Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Sweet and Simple Cranberry Cookies

by 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

You all know I’m not into anything fancy. The simpler the better when it comes to pretty much everything from food to clothes to schedules. So it probably doesn’t surprise you that I took my basic Sweet and Simple Butter Cookies recipe and added one tiny ingredient to make these Sweet and Simple Cranberry Cookies. Hmmm, I bet you can’t guess which ingredient I added. (Indeed, my ways are so mysterious.)

I’m not a big fan of raisins in my cookies. But adding dried cranberries to this simple butter cookie? Well, that takes them up a notch without adding any effort. Phew, no added effort? Well, that’s a relief. We cannot be expected to add effort to our cookie-baking endeavors. That takes all the fun out of eating a cookie.

Oh! But don’t you worry about me giving you permission to eat a cookie. These are low in sugar, with just a little extra added sugar when we toss in the dried cranberries. And check out how few ingredients these have? Just 5 simple items to grab to make these delights!

Sweet and Simple Cranberry CookiesYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Sweet and Simple Cranberry Cookies
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15-18
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups melted butter
  • ½ cup sugar (raw, white, brown, or sucanat)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
  1. Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl.
  2. Stir in vanilla extract.
  3. Mix in flour until well combined.
  4. Fold in dried cranberries.
  5. Scoop Tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto cookie sheets.
  6. Press the dough down with your fingers or a fork.
  7. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Want more fun low-sugar cookie recipes?

Here’s a great list of all we’ve come up with to share so far!

Want more fun recipes that include 5 or fewer ingredients?

There are over 100 reasons this is our most popular eBook!

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=32]

What’s your favorite kind of cookie? Ever tried cutting down the sugar in the recipe to see how it turns out?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Easy Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I served these Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls to a group of college kids, wondering what they would think since they were made with stevia. Five out of five college students were none the wiser, and declared this treat to be delicious. After all, how can we go wrong when cream cheese, peanut butter, and chocolate chips are the main ingredients?

I love having several jars of Homemade Peanut Butter on hand to use in quick recipes like this one. And of course, I like having several packages of cream cheese in the fridge, seeing as cream cheese makes everything better.

By the way, have you tried this Simple Cream Cheese Corn yet? Just when you think sweet corn can’t taste any better than it already does, you add cream cheese and it turns into a plate full of amazingness!

But back to the Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls. Our 5-year old Bonus Boy and I were looking through Pinterest (a dangerous idea when you’re hungry) and found a recipe similar to this one. Since I had all the ingredients on hand to tweak it into a healthy treat for us, he and I got started mixing these up right away. Success! And according to college kids who didn’t know these were on the healthier side, no one can tell these are low in sugar. Double success!

Easy Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls

Easy Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15-18
Ingredients
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 3 Tablespoons creamy natural peanut butter
  • 20 drops liquid stevia
  • ½ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Stir cream cheese, peanut butter, and stevia together until well combined.
  2. Scoop out small balls of the mixture and roll the balls into a bowl of chocolate chips to coat them.
  3. Chill balls for at least one hour before serving.

Here are some quick links to some of the finer ingredients in this recipe:

Want more Low Sugar Treat recipes?

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=18]

Some of these links are my affiliate links.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Delicious Low Sugar Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Because I am your friend, I am sharing this Delicious Low Sugar Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze just in time for Valentine’s Day. See, you can make this cake any time, any day. But Valentine’s Day is sort of an excuse to eat chocolate. So this cake recipe comes to you just in time!

Does the recipe look familiar? It should. I originally created and shared this recipe a few years ago, baking it in a regular cake pan. It remains my all-time favorite cake recipe, and I usually spread Low Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting over the top.

But sometimes it’s fun to mix things up a little by, you know, pouring your cake batter into a pan of a different shape. Do I know how to party or what?

