Cooking Thursday: Naughty & Nice Treats

 

Hello lovely Friends!

I want to first of all share that today is sort of an official anniversary for Matt and I. Last year, on this day, when we applied for our marriage license we did it in the state where we live...not the wedding venue state. When we were at the courthouse and realized this - instead of having to apply again, we decided to get married right there on the spot! At least the legal part could be all complete. 

However, we still consider September 14th to be our actual anniversary because that's when we had all of our family and friends there, had the rings etc. Here is a pic from this day one year ago, though. We forever have a very funny story to tell! And if you want to read even more about our funny story you can click here.

For recipes today I wanted to first share a "naughty one" for these delish banana split cookies that I've shared before. I hadn't made them in a quite a while...but then made them to bring to the lake last weekend and forgot how good they are! With a base of funfetti cake and banana pudding - then throw in some chocolate chips and chopped cherries; well how can you go wrong??

Here is the full post when I shared these cookies the first time. Just click here.

And for something less naughty and really kind of nice - I thought I would share these pumpkin mini muffins I made the other day. As I mentioned, I've been back on track a lot more with exercise and tracking calories. 

And I had been craving something like a pumpkin cookie. But instead of hundreds of calories on one cooke - I figured out a way to make these mini muffins with some ingredients I had on hand. I sort of combined a few different recipes I found to figure out what ingredients worked for me. The only thing I would have done differently is sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar mixture on top before baking. These are "nice" because they are only about 40-50 cals a piece. I used oat flour, a little maple syrup for sweetness (they aren't super sweet - but you can add more to make them sweeter), and I used coconut greek yogurt because it's what I had, but feel free to use plain or vanilla too. And for the same 1:1 ratio you could use unsweetened applesauce instead. 

I like to drizzle a little of my 0 calorie salted caramel syrup over them - makes such a yummy caramel pumpkin flavor. And I added about 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter too. 

Tasty little treat with my hot tea on these days we've been having in the 50's! 

I'm embracing the cozy :) 

I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice so I made up my own with some cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

Aren't they adorable little guys? 🧡

This syrup is for my Fall coffee but it is also delish drizzled on the muffins 😋

Enjoy!! xoxo