A tweaked cookie

I'll tell you making healthier food choices in the Bacon house is easier than finding time to blog about them. But I haven't left you all out.  I have hundreds of pictures on my camera just waiting to post on here!  In our quest to better food, I'm happy to have tweaked the good ol' chocolate chip cookie!  I've searched and tried several recipes in the past few months and this one the judges, aka Mr. Bacon and the kids have approved of. FINALLY!  This eating better and healthier stuff isn't that hard to do. Honestly!  For those who are starting out on this journey to, what have you though?  I'm finding it easier to just substitute healthier ingredients in many of our favorite dishes.  Baked goods is one of those areas this works pretty well with.  So here is my "bacon approved" whole wheat chocolate chip cookies for everyone to try!

"Bacon Approved" whole wheat chocolate chip cookies:

 1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick cold butter (yes we only use real stuff!)
1/4 c up white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup almond milk (or any milk)
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract. (we prefer almond)
1 cup chocolate chips (not one bag)

 What I think makes this cookie so great is the white whole wheat flour I found . And guess where I picked it up- Walmart. Are you surprised?  Sure it's not organic, but we buy what we can afford and it's better than white flour! And for $3.50 for a 5 pound bag it's not bad.   Also if you are curious about oat flour it's nothing fancy.  I took my box of oatmeal and tossed it in my Ninja blender and gave it a whirl.  Once you have something that resembles flour (I blended mine for about a minute) I poured it back in the container to use for baking.  Super easy! 

Preheat your oven to 350*.  Now it's time to mix everything up. In my kitchenaid mixer I placed my cold butter and my sugars.  Beat until well combined. This is important because if you don't mix all the cold butter you'll have chunks that melt in the cookies when they bake.  Next add in the egg, milk, extract of your choice and mix well.  Then add in your dry ingredients- flours, soda and salt. Combine it well and mix in chocolate chips.

Now some of you might be second guessing only 1 cup of chocolate chips.  Again this is a compromise, Mostly good ingredients and a few not so good. These would be great with dark chocolate chips too!  Really the kids and Hubby didn't miss the extra chocolate chips in the cookies, and one bag can now make 2 batches unlike my old recipe. 

 Place your cookies by teaspoon full on the baking tray.  I get about 2 dozen cookies out of this recipe.  And they're not super small cookies, but not huge either.  Bake them in the oven for 9-12 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy your healthy cookies!

While I was baking those I made up something else for dessert that night.  I had a container of heavy whipping cream in my fridge that needed to be used up (from my homemade healthier coffee creamer- more to come on that in another post!)  I already had my mixer out so I cleaned up the bowl and tossed in 1 cup heavy cream.  With the whisk attachment I started mixing.  Making homemade cool whip is super easy.  I beat the creamer for about 5 minutes our until firm peaks formed. Be careful not to mix too long or you get butter! 

 Once it's forming peaks add in 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla and mix just to incorporate it.  There you have it, super easy homemade cool whip! 

 Next I tossed about a cup of frozen strawberries in my ninja blender. Have I told you how much I LOVE my ninja blender?  Mr. Bacon and the kids got it for me for Christmas and it' was my favorite gift!  I use it almost every day.  I blended up the frozen berries (which came from my garden last year. I froze them to enjoy later on!) and it resembled crumbles. 

 Then I mixed the two together.  This is heavenly!  Strawberry fluff. Try not to eat the whole bowl at once!  It's a much lighter texture than ice cream and only 4 ingredients!  Not too bad for a healthy dessert. 

 I did take a little of the extra and stick it in these cute ice Popsicle molds I bought. They'll make a great after school treat for the kids!

So tell me what you think when you try these healthier treats for your family! I love to hear back from my blog followers!

It's like eating chocolate clouds!

The other day Sister Bacon was up for a visit! I love it when I get to see my siblings because it's not all that often it happens. And the kids loved seeing Auntie Bacon as well.  While she was here I decided to try out a new 'fluff' recipe I found to see if it was good. You know when it's best time to try experimental recipes on your guests right?