Delicious Low Sugar Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze

3.5 from 2 reviews
Delicious Low Sugar Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 eggs
  • CHOCOLATE GLAZE:
  • ½ cup butter
  • 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 Tablespoons milk
  • 2-4 Tablespoons honey (sweeten this to your taste)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sucanat, salt, and baking soda.
  2. Set aside. In a saucepan, bring oil, water, and cocoa to a boil.
  3. Pour liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredient mixture.
  4. Stir well.
  5. Add sour cream and eggs, mixing well.
  6. Pour batter into a buttered bundt pan.
  7. Bake in a 350° oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  8. Allow cake to cool completely before drizzling chocolate glaze over the top.
  9. For CHOCOLATE GLAZE:
  10. In a small saucepan combine butter, cocoa, milk, and honey.
  11. Cook and stir over low heat until ingredients are well combined and mixture begins to thicken slightly.
  12. Remove from heat.
  13. Stir in vanilla.
  14. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Want many more delicious, low sugar treats? Check this out!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Easy Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

My first attempt at creating Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies actually turned out too sweet! This was shocking seeing as I had cut the sugar down tremendously from the original recipe I had found to give me the inspiration. I cut it down even more and voila. Peanut Butter Brownie perfection!

I love that cutting down sugar in recipes still turns out awesome treats. These are as simple as can be, perfectly moist (as long as you don’t overbake them), and made even more fabulous because of the peanut butter whipped frosting we spread over the top.

Make yourself a batch, pour yourself a glass of milk, sit back, and enjoy!

Easy Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies

Easy Low Sugar Peanut Butter Brownies
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 12-15
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 cup natural peanut butter*
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt (leave this out if your peanut butter is already salted)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup whole grain flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • Frosting:
  • ¾ cup natural peanut butter
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 10 drops liquid stevia
  • 2 teaspoons sugar or maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan, heat butter and peanut butter until melted.
  2. Stir together melted butters and sugar in a mixing bowl.
  3. Add salt and eggs, mixing well.
  4. Fold in flour and stir until well combined.
  5. Spread batter into a 9x9 or 8x8 inch baking dish.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until brownies are lightly browned.
  7. Allow brownies to cool completely before frosting.
  8. FROSTING:
  9. In a high power blender, or in a bowl with a hand mixer, whip frosting ingredients together until thick and smooth.
  10. Spread over Peanut Butter Brownies.
  11. Store in the refrigerator.

*I use homemade peanut butter from one of the following recipes:

Here are many more Low Sugar Treats for you to enjoy!

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=18]

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Easy Low Sugar Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Is it just me, or can we all agree that when we add cream cheese to a recipe, it will become extra – top notch – amazing? May I interest you, then, in these Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies? Don’t worry – they are low in sugar. Oh, but also don’t worry – they still taste incredible!

You’re going to want to add this recipe to your list of keepers! We make these Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies for just about every holiday. Pumpkin shapes in the fall, trees and stockings at Christmas time, and hearts for Valentine’s day. If we’re really feeling crazy, sometimes we’ll make them randomly in June. It just so happens that we have a cookie cutter in the shape of Mickey Mouse. June’s as good a month as any to make a Mickey cookie.

Since I’m not much into sugar anymore, I like eating these as-is, without frosting. My kids, of course, prefer to frost theirs. In case you need some low sugar (or high sugar) frosting recipes, I will share them below. But for now…

Easy Low Sugar Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies

Easy Low Sugar Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 24-30
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter (two sticks)
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • ½ cup raw sugar or sucanat
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3½-4 cups flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat flour)
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter, softened cream cheese, and sugar.
  2. Add eggs, baking powder, and vanilla.
  3. Stir in flour until well combined. (Use a little less or a little more flour as needed.)
  4. Place dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
  5. Once dough is chilled, roll on a well-floured surface and cut out into desired shapes.
  6. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. (I prefer mine just barely done so that they stay soft!)
  7. Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting.

Want more Low Sugar Treat recipes? This awesome eBook is full of them!

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=18]

Cream Cheese Frosting

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.

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 2 droppers full)

Whip ingredients together until smooth. Frost cookies just before serving.

Low Sugar Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter
4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons milk
2-4 Tablespoons honey (sweeten this to your taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan combine butter, cocoa, milk, and honey. Cook and stir over low heat until ingredients are well combined and mixture begins to thicken slightly. Removed from heat. Stir in vanilla. Spread onto cookies.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Low Sugar, Whole Grain)

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Who needs sugar when you can eat butter? What I mean to say is, these Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars taste lightly sweet and deliciously buttery. What else can we possibly need? (Chocolate chips.) Ah yes. Chocolate chips. Well, I guess we’ve thought of everything.

As many of you know, I’m not much into sugar anymore. But I do like a barely sweet treat to enjoy with my coffee. I’m not terribly picky. I think something is plenty sweet when it is only barely sweet. Much more sweetness than that seems like much too much these days.

