Frozen Pear Mocha

This is good stuff.  Sweet, creamy, and super healthy to boot!  I enjoyed this coffee drink much more than a standard Starbucks Frappuccino, and I'll definitely repeat the combination of frozen fruity pears infusing my blended coffee beverages.  It's so easy, and most things you'll have around the house anyway.  If you chop and freeze the pears yourself, you can freeze and blend with skin (frozen fruit is often already skinned) for an extra fiber boost.

You will need:

• Chopped frozen pear
• Milk of choice (I used unsweetened Silk Almond Milk)
• Unsweetened cocoa powder to taste (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
• Instant coffee or espresso, 1-2 servings worth
• Optional: cinnamon to taste (I used it), additional sweetener (I didn't include)

1. Put all ingredients in a blender.  I used my Magic Bullet.
2. Pulse until blended.
3. Enjoy!

Two Ingredient All-Natural Deep Chocolate Pudding

This is a wonderful guilt-free healthy pudding.  I make it when I'm craving chocolate and have a banana lying around the house.  The pudding has no added sugar, no gluten, and very, very little fat, yet is totally amazingly delicious!  You will need:

• 1 banana
• Unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Mash the banana.
2. Add cocoa powder to taste and stir until all of the powder has been absorbed into the banana mash.
3. Enjoy!

That's really all there is to it!  If you want the pudding to have a mocha flavor, you can also add some instant coffee to the mix.  Super yum!

Part of Allergy Free Wednesdays.

60 Second Magical Mocha Mug Cake

 After reading about a 60 second, super easy, flourless microwaveable mug-cake from Foodie Fiasco (click for her recipe!), I knew I was going to have to try making one of these myself.  I was not disappointed!  What a brilliant approach, and yet healthier than the sinfully delicious espresso brownie cups I had made earlier.

I followed Ms. Fiasco's recipe to a T, except I added a bit of instant coffee to the mix before popping it in the microwave to get a mocha flavor in the mix.  The texture is amazing and cakelike - I didn't taste the pumpkin in the mix at all.  The cake is also beautiful and yields a substantial portion.  Be careful to add a lot of sugar or sweetener, though-without it the cake can be a bit bitter.

I will definitely make this again, hopefully veganized.

Enjoy with a 60 calorie vegan mocha!

You will need:

• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 egg white
• 2 spoonfuls of canned pumpkin
• 1/2 teaspon/small spoon of baking powder
• 3 spoonfuls of milk of choice
• Instant coffee (optional)
• Sweetener of choice

1. Mix everything together.  You may want to put everything except the egg in so that you can safely taste and be sure you have sufficient sweetener.
2. Pour into microwave safe greased or sprayed ramekin.
3. Nuke it for about 3 minutes, but watch it like a hawk, as every microwave is different.
4. Enjoy!

Do please also check out Kelly's post on this at Foodie Fiasco.  She has a lot of ideas/commentary/etc. for the recipe, and her site is just generally awesome.

If you would like something similar in taste but less healthy and even faster to put together, try these espresso brownie cups!  You may also enjoy our grain free brownies (more work, but more servings and also super yummy).

Absolutely evil instant espresso fudge brownie-cakes

Okay, these are nearly instant.  But why are they absolutely evil?  They are addictive.  Imagine that you can have a fresh baked brownie any time you want?  Instantly?  With no measuring and very little cleanup?  And all-natural ingredients?  This is THE ultimate mug cake.  The friends and family with whom I have shared the recipe resent me for sharing it with them, as these brownies so easy to prepare and so delicious that they just keep making them again and again!

You will need:

• 4-5 rounded spoonfuls of a high quality brownie mix (such as Ghirardelli)
• 1 spoonful of a milk or yogurt of choice (1 used almond milk)
• 1/2 spoonful of instant coffee (or to taste)

1. Stir everything together in a cute little mug.
2. Microwave for 60 minutes, or until mostly baked.
3. Enjoy right away!  It's gooey!

