With the rain pouring down this afternoon and Brad out for the evening, Miss G and I decided to bake a batch of delicious cookies just before dinnertime (oops). Miss G, the little chocolate lover that she is, requested chocolate chip and was more than happy to go with dark chocolate chunk cookies with walnuts. Now, I must say… These are definitely not the healthiest cookies we’ve ever made {hello, butter and coconut sugar!}, but they are absolutely delicious. In the past, we stuck to coconut oil as our go-to fat and really only did small amounts of local honey and pure maple syrup {as well as dates and other fruits} to sweeten our baking, but now that Miss G is 5 {eek!}, I’ve definitely become more lax with the ingredients I’m willing to use in our homemade baked goods and treats. That being said, these cookies are made with 100% wholewheat flour {something I’m not yet willing to compromise on} and use a super dark organic fair-trade chocolate bar cut into chunks instead of regular chocolate chips, so they’re definitely on the better-for-you side when compared to traditional chocolate chip cookies.
Tag Archives: healthier treats
Delicious Sugar Free Hot Cocoa
Today’s Christmas countdown calendar activity was something Miss G has been looking forward to for a while now… Making and drinking homemade hot cocoa! Of course it meant coming up with a recipe that was both yummy and sugar free, but it wasn’t all that hard with the help of one of my very favourite natural sweeteners and a loose idea of how I used to make regular hot chocolate when I was younger.
Summer Strawberry Shortcake {with Wholewheat Date-sweetened Biscuits}
Nothing says summer quite like fresh strawberry shortcake, and since our kitchen is currently overflowing with berries after this morning’s trip to Krause Berry Farms, I thought Miss G and I would experiment with a healthier, wholewheat, sugar-free version this afternoon. The unfortunate part is that our little old house was sitting at 31 degrees, so turning on the oven to bake shortcakes certainly wasn’t our best plan, but you gotta do what you gotta do when you have fresh berries begging to be gobbled up! ☺
While I don’t mind baking with small amounts of honey and pure maple syrup, our recent {and delicious!} cookie dough boys have peeked my interest in baking with dates {and other sweet fruits} instead of the alternative sweeteners I usually turn to. I’m happy to report, that our first experiment was a total success! These shortcakes turned out soft, moist inside, and perfectly sweet! Plus the tiny hint of coconut flavour from the coconut oil made them even more delicious.
Brad loved them, and I think Gracen thought she’d died and gone to heaven went she saw a little plate stacked with cake, sliced strawberries, and freshly whipped cream coming her way.
Here’s the recipe to our new favourite summer dessert….
Strawberry Shortcake with Date-sweetened Biscuits (adapted from this recipe)
- 2 1/2 cups of wholewheat flour
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
- 2/3 cup of buttermilk (you can make your own by adding 3/4 of a tablespoon of vinegar to 2/3 of a cup of regular milk and letting it sit for 5 or 10 minutes)
- 8 tablespoons of coconut oil (in its liquid state)
- 1 egg
- 4 majool dates, soaked and pureed
- 1 1/2 cups of whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup
- strawberries, sliced
Before starting this recipe, place the dates into a small bowl, cover them with boiling water, and let sit for about 15 minutes. Remove pits and place dates, along with a tablespoon or two of the soaking water in a food processor or blender and process until smooth {or nearly smooth}.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If you’re making your own buttermilk, mix the milk and vinegar together and set it aside.
Whisk together the wholewheat flour, baking powder, and sea salt.
In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, coconut oil, egg, and pureed dates until as smooth as possible.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just barely combined. Divide the dough in 8 to 10 balls and bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are slightly golden.
Whip cream until peaks begin to form, then add maple syrup and whip for an extra few seconds to combine.
Slice strawberries.
To assemble, cut shortcakes in half horizontally, placing the tops aside temporarily. Place a heaping scoop of strawberries on each shortcake bottom, then top with a generous spoonful of freshly whipped cream, and place the tops back on. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
♥
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Healthier Peanut Butter Oat Cookies
Gracen and I have experimented with making many different versions of healthier peanut butter cookies – cream cheese ones, two ingredient ones, banana-based ones – but sadly, none have ever turned out really well. Late this afternoon, however, when she randomly declared that “We should make cookies! Yummy no sugar ones that Gracen can have – YEAAAAAAAAH!”, we came up with our first batch that actually taste like real peanut butter cookies. Only they’re much healthier. ☺ Here’s our new go-to peanut butter cookie recipe…
Healthier Peanut Butter Oat Cookies (based off of this recipe by Weelicious)
- 1/2 cup of coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons of good honey
- 1 cup of all-natural peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups of wholewheat flour
- 1 cup of old-fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Using a mixer, cream the coconut oil and honey together until smooth. Add the peanut butter, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix again until smooth.
Add all of the dry ingredients to a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix just until combined. Scoop out 1 tablespoon balls of dough and flatten with a floured fork. (For an additional nutrition boost, you could roll the balls in chia seeds or hemp hearts before flattening.)
Bake for 9 or 10 minutes, then cool and serve.
Enjoy!
For more healthy-ish desserts, click here.
♥
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