Cinnamon Chip Granola Cookies
I love chips. Chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, kale chips, you name it. It’s kind of like my love affair with all things named ______ butter (peanut, cookie, fig, apple…). Cinnamon chips are hard to find, so if you happen to catch them, I suggest stocking up, because they are ridiculously delicious. Way back around Christmastime, Nicole made some pretty awesome cinnamon chip cookies, and ever since I’ve been thinking about my own cinnamon chips burning a hole in my pantry.
Cinnamon chips and granola. Does that make you as excited as it makes me???
It kind of made me skip around the kitchen, patting myself on the back, declaring myself a genius, and certain I need to start getting patents for all my great ideas. Don’t burst my bubble, okay? It’s my blog, so let’s just all agree to pretend I’m brilliant. I don’t take rejection well. It’s bad for my self esteem.
Thanks for sticking with me through that. You guys are awesome.
That’s why I made you this present.
From me to you.
Except I may have eaten them all.
At least I wrapped them up first, right?
I couldn’t help it. They outsides were crunchy, and so was the granola, and the insides were gooey with melty cinnamon chips. Can you blame me for eating an entire batch of cookies??? Okay, this guy helped. You have to feed your photographer right? Anyway, you should make some. You don’t have to tie your own cookies in a bow, and you can eat them all yourself and refuse to feel guilty about it, just like me.
Cinnamon Chip Granola Cookies
yield 15 cookies
- 1/4 cup apple butter
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- dash salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- pinch cinnamon
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup granola of choice (I used this one, and it is ridiculously good)
- 1/4 cup cinnamon chips
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick spray, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat apple butter, brown sugar and Splenda together until combined. Beat in egg substitute, vanilla and almond.
- Add cinnamon, baking soda and salt, and beat until combined. Beat in flour.
- Fold in oats, followed by cinnamon chips and granola.
- Use a cookie scoop or spoon to portion out tablespoon sized cookie dough balls on prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with greased parchment paper.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, turning half way through to ensure even cooking.
- Let stand for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
**Note: I made the glaze for fun. The cookies are equally delicious without it, but if you’re sitting there thinking “I WANT THAT GLAZE ON MY COOKIES!!!” I took about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tbs hot water and a dash of almond extract and just mixed it together 😉
Cake Batter Dip
Rich, creamy cake batter dip is so easy to make and a lot healthier than you’d expect!
I’ve seen this versions of delicious dip all over the internet and I knew I wanted to try it out myself.
I knew that my future sister in law’s bridal shower was the perfect opportunity! This stuff was the hit of the shower, let me tell you!
So simple, so easy, so delicious, and so not as unhealthy as it sounds! Some of the guests thought it tasted like frosting. I thought it tasted like after you put your batter in the baking pan and you stick your whole face in your mixing bowl and lick it clean. You do that too, right??? Or now you think I’m a freak and you promptly clicked the little x on this tab and made a mental note to never return. That’s okay, if you don’t lick the bowl, I’m not sure we can be friends.
This dip requires three ingredients, and about as many minutes. It’s crazy that something so delicious can be so easy! My favorite moment of the day was when my five year old niece took a bite and happily exclaimed “Yummy yummy in my tummy!!” So my friends, make this for every party you throw. Seriously.
Cake Batter Dip
- 1 box funfetti cake mix (or if you want to make the dip in different flavors, you can use any cake mix–carrot cake batter dip anyone??)
- 1 lb nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 8 oz container light Cool Whip
- extra sprinkles for topping (optional, but honestly, who doesn’t opt to use extra sprinkles)
- pretzels, animal crackers, fruit, or several spoons for dipping
Directions:
- Using a hand mixer, beat cake mix, yogurt and Cool Whip together in a large mixing bowl.
- Transfer to serving bowl, and top with extra sprinkles if desired.
TAAAADDDDAAAAA!!!!
Black & White Peanut Butter Chip Brownies
In case you missed it, which would be super sad for you, Monday was my BBFF Nicole’s birthday! To celebrate, I made her brownies!
Now, I’ll be honest. I don’t usually make brownies from scratch. I usually let TJ’s Reduced Guilt Brownie Mix or No Pudge Brownie Mix do the work for me, because they are both delicious and easy. However, there was no way I was going to use a box mix for Nicole’s birthday. Have you read her blog??? She’s like a real chef. In fact every single time I cook for her, or she eats something I make, I get suuuuuuper nervous.
Luckily, these turned out much better than the gnocchi incident of 2012. In fact, they came out ridiculously good.
And now I have a huge problem on my hands…
All I can think about is brownies!!
Brownies, brownies, brownies, brownies, bbbrrrooowwwwnnniiieeesss!!!
