Gluten Free Chocolate Lava Cakes

I really wasn't sure about sharing the recipe for these because they are so decadent and indulgent, but I had a request for the recipe on Instagram so I decided to go ahead and share it with everyone. I try to keep my recipes around 400 calories or less per serving because I really find it easier to fit delicious food into your daily diet when it isn't taking up half of the calories you should be eating. These lava cakes are extremely high calorie, but I will say I shared one with my daughter and my husband ate the other one. It was incredibly chocolaty and satisfying, and if we had ordered it in a restaurant my husband and I would have shared one with coffee for dessert. I apologize for the poor lighting, the sun is setting early here so unless I make dessert at lunchtime I lose the natural light. 

I love these lava cakes because they only require a handful of basic ingredients, you don't need to whip egg whites, make a water bath while baking them, or fuss with sifting flour and cocoa powder. I topped mine with extra powdered sugar for presentation. These would be absolutely lovely with fresh raspberries, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream. Hope you enjoy!

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, in the microwave!

With the salted caramel sauce I had in the fridge and a craving for chocolate, I decided to make a little mug of hot chocolate for me and my baby girl to share. I gave her some in a bottle mixed with milk, and she chugged that sucker down. Probably a bad idea but she's a great taste tester! This is easy to put together if you're in the mood for something better than the powdered packets, but you don't want to make a whole pot on the stove.

Salted Caramel Apple Tartlets

These are easy peasy to make but pretty impressive to look at. Definitely an indulgent treat, but perfect for this time of year. If you aren't making your own caramel sauce you're missing out! Especially since it's so easy to make. In case you missed it, here's my recipe for homemade salted caramel sauce.

Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

This is the easiest recipe to follow and it doesn't require heavy cream or corn syrup. This caramel sauce is great for dipping, stirred into coffee, in pies, on top of ice cream, eaten with a spoon right out of the bowl, or you can even bathe in it. I'm not here to judge. It's delicious and versatile. You can cut the salt in half and it will just be regular old caramel sauce. This is seriously good; buttery and rich, sweet and slightly salty. It's easy and can be doubled, tripled, etc. I love how many ways you can use this. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheerio Squares

Nothing beats a no bake treat that uses up extra ingredients. We buy Cheerios from Costco, which means two giant family size boxes. After a while Isla loses interest in eating them as a snack, and the majority of the Cheerios get stomped on and then vacuumed up. I wanted to use up some Cheerios and I had marshmallows in the pantry, and figured a Rice Krispie Treat inspired snack would be a hit!

Baked Boston Cream Donuts

I have a lovely and easy recipe to share with you, now you can treat yourself to homemade donuts this weekend. I enjoy watching YouTube because there are some really amazing cooks/chefs/bakers that share wonderful recipes. Two of my favorites are Laura Vitale from Laura in the Kitchen and Gemma Stafford from Bigger Bolder Baking. I recently tried Gemma's no fry donuts and I was inspired! Laura has shared her custard filling multiple times on her channel whether making a fruit tart or filled cupcakes, and I've always wanted to try it. I figured since I was trying out a new donut recipe, I would make some Boston cream donuts. They have definitely become my favorite. After I filled the donuts with the custard, I seriously licked the bowl clean. It's the most heavenly custard I have tried.

My variation for the recipes was using the Truvia baking blend to help cut down on some of the sugar. Unfortunately for the glaze you do need to use powdered sugar. On a brighter note, using a chocolate glaze instead of a chocolate ganache does help cut down on fat and calories. But hey, it's up to you! You cook for you, and do whatever makes you happy. If you aren't making donuts very often, you can definitely go all out. And that also means you can fry these donuts.

Keep reading for the recipe, and a recipe for two other donuts too!

No Fuss Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

There are 1,700,000 results online for chocolate chip peanut butter cookie recipes, but just humor me for a few minutes. I like these because they aren't as fussy as the traditional cookie. No rolling into balls, stamping with a crosshatch on top, or refrigerating for hours. The other night I wanted cookies; like a needed them five minutes ago type of craving. I went ahead and whipped these up. The dough sat in the fridge for 30 minutes while I cleaned up the kitchen after dinner, and the cookies turned out fine. They didn't spread into flat crispy cookies. They were fluffy and tender with a nice crust on the bottom. Truly delicious, super easy, and the best part is freezing half of the dough to microwave an individual cookie for yourself whenever you need a sweet treat! Give these a try the next time you're craving peanut butter and chocolate.

Easy Mini Breakfast Pies

In my experience, a great cup of coffee is made even better by a delicious sweet treat. It's probably from breastfeeding, but I crave sweets like crazy these days. I wanted to make something quick and easy that was basically a glorified Pop Tart. My grocery store was out of puff pastry, so I picked up a box of refrigerated pie crusts. This is a super simple sweet treat you can make in about 20 minutes.

Crock Pot Orange Rolls from Canned Dough

After the success of my recipe for cinnamon rolls using canned dough, I really wanted to give orange rolls a try. And what better way to make sweet sticky rolls when it's 90 degrees than in the crock pot? I have yet to try these on another heat setting, I've only cooked them on high. I plan to experiment making them on both low and warm. I will update when I have time frames on the other heat settings.

