Scones!

Again, my Desserts recipe book has not failed me yet! These are SOO tasty! I have been on a baking kick on the weekends lately. I like having an afterschool snack after I get home from work. Some things never will change I guess. My only requirement is that it is under 3 points , which usualy I can manage. These are very light and moist, with the perfect combination of chocolate and cake, with a hint of orange. The recipe calls for 24 but my cookie cutter wasn't cooperating so I just picked of bunches of dough with my hands then patted them down to be a "cutout" shape. I got 20 out of this batch, I have listed both POINTS values below.




Chocolate Chip Orange Scones
(Source: Best Ever Desserts)

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cold margarine, cut into pieces
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup low fat buttermilk I used 1 tbsp vinegar and enough skim milk to equal 1 cup
1 large egg
1 tbsp orange zest
4 tsp orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Whisk together dry ingredients. With two knives or pastry blender, cut butter into mixture until resembles fine crumbs with some small pieces of butter still remaining. Stir in chocolate chips. Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and orange zest in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture until a dough just forms, don't overmix.

Gather dough into a ball and place on lightly floured surface. Lightly knead 2 times. With a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into 3/4 in thickness. With a 1 1/2 in round cookie cutter (mine was a little bigger then it didn't work well, so I just formed my own shapes), cut out shapes. Place scones on sheet about 1 in apart. Reroll and cut out more from scraps for a total of 24 scones. Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 min. Let cool on rack about 10 minutes.

Stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth. Dip the tops of the scones in the glaze and the allow to set about 1 hour. Enjoy!

The picture is when they were still glistening from the glaze. :)

POINTS for recipe of 24: 2 per scone
POINTS for recipe of 20: 3 per scone

Spiced Up Doughboy!

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post! I have been working two jobs and with that and conferences, I have had zero time for creative cooking! We've been eating a lot of meals that are quick and easy, but most importantly, meals that are easy and quick! This week, I decided to try to get in the kitchen more. On Thursday I made pork chops (new recipe, blech!) and dinner rolls. I was craving serious carbs! I am not blogging the pork chops because they were not good at all. However, the rolls were very yummy!

Trisha's Herby Garlicy Rolls

1 pkg Pillsbury dinner rolls (not biscuits, rolls in a tube)
2 tsp olive oil
Italian seasoning (garlic, thyme, basil)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with PAM, spread the rolls on the sheet. Lightly spread the olive oil on the tops of the rolls, sprinkle with seasoning. Bake for 11-15 minutes.

POINTS: 3 per roll

(This may not seem worth it, but I LOVE carbs so I was totally fine with using these points to satisfy my craving!)

Fall Is Officially Here!

The first day of fall was yesterday and to celebrate, I made Elly's Healthy Pumpkin muffins! They are perfect for breakfast or a snack, and for only 3 POINTS there is no guilt! Here is the recipe for your convenience, the only changes I made was I added a little more cinnamon to the batter and omitted the raisins and nuts. They were very easy and turned out great!

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
(Source: Elly Say's Opa!)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (or vegetable oil, if you're not calorie counting)
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Sift together flours, baking powder and soda, and salt. Stir in spices.

In a separate bowl, beat egg with brown sugar until well combined. Mix in egg and combine. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, applesauce and pumpkin puree.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in nuts and raisins.

Pour mixture into muffin cups and bake approximately 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Nutrition Info, per muffin: Calories: 143 / Fat: 3g / Carbs: 27g / Dietary Fiber: 2.4g / Sugar: 2.2g / Protein: 3.8g

WW POINTS: 3 per muffin

I'm Ready for Fall!

Apples!! I love apple time! This recipe is straight off the press from the WW Best Ever Desserts recipe book. I don't know exactly how long this recipe book has been out but my WW center just got it in about 2 weeks ago. I highly recommend this book! It's full of cookies, breads, cakes, pies, brownies, and more.

I decided to try this recipe so that I would have something different for breakfast besides my usual Eggo Nutrigrain waffles or peanut butter toast. This muffins are so tasty, you would never know they were a WW recipe!

Apple Spice Streusel Topped Muffins
(Source: WW Best Ever Desserts)

Streusel Topping:
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp apple pie spice or cinnamon (I used cinnamon)

Muffins:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp apple pie spice or cinnamon (I used cinnamon)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup plain fat free yogurt
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin pan with spray or liners.

To make streusel, combine the streusel ingredients in a small bowl until moistened, set aside.

To make muffins, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice or cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the brown sugar, applesauce, yogurt, oil, melted butter, and egg in a medium bowl. Add the applesauce mixture to the dry mixture, stir until just combined.

Fill the muffin cups evenly with batter. Sprinkle evenly with the streusel, pressing lightly so it adheres. Bake until a toothpick into the center of a muffin to check for doneness, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool about 15 minutes longer. Serve warm.

Per Serving: Calories: 206 Fat: 6 Fiber: 1

Total POINTS: 4

Cheese + Pepperoni + Bread = Delicious

So we made Pepperoni Rolls for the second time and once again they were amazing. They only take about 10 minutes to assemble and 20 minutes to bake and then it's time to enjoy!

Pepperoni Rolls (recipe from Krashed24 from the WC board)

1 loaf of French Bread (I used Pillsbury)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 1/2 cups)
Pepperoni (I used about 50 slices - we like a lot of pepperoni)
Parmesan cheese (a few handfuls)
Italian Seasoning to tase (a palmful is what I used)
Egg wash (water and egg)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray and roll out the bread dough. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and italian seasoning. Lay out the pepperoni, as much or as little as you would like. Roll the bread up carefully, trying to put the seam down on the cookie sheet. Cut three slices in the bread loaf to allow air to escape. Brush bread with egg wash. Sprinkle parmesan cheese, italian seasoning on top. Line top with remaining pepperoni and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

I Cheated! Banana Nut Bread

So Peter and I were craving some banana nut bread last night when we were at the store. I wanted to make it for Sunday breakfast and after the late night of baking for Father's Day, I saw this mix, which can easily be converted to bread, and thought I would give this a try. My mom used this brand once to make lemon bars and she said they were really good, so we gave it a whirl. Wow, is it good bread! I did tweak them a little and added in 1 tsp cinnamon to give it a banana spice taste.