Product Review: So Delicious Mini Fudge Bars

A few months ago Kroger re-opened down by TCU and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they do an excellent job carrying Veg friendly products. I was shocked to find that they carry an entire section of alternative 'meat' and 'dairy' products, an aisle filled with veg friendly frozen meals and my favorite almond milk all in one place! Today when I popped in I was craving chocolate ice cream, so I decided to see if I could scope out anything new.

Enter So Delicious Dairy Free Creamy Fudge Bar Minis.

Oh Heaven.

These little treats have an organic coconut milk base, and are only 70 calories. Their taste and texture is very similar to a frozen, light chocolate mouse. Did I mention they are the perfect portion size!? Next time you're looking for a tasty non-dairy treat I highly recommend that you try out this line.

I'd give this one 5 out of 5 honeybees.

Enjoy!

Chocolate dipped banana bread

Ooohhh man, this recipe is good! One of my best friends, Erum, sent this recipe over from The Messy Cook asking if we would make it together one day- since it's her birthday I thought I'd whip up a big batch for her to enjoy without the work! If you like traditional banana bread and chocolate is your thing I highly recommend making this tasty treat!

I picked up this super cute silicone baking sheet last valentines day at williams sonoma, it made for really great '2 bite sized' treats!

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup softened butter

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (2-4 bananas)

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cups cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

1-2 loaf pans

Directions

Oven to 350. Lightly butter or spray a loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs one at a time, stirring well with each addition. Add the mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla and stir until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift or mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and baking powder.

Add flour mix to the wet ingredients and just combine. Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until bread is firm to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition 

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. As you can see, I got a little um, creative with my packaging so I dont really know how many traditional servings it would be. I'm going to make an educated guess and say that you can probably do 2 loaf pans, with 8 servings each comfortably. So this nutrition section assumes 16 servings, and is representative of 1 serving- BUT be prepared to eat many more than one :0)

Est. WW points: 4

Calories: 195 

Fat: 9.8g 

Carbs: 26.1g 

Fiber: 1.4 g

Sugar: 14 g

Protein: 2.8 g 

Enjoy!

Oatmeal 'surprise' cookies and happy meatless monday!

Edited to add: happy meatless monday! How are you doing with the challenge??? Ok, and now for something to ruin your dinner with!

Yuuuuuuumy! So the title might be a little deceiving, really there is no surprise, but it seemed more appropriate than just plain old oatmeal cookies. The beauty of these is that they adapt really well to whatever you want to throw into them- chocolate chips, nuts, raisins.... anything your little heart desires. Either plain or with stuff they are delicious, and a definite crowd pleaser!

Ingredients

1 cup softened butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup loosely packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 cups oats

'surprise' to taste :0)

Directions

Cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs (1 at a time).

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Slowly stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, stirring until just damp and well incorporated.

Add oats 1/3 at a time, stirring until incorporated well.

Add surprise, stirring until incorporated well.

Cover and chill for 1 hour.

Heat your oven to 375. Using a cookie scoop or a small spoon, place cookie dough on a sprayed baking sheet a few inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Nutrition

Really??? Let's not go there for deserts ok?

Notes

These cookies dont really spread out too much, so dont worry about leaving a whole lot of space between them. You should remove the cookies from the oven when the edges JUST start to brown and the top is firm- dont wait for the whole top to brown or you will have a ruined batch on your hands :0)

This recipe is super easy to freeze: Just roll up extra dough into a tightly packed ball. Wrap tightly with saran wrap. Flip ball over and wrap a 2nd time with saran wrap to prevent freezer burn. When you're ready to enjoy, just defrost in your freezer and bake as normal! Should keep well for 6-8 weeks.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to The Pink Mixer Project! I've been thinking about doing a food blog for some time now, and decided the new year was the perfect timing. My goal here is to chronicle what happens in our kitchen- I'm a baked goods loving vegetarian, while my husband is a grill loving carnivore. In order for recipes to succeed in my kitchen they need to be tasty! 

To kick off the new year, I made these pink champagne cupcakes. These are delish- light and bubbly without being overwhelmingly sweet. Enjoy!

Pink Champagne Cupcakes 

Ingredients

3/4 to 1 cup pink champagne (we used the new Cupcake Vineyards version) 

1 cup very finely chopped strawberries 

2/3 cup room temp. butter 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

2 3/4 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp salt

6 egg whites at room temp 

Directions

Oven to 350. C

Cream together the butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix or sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Slowly alternate adding the dry ingredients and champagne to the creamed butter/sugar mix. So you should- add dry ingredients, stir, add champagne, stir. Repeat. 

Scatter the strawberries evenly across the top of the batter.  Because they are chopped very small, it should be easy to incorporate them into the batter by using 2 or 3 long strokes. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the room temperature egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes or so.  The finished product should be a gorgeous white fluff that holds a point when you remove the beater. 

Fold 1/3 to 1/2 of the egg whites into the batter until incorporated. Slowly fold in the remaining egg whites until well blended. 

Fill cake liners with the batter and bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Pink Champagne Frosting 

Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup room temp butter

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

1  to 1 1/2 tbl milk

a dash of champagne 

Optional: a dash of red food coloring paste to give a pretty pink color. 

Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the powdered sugar and butter together. Slowly add vanilla and mix. Alternate slowly adding milk and champagne until desired consistency. Increase mixer speed to medium for 1 to 2 minutes or until mix is smooth. 

Frost cooled cupcakes using either a frosting knife or pastry bag and top with pretty sugar crystals. 

Enjoy!