Simple Chocolate Mug Cake

I admit to having what I like to call a latent sweet tooth.  It sorta lays in wait and does not show itself very often... thankfully... but when it does appear, it demands to be placated and satisfied almost immediately.  I have come up with a Simple Chocolate Mug Cake, using ingredients that I always have in my panty. It tastes somewhat sweet and satisfies that need.  But it is also actually very low in sugar and carbs and fat, overall, and jam-packed with protein... and flavor!  It is gluten-free, and grain-free, too.

I can pretty much whip it up in a couple of minutes and if you have a sweet tooth that needs attention, you know how important immediacy can be!  You have just got to get something sweet into your mouth as quickly as possible so it might just as well be something that is not going to break your macro/calorie/Smart Points bank, right?

The 3 main ingredients in my Simple Chocolate Mug Cake are chocolate based... chocolate whey protein powder, unsweetened cocoa powder, and chocolate PB2... and then I add almond or other unsweetened nut milk and a bit of baking powder.  I mix them together and pop into the mike for a minute. The aroma is wonderful. Gives me something to savor and anticipate while I am waiting a few seconds for it to cool enough to slide out of the baking dish and into a serving bowl.

And it also gives me a bit of time to decide if I want or need toppings... yogurt, nut butter of some kind, berries, cinnamon... you know... the really good stuff.  Sometimes I just want plain chocolate cake and eat it right out of the baking dish!  It is that good.  I am thinking you could also make up an icing with protein powder or even top it with whipped coconut cream.  Mmmm.  Yep. Gotta try that!

Now, I have used a plant-based protein powder instead of whey to make this cake. And it works, but you need to cook it a bit longer for some reason.  Your choice.

I have also used a variety of nut milks, depending on what I have on hand.  I am sharing the nutritional information using unsweetened original Almond Breeze.  And if you don't have chocolate PB2, use the plain one, or failing that, use a second tablespoon of the cocoa powder. You will get an even chocolatier cake!  Is that even a word?

Okay, I did not make it in a mug... but you could!  My baking dish is a small glass bowl... about 4 inches across and about 3 inches deep.

Simple Chocolate Mug Cake
makes 1 cake

Ingredients:

• 1 scoop (about 32g) chocolate whey protein powder
• 1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbs chocolate PB2
• 1/4 cup nut milk
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Instructions:

1. Coat the inside of a microwave safe cooking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Place the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl and stir to combine.
3. Add the nut milk and stir.  You want a brownie batter consistency so if it is a bit thick, add more nut milk a couple of drops at a time.
4. Spoon batter into prepared baking dish.
5. Cook in microwave oven for 1 minute on HIGH. Time may vary slightly.
6. Remove cooked cake from microwave and allow to cool about 30 seconds before removing cake to serving dish.
7. Top as desired or eat plain.

Per serving, without toppings.

Weight Watchers Smart Points = 3.

Calories 166

Fat 4g

Saturated Fat 1g

Carbohydrates 8g

Sugar 3g

Protein 28g

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Dry ingredients before mixing together.  See the difference in color of my 3 chocolatey ingredients and then the baking powder?

Thick brownie-like batter after stirring in nut milk.  Not runny at all but very moist.

Cooked cake, cooling a bit before placing in serving dish.

With yogurt and berries.

With yogurt and a drizzle of sugar free chocolate mint syrup.

Whether you dress it up or enjoy it plain, you are sure to love this easy peasy chocolate cake!

Do you have a sweet tooth?  How do you satisfy it quickly?

3 Ingredient Frozen Skinny Chocolate Pies

Wait. What?  Frozen Skinny Chocolate Pies? And only 3 ingredients?  That's right. It's true. And they are fabulous!  Just a little bit of chocolately goodness and it's frozen so just perfect for these warm Summer days. Gluten free, almost fat free too.

I have no idea where this recipe started but I can tell you I found it on the new social media channel called Connect, on the Weight Watchers Canada app.  They are calling it a rather crass name that I won't repeat... totally unappealing... so I have changed the name but not the ingredients or the goodness!

So what is in these little goodies, you are wondering? What makes them skinny?  Well, they are made from coco powder, and de-fatted peanut flour and a banana.  I happened to use Protein Plus peanut flour the first time I made them, and have used PB2 since then, and I am sure they would be just as good with chocolate PB2 as well... and I hear there is a new de-fatted peanut flour around now too, called PB & Me. Haven't seen it yet, but when I do, I will be trying it for sure.  I really think these de-fatted peanut flours are a Weight Watchers best friend!

