Thursday, October 18, 2012

Pumpkin Cookie Balls

Thursday, October 18, 2012
For those of you in the Owatanna, MN area, I am holding a Maximize Your Metabolism class on Wednesday November 7th from 6-8pm. To sign up please email: DKARAUS@owatonna.k12.mn.us 

I will be bringing treats!


This was the first time the boys experienced carving pumpkins! It was so fun watching their reactions of the whole process of digging out the guts. I was right about my assumptions... Kai loved it (and wanted to eat it!) and Micah wanted to wash his hands after every scoop!


My dad's favorite Christmas cookie is the Italian Wedding Cookies. I thought... hmmm, we can make these into cute little pumpkins!


"HEALTHIFIED" PUMPKIN BALLS
3/4 cups butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup powdered Swerve (or erythritol powdered and 1 tsp stevia glycerite)
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
6 TBS coconut flour
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp vanilla
Natural orange food coloring
Pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

Beat butter with powdered sweetener, add flours, salt, pumpkin pie spice, nuts and vanilla and mix well. Roll into balls about a tablespoon in size. Place a pepita into the top of each cookie for the "stem". Bake at 300 for 15-20 minutes. Makes 48 cookies.

NOTE: Not all coconut flours are created equal. My suggestion is to bake one cookie first. If the cookie flattens too much and doesn't look like a pumpkin, add 1 TBS more of coconut flour and try again until you get a nice round pumpkin shape.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per cookie)
Traditional Cookie = 74 calories, 6.2g fat, 0.6g protein, 5g carbs, trace fiber (5 effective carbs)
"Healthified" Cookie = 65 calories, 6.2g fat, 1.1g protein, 1.4g carbs, 0.8g fiber (0.6 effective carbs)


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28 comments:

  1. Oh my, your boys are just the cutest! My girls will enjoy making these and we have all the ingredients! Good to have something festive for the season but healthy. Thanks for the recipe.

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  2. How cute!!! The cookies and your boys!
    Do you think one could cook these in one of those baby cakes donut/cake hole makers?
    Are there any other of your "healthified" recipies that you think would work well in one of those?

    Thanks for all the wonderful information!!!! You are a blessing!!!

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    1. Thank you! I think that would work. You could do just about any cupcake recipe or donut recipe in a hole maker, just reduce the cook time. :)

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  3. Your boys and your doggy are so sweet! As are your pumpkin cookie balls. They sound delish!

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    1. Thank you! Can't believe it is almost a year since we brought them home! Time flies! :)

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  4. Although I REALLY need the nutritional help, if I could go...I'd be there playing with the boys! (Sorry, Maria-LOL!)

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  5. I am way confused when recipes have powdered Swerve (or erythritol powdered and 1 tsp stevia glycerite). Where do you buy these items. I look but never quite see those exact names. Help!

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    1. You can either grind them yourself (blender or coffee grinder) or you can get confectioners swerve. :)
      http://astore.amazon.com/marisnutran05-20/detail/B006T37W6M

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  6. I have been checking out your blog and I have seen so many yummy recipes. I would love to try a lot of them, but my husband is allergic is all tree nuts and until my kids are the age of 3 we avoid tree nuts (Dr. recommendation, because my husband's allergy is so severe). Is there a flour that can be used instead of the almond flour? We are trying to cut back on carbs and sugar in our house.

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    1. Thank you! You can try coconut flour, but it's not a 1-to-1 replacement. In general it is 1/4 the amount for coconut flour and then twice the liquid. You could start with that and then adjust (more liquid or more flour) if the batter is too dry or too wet. :)

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  7. Excellent, je croquerais volontiers
    des belles images
    Bon vendredi, ensoleillé chez moi
    Valérie

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  8. Hi Maria
    I was wondering.....

    is it ok to take non fat greek yogurt (6 grams sugar, 18g protein) and add fat to it? The full fat version is too much for me....

    I had a Turkish student who stayed the summer with us.....she made a dish where she would use no fat greek yogurt, sauteed carrots, garlic, salt and pepper and then she would add in extra virgin olive oil. With adding the fat back in does it make it ok?

    Thanks

    Laura Tyrrell

    ps...we have a friend whose daughter just got diagnosed with Crohns. We recommended your book to them.

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  9. The reason to use full fat yogurt is because when they make reduced fat they add sugar. :)

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  10. oh.....even if the sugar grams are listed at 6 grams on the non fat? Should I consider there is likely to be more than what they claim? I didn't think 6 grams was too awful....

    Do they take into account lactose?

    I have noticed the non fats can contain 12 to 22 grams of sugar....that's amazing!

    I looked at skim milks label...the amount of sugar listed shocked me!

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    1. It depends on what your goals are. If it is weight loss, 6g of sugar in one serving is a bit more than I would like to see. Now, it depends how you use it too. If it is in a recipe and you only get 1/4 a serving of yogurt per serving of the recipe, then I wouldn't be worried about it. :)

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  11. Thanks for the info!

    Why are the lower fat cheeses bad? Do they add sugars into them? Is it a processing issue or satiety issue or both?

    Also...what are your thoughts on non stick cook ware?

    You have my wheels turning

    Laura Tyrrell

    ps...your children are adorable!

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    1. Thank you! They will typically put some junk in the low fat or fat free cheeses. Also, we have to stop being afraid of fats. The more fat you introduce into your diet, the fuller you are throughout the day and the more weight you lose. I also don't like non-stick. Over time it flakes and gets into the food. :)

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  12. Hi maria, I noticed you had Quest bars on your amazon approved items. The quest bars you have under your amazon, have sucralose in them. Why is it that you approve these when you dont approve any artificial sweetener?
    thanks!

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    1. I thought all their products only used stevia now, but it looks like a couple do use sucralose. I will update the astore to remove those. :)

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    2. great thanks! I bought two of their sucralose sweetened ones and two of their stevia.
      I dont think 2 bars will kill me lol, but I am glad you replied about this.

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  13. Your boys are beautiful!

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  14. Just found this post! I'm not that far from Owatonna and would've loved to come to your class. Do you do them often or in other districts? Can't wait to try this recipe too!

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    1. Thanks! I have another class at my house on January 6th at 5PM. Let me know if you are interested at craigmaria@gmail.com

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