 "Here try some of this. If you're still doing good in 5 minutes I'll try some too!"

Normally I try things out first but this one turned out good anyway.  And it's super easy.  The next night I was looking for a quick dessert for the kids and thought I'd whip up some of these pudding fluff cups for them! 

I love this recipe because it's super easy and fast. The kids love it because they can help make it and it tastes awesome! Even Little Boy Bacon said "Mom this tastes just like eating chocolate clouds!"  Man I love that kid!

Here's what you need:

Pudding fluff:
1 box instant pudding- any flavor and any size
1/2 the milk required on box to mix up the pudding
same amount of whip cream as milk. (you can use store bought or mix your own from heavy cream)

Take the pudding and milk and mix together.  If you are using a small box of pudding and it calls for 2 cups of milk, you want to use half the amount or one cup.  If you are using a big box of pudding and it calls for 3 cups milk, you want to use 1.5 cups ect.  Mix those up good. The kids can help with this part. 

 Once it's mixed together, you want to take your whipped cream and fold it in.  Use the same amount of whipped cream as you did milk.  Gently fold, do not mix this or you'll lose the fluffiness.  I usually do this part because none of the kids have figured out what I mean by folding yet. When I said I had to fold the whipped cream in Little boy Bacon asked if it was like folding the towels he as to do for chores!  Someday they'll be expert cooks, until then I'll do the food folding. 

 There you have the pudding fluff! You can do lots of things with this now. Sister Bacon and I just ate it by the spoon full! YUM!  You can add in things like crushed up cookies, mini chocolate chips, M&M's, or other candies.  You can use it as a dip. Some vanilla pudding would make a great fruit dip!  You can even use it to frost a cake with.  Just make sure to store the cake in the fridge once it's frosted.

I decided to crush up some graham crackers I had laying around. 

I put a few scoops into the bottom of a cute dessert cup.  Added a big scoop of the pudding fluff on top and added a dollop of whipped cream I had leftover from the mix.  This was such a huge hit with the kids they even asked for seconds!

It's a good thing this isn't a health food blog!

 Because I wouldn't have been able to post these AMAZING brownies.  We had some company coming over Labor day so I asked the kids what treats we should make.  They all said we should try something new.  I have a list of new recipes I'd like to try and the kids picked these brownies out.  I have to say it was a winner! Good enough that I had to share with all of you.  These would be the perfect snack for the kids as they get off the bus.  Oh how I'm ready for back to school. I know many of my readers have sent their kids off to school already but here in Minnesota we always start after Labor day.  And this year it's not until Thursday!  Lucky for me I have enough time to whip up another batch of these bars before then!

Peanut butter layer brownies
1- 9x13 pan brownies baked- go ahead use your own mix or a box!
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1.5 cups of your favorite add in (mini Reese's pieces, M&M's, mini chocolate chips, crushed cookies ect)

First bake up your pan of brownies and let them completely cool.  That seems pretty easy right?!

Next place your softened butter and peanut butter in a bowl and mix.  You can do this by hand too, I just toss it in my handy mixer. 

 Toss in your sugars and mix for a minute or two until it's fluffy.  

Then it's time to add the milk and vanilla.   

 Once those are creamed together, it's time to add in your flour and mix.  It should be nice and thick now like cookie dough. Go ahead and give it a try!  YUM right?!  Oh and this is safe to eat just like this since there is no raw eggs.  Yes I'm thinking of making this as a mommy treat too when the kids go to school sans brownies!  Perhaps even freeze them in little balls and leave in the freezer for when I need something sweet.

Once all of that is mixed up it's time to add in the goodies, about a cup to cup and a half of them! I choose these fun mini Reese's pieces in cute fall colors. I love fall and I'm ready for it to be here! Mix what ever add in you choose with the rest of the peanut butter dough. 

