Recipe Archives - Page 10 of 16

Coconut Oil Brownies with an Almond Butter Swirl

January 17, 2015 by Jenna

Hi. It’s Saturday and I have a brownie recipe for you! If you are trying to stay away from the sweets this month, don’t freak out. These are healthy-ish coconut oil brownies with an almond butter swirl and they are super delicious. I say “healthy-ish”, because I don’t like using full-on “healthy” unless it is actually 100% good for you clean eating food. I don’t want to mislead you into thinking they are health food. Afterall, brownies. BUT I took out some bad stuff and added some better stuff and they still taste pretty darn good.

So what makes them “healthy-ish”? I swapped butter for coconut oil, granulated sugar for honey, and all-purpose flour for a combination of almond meal and whole-wheat flour. I also made sure there were no refined sugars. See, not so bad. I based these off of the Blueberry-Mint Brownies that I posted back in August. Making brownies from scratch may seem intimidating. You guys, it’s not. Yes, it requires a little more effort than boxed brownies, but these are still pretty simple.

Start by combining all the dry ingredients. Then melt the chocolate and the coconut oil (over the stove or in the microwave). Whisk in the honey, then the eggs and vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients and there you have it: brownie batter.

Anything that takes four short sentences to explain can’t be that complicated. There are, however, more details and more sentences in the full recipe below.

To make these a little more fancy and flavorful I added in some chopped nuts and an almond butter swirl, because life is just better with nuts (and healthy fats). Melt some almond butter with a little bit of honey and swirl it into the brownie batter.

I used almond butter and peanuts, but you can use peanut butter and almonds or peanut butter and peanuts or almond butter and almonds. Or a mix of everything! Choose your own adventure.

I will tell you that these taste better the next day. Have one straight out of the oven, but save the rest for later. Another thing I will tell you is that you could pop these in the oven, clean the dishes, do this 20-minute plyometric tabata, and still have a couple of minutes to spare before pulling them out of the oven. If that’s not perfect, I don’t know what is.

Coconut Oil Brownies with an Almond Butter Swirl

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour

These are healthy-ish brownies made with whole wheat flour, almond meal, coconut oil, honey, and almond butter. They are free of guilt, but full of flavor!

Serves: 9 brownies

Ingredients

½ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup almond meal
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
½ cup coconut oil
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon honey
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup almond butter
1 cup roughly chopped peanuts or almonds (roasted, unsalted)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x8” baking pan, line with parchment paper, and grease again.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, almond meal, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.
In a saucepan on low heat, melt the unsweetened chocolate and coconut oil.
Whisk in ¾ cup of honey. Let it cool for a few minutes and transfer to a medium bowl.
Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Fold in the dry ingredients until combined.
Stir in ¾ cup of the nuts. Set aside
In a saucepan heat up the almond butter and 1 tablespoon of honey until it melts a little bit (this should just take a minute or two). Stir in the remaining ¼ cup of nuts.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Add spoons of the almond butter mixture. Run a knife or toothpick through the batter to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

Notes

I used peanuts because that is what I had on hand, but almonds would be fantastic as well. You could also use peanut butter in place of almond butter.

You can melt the unsweetened chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave. Just put it in a microwave-safe bowl and stir it every thirty seconds until it is melted. Same goes with the almond butter and honey, which will probably only take 30 seconds. My microwave doesn’t work so I need to use the stove for all of this.

So there you have it. No blood. No sweat. No tears. No guilt. Just love, some better-for-you ingredients, and delicious brownies. Hurray!

Coconut Oil Brownies with an Almond Butter Swirl

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Almond Champagne Cupcakes

December 29, 2014 by Jenna

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and spent lots of time with loved ones eating cookies and laughing! I did. That’s fo sho.

Now that Christmas has passed 2015 is just around the corner. I made you these almond champagne cupcakes to celebrate!

Ok, if you want to get technical (Megan) they are actually almond sparkling wine cupcakes. We’ll just pretend that they are legit and from Champagne in France.

Anyways, New Year’s Eve! Do you love it? Do you hate it?

