Mimi's Toffee Bars

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For my family and I, Christmas isn't complete without Mimi's Christmas cookies. We all know them and love them. Teatime Tessie's, Crescents, Acorns, and my personal favorite: Toffee Bars. Of course everyone also has their favorite cookie so we always had to make ALL the cookies...and lots of them!

Baking cookies was always a special time growing up as well - spending time with my Mimi, mom, aunts, cousins and sister in the kitchen. Our Mimi was the greatest woman ever and so many of my Christmas memories and traditions started with her. These cookies are very close to my heart <3

The recipe for these cookies is from 1961, or so says the recipe that we have written down from Mimi. In 1961 things were a bit different with baking...yes, these cookies in their original form are not gluten-free (gasp!). I took a gamble and tweaked the recipe this year and I'm happy to report my successes! In addition to making these gluten-free, I also reduced the butter and cut out the refined sugar. 

These cookies are really fun and easy to make. After baking the sheet of cookies you pile on chocolate pieces, allow them to melt on the warm from the oven cookie, and then spread that smooth chocolate all across. 

The final touch is a sprinkle of pecans. While the chocolate is still warm you will need to cut the cookies before allowing them to cool. You slice long strips (vertically) followed by cutting on the diagonal, making diamond shaped cookies. 

These cookies have just the right amount of crispy crunch to them with a punch of dark chocolate and pecans. 

Happy Holidays! 

Mimi's Toffee Bars

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Baking Time: 18-20 minutes

Servings: Approximately 40 cookies

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt
• 1 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup + 1 tbsp Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
• Dash of salt
• 6 oz dark chocolate (around 62% cacao - not too dark like 90% or else it could be too bitter)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Kitchen Utensils:

• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Cookie sheet with sides (10x15 in)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a mixing bowl) combine the butter, Greek yogurt, sugar, vanilla, egg, baking flour and salt. Mix on medium high until well incorporated. Spread into un-greased cookie sheet, ensuring the cookie batter is smooth and level within the sheet. 
3. Bake until the cookie rises and falls, resulting in a smooth cookie all the way across. This takes approximately 18-20 minutes - be sure to watch your edges! You don't want your cookie to burn. While the cookie is baking break your chocolate bars into small pieces and chop the pecans.
4. Once the cookie has finished baking, remove from oven and lay chocolate over the top, spacing evenly and covering the cookie. Allow to sit for a minute or two before spreading the chocolate evenly across the top. Sprinkle with pecans. While the cookie is still warm cut straight long strips vertically (about 5 or 6 strips) followed by cuts on the diagonal, making diamond shaped cookies. 
5. Allow the cookie to continue cooling before removing from the pan. This will take a few hours. I suggest making these the day before you plan on eating them and allowing them to cool overnight (or bake in the morning if you plan on serving that evening). You want to allow the chocolate to set and harden before enjoying!

Nutritional Information (1 cookie, based on approximately 40 total cookies)

85 calories - 1 g protein, 9.4 g carbohydrates, 4.8 g fat

Double Chocolate Peppermint Protein Muffins

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While I dream of having a full time job has a food blogger someday, whipping up recipes day in and day out, the current reality is that I'm an engineer (gotta pay the bills to buy all this food somehow). At my office, we have a quarky birthday tradition: when it is your birthday, you bring in treats for the office. A backwards tradition that I've actually grown fond of. 

Things are starting to get more serious with my figure prep as I near being just 9 weeks out. What fun is bringing in birthday treats if the birthday girl herself can't eat them?? This pushed me to get creative with my baking!

First to come to mind was cupcakes. I love baking cupcakes and have created some pretty fantastic cakes in years past. The best part of a cupcake, in my opinion, is the frosting/topping. You know what makes it so good? BUTTER. 

I would have LOVED to make a full fat birthday treat, however, I have my eyes set to my goal. So what if I ditched the frosting? What is a cupcake without frosting? Ah yes - a muffin.

I knew I wanted a healthy dose of chocolate and I'd also been craving some Holiday inspired. What pairs better during the holiday season than chocolate and peppermint? Now, this is a stretch to call this delicious creation a muffin. Most often muffins are thought of as a breakfast food. These can easily pass for dessert. I did put my signature spin on these and added in protein powder, so that counts for "breakfast"...right?

I brought 3 dozen of these into my office and they were eaten up in record speed. If you are looking for a crowd-pleasing dessert to serve up this holiday season that tastes like it is a decadent treat but is actually low fat, gluten free and packed with protein, do yourself a favor and bake up a batch of these Double Chocolate Peppermint Protein Muffins!