Then take the dough and press it on top of the brownies.  Give it a good pat down to make sure the 2 layers will stick together.  No need to bake, just slice them up.  Don't they look good?  They will amaze you.  Oh and yes they are quite rich. I cut a few bars this size below and I had to go back and make them smaller yet. Even Little Miss Bacon who is all sweet tooth said they were too big and sweet for her at first!  Enjoy your bars, let me know if you made them for after school snack and how it went!

Is it a pancake or a muffin?

Yet another morning of the 'what are we having for breakfast' debate with the Bacon kids.  One thing I've learned is that none of my kids like cereal!  So the big question today....are we having muffins or pancakes for breakfast?  I replied... BOTH!  Yes I did get shocked and stunned faces, along with a moan (Little Boy Bacon wanted waffles, no I just can't win around here, and I'm not a short order cook!)  But when I mentioned there were chocolate chips involved everyone seemed happy with that answer. 

I found this recipe a while ago on a site I love called Bakerella.  Goodness she has some amazing, yummy looking stuff.  Much I can't make due to the fact I have 4 kids and a husband to take care of.  Many of her recipes involve a lot of detail.  Someday perhaps I'll have time to dawdle in the kitchen, but for now I have 4 hungry mouths to feed.  This recipe was one that wasn't time consuming though.  I have made it before and the muffins don't last in this house.  So give them a try, I bet your family will fall in love with them too!

Maple pancake muffins:

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

2/3 cup buttermilk (or sour milk)

1 egg

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a bowl mix in the first 5 ingredients.  I dump them all in and then take a fork to stir them around.  Set this bowl aside. Now normally I don't use two separate bowls. I'd just mix the wet ingredients and then dump in the dry.  Yes I like to save on how many dishes I need to wash!  But I have found when I make muffins that this is a needed step.  It helps keep the muffins more airy. 

In the next bowl combine the butter milk (you can make sour milk by adding 1 tbsp vinegar to 1 cup milk and letting it sit for a few minutes, it will work the same as buttermilk)  egg, syrup and melted butter.  Mix these well.  Then dump this mixture into your flour mixture.

 Stir just until everything is combined. This is another great tip when making muffins.  Don't over mix your muffin batter or anything you add to it (like chocolate chips, nuts, berries ect) will fall to the bottom and you won't get fluffy muffins.  It's ok to have lumps in the batter, they are suppose to be there! 

 Once it's just mixed, it's time to dump in these!  I think it's every kids dream to eat chocolate for breakfast!  Little Miss Bacon requests these muffins all the time for this very reason!  Gently mix the chocolate chips in the batter, a few turns of the spoon is all you need.  Again you don't want to over mix.

Next place them in your well greased mini muffin tin.

  Save some extra chocolate chips and add them to the tops!

  Bake in a pre-heated 350* oven for about 10 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.  Be careful not to over bake them.  Since they really are pancake batter it won't take as long to bake as normal mini muffins. 

 Here they are!  Let them cool a few minutes on a wire rack.  Enjoy the smell! Ahhhh...
And bat off little fingers trying to eat them.  They need to cool!

 Ooey, gooey, yumminess!  I like them best when they are still a bit warm and the chocolate is still melted a bit.  They taste delicious when they are all cooled too which makes them great for an after school snack too!

Don't want chocolate for breakfast? No problem!! You can leave them out. They taste like pancakes.  Oh and don't forget the syrup!

 Go ahead and bake up a batch for breakfast! 

It can't be that simple, can it?

Fall is my favorite season. I love the cool weather, the changing colors of the leaves, the baked goods....
Especially anything with pumpkin.  Why is it that we save the yummy pumpkin treats just for fall?  I was in the mood to bake morning. 

 Not long ago I came across a recipe for pumpkin muffins that required only 2 ingredients.  I thought this can't work can it?  But I had to try it.  Mr. Bacon was going to visit some old friends and I wanted to send something with so I decided today was the day to give this pumpkin muffin recipe a shot.  And just in case it didn't turn out, I made a batch of pumpkin spice cookies to go along with it!

Simple Pumpkin Muffins
1 spice cake mix

1 - 15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

Yes that's all you need! 

