Dark Chocolate, Coffee, Bacon Cupcakes

Say what??? That’s a million dollar combo right there. And, just sayin, these cupcakes contain coffee, bacon, and eggs; so, these are totally acceptable to eat as breakfast.
Oh yeah, and Happy Easter!
I found this recipe in All Recipes Magazine.

Ingredients:
Cupcakes-
12 slices bacon, cooked crispy
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 eggs, room temp
1 cup cold, strong, brewed coffee
1 cup buttermilk
or, scant cup while milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar (stir & let sit for 2 mins)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 and line 24 cupcake wells with liners. (I actually got 33 cupcakes out of this recipe!)
In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add eggs, coffee, oil, and buttermilk.
Mix well with a spoon until incorporated.
Crumble crisp bacon and add 3/4 of it to your batter, mix in with a spoon.
Add evenly to cupcake liners, and bake for 20 minutes (Mine took 17 minutes).

Frosting-
3 sticks butter, room temp!
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2-2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tsp vanilla
5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Directions:
Add butter to a bowl and cream with a hand mixer for 3-4 minutes.
Add powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla, and incorporate with hand mixer.
Add heavy cream and beat in.
Frost cupcakes, and top with extra bacon!

Champagne Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling and Champagne Buttercream

I had a beautiful bottle of Veuve Clicquot to drink, and I decided that I could use a little bit to make a new cupcake! It was my good friend’s housewarming this weekend (congrats Lu & Lindsay!) so it was the perfect opportunity to make a new dessert.

Cupcake Ingredients:
2 3/4 cup flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup salted butter, room temp.
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup champagne (more sweet than dry)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 egg whites
1 can raspberry pastry filling

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Line 24 cupcake wells with liners.
In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, blend butter and sugar with a hand mixer.
In a small bowl combine champagne and vanilla.
Add flour and champagne to the butter and sugar mixture in 5 intervals: flour, champagne, flour, champagne, flour.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter, then fold in the rest.
Drop batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes.
Allow to cool thoroughly.
After the cupcakes have cooked, core a center out of the middle of each cupcake and spoon a small amount of raspberry filling into the middle.

Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, room temp
3-4 cups powdered sugar
3 T champagne
Directions:
Using a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth.
Next, add powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
Finally, add champagne and mix.
Pipe frosting on to filled cupcakes and decorate!

Bacon, Egg, and Sweet Potato Hash

This is one of my favorite breakfasts. It’s extremely filling and great post-workout.
Whenever I have a leftover cooked sweet potato from dinner the night before, I make this meal!

Ingredients:
1/2 sweet potato (cooked & diced)
2 eggs
4 slices bacon
Shredded cheese
Salt & pepper

Directions:
Cook your bacon to your liking (crispy, the only way)
Drain the excess grease from your pan, but do no rinse your pan.
Crack your eggs directly onto the pan and once they begin to set, sprinkle them with s&p and flip & dice them up with a spatula.
Add your diced sweet potato, and crush up your bacon to add also.
Sprinkle with some shredded cheese, and fold the mixture a few times with your spatula.
Serve alone, with hot sauce, or ketchup.

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Meatza

Since the Super Bowl fell in the 4th week of my paleo challenge, I knew I needed to make something delicious that would keep me full while I was surrounded by all the delicious dips, chips, chilis, and desserts! One of the owners at Crossfit Hook’d told me he always makes Meatzas (pizza with a meat crust), and I decided to give it a shot! So. Worth. It. This meatza was delicious and I have plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week!

Ingredients:
2 pounds lean ground beef
Garlic Powder
Italian Seasoning
1 egg
All natural tomato sauce (I chose Tomato & Basil)
Any toppings you want
-Sliced peppers
-Sliced onions
-Sliced mushrooms
-Diced Bacon
-Shredded Mozzarella
-Avocado

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the beef with an egg and a teaspoon each of garlic powder & Italian seasoning.
Press onto parchment paper lines baking sheet into a flat rectangle.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and drain off fat.
Blot with paper towels, and add your toppings!
Pop bake into the oven for 15 minutes.
Let cool & slice!

