Skinny 5 Ingredient Chocolate Cherry Crisp

March 1, 2016 Amanda Plott

This post was sponsored by Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.

Sometimes we all just need a little chocolate in our lives, and in my opinion not much goes better with chocolate other than cherries. You really can't go wrong with the combination. Of course, coming off of an extremely busy weekend, I wanted to be sure to do something simple with few ingredients and lots of flavor.

What can I say? I needed something to curb my sweet cravings.

I've seen it done before where Honey Bunches of Oats have been used as a quick fix 'crisp' style topping for desserts, so I decided to take that idea and run with it. But, I didn't want anything plain-jane so I had to put my own chocolate lover's better-for-you spin on it....

Strawberry & Coconut Matcha Chocolate Bark

February 5, 2016 Amanda Plott

Valentine's Day is approaching quickly and I'm all for a little guilty pleasure every now and again. Especially when it involves a special holiday of sorts. Although, if I'm going to have any sort of treat, I always tend to throw in a few health aspects just to make it more guilt free. And this matcha chocolate is no exception!

I'm a pretty big fan of chocolate bark, in fact it's a pretty dangerous thing for me to make because tends to go pretty quickly around here. I've been toying with matcha powder for a few weeks now after buying my very first bag of it, and I have to say, it's good stuff.

I've even gotten my mom onto the matcha train too! So much so that she's asked me to come up with ways to add it into foods rather than just drinking it all the time...

Skinny Dark Chocolate & Cherry Scones (Sponsored)

January 11, 2016 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MeAndMyTea #CollectiveBias

So, I'm kind of in love with scones. They're easy to make, delicious, and extremely versatile. Today I wanted to make some scones that would help me bring in the New Year and help me reach my goals while also getting me into the spirit of Valentine's Day (because you know that's just around the corner too!) What better way to achieve both other than with dark chocolate and some cherries? Yum, yum.

I used one of my older scone recipes to start out as the base for this one. And it worked out beautifully with the few changes and new additions that I made to it.

What can I say? It's fun to sometimes go back to revisit older recipes while also adjusting them to my ever changing taste and desire...

Skinny 'Soft Batch' Chocolate Chip Cookies

December 24, 2015 Amanda Plott

So, every year my mom and I get together before Christmas to spend a day baking up some of our most favorite cookies. This year a request was put in, by another health-nut in the family, for some extra special chocolate chip cookies - soft and full of dark chocolate goodness; chunks and chips alike. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige!

These cookies are soft, fluffy, and full of the good stuff that I know my father-in-law loves. To make them even more special, I topped a few with festive sprinkles, others with dark chocolate candies, and some were just left perfectly plain...

Skinny Nog Pecan Blondies & Nog Cream Cheese Sauce

December 8, 2015 Amanda Plott

As we're getting into the thick of the holiday season, I wanted to step out of the box again and create a lighter take on one of my most favorite desserts in the world, a blondie! Any blondie just won't do. It had to be full of pecans, white chocolate, spice, and topped off with a decadent cream cheese sauce.

Yes, I went there. And I brought my 'Egg Nog' with me.

I wanted this blondie to have more of a holiday twist, so I infused with the flavors of egg nog while omitting (most of) the guilt. I am all about small indulgences, especially around the holidays...

Skinny Chocolate Ginger Bat Cookies

October 16, 2015 Amanda Plott

I've made these particular cookies for a few years now. It all started when we first moved to Austin and my mom made us all take the trek down to the famous Congress Street bridge around Halloween to watch the millions of bats fly out from under it once it was dark. It's a pretty cool thing to watch, especially when leading up to my favorite holiday, Halloween!

When we go to see the bats, and we usually do every year, I always like to take some wine and a snack. We always take the guided bat boat tours which can last a good hour or two while we wait for it to get dark enough for the bats to surface.

I had seen ginger-bread skeletons before, so one year I got smart and thought it would be super cute to make these cookies over in a healthy way while also packing them up for a 'bat night' treat...