Dessert

Chocolate Crunch Bites

December 7, 2016 by Holly Yzquierdo 3 Comments

I love chocolate. Chocolate and peanut butter are even better!

If you know someone with food allergies peanuts can be deadly. There are several peanut butter alternatives that can be used instead. They have a taste and feel similar to peanut butter but no dangerous peanuts.

You can make this recipe with either peanut butter or a safe alternative!

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You are going to fall in love with these Chocolate Crunch Bites! My son said they taste like a Kit Kat but that wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to combine my favorite snacks into an easy treat with mega flavor.

Before I switched to a whole food plant-based diet my favorite cookies were the chocolate oatmeal no bakes. I think I took some inspiration from those days but I wanted to give them some crunch and some natural sweetness. Besides, that old recipe had a ton of butter, sugar, and milk. The ingredients in my Chocolate Crunch Bites make me much happier.

Use peanut butter or a peanut butter substitute, dairy-free chocolate chips, gluten-free pretzels, granola and dried fruit, all normal pantry staples for me. (All the links in the previous sentence are Amazon affiliate links). That is all!

I wouldn’t say they are healthy, but they are a fun and easy treat to take to parties or cookie exchanges. I’m thinking of giving some as gifts to my food allergy pals. You don’t have to save them for only people with food allergies though, they are so good, everyone will love them.

When it’s time to cook you will want to have all of your ingredients out and ready. I broke my pretzels with my hands but you could chop them with a knife. Measure them after you break them into small pieces, not before. I didn’t want them to get too small and turn to dust.

It’s also important if you are making these for someone with food allergies to make sure all your ingredients are safe.

I choose Enjoy Life mini chips, Glutino pretzels, and Made In Nature dried fruit. You can choose brands you love.

The dried fruit I used was actually a Super Berry blend that also had pepita seeds. You can pick what you love but dried cranberries or dried tart cherries are both winners.

If you have kids who like to help in the kitchen this is one of those recipes they can help with. When I say that, you know it’s a simple recipe because I’m not one of those people who invite the kids to cook with me.

I’ll let them stand on a chair on the other side of the counter and watch, sometimes. Usually, I’m shooing them away, but this recipe they can totally help with.

Chocolate Crunch Bites

Go ahead and make these easy and delicious Chocolate Crunch Bites. This no bake, allergy-friendly recipe will win your family over!

Chocolate Crunch Bites

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Author: Holly Yzquierdo

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

½ cup creamy peanut butter or peanut butter alternative
1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
1 cup gluten-free pretzels, broken into small pieces
1 cup your favorite granola
½ cup dried fruit

Instructions

Put ½ cup of peanut butter or alternative into a medium sauce pan on low heat. Use a silicone spatula to stir regularly.
Once it starts to melt, add the 1 cup of chocolate chips. Stir often and use the spatula to scrape the bottom. Don't walk away or it could burn. Keep stirring until all the lumps are gone.
Dump in the broken pretzels, granola, and dried fruit and stir well.
Remove pan from heat and scoop out in tablespoon size scoops and lay them on a cookie sheet, covered with parchment paper.
Place the cookie sheet into the refrigerator to cool and harden. Allow at least an hour before eating. These can be left on the counter for a few hours but store in the refrigerator.

Triple Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops

June 22, 2016 by Holly Yzquierdo 1 Comment

When I mentioned my obsession with making dairy-free frozen treats last week I wasn’t exaggerating. Remember the Mango Lime Ice Pops! I’ve been making every flavor of ice pop and frozen treat I can imagine. I’m only limited by my selection of fresh fruit but I’ve also tried a few other options like these Frozen Yogurt Pops.

I love making frozen treats with just fruit but I decided I wanted something a little creamier! I bought Silk dairy-free yogurt alternative and fresh berries to make these treats come to life.

I wanted to buy vanilla yogurt but my store was out so I went with plain. If you use vanilla yogurt it is already sweetened and you can skip the sweetener. If you use the plain flavor you’ll probably want to add a sweetener like maple syrup or stevia. I recommend you blend everything up first to make sure. If you find sweet berries you may not need much, but sometimes berries are a little sour.