Personally, I love it. The idea of a new year is always very exciting to me. I enjoy reflecting on memories and great things from the passing year and looking forward to the new one to come. I get butterflies just thinking about all the amazing things that I want to make happen in 2015!

New Year’s Eve itself is never a particularly extraordinary night or anything; however, I love drinking champagne while wearing something sparkly and singing Auld Lang Syne (also this song & this song) with some fabulous people. It’s amazing.

Have you ever tried the almond champagne from Trader Joe’s? If not, I recommend you buy a bottle (or five) right now, because it is delicious. It is also the inspiration behind these cupcakes (along with this recipe), so you’re going to want to buy at least one bottle to make them.

These almond champagne cupcakes are light and fluffy. The almond flavor comes from the use of almond meal, almond extract, and almond champagne. Don’t worry though, it’s not too almondy, but rather just almondy enough to take a bite and think, “Hey, these are almond flavored! Yum!”

Side note: I’ve never talked about almonds so much in one paragraph before.

To amp up the champagne flavor, champagne is reduced down to a syrup and then brushed onto the tops of the cupcakes and also used in the frosting.

The batter comes together like most cupcake batter does: cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, and then alternate between adding in the dry and wet ingredients. Easy. While the cupcakes bake and cool you’ll have the perfect amount of time to reduce the champagne, make the frosting, and do the dishes.

After frosting the cupcakes, add some sprinkles. Never, ever forget the sprinkles. Especially on New Year’s Eve.

So there you have it: almond champagne cupcakes.

Almond Champagne Cupcakes

These almond champagne cupcakes are light and fluffy. Almond flavor comes from the use of almond meal, almond extract, and almond champagne (which is used in the batter and as a syrup to brush on the cupcakes and use in the frosting). These are the perfect treat to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015! Also, don't forget the sprinkles!

Author: Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

Serves: 15 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup almond champagne
¼ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup sugar
½ cup unsalted butter
2 eggs

For the frosting & champagne syrup:

1 ½ cup + 1 tablespoon almond champagne
¾ cup unsalted butter
4-6 cups sugar

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven for 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the almond champagne, buttermilk, and almond extract. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium, 3-5 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
Alternate between adding the flour and champagne mixture to the batter, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
Pour ¼ cup of batter into each liner and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

For the frosting & champagne syrup:

Add 1 ½ cups champagne to saucepan and heat on medium-high until reduced to 3 tablespoons. Let cool.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter, 1 tablespoon of champagne, 2 tablespoon of the reduced champagne, and 3 cups of the powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.

To assemble:

Poke a few holes in the cupcake with a fork. Brush cupcake tops with the remaining tablespoon of reduced champagne.
Top the cupcakes with the frosting. Add sprinkles and enjoy!

Notes

I didn't have buttermilk on hand, so I made my own by squeezing some lemon juice into a ¼ cup of milk and then let it sit for 5 minutes.

I hope the rest of 2014 treats you well and that you welcome in 2015 with lots of champagne and sparkles and singing and dancing (and cupcakes)!

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Orange-Cranberry Pound Cake

December 21, 2014 by Jenna

Orange-cranberry pound cake. In my kitchen. It’s happening.

Or rather, it happened.

Know what also happened? Rain. RAIN! In December. In Minnesota. Just a few short days before Christmas. What.The.Heck. Why is this happening? Where is the snow?

The forecast says 70% of snow for Tuesday. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a Christmas miracle. I hope you do the same.

While I wait and hope, hope, hope for the snow I will be enjoying this orange-cranberry pound cake.

I haven’t used my bundt pan in what seems like forever and ever and ever, so I decided to take a quick break from the cookie baking and whip up a pound cake.

This pound cake recipe comes from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible (which is full of some killer recipes and awesome baking tips) and is dubbed the “perfect pound cake”. Traditionally pound cakes are equal parts butter, sugar, flour, and eggs; however, this recipe has just a little extra butter giving the cake more of that delicious buttery flavor and some nice, tender crumbs. This pound cake is so moist (I don’t care if you hate that word) and has just the right level of sweetness.

To add a little festive twist, I threw in some orange zest and cranberries. The orange flavor is just barely there in the background and the cranberries give little bursts of tart juices in each bite, along with some beautiful color.

