Very, very late post...

October 30th is my one of my best friends, Brent's birthday.  I told him for his birthday I would make him a little something.  What I love about Brent's palette is the fact that it doesn't matter what I feed him, he is always open to what I make vegan or not, and even if it's weird looking or completely abstract he is still willing to try what I put infront of him.  When it comes down to it, Brent's palette is very similar to mine, and I knew that by choosing something with pumpkin would be a winner, since we both adore the fall flavours.  Thankfully, in knowing this I was able to make a cake that I had previously saved and couldn't wait to make... however, I was waiting because as we know, cake is one of my all time weaknesses.  I can make a cake, and literally eat it in one sitting, it's bad okay, not even bad, just all around horrible for me, but I can't help it.  I never have cake in the house for the sole reason of me not being able to control/portion myself when it comes to cake, so when I find recipes for cake it's nice when something like a birthday comes along so I can indulge in my obsession but not go overboard.

I'd found a recipe from one of my favourite blogs; Healthful Pursuit, in the past I've tried many of her recipes and have never been let down.  So when I found a recipe for Gingerbread Brownies I knew that this would surely be a fantastic recipe to try out, and it surely was.  I adapted it a little bit, to work with what I had/go more with my palette and it turned out wonderfully.  What I love about this cake was the substantial amount of molasses.  Molasses cookies are one of my all time favourites, and to have such an abundance of this flavour in a cake/brownie is just bliss.  When you bite into it you are not overwhelmed by molasses but it's definitely the biggest role in this dessert, the other flavours are not however hidden as you get appearances from each flavour within the bite.  I'd decided as well since I had some cream cheese in the fridge that I would make a nice pumpkin icing to go on top since it would add a nice colour to the brownie and that I knew Brent like's cream cheese.  The brownies were heavenly without the cream cheese (as I'm not a huge fan of cream cheese), but even with that said, not being a huge fan, the pumpkin cream cheese frosting definitely took the brownie to an even higher level.  I highly suggest making these brownies, especially around the fall/holiday time, they are perfect and certainly bring some warmth... as well as it's a good excuse to bring some gorgeous aromas into your house ;).

Gingerbread Brownies 

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1/4 avocado - mashed
• 3 tbsp pumpkin puree
• 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 1 tbsp water)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 8×8 square pan with parchment paper so that it’s draping off both sides. Set aside.

Place all dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside

In a large bowl, combine all wet ingredients.

Drop dry ingredients into wet and stir until just combined. The mix should be runny.

Pour into prepared pan and bake in prepared oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan and placing it on a wire rack to cool.


Pumpkin Cream Cheese


Recipe taken from here

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cover bowl and chill in the fridge for at least an hour before using.

And top with walnuts.

Something you may not of thought of doing...

Are you like my boyfriend, when you hear the word crock pot you automatically think of roasts or stews? Did you ever think you could make breakfast that not only is hearty, tasty, healthy and all around delicious without any meat in your crock pot? Well think again! The crock pot is such a versatile, I have to admit this is the second time I have ever used a crock pot since I don't eat meat, and since when I choose to make soups I do so on the stove. However when I found a recipe for oatmeal in the crock pot I knew I had to make this.

Yes, I am still keeping my New Years Resolution and writing my weekly meals down on paper, therefore when I found this recipe I had to switch some things around, but I ended up making it two days later... not too bad! This was insanely easy, throw ingredients into pot, give it a quick little stir, put the lid on, turn the heat on, go to sleep, and wake up to a big batch of delicious goodness!

I've really begun to love steel-cut oats... they remind me of al dente cooked wild rice. I really like this grain and it's such a nice change from regular oats. When you have oats cooked overnight it's even better since you really don't have to do any work. What's even better is that this is a large batch of oats (obviously you can half the recipe) but you're able to refrigerate and heat later. I did this for two days, it was as good as new. I topped these bowls when I got to work with walnuts, granola, raisins and soy milk. I really loved the simplicity of this and look forward to other lazy days of mine so I can gather up my crock pot and have a delicious breakfast waiting for me in the morning as if I had a butler waiting on hand for me ;)

Overnight, Slow Cooker, Apple Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Recipe slightly adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 2 apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (2-1/2 to 3 cups chopped)
• 1 1/2 cups vanilla soy milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats
• 1 tbsp coconut sap
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground flax seed
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Optional garnishes: chopped nuts, raisins, maple syrup, additional milk or butter

Directions:

Coat inside of 3-1/2 quart (or larger) slow cooker with cooking spray. Add all ingredients (except optional toppings) to slow cooker. Stir, cover, and cook on low for 7 hours. Spoon oatmeal into bowls; add optional toppings, if desired. Store leftovers in refrigerator. Freezes well.