I really wanted to take advantage of the beautiful berry colors (although my white tile floor wasn’t as excited). It’s really hard to measure berries for a recipe so I just estimated amounts and used my Blendtec to blend it all together. You’ll get a vibrant blend of fruity yogurt that is hard to resist. I do recommend a taste test at this point to see if you need to add sweetener. If so start with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or a packet of stevia and move up from there.

Do your best to get it into your freezer pop molds. After I filled them to 3/4 of the way to the top I carefully dropped blueberries, diced strawberries and halved blackberries into the mold and used a wooden ice-pop stick to push them where I wanted them. This wouldn’t have worked in a juice but since the yogurt and fruit blend was thick and creamy the fruit stayed just where I put it. I also inserted the sticks here too.

The serving size will vary based on your freezer mold size. This recipe should make 4-6 frozen treats.

Triple Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops

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Author: Holly Yzquierdo

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6

Ingredients

½ cup non-dairy yogurt
1 cup of fresh berries
sweetener (optional)

Instructions

Pour ½ cup of non-dairy yogurt into a blender.
Pour in half of the berries.
Blend in blender until smooth.
Taste and add sweetener if needed. I recommend maple syrup or stevia then blend again.
Once appropriately sweet, spoon into freezer molds until ¾ of the way full.
Carefully drop berries into the molds using whole blueberries, diced strawberries and halved blackberries.
Place sticks into the molds and freeze over night.
To loosen freezer pops, dip the molds into warm water then gently pull out the freezer pops.
Store in the freezer until ready to eat.

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Mango Lime Ice Pops

June 16, 2016 by Holly Yzquierdo 7 Comments

I’m going to fess up, I have a slight addiction to frozen treats. Yes, that Banana Pudding Ice Cream was just the start! Now my kids have caught it too! I’ve been making loads of vegan ice pops that are out of this world. These Mango Lime Ice Pops are a delicious frozen treat!

As soon as the temperatures rose above 100 degrees here in Arizona I started making a bunch of different ice pop recipes. We’ve had two strong favorites and I’m sharing one of them today.

This Mango Lime Ice Pop may be one of the most refreshing frozen treats I’ve ever had. It’s made with 4 simple ingredients, mango, lime, coconut water and stevia. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

I love mango but I prefer it with other flavors like my Black Bean Mango Salad. My husband and youngest son will eat mango by itself. I think lime is the perfect addition to mango and once you try this frozen treat you will too.

I used the yellow mangos but you could use the pretty green/red/yellow ones. You could even use frozen mango but I’d let it thaw a little. After cutting up my mango I had about 1 1/2 cups. If you have a little more or a little less it will still work.

Other than the simple ingredients you’ll also need a mold for making frozen treats, unless you are doing the small cups or ice cube method. I have two different molds for making delicious frozen treats but I used this one from Amazon. Don’t forget to buy the sticks unless you are using molds that come with sticks.

This recipe makes four frozen treats with a little left over that we ate right then without freezing it! I will definitely make these again!

I was a little concerned that my kids would think they tasted too “grown up” but they loved them too.

Mango Lime Ice Pops

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Author: Holly Yzquierdo

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 yellow mangos
1 lime (juice and zest)
½ cup coconut water
2 Stevia packets

Instructions

Peel mangos and remove the flesh.
Wash the lime then use a microplane to peel the lime zest.
Squeeze all the juice out of the lime into a measuring cup.
Pour coconut water in the measuring cup (with the lime juice) until it reaches the ½ cup mark. You will use more or less coconut water depending on how much lime juice you have. Pour in Stevia.
Blend in a high powered blender then carefully pour into your treat molds and freeze over night.
To remove the ice pops from the mold, submerge the bottom of the molds in warm water being careful not to get the treats wet.

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

June 9, 2016 by Holly Yzquierdo 2 Comments

I grew up in the south and certain flavors remind me of my childhood. Banana pudding is one of those flavors. I wanted to recreate that flavor in a frozen treat, Banana Pudding Ice Cream was born.

There are a lot of vegan ice cream recipes out there. They aren’t very hard to make and many of them use frozen bananas. You may have heard them called “nice cream.” If you haven’t tried it you are missing out!