The only thing that would make this cake more delicious is a drizzle of some glaze, because as I mentioned before, it’s not very sweet. Unfortunately I was fresh out of powdered sugar. I am the worst. So please bake this, stir up some powdered sugar and orange juice, drizzle it all over the pound cake, and tell me how it is. Thank you. You’re the best.

Now I am going to go spend the rest of the evening wrapping presents and eating pound cake and watching Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate and wishing for snow.

I hope you are all ready for Christmas and are able to spend lots of quality time with friends and family over the next few days!

Orange-Cranberry Pound Cake

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

Perfect moist and tender pound cake with hints of orange and pops of cranberry.

Author: slightly adapted from "The Cake Bible"

Serves: 12 pieces

Ingredients

3 tablespoons milk
3 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
zest for one orange
1 ½ cups cake flour
¾ cups sugar
¾ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
13 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups fresh cranberries

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a bundt pan and dust with flour.
In a medium bowl, combine the milk, eggs, vanilla, and orange juice.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low for 30 seconds.
Add the orange zest, butter and half of the egg mixture. Mix on low until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Beat for 1 minute on medium.
Add the remaining egg mixture and beat for 30 seconds.
Stir in the cranberries.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
Let the cake sit in the pan for about 10 minutes before inverting on a rack to cool completely. This is the time you would ideally add the glaze.

Notes

If you don't have cake flour and don't want to buy any, use all-purpose flour, but take out 1½ tablespoons of the flour and replace it with 1½ tablespoons corn starch.

PS – Remember when I made these awesome cookies and talked about The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap? Well here are the recipe roundups: part 1 and part 2. Check them out and get baking! So many amazing cookiessss!!!!!

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Christmas Treasure Drop Cookies

December 15, 2014 by Jenna

I need to tell you about these Christmas treasure drop cookies, because I think you need them in your life.

Two years ago my mom and I started entering the Star Tribune’s Holiday Cookie Contest. We brainstorm. We bake. We taste test. By the end of the day the kitchen is covered in flour and we have sugar pulsing through our veins. It is always so much fun.

This year for the contest we made these Christmas treasure drop cookies based off of the classic treasure chest bars, one of my mom’s favorite Christmas treats. When my mom first brought up the idea I was a bit skeptical. Maraschino cherries in cookies? Umm… not sure about that, but I said we could try it as long as we used brown butter in the cookie dough. She agreed to my terms and we tried it out.

OH MY GOODNESS. I am not lying to you when I say that these are some of the best Christmas cookies ever. EVERRRR.

Who knew that maraschino cherries, toasted walnuts, chocolate chips, and brown butter would taste so magical together?!?

Not I.

But now I do and I need to share this with you.

The cookie dough itself isn’t overly sweet, but gets a crazy amount of flavor from the brown butter and is packed full of maraschino cherries, toasted walnuts, and chocolate chips. Oh, and love too. There is a lot of love in these cookies. Let the dough sit in the fridge for at least an hour (but overnight is best) so that all these flavors can meld together. I kid you not, the extra time is totally worth it.

After being baked and cooled these cookies are topped with a brown butter frosting. No Christmas cookie is quite complete without some sort of frosting. Right? Yes. Plus, the frosting helps get these cookies up to that perfect level of sweetness and also amplifies the brown butter taste in the dough.

We didn’t win the contest, but in the process we had a blast and discovered our new favorite Christmas cookie (these ones if that wasn’t obvious). Our first two years we made the honorable mention with these and these. This year we just got mentioned – still fun!

This year I was able to join in on The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap hosted by Lindsay from Love and Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen. Hundreds of food bloggers participate each year and help raise money for Cookies For Kid’s Cancer. I was so excited to be a part of it this year!

I instantly knew that these Christmas treasure drop cookies were the ones that I needed to send out. I baked up and bunch and sent out a dozen each to Bree from Baked Bree, Amanda from Fun in the Oven Blog, and Faith from Pixie Dust Kitchen.

I then received some ridiculously amazing cookies in return from Ellen and Aimee (Like Mother Like Daughter), Linda (Food Huntress), and Ashley (Taylors 4 You).

