These incredibly moist chocolate cupcakes are my daughter Estelle’s favorite recipe from my newest book, “Cupcake Cookbook for Kids“. We made them for her ninth birthday, then again, and again. The tender cupcakes are so perfect when topped with this subtle and not-too-sweet peanut butter frosting but you can add any type of frosting you…
You’re Only 4 Ingredients Away from Chocolate Peppermint Truffles
If you’re looking for an easy recipe for chocolate truffles with a crunchy peppermint coating, these are the truffles for you! My six-year-old whipped up a batch for a holiday teachers’ gift this week. Almost entirely by herself. Yep, these chocolate truffles are that simple. And what are truffles doing on a site like…
Look what happens when you change 1 thing About a Barefoot Contessa recipe: Bird’s Nest Macaroons!
Want an adorable dessert for your Easter table? How about one that’s actually a cinch to make–and the kids can even help? These coconut macaroons are adapted from one of my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes, as part of our Barefoot for Babies series where we update the amazing Ina Garten’s ideas (along with a few…
Recipe: 4-Ingredient Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (on a John Deere Tractor Cake)
This is the creamiest, richest, most melt-in-your-mouth chocolate buttercream frosting you may ever have. And guess what, there’s no white sugar involved. Only honey. In fact there are only 4 ingredients. If you don’t count the tractors. All you need for this simple chocolate buttercream frosting is: vanilla cocoa powder honey butter For this particular birthday…
No-Bake Chocolate, Fruit & Nut Bars
WE’VE MADE A LOT OF THINGS LIKE THESE. Homemade Lara Bars, DIY Kind Bars, Oat & Chocolate Balls and more…but these are the easiest. And the least expensive. They’re also the lowest in sugar, without any sweetener at all. One more thing. They’re the yummiest too. The formula for these healthy no-bake bars is simple: 2 cups…
chocolate-covered mini pretzel sticks with sprinkles
ON A JUNK SCALE, THESE chocolate-covered mini pretzel sticks are surprisingly low. That’s because of their size. When it comes to dessert–and there’s no mistaking these chocolate bombs for “snacks”–it’s all about portion size. To be clear, I don’t think babies or toddlers need a lot of sugar, so I always go for low sugar…
Homemade “LaraBars”
THESE HOMEMADE LARABARS couldn’t have come sooner. Eating less sugar is one of our family food goals this year. And while we’re usually pretty good at watching sweets I knew things might go off the rails over the holidays when three year old Estelle only wanted one thing for Christmas: a chocolate bear. Since our oldest is just five,…
little things that work: simple Christmas tree brownies
HAVE YOU SEEN THESE YET? For part 2 of this holiday themed “little things that work” post, we bring you brownies cut into triangles and voila, Christmas trees! Along with the kids, I made them for our preschooler’s Gingerbread Fest and they were so fun and so easy that we’ll definitely do it again next…
10-minute no bake chocolate, fruit & nut balls
THESE HEALTHY SNACKS TOOK 10 MINUTES to make, even with my three “helpers” on hand. That’s not my favorite thing about these no bake balls though. With 4-5 ingredients and instructions like “roll”, even two-year-old Estelle could easily get in on the action. But, nope. That’s not the best part either. I love this new…
zucchini chocolate chip breakfast cookies
YEP, ZUCCHINI. Barbara Kingsolver wrote in her amazing book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”, about the windfall of zucchini she had after planting her first garden. They had piles of the stuff everywhere, on every surface of the kitchen. That’s when her daughter decided to get drastic. Bake them into cookies, she said. And that’s just what…
Chocolate Fudge Pops with Bananas & Avocado
WE HAD A LITTLE PREVIEW OF SUMMER for a while, and when the sun came out, we made these. To our chocolate-avocado-banana pudding, we added honey and milk then froze the whole thing in Popsicle molds. The taste is rich and creamy and the ingredients are only good for you.
flourless black bean chocolate cake. yep. We
I HAVE A LIST OF TOP 5 FOODS. In fact, on one of our first dates, I asked Paul about his. With a sort of deer-in-the-headlights look, he shrugged and explained that he didn’t have such a list (he politely left out saying anything like “because I’m not 9”). No matter. Mine, I announced, were:…
Double chocolate zucchini muffins, a Muffin Madness contender
THERE’S A MUFFIN BRACKET GOING ON. It’s between Easy Peasy Organic’s sweet potato muffins and these double chocolate zucchini muffins from Mom’s Kitchen Handbook. Since we’ve already started hearing from you about the sweet potato muffins, we tried baking the zucchini first. After patiently waiting driving me crazy while the muffins baked and cooled off,…
diy dark chocolate truffles
THESE WERE A DISASTER. A delicious disaster, but nonetheless. I decided to update Heidi Swanson’s No-Bake Chocolate Cake to give it a kid-friendly spin. It turns out that a recipe basically made of pure chocolate doesn’t actually need a spin. Except for the part where the debilitating sugar crash ends the activity in tears. See: disaster…
Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins (With Beans!) 2 Ways
Don’t stop reading yet. I made chocolate pumpkin muffins with beans. A full can of beans. And they’re awesome. This breakfast was originally a dessert, similar to our chocolate cake with beans, but if there’s an option to wake up to chocolate I have only one thing to say: yes, please! Our muffins are packed…
Healthy chocolate pudding: no-cook chocolate pudding with banana and avocado
PRETTY GOOD! Not as rich as real pudding. But you don’t cook it, so this dish earns points for simplicity–and healthy ingredients. Nary a grain of sugar but packed with Omega-3s and potassium (plus a shot of agave for sweetness), even the bitter unsweetened chocolate is a nutritional boost. Since my kids don’t know about…
Peanut butter chocolate chip bacon cookies
YES, BACON. Thanks to an international subscription to The Food Network magazine, Paul was crunching his way through a dozen over-sized chocolate chip cookies tonight. But these weren’t just run of the mill birthday cookies. In addition to your basic flour, brown sugar, eggs and whatnot, these guy-friendly treats included peanut butter, bacon, a dash…