package of Snickers Mini Snack Size Candy Bars (depending on how you cut them, see Directions #1).
3/4 Cup Light Butter (1 1/2 Sticks)
3/4 Cup Peanut Butter (I used organic and crunchy, but you can do whatever type you prefer)
1/4 Cup White Sugar
1/4 Cup Agave Nectar (or just use 1/2 Cup total White Sugar)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

Icing Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 -1 Tbsp. Milk

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut candy bars in half or into fourths (I cut them into 4 pieces).
2.  Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars.  Add in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.
3.  Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Slowly mix the dry ingredients in with the wet mixture (about 1 cup at a time).  Don't overmix, just until well-combined.

4.  Take a spoonful of dough and wrap around a piece of Snickers, roughly in a ball shape, completely covering the candy bar piece.  Place onto baking sheet about 2-3" apart.
5.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.

Icing Directions:
1.  Combine the icing ingredients (cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk) in a small bowl.
2.  Drizzle over the cooled cookies.

Let dry and Enjoy!

Skinny Strawberry Banana Muffins

The inspiration for these muffins was that it was time for breakfast and I was hungry.  I had some over-ripe bananas on my kitchen counter and a bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer just waiting to be used.  So, I searched a little bit online and found some recipes for Strawberry Banana Muffins.  I used Joy of Baking's recipe, but modified it a bit to make it a little healthier.  My version uses less butter, some applesauce, adds in whole-wheat flour, and uses a partial sugar substitute.  And they still taste awesome.
Serve these pretty muffins for a quick grab 'n go breakfast, an anytime-snack, as dessert, or for a party.

Ingredients:
1/4 Cup (1/2 Stick) Light Butter, Softened
1/4 Cup Applesauce
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Agave Nectar (or substitute brown/white sugar if you don't have this)

2 Eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 Cup Ripe Bananas, Mashed (about 3 Bananas)
1 lb. Frozen or Fresh Strawberries, Cut into Bite-Size Pieces

3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1 1/2 Cups Whole-Wheat Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line a muffin pan with paper liners (or you can spray the muffin cups directly with non-stick cooking spray.
3.  In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Fold in the strawberries (coating them in the flour helps prevent sinking while baking).
4.  With your Kitchenaid, or other mixer, combine the butter, applesauce, brown sugar, and agave until well-combined.  Mix in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla and the bananas.  Thoroughly mix.
5.  Slowly mix the strawberry-flour mixture in with the wet mixture.  Don't overmix.
6.  Pour batter into muffin cups.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack and Enjoy!

Makes 12 Regular-Sized Muffins or 6 Jumbo-Muffins or 24 Mini-Muffins.

Freezer-Friendly: After baking and cooling, place muffins in a dated/labeled freezer bag.  Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to 3 months.  To defrost, pop back into muffin pan and bake at 350 until warm, or defrost slightly in microwave.

Classic Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Happy (belated) Halloween everyone!  I wanted to make a pumpkin pie as a celebration for my son's first Halloween this past week.  He was dressed up as a toothless vampire, which was totally adorable by the way.  This recipe is inspired from memory from my Mom and Grandma and from various other recipes, such as this one on All Recipes. This is a truly homemade pie though and perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday dinners, and well, just because.

Ingredients:

Pie Crust
1 1/4 Cups (Organic) All-Purpose Flour (plus extra for floured surface/rolling out dough)
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 tsp. Sugar
1/2 Cup (1 stick, 8 Tbsp) Unsalted Butter, Cold
4-6 Tbsp. Cold Water

Pie Filling
(some of the ingredients shown on the right)

2 Cups Fresh Pumpkin Puree or 1-15 ounce Can
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup White Sugar or Agave Nectar (as sugar substitute)
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
2 Eggs (or Egg Whites/Substitute for lower cholesterol/calories)
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ground Cloves
1 tsp. Ginger
1/4 tsp. Allspice
1 1/2 Cups Evaporated Milk (Fat-Free)

(Note: you can substitute 4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice--sold in stores--instead of all the spices separated out if you desire).

Directions:

Pie Crust
1.  Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a small bowl or food processor.
2.  Using a food processor or blender, combine flour mixture and half the butter.  Mix for just 30 seconds.  Add second half of butter and mix for another 30 seconds.
3.  Add 3-4 Tbsp. Ice water, just enough so it's not too crumbly.
4.  On floured surface (or right there in the bowl--that's what I did), put dough into small disk.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 min to 1 hour.

5.  Once dough is chilled, remove from refrigerator and place onto floured surface.  Roll out with floured rolling pin to roughly a 12" circle, about 1/8" thick.  Make sure dough is not sticking to surface (add more flour underneath, if it is).  You can instead put the dough between two pieces of wax/parchment paper (sprinkle flour on it as well) and roll it out that way.  Much easier and cleaner (that's what I did--see photo).
6.  Place dough on top of 9" pie dish or tin.  Remove excess dough hanging over pan, or fold under itself.  Make indentations on the crust if you desire, with your finger or fork.  Next step is for the filling, below.

Pie

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  To get your pumpkin puree, take a small-medium sized sugar pumpkin and cut in half (top and bottom).  This is by far the hardest part of the whole recipe, because these suckers are firm--if you get your pumpkin in half--way to go.  (I stick a knife in, wiggle/saw it for a bit, then pull it out and re-stick a few inches away until I was able to pull it apart).  Scrape out pulp and seeds (keep your seeds to bake Pumpkin Seeds).  Place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes (until skin is dimpling and pumpkin is soft).