The whole recipe is only 1 Smart Point on the Weight Watchers program.

So, let's get to it, shall we?

3 Ingredient Frozen Skinny Chocolate Pies
Makes 6 pies

Ingredients:

• 1 medium banana
• 1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Tbs de-fatted peanut flour of choice

Instructions:

1. Mash the banana in a medium bowl.
2. Add the cocoan and peanut flour.
3. Blend well.
4. Spoon mixture into 6 silicone muffin cups.
5. Freeze at least 2 hours. 
6. Eat frozen.

Per serving of 6.

Weight Watchers Smart Points = 1*

N.I. per individual pie with Protein Plus peanut flour:

Calories 30

Fat 1g

Saturated Fat 0g

Carbohydrates 6g

Fibre 1g

Sugar 3g

Protein 2g

N.I. per individual pie with PB2 peanut flour:

Calories 28

Fat 0g

Saturated Fat 0g

Carbohydrates 6g

Fibre 1g

Sugar 3g

Protein 1g

*On the Smart Points program, bananas are zero points, and 1 Tbs of cocoa powder has zero points, so the only thing to count is 1 SP for the de-fatted peanut flour.

Mash the banana and then add the other ingredients.

Mix till well-combined. Batter will be lumpy.

Place in silicone muffin cups.

Enjoy your frozen treat!

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What's your favorite quick frozen treat to make in the Summer?

If you like this recipe, won't you consider PINning it please?

Triple Treat Cookie Bars

 
Sometimes I like to bake a little something special for The Captain on the weekend.  He has been talking about caramel lately.  I was pretty sure he would be happy with butterscotch so after our 5 km run, and then breakfast and clean up on Sunday morning, we did a little trip to the Bulk Barn. He found some Easter Candy treats for himself and I found some raisins, a variety of baking chips, some gluten-free tamari soy sauce, and some spices.  

Gummy Bunnies and Paste Candy Corns

Ever had lemon-flavored baking chips?  Me neither so I couldn’t resist buying a few… and the Bulk Barn is one of the few places I ever find peanut butter chips so I made sure to stock up on them as well.  I am gonna use some of them to make an ‘icing’ for one of Lee’s Double Chocolate Paleo Brownies later this week.  You all know how much I love those!

But these bars I ended up making for The Captain don’t have either of those baking chips in them… instead I used butterscotch, semi-sweet dark chocolate, and Greek yogurt chips so I call it Triple Threat Treat.  This is an adaptation of an old recipe I have had around for many many years and really cannot give credit to anyone for it. I think it may have even come from my Mother at one point.  That would make it pretty old.

I alter it as I need to, by adding spices, nuts, raisins, different baking chips, M&Ms, and sprinkles, and it always turns out just great!  This particular batter is very plain because I wanted the flavor of the baking chips to be the stars of the show… but sweet spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger are very nice too if you are using raisins and nuts.

I also use less sugar than I once did so that the batter is not very sweet.  Adjust according to your own tastes... you could use up to another 1/2 cup of sugar if you like.

Experiment!  Use different combinations of chips; add nuts; add candy.  Go crazy!

I purposely did not make these gluten-free so that I wouldn’t be tempted to eat them.  Yeah, I do know my own limits... But you certainly could use a G-F all purpose flour if you want.

Triple Treat Cookie Bars
Makes one 9 X 13 inch pan

• 3/4 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl.
3. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt. Beat well.
4. Mix in flour in 2 or 3 batches and blend well after each addition.
5. Add the baking chips and stir to distibute them through the thick batter.
6. Spread batter in a 9 X 13 inch pan that has been coated with non-stick spray.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and batter pulls away from edges of pan.
8. Cool on rack several minutes before cutting.

Yes, you really MUST wait a few minutes before digging in, otherwise you will burn your mouth.

Now this is not a Weight Watcher’s friendly recipe at all.  It is pretty decadent.  But I am gonna share the N.I. with you anyway and you can decide for yourself whether or not you want to make them.  Of course you can always cut them smaller too!

Per serving of 1/40th of recipe.
Weight Watchers P+ = 3.
Calories 132; Protein 2g; Carbohydrate 16g; Fat 6g; Fibre 0g.

See how thick this batter is?

I wet my fingers and patted the dough into the corners.

