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Samoas Donuts {vegan}

March 1, 2013 · by Ari · 9 Comments

Samoas Donuts #vegan

It’s here. The season I love to hate. Or hate to love. Yes, definitely hate to love: Girl Scout Cookie Season.

Samoas Donuts #vegan

For the past few years, I’ve avoided purchasing any all together, but this year a special girl in my life was selling them, and I just couldn’t let her not win the special prize for selling the most boxes, right???? But really, girl scout cookies happen only once a year, and the two boxes I purchased aren’t going to be the end of the world, as long as I don’t eat them all in one sitting. In fact, I’m proud to announce that a week in, and only one box has even been opened!

Samoas Donuts #vegan

This is what we call MASSIVE WILLPOWER over in my house. Plus, now that I have these donuts, that opened box of samoas isn’t drawing me in quite so heavily. The unopened thin mints in my freezer? Well, that’s an other story. Those long tubes of cookies are portion control’s worst nightmare. Oh, you say all of these delicious cookies come in 2 tubes? Well, clearly one tube is a “serving”, right?

Samoas Donuts #vegan

I’m actually trying to save them for when I decide just how I want them to be a part of a cupcake, or milkshake, or cookie inside of a cookie.

Samoas Donuts #vegan

So how did I make these indulgent cookies into a completely vegan, and health(ier) dessert? Well, the donut part was easy. I have a pretty basic donut recipe that I love, and it didn’t require too much tweaking. Chocolate and coconut? Piece of cake. I don’t even buy that sweetened coconut. I love the finely shredded unsweetened low fat stuff. You can, of course, use whatever you want, but if I can get that delicious coconutty taste without the added sugar, I’ll take it!

Samoas Donuts #vegan

The caramel portion was tricky. I’ve seen date caramel all over the internet, and I’d been dying to try it. Dates are so sweet and gooey that it seemed like they could definitely do the trick! So I got out the food processor, played around, heated the mixture on the stove a little to get that extra-gooey effect, and voila! Now, I’m gonna be real with you here. It doesn’t just just like that gooey buttery caramel we’re all used to and love. It is not an exact replica, but it does give you a sweet, caramel texture with no added sugar. I could have just eaten it with a spoon if I didn’t have donuts to make!

Samoas Donuts #vegan

And not just any donuts–ultra soft, pillowy donuts that taste like biting into a sweet, fluffy cloud. I don’t know why anyone fries these things when they bake up perfectly soft and sweet on their own. Add rich, bold dark chocolate, and you have everything you could ever need in a dessert.

**Note: To get closer to the Samoas look, you can also coat the bottom in chocolate, but I was trying to keep this light, so I just drizzled it on the top. Also, you can totally drizzle it in a straighter line for the resemblance  I tried…we all have our strengths and weaknesses 😉

 

Samoas Donuts

yield 6 donuts

  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp dark brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • dash salt
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, divided use
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil
  • 20 pitted dates (and water for soaking)
  • 2 tbsp reduced fat unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 tsp coconut oil, at room temperature

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325. Spray a donut pan with nonstick spray, and set aside.
  2. Place dates in a bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to soak while you prepare the donuts.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, corn starch and salt. Stir in 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk, vanilla and melted coconut oil. Gently stir until ingredients are just combined.
  4. Evenly divide batter between 6 donut molds. Smooth out tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in molds.
  5. Transfer dates + 2-3 tbsp of water from soaking to your food processor. Process until dates begin breaking down to more of a paste, about 2-3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt (you can also add a dash of vanilla extract if you’d like) and 2 tbsp almond milk. Continue to process until a caramel texture forms, about 2-3 minutes.
  6. Transfer mixture to a small saucepan, and cook on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes whisking constantly. Return back to the food processor, and blend again for about one minute.
  7. Top donuts with date caramel sauce, followed by a heavy pinch of coconut.
  8. Melt chocolate and room temperature coconut oil in the microwave for about 90 seconds, stirring every 20-30 seconds. Transfer melted chocolate to a large ziplock bag. Snip off the corner of the bag, and drizzle chocolate over donuts. Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 5-7 days.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert, Donuts, Holiday & Seasonal, Vegan · Tagged: caramel, chocolate, coconut, dates, donuts, doughnuts, girl scout cookies, samoas, vegan, whole grain

Skinnified Sunday: Samoa Cookie Bars

February 4, 2012 · by Ari · 3 Comments

You know what? I have not bought a single box of girl scout cookies this year. I mean, I won’t pretend that no matter how many copy cats I make, I don’t still want to eat an entire sleeve of thin mints, but I have to say I have really been enjoying the flavors I love + the freshly baked at home taste that no cookie in a box can ever duplicate. I have a confession. I might actually like these better than real samoas! Sometimes the real ones are just a tad too sweet (if that’s even possible) for my taste, and I felt like these don’t taste healthy at all, just more natural in flavors. I taste real coconut and dark chocolate and I love that.

