Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Easy Heart-Shaped Food for Valentine’s Day

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It’s pretty easy to make heart-shaped food for Valentine’s Day! I’m pretty sure this is the least expensive way to treat your family and show them extra love!


Our family hardly ever spends extra money on Valentine’s Day, but we do like to make our food fun!

I recommend getting an inexpensive set of Heart-Shaped cookie cutters in a variety of sizes like this one. Then you and your family can be creative with all the ways you can make heart-shaped food!

Easy Heart-Shaped Food for Valentine’s DayYum

Food you can easily shape into hearts (with or without cookie cutters) before serving it to your family on Valentine’s Day:

  1. Simple Whole Wheat Pancakes
  2. Whole Wheat Waffles
  3. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
  4. Quesadillas
  5. Pizza
  6. Whole Wheat Donuts
  7. Poptarts
  8. Quick Mix Biscuits
  9. Soft Pretzels
  10. Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts
  11. The Easiest Chocolate Fudge
  12. Peanut Butter Honey Fudge
  13. Chocolate Chip Brownies
  14. Chocolate Chip Cookies
  15. Cheesecake Brownies
  16. Butterscotch Bars

To go with your Heart-Shaped Foods, here are some bonus Valentine’s Day food ideas, you’ll enjoy looking through these lists…

Red and Pink Treats (No Food Dye!)

Sprinkles are fun, but not entirely necessary if you have naturally red and pink goodies like these:

  1. Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
  2. Strawberry Cream Muffins
  3. Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
  4. Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries
  5. Strawberry-Peach Slushies
  6. Strawberry-Kefir Smoothies
  7. Strawberry Yogurt
  8. Strawberry-Yogurt Fruit Dip
  9. Strawberry Christmas Salad (which obviously becomes Strawberry Valentine Salad on Feb. 14)
  10. Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait
  11. 7-Minute Strawberry Ice Cream
  12. Strawberry Creamsicles
  13. Strawberry Shortcake
  14. Strawberry Milkshakes
  15. Easy Raspberry Syrup (for your heart-shaped pancakes)
  16. Raspberry Lemon Cream Cups

Don’t forget obvious foods that are red – like tomatoes, sweet peppers, strawberries, grapes, cherries, or raspberries!

Chocolate Valentine’s Day Treats

Chocolate is always a hit on Valentine’s Day! (And if you’re me, it’s also a hit tomorrow and the day after that.) Here are some great chocolate treats you might consider making to share with your family:

  1. Warm Chocolate Soother
  2. Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries (which I realize I mentioned above, but it is both red and chocolate, so it deserves to be in both categories)
  3. No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bites
  4. Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
  5. Peanut Butter or Caramel Chocolate Truffles
  6. Low Sugar Chocolate Cake
  7. Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake
  8. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
  9. No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
  10. Homemade Chocolate Frappe
  11. Chocolate Cheesecake Pie
  12. Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

What are some of your family’s Valentine’s Day traditions?

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The Most Amazing Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

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I am about to introduce you to The Most Amazing Flourless Chocolate Cake.

Why do I sometimes share flourless treat recipes? Because we can all stand to eat fewer grains. (But apparently I’ve decided that chocolate is still a necessity.) It’s also fun to bless the gluten free or grain free eaters among us. And I promise you this: EVERYONE will be blessed by this Amazing Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe!

I’m finding that flourless=moist. How about that? Want more of our family’s favorite flourless treat recipes? Here you go!

11 Flourless Treat Recipes

Now how about the most Amazing Flourless Chocolate Cake?

I will warn you that while most of the recipes I share now are 1-step, simple as can be recipes – this Flourless Chocolate Cake is a bit more involved. Worth it? Oh, it is so worth it. I got this recipe years ago from my friend Kim and it is truly incredible!

The Most Amazing Flourless Chocolate Cake

The Most Amazing Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) plus 3 Tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
  • 1¼ cup sugar or sucanat (more or less to taste)
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 Tablespoon milk
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375°. Butter a 9-inch spring form pan, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Butter the paper, and set the pan aside.
  2. Place two-thirds (8 ounces) of the chocolate and 1 cup (2 sticks) of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Stirring often, melt chocolate with butter until completely blended. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Add sucanat and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sift cocoa into bowl and stir until just blended.
  3. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake has risen and top has formed a thin crust. The cake should be just firm in the center when done. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate, removing sides of spring form pan. Remove and discard parchment paper and set cake aside to cool completely.
  4. While waiting for the cake to cool, make the chocolate glaze. Melt remaining 4 ounces chocolate and 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, then stir in milk, honey and vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly.
  5. When cake has cooled, pour glaze onto the center. Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, smooth the glaze very gently along the top and sides of the cake. Chill cake, uncovered, for 30 to 60 minutes before serving to set the glaze and make the cake easier to slice.