Still bubbling, just out of the oven. Actually I think my oven must have been a bit too hot this batch cause the edges are so dark.  But The Captain like them anyway!

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What are your favorite flavors of baking chips?

Best Cookies EVER! Gina's Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple of weeks ago Gina posted this recipe for her Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies…. I had to make them right away!

I knew they would be pretty high in calories and in fat grams, so I used only 2Tbs of crumbled bacon and made 10 cookies instead of the 8 that Gina made in order to spread the calorieso out… but my goodness they are the BEST cookies EVER.  I looooooved them.

They are grain free and made with almond meal so they are right up my low carb alley!

The bacon is not obvious in them at all.  Don't be put off if you are not a bacon fan.

 I gave these cookies to The Captain and he liked them but still never has guessed that there is bacon in them.

But what he did like and what I LOVE about them, is that the bacon adds just a bit of saltness to the mixture and really really enhances the dark chocolate flavor.

Honestly!  You MUST try them… go to Gina’s blog NOW and get the recipe.  You can find it on the Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies post.

Into the oven we go…

Be sure to let them cool completely cause they love to fall apart.. yeah, betcha can’t wait that long!

I did calculate the N.I. as I made them and it turns out not too bad, even from a Weight Watcher's eve view!

Per cookie.
Weight Watchers P+ = 4
Calories 124; Protein 3g; Carbohydrate  6g; Fat 11g; Fibre 1g.


What d’ya think?  Would you try them?

Easy Granola Wedge Cookie

I really wanted to bake something new for The Captain this week – he is not following my new eating plan  although he does very well with, and enjoys the paleo meals I make, he is not about to give up his own favorite carbs… pasta, cookies with milk, pancakes, waffles, cupcakes, white potatoes, and the occasional handful of praline peanuts!

So, I have like to make an effort to make something just for him once in a while. 

I reread a blog post I got recently in my mailbox from spabettie that had a recipe for a Spicy Granola Wedge Cookie that you bake an then cut into wedges. She had a link to the original recipe, too, upon which her own vegan and gluten free adaptation was based.

So I followed the link and found a cookie that would be more suitable to The Captain’s taste buds, but along the way made a few changes of my own.

We don’t use canola oil so I opted for coconut oil in its place.  And I also used salted cashew pieces instead of the pecans, so I left out the salt and the baking soda.

This wedge cookie is so easy to put together and because you just spread the dough and bake it like a cake, there is none of the fuss and time involved in shaping individual cookies… I almost felt guilty, they were so easy and quick.

Apparently I no longer have a pie plate…  have not a clue where it might have run off to, so I spread the raw cookie dough into the shape of square, well approximately a square, in the bottom of a cake pan. 




It’s a nice thick dough that holds together very well.




I baked it for a couple of minutes longer than the recipe suggests…




And then let it cool for a few minutes before cutting it and serving a slice to my Mr. Sweet Tooth for his morning coffee treat.




It is a nice thick cookie, not too sweet…



And we found out that it holds up well in a baggie tucked in your pocket when you go hiking too!

Even with my changes, the N.I. is going to be pretty much the same as that which the author gives.

For my Weight Watchers buddies, that makes each of the 8 wedges worth 5 P+.  Not bad for a hefty heavy serving and of course you could always share it with a friend!

So, check out the original recipe, and also the vegan and gluten free version from spabettie.  And do use a round pie plate if you have one… the triangular wedges are cuter!

What’s your favorite easy cookie recipe?  Have one to share?

Oreo Protein Pancakes

I love to try new protein pancake recipes!  I spotted these Oreo Protein Pancakes on a blog I recently started following called Peace, Love, Fitness.

It has lots of my favorite ingredients... chocolate protein powder, cocoa, eggs, egg whites, oats and yogurt.  How could I go wrong, especially now that I have found some gluten-free oats?  I used the GNC Chocolate Brownie REBUILT MASS in this recipe, but I am sure any chocolate protein powder would be fine.  If your batter is too thick, add a splash of Almond Breeze or fat free milk to thin it a bit.

I did make a few slight changes to the recipe I found so will share it with you as I made it.  In hindsight, it is a huge serving, and when I make it again, I will make a single serving, and make 4 smaller pancakes out of it, for The Captain and I to share.  The Captain actually could not finish his!

