I love food. More so, I love baked foods. There is nothing more sumptious and inviting than a warm apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream and a hot cup of coffee. Of course, with the good, oh so good, there's always the bad. You know what I mean. Most of our most beloved dessert treats are calorie laden miniature heart attacks. Not good for the health conscious. Let's face it, not good for anybody! But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, folks. That occurred to me when I first whipped up a batch of my cranberry banana wheat muffins. By substituting normally high fat, high calorie ingredients (ie. butter, sugars etc) with healthier ingredients - and some experimenting- we don't have to miss out on our favorite treats - or skimp on taste, texture, and sheer pleasure for that matter! So follow me, and see what this new, healthier alternative is all about!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Temptation Thursday Special: S'more Cups



Well, try as I might to only bake (and eat) dessert snacks on weekends, sometimes the temptation is unbearable. This post is what I'd like to call "Temptation Thursday."

What can I say about s'mores. Something about the very simple combination makes it so incredibly yummy. To make them more "grown up" and fun for serving, I crushed the graham crackers and made a crust, topped with dark chocolate and marshmallows. The end result, simply delicious S'more cups. I adapted this recipe from the s'more cup recipe found on http://pamperedchef.com. I made some slight changes to make it a bit more health conscious - most notably to the graham cracker crust. Instead of butter and refined sugars, I switched it up to low fat yogurt, unsweetened cocoa powder and maple syrup. The end result is a moist, crunchy crust - with much less fat/calories.

For the toppings, I used dark chocolate chunks instead of milk chocolate candy. This gives it a richer flavor, with the added benefit of powerful antioxidants. As for the marshamallows.. Hey lets' live a little.. Can't really substitute those!

Be sure and let cool for at least an hour before serving, so the crust can have time to set. Recipe to follow, Enjoy!



INGREDIENTS

For the Crust:
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham cracker sheets, crushed)
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons low-fat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Topping:
9 marshmallows
.5 cup dark chocolate chunks


DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl, mix the ingredients. With an ice cream scoop, scoop and press the graham mixture to the muffin tin (I used six of the twelve cup muffin tin).

Bake for 6-7 minutes until the graham is bubbly. Remove from oven, cool for about 5 minutes.


Sprinkle about a quarter cup of the chocolate chunks into each cup, top with one marshmallow. I cut the marshmallow in half and place in the cups. Place back in the oven for about 2 minutes, or the chocolate chunks are melted. Remove from oven to cool.

For an added treat, I melted the remaining quarter cup of chunks in the microwave, took three marshmallows, cut in half and dipped in the melted chocolate. I placed the chocolate covered marshmallow half on top of each s'more cup. Let cool for about an hour to set.

Serve warm or cold, with a tall glass of milk!
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