There's a first time for everything

I actually had to throw out a batch of blueberry muffins last night! They were not tasty at all! This is because I have been on the search of a perfect healthy baked good. (I know, I know, it’s kind of an oxymoron) I’ve realized this is a very hard task. You guys know I love my sweets, but the other half has been dieting and going to the gym along with P90X and I can’t leave him out. Why deny him of my tasty treats, although so far not so tasty. The first batch of muffins I made were whole wheat pumpkin muffins, they weren’t so bad, just not real sweet and pretty dense because of the whole wheat flour. This last batch of whole wheat blueberry muffins were awful, pretty inedible. So what’s a girl to do? Well I’m going to continue my search and keep experimenting, but I thought just maybe someone reading this might just have a good recipe.

This is what I’m looking for…

Sugar free (Splenda or honey)
Multigrain or whole wheat (No white flour)
Low to no oil
Dried fruit or nuts are good
Under 200 calories per serving
Fewer than 4g fat per serving
Low salt
High fiber

If anyone has any ideas, please email me. And I’ll keep everyone updated on the search. Now if we can all just share a moment of silence for the poor blueberry muffins…

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ok so I need to work on my timing a little bit (should have posted these before V-Day), but I made some super cute cupcakes for Valentine’s Day. This recipe I found on bakerella.com and it is the best red velvet cake I’ve ever tried. It is super moist and yummy. The flowers are marshmallow fondant, which I made from scratch as well. Think I’m going to start a little cake decorating again; playing with the fondant brought back fond memories. If you guys like red velvet cake you gotta try out this recipe.

This was a real comment I got from one of my guinea pigs.

“OMG! That is the best red velvet cake I have EVER tasted. I'm so serious.  It's so good that I can't even tell my wife about it, because she thinks her mom makes the best red velvet cake. In fact, it's a tradition in her family for her mom to make it. You think I'm kidding? I'm not. lol. It would hurt her feelings if I went on and on about it.”

Key Lime Cheesecake

So for another reason to bake I decided to start making birthday desserts for all my coworkers. The most recent birthday boy told me his favorite desserts were cheesecake and key lime pie. I knew right away that I would want to combine the two. I finally decided on this highly rated recipe on Epicurious. It's a graham cracker crust, of course, filled with three layers. The first being a tart lime custard, then a smooth cheesecake filling, and then topped off with a sweetened sour cream topping. Even though there are a few steps to this it was still relatively easy to make and the results were scrumptious! The minute it touches your tongue the tartness hits you, but is then smoothed out by the creamy cheesecake. Yummy.

White Chocolate Blueberry Brownies

In an attempt to fatten up my coworkers I try to bake for them once a week. I use them as my guinea pigs to test out new recipes. Not that I’m trying to sabotage their diets, but somebody has to try all this stuff. This is one of my coworkers now, after all of the goodies…

It’s nice to have a little inspiration at times, so when my coworker and I were bored at work I started quizzing her about her favorite sweets. She said she loved brownies and anything with blueberries so I instantly thought white chocolate and blueberries would be great together. Turned out they tasted even better than I thought. 

White Chocolate Blueberry Brownies
Adapted from this recipe.

1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut in pieces
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup dried blueberries

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Butter and line a 9-inch baking pan with butter and parchment.

Place butter in a medium-sized, heat-proof bowl. Place bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, melt butter halfway. Add 4 ounces of the white chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted. Remove from heat and add in the remaining 4 ounces of chocolate. Stir until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth.

Place sugar and eggs in a large bowl. Using whisk attachment on high speed beat sugar and eggs until pale and thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add vanilla and chocolate mixture, beat just to combine.

In a separate bowl, using a fine-mesh sieve, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture and beat until smooth.

Fold in dried blueberries, (do not over mix).

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into centre comes out clean. Place on wire rack to cool completely. Remove from pan and cut into squares.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Crinkles

The cold weather ushers in all kinds of treats, warm fuzzy blankets, super soft sweaters, and hot chocolate, and maybe for an unfortunate few, chapped lips and dry skin. (bummer) This year I have been drinking a lot of Mexican hot chocolate, the cinnamon seems to make it that much warmer. So in honor of my favorite winter beverage, (hmmm I bet vanilla vodka would make it pretty tasty too), I decided to turn my favorite chocolate cookie into a Mexican hot chocolate cookie. So put on some Chap Stick and Jergens and make these for your honey so you can cuddle up under a warm fuzzy blanket and eat them.