Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins

Just about every week I am baking muffins for my eldest son's breakfast.  He loves to have baked goods for breakfast while my youngest is an oatmeal fan.  These Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins are one of his favourites.  I make them half with white whole wheat flour to make them more filling and healthy.  In Canada, you can find white whole wheat flour at Bulk Barn.  I find it's lighter than regular whole wheat and isn't as dry.  I have used some coconut sugar in this recipe.  If you don't have any, you can substitute regular sugar.

Halal S'mores {Blossom & Bean}

I recently posted about all the goodies I received from Blossom & Bean.  One of those items was the Blossom & Bean Halal S'mores Kit.  I was looking forward to trying this since I've never had S'mores before.  The box comes with a bag of Campfire Halal Marshmallows, Graham Crackers and Lindt Chocolates.  There were no instructions in the kit so I did some searching and initially I had baked them on 400°F for 2-3 minutes.  This method was not very good.  The cracker ended up burning.  After some discussions with my sister-in-law who loves all things candy, I put them under the broiler until the marshmallow browned.  These were much better.  I used 2 pieces of chocolate but there is room to put more!

Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

In the box I received from Grace Kennedy for my review was a bag of coconut flour.  I had to do a bit of googling to figure out how to use coconut flour.  It is very absorbent and cannot be substituted on a 1:1 basis with regular flour.  It is a gluten free flour and when baking you'll notice recipes using a lot more eggs to make up for the lack of gluten.

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I'm always on the search for a low fat cookie recipe.  My boys love cookies and it really is hard for them to stop at one.  I came across this recipe on Skinnytaste.  I liked that they were oatmeal cookies and I find that if I put chocolate chips in anything, the boys will gobble them up!

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Summer is half over.  I didn't use my ice cream maker at all during July.  My boys love chocolate and I've been wanting to try a chocolate ice cream recipe for awhile.  I came across a recipe for Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Brownie Bits over at Annie's Eats.  I had every intention of adding the brownie bits and even baked a batch of Low Fat Fudge Brownies.  But when I tasted the ice cream I thought adding brownies would have made it way too sweet.

Creamy Chocolate Pudding Pops

I love to make popsicles for my kids.  In the summer, they enjoy sitting in the backyard and having a frozen treat to cool down.  I've seen some recipes for pudding pops and they looked really simple to put together.  These Creamy Chocolate Pudding Pops turned out really good!  They were a hit with everyone.  The best part is the recipe only has 4 ingredients!

Strawberry White Chocolate Sprinkle Ice Cream Sandwiches {CLBN}

With the weather finally warming up we are spending more time outside.  With warmer weather also comes enjoying more frozen treats!  Today on the blog I am re-creating Canadian Living's Strawberry White Chocolate Sprinkle Ice Cream Sandwiches.  I will be showing you step-by-step how I prepared these Ice Cream Sandwiches.  I was nervous when I got my assignment since I don't do step-by-step pictures in my regular posts because it's difficult to take a lot of pictures before Bilal gets curious and starts to poke around.  But he was very well behaved for this post!  So please read on to see how I prepared these Strawberry White Chocolate Sprinkle Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Cookies are one treat all kids jump for.  I find cookies take so much more time to make then a cake because you have to keep putting batches into the oven.  Also lately I've been having them end up flat.  I love the idea of cookie bars where you spread the batter into a pan, bake and then cut them into squares.  These cookies are a bit on the salty side so if you would like a sweeter cookie then reduce the salt.  They also use oil instead of butter so no creaming butter and sugar which for me is a timesaver.  The first time I made them we thought they were very tasty but a little greasy.  So I reduced the oil.  Less oil meant they required a little more effort to spread in the pan but we enjoyed more this way.

Skinny Chocolate Fudge Banana Muffins

In yet another attempt to make some healthy breakfast goods for the boys I tried out these Skinny Chocolate Fudge Banana Muffins that I found over at Sally's Baking Addiction.  After the last couple of muffin recipes I've made I know that I can't sneak bananas into Hasan's muffins. He knows...and he doesn't like it.  But I have to say these muffins were very good.  Hasan had one and really enjoyed it.  Then he noticed there were some white flecks in it and once he knew it was banana he was done.

100% Whole Wheat Baked Chocolate Doughnuts {SRC}

It's the last Monday of the month which means it's time for Secret Recipe Club!  This month I was assigned So Tasty, So Yummy written by Katie.  Katie has a ton of recipes and it was really hard to narrow it down.  I wanted to make so many of her dishes like Baked Chicken Burritos with Sour Cream Poblano Sauce, Chicken Gyros and Shake Shack Burger.  But in the end I settled on her Whole Wheat Chocolate Doughnuts.

Peanut Butter, Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Energy Bites

Most days I find myself really hungry between meals...I'm always searching for a snack.  Especially days I go to the gym.  By the time I get home I'm so hungry but first I always have to look after what Bilal needs so I keep delaying eating something.