For my recipe I wanted to keep it simple but add something to give it that banana pudding flavor. I accomplished that by using Enjoy Life Vanilla Cookies.

Disclaimer: These cookies are not vegan, they contain honey. I didn’t even realize that until I went to write this recipe out. I should have known because it’s right there on the box. We’ve used these cookies for a long time because they are one of the few delicious cookies that are free of the top 8 allergens and safe for people with food allergies. You can use a different cookie like these Snackimals that aren’t safe for food allergies or Enjoy Life Sugar Crisps that are top 8 free.

I’m not one to eat many frozen treats. I’m just not an ice cream type of person but it’s been so hot here in Arizona that I really wanted to start making more ice creams and popsicles for my family. I love that I can control the ingredients and avoid artificial sweeteners and food dyes by spending just a few minutes creating them.

The sweetness from the bananas and the cookies were more than enough for this treat. I didn’t add any other sweetener, just a little vanilla and plant-based milk.

I always have frozen bananas in my freezer because I like putting them in smoothies. If you plan to make this ice cream you can peel the bananas, cut them into pieces then freeze. I usually freeze bananas whole but then I have to peel them and they are much harder to work with that way.

While you don’t need any “special tools” you will need either a food process or a blender. I use this food processor that I bought years ago. You could even use a blender but you might have to use more liquid and stop more often to push the ice cream off the sides. I’m going to try using my Blendtec Twister Jar next!

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

If you love banana pudding you absolutely must give this Banana Pudding Ice Cream a try.

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

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Author: Holly Yzquierdo

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

4 Bananas, Frozen and cut into chunks
¼ cup plant milk
1 tsp vanilla
6 vanilla cookies

Instructions

Put frozen banana chunks into a food processor and pulse for 2 minutes.
Pour in half the plant milk and the vanilla and pulse again.
Use a silicon spatula to push the frozen banana ice cream around and separate it from the sides.
Add more milk and pulse until smooth, using the spatula when needed.
Break cookies into big chunks and put half in the food processor and pulse into the ice cream.
Stir the half of cookies into the ice cream.
Serve or pour into a freezer safe container and freeze until ready to serve.

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Plant-Based Brownies

April 17, 2013 by Holly Yzquierdo 52 Comments

Gluten-free, oil-free, dairy-free, Plant-Based Brownies! These delicious brownies are sweet and gooey. Your whole family will love this plant-based dessert.

This page contains affiliate links. That mean I could make a small commission if you make purchases using my link. This won’t cost you anything extra.

This recipe was updated in 2020! It tastes the same but uses a gluten-free flour blend for ease.

If you love chocolate, and I mean really love chocolate…these plant-based brownies are for you!

I’ve been making these since 2013 and they are my favorite plant-based brownie recipe. You would never guess that they are gluten-free.

I have to thank Sarah at Gazing In for the original recipe; it contained wheat and oil which we avoid so I adapted it to meet our preferences. I’ve made several of Sarah’s recipes and I always enjoy them.

This recipe is very sweet! We like to serve it with plant-based milk and fruit. If you are worried about the sugar you can half it.

Sweet Potato Brownies

I casually refer to these as my Sweet Potato Brownies! Sweet potatoes are the secret ingredient that make these brownies gooey and rich!

I normally make the sweet potatoes in my Instant Pot but you could bake them in the oven. They need to be soft. You can mash them with a fork but you may notice some tiny orange bits. If you blend them in a blender or food processor until they are creamy, you won’t see them at all.

We always use Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Chips. Either the mini chips, semi sweet chips or chocolate chunks all work equally well.

Plant-Based Brownies (Gluten-free)

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Cup for Cup Gluten-Free Flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
2/3 cup pureed cooked sweet potatoes
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 1/2 cup plant milk, start with 1/4 cup
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° and lightly spray an 8×8 pan. (This recipe doubles wonderfully, just use a 9×15 pan.)
Put all of the ingredients except chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Stir until everything is mixed well adding more plant milk if needed.
Fold in chocolate chips reserving a few spoonful’s. Spread the batter smooth and sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on top.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, toothpick will not come out clean.

