Category: Dessert

Perfect Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

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Do not let the name of recipe #14 fool you!  These babies are lactose-free, sugar-free, and 90% gluten-free!!  (And they can be made totally gluten-free if you like).  How is that for a super sweet treat?  And you would never guess it based on the taste.  They are AWESOME!  I got rave reviews on these. They disappeared in a flash, both to friends, colleagues, and as a result of my not being able to stop eating them.

Those who know me personally know that I adore autumn.  Everything about this season is awesome to me.  The feeling of new beginnings and anticipation that dances in the air.  The boots and scarves making a re-emergence.  All things plaid.  Roaring fireplaces becoming commonplace in homes once more.  Warm drinks a permanent fixture in peoples hands again.  Leaves the color of flames dancing on street curbs.  The air dipping into brisk and chilly territory, inviting everyone to spend more time cozying up.  Movie marathons and thick books are especially enticing.  AND, the explosion of all things pumpkin flavored!!

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Superb Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

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Alright, people.  Recipe #12 is a major gift.  This is, hands down, my personal favorite recipe to make and eat on a regular basis.  It is DELICIOUS.  One would never guess that this cake is chalk full of good-for-you ingredients.  It tastes like a fudgy, decadent, dense, rich chocolate cake.  However unlike a typical chocolate cake which is loaded with sugar, calories, bad-for-you fat and all sorts of things that are terrible for your body, this one is gluten-free, refined sugar-free and lactose free!!  It hits all three health points.

For about a month, I was whipping up this bad boy every weekend.  Its that good.  On second thought, you might not want to try out this recipe.  It will change the way you eat chocolate cake forever.  The recipe may sound and look slightly complicated to initial onlookers.  Dont worry, its not.  After making it twice, I have the process memorized.  Its super easy to throw together.  And then you have the awesomeness of a healthy chocolate cake in your house for enjoying alongside of your tea and coffee for the next week.  You’re welcome 😉

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Healthy Carrot Cake

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Here it is folks.  Breaking into the double digits with recipe #10.  This one is a fitting followup to the previous pumpkin recipe.  Carrot being another quintessential fall flavor.  Though its funny, I didnt always think that.  When I was younger, I thought carrot cake was repulsive.  Carrots in a cake?  Who would consider such a thing.  Vegetables were the vile things our parents forced us to eat in order to “be healthy.”  Not interesting, fun, nor tasty to a child.

Another one of the many great changes that come with age.  Embracing desserts made with vegetables, like this delectable carrot cake.  This version is a signifigantly lighter and healthier version as opposed to traditional carrot cake.  As you can see from the barrage of photos, I am particularly pleased with how this one came out!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake

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Recipe #9 (get excited, its a good one).  It doesn’t get much more “New England” than this.  And being a born and bred New Englander myself, this is one of the many things I have longed for since having moved to Europe.

When a beautiful thing called autumn comes along which results in an fiery explosion throughout the trees (Google: New Hampshire during autumn.  You will see what I am talking about), the temperatures dropping steadily, consumption of hot drinks growing ever so enticing, boots, plaid and wool jackets coming out in abundance, scarves wrapping enthusiastically around necks and roaring fires beginning to occupy ones home hearth more and more often as the weeks continue to pass, one more stellar thing happens.

A massive onslaught of all things pumpkin flavored begins.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pastas, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins and cookies, pumpkin pancakes (wink, wink) and yes, pumpkin cheesecake.

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Buckwheat Cinnamon Honey Banana Bread

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Here we go with recipe #5.  Banana bread is such a nostalgic dish isn’t it?  I feel like most people, at one point or another during their childhood, were served banana bread by Mom.  Its a simple dish but so incredibly yummy.  This version is just as good as the one you remember, but its gluten-free, refined sugar-free and lactose-free.

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Baked Stuffed Autumnal Apples

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Recipe #4!  While admittedly I am not a huge fan of apple desserts, this one knocked my socks off.  Its cozy, sweet, totally tasty.  Its a roaring fire and movie marathon afternoon kind of dessert.  A snuggle under the covers with a great book type of sweet treat.  And its refined sugar-free, gluten-free and lactose-free!

Photos for this recipe were a combined effort and teaming-up of Brooke and Dali.  To check out Dali’s work (both writing and photos), here is his travel blog!

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Lavender Honey Whipped Cream

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Recipe #3!!!  This would be the perfect accompaniment to most of my pancake recipes (stay tuned for more of those).  It would also be excellent peaked atop a slice of pumpkin pie, pecan pie, any pie really.  It would be delicious heaped on a pile of the pumpkin lavender pancakes, the recipe for which I posted prior to this one (hint, hint).  A spoonful on top of a slice of chocolate cake would be absolutely delectable.  The lavender paired with the richness of the chocolate would be outstanding.  You get the idea.

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