Dump the cake mix into a bowl.  Add the can of pumpkin puree.  Don't add anything else to it. I love this there are no eggs, oil or anything.  Just cake mix and pumpkin. 

Mix it up good either with your mixer or a good ol' spoon.

Fill up your paper lined or greased muffin tins about 2/3 of the way full of batter.

Oh another benefit to this recipe, you can lick the bowl clean!!

 Bake your mini muffins in a preheated oven at 350* for 15-18 minutes or until they spring back when touched.  If you are making big muffins, bake for 20-25 minutes. 

 

 Fresh out of the oven. They smell amazing!!

 Let them cool on a wire rack for a bit, try not to eat any. I dare you! 

They are wonderful.  They don't have as heavy of a feel as a muffin, but more airy like a cake.  They are nice and light. I enjoyed ours with a dusting of powdered sugar.  Mr. Bacon and Bacon Bit approved them right away and I had a hard time packing them up to share.  Good think the mini muffins make 4 dozen, but I have a feeling they won't last until morning!

Sweet start of school

Ahh.. do you hear that?  It's a quarter less fighting!  School started today and as much as I love having the kids home all summer, sometimes it's nice when Ma Bacon gets a break.  Of course give me a week and I'll miss them!  Bacon Jr. headed off on the bus today (Little Miss Bacon starts Thursday and Little Boy Bacon in a few days... Ok I'll really miss them when there are 3 gone for part of the day) and I wanted him to have a sweet treat for his return. I wanted to try something different, beyond the standard chocolate chip cookie.  And I happen to be completely out of sugar!  How did that happen?  I thought I had another bag in the basement but I guess not.  Nothing like a challenge, a sweet treat for back to school that has no sugar in it?  No I didn't say it had to be healthy! I happened to start digging though my Christmas recipes (you know there are always sweet treats in there) and I found what I was looking for. I used to make these, but hadn't in years. 

Peanut Butter Crispies

What you need to gather:
1 3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups rice crispies

First start with a mini muffin tin.  Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Next spoon a few chocolate chips in each muffin spot.  I just used a kitchen teaspoon and filled them under half full. 
 

 Place them in a 350* oven for 2-3 min (or less warm just until they start to melt. I had my oven already going to bake up some danish puff). 

Once the chocolate chips start to melt, use the back of a spoon to smoosh them around a little. Don't worry if they don't look perfect, they still taste delicious!  If you want them looking nicer, you can melt the chocolate and then spoon in the melted chocolate. Let the chocolate firm up and cool a bit on the counter.  If it's really hot inside, put them in the fridge for a few minutes.

Next work on the batter.  Mix peanut butter and butter in bowl.  Once mixed well, add in powdered sugar and vanilla. Then add in rice crispies only until mixed, do not over mix them. 

Butter and peanut butter

Rice crispies waiting patiently!

Now it's time to top the chocolate.  Take a large tablespoon of the dough and smoosh it on top of the chocolate in the muffin cup.  

 Once all of them are full, pop them in the fridge to cool.  After about 15-20 minutes take a knife and pop them out. Place them in a container and store them in the fridge.  Or the freezer, I stuck mine in there in hopes to make them last longer.  However Little Miss Bacon knows they are in there since she helped make them, I'm guessing they won't last that long!

 Now after you've made your two dozen delicious treats, you noticed there is a little more dough left in the bowl.  Or there should be if you haven't snitched it all by now!   What to do with it?

I decided to toss in a handful more chocolate chips and mixed well.  Yes go ahead and get messy. I used my hands to mix this.  

Take the mix and roll into small balls, place on wax paper and pop them in the fridge to firm up too.  These are AMAZING! I'm almost thinking I'll forgo the muffin pan next time and just make these.  They are like eating the cookie dough right from the bowl, only without having to worry about the raw eggs!  Either way you make them, the kids LOVED them.  And so did Mr. and Ma Bacon.  Go ahead and whip some up, I bet you can't eat just one.