Preparing these muffins gives off one of the most comforting smells in the world – apples and cinnamon simmering in butter.  When I make them my sons always appear in the kitchen.  “What are you making?  Can I have some now?” they ask.  And I spoon out a few of the apples from the frying pan for them.

Not only do these muffins smell great, they are also nutritious, thanks to the combination of buckwheat flour, almond flour, apples, and yogurt.  There is no sweetener of any sort in the recipe, so if you must have a sweet element in your muffins then I recommend adding dark chocolate chips to the batter.

I like to have these in the house for the mornings that are especially rushed.  My sons will happily eat them for breakfast.  (You can warm them in the oven, halve them and then spread butter, jam, or cream cheese on each half.)  I often grab one on my way to the gym, and find it gives me plenty of energy to get through a strenuous hour-long workout.

Ingredients:

4-5 apples

6 tablespoons of salted butter

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ cup plain yogurt (I use 3% fat yogurt)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup almond flour

1 cup buckwheat flour

Optional additions: diced walnuts or other nut, dark chocolate chips

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350

Peel the apples and chop them into small pieces.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan and add the chopped apples.  Sprinkle the apples with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and mix thoroughly so that the apples are all covered in butter and cinnamon.

Simmer the apples until they are very soft (about 15 minutes).  Stir regularly.

When the apple-cinnamon mixture is soft, remove from frying pan, and set aside to cool.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl blend eggs, yogurt, and vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of melted butter.

Using a hand blender or a food processor, puree the apple-cinnamon mixture.  Add the puree to the bowl and blend well.

Add the dry ingredients – almond flour, buckwheat flour, and baking soda – to the wet mixture.  Mix well.

Spoon batter into buttered muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Buckwheat Quick Facts: a good source of manganese, magnesium, dietary fiber

Carbohydrates: approximately 15 grams per muffin (without chocolate chips)

]]> http://asweetlife.org/a-sweet-life-staff/recipes/meal-type/breakfast/buckwheat-apple-cinnamon-breakfast-muffins/4570/feed/ 3 http://asweetlife.org/a-sweet-life-staff/recipes/meal-type/dessert/yogurt-glazed-carrot-cake/3742/ http://asweetlife.org/a-sweet-life-staff/recipes/meal-type/dessert/yogurt-glazed-carrot-cake/3742/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:17:24 +0000 A Sweet Life Staff http://asweetlife.org/?p=3742 By: Sweet & Natural (adapted from Baking With Agave Nectar’s carrot cake)

I asked my sister what she wanted for our Christmas Eve dessert and she replied without hesitation – carrot cake.  A cake!  Hooray!  I wanted to do a little something different, of course, so I topped the cake with a yogurt glaze instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting.  And to make sure the cake really soaked up that glaze, I poked holes all over it and let the yogurty sweetness ooze in.  I also did a bit of lightening up by using applesauce instead of oil and egg whites instead of some whole eggs.

Ingredients:

Cake:

3 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

3/4 cup agave nectar

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Yogurt Glaze:

1 1/2 cups plain nonfat Greek yogurt

1/2 cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350*F.  Line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and set aside.  In a large bowl, mix together carrots, coconut, agave nectar, eggs, egg whites, applesauce and vanilla extract.  In a separate bowl, mix together whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until well blended.  Pour batter into prepared cake pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Let cool in pans.

While cakes are cooling, prepare yogurt glaze by mixing together Greek yogurt, agave nectar, vanilla extract and salt.  Once cakes cool, poke holes in them using a fork and remove from pans.  Drizzle half of yogurt glaze over cake #1 and sprinkle with half of the walnuts.  Place cake #2 on top of cake #1.  Drizzle remaining glaze over cake and sprinkle with remaining walnuts.  Note: You may want to do this over a wire cooling rack with something underneath to catch the dripping glaze.  Makes for easier clean up!