This is AMAZING topped with vanilla ice cream.  If you do this, microwave with the ice cream on top for 5-10 extra seconds for melty bliss.

Low Calorie Vegan Mocha

I prefer this mocha to the Starbucks variety.  It's cheaper and it avoids the all the unnecessary sugars found in store-bought drinks!  When made with the recommended ingredients below, the drink has no sugar, 6 grams of fiber, and 60 calories.  You will need:

• 1 cup unsweetend almond milk (I used original Almond Breeze)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, or to taste (I used Hershey's special dark)
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee
• sweetener to taste (I used 1 packet of stevia)

1. Heat almond milk in mug in the microwave for 90 seconds on high or until milk is hot.
2. Add dry ingredients and stir until dissolved.
3. Enjoy!

Moist Cake Brownies

These moist, delicious brownies just might be healthy!  Well, they're almost healthy.  They're made with black beans(!) instead of white flour, so they have more fiber and protein and fewer carbohydrates than your average brownie.  You don't taste the black beans, though, I swear!  The brownies taste like a nice rich slice of cake.  They are so easy to make!  I found this wonderful recipe on the wonderful site Chocolate and Carrots, and I made only simple changes-I used brown sugar instead of white, and less of it than in the orginal recipe, I omitted chocolate chips (I didn't have any around, but I'm sure they would have been divine sprinkled on top!), and I added instant coffee granules for espresso/mocha flavor.  To bake a batch today, you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked and drained black beans (I had freshly cooked beans ready, but a 19oz can will do)
• 1/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark, but a fancy brand like Valhrona would work really well here!)
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg white
• 3 tablespoons of oil
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• a spoonful or so of instant coffee powder
• sweetener to taste - if you are using table sugar, use between 1/2 and 2/3 cup

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Blend all of the ingredients together.  
3. Pour into greased 8x8 pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
4. Let cool a bit, and enjoy!

The brownie stack.

The view from above.

Coffee Ice Cream BuzzBuzzBuzz

 I recently got to try the Ben & Jerry's flavor "Coffee Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz" while waiting for a flight and another chance to enjoy my membership in the Mile High Coffee Club.  The ice cream provided a nice alternative to a daily mocha.  The caffeine buzz felt fairly signficant and coffee-like, but the coffee taste was not overpowering either.  Recommended!  (Available in stores only).

Note: this is an excuse to practice food photography, not a paid or sponsored post.  :D

Real recipes return tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, for some awesome recipe that combine coffee and chocolate, check out our Easy Mocha Pudding and our Oreo Muffins!

Oreo muffins

The chocolate muffin lineup.

Following the success of the Gluten-Free beer bread and Spiced Plum Muffins, I decided to try a third recipe with the same (surprising!) oat flour and GF beer base.  The result was a batch of beautiful muffins with a very unique texture and flavor.  The final product is more crumbly than a traditional cake-y muffin, and if you go light on sweetener it tastes like an interesting bread more than anything else.  Lightly sweetened, these muffins would be suitable to accompany your breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but they wouldn't taste chocolatey at all.  With a lot of sweetener, they taste like oreo cookies, in muffin form.  I really enjoyed eating these muffins sprinkled with sugar.  To make the muffins, you will need:

• 3 3/4 cup oat flour
• 1 12 oz can of beer (I used GF New Grist)
• 3 tablespoons of baking powder 
• 1-2 tablespoons of oil of choice
• to taste: unsweetened cocoa powder (1 used ~1/4 cup of Hershey's Dark), instant coffee, sweetener (you'll need more than you think; get your batter to taste as sweet as you want it to and then add a bit more sweetener to be safe-it's vegan so you can taste the batter :D), and salt

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line muffin tins with baking cups.
3. Mix oat flour and baking powder together; fluff with spoon.
4. Add beer and stir until mixed.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and stir gently.
6. Pour into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Enjoy!  (these are delicious warm or cold)

Makes 12 medium-size muffins.

Note on beers: you will probably want to choose a lighter tasting beer if you are making a dessert.  You don't want the beer flavor to overpower the other flavors in the dish.