Desserted Planet
 

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Trail Mix Balls

May 18, 2012

This was my first time making anything sweet with quinoa and can I just say, I am forever changed!  Knowing that I can incorporate something into my desserts that is so nutritious and protein packed, is revolutionary.  Not kidding.  I was definitely skeptical how this would work, but once you mix all these ingredients together, you don’t even know the quinoa is there…all you know is that these balls are DELICIOUS.

I found this recipe on the eat, live, run blog.  I used her original recipe but once I had everything mixed up, it was VERY loose and absolutely not sticking together.  I might have done something wrong…who knows?  But I still thought the mixture tasted AMAZING and decided to just add some more stuff and hope it would come together.  The recipe was originally gluten-free but to get it to stick together I had to throw in some white whole wheat flour (which is the only one I had on hand).  You could use another type of gluten-free flour though if you have issues with gluten.

In the end, the balls stuck together nicely and tasted sooooo yummy.  They seriously remind me of an oatmeal cookie and are definitely my new favorite healthy sweet treat…well, after my No-Bake Almond Butter Rice Krisp Treats.  Those things can’t be beat.

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Trail Mix Balls
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Ingredients
  • 2 c. Thick Rolled Oats, dry
  • 1 c. Cooked Quinoa
  • 1 c. White Whole Wheat Flour (or other gluten-free flour)
  • 1/2 c. Shredded, Unsweetened Coconut
  • 1/3 c., plus 2 T. Raw Sunflower Seeds
  • 2/3 c. Dried, Unsweetened Dark Tart Cherries
  • 2/3 c., plus 2 T. Raw Honey
  • 1/4 c. Organic, All-Natural Peanut Butter (no added salt, oil)
  • 1 t. Sea Salt (I use pink himalayan)
  • 2 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1/4 c. Dark Chocolate Chips
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together the oats and next five ingredients. In a small pot on the stove, bring the honey to a simmer over medium/low. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, salt and vanilla. Pour over oat mixture and mix well until combined. Let cool. Add chocolate chips into mixture. Form into 1″ balls with your hands. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Notes

Makes 50, 1″ balls.

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Simple Strawberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

May 16, 2012

This recipe was inspired my two things:  1.  The abundance of strawberries AND strawberry recipes right now and 2. my brand spankin’ new cupcake carrier!  That’s right, I FINALLY am the proud owner of a collapsible cupcake carrier (yes, I had to improvise for quite awhile to transport them!) all thanks to my boss.  A couple of weeks ago it was Administrative Assistant’s Day and my boss was out of town so obviously I knew I wouldn’t get anything and it wasn’t a big deal to me.  But he got back the Friday of that week and when I came back from lunch, this beauty was sitting on my desk.  Ain’t she purty?  And can I just say this thing ROCKS??  It’s both a cake and a cupcake carrier.  I was a little skeptical it would work, but it totally does and I highly recommend getting one if you don’t have one yet!

As for the recipe, do you know how hard it is to find a strawberry cake recipe that doesn’t call for strawberry Jello and a white cake mix?  It’s dang near impossible!  But a couple of years ago and did manage to find one and for the life of me I can’t remember the website I got the recipe from but all I know is it’s titled Katie’s Strawberry Cake, so whoever Katie is, thank you!!  I was so happy when I found the recipe that I made it three times within two weeks…yes, it’s that good.

The method of this cake is a little different because you beat the butter into the dry ingredients and then add the liquid but have no doubt, it totally works.  I absolutely loved these cupcakes…there were small pieces of fresh strawberry in every other bite and the chocolate cream cheese frosting was to-die-for.  The only thing I’d do different is maybe just leave the chocolate out of the frosting next time and do a plain, vanilla cream cheese frosting, as the strawberry cake is such a delicate flavor it almost overpowers it.  But it’s still delicious.

If you are looking for a true “from scratch” strawberry cake, look no further!  This one definitely fits the bill.

Simple Strawberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
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Ingredients
  • Strawberry Cupcakes
  • 1 c. Strawberry Puree, room temperature (see below for recipe)
  • 1/4 c. Whole Milk, room temperature
  • 6 Large Egg Whites, room temperature
  • 1 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 2 1/4 c. Cake Flour
  • 1 3/4 c. Granulated Sugar
  • 4 t. Baking Powder
  • 1 t. Salt
  • 12 T. (1 1/2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened and cut into 1″ chunks
  • Strawberry Puree
  • 2 c. Sliced Strawberries
  • 2 T. Granulated Sugar
  • Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 1 Stick Unsalted Butter, softened
  • 1, 8 oz. Cream Cheese, cold
  • 1/4 c. Crisco
  • 1/4 t. Salt
  • 3 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 5 c. Powdered Sugar
  • 4 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate, melted
Instructions
For the Strawberry Puree
  1. Place strawberries and sugar in food processor or blender and puree.
For the Strawberry Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the strawberry puree, milk, egg, vanilla and whisk well. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk thoroughly. Beat the butter into the dry ingredients on low speed and mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.
  3. Add liquids to the butter/flour mixture and beat a medium speed for about one minutes or until evenly combined. Stop mixer, scrape down sides of bowl and beat for 30 more seconds. Place three tablespoons of batter into each muffin tin.
  4. Bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for a few minutes and then remove from pans and let cool completely.
For the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
  1. Cream the butter, shortening, cream cheese, salt and extracts on medium speed until combined. Beat in the powdered sugar and then the melted chocolate and beat until combined (do NOT overbeat or the cream cheese will break down). Frost cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting.
Notes

Makes 24 cupcakes.

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Sweet This and That

May 11, 2012

As you can see, I couldn’t really come up with a title for this somewhat random post.  Sometimes inspiration or whatever you want to call it just doesn’t strike and you have to call it what it is!  Hence, the title.

If you remember, back in March I visited my good friend Joelle and we had the BEST time shopping and eating our weight in cupcakes (see pics here, here, here and here).  And she also had the sweetest goodie bag waiting for me when I got to my room…it was packed full of my favorite sweet treats such as cayenne covered dried mango, dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts, gourmet hot cocoa and some other fun dessert-themed treats which I wanted to share!

I believe most of these came from World Market so if you have one near you, check it out for these items.

White Chocolate Mousse Body Wash and Body Butter.  Smells heavenly.  Trust me on this.

Cupcake Bath Fizz.  I love this little thing.  But it’s so cute I don’t want to use it!  What to do?!

Cupcake Mints.  The BEST way to “freshen” your breath.

This is a shirt I actually got at Kohl’s.  Had to share!  (Yes…I am FULLY aware that I am 30 and wearing Hello Kitty…and I don’t care!)

And these are my current obsession.  Believe it or not, I had never made cake pops until about a month ago but I LOVE making them and they are sooooo yummy.

Well, thanks for visiting and checking out my randomness!  Hope it made you smile. :)

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