 

Doesn’t that look fabulous? It is super rich and oh so chocolaty. Save this recipe to use at your next special occasion. Or next Thursday is fine too. :)

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The Best Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes (Only 6 Ingredients!)

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Whether or not you need to eat a gluten free diet, you will want to make and enjoy these fabulous and highly nutritious 6-Ingredient Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes! Wait until you hear how and why we came up with this recipe.

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My 18-year old son came home after a weekend away and shocked me by saying this, “Ok, Mom. For the next 30 days, Jacob and I are cutting out all junk food and empty carbs. We’re going to do 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups every day. At the end of the 30 days, we’re going to see how we feel, and then we’ll eat birthday cake.”

Birthday cake? Well yes. This was part of the plan because Justus happened to be turning 18 the day his eating challenge ended. Perfect timing, eh?

I was amazed during the 30 days that followed Justus’ proclamation. He was extremely disciplined, ate loads of fruits and veggies for snacks, and even packed big salads to eat in the bleachers between his basketball games. (By the way, his friend who joined him in this challenge is also on the basketball team. They cracked me up more than once as they sat side by side eating salad in the bleachers. Here are your team captains, ladies and gentlemen, showing leadership on and off the court.)

While I loved this challenge the boys had set their minds to, I was also very cautious. Justus has zero body fat and is extremely active, so I watched carefully to be sure he was getting plenty of good carbs, good fats, and good proteins along with his fruits and veggies. He realized only two days into the challenge that he needed to keep a big supply of easy and filling snacks around the house so he would stay full and energized throughout the day.

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He made himself Chicken Cheeseballs, Simple Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips, Honey Sweetened Fat Bombs, and Low Sugar Crustless Cheesecakes.

easy-mini-crustless-baked-cheesecake

Throughout the day, Justus would randomly drop down to the floor and do a round of push-ups or sit-ups. I even caught the kid searching for high protein snacks on Pinterest, then heading to the kitchen to experiment. Is he my son or is he my son? It was too much fun. (I’m still debating whether I’m going to let him graduate high school and move out in a few months.)

Together we came up with this wonderful recipe for The Best Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes. Call them muffins if you want as these are full of nourishment and very adaptable. Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes are very filling since they are so full of fiber and protein. Commonly I watched Justus eat three of them along with an entire pound of strawberries. Ha! No need to worry that this kid was still getting enough good carbs and calories while on his “diet.”

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I truly think eating treats like these Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes can be good for all of us! Coconut flour is a wonderful source of fiber, protein, and fat. It’s grain free so it gives our bodies a break from all the wheat or rice we often consume. I plan on serving these to my entire family for breakfast and snacks long after Justus’ special diet ends.

Where to Get Coconut Flour

I tend to shop around to find the best price for Coconut Flour and have even discovered that our local Wal-mart now carries it. A little Coconut Flour goes a long way, so keep that in mind as you shop for this gem.

coconut_flour

You’ll notice that most Coconut Flour recipes call for a significant amount of eggs. This is because Coconut Flour is very dry. Eggs provide liquid needed, plus “stickability” in recipes. I love that combining Coconut Flour with so many eggs makes treats like this so high in protein and good fat!

Ready to enjoy these amazing Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes?

The Best Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes

The Best Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • ½ cup coconut flour
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ⅓ cup honey
  • 6 eggs
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Scoop batter into 12 paper-lined muffin tins.
  3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

The Best Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes

I personally love these cupcakes with a big scoop of Stevia-Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting spread over the top or plopped onto the plate.

Stevia Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid stevia to taste (I use about 30 drops)

Whip ingredients together in a blender or with a hand mixer until smooth.

If you don’t mind the added sugar, sprinkle some chocolate chips on top of each cupcake before baking. Add nuts if you like.

Coconut_Flour_Muffin

Here a few other coconut flour recipes you’ll find here at Heavenly Homemakers:

What are your favorite ways to get plenty of good carbs, fats, and proteins?

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Make Your Own Real Food Pudding Cups (and Save Money!)

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Perhaps you are excited as I am about the Easy Peanut Butter Pudding recipe I shared a few days ago. If so, you can get even more excited about how you can make different varieties of homemade pudding to create your own transportable Real Food Pudding Cups! Not only are these Pudding Cups made with real food, you will be amazed at the low cost for such a wholesome treat!

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Take note that some people (who shall remain nameless) tried to overfill their cute little cups and then the lids wouldn’t go on. Correction: The lids did go on, but pudding pushed up and over the top through the lid and squished down the sides of the cup, ruining the cuteness and creating a mess. I don’t know who would do this, but some people did this, so don’t be one of these people.

The nameless people who overfilled their cups had to scoop out pudding into an extra cup before placing lids on top. But then look:

Homemade Pudding Cups

Transportable pudding cups!

A couple years ago I discovered these awesome BPA Free Cups with Lids at Amazon and have used them over and over. We’ve used them for applesauce cups and for transporting berries or veggie dip. They come in super handy! And now, we learn that we can use them to make these Easy Homemade Pudding Cups.

Let’s talk Pudding Cup Ingredients and Cost

I recently checked the price and ingredients for pudding cups at the store. First of all, the store-bought pudding cups sit on a shelf instead of in a fridge, so we can be sure there are many preservatives included. The biggest reason to avoid these is that they include two kinds of hydrogenated oils plus vegetable oil, none of which can our bodies digest well or utilize for nourishment. Cost for store-bought is roughly $0.25 for a 3.25 ounce cup.

How much do Homemade Real Food Pudding Cups Cost?

I used all real food, organic ingredients and my cost break down was still surprisingly low! So if you use non-organic ingredients you might find yourself saving even more!

I estimated that one batch of pudding cost me about $1.75. This made six 5-ounce cups of pudding, which breaks down to $0.29 per pudding cup! But since the cups I’m using are slightly bigger than store-bought pudding cups, the price per ounce of homemade pudding is actually less expensive than purchased pudding cups!

How about that? Making Real Food Pudding Cups saves us money and ensures that we’re getting a wholesome, filling snack or dessert!

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You can have fun making pudding varieties and mixing and matching fun flavors! Reuse the disposable cups (they wash up easily!) to save even more.

Easy Recipes for Pudding Cups

Two Great Pudding Cup Tips

  1. Adjust the sugar amount in each of these recipes to your liking. Take note also that you can use any sweetener you choose, from maple syrup to honey, brown sugar, or sucanat.
  2. These Pudding Cups freeze well! Make a bunch ahead of time, then pull out a few at a time to thaw as needed.

What can you do with extra egg whites after making homemade pudding? 

These pudding recipes call for egg yolks as the egg whites tend to create a funny texture as the pudding cooks. I set the egg whites aside, store them in a jar in the fridge, then often add them to our scrambled eggs to use them up. Or you can make Coconut Macaroon Cookies.

Make Your Own Real Food Pudding Cups

What’s your favorite variety of pudding? Do you have any other great ideas for utilizing these reusable plastic cups with lids?

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15 Delicious Dips for Your Super Bowl Party

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As is always the case this time of year, I have absolutely no idea who is playing in the Super Bowl. If it mattered to my husband it would matter to me. But it doesn’t, so it doesn’t. Make sense?

What does matter to me is the fun night of fellowship we will have at our friend’s house during the game. Matt and I actually do enjoy watching the occasional game of football. The big buffet of fun foods never hurt my feelings either. I’m all about the dips at a Super Bowl party. I have several I’m thinking of making to share. Here are some of our favorites:

15 Delicious Dip Recipes

Yum


Black Bean Salsa – Five healthy ingredients, it’s like a flavorful meal all by itself.

Cream Cheese Salsa Dip – This is the easiest dip on the planet (2 ingredients!) and everyone loves it.

Easy Veggie Dip – Oh my cucumbers. This is the very best way to enjoy raw veggies. It stirs together in about two minutes.

Healthier Cheese Dip (a Velveeta/Rotel Knock-Off) – Who needs “processed cheese product” when you can have the real deal?!

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip – Just like the kind you pay too much money for at a restaurant.

Nacho Cheese Pretzel Dip – Just do it. This is amazing.

Spicy Avocado Dip –  My family devours avocados when we quickly mix this up. Hello, healthy goodness.

Easy Cheesy Bean Dip – This also only includes five delicious ingredients. Easy and healthy – that’s how I roll.

Hamburber Sauerkraut Dip – Even if you don’t like kraut, you will love this. It is incredibly good.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip – This is like whipped heaven in a bowl, perfect with apples and strawberries.

strawberry_dip_2

But there’s more! A big part of healthy snacking is healthy dipping. I love that dips can add nutrition as well as help us get the veggies down. In our newest eBook, 227 Healthy Snacks, we’ve included several new dip recipes like:

  • Super Easy Hummus
  • Green Chili Dip
  • Fresh and Quick Salsa
  • Spicy Sausage Chip Dip
  • Spicy Lentil Dip

227 Healthy Snacks

Not only will you find these 5 awesome new dip recipes, you’ll find 222 more healthy snack ideas and recipes too. From bars to muffins to hearty cookies to fruit and veggie snacks, you will be totally equipped with loads of healthy snacks to keep your and your family full and nourished! Get all the details about this book here.

227 Healthy Snacks 2

Grab your copy and start putting together these easy, healthy recipes!

227 Healthy Snacks
$7.95

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Whole Wheat Lemon Pound Cake

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It’s been birthday week at our house, as our third son turned nine on Tuesday. We now have 13, 10, 9 and 6 year olds at our house (and two 37 year olds but never mind that). 

Birthday week means mom makes a special treat…usually a cake chosen by the birthday boy. I’ve tried to come up with healthier varieties of cakes and treats so that we’re not just consuming empty calories…even if it is a birthday. You can click through this entire section of Healthy Celebrations if you’re interested in finding other healthier varieties of treats I’ve shared in the past. I mean, Lemon Pound Cake is delicious, but sometimes you just need Chocolate. Or is that just me? Regardless, hopefully you’ll find something fun that will please your sweet tooth in our Healthy Celebrations section…and I plan to continue to add to this category as I continue to experiment. If you recall, White Cake and Angel Food Cake are both on the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge list!

For some reason, two of the last three birthdays celebrated at our house have included a Lemon Pound Cake. It has been fun to experiement with…although the first time I got a little bit carried away with the lemon juice. We were all pretty puckered up by the end of that cake. Whew! A little lemon goes a long way!

lemon_pound_cake

Lemon Pound CakeYum

1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 1/4 cups sugar (I use sucanat and I’m pretty sure honey would work well in this recipe)
1/4 cup 100% lemon juice (from a bottle or from freshly squeezed lemons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

With beaters, whip butter, sour cream, sucanat, lemon juice and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time beating well with each one, or until you get tired of adding eggs one at a time…then just crack them all in and beat well. (Sometimes I get so lazy about individual egg cracking…)  Beat in flour and baking powder until the batter is well mixed.

Pour cake batter into a well buttered cake pan (I use a fluted cake ring pan). Bake in a 325° oven for 50-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool for at least 10 minutes before removing cake from pan and placing on a cake plate. Allow cake to cool completely before pouring Lemon Glaze over the top…

Lemon Glaze

1/2 cup 100% lemon juice  (if that’s too much lemon for ya, just cut the amount of juice down and substitute water)
1 cup powdered sugar (I recommend using unbleached organic powdered sugar or your own homemade powdered sugar from sucanat)

Use a fork (or a spoon or a whisk or whatever is clean at the moment) to mix the two ingredients. Drizzle the glaze over the cake. You can even use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the cake before you start to drizzle so that some of the glaze goes down into the cake!!

lemonpoundcake

So are you a lemon lover? Does lemon make you pucker? Have you ever been one of those parents who have given their baby a lemon wedge, just to see the face they make?

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Sucanat Powdered Sugar Frosting

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Let’s first do a quick sucanat/sugar review for those of you who are new to these ingredients:

Sucanat:  Organic dehydrated cane sugar juice – my favorite form of natural, unrefined sugar to use in cookies and cakes. Recently I learned that you can use sucanat to make your own powdered sugar. It’s very cool! You can substitute sucanat one for one when a recipe calls for brown or white sugar. Rapadura is the same thing as sucanat…just with a fancier name. Rapadura is usually a little more expensive.

White Sugar and Brown Sugar:  Refined sugars that have been stripped of most their nutrients. 

You can read more about natural sugars and sweeteners I recommend (and don’t recommend) here!

Well…I wish this frosting was a little less…tan. But, what can we expect when we make frosting from our homemade sucanat powdered sugar? The darkness of the sucanat is easily disguised in this Chocolate Fudge Frosting, but there’s no way to make “white frosting” unless you use regular  powdered sugar.

Oh, except that Baking Mama mentioned in my Cream Cheese Frosting post that you use honey granules to make powdered sugar, which makes an unrefined, but whiter frosting. I’ll have to look into honey granules.

I did find that this Sucanat Powdered Sugar Frosting worked great for Gingerbread Men. I’ll share a recipe for those fellas later! I think this frosting would also be good on just about any cake you make…it has a very rich flavor.

Sucanat Powdered Sugar FrostingYum

1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-4 1/2 cups sucanat powdered sugar

Blend all ingredients together with beaters, adding your sucanat powdered sugar a bit at a time until your frosting is the consistency you would like it to be.

Be sure to check out our other recipes using Sucanat Powdered Sugar: 

I hope you’re having a lovely time at our brunch. If you haven’t had a piece of Easy Breakfast Casserole, go ahead and help yourself. Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win one of our Christmas Brunch Presents! Coming up next on the menu:  It’s Gratituesday time…which will hopefully offer you a little Christmas Brunch encouragment during this busy time of the year!

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Cream Cheese Frosting

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I’ve had several requests for a good frosting to use for decorating sugar cookies. I’ve worked on a “sucanat powdered sugar frosting” and will share the recipe in a few days. Obviously that frosting is going to be a bit on the brown side and is probably not quite what you’re looking for in a Christmas cookie frosting (unless you’re frosting Gingerbread Men).

Today I have two Cream Cheese Frosting recipes to share with you. One uses unbleached organic powdered sugar, which has no nutritional value, but at least it’s not bleached or filled with pesticides. It is very much a compromise food, but we’re talking about Cream Cheese Frosting here. At Christmas time. Don’t go crazy, but if you’re gonna frost some sugar cookies anyway, you’ve gotta make sure you really enjoy the taste of the splurge!

The second recipe I’ll share uses honey or real maple syrup for sweetener. This frosting doesn’t work as well on cookies…it’s fluffier and better on cakes. BUT, since it uses honey or maple syrup, it’s one step healthier than the unbleached organic powdered sugar variety.

Powdered Sugar Cream Cheese FrostingYum

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 1/2 cups unbleached organic powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip butter and cream cheese with beaters until fluffy. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until mixed thoroughly.

Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4- 1/3 cup honey or real grade B maple syrup (depending on your taste) OR 30 drops liquid stevia
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip cream with a mixer until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, honey and vanilla until creamy. Fold cream cheese mixture into whipped cream.

You can make your own cream cheese very easily! I do prefer store bought cream cheese in these recipes however as the homemade cream cheese is cultured and therefore a little too sour for my taste in these frosting recipes.

I will admit right  here and now that if something has cream cheese in it, I have a hard time staying out of it. I CAN NOT make either of these frostings very often because I love them too much. Are you a cream cheese lover  like I am?

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Healthier Coconut Cream Pie (and a Tropical Traditions Baking Supplies giveaway!)

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It’s “pie time” right? Otherwise known as “the holidays”. I know we typically think about pumpkin pie (er, squash pie) right now, but Tropical Traditions just sent me a fabulous big box of baking supplies and I decided that a Coconut Cream Pie was in order. And just you wait until you finish reading about this recipe because you’ll have a chance to win an even bigger box of baking supplies! I couldn’t be happier for you! This is one great baking supply box giveaway!!!

I received from Tropical Traditions:  Organic Coconut Flour, Organic Palm Shortening and a big bucket of Organic Shredded Coconut. See, told ya I just had to make a Coconut Cream Pie.

With my Organic Coconut Flour, I could have made a gluten free pie crust, which is so cool. I opted to use this Whole Wheat Pie Crust recipe instead, using the awesome Organic Palm Shortening. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again..I LOVE TROPICAL TRADITIONS PALM SHORTENING. Among other things, it makes wonderful, delicious, healthy, flaky pie crusts!

So, to make a Coconut Cream Pie, you need a pie crust. Bake it and let it cool. 

For the filling, I used my Creamy Vanilla Pudding recipe and  threw in some shredded coconut.

Coconut Cream Pie FillingYum

2 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks (save your egg whites in a separate bowl for the meringue!) (yes, that’s “muh-rang”, not mar-in-goo”)
1/2 cup real maple syrup (grade B is best for you) or honey
4 T. arrowroot powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, maple syrup, arrowroot powder, salt and shredded coconut. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until pudding begins to thicken. Remove immediately from the heat, and continue to stir until pudding is creamy. Add butter and vanilla and continue to stir until mixed. Pour this mixture into your baked and cooled pie crust.

You saved your egg whites, right? Whip ’em up good with beaters.

You can stop whipping when they look like this:

Add about one Tablespoon of real maple syrup to the beaten egg whites, beat them just a little bit more, then spread the meringue onto the pie. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded coconut over the meringue.

Put the pie into a 350° oven for about 10 minutes or until the tips of the meringue are slightly browned. Watch it carefully so that it doesn’t over-brown!

Tropical Traditions is going to supply one of you with everything you  need to make a Coconut Cream Pie and then some!! Okay, you’ll have to get your own milk and a few other goodies, but here’s what you could win in this Tropical Traditions Baking Package:

Organic Coconut Flour(2.2 pounds), Organic Palm Shortening (one gallon), Organic Shredded Coconut (one gallon), Organic Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil (one quart), Organic Coconut Cream Concentrate (one quart)

Is that not the most exciting baking prize? You can make so many tasty holiday treats with this package! This gift works for those of you with gluten free needs, and those without! Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. I’ll draw a random winner on Saturday!

Here are links to some of Tropical Traditions free and awesome recipes:

Also, you can subscribe to learn about Tropical Traditions sales and specials…a great way to learn about discounts and free shipping!!

This giveaway is now closed…thanks!

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Healthy Caramel Frosting – with Homemade Sucanat Powdered Sugar

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Click here to see all of the recipes in the
Healthy Celebrations section of Heavenly Homemakers!

This Caramel Frosting recipe is very exciting because you can make it with your very own homemade powdered sugar!!! If you don’t have sucanat or you don’t feel like making powdered sugar, DO NOT substitute regular pre-made powdered sugar. This recipe won’t taste very caramelly if you use the white stuff. (I made up that word. It is pronounced:  care-uh-mellleeeeee. I like it.)  If you do need to make a substitution, use regular ol’ brown sugar.

You do need to know that this recipe takes several minutes to make. It isn’t hard to make, you just have to beat it (and beat it and beat it…) for several minutes to turn it into frosting. I had my kids take turns holding the beaters while I made the donuts to go with the frosting. They were making frosting…they did not mind holding the beaters.

Oh look, only four ingredients!!!

Caramel FrostingYum

2 cups homemade sucanat powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place sucanat powdered sugar, butter and cream in a pan on the stove. Cook until butter is melted. Bring mixture to a boil and boil for one minute, stirring allthewhile (I made up that word too. It is pronounced ahll-thuh-wyle. It means – keep stirring for the whole minute and whatever you do, don’t stop). Remove this from the heat and pour it into a mixing bowl. Beat mixture with electric beaters for 15 minutes or until it thickens and becomes spreading consistency. Add vanilla and beat for a little bit longer, because you just love beating your frosting and you know it.

Here is the mixture as it is beginning to boil…

Now, we have poured it into our favorite stainless steel bowl and we are beginning to beat it…

Hello there. We are still beating our mixture. 
It has been only a few minutes but already it is getting thicker…

Wow, will you look at that? It’s been about eight minutes and not only is the frosting getting thicker, it is turning a nice shade of…what shade of brown would you call that? Caramelly?

Eleven minutes and counting. Thicker and thicker it becomes allthewhile we have been beating it. We have switched beater holders a few times. Life is getting more and more exciting as we see that this really might become frosting after all…

Almost done. I think we’ve been beating for longer than fifteen minutes. What is that about?

Okay, we are going to pronounce that the Caramel Frosting is now finished. It’s not as thick as we may have expected, but we can certainly spread it on our donuts. (Or on a cake if that’s what we were making this for.)

Sure enough, we were able to spread this Caramel Frosting on our donuts.

The moral of the story is this:  Just when you think you can’t possibly keep beating your frosting, stick those beaters back in the bowl and KEEP BEATING. Hey, if you’re alone in your kitchen, it’ll be good prayer time. Who says you can’t pray over your bowl and beaters? 

The other moral of the story is this:  Good things come to those who beat. For a long time. When you eat this frosting on a cake or on donuts or on cookies…you will recognize that the beating was all worth it.

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