My kids think I’m weird about this (and at least a couple of other things) and have become a bit leery of my homemade “super low sugar treats.” If Mom is eating it, it must be one of those weirdo stevia sweetened things and it probably won’t taste as good as a candy bar. I beg to differ, but I also remember being a teen and liking my Twix and Pepsi.

Now then, I guess it’s my job to confess that because of the aforementioned, I have learned to wait to eat my low sugar treats until AFTER I have served some to my sons. The two sons still living at home are the pickiest of our four. (And now we have an almost-adopted son, so I’ll be learning to say five sons instead of four, oh my goodness!)

My picky kids aren’t always willing to try new foods, so I must be wise in how I present them. I am MOM, therefore I know more than they do (about everything except Fortnite). I know very well that they will like the treat if only they try it with an open mind. After all, did I mention the butter? And the chocolate chips? And there’s actual sugar in it, not stevia. It’s just that I cut the sugar from 1 1/2 cups all the way down to just a 1/2 cup.

Just eat the cookie bars, kids.

So they did. And they like them. Shocker.

I snuck one later with my coffee, which made them second guess for a moment if they still liked them. Silly boys.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

4.0 from 1 reviews
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Low Sugar, Whole Grain)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 9
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
  • ½ cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whole grain flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter and brown sugar.
  2. Add eggs, baking soda, salt, and vanilla, stirring well.
  3. Stir in flour until well combined.
  4. Fold in chocolate chips.
  5. Spread dough into an 8x8 inch baking dish.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
  7. Allow bars to cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Are your kids leery to try any of your “healthier foods” for fear you might be serving them something weird? Silly kids.

Here are many more Low Sugar Treats that I promise my kids like, so yours will too!

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=18]

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Low Sugar Chocolate Cookie Cutouts

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Look at these fun and festive Low Sugar Chocolate Cookie Cutouts! What a fun way to make a Christmas treat you can feel good about eating!

These cookies are delightfully good with a cup of coffee or tea. And if you want the non-chocolate version (what is wrong with you, ha?!), you’ll find that here. It’s fun to make a batch of both so you can display them in a pretty way on a tray!

Low Sugar Chocolate Cookie Cutouts

Low Sugar Chocolate Cookie Cutouts
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 20-30
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sucanat or raw sugar
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3½ cups of whole wheat flour (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter, sugar, and cocoa.
  2. Add eggs, vanilla, and baking powder.
  3. Stir in flour until a solid ball of dough forms.
  4. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour.
  5. Roll chilled dough on a well-floured surface and thin or thick as you like.
  6. Cut with cookie cutters and place them about a half inch apart on a baking sheet.
  7. Bake in a 350° oven for about 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
  8. Makes 20-30 cookies depending on the thickness and size.

Want to frost your Low Sugar Chocolate Cookie Cutouts? Here are some fun (and low sugar) options:

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 2 droppers full)

Whip ingredients together until smooth. Frost cookies just before serving.

Low Sugar Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter
4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons milk
2-4 Tablespoons honey (sweeten this to your taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan combine butter, cocoa, milk, and honey. Cook and stir over low heat until ingredients are well combined and mixture begins to thicken slightly. Removed from heat. Stir in vanilla. Spread over cooled cookies.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream? Please pass me a spoon. Maybe two spoons: one for each hand.

If you have a high power blender like a Blendtec, you can make this jewel of a treat in about 30 seconds. Otherwise, you can use a hand mixer to blend ingredients and whip the mixture in about 5 minutes. Either way, your life just got better in a very short amount of time!

The possibilities of ways to serve this Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream are practically endless. If all else fails, you must truly eat this all by itself, in a bowl, with a spoon. No need to defend this choice. You simply can’t help yourself.

Other more elaborate Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream options include serving it alongside or atop:

And truly, the list goes on and on. I’d love to hear your ideas too!

Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream

Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • ½ cup natural creamy peanut butter
  • 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3 Tablespoons sugar or 20 drops liquid stevia
Instructions
  1. Blend all ingredients together in a high power blender until thick and smooth.
  2. Or blend ingredients together in a bowl with a hand mixer until thick and smooth.