*ASweetLife recommends using as little agave as possible.  If you’d like to reduce the amount of sweetener in the cake, here’s what Ashley at Sweet & Natural suggests:  “I think you could cut the agave in the glaze by cutting the amount of glaze made as a whole.  If 1/4 cup is what you’re going for, I would say do 3/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup agave, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and1/4 teaspoon salt.  I’m not sure how cutting the agave in the cake itself would work since it lends not only sweetness, but also liquid to the cake.  I would think it would come out a bit drier – which no one wants!  So I would recommend keeping it as is.  But if you have to reduce it to 1/2 cup agave, try upping the applesauce to 2/3 cup.”

Photos by: Sweet & Natural

Ingredients:

2-3 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 cup almond flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients
2 eggs, room temp
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup agave
1/3 yogurt

Mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Add wet into dry until mixed together. Add 2-3 cups grated zucchini and 1/2 cup walnuts. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes in two small loaf pans or until toothpick comes out clean.

*The original recipe, which is pictured here, calls for ½ cup of dark chocolate chips. In order to keep the recipe sugar-free, I used walnuts in place of the chocolate chips.

By: Elana’s Pantry

photo provided courtesy of elanaspantry.com

With so many healthy and nutritious ingredients, this pie style cheesecake could almost be part of the main course, though I prefer to save it for an after dinner treat in our house as I enjoy the dessert and tea ritual at the end of a meal (the boys love to make tea every evening and are now old enough to hold the kettle of hot water after it has boiled; they are growing up).

Ingredients:

1 medium pie pumpkin, acorn squash or butternut squash
1 quart whole milk yogurt, strained overnight or up to 24 hours (discard whey)
½ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt

Preparation:

Fill the bottom of a baking dish with a little less than ¼ inch of water

Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds, and place face down in baking dish

Roast pumpkin in the oven for 45-55 minutes until soft

Allow pumpkin to cool and scrape flesh into a bowl, then measure out 2 cups

In a cuisinart, combine 2 cups pumpkin, strained yogurt (minus the whey which was strained out), agave, vanilla and lemon juice and process until smooth, about 1-2 minutes

Process in cinnamon and salt

Pour batter into a 9-inch tart pan

Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes, until firm

Remove from oven, cool and serve

Serves: 8

*A Sweet Life reminds you that agave nectar is a sugar.  The less you use, the better.

As diabetics, too often we focus on the foods we’re not supposed to eat, struggling to say no to pasta and bagels and all the things we know can wreak havoc on our blood sugar. But there are countless delicious recipes that won’t send our glucose levels out of control — and we think Diabetes Awareness Month is a perfect time to share some of our favorites. We’ve gathered diabetes friendly recipes from leading chefs and food bloggers and other great cooks, all of whom know that eating healthily doesn’t mean having to skimp on taste.

This is quite possibly my favorite dessert, and it’s absolutely guiltless—frozen or not. It’s healthy, delicious, highly evocative of comforting sweets, and very low in sugar.

Ingredients:

2 cups carrot juice (fresh if possible, bottled if not)
3/4 cup chopped butternut squash
1/4 avocado
1/2 – 3/4 packet of stevia
generous sprinkle of cinnamon
small sprinkle of nutmeg

Preparation:

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till smooth and creamy. Freeze it overnight. When you’re ready to eat, let it soften (you can throw it in a food processor or Vitamix to give it a soft-serve texture if it’s gotten a little icy).

If you don’t have a high speed blender or Vitamix, you could substitute steamed squash for raw and use a regular blender.

Serves: 4

Carbohydrates per serving: 15g

by: Elana’s Pantry

photo provided courtesy of elanaspantry.com

This gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan apple crisp is great all year round, though especially soothing in fall and winter. One of my family favorites, children seem to love this healthy dessert dish –my boys and their friends gobble it up time after time.

Ingredients:

2 cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 medium apples, peeled, sliced, then chopped in half width-wise

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a smaller bowl, combine oil, agave and vanilla.

Stir wet ingredients into dry.

Place apples in a 2-3 quart glass baking dish (a pyrex bowl or an 8×8 square).

Sprinkle topping over the apples. Cover and bake at 350° for 50 minutes on low rack.

When apples are soft and their juices bubble, remove cover and bake 10 more minutes to brown crisp.

Serve warm.

Serves 6

*A Sweet Life reminds you that agave nectar is a sugar.  The less you use, the better.  We make this apple crisp with less than 1/8 of a cup of agave and it is still sweet and delicious.