Black-Bottom Cupcakes

My friend recently moved into a new apartment across town. Due to various reasons, I wasn’t able to offer much assistance in the way of helping her move items, but I thought in lieu of physical labor, I could offer to bake her something fabulous to enjoy in her new home.  Anything she wanted. Her only request was that it be chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

Confession: I don’t particularly like chocolate. Therefore, I have never made anything chocolate. So I had to do some serious research.  In my search, I found Black-Bottom Cupcakes. Here’s the trouble though, they aren’t exactly easy on the calories.  I really wanted to try these out before I made them for my friend though, since I planned to modify the recipe to make it a more reduced fat treat than it was. 

I mean come on, I don’t run all those miles just so I can break even with eating dessert. This cupcake though? Worth each and every one of the 11 miles I ran on this past Sunday morning.  I even forgot to add in one of my subs (some sugar free applesauce) which happened to be quite fortuitous because I can’t tell that I ever needed it.  SK’s original recipe is linked above, below is what I made though

Calories 246 / Fat 11.1g / Carbs 39.8g / Fiber 2.0g / Protein 4.3g

Serves 12

For the filling:

8 ounces Philadelphia 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg white, at room temperature

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

For the cupcakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1/4 cup Canola oil

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling: With a hand mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and egg white until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with Pam or line the tin with paper muffin cups.

2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.

3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth. Do not over stir.

4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly.

5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.

P.S. I absolutely run so I eat things like this without feeling guilty.

Lady Track Shack 5k and Glazed Orange Cranberry Cake

This morning was the Florida Hospital Lady Track Shack 5k race in Mead Gardens. It was an amazing race that I had really been looking forward to.  The event is to celebrate womens health and fitness and the only participants in the race were women.

There were nearly 2,000 participants; from elementary aged girls to senior citizens and the elderly.  There were “running in memory of…” signs attached to the backs of many runners, and a woman dressed from head to toe in a pink fairy costume. It was an emotional race for a lot of women there, from the snippets of conversation I heard at the start and on the course. On my way out, as I traversed the path that ran along the race route, just coming into the last 0.10 of a mile to completion was a woman wearing a pink shirt, screaming in joy and excitement when she spotted the finish line, both arms pumping the air, smile splitting her face from ear to ear…and soft peach fuzz for hair on the top of her head. Not only did she live to fight another day, but she lived to race another race, and it brought tears to my own eyes to see it.

I did really well in the race and I’m happy with my results.  I came in 94^th in my age division – which could be amazing or dead last, since I don’t know how many were in my age group.  I also came in 568^th overall. On top of that, I beat my best time by more than a minute for a new personal record of 32:35, with an average pace of 10:29 per mile.  I also had my body fat percentage taken at one of the booths and came out with 18.8%. Anything less than 18% is “Excellent” on the chart they gave me, so I have that to strive for as a new goal.

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Glazed Orange Cranberry Cake

3 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 ¾ C sugar

4 Teaspoons baking Powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon Nutmeg

½ teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Cup fat free milk

1/3 Cup Canola Oil

4 Large Egg Whites, lightly beaten

1 Tablespoon grated Orange Zest

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

1  Cup dried Cranberries

1 Cup Confectioner’s Sugar

2 Tablespoons Orange Juice

Orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk together milk, egg whites, oil, vanilla orange zest in  medium bowl. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir until well combined. Stir in cranberries. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean; 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

To make glaze, put confectioner’s sugar into a medium bowl and slowly stir in orange juice until a thick glaze forms.  Drizzle glaze over top of cooled cake; sprinkle with orange zest Let cake stand until glaze sets, about 20 minutes.  Serves 20.

180 Calories / 4g Fat / 19g Carbohydrates / 1g Fiber / 3g Protein

Banana Cream Pie

So, my banana cream pie doesn’t emulate Emeril’s at all. His has heavy cream and split vanilla beans, and a whopping two cups of sugar!  I bet it melts in your mouth, honestly.  My banana cream pie is much less complicated and can be whipped up in about 15 minutes, if you don’t count the time for chilling it in the fridge so it firms back up.

I looked all over the house this evening for a few chocolate chips or a left over Halloween candy bar that I could shave and use for decorative topping in my pie, but as it turns out, I don’t buy chocolate chips or leave left over holiday candy lying around. In fact, I took every last left over candy bar to work on November 1^st.

