Delish Pumpkin Pie!

I took this recipe from the nourishing apron…my fav sugar free site.  We've been making this pie for years, and everyone loves it and no one knows it doesn't have sugar.  This is of course just what you make with your leftover pumpkins after Halloween…before that, you buy your pies at Costco and deal with the sugar, because $5 for a huge awesome Costco pie is just ridiculously awesome!  But here ya go!  Jase cooks, purees, and freezes our pumpkin each year so that I'll make these….

2 cups pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 12 oz can evaporated milk (or coconut milk)
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt


pie crust…I either make Jase buy it, or Sprouts has some awesome whole wheat.  We have had ME make them, but then we just end up eating the pie out of the crust and trashing the crust…which is actually even healthier. :)


Combine all ingredients and pour into pie crust. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 45 minutes. You may need to cover the crust towards the end to keep it from getting too dark.

My favorite junk in the whole world!

I LOVE this stuff. Love it!  It's easy to make and so so so so good.  And you only need a little square at a time and you're good.  not that I ever do just one, but I think the normal average, non melt away addict could go for just one at a time.

MELT-A-WAYS

3/4 cp butter
3 T cocoa
1 T oil
1/4 cp sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg beaten
3 cps graham cracker crumb, not the crappy premade crumbs
1 tsp milk
2 cps powdered sugar
6 oz milk chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Crush graham cracker crumbs
2. Melt 1/2 cp butter in large sauce pan with cocoa and oil. 
3. Blend sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, egg and graham cracker crumbs into butter chocolate mixture.
4. Mix thoroughly, cool a little and press into a 9x9 pan. Put it in the freezer, while making the middle layer.
5.Cream 1/4 cp butter, 1 tsp milk, powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla, mix.
6. Spread over base mixture and put in the freezer to harden.
7. Melt chocolate chips and drizzle all over the middle layer, immediately cutting into small bite-size peices (I recommend a pizza cutter and a knife). If this is not done quickly the meltaways will look like a huge mess. Refrigerate or freeze until hard. Enjoy!

Sugarless berry cobbler and ice cream...

Ok, my friend Lanae has inspired me to try and make my desserts w/o white sugar.  It's not too hard. I had no idea.  But thanks to County Living magazine, I didn't have to try and figure out the sweetness on my own.  They have a recipe w/o sugar.  Here it is:

1 pint blackberries
1/2 pint raspberries
1/2 pint strawberries sliced
(or instead of the above berries, we just threw in about 2C of the Sam's club frozen berry mixture...which we go through like crazy!)
1/4C honey
3/4 C flour (whole wheat or white)
1/2 C oats
1/2 C agave
1 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 375.
In a large bowl mix berries.  Drizzle with honey.  Sprinkle with 4 T flour and toss.  Put it in an 8x8 baking dish.
Then mix the remaining flour, oats, agave and butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until mixture forms large, kinda sticky, lumps.  Sprinkle that over the berries.  Bake until golden brown....about 40-45 min.  Top with delicious coconut milk ice cream (again, no sugar)....or top with that awesome whipped coconut milk cream posted below...both are great, and my kids had no idea it was a dairy free, sugar free recipe!

Fresh Raspberry Bars

In no way are these healthy, or even low cal or low fat.  I cut this recipe out of a magazine a few months ago and have wanted to make them forever but have been waiting for raspberries to be on sale...FINALLY!  So we made them to take to the coolest lady in town as a thank you for an awesome backyard dinner she had us to....which itself was straight out of BHG magazine!

• cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/4
  cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2
  tsp. kosher salt
• 2
  cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• Softened butter (for brushing sides of foil)
• 3/4
  cup seedless raspberry jam or preserves
• 1
  pint (2 cups) fresh raspberries
• 1/2
  of an 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 4
  oz. goat cheese (chévre) or 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2
  cup granulated sugar
• 1
  Tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1
  large egg
• 1
  large egg yolk
• 2
  Tbsp. finely shredded lemon peel (zest)
• 2
  Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2
  tsp. pure vanilla
• Powdered sugar
  
  
  
  
  
  

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with a 24-inch-long sheet of aluminum foil, leaving extra foil extending over ends (use these later to lift bars from pan); set aside. In a large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until it just begins to blend and soften slightly, about 30 seconds.

  2.Add brown sugar and salt, beat on low speed until incorporated, 30 seconds to 1 minute. You're not trying to cream it, you're just mixing it in, Scott says. With mixer off, add the 2 cups flour. Beat on low speed until flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium, mix until ingredients form an even, cohesive dough (photo 1). "People tend to undermix shortbread, which makes it too crumbly," Scott says. "It's tough to overmix because of the amount of butter we use."

  3.Break dough into small chunks and distribute in prepared pan; with your fingers press dough into an even layer (photo 2). Bake 20 minutes or until dough has begun to puff and is just set. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes.

  4.Lightly brush exposed sides of foil with softened butter to keep filling from sticking (photo 3). Spread jam evenly over crust (photo 4).

  5.Sprinkle evenly with raspberries (photo 5).

  6.With a lemon zester, remove peel from lemon, making sure to avoid bitter white pith (photo 6). "For the most flavor, you want to do this right before baking," Scott says.

  7.In a large bowl beat cream cheese and goat cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Mix in granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon flour until blended. With mixer running, add egg, egg yolk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

  8.Pour custard batter evenly over berries (photo 7). Tilt pan back and forth to distribute evenly (photo 8). Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until barely set. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool, about 1 hour; cover and transfer to refrigerator. Chill 2 hours. Top will crack slightly as it cools.

  9.Use foil to lift the bars from pan. With a knife or metal spatula, support the sides of the bars while you gently peel the foil downward and away from sides of the bars (photo 9).

  10.Cut into long bars (photo 10), peel foil from bottom, and transfer to cutting boars using side of a long knife or spatula (photo 11). "Cutting first on the foil results in cleaner edges," Scott says. Cut into 24 squares
  Sprinkle very lightly with powdered sugar (photos 12 and 13). "It's much more interesting with just the rumor of sugar on top," Scott says. Makes 24 bars.