To reheat single servings: Put 1-cup cooked oatmeal in microwave proof bowl. Add 1/3 cup fat-free milk. Microwave on high for 1 minute; stir. Continue cooking for another minute, or until hot.

Recipe can be doubled in 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Increase cooking time 1 hour.


Raspberry Jam Black Bean and Avocado Brownies

Recipe adapted from here

Remember just like a book: don't judge food before you try it... I know it's not the prettiest of pictures

I have to admit I've never been much of a fan of beans... I still can't eat lentils. However, black beans have always been one of those exceptions, perhaps because you see it at your local "Chinese" restaurants. I have always found them to be sweet so I have never had a problem gobbling them down, which is probably why I wasn't weary when it came to this recipe.

When I first started blogging, there were a few recipes that just made my head question... what? Black bean brownies were one of those. However, I no longer think of it as this crazy-weird food, no no I embrace it. Before I made these I was at the mall with my friend Jenna. I was all excited about these brownies so I had to tell her what I was planning on making. Her response, "if it were someone else I'd be a little confused but coming from you this doesn't surprise me at all". I laughed pretty hard. What I love about Jenna is the fact that no matter how odd the ingredients may be she's always willing to try my food, even if I try and sneak certain ingredients in the concoction that she doesn't like *cough * figs * cough * ... however she always does pick out the flavour. "Sam what did you put in this? Ugh it better not be figs!" I have gotten her to try quite a few things that she's actually really enjoyed, one of them being although a huge fan of spinach, was skeptical about having it for breakfast, however she slurped and loved.

She sat with me while I whipped up these brownies... I changed it quite a bit, and unfortunately screwed up just a bit. Instead of 2 tsp, I added 2 TBSP, as I've mentioned before I really cannot bake with others around me, I always seem to make a little error somewhere along the way.

At first when I took a bite of these I seriously wanted to puke... why I even added coffee in the first place was beyond me, I seriously dislike coffee. However, I let the brownies cool down and took another bite... ended up beginning to enjoy it. Another bite down, another bite, soon pieces were being cut. Unfortunately I made these pretty close to bed time too... by the end half of the pan was gone from both of us...

I really enjoyed these. The next day holy they were even better! I did so again had about five pieces before bed, realizing after the forth piece that well there is a lot of coffee in these... I'd already had four pieces what another piece going to hurt. Well, the caffeine certainly kicked it, oh boy...

I loved these brownies though. Regardless of the misinterpretation of the measurement they turned out wonderfully. What I liked about them the most is that they weren't your typical overly-chocolatey brownie, these were perfect for non-chocolate lovers. They had a subtle hint of chocolate but were still perfectly sweet. I even added raspberry jam for a little added sweetness and they were wonderful! They even gave off the sweet brownie aroma while being baked. I will certainly make this again, and will try different jams, and add nuts next time. These are a perfect afternoon snack and are something you don't have to feel that guilty about.

Ingredients:

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 ripe avocado
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder (30gm)
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons white sugar <--- I feel like I didn't even add this, oops
• 2 TSP instant coffee (or TBSP if you're crazy or just can't read like me ;) )
• 1/4 cup raspberry jam - to swirl into the brownie

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8" pan with parchment paper.

Combine black beans, yoghurt, applesauce, maple syrup, and avocado in food processor. Blend for a few minutes, until completely smooth. Add remaining ingredients and continue blending until fully combined, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Spread into parchment-lined baking dish, top with raspberry jam and mix into the batter. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the brownies comes out clean.

These are best if you let them sit overnight before slicing and enjoying!

What are some foods that you've made that you never thought you would even try but ended up loving?

Seinworb... excuse the sugar high.

The other week when my mom and I were perusing through HomeSense my eyes narrowed in on a beautiful bag of chocolate chips. The chocolate chips just so happened to be Ghirardelli chocolates. I had never had them before, and was so stoked since they were cheaper than I had imagined. My mom, being a huge brownie lover was incredibly stoked. "I'll pick them up, but you have to make brownies". Sure, that was no problem. It gives me an excuse to be in the kitchen, try out a new recipe, and fill my face? Alright.