Rich, sweet, gooey and chocolatey with peanut butter chips perfectly complementing the white and dark chocolate.
Or in other words YUM!
Black & White Peanut Butter Chip Brownies
yield 36 brownies
For the white layer:
- 2/3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 5.5 ounces Sunspire white chocolate chips
- 2 tbs light whipped butter
- 6 tbs nonfat vanilla yogurt
- 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
- 1/3 cup Splenda
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbs egg substitute
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup Sunspire peanut butter chips
For the black layer:
- 2/3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 5.5 ounces Sunspire grain sweetened chocolate chips
- 2 tbs light whipped butter
- 6 tbs nonfat vanilla yogurt
- 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
- 1/3 cup Splenda
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbs egg substitute
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup Sunspire peanut butter chips
For the White Chocolate Glaze:
- 10 oz bag Sunspire white chocolate chips
- 1/2 tbs light whipped butter
- 3 tbs unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- sprinkles for topping (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13 glass baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper.
- Start with the white layer.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and salt together.
- Put the white chocolate and butter in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water (or a double broiler), stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add sugars, Splenda and yogurt. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan.
- Add eggs substitute and vanilla to the white chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Do not over mix.
- Gently fold in flour mixture followed by peanut butter chips. Batter will not be completely smooth. Tiny flour clumps will bake out.
- Pour into prepared baking pan.
- Repeat steps 3-6 with black layer.
- Pour black layer on top of white. Use a butter knife to gently swirl.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, turning once in between to ensure even cooking.
- Let stand for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (this is where the parchment paper comes in handy!)
- Make glaze by microwaving white chocolate and butter together in a medium bowl on 20 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted.
- Add vanilla and milk and stir until combined.
- Spread over completely cooled brownies, top with sprinkles if desired and allow to cool for approx 1 hour.
Nutella Cheesecake Brownie Bars
Did you know there are actually people out there who have not tried NUTELLA?!?! That is a shame people. A big, huge, fat shame. Let’s change that by mixing it with cream cheese, sugar, and brownies. Then proceeding to eat the remaining Nutella straight from the jar. Sound like a good plan?
These cheesecake brownie bars are based very closely off my Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Bars, but super chocolatey, and the hazelnut flavor in the Nutella is especially delicious. I gave most of them away (Happy belated birthday KT!!), but the ones in my house didn’t last long 😉
Nutella Cheesecake Brownies Bars
yield approx 30
For the brownie layer:
- 1 box No Pudge brownie mix or TJ’s Reduced Guilt brownie mix
- 1 6oz container Yoplait Light fat free red velvet yogurt
For the cheesecake layer:
- 8oz fat free cream cheese
- 1/4 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
- 1 box fat free, sugar free chocolate pudding mix
- 2/3 cup granulated
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 baking pan well with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine brownie mix and yogurt. Spread in a thin layer to coat the bottom of your baking pan.
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, Greek yogurt, pudding mix, sugar, Splenda, and Nutella. Add almond milk, and extracts. Beat until smooth and creamy.
- Spread cheesecake mixture evenly over brownie mixture.
- Bake for 80-90 minutes until cheesecake layer is set in the center. Yes, that is quite a long time. You may want to pour yourself a glass of wine
and catch up on bad reality tv. - Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes, then transfer to refrigerator to cool completely.
Fro Yo Cake with Nutella Cookie Crust
Remember this birthday cake gem that Steve got me from Yogurtology?
That cake was perfection. More delicious than ice cream cake, but fro yo, so that makes it healthy, right? Riiiiiight.
What’s even better than a perfectly prepared oatmeal cookie fro yo cake made with love by a Yogurtology employee? One made with more love by ME!
With a butter cookie crust, layers of Nutella and TJ’s Cookie Butter, and topped with Yogurtology’s pretty much famous oatmeal cookie fro yo, this may not be the healthiest cake I’ve ever made, but when you compare to a typical ice cream cake, it definitely can at least hold up to a healthier title, and let me tell you, I would choose this over a regular ice cream cake any day of the week!
Fun fact, ice cream has always been my favorite dessert. I *almost* never eat it now, because I love fro yo so much and never really want to spend the extra calories, but I am of the opinion that if it doesn’t at least include ice cream, it’s not really a dessert. Plain cookie? That’s a snack 😉 Cookie a la mode? Mmmmm….dessert! Fro yo with cookie, Nutella and cookie butter? 3x a day for the rest of my life? Okay….If you insist….
