Almond Flavored Cookie Dough Balls with Dark Chocolate Chips

Remember my recent creation: Walnut Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls? I am convinced this was just the beginning, and that there are all different “Balls of Yumminess” still needing to be created! 🙂

This one is far simpler than my original recipe, and yet I have to admit that I love it even more! It has the lovely taste of almond, complimented by the deep taste of the dark chocolate. It is very rich, so one big ball is plenty for one sitting, though they taste so good that it is hard to not go back for a second one. 🙂

• Servings: 4 Large Balls or 8 Small Ones
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*Created by Lori at Creating Beauty in the Kitchen

• 1 cup almond flour
• 4 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

•  Measure out and melt the coconut oil
• Mix all your ingredients together, with the exception of the chocolate chips. You may want to taste test as you go along to see if you want as much almond and honey in it as I do. I love it this way, but I know each of us have different preferences. I did think this ratio made a really good dough consistency.
• Once mixed well and it is a good dough like consistency, add in the chocolate chips.
• Make into balls.
• You can eat immediately, or put them into the refrigerator to harden.

Almond Blueberry Muffins with a Blueberry Almond Sauce

I love blueberry muffins! I mean, I REALLY love blueberry muffins! 🙂 So I decided, “Why not make one of my most favorite things for Fiesta Friday over at The Novice Gardener?!” You should definitely check out her site, and all of the wonderful dishes people are making for this online party today! I love this fun idea that Angie came up with!

When I began eating low-glycemic, I thought for sure that I would never get to bite into such deliciousness again….I was so wrong! Coconut flour, and particularly almond flour, have become my friends…as you can see on my recipe page from all the different types of muffins I have been creating. 🙂

 This was my first attempt at making blueberry muffins…I didn’t start out knowing what I was going to do with them, but I did some experimenting and came up with a combination that I am so happy with! I honestly love these low-glycemic blueberry muffins even better than high sugar ones!

At first I thought I would make some sort of crumble to go on top, like you often see, but then I decided to do something entirely different and make a deliciously rich sauce to go over the top.

Yes, I have already taken a bite….in fact, I have eaten 2 muffins already! 🙂 I tasted the almond, the warm blueberries….so rich and moist and so delicious! I love the sauce…definitely the finishing touch!

Here is the sauce I made to drizzle over the muffins: pureed blueberries, honey, and almond extract….delicious!

Ready to go in the oven…

ALMOND BLUEBERRY MUFFINS WITH A BLUEBERRY ALMOND SAUCE

*Created by Lori at Creating Beauty in the Kitchen

Serving Size: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tbsp pure almond extract + 1 tsp (for sauce)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups blueberries
• 1/2 cup honey + 1/3 cup honey (for sauce)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 eggs

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
• Measure out 1 cup of blueberries and puree them in a food processor.
• Put the pureed blueberries in a bowl and mix in 1 tsp almond extract, and 1/3 cup honey. Combine thoroughly. (Set aside: this will be your sauce for your muffins.)
• Combine the flours, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, honey, coconut milk, and almond extract.
• When both your dry and wet ingredients are mixed well, combine them together in the large bowl.
• Add in 1 cup of whole blueberries, being careful not to smash them.
• Grease a muffin tin and pour the batter into it.
• Using a spoon, generously drizzle the sauce over each muffin.
• Let cook for about 25 minutes. I usually only cook my muffins for 20, but these seemed to take a bit longer. You might want to start out with 20 and just keep checking them.
• When finished cooking, let them cool for about 10 minutes and then they are ready to eat!

Chocolate Hazelnut Dark Chocoloate Chip Mufffins with Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce

Remember my last post when I said that I had something up my sleeve that I needed homemade hazelnut spread for? Well, this is what was up my sleeve! I wanted to make us something yummy for Valentines and the rich, yet smooth flavor of chocolate and hazelnut was my inspiration. I didn’t have any heart shaped tins, so I made mini-muffins instead.

I actually tried two versions of these: one with the chocolate chips, and one without. We liked them both, but here is what you need to know: you taste the chocolate hazelnut even more when you don’t add the chocolate chips in, so how you would make them depends on what you are going for.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS WITH CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT SAUCE

*Created by Lori at Creating Beauty in the Kitchen

Serving Size: 12 muffins or 24 mini muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 4 tbsp homemade chocolate hazelnut spread (plus extra because this will be the sauce you pour over your muffins.)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Mix the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
• Mix the coconut milk, 4 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread, honey, and eggs in another bowl. When thoroughly mixed, add this to your larger mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.
• If you are going to add chocolate chips, add them now and distribute evenly around.
• Grease a muffin pan and pour in the batter.
• Take your extra chocolate hazelnut spread and pour some over the top of each muffin.
• Let cook for 20 min.

Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

I had a creation up my sleeve yesterday that I really needed something like Nutella for. I had actually never heard of such a yummy thing until about a year or two ago, and I fell in love with it instantly!

Though my research on Nutella told me that it falls into the low-glycemic category, when you look on the container, the first ingredient is sugar. It has some things in it that I was pretty positive could be substituted with lower glycemic and healthier options. That is when I came across a recipe at Chocolate Covered Katie. I adapted it a bit as I went along…taste tests always help to figure out if you need to add anything more. Besides splitting the recipe in half due to the fact I didn’t need that much, I added a bit more vanilla, left out the salt, used honey instead of her other sweetener suggestions, and added more sweetener (honey) than she had on her recipe. I have my adapted recipe below, but you might want to play around with it yourself. You may not need it as sweet, or you may want it sweeter. We loved the way it turned out!

