Healthy Desserts - Recipe

I did something abnormal for me. I made a "healthy dessert". Actually, I've made two so far. Let me detail the experience. My new eating habits are going very well, I am consistently down 13 lbs, so I would still desire to be down quite a few more to be a healthy weight, but am very pleased with these results, as they have come from controlling my intake alone. I have not worked out one time, even for 2 minutes, since starting this "diet". I need to change that. Anyway. Who can eat like a herbivore {practically} and not have a dessert?!

So check out this recipe I saw on Pinterest...I thought it was worth the try for 58 cals per Chocolate Chunk Muffin!

Source: healthyisalwaysbetter.tumblr.com via Darla on Pinterest

A very unconventional recipe - I have never made a muffin with no flour! Anyway, here is the recipe in case the link above ceases to exist someday. {When choices are given, my selections are in blue}

1 3/4 oats
3 egg whites
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 C plain greek yogurt* (or regular plain low fat yogurt)
1/2 t cream of tartar (or 1 1/2 T vinegar)
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 C hot water
1 C sugar substitute (like Splenda) OR 1/4 C + 2 T Stevia*
1/2 C choc chips

*I used Chobani fat free plain yogurt and Stevia in the raw
Preheat oven to 350, line muffin tins. In a blender (or food processor), mix all ingredients together, except for choc. chips. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. Place in a bowl and stir in 1/4 C choc chips. Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 10 mins. Remove from oven, sprinkle remaining choc chips on top, bake for another minute or so. (until inserted toothpick comes out clean). If making 24 muffins from the batter, it's 58 cals per muffin.

UPDATES/NOTES: I make these often now. What works best for me, is to put the oats in the blender alone, and grind until "powdery", and then add the rest of ingredients, and blend until mixed and smooth. Spray the muffin papers with vegetable oil spray. Also, it cooks in my oven for about 18 mins. I put chips on top at the 10 min mark, and return to oven until done.

MY ISSUES
Basically only one...maybe two. It doesn't look like the fluffy muffin pic online, it looks like this:

The main problem though was that it stuck to the muffin papers really bad. Next time I will spray the muffin papers with veg oil. ?. Weird. The batter was slightly thinner than normal muffin batter, maybe more like/slightly thicker than cupcake batter. It definitely needed the chips in/on top to sweeten it up. They are very cocoa-y...and I am not a dark chocolate fan (if you are, you would love!)...I don't think I'd enjoy them much without the sweetness of the chips on there. But as it is, this is a very yummy recipe, that I will make again for sure. I may attempt to grind/blend the oats and then mix everything with the Kitchenaid instead of blender? Brian and the kids adore them, picking everything they can off those papers! No one complained of it tasting too healthy or not sweet enough. Worth another shot and a few tweaks for sure.


RASPBERRY FROZEN YOGURT
Since I have an ice cream maker, I wanted to make a healthier ice cream type dessert. My first try was yummy. Find this recipe and many more, here.

3 C unsweetened frozen raspberries
2 C fat free plain yogurt (I used fat free Chobani Greek Yogurt, Vanilla flavour)
1/3 C white sugar (to taste)
1 T vanilla extract (I omitted this, since the yogurt was already vanilla, not plain)
1/2 - 1 C mini chocolate chips

Process all in blender until smooth (except choc chips), and follow ice cream maker instructions, add choc chips at the last five minutes to ice cream maker.

This was a little tart, but VERY good. I actually preferred it to ice cream using heavy cream...the texture was better, and it left a better taste in the mouth. (sometimes the heavy cream gives a "coats the tongue" feeling/aftertaste, and the yogurt does not). If using a sweeter fruit (strawberries?) I bet you wouldn't need much/any sugar. Next time I will use plain yogurt, I just didn't have any at the time, and wanted to get it done:-). We all loved it!