Can we also talk about how this cake takes all of like 20 minutes to make? So easy, and ridiculously hard to mess up! Trust me, I can usually mess up anything 😉
Fro Yo Cake with Nutella Cookie Crust
yield approx 16 slices
- 1 package Chessman cookies (or any buttery shortbread type cookie), finely crumbled
- 1/4 cup apple butter
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbs Nutella, melted & divided
- 1/3 cup TJ’s cookie butter (or Biscoff spread), melted
- 1 quart + 1 cup fro yo of choice, softened but not melted
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a spring form pan with cooking spray, then wrap tin foil around the bottom to avoid fro yo dripping out.
- In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs (reserving 1-2 tbs to sprinkle on top) with apple butter. I suggest just using your hands and getting in there.
- Press cookie and apple butter mixture into the bottom of the spring form pan and bake for 8-10 min, until set.
- Cool for 10-15 minutes, then spread Nutella on top. Let sit for a minute before brushing cookie butter on top of Nutella.
- Use a spatula to evenly spread the fro yo on top.
- Drizzle with Nutella and sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.
- Freeze for 2-3 hours until set, then serve and enjoy!
Gluten Free Almond Joy Cupcakes
Happy belated birthday to my super, awesome, lovely, beautiful friend Carolyn! If you haven’t checked out this girl’s blog, you really should. Her work outs are amazing, and she has been a total inspiration to me ever since I met her! She is also super sweet and a truly amazing friend. She eats gluten free, and I always feel bad that when I make desserts for things, she can never eat them. So Nicole and I put our heads together to plan out some awesome surprise birthday cupcakes for her. Well, then poor Nicole got sick, but still gave me all of the fantastic ingredients I needed to carry out our plan!
My friend Christina sent me a recipe for gluten free coconut cupcakes that I used as a base. I’m not sure who it’s originally from, so dear person who created it, if you read this lil ole blog, please tell me so I can be like “Hey readers! All 3 of you! Go look at ______’s awesome recipes”. Thanks in advance. I’m a big fan of your recipe!
I altered the recipe a bit to make it healthy(ish) and put some of my own touches in. Also, Nicole gave me all of these gf flour options, so I ended up getting a little accidentally creative on the flour mix, but I think it was pretty much the happiest accident ever.
Sometimes gluten free things come with weird textures, but not these babies. Friends and family scarfed them down, and my step dad called them the best cupcakes I’ve ever made! Who knew creating recipes around different diets could be so fun? It makes me want to explore more with gf, vegan, paleo and any other fancy diet recipes. I found that I really like creating things for people who eat a certain way and may not always have foods on their plan provided.
Gluten Free Almond Joy Cupcakes
yield 24 cupcakes
For the coconut cupcakes:
- 1 cup raw cane sugar
- 1 cup Splenda
- 1 cup egg substitute
- 2 1/2 cups brown rice flour mix (see below)
- dash salt
- 1 tbs baking powder
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut vanilla almond milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
Brown rice flour mix:
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup sweet white sorghum flour
- 2/3 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners and lightly spray with nonstick spray.
- Beat sugar, Splenda, and egg substitute at medium speed for approx 1 min. Add in all remaining ingredients and beat at medium speed for 1 min.
- Evenly divide the batter between your 24 lined cups. Each one should be about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 18-20 min, until top springs back when you press lightly on the middle, or toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean.
- Cool completely on wire rack, then frost with chocolate almond cream cheese frosting.
For the Chocolate Almond Cream Cheese Frosting:
yield enough to frost at least 24 cupcakes
adapted from How Sweet It Is (I love pretty much every single one of her recipes)
- 3 x 8 oz blocks reduced fat cream cheese (you could also use fat free, I just had red fat on hand)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 oz grain sweetened chocolate chips, melted and cooled
- 1-2 tsp almond extract
Directions:
- Beat cream cheese on medium speed in a stand mixer until smooth. Add almond extract.
- On low speed, add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, followed by cocoa powder.
- Increase to medium speed and add melted chocolate.
- Beat until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl often.
- Frost and enjoy!
Optional Toppings:
- raw sugar
- almonds
- shredded coconut
Cookie Butter Brownie Bars
Please don’t tell me you’re sick of the cookie butter already. You can’t be. This is only recipe #2. In fact, recipe #1 happened because the first time I tried this recipe it absolutely failed. I mean, it was delicious, but the brownies didn’t bake all the way through, and you couldn’t get it out of the pain, so you kind of had to sit there with a fork chowing down on a 9×13 pan of gooey half baked goodness. It kind of became a problem, and I had to give them away–well give it away, since it was kind of like one big bar. Anyway, I knew I was onto something with the taste, so I tried again.
Try #1 went brownie batter on bottom, cookie butter bar layer on top, bake. Try #2 included baking the brownie layer a little bit first, but still somehow came out looking like try #1. Third time’s a charm, I guess 😉
Cookie layer on the bottom because brownies cook more slowly–duhhh, Ari! The result? Gooey, brownie, cookie butter deliciousness that can actually be plated and served. See?