Chocolate Granola {SRC}

It's Secret Recipe Club time again!  This month I was assigned Table For Seven.  Table For Seven is written by Erin who is a "mom to many"!  Erin has 6 children.  Her youngest passed away last summer at the age of 31 days....this story brought me to tears.  I cannot even imagine what it is like to lose a child.  My father passed away in February which was and is difficult to deal with.  I cannot even imagine the pain of losing a child.  May God help you with this great loss Erin.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies {Giveaway}

My kids love cookies...if they have cake and cookies in front of them they almost always go for the cookies.  I don't bake too many cookies because usually they have so much butter and usually I can't stop myself from munching on them all day.  I saw this recipe on Mmm...is for Mommy and it only used 1/3 cup of butter so I pinned it.

Quick Chocolate Cake

To date this is my go-to recipe for chocolate cake.  It is very easy to whip up!  I go easy on the frosting whenever I make it (but honestly I would love to make more and pipe nice pretty flowers).  You can easily halve the recipe which I have done on numerous occasions.  I usually make this cake the day before because I find chocolate cakes and brownies usually taste much better the next day.  This time I made the frosting a little thicker so I could spread evenly around.  Sometimes I thin it out a bit and spread it over the top and just let it drip down the sides.  I usually use half of the frosting recipe I have written below.

Soft Chocolate Cookies with Lentils (Eggless) - SRC

It's time for Secret Recipe Club again.  This is my second month participating and I am loving it.  First there is the excitement of getting the blog you are assigned and picking out the recipe you are going to make.  Then on reveal day the excitement of seeing who got your blog and what they made.

This month I was assigned a fantastic blog, Healthy Delicious.  I love the name of this blog because it is exactly what I try to do...make food that tastes great and is still healthy.  Healthy Delicious is written by Lauren who has been cooking since she was only 10 years old (opposite of me who started when I was on the verge of getting married).  I love her philosophy of eating great tasting food in smaller portions rather than large portions of food that doesn't taste so great...everything in moderation!  Please do visit Lauren's blog Healthy Delicious and check out some amazing recipes and photographs.

Easy Vanilla Truffles

I made these truffles a while ago.  My cousin, Rafia, was visiting from Chicago.  When Rafia was small my mom used to babysit her in the day.  She became a very special part of our family.  When she turned 4 it was time for her to go to school which meant the babysitting days were over.  Rafia lived in Markham which wasn't exactly next door to us.  I remember the last day she was at our house my mom was very upset.  I felt so sad we would no longer have Rafia at our home 5 days of the week.  So just in those few years she became such a special part of our lives.  Eventually her family moved to Chicago which was more difficult than the end of the babysitting.  Now she is a young woman and I am so proud of the person she has become.

S'more Rice Krispie Treats without Gelatin

I was so excited when I figured out how to make Rice Krispie Treats without Gelatin.  I couldn't wait to make different varieties.   This recipe is from Tasty Kitchen by City Baked.  I made a few changes....using marshmallow creme and adjusting the quantities of the other ingredients.  I find when making Rice Krispie Treats using marshmallow creme, it takes a long time for them to harden up.  I made this in the afternoon with Hasan and by evening they still hadn't harden up.  They were much better the next day but they are not as solid as the traditional Rice Krispie Treats.  Regardless, these were great.  Perhaps next time I will reduce the amount of Rice Krispies and see if that solves my problem.  When they were done Hasan was asking me to make them again.  I was planning on making the plain ones but he requested I make it with chocolate again!

Low Fat Fudge Brownies

I love finding recipes that taste great and are low fat.  I found this recipe at Obsessed with Baking.  I made a few minor changes to the recipe.  I used semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet, reduced the vanilla to 1 tsp (since that is all I had) and I used one egg white.  This is originally a Cook's Illustrated recipe.  So far I have had good results with Cook's Illustrated recipes so I was eager to give this recipe a try.  At first I didn't like this brownie very much.  I don't like coffee and I could taste the coffee.  I took these over to my parents.  My mom really liked them.  The next day I couldn't believe how good these brownies tasted.  I find some chocolate baked goods really do taste better the next day.  I was so sad I only had 4 brownies left.

Cookie Dough Truffles

After attempting Oreo Truffles I wanted to try to make some Cookie Dough Truffles.  I love cookie dough.  My favorite ice cream at Laura Secord is Cookie Dough.  I used margarine instead of butter because I didn't have any unsalted butter and wanted to reduce some of the fat.  I was making the cookie dough at night when both the boys were asleep.  I was scared they might wake up from the noise the mixer was making so I didn't cream the margarine and brown sugar enough.  The dough ended up being a little grainy.  These were very easy to make. I like the method of using a toothpick to dip the cookie dough in the chocolate and the garnish hides any hole at the top the toothpick leaves.  From the reviews I got these were really good but the Oreo Truffles were better.

Oreo Truffles

These are so easy to make.  Only 3 ingredients needed!

I found the recipe for these on Simply Frugal but I believe the original recipe is from Kraft Canada.  This was my first time making truffles. I had some trouble getting the hang of dipping  the truffles in the chocolate.  Next time I'm going to put them in the freezer to chill so I don't have any trouble when I dip them in chocolate.