Well, I set off. I had found two brownie recipes that oddly enough hit a spot with me. The first recipe didn't include chocolate chips, however it did include Nutella so ugh... how could I resist and walk away from that? Well, I couldn't. No one else in the house could either. I set off to make them. Oh my goodness, the aroma in the house was fantabulous. The house honestly yelled, eat me, eat me! For me not being a fan of chocolate, you would of never guessed. My mouth was drooling at the sight of these bad boys, but I blame it on the Nutella. Once I took my first bite though... it was all over. Oh my goodness. I seriously entered chocolate-brownie heaven. I did, and I very much enjoyed it. Out of these two brownies, this was by far my favourite, just because really, Nutella is such a weakness of mine.

The next day I came across another brownie recipe that this time did call for chocolate chips. The centre looked oh so raw and gooey that I knew this was the recipe I was going to make. Just like the prior, this batch also yelled, eat me, eat me! I gave in, not even a day went by and I had baked up another batch of brownies, what was going on here?!

These were decadent. Yes, they were indeed very good. However, these were far too chocolate-y for me. My mother on the other hand went bananas for them. My friend Jenna also went bananas over them. I had two squares worth. If I were to make these again, I would definitely reduce the amount of cocoa powder and replace it with flour. I used 65% dark chocolate and it was still far too overpowering for me. However, they were indeed delicious, especially when heated. When you heated them, they got the most ooey-gooey centre that just melted, and the aroma, oh I cannot even tell you!

Nutella Caramel Walnut Brownies

Recipe taken from here
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter - room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce - room temperature
• 1/4 cup Nutella - melted, approximately 15 seconds in the microwave
• Walnuts - roughly chopped to garnish

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Into a mixing bowl add your flour, baking powder, salt & cocoa powder. Using a whisk, mix together & set aside. Into your stand mixer add the sugar, butter and mix together until creamy. Add in eggs one at a time. Mix well. Add vanilla. GRADUALLY add in your flour mixture until it’s well combined. Batter should be thick & sticky.

Spray an ovenproof 10 x 7 dish with cooking spray. Place a piece of parchment paper (slightly larger than your dish to allow for handles) inside. It will adhere to bottom of dish. Spray the top of the parchment paper as well. Take HALF of your brownie batter and smooth it on top of the parchment paper. Take your caramel sauce and pour it on top of brownie mixture covering entire layer of brownie {careful not to place it too close to edges}. Place the remaining brownie batter on top smoothing it out.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until sides are firm and center is no longer giggly.

Allow brownies to cool completely before removing. Cut your brownies to your desired size using a serrated knife. Make a small indentation with your finger into each brownie. Take your melted Nutella and drizzle over the tops of the brownies. Garnish with the walnuts.

Fudge-y Homemade Brownies

Recipe taken from here

Yup, even Izzo was taking a whiff they smelt that good!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup 65% dark Ghirardelli chocolate
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp baking cocoa
• 1/3 cup flour

Directions:

In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and butter together. Stir in vanilla and set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until light yellow and in the ribbon stage (you know you’ve reached this when you can lift up your whisk and the egg mixture drip down in a steady ribbon rather than in gloopy clumps). Stir in salt and cocoa and mix well to combine.

Stir chocolate mixture into egg mixture and combine well. Sift over flour and fold in until just mixed. Do not overmix, or you will have tough, dry brownies.

Pour into a sprayed 8 x 8″ baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

**do not over bake and allow to cool completely before cutting*

What are your favourite type of brownies? Do you like them cakey, gooey, chewy, exploding with melted chocolates, crunchy? :)

Vegan Cupcakes? Vegan Brownies? You bet!

Recipe taken from here

As I've mentioned a few times now, I really am considering going vegan. I've been pescatarian for well over a year a now, and haven't eaten pork or been in almost eight years. I have always had an interest in becoming vegan at some point in my life but never really did any research or anything towards it. Last year I bought a "Becoming Vegan" book that I am beginning to read, and as I read many blogs out there, and attempting many vegan recipes, I know that it wouldn't be that challenging for me. With that being said, I found a recipe the other day for vegan cupcakes. I was in the mood to try them out today, so I reduced the batch to 1/4 each (one vanilla batch, and one chocolate batch) this left me with two cupcakes from each batch. While making these cupcakes I was so tempted to lick the bowls (both looked like frosting, beautiful vanilla and chocolate frosting, yummy!) however, I didn't because well, the apple cider vinegar curdled the soy milk and to me that just doesn't scream yum, if you know what I mean.

