"Desserts"

Thanks to my wonderful Doctor, who senses when his patients are on the verge of an emotional breakdown in his office, I am the proud owner of a new cookbook!

These desserts are free of many things, but most importantly they are free of any kind of sugar, sugar replacers, honey, etc. There is NO sweetener. Zip, zero, ZILCH. How are they desserts, then, you may ask? Well when you've been off sugar for as long as I have, even squash tastes like someone dumped sugar on it. However these recipes are supposed to fool "even sugar-lovers"! Determined to put it to the test and whet my intense sweet-tooth (what with all the Christmas treats showing up at my house), I made a couple of these. They're actually quite good! And they're also free of salt, mostly free of any kind of oil or fat, white flour, egg yolks, or anything else that might be even remotely bad for you. 

 I didn't manage to get a picture of the apple-raisin cookies (which were gone before the chocolate ones, mind you...people like these!), but I did take some of the blueberry muffins without the blueberries (I used peaches) that I made last night.

They aren't bad if you think of them as muffins, and not cookies. Use Earth Balance...it works. I liked the cookies better, I think. It's quite amazing that they're as sweet as they are without any sweetener! :)

Sugar-free Dairy-free Peach Muffins

2 large egg whites

1/2 C buttermilk (use rice milk+ 1/2 T white vinegar or lemon juice)

3/4 C frozen unsweetened pineapple-orange juice concentrate, thawed (I used orange juice concentrate) 

1 tsp vanilla

1 C whole wheat flour

1 1/2 C oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 C fresh or frozen peaches (can use blueberries or something instead)

1. Combine egg whites, buttermilk, juice concentrate, and vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, and baking soda.

3. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients; blend until just moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. 

4. Divide batter into 12 muffin tins that have been sprayed with nonstick vegetable coating. 

5. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Sugar-free Dairy-free Apple and Date Cookies

3 T butter, softened (I used Earth Balance)

1 lg egg white

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 C frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate, thawed

1 C whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 C quick-cooking rolled oats

1/2 C apple, peeled cored and grated

1/3 C dates, chopped (I used raisins)

1. Cream butter; add egg white and vanilla. Beat well

2. Add apple juice concentrate and beat well.

3. Combine flour, soda, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg; add to the creamed mixture.

4. Stir in oats, apple, and dates

5. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets sprayed with nonstick vegetable coating.

6. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

Makes 32 cookies. Ish.