Original recipe:

My swaps:

  • 1/2 recipe
  • Pumpkin and light whipped butter for butter (-fat, -saturated fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
  • Sugar/Splenda combo for sugar (-sugar, -calories)
  • Egg substitute for egg (-fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
  • Extra vanilla (+yum)
  • Unsweetened coconut (It didn’t specify, but it was hard to find just plain ole coconut. -calories, -sugar)
  • Low fat caramel sauce for chewy caramels (-fat, -calories)
  • Grain sweetened chocolate chips for regular, and less of them (-calories, -sugar)

Skinnified Somoa Cookie Bars

yield 16 bars

for the cookie layer

  • 2 tbs turbinado sugar
  • 2 tbs Splenda
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin
  • 2 tbs light whipped butter, softened
  • 2 tbs egg substitute
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cups white whole wheat flour
  • dash salt

for the topping

  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened flake coconut, toasted**
  • 3/4 cup low fat caramel sauce
  • 1/3 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips
  • 1-2 tbs unsweetened coconut almond milk (or any milk)
  • dash coconut extract (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8×8 pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, beat butter, pumpkin, Splenda and sugar together. Beat in vanilla and egg substitute.
  3. Add salt and flour and mix until combined. Dough will be slightly crumbly and may not all come together.
  4. Press dough into greased pan, smoothing with a spatula.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes, then place on wire rack to cool completely.
  6. Spread caramel sauce on top, followed by coconut flake.
  7. In a small microwave safe bowl, heat chocolate chips, milk, and coconut extract in increments of 15 seconds, mixing after each increment until melted. Carefully, spread on top of caramel/coconut layer using a spatula.
  8. Freeze for 2 hours for caramel sauce to set, then transfer to refrigerator, or keep frozen if desired.

**I toasted my own coconut by placing it in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat until golden. Careful to stir constantly and do not burn.

 

Filed Under: Brownies & Bars, Dessert · Tagged: baking, cookies, girl scout cookies, recipe, samoas, skinnified

Skinnified Thin Mint Cookies

January 24, 2012 · by Ari · 2 Comments

Remember when I said in celebration of being self hosted I was going to post a recipe??? Taaaaaddddaaaa!

When I saw a post on facebook yesterday announcing it was Girl Scout Cookie Season (yes, this is an event in my mind), I was equally excited and dreadful. Does anyone else harbor memories of eating an entire sleeve in one sitting straight out of the freezer? What? You exercise self control and don’t freeze your girl scout cookies? Well, I think you’re weird. Those things are addicting! In an attempt to satisfy my craving, I made my own skinnified version. I was pretty nervous, but I have to say they turned out pretty awesome. Chocolate, minty, and almost fudge like. They aren’t quite as crispy and crumbly as the original, but the flavors are 100% there, and I feel like they have more of a fresh baked feel, which I prefer anyway.

I used this recipe for inspiration, but ended up changing a lot of things. They suggested rolling the dough into a log (which looked so terrible I refuse to post pictures) and slicing which I tried, but then also tried my roll and smoosh technique which I actually thought were prettier.

See the difference? If you like the cut look better, then when you refrigerate them, shape the dough into a big log and wrap in plastic wrap, but I think the smooshy ones look more like actual thin mints.

Skinnified Thin Mint Cookies

yield approx 30 cookies

For the cookies:

  • 5 oz fat free cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 tbs light whipped butter, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup raw cane sugar
  • 1/4 cup Splenda
  • 2 tbs egg substitute
  • dash vanilla extract
  • scant 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
  • 3/4 cup white whole wheat (or whole wheat pastry, or whatever you want) flour
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tbs Dutch process cocoa powder (regular unsweetened chocolate will work if you don’t have Dutch process)**
  • dash salt

For the coating:

  • 1/3 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp light whipped butter
  • dash peppermint extract

Directions:

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, sugar and Splenda. Beat in vanilla, peppermint and egg substitute.
  3. Slowly beat dry ingredients into cream cheese mixture, scraping down sides of bowl when necessary. Dough will be thick.
  4. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or even overnight.
  5. Preheat oven to 350. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  6. Take about a tablespoon of dough at a time and roll in your hands to make a ball, then flatten to about 1/4″ thickness.
  7. Bake for 12-15 min. Cool completely.
  8. Microwave chocolate chips and butter in 20 second spurts, stirring after each time until melted. Stir in peppermint.
  9. Cover cookies completely with melted chocolate and allow to cool on parchment paper.

Talk about wanting to lick the beater! Yesssss please! Just so you know, this is only about half of the dry mixture added. It should not look like this before you bake it.

I experimented, and frosted just the tops of some and covered the entire cookie on others. It's better if you cover the entire cookie. More chocolate = better cookie. As if there could really be any other result.

Happy Girl Scout Cookie Season!

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: girl scout cookies, recipe, skinnified, thin mints

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