sweets Archives - Salted Crown | Food, Fashion, and All things in between.

Entries Tagged as 'sweets'

No Bake Coconut Chocolate Bars

08/05/2014

Is it possible to get off of a sweet kick? If so, I’d like to know how. Seriously. Why can’t the food pyramid consist of cookies, popcorn, cereal, granola bars, and chai lattes? I feel like the crime rate would go down drastically because people would be happy. At least, if I were into crimes, that would totally solve things for me…

This recipe is one I almost feel silly telling you about. When my husband was taking the pictures, he kept saying,”…so are you planning on doing, like, anything else because you haven’t really done much for me to shoot…?” Exactly. That easy. I am a grab-and-go kind of gal when it comes to snacks so these are absolutely perfect. And in bar form? I mean come on. Could things be any more desirable? Oh and there’s chocolate. And coconut. That alone should seal the deal. These bars are simple enough that you could enlist the help of the “mini chefs” at your house. Add, combine, press, cut, voila.

These really are SO easy that it makes me ashamed for buying bars all these years when I could whip them up in literally NO TIME at home (5 minutes, tops?). Not to mention they’re free of all that crap that’s added to a lot of bars these days. Ain’t no shame in eating these.

15-ish pitted dates (I used a couple of handfuls)
1/3 c. almonds
1/2 c. chocolate chunks
1/4 c. shredded coconut
sea salt

Add ingredients to food processor and blend until mixture is well combined.
In a loaf pan lined with parchment paper, pour mixture in and press it down so that it all sticks together.
Place in refrigerator to harden up (this step just helps keep the bars from being crumbly.)
Cut into bars and serve.
Enjoy!

Kitchen Towel – Target | Loaf Pan – Kohls | Food Processor – Cuisinart | Knife – Wusthof
Shirt – similar here & here | Dress – similar here & here

Chocolate Chia Cookies

05/12/2014

Would it be wrong to say that I could eat cookies for every meal of every day for the rest of forever? Cookies are the way to my heart (aka my stomach). If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right. I would love to wake up every single morning to a plate of freshly baked cookies without the guilt of all the sugar and calories that eating 342087495 cookies would do. A couple of cookies for breakfast, about 4 for lunch, and 3 or 4 for supper would do me just fine. Let’s be real though. Cookies unfortunately are not known for having fantastic nutritional value. I would love to say I have a cookie here that would fill all your nutritional needs throughout the day (who WOULDN’T want that?!), but I have something that would make you feel quite a bit less guilty about eating more than one at a time. Not only does the recipe contain ingredients that are super good for you, they taste amazinggggggg.

I had a handwritten recipe laying around for forever it seems and I put my own twist on it. Instead of adding an egg, I used a chia “egg”. If you aren’t familiar with that, it’s a dairy free substitution that works just like an egg would (directions for making them in the ingredient list below)! Also, the batter for the cookies is so good that you might want to use it for a fruit dip or you just grab a spoon and go to town, which is my preferred option. These cookies are so good and so satisfying, you’re guaranteed to run out of them REALLY quick. ;)

1 chia “egg” (1 tbsp. chia seeds + 2.5 tbsp. water; mix & let set for 5 minutes to activate)
1 c. blonde coconut sugar
1 c. White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips (for vegan cookies, use cacao nibs or vegan chocolate chips)
1 tsp. ground flaxseeds
splash of vanilla coconut milk (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, make your chia “egg” and let it set.
In a mixer, add the coconut sugar, peanut butter, flaxseeds, baking soda, and chia “egg”.
Mix well.
If mixture is too dry, add a splash of coconut milk or your preferred milk and mix well.
Add in the chocolate chips and mix until combined well.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and place scoopfuls of batter onto it.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Enjoy! :)

Stand Mixer – Kitchenaid | Measuring Cups – West Elm | Measuring Spoons – World Market | Ball Jars – Amazon | Shirt – J Crew

Banana Bread

04/03/2014

This is my husband’s weakness. Fix him a loaf of banana bread and he’ll be one happy camper, that is, until it’s gone. If it were up to him, we’d always have a fresh loaf around at all times. I would love to make that happen more often but we can’t seem to keep bananas around the house long enough for them to turn really ripe. Sigh. I did manage to hide some bananas from him and once they start getting too speckle-y and brown, he won’t touch them. That, my friends, is how I finally managed to get a loaf made! If you follow me on Instagram (@saltedcrown), you would have seen the photo I posted of the fresh banana bread I had made to surprise my hubby with last night. He had to work late so I wanted to make something special for him while he was out. To win brownie points, I cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry, AND made banana bread for him. Score one for the wifey. I hadn’t originally planned on posting this recipe quite yet, but after such good feedback and comments from some of my sweet followers, I decided to go ahead and share it on the blog. This is a recipe that my sweet grandmother, better known as Meme, mailed to me when I moved away. She has always made the absolute best banana bread (I believe that woman can do no wrong in a kitchen) and I was so excited to finally get my hands on her recipe. I had been toying around with the idea of making a healthier, gluten free version and last night’s attempt was a complete success! I substituted quinoa flour for plain flour which gave it a more nutty flavor. I also substituted regular sugar for coconut sugar because, well, it’s coconut sugar. How could you not?

1 c. quinoa flour
2 eggs
1/2 c. Mazola oil
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. raw coconut sugar
1 tsp. organic vanilla
1/2 c. pecan pieces (I was out of pecans so I replaced it with slivered almonds)
3 really ripe organic bananas

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Beat eggs until they’re fluffy. Then add sugar, oil, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt with a fork.
Once well mixed, add to egg mixture.
Mash bananas with a fork until creamy and fold into mixture along with the pecans.
Bake in a loaf pan that has been greased and floured.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
Be careful not to overcook – Lower temperature in oven if it begins to get too brown.
(I baked mine for 30 minutes at 350 degrees then lowered the temp. to 325 and baked 5 more minutes.)
Enjoy! :)

Plate – Anthropologie | Gold Utensils – West Elm | Pot Holder – West Elm

Flourless Fudge Brownie

03/17/2014

I would consider this recipe a “happy accident” if you will. My original plan was to make flourless chocolate cookies. Sounds rather simple, right? Well obviously I made it much harder than it needed to be. I got all the ingredients out and started the process. The batter looked amazing, tasted amazing, and the kitchen SMELLED amazing while the cookies were were baking. Unfortunately, they turned out absolutely ridiculous. I debated on getting our neighbor to play frisbee with me with one of the cookies. It was that bad. I had a bowl of leftover batter and it just seemed waaaay too good to just throw out and give up. Now I don’t give up on a recipe easily so I knew that I had to salvage this batter and make something delicious out of it. I mean, while the cookies were baking, I heard my husband from the living room say several times,”dang babe! That smells INCREDIBLE! I can’t wait to try it!” I just simply answered,”yep…uh, it should be good…” while in my head frantically trying to come up with a way to keep this situation from turning into a total disaster. Please tell me I’m not the only one here who’s been in this kind of predicament. Oh, you too? Good, I don’t feel so alone now. Anyway, I got the bright idea to just pour the batter into dish and make one big cookie/brownie/frisbee and just see what would come of it. About thirty minutes later, out of the oven came one of the most magnificent desserts I’ve ever indulged in. I don’t know if there are even words to describe how fantastically fantastic that tasted. It turned out so stinkin’ good that I honestly could not believe that it came out of my oven! What?! I mean, it took all the self control I had in my body not to do a total face plant into the dish. OH. MY. WORD. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops how delightful this dessert was! The top was glossy and slightly cracked. Under that was the most warm, gooey, fudgy, brownie goodness that has ever hit my tastebuds. I couldn’t stop myself. I could talk about it for dayssssss……

2 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar
1 c. organic light brown sugar
2 pinches sea salt
4 large egg whites
1 tbsp. organic vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. milk chocolate bar, chopped
3/4 c. cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the confectioner’s sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and salt.
Stir in vanilla and egg whites and whisk until the batter is moist.
Add in chopped chocolate.
Grease a brownie pan/dish.
Pour batter into dish and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until top is glossy and lightly cracked and the center is gooey.
Enjoy! (and trust me, you will enjoy!!)

Pot Holder – IKEA | Spoon – West Elm | Whisk – West Elm

Banana Lemon Tart

03/05/2014

Sometimes I like to be boring. I’m a self-proclaimed creature of habit actually. I know what I like and how I like it. Instead of venturing out of my little “food comfort zone”, I like to eat the same things in different ways (I’m sure I don’t have to tell you though. You’ve probably picked up on that already.) If I like something, I stick with it. I’m loyal to my favorites. I can’t help myself. Sometimes, though, I have rare moments of bravery where I venture out into the unknown. This time, I went for something that’s popular (and quite frankly, I’m somewhat afraid of) –VEGAN COOKING. Let’s all take a moment to let that soak in. Yep, it happened. Am I now vegan? No way, Jose. I couldn’t do that to myself. I have a hard time of letting go to my beloved foods such a dairy, meat, and all things non-vegan. For all those who are, you ROCK! It takes a lot of will power to give up those certain types of foods so y’all have my utmost respect! For real. This was an attempt to create a tart, and honestly, I think it turned out pretty darn good! At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to call it. My husband tried it and he agreed that a tart would be the most accurate description of it. Hope y’all like it!

Now, since this is my first go at this type of recipe, be gentle. I’m still learning! :)

3/4 c. tapioca flour
3/4 c. raw cane sugar
1/4 c. coconut oil, softened
1/4 tsp. salt
2 small bananas, mashed
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 grapefruit

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix together coconut oil and sugar.
Add in mashed bananas and mix well.
Mix in grapefruit juice and lemon zest.
Mix in flour and salt.
Pour into a greased or lined 8×8 brownie pan (or something similar) and bake for about 25 minutes.
**Optional: can make a crust for the tart (I didn’t get that adventurous) and can add ice cream or “nice cream” of choice :)
Enjoy!

Mortar and Pestal – West Elm | Glass Beaker – West Elm | Ceramic Plate – Target

Pomegranate Quinoa Scones

12/10/2013

Check out this recipe video!

I’m totally on a dessert kick lately, if you haven’t already noticed. Can someone just go ahead and make it a rule that all normal food be replaced with sweets? I mean, the world would be a happier place, don’t you think? I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that way. Unfortunately, desserts generally lack nutritional benefits (sigh). But, there is good news. If you want a healthier alternative to a dessert, this one is for YOU, friend! It’s especially fantastic for those that are on a gluten free diet. And for those that aren’t, well, you’ll love it just as much!

The name hints to a unique and interesting treat. When I first came upon this recipe, naturally I wanted to know more when I saw that it had quinoa. Quinoa in a cookie? What?! I love quinoa in everything, but a cookie?? Yes!! So, I read on and instead of regular flour, quinoa flour is used. All those on gluten free diets I’m sure are very familiar with this but it was something all new to me. The quinoa flour gives the cookies somewhat of a nutty taste. Combine that with the juice of pomegranate seeds and you have quite a delightful cookie on your hands!

1 1/4 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c. unsweetened coconut milk
lemon juice + zest
seeds of one pomegranate
1 c. organic buckwheat flour
1 c. oats
1/3 c. quinoa flour
1/3 c. tapioca starch
1/3 c. organic cane sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
blonde coconut sugar
agave nectar + powdered sugar, for topping

Place butter in freezer for about 30 minutes before using.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, whisk coconut milk and juice of a lemon and chill for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together buckwheat flour, oats, quinoa flour, tapioca starch, cane sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and lemon zest.
Remove butter from freezer and grate butter.
Fold grated butter into flour mixture.
Whisk 1 egg into coconut milk mixture. Add to butter and flour mixture. Fold in pomegranate seeds.
Roll mixture out. Use a floured cookie cutter to cut out scones.
Whisk 1 egg in a small bowl.
Brush egg wash on top of scones and sprinkle with coconut sugar.
Bake scones for 18 minutes.
Let them cool on baking sheet for about 15 minutes and then finish cooling on a baking rack.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle agave nectar on top.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Small Plates and Sweet Treats

**Big thanks to my sweet friend Rachelle for letting me shoot this video at her place! Love you, friend!**

Dress (sold out) – similar here & here | Plate – Anthropologie

Cherry Vanilla Crisp

12/05/2013

Check out this recipe video!

Y’all know by now that I have a thing for sweets. I also have a big thing for Food Network. I read every magazine of theirs that I can get my hands on. I found this fabulous recipe in an older edition and fell in love. I had to use some restraint to keep from eating the whole thing. My absolute favorite part of the dessert is the cherries. HELLO, YUM!! When cooked, they’re warm, soft, and gooey and just add so much sweet flavor. Even though it’s amazing on its own, my husband thought that it would be amazing on top of homemade vanilla ice cream. Talk about tasty!

It’s simply a perfect year-round dessert. t’s versatile enough that other fruits could easily be substituted in place of the cherries. I think it would be amazing if you used apples or peaches. Oh my, I think I feel new ideas coming on. Apples, cinnamon, caramel…oh yes. I’m going to have to work on that. In the meantime, try this out! If you make your own twist on it, I’d love to know allllllll about it! :)

1 lb. pitted cherries, fresh or frozen (thaw before using)
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. + 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sliced almonds
2/3 c. rolled oats
pinch of salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, add cherries, 1/2 c. sugar, vanilla, and 2 tbsp. flour, cinnamon, and salt. Toss to coat.
Transfer to baking dish.
To make topping, whisk the remaining flour, oats, almonds, and sugar. Stir in melted butter.
Sprinkle topping over cherry mixture.
Bake until topping is golden brown and cherries are bubbly, about 45 minutes. Serve warm.
Enjoy!

Recipe found on Food Network

Apple Pastry

11/10/2013

I love sugar. There, I said it. I just feel like y’all should know that up front . If I could live in a world where all the food consisted of desserts and candy, I’d be the happiest girl in that world, that’s for sure. Just call me Princess Lolly (all you Candyland lovers should get that one. She was always my favorite, just in case you were wondering). To curb that terribly strong sweet tooth of mine, though, I go for fruits. Lately, apples have become my new best friend. I could probably eat them for just about every meal if I didn’t have a tiny amount of self control.

A couple of days ago, I found a recipe in a cookbook I’ve had for years and I just couldn’t seem to pass it up. It was the perfect amount of sweetness for my liking, but I didn’t have to live with the guilt of eating loads of sugar. I switched up the recipe a bit to suit my liking (adding apples, of course) and it turned out marvelous…and pretty! I actually surprised myself when I saw just how lovely it turned out. Normally, I tend to steer clear of anything that has the word “pastry” attached because it just seems so fancy (and by fancy, I mean complicated). This recipe, though, was quite surprising just how simple it was! It’s a keeper!

3 tbsp. sugar or sugar substitute
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 pkg. frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
2 Fuji apples
sprinkle of cinnamon, to your liking
1/3 c. strawberry preserves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp. sugar and flour in a small bowl.
Unfold one thawed roll of pastry sheets onto your baking sheet. Prick entire surface of pastry with a fork.
Evenly sprinkle the sugar and flour mixture over the pastry sheets.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until pastry is slightly golden.
In the meantime, thinly slice apples.
Once pastry is out of the oven, arrange the apples, slightly overlapping them.
Sprinkle remaining 1 tbsp. of sugar and cinnamon over apples.
Bake 15 more minutes, or until apples have softened and pastry is a deeper golden-brown.
Microwave the strawberry preserves until melted (about 30 seconds or so).
Brush the preserves over the top of apples.
Let pastry cool slightly.
-Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from 100 Calorie Snacks, 200 Calorie Desserts, & 300 Calorie Main Dishes