Sweet Potato Basil Soup

It has been almost 3 full weeks since I began my paleo challenge with Crossfit Hook’d. Last night I started feeling as if I were getting a cold, so I decided a freezing Friday afternoon is the perfect day to make a crockpot soup! Soup always makes us feel better, right? I got this recipe from http://paleomg.com/sweet-potato-basil-soup/

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes, diced
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried basil
1, 14 oz. can coconut milk
1 cup organic vegetable broth

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in your crockpot.
Stir together.
Cook on high for 3 hours.
Add soup to food processor or blender and purée until smooth.
This soup would be delicious served with bacon & sour cream, or some crumbed sausage on top!

Simple Almond Flour Pancakes

Tonight, I tested out a paleo recipe using almond flour to see if I liked these, or the coconut flour recipe better.
The almond flour pancakes were thinner and took longer to cook, but had more of a pancake feel. I really enjoyed both kinds, which isn’t surprising since they were both topped with almond butter. 😉

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
1 egg
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup almond meal
Dash of cinnamon
Extra coconut oil for coating the pan

Directions:
Place pan over low heat.
Add extra coconut oil to pan to grease it.
In a small bowl, mash your banana well.
Add egg and melted tablespoon of coconut oil and mix.
Add almond meal & cinnamon and mix well.
Drop batter by 2 tablespoons.
Be careful because batter runs, so put pancakes far away from each other.
Place a large plate or cover over the pan to let the pancakes steam and cook for about 3 minutes on low heat.
Flip, cover again, and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Top with almond butter while warm if desired 🙂

Simple Coconut Flour Pancakes

Just whipped myself up a batch of paleo pancakes for a snowy day dessert! Only 3 simple ingredients, and then I topped them with some goodies instead of syrup 🙂

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut flour
Dash of cinnamon
Banana (optional)
Almond butter (optional)

Directions:
Place a pan over low heat.
Add coconut oil to grease your pan.
Whisk together eggs in a bowl, add coconut flour and stir until thick.
Add a dash of cinnamon.
Create pancakes, 2 tablespoons of batter, and flatten them slightly.
Add thin banana slices if desired at this point.
Flip after about 2 minutes, check for brownness on the bottom.
Once flipped cook for 1-2 minutes longer.
Spread almond butter on top while warm and sprinkle with more cinnamon!

Coconut Cake Balls

A ridiculously simple recipe that I made for a cookie swap this past weekend.

Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
Ingredients called for on the box
14 oz. bag sweetened, shredded coconut
1 container cream cheese frosting
Dark chocolate melts
Extra shredded coconut

Directions:
Bake the cake according to directions on the box.
Once cake is cooled, break it up into a large bowl, add coconut and frosting and mix thoroughly until doughy.
On a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, roll out balls of the dough.
(Grease your hands, scoop a ball of dough with a cookie scoop, and roll until smooth between hands).
Freeze the cake balls for one hour.
Melt the chocolate and dip the cake balls half way into the chocolate and then dip in shredded coconut.
Keep refrigerated until served.
Recipe yields over 5 dozen.

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!
Here is a Paleo friendly dessert for your table.

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups blanched almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 egg
Filling:
15 oz. canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
In a food processor, pulse almond flour.
Add egg and coconut oil and pulse until a ball forms.
Press crust into a pie dish on the bottom and up the sides.
Poke crust with fork all over.
In a food processor, combine pumpkin and eggs.
Then, add coconut milk, honey, and pumpkin pie spice and pulse to combine.
Pour filling into pie crust, and bake for 45 minutes.
Let cool, and then allow pie to set in fridge for at least 2 hours.

Tiramisu

My first shot at one of my favorite desserts! I have made these Tiramisu Cupcakes , but this was the real thing. I would definitely like to give it a second try (because it was delicious) but also because I was a little short on Lady Fingers so it was a little runnier than I wanted.

Ingredients:
24 small lady fingers
8 oz. Mascarpone
3 eggs (separated)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup strong, black coffee
2 tablespoons Kahlua

Directions:
Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and Kahlua together in a bowl.
Add the mascarpone and whisk again.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
Gently fold egg whites into the mascarpone mixture.
Dip each lady finger into the cooled coffee quickly.
Line the first layer of a small square pan with the dipped lady fingers.
Top with half of the mascarpone mixture.
Repeat.
Dust with cocoa powder, and let sit in the fridge overnight!