Slice a bunch of bananas and line a graham cracker crust with them. Be generous!

Mix 6 oz reduced fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla,  and 1/4 Cup reduced fat sour cream. Once mixed, add 8oz of Cool Whip and mix until smooth.

Add filling into pie crust on top of bananas, and refrigerate for a couple of hours until firm.

If your house has chocolate  in it, shave some to top this pie with before serving.  If your house is like mine and has an abundance of fruit and nary a chocolate morsel to be found, top with orange zest and a few extra slices of banana.

Adapted ever so slightly from Gina at Skinny Taste
183 Calories / 5.9g Fat / 29.4g Carbs / 0.7g Dietary Fiber / 2g Protein 

Crackle Spice Drops

Grocery stores really know how to get you, don’t they? You’re standing in line, waiting patiently to check out, pay for your items, and go home. And then you see it, the cover a magazine boasting the perfect cookie that you know you have no choice but to make, now that you’ve seen it.  I saw that magazine.  Tempted as I was to race back into the aisle to grab each ingredient, I opted for putting the magazine onto the conveyor belt for check out instead. Self restraint at the helm.

And then I got home, and promptly wished I had raced back into the aisles and grabbed all the ingredients to make those fabulous looking cookies.  

It took me three days to decide that I really needed to make the cookies.  Three days of debating if they were “worth it” and by the time I was confirmed on baking, I was at work, and my magazine was at home. The grocery store? Between the two.  

I had no idea what my ingredients were for the cookies in the magazine, that I knew was laying, turned to the appropriate page, on my coffee table. 

So I made these delectable little things instead.

 1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar     

1 large egg

1 Tbsp vanilla extract   

2 cups all-purpose flour   

1/2 tsp baking soda   

1/4 tsp table salt   

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice   

1/4 cup(s) powdered sugar          

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a mixing bowl, on medium speed, beat margarine with brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla extract; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and spice.

Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into powdered sugar to coat. Place onto baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 7 to 8 minutes. Yields 1 cookie per serving.

Spiced Applesauce Cake w Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I am on a major dessert kick.  Major. I’ve made something practically every other night for the last couple of weeks.  Most, however, have consisted of pumpkin.  While good, even pumpkin can get old day after day. So I was on a pretty good mission to find a dessert that was simple to squeeze in with a day of cooking Pho, and didn’t require me to make a grocery list of ingredients.

 

As luck would have it, I actually found a delicious looking cake recipe on Smitten Kitchen, but I don’t use a stick of butter in anything I cook anymore. Ok, I do – but only for Thanksgiving when I make Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes and I don’t eat those, everyone else does.

 

I modified the original recipe and was able to reduce the fat content down to a third of what it originally was just by making a few easy substitutions.  I used to be really afraid to mess with recipes, but then half the time, I'd mis-read the directions and screw it up anyway, so I started to be a little braver. Now I really get a kick out of the re-creation experiments.

In this particular recipe, I subbed out some of the white flour for whole wheat to up the nutrients and fiber content, used an egg white in place of a whole egg, and of course, practically omitted the butter. I also really love cinnamon, can you tell?

 

Also, on the frosting, I reduced the amount of butter, and opted for a reduced fat cream cheese. The end result was still a yummy, super moist cake.  If it hadn’t been nearly midnight by the time it was cooled and iced, I would have had it with a cup of coffee – but it went exceptionally well with a glass of milk, too. 

 

1-1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour

3/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt

1/2  tsp Ground Ginger

1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
1 Cup Light brown sugar, packed

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Cups unsweetened applesauce (divided into 1/2 cup and 1-1/2 cups)

1 Large whole egg

1 Large egg white

1 Tbsp Butter, Unsalted

1/4 Cup chopped Walnuts (optional)

5 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon  unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup Confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8 or 9-inch square cake pan with parchment paper and spray it with Pam for ease in getting out of the pan.

 In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, gloves, and ginger (if you’re using dry Vanilla like me, add it here with the dry ingredients – otherwise, add it in the next step as indicated).

 

In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Beat in the remainder of the applesauce. At low speed, mix in dry ingredients until combined. Do not over beat.

 

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, ~ 40 minutes.  Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting,  beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer on high until fluffy.  Scrape sides as needed with a rubber spatula. Add confectioners sugar and cinnamon to mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over top of cooled cake. Sprinkle walnuts on top, if desired.

If you're into small-to-moderate portion sizes like me, this cake will grant you 16 decent sized pieces. 