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT SPREAD

*Adapted by Lori at Creating Beauty in the Kitchen from a recipe at Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 5 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup almond milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Put hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes.
• After roasting, you need to take the skins off of all the hazelnuts. A lot of them will come off really easily, but I did have some that were extremely stubborn. So, be prepared that due to stubborn ones, this could take a little longer than you hoped. 🙂
• Once you have the skins off, put them into a food processor. Be patient with this. It will take a lot of processing until you get to the butter-like consistency that you want to be looking for. At first you are probably going to be thinking, “There is no way this is going to turn to butter!” But, trust me, it will! 🙂
• Once you have reached a butter like consistency, add in your other ingredients and continue to process until smooth and mixed thoroughly.
• Now you are ready to eat some, or use it to cook with!

Orange Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Orange Sauce

From as little as I can remember, every Valentine’s Day my dad would get both my mom and I a heart shaped box of chocolates. I looked forward to it every year!  Once I opened mine I had one mission: take a bite out of every single piece until I found the one I was looking for….the one filled with orange cream. 🙂

To me, there is no greater combination than orange and chocolate!

As I have been thinking about this, I just knew that I had to experiment and try to come up with a muffin with this very combination. So, that is exactly what I did yesterday, and I am so happy with how they turned out!

I took a picture of the inside of the muffin, so you could see what it looks like. I love being able to see the orange zest in it. 

• Servings: 12 Muffins
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*Created by Lori at Creating Beauty in the Kitchen

For muffin:

• 2 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

For Sauce:

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

(I ended up with extra sauce, so you probably won’t need it all. I saved mine to pour over some fruit!)

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Mix the flours, baking soda, salt, and zest in a large bowl.
• Mix the eggs, orange juice, coconut milk, and honey in another bowl. When mixed well, then combine them with your dry ingredients.
• Add in the chocolate chips and mix thoroughly so they are spread throughout.
• After greasing the muffin tin, pour the batter in.
• Meanwhile, make your sauce by first melting the coconut oil.
• Combine the melted coconut oil with the orange juice, honey, and cocoa. Mix well.
• Pour some of the sauce over each muffin.
• I normally cook my muffins for 20 minutes, but this one I ended up cooking for 24. I think this was due to the extra liquid in it.
• When finished cooking, let cool, and then eat! 🙂

Cinnamon Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Cinnamon Sauce

Upstairs, downstairs…..our entire house smells like chocolate and cinnamon!

So, remember those cinnamon muffins I made yesterday? Well, I was inspired by my chocolate loving hubby to experiment and make this recipe my own. So, that is exactly what I did…I created cinnamon dark chocolate chip muffins with a delicious chocolate cinnamon topping! My hubby is a happy camper! 🙂

I cannot rave enough about these!! These are amazing!! The hard part is disciplining yourself to not eat too many at one time! 🙂

The recipe is up on the recipe page….make these…..please 🙂 …..and enjoy!

CINNAMON DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

*Created by Lori at Creating Beauty in the Kitchen

Serving Size: 12 muffins

Ingredients for muffin:

• 2 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup honey

Ingredients for chocolate cinnamon topping:

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Mix the almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Mix the eggs, coconut milk, and honey in a small bowl. Once well mixed, add these to the dry ingredients and mix it all up well.
• Add the dark chocolate chips and mix until they are distributed well.
• Make the chocolate cinnamon topping by first melting the coconut oil, then mix all the remaining ingredients for it together.
• Grease the muffin tin and pour your muffin batter in.
• Pour the chocolate cinnamon topping onto each muffin.
• Bake for about 20 minutes.

Baked Spicy Sweet Potato Slices

There are two reasons I loved this new recipe that I tried out for snack today:

1. It tasted really good! Wonderful combination of sweet & spicy by using agave and cayenne!
2. Doug liked it!!! Yes, my sweet potato hating hubby, thought these were really good! I can hardly believe it, and neither can he! 🙂

BAKED SPICY SWEET POTATO SLICES

*Adapted from a recipe I found here: Low Glycemic Diet: 100 Easy Recipes iphone app

Serving Size: 2 people

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, sliced
• Olive Oil
• Agave
• Cayenne pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees
• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
• Stir together olive oil, agave, and cayenne in a bowl (I didn’t tell you how much, because I just experimented and did it to taste and changed it substantially from the original recipe.)
• Dip the slices into the mixture, making sure the fronts and backs are coated, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the slices over and bake for 10 more minutes. (If you have extra mixture you can pour it over the sweet potatoes when you turn them over, but this is not necessary.)

Butternut Squash with Cherries

I haven’t been feeling so well this week, so I haven’t gotten to experiment with cooking as much as I would like. Yes, I did just say “like!” 🙂 Truly, I am not just “liking” to cook, but I am “loving” it!

I was determined tonight to take some time and try out this squash recipe, because it sounded so good. I am happy to say that it tasted just as good as it sounded!

Listen to these ingredients: Butternut squash, cherries, apple juice, cinnamon, & vanilla beans!

When I went to the store to look for vanilla beans, I was not expecting them to look like this:

And the finished product….yum!

Zucchini Fritters

I specifically signed up to bring a side last night to our small group, so that I could try these out on them. I introduced them by saying, “You’d think I would have been nice and brought something that I have already made before and know is good.” 🙂 That said, they were happy to be my guinea pigs.

These were deemed the name ” Zucchini Fritter” last night since I didn’t really have a name for them. These little guys have definite potential to be really, really good; I just think they need a little more yumminess added to them. The recipe I came across somewhere called for just parmesan cheese, egg, and zucchini. I already thought that sounded kind of plain, so I added in fresh garlic and black pepper. They were good, but I still thought they were a bit plain, so I am having fun thinking of some things I can add to this recipe next time.

Simple & Nutricious

Doug had a breakfast meeting this morning, and I didn’t really feel like going all gourmet just for myself. So, I decided on slices of apples with peanut butter and walnuts.