I had such a fun time being a part of this cookie swap! I loved sending out the boxes (I rarely mail things, so it just seemed so exciting). I loved getting all the packages and eating (and sharing) all the cookies. And I loved getting the opportunity to connect with other bloggers. The whole experience was such a treat.

So anyways, these Christmas treasure drop cookies. Please make them! I promise you won’t regret it.

Also, all the other food bloggers that participated in the cookie swap will be posting their cookie recipes today too, so make sure to check out all the links above. A full list of ALL 500+ the cookie submissions will be sent out on Friday. Get excited. But be careful, you may end up drooling all over your keyboard…

Christmas Treasure Drop Cookies

These are my new favorite Christmas cookies! The cookies are packed full of brown butter, maraschino cherries, toasted walnuts, and chocolate chips and topped with a brown butter frosting.

Serves: 4 dozen

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

1 cup walnuts, chopped
15 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ice cube
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-10oz jar maraschino cherries, quartered
1 ½ cups chocolate chips

For the Frosting:

¼ cup brown butter (included in butter quantity listed for the cookies)
2 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
To toast the nuts: spread nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Stir them around occasionally (every 5 minutes or so) to ensure they are not burning. Once toasted, set aside.
To brown the butter: melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk the melted butter until brown specks appear at the bottom, it will froth and foam a bit. Watch closely and be careful not to burn. It should be a light brown color and have a nutty aroma. Place ½ cup of the browned butter into a heatproof bowl and whisk in an ice cube. This will be used for the cookies. Place the remaining ¼ cup aside to use for the frosting.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add the ½ cup brown butter and the sugars. Mix on medium speed of an electric mixer until smooth and combined, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the nuts, maraschino cherries, and chocolate chips.
Let the dough sit in the refrigerated for one hour or overnight.
Place scoops of cookie dough onto the prepared pans. Bake for 8-11 minutes. Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting while the cookies are cooling. Place the remaining ¼ cup brown butter, 1 ½ cup of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla into a mixing bowl. Beat on medium until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add in the remaining sugar ¼ cup at a time until the frosting has reached your desired consistency. It should be thick enough to easily spread.
Once the cookies are completely cooled, spread a nice layer of frosting on each one. Serve and enjoy!

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Molasses Creams with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

December 8, 2014 by Jenna

I am in full swing holiday cookie baking mode. My kitchen is stocked with butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. I have a list of (at least) a dozen cookie recipe experiments I want to try. There are Christmas movies playing 24/7 on TV. It is just the best.

Feeling a little nostalgic this weekend I decided to whip up a classic family recipe: Molasses Creams.

Molasses Creams are one of my great-grandma’s recipes. My mom remembers driving down to Iowa as a little girl with her brothers and parents every year to visit family for the holidays. My great-grandma would always send them back home to Minnesota with Molasses Creams wrapped with wax paper in shoeboxes.

Luckily, my mom was able to receive the recipe from my great-grandma before she passed away. They are now a family staple that make it to the “must bake” Christmas cookie list every year.

After you bake them, you’ll see why.

Molasses Creams are soft, thin molasses cookies sandwiched with cream cheese frosting. They are heavenly.

The molasses cookie dough comes together quickly and simply, but there is some rolling and cookie cutter-ing involved. Watch the movie Elf or sing along to Christmas music while you stamp out cookies and you won’t even mind the little bit of extra time that it takes. Just make sure that you roll your dough out on a well-floured surface. I didn’t and had one heck of a time with all those little circles.

Molasses Creams These cookies bake up nice and soft. If you like them a little crunchier keep them in the oven for an additional minute or two. Once they are completely cooled, make them into delicious cookie sandwiches with some cream cheese frosting. Not just regular cream cheese frosting though, ginger cream cheese frosting. It’s amazing.

I hope you try them out and love them as much as my family and I do. Who knows, maybe you’ll even add them to your annual Christmas cookie baking list!

Molasses Creams with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

Molasses Creams consist of soft, thin molasses cookies sandwiched with ginger cream cheese frosting. This recipe was passed down from great-grandma and is on my holiday cookie list every year.

Ingredients

For the cookies:

5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup molasses
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 eggs

For the ginger cream cheese frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
4-5 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixture, cream together the brown sugar and shortening until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
Add the molasses, vinegar, and eggs. Beat until thoroughly combined.
Stir in the dry ingredients until all the flour is incorporated.
Roll out the dough on a well floured surface until it is ¼-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to stamp out circles.
Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes (the less you bake them, the softer they will be).
Let cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting: cream together the cream cheese and butter, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and ginger. Add 3 cups of the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Add a dollop of frosting to half of the cookies and top with the other half to make a delicious cookie sandwich.

PS- Just a head’s up that December will probably over-index on the baking side of things, rather than the workouts. But then January will be the opposite, so it’s all good.

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Cranberry Oatmeal with Ginger Cashew Cream

December 5, 2014 by Jenna

Oatmeal is hands down one of my favorite breakfasts. It is so versatile, easy to make, filling, and healthy. Everything a breakfast should be.

I discovered my new favorite way to make oatmeal and wanted to share it with you in hopes that you’ll try it out and love it as much as I do.

A few Saturdays ago I was trying to figure out what I wanted to make for breakfast. I was in the mood to make something, but didn’t want to, like, make something, you know? I love cooking up a big brunch and trying out new recipes on the weekends (like these mashed potato waffles, drool), but I just got done with a big workout and was starting to get a leeettle bit hangry. Getting food into my stomach was becoming an urgent matter.

I spotted some cashews in my cupboard and decided it was finally time to make some of that cashew cream I’ve been seeing in recipes like this soup and this pie. I decided to put it in oatmeal. It was the best decision I have made in quite some time.

This oatmeal is so simple to put together, making it perfect for weekday mornings when you want a fast, warm breakfast before work. However, the cashew cream gives it a bit of decadence that also makes it appealing on the weekends. It’s like a splurge, but it’s not, because it’s healthy.

To make the cashew cream all you gotta do is blend up some cashews with water, maple syrup, and chopped ginger. The end result is like cream, except it’s healthy for you. Whoa.

I would recommend letting cashews soak for a while (1 hour – overnight) before blending. The first time I made it I did not want to wait – like I said, I was starting to get hangry – and it tasted amazing. Then I made it with the pre-soak it was just as delicious, but was a little creamier.

To make the oatmeal you just need to add oats, cashew cream, water, and cranberries (cranberries are so hot right now) to a pot and cook it for a few minutes. Once it cooks up to your desired consistency stir in some cha-cha-cha-chia seeds for an additional health kick and transfer it to a bowl.

Top your oatmeal with a swirl of cashew cream and maple syrup and you are set with an oh so very delicious warm, hearty, healthy breakfast. The combination of the creamy oats, tart cranberries, and hint of ginger is just magical. Pour yourself a big cup of coffee, grab a seat on the couch, and find a cheesy Christmas movie to watch. Happiness guaranteed.

Cranberry Oatmeal with Ginger Cashew Cream

Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

7 mins

This oatmeal is a warm, healthy, and delicious breakfast. The magic is in the cashew cream, which gives the oats a nice creamy texture without the need for cream. It is quick enough for a weekday breakfast, but indulgent enough to sit down and enjoy on the weekends with a big cup of coffee.

Author: Jenna Duesterhoeft

Serves: 1 bowl

Ingredients

For the ginger cashew cream:

¼ cup cashews
½ cup water
½ teaspoon ginger root, chopped
1 teaspoon maple syrup

For the oatmeal:

½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup water
½ cup cashew cream
½ cranberries
1 tablespoon chia seeds

Instructions

For the cashew cream: add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
For the oatmeal: add oats, water, cashew cream, and cranberries to a small pan on medium-high heat. Stir occasionally and cook for about 5 minutes or until the oats reach your desired consistency. Stir in the chia seeds.
Place oatmeal in a bowl and top with additional cashew cream and a swirl of maple syrup.

Notes

For the creamiest texture it would be best to soak your cashews in water for an hour or even overnight before blending to make the cashew cream. Just drain the cashews and use fresh water when you are ready to go!

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