Balsamic and Sesame Glazed Drumettes

I signed up for another race.  A “Turkey Trot” race held on Thanksgiving morning.  I figure this way, I’ll have a good 600 calorie head start going into dinner that night.  I actually did a practice run two days ago     I did awesome, and finished my 3.2 in just over 30 minutes, with a 10:41 pace.  Who knows if I can duplicate that but it’s good motivation. I just have to beat my own personal time from my September race, 36:21. It’d be so much cooler if I had a partner though.  Or someone to root me on from the sidelines.

I’m also motivated by the personal trainer that teaches his class at the park where I run.  I’ve seen him there every run, whipping his pupils into shape.  After several weeks, I finally said hello to him, and introduced myself. I was between laps at the time.  I stop after each lap to take a drink of water, since it’s awkward to run with a bottle of water in your hand.  He commented on seeing me (us) there pretty consistently, and I had this moment of panic when I realized he would notice if I failed to show up one day. Like he cares if I come to run or not. So, now I dare not skip a day, and then wouldn’t you know it, my next scheduled day to run after that, he isn’t there.

I have a love affair with Thai food.  Asian food in general, really. I make it a lot at my house. 

Tonight’s dish was Balsamic and Sesame Glazed Drumettes. Sounds tasty, right?  They were so good I wanted to suck on the bones caveman style. The glaze is mostly Balsamic Vinegar and Soy sauce, with some seasonings and hot sauce. I served it with steamed broccoli and a side of brown rice. I used the same ingredients in the rice as the glaze. I sauteed some scallions and my last home grown yellow pepper, with some garlic and a few pieces of slivered ginger. For a while there I was making Thai fried rice and adding coconut milk in to make it seem richer, so following that idea, I added some soy and balsamic to my liquid base for the rice to cook.  

And for dessert? 

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake, made using my homemade pumpkin puree that I still have left. I really had to play with the seasonings in this one, but I'm satisfied with the result.  I may use slightly less Allspice next time though, as that stuff is potent.

8 oz 1/3 less fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Pureed Pumpkin

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Tbsp  Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice

1/8  tsp Allspice

1/4 tsp Ground Cloves

1/4 cup Brown Sugar, packed

9 inch Graham Cracker Crust

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, whip cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, allspice, cloves and brown sugar for a few minutes until smooth.  Spoon mixture into pie crust and chill for a few hours, until firm. Serve with cool whip or whipped cream.

Sweet Potato Pie

I ran a 6-miler this morning on a pretty haphazard trail that dead ended at a highway, and then picked back up a mile and a half down that same highway. If you’ve never run on the shoulder of a highway, I don’t recommend it.  I debated turning back several times, but I kept convincing myself not to, and eventually it was only logic that told me I was closer to the trail head now than if I turned back.  I spent the majority of that mile and a half on the grassy shoulder, watching for dips in the ground, and ant hills.  Admittedly, this section of the run was probably the most demanding physically, and while it was noisy and slightly scary to run right there, I can’t deny that it was great exercise for my legs.

The trail itself was actually really nice, and meandered through wooded areas, and over small creeks, and there were several bridges that if I had been on a stroll, would have been nice to stop at.  There was even one spot that struck me as the perfect picnic spot.  Not that I’ve had a picnic in about 20 years, or anything.

Speaking of picnics, this pie would be a great addition to any fall picnic basket.   Well, maybe not but it’d be a good addition to any dessert rotation already in place, especially if you need a “fall fix” during other times of the year.

I really don’t like sweet potatoes, I admit it.  But it’s not beyond me to make things I generally don’t like just for the sake of making them.  I don’t find them gross, they just aren’t my thing. I tried to make sweet potato bread that wasn’t at all what I wanted it to be in the end, so, determined not to let these potatoes best me in the kitchen, I made a pie.  It’s a little reminiscent of Pumpkin Pie, and is a good alternative if you’re not a fan of pumpkin.

 

2 sweet potatoes (~2 lbs)

2 tbsp light butter, softened

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup Skim Milk

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Allspice

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 Graham Cracker pie crust (or one of your choosing)

Boil sweet potatoes whole in skin for about 50 minutes, or until soft. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin. Blend potatoes in a blender and pulse for about one minute to remove all fibers.

Place sweet potatoes in a bowl, add butter, and mix well. Using an electric mixer, mix in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for ~60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing.