I made 4, 3 of us ate one each and then fought over the 4th 🙂 They are that good !! Make sure you use a nice creamy vanilla yogurt; one that tastes like ice cream. I love Turkey Hill brand. This is just one of those perfect desserts !
Nilla Parfait
4 servings
270 calories per serving
2 cups vanilla frozen yogurt, softened (I like Turkey Hill brand)
8 Nilla Wafer cookies, crushed well
1 1/2 bananas, sliced
1/4 c chopped toasted pecans
In small dessert cups or parfait glasses or even in wine glasses, layer ingredients and then freeze at least half an hour. Here are the layers:
Yogurt
Banana
Nuts
Yogurt
Banana
Nilla crumbs
Nuts
1 slice of banana for garnish
The whole kitchen smelled just glorious as these were roasting. The orange flavor is very subtle, the chipotle just hot enough and these disappeared very quickly !
Chipotle Nuts
Makes 2 ½ cups – 1 serving = 2 tablespoons
91 calories per serving
1 T grated orange rind
1 T orange juice
1 egg white
2 c mixed nuts (pecan halves, whole almonds, walnuts, whatever you have around the house!)
1 T brown sugar
1 T Kosher salt
1/2 t ground chipotle chile pepper
Pam
1/2 c sweetened dried cranberries
1 t Kosher salt
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix orange rind, orange juice and egg then stir in nuts. Mix sugar, salt and pepper and add to the nuts and mix well. Spread on a cookie sheet spray with Pam and bake 1 hours stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with another teaspoon of salt and mix then cool. When cool, mix in the cranberries.
I recently got a Zoku Quick Pop Maker. BEST THING EVER ! I love making pops but hate the wait time. Now I have ‘em in 7-9 minutes 🙂 This is one of the recipes I pulled from the Zoku book – of course, I’ve tweaked many of the recipes to suit my own tastes, bring down calories, and to get creative with the pops, but some are in their original goodness.
The maker gets sooo cold that sometimes the first batch come out with a crackling motif on them – looks kinda cool !
You can make any of these recipes in traditional pop makers – each pop here is 2 oz. so adjust accordingly. And if you love pops like me, then do yourself a favor and get a Zoku 🙂
Butter Pecan Ice Pops
6 servings
178 calories per serving
¾ c pecan halves
½ T salted butter
1 T brown sugar
¾ c water
2 ½ oz. butterscotch morsels
½ c half and half
½ t vanilla extract
Toast the pecans in a skillet with the butter and sugar. Cook about 3 minutes stirring often. Let nuts cool completely.
In a saucepan over low heat whisk water and butterscotch morsels and cook until melted, but don’t boil. Cool 10 minutes then stir in the half and half and vanilla and then refrigerate until completely cool, about 20 minutes. Whisk occasionally so that a skin does not form on top of the mixture.
Working in 2 batches – place approximately 6 pecan halves in each mold and then pour in the butterscotch mixture up to the fill line. In 7-9 minutes you’ll have rich, flavorful pops that rival the experience of butter pecan ice cream 🙂
If you are using traditional molds, freeze 6 hours.
There’s nothing quite like a good sweet potato pie – and this is definitely a good one. Not too sweet, full of flavor, and super easy to put together.
Sweet Potato Pie
8 servings
280 calories per serving
1 15 oz. cans sweet potatoes in light syrup, drained
1 1/4 c low fat evaporated milk
2 large eggs
1/4 c Splenda brown sugar
1 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t salt
6 oz. low fat graham cracker crust
2 T chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash potatoes with a mixer on medium speed. Add milk, eggs, sugar, spice and salt. When blended, put into crust and top with pecans. Bake 45 minutes and cool completely on a wire rack.
Toffee and chocolate together – a combination you just can’t beat ! These bars are very rich and a great party treat.
Chocolate and Toffee Bars
30 servings
160 calories per serving
Crust
1/4 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c Splenda brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 c flour
1/4 t salt
Pam
Toffee
1/4 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c Splenda brown sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c evaporated milk
1 1/2 t vanilla
Topping
3 1 oz. square unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 T Splenda brown sugar
1 c chopped pecans, toasted (to toast just heat for 5-7 minutes in a dry skillet on medium high heat)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13×9 pan with Pam.
For the crust, beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed until blended and then add egg yolk and beat until combined, Add flour and salt and beat on low until blended. The mix will be very dry and look like fine bread crumbs. Firmly press the mix into the bottom of the pan to make a buttery crust. Bake 16 – 18 minutes or until golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.
For the toffee, combine butter, brown sugar, syrup, milk and vanilla in a saucepan on low heat stirring constantly until the sugar all dissolves. Then bring it to boil over medium heat and cook about 10 minutes. Pour over the crust and spread and then bake another 10 minutes. Cool on a rack 5 minutes.
For topping, mix chocolate and sugar in the top of a double boiler until mixture is melted. Alternately, you can melt this in the microwave 10 seconds at a time stirring in between each cooking – be sure not to overcook. Drizzle this over the toffee and sprinkle with nuts. Cool completely on a rack and when firm, cut into bars.