As you all know cupcakes and ice cream are my weak points when it comes to food, however, cupcakes even more so than ice cream. These cupcakes were delicious, and the fact that they were vegan made me enjoy them that much more because I didn't feel guilty for enjoying each and every bite down to the last crumb. I believe that some people, when they think of vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, egg-free cooking they think that because it lacks certain ingredients it also means that the taste is missing as well. This certainly is not the case for these cupcakes. They are fluffy, moist, tasty, sweet and just cute.

As you can see it is just as fluffy as a non-vegan cupcake.

When I first tried them, I cut one vanilla, and one chocolate in half. Needless to say my favourite was the vanilla, however, the chocolate did come close. My mom preferred the chocolate one, as I split both the halves with her. What I liked most about the cupcakes were that the exterior were so crunchy and sweet and inside was still oh so spongey, moist and fluffy as I said above. I would definitely make these cupcakes again. Next time playing around with some spices... in the vanilla I'm thinking I would add some anise, oh delicious!

This is a great cupcake for anyone a-like, but I think it would be even better to server to your non-veg friends to show that eco/creature friendly foods could be just as tasty if not more sometimes. On another note, I think it's important for us foodies to post recipes that may not be exactly what we follow. What I mean here is, yes I am not vegan, but I am posting a vegan recipe (despite of my intentions on becoming vegan I am not at the moment), however, if there are more options on the Internet, and it allows people the opportunity to try out some of these recipes perhaps without actually going out and advocating the cause this can help make a difference. If people know that there are in fact, healthy, tasty and simple vegetarian meals out there, perhaps they won't be so easy in going to a fast food restaurant and getting that greasy burger and fries because instead they could go home and make a tofurky sandwich with some baked potato fries or baked onion rings. Who knows, but all I know is, there are so many people out there, who are all, "Vegan recipes can't be good, they lack so much flavour", that isn't the case, as you will find with these cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup soy milk
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup light agave nectar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Same ingredients all through out except you need to alter the flour for the addition of cocoa powder, or else the chocolate cupcake will be very dry.

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  

Directions:

Line muffin pan with cupcake liners and preheat oven to 325

Mix the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl; allow to sit for a few minutes to curdle. Beat in agave, oil, vanilla, and almond extract. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until smooth.

Fill liners two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, until knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean; do not over bake, cupcakes will be dry.

These cupcakes need to cool at least an hour before topping or filling, and also to develop the flavor and texture properly.

Vegan Brownies

Recipe adapted from here

Since I was so impressed with the vegan cupcakes I figured I might as well try another vegan dessert. The recipe I was anticipating trying was right up my alley. I’ve seriously become very fond of walnuts lately since I’ve been putting it on my oatmeal quite frequently. Walnuts and dates are meant to be lovers. This brownie was incredibly tasty, however I did find it to be incredibly chocolatey – that didn’t stop me from taking another bite after another and so on. I really liked this recipe, however, in trying to cut the pieces for everyone it was so crumbly. It was so crumbly that it kept falling apart. So I kept having to squish it together, try and cut it, a piece would fall apart and the whole event would happen again. I ended up getting nice squares in the end though, but it was a long process. Would I make these again? Probably not. As much as I loved the taste, and texture it was a lot of work to cut them (however, making the brownie took less than three minutes). I loved the taste of these just disliked the crumbliness during the cutting stage. Nonetheless, vegan dessert number two was highly successful in taste.

Ingredients:

• 3 cup raw walnuts
  
• 1/8 tsp salt
  
• 22 pitted Medjool dates
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 2 tsp water
  

Directions:

Place the walnuts in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until coarsely chopped.

Remove 1/2 cup of the walnuts and set aside in a small mixing bowl. Add the salt to the food processor and process until the walnuts are finely ground. Add the dates and process until the mixture begins to stick together. Add the cocoa powder and process to incorporate. Add the chopped walnuts, dried cranberries and water and process briefly, just until mixed.

Pour the mixture evenly into an 8-inch glass baking dish and press down with your hand to compact. Cut into squares.

Yield: 16 small brownies (8 servings)

Enjoy your Earth and Creature friendly desserts!

Banana Walnut Cinnamon Chip Blondies

Recipe adapted from here

The other day while I was browsing the chocolate aisle at Bulk Barn I stumbled across CINNAMON chips! I was so excited, I might have even let out a little scream. I have to admit I get really jealous of American's and their vast array of special baked goods. I know cinnamon chips probably aren't the most amazing thing, but when it's even difficult to come across mint chips, and when you do you buy like a million bags, it's a big deal. What was even more awesome was the fact that they were 15% off, double whammy!

I didn't pick up that much, I picked up exactly one cup, (my culinary estimations have gotten really precise over the last few months, I notice every time that I write down a measurement for a bulk item I usually hit it right on the nose or am off by a teaspoon or two, kind of scary actually). Nonetheless, I had never used these or tried these before so I wasn't about to spend a bunch of money on something I had never tried, however, it's cinnamon, could you really go wrong with cinnamon? In my books you definitely can't, I think it was more of, what would I put them in.

About a day or two after buying them, I came across a recipe that included cinnamon chips, was it fate that I found these puppies or what? I knew right away that I was going to bake this recipe because not only did it have cinnamon chips in it, it had ground cinnamon, plus bananas, and yummmmmyyyyy, plus I decided to add walnuts into the mix, the PERFECT combination.

So what was it I made? Banana Walnut Cinnamon Chip Blondies! I have only made blondies once before, and that was last Valentine's Day. I'm surprised I don't make these more often, because they're as chewy as brownies just without the chocolate. I do like a brownie ONCE in a while, but it is very very rare, so I do find myself very attracted to blondies I just never seem to get around to making them. However, this recipe here incorporated a vast amount of ingredients that I really love. These baked so much better than my first attempt at blondies, and I was really excited, even though the last one's were delicious this one blew them out of the water. The top was perfectly cooked, no cracks, very moist, the taste of banana was packed with an IMMENSE punch, which I'm extremely happy about because I've been craving banana bread like a fiend lately, and cut myself three pieces the other day from the caterers, plus the bonus of the ground cinnamon and cinnamon chips just made this absolutely perfect!

I brought these into work and people went CRAZY over them. Our crew has dwindled down by about 80% and even though I was skeptical about bringing in the whole batch they completely disappeared by 12. One person came up to me and told me he had just eaten five pieces, then grabbed a plate and stuck about 5 more on them. One guy took a napkin and put a bunch on them then stuck it in his pockets, (a little weird I know, but still). They were a MAJOR hit, and would definitely be a great treat for around the holiday season, heck they're nice for anytime of year but I just find that spice, especially cinnamon is so wonderful around this time of year.

If you have any cinnamon chips or come across them at your grocer pick them up and do yourself a favour and whip these up, trust me you will not regret it... or maybe you will because your waist-line mayyyy change A BIT... but is soooo totally worth it!

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup banana puree
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup cinnamon chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a nine-inch-square baking pan.

Cream butter, add sugar and beat in egg. Stir in banana puree & vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to wet until just combined.

Add cinnamon chips and walnuts and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Oatmeal Date Cookies + Pumpkin Spice Muffins + Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Cranberry Oatmeal Date Cookies

Recipe taken and adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup regular rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2-3 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup date syrup (or regular honey)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dried dates, chopped
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 white chocolate Baker's chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, combine flour, oats baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Stir until well mixed. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the egg lightly. Add butter, vanilla extract and honey/date syrup. Stir until well combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir in the chopped dates.

Drop heaped teaspoons of the batter onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Cranberry Oatmeal Date Cookies

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I had a can of pumpkin and was in the mood for some pumpkin muffins. I literally just tossed all kinds of ingredients that I thought would work well into some bowls. These are by far my favourite muffins I've ever made. Not that I make muffins often, but they were absolutely delicious. You can tell from the picture the texture was a little different, but to be honest that's what I really enjoyed about them, they weren't your typical doughy muffin they were just... blissful, yum!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 can pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup splenda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup flax meal
• 1/2 cup of water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix your dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. In a large bowl mix wet ingredients together. Slowly mix your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients. Spoon your mix into muffin liners.

Bake for 20-22 minutes.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

This again was something I just threw together. I was really in a baking mood and didn't want to follow any recipes, lets just say it was definitely an experimental day. But, it was a great day. All three of these recipes turned out and they were all so delicious!

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 cup splenda
• 1/2-3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2-3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 2/3 cup flax seed
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix your dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. In a large bowl mix wet ingredients together. Slowly mix your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients. Drop your batter by the spoonful onto a greased pan.

Bake for 8 minutes.