2.  Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.
3.  In your kitchenaid, or other blender, mix together the brown and white (or agave nectar) sugars, salt, and pumpkin spices.  Add in the eggs, one at a time.
4.  Slowly mix in the pumpkin puree and milk.  Make sure thoroughly combined, about 2-3 minutes.

5.  Pour pie filling into pie crust (a trick to prevent spills is to pull the rack of the oven out a bit and set the pie crust on it...then pour the filling in).  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6.  Cool for 1-2 hours.

Top with whipped cream (optional) and enjoy!

Reese's Peanut Butter Blondie Bars

The day after Halloween, I stared into our still-heaping bowl of Halloween candy and decided to make some blondie bars featuring some of the candy.  Although the bars are a quick and easy sweet treat, I'm not sure it was a good idea to make them (because I keep eating them).  I used Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but blondie bars are pretty versatile and you could use a variety of other types of candy (Snickers, Milky Way, M&Ms, and the list goes on).

Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/2 Cups Peanut Butter Cups, broke into pieces (I used 6 regular size cups broken up)
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour (could do half whole wheat flour to make a bit healthier)
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 Cup (8 Tbsp.) Light Butter, softened
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
1/3 Cup White Sugar (or Agave nectar)
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 8x8 glass baking dish with cooking spray (or line with parchment paper with 1" overhang).
2.  Mix together the butter and sugars until well-combined.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract and continue mixing.
3. Slowly mix in the flour and salt.
4.  By hand, stir in half of the peanut butter cup pieces.
5.  Spread batter into baking dish.  Sprinkle remaining peanut butter cup pieces on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chai Tart & Tartletts

It is clearly fall now with the brisk, chilly air, the leaves beginning to fall, football, and Halloween coming up soon.  Fall is definitely a favorite season of mine.  With it, comes exciting food changes too.  I had an amazing Pumpkin Pie Chai Tea the other day at Mayorga Coffee and decided I needed to not only make a similar recipe at home--you can find the recipe for Pumpkin Pie Chai Tea (or latte) here.
Then, I realized I also had to make it in a pie (or a tart or tartlett).  Not only is this dish absolutely amazing in terms of deliciousness, but it's a great home air-freshener too (bake this and your place will smell awesomely like fall should smell). .
Note that I included photos of both a tart (large pie size) and tartletts (approx 6" across).  You could also make mini-tartletts...just modify your cooking times (the smaller they are, the less time they need to cook).

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Chai Filling
2 Cups Chai Tea, Strongly Brewed (I used 4 bags, steeped about 5-7 minutes)
8 Ounces Cream Cheese, Softened (Reduced or Non-Fat)
1/2 Cup Agave Nectar (or could just use White Sugar if you prefer)
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1 Egg
2 Egg Yolks
2/3 Cup Pumpkin Puree (Fresh or faster route and do canned)
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Shortbread Crust
3/4 Cup Butter, Softened (1 1/2 sticks, Organic, of course)
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup All-Purpose (organic) Flour
1/2 Cup Rice (organic) Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt

Directions:

Pumpkin Filling
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put brewed Chai tea in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring a boil and reduce to 4-5 Tbsp.  Set aside and cool.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together agave nectar and cream cheese.  Add sour cream and mix well.  Add eggs/yolks in, one at a time.
3.  Add pumpkin, salt, vanilla, and Chai tea reduction.  Stir together.

4.  Pour into tart pan lined with shortbread crust.
5.  Bake at 350 about 45-55 minutes, or just until set for large tart.  For tartletts, bake about 35-45 minutes, or until set (25-35 minutes for mini-tartletts).


Shortbread Crust
1.  Cream together the butter and powdered sugar.  Add in vanilla.
2.  Slowly add in the flour and salt, just until combined.
3.  Cover in plastic and set in refrigerator for about an hour.
4.  Once dough is back to room temperature, roll to 1/4" thickness and mold to tart pan.
5.  Bake once filled with Pumpkin Chai Filling.

Enjoy! Sprinkle with pumpkin pie seasoning, nutmeg, or cinnamon.  Top with whipped cream or chocolate shavings.  Best enjoyed on a chilly night, snuggled up, with a mug of pumpkin pie chai tea. :)

Blueberry-Banana Smoothie

A few months ago, I bought an immersion blender and have been loving it!  It's so great for making quick smoothies, blended drinks (ie margaritas), pasta sauces (ie my Healthy Tomato Pasta Sauce), soups, mashed potatoes, whipped cream, and ok...the list goes on and you get it by now.   A perfect breakfast or snack on a hot, summer day is a smoothie.  In this recipe, I used anti-oxidant-loaded blueberries and potassium-rich bananas for a sweet, creamy, delicious, healthy drink.

Ingredients:
1 Small Banana, Sliced
1 Cup Frozen Blueberries (Organic)
1/2-3/4 Cup Skim Organic Milk (or Soy Milk if you prefer)
1-2 tsp. (Organic) Agave Nectar, optional (as a sweetener--I used 1 tsp and it was perfect)

Directions:
1.  Put all ingredients in your immersion blender's mixing cup (or you can use a regular blender) and mix until fairly smooth and well-combined.  Serve immediately!

Feel free to mix it up by adding Stevia (another natural sweetener, this one no-calorie), honey, or some Flax Seeds (for adding brain-boosting omegas).  For a thicker smoothie, add a little bit of nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt.

Enjoy!