Peppermint Mocha

I normally don't put creamer in my coffee...I'm a black girl. However during the holiday season I get a big ole hankering for some peppermint mocha. I sometimes splurge and get one at Starbucks, but not on a weekly basis let alone every day. Tonight I decided I wanted a good cup of coffee with some Peppermint mocha creamer in it. For some reason I read the ingredients....bad idea for someone who wanted a good drink! Wanna know what's in it? No? I didn't think so....but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Here we go:
water, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soy bean oil and/or cotton seed oil, sodium caseinate, "natural and artificial flavors" (puh-lease) maltodextrin, mono and diglycerides, dipotassium phosphate, color added, carrageenan, dextrose, sucralose, acesulfame potassium 
Uh yeah, my spell check is lit up like Christmas with all of those additives. HOLY BUCKETS! So what am I drinking again? Oh yeah...creamer?! So, enough said. It was time to make up  my own. Add this to your favorite cup of coffee and enjoy knowing what the heck you are drinking! Oh, and another quick tip. If you already drink creamer in your coffee, keep that container.....even though it is currently housing a chemical concoction, clean it out and fill it up with your own....re purpose that sucker!

Ingredients

My re purposed coffee mate container with MY creamer in it
and my french press....the only way to make coffee!

5 packets stevia (not sure what that would end up being in tsps. Sorry. Test it out as you go if you have it in bulk.)
3 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs peppermint extract
1 can evaporated milk

Directions

Whip it all together with a mixer for a few minutes and viola! Peppermint mocha. I added about 3 tbs to my small coffee cup or 6 to my large mug, but feel free to add what you think tastes best!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. We have been so busy. Holiday stuff, family stuff, play dates, doing friends hair, chasing my kids, power outages, car repairs....you name it! I have been busy! I have a feeling I will be slacking in this time surrounding the Holidays. It is just too busy to keep up. However, this one I was hoping to post before Thanksgiving and well...I didn't get to it. But, here it is now. Better late than never I guess. My friend Nichole gave me a family recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies and asked if I could modify them to make them healthier. They biggest challenge in these is the filling! I mean Crisco and powdered sugar are the two main ingredients. Lets be honest....it tastes amazing! However, I would like to be able to eat more than one of these a year, so I took those two ingredients out completely! It was tricky, but I really like what I came up with. This recipe makes quite a few, but I just froze a bunch to eat later!

Cookie/cake Ingredients

2 1/2c raw honey

1 c vanilla Greek yogurt

1 c apple sauce   

3c pumpkin   

5 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

2 tsp salt                                          

1 tsp cloves

5 c whole wheat flour     

Directions    

                                

Cream yogurt, apple sauce and honey, then add pumpkin, spices, baking soda, baking powder, eggs, vanilla, and salt and mix well. Add flour one to two cups at a time and mix well.  Drop onto a cookie sheet 1-2 Tbs at a time. It all depends on what size you want them. Bake at 350 for 10 -15 minutes...don't over bake. 

Filling Ingredients

1 cup coconut butter (Olivio brand)

3 -8 oz cream cheese (could use fat free, low fat or full fat)

2 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

2 c raw honey

4 tbsp whole wheat flour

8-12 Tbs corn starch (This helps thicken and bind since I didn’t use any powdered sugar. Add one at a time until it thickens enough for you)

This is about how much filling I put in. You could use more,
but again, it isn't super thick and more would run.

*I have a slight disclaimer here. I really wanted to do this without sugar and it made it a little runny for the filling. If it is important to you to have the filling thick and fluffy, take out the corn starch and add powdered sugar in place of the honey. If you use the honey, make sure you refrigerate the filling before you fill the whoopie pies and then keep them refrigerated until you eat them. It will help keep the filling from running.

Directions

Cream together the coconut butter and cream cheese.Add in the rest of the ingredients and beat well. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Place some between two cookies and store in refrigerator. You can wrap some individually with saran wrap and freeze them. They are great to pack in lunches that way! They thaw by lunch time! J