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Sweet Potato Cookies

Sweet Potato Cookies

I can't seem to find the recipe I made for the sweet potatoes, which makes me really sad because these really were a good cookie, but there are so many great sweet potato recipes on the internet that I'm sure you can find an amazing one if you look hard enough!

Enjoy!

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Surprise Brownie Bites

Cookies N' Cream Surprise Brownie Bites

Caramel Surprise Brownie Bites

These brownies were so incredibly easy to make, barely took any ingredients, came out very well, and were a gigantic hit. I had been to the grocery store and saw caramel and cookies and cream Kisses. I had never seen these before and knew I had to make something that consisted of these ingredients. I had my aunt's wedding coming up in less than a week, and she had asked me prior to make some cupcakes for the children who were intending. I thought what better thing to make then brownies, loads of sugar, chocolate, and the parents were there to supervise! To my delight, this is exactly what happened. The children devoured them, I came out with about 80 brownies, and there were less than 20 left, and there were only 60 people attending the wedding, and barely any children, hahaha. These were amazing brownies. Extremely photograph heavy, I just loved the look of these little guys, however, the lighting was really bad unfortunately.

Caramel Surprise Brownie Bites

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix (or any brownie mix of your choice)
• 1 package Cookies n' Cream chocolate Kisses
• 1 package Caramel chocolate Kisses
• 1 container of Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate icing (or any flavour of your choice)
• Toppings of your choice -
• For the Cookies n' Cream brownies I chose Oreo's for half and the other half I used the 100 calories Chips Ahoy thin crisps
• For the Caramel brownies I chose half Mars bars and the other half Snickers bars, then decided to make them even more sugar-y and put fresh caramel OVER the chocolate bars

Cookies N' Cream Surprise Brownie Bites

Directions:

Make your brownies as directed on the box

When these are ready, take out your mini muffin tray. Pour a little bit of batter in the muffin tray, gently place a kiss in the middle, letting only the tip of it peak out. When the brownies get cooked the tip will disappear. Do this for all the brownies.

Cook. When done cooking, place desired toppings on top.

Serve, and watch the children's faces light up as if it were Christmas!

Cookies N' Cream Surprise Brownie Bites

Enjoy :)

Yoghurt Brownies

Recipe taken from here

A couple of weeks ago I was watching Michael Smith, from Chef at Home on tv. His theme for the day was Indian food. The dessert for that episode was a mango lassie... in a lassie there is plain yoghurt. I had never had plain yoghurt before, but it seemed all my European friends really enjoyed the flavour of this yoghurt. I decided to buy some since I really wanted to try this lassie. It looked really good as I poured the mix from my blender to my cup, I brought my mouth to straw and started sucking... oh boy. I was so disgusted by the taste I almost started to gag. I checked the expiration date... thought that that was the culprit. Indeed it wasn't. I tried the yoghurt by itself, oh did I regret doing that. I am not one for throwing food out. I will pretty much use stuff until it's oozing with greenery. This however was something far worse than a little bit of mold, it was awful. How people consume this food without gagging, and actually enjoying it is beyond me. It's like buttermilk, it works divine in baked goods, but on it's own, oh it could make me take my life.

I had found this recipe a while back. It was definitely in my mind when I had bought the plain yoghurt. Am I ever thankful the lassie didn't work out, because this gave me tons of yoghurt to work with! I was really apprehensive while making these brownies because I could smell the awful smell of the yoghurt and I knew what it tasted like. I didn't think that chocolate could even banish that awful taste, but boy what I wrong. These were some of the best brownies I have ever had. Mind you, I'm not a gigantic brownie fan unless it's in a molten lava cake. This however, it tasted great, and I didn't feel bad pigging out because for starters there WASN'T ANY BUTTER! How great is that? In a brownie recipe, no butter? Amazing! And it taste great, I don't think I would of ever thought brownie + no butter = good. But this proved otherwise. It was delicious, rich and moist. Unfortunately none of my grocers were carrying candy covered sunflower seeds which was a little disappointing since I had seen them the week prior and was hesitant on whether to get them or not. Instead I used mini M&M's, these were okay, but the colour leached from them almost instantly which was pretty disappointing. Oh well, they still tasted great.

This is definitely a winning recipe for one who is careful about watching their weight or someone who just wants a sweet little treat without feeling too guilty. I would for sure recommend this recipe to anyone, young or old!

Ingredients:

• 1-5.3 oz cup plain yoghurt
  1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• Candy coated sunflower seeds
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Sprikle with candy coated sesame seeds

Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.

Enjoy :)