 

I like making homemade peanut butter to use in recipes like this:

This Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream will make a lovely holiday dessert or add on to your table of treats. Or if you’re like me, you might find yourself making some and eating it in the middle of August or March because there is no reason to hold back. :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

16 Delicious Flourless Treats

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I am a wheat eater and a gluten consumer. I use freshly ground flour several times each week. Even so, I love making Flourless Treats for a change of pace. After all, we all get plenty of grains in our diet. Making treats that are flourless is a great choice for all of us!

The beauty of this list of Flourless Treat recipes I’m sharing is that every single one of them tastes like something special. These recipes don’t include weird ingredients that make them seem “healthy.” Not that any of us are opposed to eating healthy, of course. It’s just that some healthy treat recipes are strange and awkward and leave the consumer wanting an actual cookie that isn’t made with banana paste and finely ground chicken feathers. Or some such.

So please, my friends. Enjoy the following delectable recipes that no one will suspect to be “out of the norm.” All will eat these and be delighted. They will share them with their friends, saying, “Hey, you’ve got to try this cake!” Meanwhile, over in the corner, you will be chuckling over the fact that once again, you pulled off the “I made treats without flour in them and nobody suspected” trick.

Not that we’re trying to be tricky. I mean, we can’t help it if our healthier food tastes just as good if not better than their less healthy counterparts. There’s nothing we can do about this. Making great food in healthy ways is simply what we do now. We can’t even help ourselves.

Without further ado…

16 Delicious Flourless Treats

  1. Flourless Brownie Muffins (my very favorite!)
  2. Super Moist Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies
  3. Super Moist Flourless Brownies
  4. Chocolate Cheesecake Fudge
  5. No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
  6. Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
  7. No Bake Cookie Cups 
  8. Honey-Sweetened Flourless Peanut Butter Bars
  9. Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
  10. Flourless Fudge Cookies
  11. Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
  12. Honey-Sweetened No Bake Cookies
  13. The Most Amazing Flourless Cake
  14. Flourless Peanut Butter Bread
  15. Flourless Peanut Butter Muffins
  16. Flourless Pumpkin Muffins

P.S. Every single recipe on this list is a perfect choice to make for your friends and family members who eat Gluten Free. Only beware of the recipes which include oats, making sure to use GF oats!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

17 Real Food Recipes That Use Pumpkin Spice

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Pumpkin Spice recipes tend to be full of sugar and empty carbs. So today, how about I give you 17 Real Food Recipes that use Pumpkin Spice? They are low in sugar, nourishing, and absolutely tasty!

Pssst! Not into Pumpkin Spice? Here are 36 fabulous Chocolate Recipes. Hey, I’m here for ya.

Did you see this list of 40 Real Food Fall Recipes? That list includes many of the recipes listed here. But I thought it would be fun to pull out the recipes that featured pumpkin and pumpkin spice!

Before diving into the Pumpkin Spice recipe list, you will first need my Pumpkin Spice Recipe. In a pinch, you can substitute 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg for 1 Tablespoon of Pumpkin Spice. But to make life easier and the holiday season more delicious, bookmark and pin the following:

Pumpkin Spice Recipe

Now that you have that, you can make any and all of the following fabulous recipes. These are great for breakfast, snacks, desserts, parties, holiday feasts, and any time of the day you have a cup of coffee or tea in your hand.

17 Real Food Recipes That Use Pumpkin SpiceYum

  1. Overnight Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole (Such a wonderful recipe to put together at night, then bake and serve to guests in the morning!)
  2. Super Moist Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread
  3. Pumpkin Spice Roll-Out Cookies (Simple and sweet, one of my favorites!)
  4. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
  5. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
  6. Pumpkin Donuts (I make these all year round as an excuse to feed my kids a vegetable for breakfast.)
  7. Warm Pumpkin Custard (Oh yes, you should drink your pumpkin.)
  8. Simple Pumpkin Pancakes
  9. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake
  10. Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares (Such a fun combination of two holiday favorites.)
  11. Pumpkin Pie
  12. Pumpkin Breakfast Cake
  13. Pumpkin Cheesecake (Making life better, one delicious bite at a time.)
  14. Pumpkin Pie Bars (These are a Thanksgiving tradition at our house.)
  15. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
  16. Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins (With chocolate chips on top. Amen.)
  17. Flourless Pumpkin Muffins (Flourless and fabulous!)

What are your favorite Pumpkin Spice recipes?

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Recipe!!

Check out our fun video, showing you how to make one of our latest Pumpkin Recipes!

Get our Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Recipe!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!