I know that vanilla-flavored Stevia is not an easy ingredient to come by, so if you don't have it, use a bit of vanilla extract, and a bit of sweetener of your choice.  I like to put syrup on my pancakes so I don't make the batter very sweet at all.  And I also topped it all with some fresh blackberries from our last picking adventure.



Oreo Protein Pancakes
Makes 6 pancakes and 1 cup filling.

Pancakes:

• 2 eggs
• 4 egg whites
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 2 Tbs cocoa
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 10 drops vanilla Stevia

Filling:

• 1 cup fat free plain yogurt
• 5 drops vanilla Stevia

1. In a medium to large bowl, beat the pancake ingredients till frothy with your blender or immersion blender.
2. Lightly coat a skillet with non-stick spray and place over MEDIUM heat.
3. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out batter for each pancake.  Pour into heated pan and cook about 2 minutes per side and then remove to plate to keep warm while the rest are cooking. 
4. Stir the batter between scooping out for each pancake because the oats will fall to the bottom of the mixture as it is quite wet.  Repeat spray on skillet if necessary between cakes.
5. While the cakes are cooking, stir the filling ingredients together in a medium bowl and refrigerate.
6. After the 6 pancakes are cooked, place one one each of 2 plates.  Put a couple of spoonfuls of the filling on top and spread a bit.  Repeat with 2nd and 3rd cakes.  
7. Garnish with fruit if desired and a bit of syrup or honey.  Serve immediately.

Per serving of 3 pancakes and 1/2 cup filling, not including fruit and syryp.
Weight Watchers P+ = 9.
Calories 344; Protein 27g; Carbohydrate 38g; Fat 10g; Fibre 5g.

1/4 cup of the batter per cake...

 

and flipped to cook second side.

 

Garnished and ready to devour!



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Whaddya think?  Chocolate pancakes... yea or nay?

Chocolate Protein Pops

I recently won a set of popsicle makers in a giveaway I entered at a blog I love called spabettie.  I have been waiting for just the right day to try them out... and trying to decide what to make in them.

I finally realized that I can never go wrong with a chocolate pop so I got out some ingredients and went to work.

The first thing I did was to determine how much volume I would need to fill the 6 moulds.  I filled one up with water and poured it into a large measuring cup 6 times, just for accuracy sake.  My 6 new moulds hold 3 cups of liquid.

I like to use protein powder because I feel it offers more nutritional value than just plain cocoa would, and the yogurt gives these a nice creamy texture.

I am so happy our hot weather is holding on into September so we still feel like eating frozen treats!

Here is how I made them up.. you could easily use a different chocolate protein powder, and change the amounts of the ingredients to meet your own needs.

Chocolate Protein Yogurt Pops
Makes 6 (3 cups liquid, approx.)

• 109g GNC Rebuilt Mass protein powder, chocolate brownie flavor
• 1 cup fat free plain yogurt
• 1-1/8 cups Vanilla Almond Breeze

1. Mix all the ingredients very will and then pour into moulds and allow to freeze for several hours.

Per serving.
Weight Watchers P+ = 2.
Calories 90; Protein 7g; Carbohydrate 13g;  Fat 1g; Fibre 0g.



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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake Batter Blondies

Wow!  That is a mouthful... and these are a delicious, gooey mouthful!

Still a bit warm so falling apart here...



I have been seeing different cake batter recipes all over the blogworld lately and decided to try another one a few days ago.  They are such an easy way to bake... and I was feeling a little lazy today after our 9 mile run and morning's housecleaning....

The recipe comes from a fun blog called Girl Meets Life and you will find it here.  There are lots of variations on the site too, but don't be afraid to play with this yourself.  I think it would be good with almond butter or sunflower butter, Nutella, and also different baking chips or even sprinkles.

I will share the ingredient list with you:

• one box yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup of peanut butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips

I didn't have quite the whole cup of chocolate chips this recipe calls for so I used a handful of butterscotch chips to make up the cup... delicious. And I only used 1/2 cup of peanut butter instead of 3/4 cup.  I think white cake mix would be all right too... and I think I will be trying a chocolate versioin at some point!

And it smells soooooo good while its' in the oven baking.  Give it a try.  Easy, delicious, and fun!  I just know it would be great with some vanilla icecream!

If you cut it into 32 pieces (2" X 1"), here is the N.I. as I made it up.

Per serving.
Weight Watchers P+ = 3.
Calories 117; Protein 2g; Carbohyrate 16g; Fat 5g; Fibre 0g.