Double Chocolate Peppermint Protein Muffins

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Bake Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1-1/3 cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour  (198 g)
• 2/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (55 g)
• 1/4 cup Coconut Palm Sugar (48 g)
• 1/2 cup Chocolate Whey Protein (60 g) - I use True Nutrition's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Whey Isolate
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3/4 cup Coconut Milk Beverage (in the paper cartons) - soy, almond or cashew milk would also work!
• 1/4 cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt
• 2 Eggs
• 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips
• 2 Candy Canes, crushed

Kitchen Tools:

• Muffin tin
• Stand mixer or electric hand mixer

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare muffin tin by spraying with oil or brushing with a small bit of butter. Prepare candy canes by placing them within a plastic Ziploc bag and crushing with a rolling pin (this part can get fun). 
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, protein, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. 
3. In a stand mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer), combine coconut milk, Greek yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until light and fluffy, about 1 minute at medium-high speed. Remove bowl from stand mixer (or remove hand mixer) and add in dry ingredients. By hand, mix in the dry ingredients with a hand whisk and spatula. It is important NOT to over mix! The batter will be fairly thick; scoop-able, not pour-able. Once well incorporated, mix in chocolate chips and crushed candy cane. 
4. Scoop batter into muffin tin. Place tin in oven to bake. Immediately after closing oven door, reduce temperature to 375°F. Bake muffins for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes within the pan and then remove to finish cooling on a cooling rack. 

Nutritional Information (1 muffin)

186 Calories - 8g Protein, 31g Carbohydrates, 3.2g Fat

Apple Cranberry Pie

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The best meals are visually appetizing and have a taste that is even greater.

THIS pie - oh man. 

I always eat with my eyes first, and the moment this pie came out of the oven I knew I'd created a keeper.  

I absolutely love when I get requests for recipes and this pie was inspired by my dear friend Samantha. She was looking for a lightened up apple pie for the holidays. We all know a traditional apple pie has both a base crust and a top pie crust. While that is very very delicious (READ: double the buttery crust), it maybe isn't ideal if we are trying to be smart about our dessert choices this holiday season.

Instead of a top pie crust I covered this pie with a delicious almond meal streusel - you won't event miss that top crust! This allows the real stars of this pie to shine - the soft and sweet apples mixed with the occasional POP of tart from the cranberries. I've greatly reduced the amount of sugar added to this pie, leaving it to be mostly sweetened naturally from the apples.  

This is such a great holiday dessert. It will be fantastic for Thanksgiving but even more perfect for Christmas time, which is right around the corner!

Apple Cranberry Pie

Prep Time:

Bake Time:

Servings: 8-10 slices

Ingredients:

For the Pie:

• 1 Mamaw's Pie Crust
• 3 lbs of apples (5-6 medium) - I use a mix of honey crisp and golden delicious
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar

Streusel Topping:

• 1/4 cup almond meal/flour
• 2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
• 1 tbsp butter, softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Prepare pie crust per directions. Once completed place in refrigerator to keep chilled while you continue on with the rest of the recipe. 
3. Peel, core and slice apples. My method is to first peel the apples, remove the core, slice in half and then cut 1/4" slices. Place apples in a large mixing bowl with cranberries and toss with lemon juice. 
4. In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon, salt, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, coconut palm sugar and arrowroot. The arrowroot acts as a thickener in the pie to hold it together. Add to the apples and cranberries and mix until all of the fruit is evenly covered with the spice mixture. 
5. Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and fill with apple/cranberry mixture. Prepare the streusel by combining all ingredients in a small bowl and mixing until a meal-like consistency forms. Spread evenly over the top of the pie. 
6. Loosely cover the pie with foil and bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. Remove foil after 30 minutes and continue baking uncovered for an additional 30 minutes. 
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 3-4 hours (or ideally, make this pie the night before you plan on serving!). If you cut the pie too soon from the oven you run the risk of it not setting and becoming difficult to serve. 

Nutritional Information (1 slice out of 10 slices)

200 calories - 1.5 g Protein, 31 g Carbohydrates, 8 g Fat

Pumpkin Pie

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You can't have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. You just can't, and I certainly wasn't planning on skipping my slice of pie (or 2) this year! I've shown you just how much I love pumpkin with my Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Bolognese, Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies, Pumpkin Protein Waffles and of course, my Pumpkin Protein Donuts. 

All of these recipes are great, but can you really beat a simple slice of pumpkin pie?

Like many of my holiday recipes, I've taken the traditional recipe and adapted it to fit my diet. Traditionally, pumpkin pie is made with either evaporated milk and loads of sugar or condensed milk. Call me crazy, but something about canned dairy just doesn't appeal to me. I also want to feel good after eating my dessert, instead of worse because of the amount of sugar I've ingested. My pumpkin pie uses light coconut milk and a bit of pure maple syrup for sweetening. The result is the most delicious light and creamy pumpkin pie - you have to trust me on this one.