Cookie Butter Brownie Bars
yield approx 32 bars
- 1 box TJ’s reduced guilt brownie mix or No Pudge Brownie Mix
- 6oz nonfat vanilla yogurt (some other flavors also taste good mixed with brownie like red velvet–yum!)
- 1 cup cookie butter
- 1/2 cup apple butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
- white chocolate and caramel for drizzling (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray to 9×9 baking pans with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Combine brownie mix and yogurt. Set aside.
- Beat together cookie butter, apple butter, brown sugar, Splenda, vanilla, milk and baking soda. Slowly beat in flour.
- Divide cookie butter dough in half and press into the bottom of each 9×9 baking pan. Smooth out the top as much as possible.
- Evenly divide the brownie batter between the two pans, using a spatula to smooth on top.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Careful not to over bake–you still want a little gooeyness in the middle, but you want everything set enough to come out neatly.
- Cool on a wire rack, then slice and drizzle with white chocolate and caramel if desired.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies
You guys. You don’t even understand. I think this might be my favorite thing I have ever made. Ever. I would rather eat 1 of these than 10 full fat Paradise Bakery cookies. I took one bite and between the perfectly crunchy outside, softy doughy inside, and warm sweet jelly, I was pretty much in cookie heaven. I think this honey apple butter is pretty much the best butter substitute I have ever used. Thanks Carolyn!
I also made these start to finish in about half an hour. They were so easy. It was one of those rare baking times where everything just turns out the way you want it. Happy birthday to me!
Adapted from Pip & Ebby
Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies
yield approx 16 cookies
- 1/4 cup apple butter
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp turbinado sugar
- 1 1/2 tbs unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- dash salt
- 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
- approx 8 tbsp jelly/jam of choice (I used reduced sugar grape, no sugar added blackberry, and fig butter and I loved all 3)
- 2-3 tbs whole wheat graham cracker crumbs
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375.
- In a medium bowl, beat apple butter, peanut butter, sugars, almond milk and vanilla.
- Beat in baking soda and salt. Beat in flour until combined.
- Use a cookie scoop or sprayed tablespoon to drop cookies onto a large baking sheet.
- Using your thumb, press down into the center of each cookie dough ball. Fill each center with jelly of choice. Sprinkle all cookies with graham cracker crumbs
- Bake for 10 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
Skinnified Sunday: Pizookie
Confession: I have been planning out the dessert I wanted to make for me and Steve’s halfiversary for about a month. Last month, we went to Oregano’s with the fam to celebrate some good news for my brother Charlie. At the end of the meal, Charlie and Hank had the pizookie. If you haven’t ever had a pizookie, you are missing out on one of life’s most amazing desserts. I decided that at some point I had to recreate my own because I will most likely never order one in a restaurant again. I don’t like to use words like never, but honestly, if I get dessert out of the house, at this point I will only get frozen yogurt, or sometimes a cookie. I just don’t like eating something that I can make and make it a lot healthier.
As soon as the idea popped into my head, I knew I wanted to save it for the occasion, and it was well worth the wait! We used the cute little ceramic cups I bought at William’s Sonoma to make individualized pizookies. Have you seen the size of the restaurant ones?! It must be like 10 servings!
Pizookie
- Huge half baked chocolate chip cookie
- Topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips
- Served warm in the skillet it is cooked in
- Yes, I know, this is not a recipe.
My Swaps:
- Individual portions (-temptation to eat more than a serving!)
- Applesauce for butter (-fat, -calories)
- Splenda for sugar (-sugar, -calories)
- Grain sweetened chocolate chips and less of them for chocolate chips (-fat, -sugar, -calories)
- Whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose (+fiber, +protein)
- Egg white for whole egg (-fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
- Vanilla nut butter flavor for vanilla extract (+YUM)
- Low fat ice cream for regular (-fat, -calories)
Skinnified Pizookie
yield 6 servings
- 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 2 tbs applesauce
- 1 tbs light whipped butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tbs Splenda
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp vanilla nut butter flavoring (or flavor/extract of your choosing)
- 1/4 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips (I combined regular and white chocolate)
- 9 oz low fat vanilla ice cream
- sprinkles (optional)
Directions:
1)Preheat oven to 325.
2) Using a hand mixer, combine applesauce, brown sugar and Splenda.
3) Beat in egg white and vanilla nut butter flavor.
4) Mix in baking soda, salt, and flour.
5) Fold in chocolate chips.
6) Place desired serving in individual baking dish.
7) Bake for approx 15 minutes until set, but with the inside still gooey.
8) Top with one scoop vanilla ice cream.
9) Add sprinkles.
10) Enjoy!