These rolls turned out wonderfully. Sweet and sticky with a bright orange flavor and a hint of spice. I hope you give them a try!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Low Carb Scones

I had purchased a small bag of the Bob's Red Mill GF flour, but I wasn't too impressed. It's high in carbs, not very high in fiber, and doesn't taste great. The majority of this recipe calls for almond four, but I bulked it up with coconut flour and the GF flour.  I wish I had used fresh blueberries because the frozen always turn the batter an ugly blue/green. If you are using frozen, try tossing the berries in a little sugar/sweetener and GF flour to coat the berries and keep them from staining the batter. I really enjoyed these scones!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Low Carb Scones

• 1/2 cup blanched Almond Flour
• 1/4 cup Coconut Flour
• 1/4 Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour
• 3 tbsp. sweetener, I like Truvia or the Truvia Baking Blend
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/8 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 packet Truvia, for sprinkling
• 2 large Eggs
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen Blueberries
• 1/4 cup Almond Milk or other milk
• 4 ounces Cream Cheese, partially frozen and diced
• 4 tbsp. Unsalted Butter, diced

Per scone: 138 calories, 5.5 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams protein, about 10 grams fat.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Dice the cream cheese and the butter, and place on a plate in the freezer. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients (almond flour through the cinnamon) and whisk together to get rid of any lumps. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, I just used my fingers and then a whisk. Whisk in the eggs and the almond milk until combined. Carefully stir in the cream cheese and the blueberries. There is a proper way for forming scones, and then there's my way:

On a baking sheet lined with parchment, plop the dough out and smooth it into a rectangle using a damp spatula. Use one packet of Truvia to sprinkle over the top of the dough. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and use a sharp knife to cut into fourths, and then into eighths making triangular cuts (like a pizza). Return to oven and bake an additional 5-7 minutes until golden brown on top and set. Let cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack until the scones are completely cool. 

When you cut the dough it will be very wet in the middle still, but a little firm on top. It's too difficult to cut and form the dough before you've baked it, so I like my method because you get it into the oven before the butter and cream cheese completely soften and you're still able to form the dough into the triangular scones. Be sure not to overcook these scones, as recipes with coconut flour tend to dry out quickly. Enjoy!

Protein Packed Chocolate Milkshake: A Pregnancy Treat!

I find myself wanting ice cream more now that I'm pregnant. I'm not sure if it's because of the sugar or my new found love of dairy. I did read online it's a good craving to indulge in, in moderation, because at the very least it has calcium. I only wish it would fill me up a bit more, for longer anyway. Enter protein powder. We have huge tubs of this stuff because my hubby is a fitness buff, and honestly it doesn't taste all that bad. But when you add milk and chocolate ice cream, it's certainly more satisfying.

Chocolate Cheesecake with Peppermint Chocolate Glaze

  These little chocolate cheesecake squares were such a treat for Christmas! My sister is a Winter Solstice baby and she loves peppermint, so I made these as a birthday/holiday treat. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, I'm looking forward to a new year ^_^

No Bake Pumpkin "Cheesecake"

Yummms. This is a great treat for Fall, I love pumpkin spice anything ^_^ This delicious creamy dessert is just under 4 grams of carbs per serving, so the carb and sugar count is much lower than most desserts. The best part? It's a no bake dessert. It never sets up fully so it's best served in a bowl, and scooped out with a spatula =P You could sub whipped cream for the coconut milk and add eggs to make this a regular cheesecake that you can bake! I was just being lazy!

Low Carb/High Protein Blueberry Bread

This little bread is absolutely genius. It's moist, sweet, hearty, and totally satisfying. You won't even be sad that you're getting under 7 grams of carbs for a slice of this stuff!

Cheesecake for Under 200 Calories

Ever wished we lived in a perfect world where dessert could be consumed for lunch? I suppose with this recipe you could keep that dream without losing your waistline.

This recipe was inspired by a Vlog I saw on Youtube. This girl is super creative and used cottage cheese to make her version. I've used cottage cheese in cheesecake before, but it's always been accompanied by cream cheese! I've also made ricotta and cream cheese cheesecake before, which is equally delicious. This is a very light version of those previous recipes. It makes 1 serving (which is 3 muffin molds) and it's about 150 calories.

Low Calorie Strawberry Crisp

I bought a carton of strawberries and decided to make a quick and low calorie dessert for myself! You don't need many ingredients, it's totally delicious, and get this: only 94 calories plus a whole serving of fruit! (depending on size of berry! if you did a quarter cup of berries plus the topping it's about 98 calories)

Quick and Easy Whole Wheat Blackberry Ricotta Scones

I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen the other day, the original recipe called for raspberries but I had frozen whole blackberries and wanted to use them. All I did was half the recipe, and I used low fat ricotta and half n half to cut on calories. Just remember to use a lot of flour on your work surface to avoid everything sticking to you and your surface, that's so frustrating! Enjoy ^_^

Banana and Nutella Breakfast Crepes

Mastering the Art of French Cooking never lets me down. I've been wanting to make crepes for a while now, and I knew this book would have the tastiest recipe for them. I followed the instructions for making dinner crepes versus dessert because 1: it was easier, and 2: it was easier. No judging.

Chocolate Clafoutis--Adapted from Stone Soup

If you've browsed my recipes you can't help but notice my love of French food. Although I have volumes one and two of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the recipes can be quite difficult to tackle. One of my favorite foodie blogs is Stone Soup. Jules is all about being a minimalist cook, which means leaving behind the ridiculously complicated recipes and sticking to basics. She recently released her (free!!) ebook which can be downloaded from her blog! I love the book because all of the recipes are guaranteed to use 5 ingredients or less. Genius!

How To: Cinnamon Rolls from Canned Biscuits

My mother made a delicious batch of cinnamon rolls the other day. I went over to her house and left with baggie with two cinnamon rolls. I must admit, with my husband sitting right next to me, that I ate both of them. One was supposed to be for him, but I just couldn't resist! I felt really guilty about the cinnamon rolls; my poor husband had missed out on a treat, a treat we had been craving for weeks. I decided I would make a batch to ease my guilt, this is where I encountered a slight problem. I had never actually made cinnamon rolls before; not Pillsbury and definitely not from scratch. Enter: Store brand 50 cent can of biscuit dough. How do you spell lifesaver? BISCUIT DOUGH.