While my pie is in no way "healthy" - that would take away the fun of the holidays - it definitely has reduced guilt when eating ;)

Pumpkin Pie

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 1 hr 10 minutes

Servings: 1 pie, 8-10 slices

Ingredients:

• 1 Mamaw's Pie Crust
• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
• 1 cup light coconut milk
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Optional topping: Coconut whipped cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. 
2. Prepare pie crust per directions. Once completed place in refrigerator to keep chilled while you continue on with the rest of the recipe. 
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, spices (salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves) and vanilla. Mix to incorporate spices. 
4. In a medium mixing bowl combine coconut milk, maple syrup and eggs. Whisk to combine. Pour mixture into the pumpkin, continuing to whisk to fully incorporate. 
5. Remove pie crust from refrigerator and pour filling into crust. 
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, loosely cover with aluminum foil, to prevent the crust from becoming too brown, and reduce heat to 350°F. Bake for an additional 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. 
7. Allow pie to cool for at least 2 hours before slicing. This can easily be made the day before you plan on eating. 

Nutritional Information (1 slice out of 10 slices)

170 calories - 3 g Protein, 22 g Carbohydrates, 8 g Fat

Mamaw's Pie Crust

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Like I have said before, I love the holidays because it means family traditions. 

It should come as no surprise that my family has an abundance of family recipes. I have recipes and dishes I learned from my mother, she has the same from her mother, and my grandmother had recipes from her mother.  We are a family that loves to cook, especially for the holidays. 

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I turned to my mom for the perfect pie crust recipe which has been handed down from Mamaw, my great grandmother. In addition to some great one-liners (which are hilarious), she could make a mean pie crust. To show just how much we love this crust and how many times we've made it, this is the recipe my mom sent me when I asked for her to send it my way.

Many recipes in my family are like that. Nothing is ever too descriptive as a majority of the recipe lives in our heads (much like our Christmas cookies, but that's for another day) which makes it tricky to pass on to generations. The key is to write it down when you get the chance, so I'm doing just that! I've adapted this recipe to fit my diet, but rest assured, it still has the same great taste.

I swapped the all-purpose flour with Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. This bakes very similarly to all-purpose, unlike coconut flour or almond flour. The 1-to-1 Baking Flour is a blend of sweet white rice flour, whole grain brown rice flour, potato starch, whole grain sweet white sorghum flour, tapioca flour and xanthan gum (phew, that's a mouth-full!). 

Crisco, aka shortening, was introduced in 1911 to provide an economical alternative to animal fats and butter, and also as a product that would stay in solid form year-round, regardless of temperature (ew). While I love soybean oil, fully hydrogenated palm ooil ad partially hydrogenated palm and soybean oils as much as the next person, I don't want it in my pie. Instead of shortening, I'm using grass-fed butter.

Alright, time for the pie crust making tutorial...

Mamaw's Pie Crust

Servings: 2 crusts

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
• 10 tbsp COLD cubed grass fed butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp coconut palm sugar
• Ice water (see step 4) - fill a small bowl with about a cup of cold water and add one ice cube, set aside

Directions: 

1. Start by cubing your butter. I can't stress enough how important COLD butter is! Cut the butter into small pieces and place back into the refrigerator. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, salt and sugar. 

2. Add cold butter to the flour.

3. Now "cut in" the butter. This can be done with a fork and knife or two knives. You will literally cut the butter into the flour as if you were slicing a piece of meat. 

Keep cutting until you reach a meal like consistency. 

4. Once you've reached a meal like consistency you will begin adding the ice water. In total you will need roughly 10 tbsp of ice water to form your dough, however we will add just 1 tbsp at a time. My dough normally takes 10 tbsp of ice water - your's could need more or less. With the addition of each tbsp of ice water, stir with a spatula to combine. Don't use those warm hands yet! Continue adding and stirring. After about 8 tbsp you dough should begin holding in a ball. Now you can use your hands to start forming. Continue adding water until your dough holds together. Not too dry, not too wet. 

5. You will be left with one ball of dough, which is enough for 2 pie crusts. Divide this dough in half. 

6. Place one ball of dough between two large pieces of plastic wrap. Roll the dough out into an evenly thin round, roughly 12" for a 9" pie pan. You could also roll out on a floured surface, but that makes it more difficult to transfer your dough to the pie pan. Once you've reached the desired size, peel top layer of plastic wrap off. Flip into pan, dough side down, and then peel off bottom layer of plastic wrap. 

7. Form the dough into the pie pan. Don't fret if you have some breaks or the dough becomes separated! It is oh-so-forgiving :) You are now ready to fill your pie with whatever filling your heart desires! Pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate cream pie, quiches...the possibilities are endless.

I hope you enjoy Mamw's pie crust just as much as we love it in our family. While this crust is in no way 'healthy' it is lightened up so that it is easier to enjoy during the holidays! 

Nutritional Information (Based on 1 slice out of 10 slices)

100 calories - 1 g Protein, 12 g Carbohydrates, 5.5 g Fat