Something Tasty {Two Ingredient Carrot Cake Bites}

I ran across a two ingredient spice cake recipe from Hungry Girl and I loved the idea of making something to satisfy my sweet tooth but making it more of a bite size treat instead of a whole cake. 

I decided to just see how many muffins I could get out of the recipe. Turns out I got 12 muffins and 6 donuts.

I used a carrot cake mix instead of spice cake because spring is the season for carrot cake and I had been seeing it everywhere!

I'm calling them carrot cake bites because there are so many options ways that you could make these. Muffins, donuts, small cake squares, cake pops, whatever!

The ingredients you will need are:

*Carrot Cake Mix (or any boxed cake mix!) 15 oz - 18.25 oz (mine was 20 actually)

*Can of Pumpkin (not pie filling, just pumpkin) 15 oz

The box of cake mix I picked up happened to be around 20 ounces but it still worked fine for this recipe. 

First, just add the pumpkin puree to the cake mix 

Mix well

Be prepared for your batter to look like dog poo. But it tastes great! Never tasted dog poo so I can't say it tastes better but just take my word on it :)

Since I had so much more batter (since I had a bigger box of cake mix) I was able to get 6 donuts piped out. I also didn't fill up the muffin tins as much as I could have. I didn't know if they would rise. They do not rise.

 Now donuts look like little mounds of dog poo FOR SURE! HA! If you will just use a knife to smooth them out, then they will lose that "piped" look. 

EXCUSE my terrible ugly muffin pan!!! It's well loved I guess.

I baked the muffins at 350 for about 25 minutes. I checked the batter with a toothpick and it came out clean at that point. For the donuts, I started out just letting them bake at 350 for 5 minutes, did a toothpick check, and then another 5 minutes. They were done at that point.

The donuts really were the best, in my opinion. I believe next time I will just make several batches of donuts. You can sprinkle powdered sugar on top if you want a little pizzazz!

I used My Fitness Pal to see what the calories were and I came up with 134 calories each. Not bad! 

They are very moist and dense like a pumpkin bread or banana bread is. Very good! We've been having one...or two each night after dinner! I put them all in the freezer and we just take a few out each day to thaw. This has kept me from eating more than I should in one day. 

You can do the same thing with a devils food cake mix. That's next up on my list!

Something Tasty {Homemade Granola}

Granola. Something that has been around for years but I never made any myself. It's so easy to make and I'm wondering why I never made it until now. I like this better than the store bought kind because it is less sugary and it's not super break-your-teeth crunchy.

I used this recipe and changed just a few things. Not much.

Here is her ingredient list with the changes I made noted on the side. I underlined which one I used when she gave a choice.

2 cups raw, whole rolled oats (aka old fashion oats) 

½ cup raw nuts, chopped (I used sliced almonds)

¼ cup raw seeds (sunflower or pumpkin seeds are great) 

½ cup unsweetened dried fruit, chopped (optional) (I used cranberries and waited until it was out of the oven to mix it in. I've heard the dried fruit gets too hard if you cook it in the oven)

2-3 tablespoons grade-b maple syrup or raw honey (or a combo of both) (I used local Sourwood honey)

2 tbsp virgin coconut oil or other healthy cooking oil

½ tsp vanilla extract or almond extract

1 large pinch fine sea salt

I added a Tbsp of chia seeds

Mix!

I lined a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. I need to get some parchment paper! Spread it all out. She instructs to bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes.

Add fruit after it comes out of the oven

I stored mine in a mason jar in the fridge because it's just too darn cute not to see all the goodness inside. It has endless uses! Eat it by itself, with yogurt, with almond/coconut milk, with berries and bananas, blended in your smoothies, make an apple crumble...feed some to your dog...feed the ducks...ok. not those last too...

Breakfast With Love

My version of a bird's nest breakfast with a lovely twist

I love toast...and I love eggs...put them together and it's perfection



 

 

DELISHHHH