Mix the peanut butter, oil and egg together.

Add to the cake mix and combine as well as you can.

Stir in the milk.

Then add the chocolate/butterscotch chips.

Spread in 8x8 pan coated with non-stick spray and bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

Remove from oven and let cool 60 minutes... this allows the mixture to keep cooking a bit more.

It does fall a bit in the centre as it cools.

Cut into 32 pieces...  they hold together better after refrigeration!  But who can wait?

Here is the original recipe



Creamy Chocolate Fudgsicles

It is fun and inexpensive to make your own frozen chocolate treats.  These are really easy and you can make them with fat free milk or even coconut milk if you like.  I would add a splash of vanilla in either case.

I used my immersion blender to mix the ingredients together and puree the bananas, but you could use a food processor or blender if you prefer.

They are not too sweet, but very chocolatey!  Just right when you need a little perk-me-up!

Creamy Chocolate Fudgsicles
Makes 6

• 2 T cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup Almond Breeze, vanilla unsweetened
• 2 small ripe bananas
• bit of Splenda or Stevia to taste

1. Blend all ingredients and pour into molds.
2. Freeze for several hours.
3. Unmold to serve.

Per serving.
Weight Watchers P+ = 1.
Calories 38; Protein 1g; Carbohydrate 9g; Fat 1g; Fibre 1g.

Place all ingredients in the blender jar...

 and whizz till well blended and smooth.

Pour the mixture into the freezer molds...

insert the sticks and place in the freezer till solid.

To serve, put some warm water around the pop you want for a few seconds so just the edge is softened a bit... then pull gently on the stick to remove the pop from the mold.

Enjoy!

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Chocolate-Avocado Vegan Cupcakes

I have seen several different recipes over the past year, that use avocado in place of the traditional butter and eggs when chocolate is involved.  This is one vegan recipe I couldn't resist.  It comes from Joy Wilson's Joy the Baker Cookbook.  I happened to have a just-ripe avocado sitting on the counter, waiting to be used.... normally I would have made guacamole with it, but since I have been doing so much running lately, I am craving sweets.

This looked like it would fill the bill... and did it ever!  Don't be worried if you see little bits of the avocado as your pour the batter into the muffin cups.  They will disappear as they bake. 

The Captain prefers plain cupcakes so I only frosted a few of them... you decide. They certainly do not need the frosting.  And I bet no one will know there is avocado in them unless you tell. 

Here is Joy's recipe.

Chocolate-Avocado Vegan Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup mashed ripe avocado (about half an avocado)
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

1. Place rack in the upper third of the oven, and preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Line a cupcake pan with foil or paper liners.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk sugar, oil, avocado, water, vinegar, and vanilla.
5. Add the flour mixture to the avocado mixture and fold with a spatula until well combined.
6. The batter will be so loose that you can pour it into a measuring cup to dispense into the cupcake molds. Fill each cupcake liner until it’s about two-thirds full.
7. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
8.  Let cakes cool for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

I didn't care for the frosting recipe that accompanied these cupcakes so I made up one of my own... it lightly frosted only 4 of the cakes so you can alter the ingredients accordingly. If you want to stay with the vegan theme, use Earth Balance butter or a vegan margarine.

Elle's Mocha Frosting
Makes enough to frost 4 cupcakes

• 1-1/2 Tbs butter at room temperature
• 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup icing (powdered) sugar
• 1/4 tsp  vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cold coffee 

1. Cream butter with cocoa and icing sugar. 
2. Add vanilla and coffee and mix well.
3. If it is a bit dry add water, a drop or 2 at a time until it is the consistency you like.
4. Spread over 3 completely cooled cupcakes.

Per serving, without icing.
Weight Watchers P+ = 4.
Calories 153; Protein 2g; Carbohydrate 30g; Fat 3g; Fibre 1g.

Per serving, with icing.
Weight Watchers P+ = 7.
Calories 240; Protein 2g; Carbohydrate 42g; Fat 8g; Fibre 1g.

I like to use silicone liners because they don't stick.

Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda together.

Combine the sugar, oil, avocado, vinegar, water and vanilla together.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold gently.

The batter makes 12 large cupcakes.  Allow the cooked cupcakes to cool a bit before removing from the baking tin.

Moist and delicious!  No frosting here.

Cream butter with cocoa and icing sugar.

Add wet ingredients and mix well.

Frosted and garnished with a bit of powdered sugar.

You decide!

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