Serve

Allow these brownies to cool before cutting if at all possible. They can be stored in an air tight container at room temperature but you probably wont have leftovers unless you make a double batch. Unlike most gluten-free baked goods these taste great the next day.

I hope you try these! I know you will enjoy them. They are now my favorite dessert!

Yield: 9

Plant-Based Brownies

Gluten-free, oil-free, dairy-free, Plant-Based Brownies! These delicious brownies are sweet and gooey. Your whole family will love this plant-based dessert.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Additional Time 10 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Cup for Cup Gluten-Free Flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
2/3 cup pureed cooked sweet potatoes
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plant-based milk, I use rice milk
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° and lightly spray an 8×8 pan or use parchment paper. (This recipe doubles wonderfully, just use a 9×15 pan.)
Put all of the ingredients except chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Stir until everything is mixed well.
Fold in chocolate chips reserving a few spoonful’s. Spread the batter smooth and sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on top.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, toothpick will not come out clean.

Notes

Allow these brownies to cool before cutting if at all possible. They can be stored in an air tight container at room temperature but you probably wont have leftovers unless you make a double batch.

Frequently Asked Questions

I’m out of applesauce, what can I use?

You can use a pureed apple, pear, peach or other similar fruit. See this post about substituting applesauce for more suggestions.

What can I use instead of cane sugar?

You can use your favorite sweetener! I’ve used turbinado sugar for years. Lately we have switched or organic cane sugar. Use whatever you already have. Many people have used coconut sugar with good result.

That’s a lot of sugar, can I use less?

You bet you can. I recommend using half. This recipe is really sweet, which we love but it’s too sweet for some. You can also try using maple syrup, date paste or your favorite sugar. If using a liquid form of sugar, you may need to decrease the amount of plant-based milk you use.

Can I use something other than Sweet Potato?

Yes, you can substitute pureed pumpkin in place of the sweet potato. You could also try pureed squash or zucchini but I haven’t personally tried them.

Have you tried these brownies? I’d love to hear what you think!

Chocolate No-Bake Bites

May 17, 2012 by Holly Yzquierdo 13 Comments

When I want a delicious chocolate treat I reach for these Chocolate No-Bake Bites. They are the perfect summer treat when it is too hot to turn on the oven.

Years ago, I would make the most delicious chocolate no bake cookies. You know the ones, they have a ton of butter, milk, peanut butter and oats. Yeah, I loved those!

This version is much healthier for you although not necessarily a “health food.”

I almost always have all of the ingredients I need (thanks to my pantry staples). These can also be made allergy-friendly by using gluten-free oats and a peanut butter substitute like SoyNut Butter or SunButter.

Chocolate No-Bake Bites

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Author: Holly Yzquierdo

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Cocoa
2 Tbsp agave or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 banana
¼ cup peanut butter (or other nut or seed butter)
1 cup oats (use gluten-free if needed) added ¼ cup at a time.
¼ cup vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

Mix together cocoa, agave, and vanilla in a medium-sized mixing bowl. This will take a little while to do but it will come together. Once these 3 ingredients are mixed together they look and taste like Hershey's syrup that we put on ice cream as a kid, it isn't quite as sweet but it is close.
Mash in banana and stir.
Mix in peanut butter, you can add another ¼ cup for a stronger PB taste.
Stir in oats, ¼ cup at a time. If your mixture looks to dry don't use all the oats.
Optional: add in the chocolate chips.
Spoon onto a wax paper lined plate and place them in the freezer or far away from little hands that might dig in too early. You could smooth them into balls or flatten them into cookie shape if desired.

I store these in the freezer and grab one or two out for an after dinner treat. I left a few on the counter and they did “set up” nicely but not as well as my old-fashioned dairy-filled version that is off-limits. My recipe made about 17 small bite sized cookies.

For more delicious desserts check out my Dessert Page!

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Chocolate Crunch Bites

Chocolate Crunch Bites

Triple Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops

Triple Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops

Mango Lime Ice Pops

Mango Lime Ice Pops

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Plant-Based Brownies