With my husband’s new lifestyle change, I wanted to come up with a relatively healthy and low carb treat for Easter weekend.  I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of Splenda, but until I try out some other zero calorie sweeteners, I know that it is a safe choice that I can bake with while keeping the carb count to a minimum.  These Low Carb Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting taste anything but healthy, but are truly a dessert you can feel good about eating!

I actually cut the amount of flour down in this recipe and the consistency was quite perfect.  These Low Carb Carrot Cupcakes were so soft and moist which also was a result of the cup of grated carrots that is added into the batter.  Who can complain about getting some additional veggies in your diet while eating a cupcake??

The cream cheese frosting on top of these cupcakes is just as luscious as any frosting you have ever tasted and it only has 1/4 cup of powdered sugar!  Flavored extracts are so great for adding sweet flavor without adding too much extra sugar.

We felt so good about eating these Low Carb Carrot Cupcakes that I called them “muffins” and we ate them for Easter breakfast!

I mentioned that I will be including some nutritional values in my recipes from now on, so please find that information at the bottom of the recipes if you are interested.

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I’m sure you can guess by looking at these Funfetti Cake Batter Cookies how long I have waited to share them with you.  Yes, those are Christmas sprinkles!

But I do think that these Funfetti Cake Batter Cookies would be absolutely adorable with pastel sprinkles for springtime!  These Funfetti Cake Batter Cookies are made using yellow cakes mix so that they have a familiar buttery cake flavor but have a crispy edge like a good cookie.  And of course there are some chocolate chips mixed in for a little extra something special.

I would love to make another batch of these with pastel sprinkles and white chocolate chips, wrap them in spring cellophane bags tied with colorful ribbon and deliver them to friends as an official welcome to spring!

This recipe was adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction which is one of my all-time favorite dessert blogs.  I am continually inspired by Sally’s creativity and her photos make my mouth water with each recipe.

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Life has been busy the past couple of weeks.  The way that I think about food has changed completely.  Baking something just for fun seems wrong and even harmful.  Food is no longer a source of entertainment and pleasure but rather it is a source of stress and conflict.

Two weeks ago I spent the weekend in the hospital with my husband as he was diagnosed and treated for Type I Diabetes.  He is an otherwise healthy and very fit man and so the shock of this completely blind-siding news is still sinking in.  He has a brother with the same disease, but we were still in denial of all of the classic symptoms.

While I am very grateful that this is a manageable disease, it is still a lot to take in and a complete lifestyle change that we will be adapting to for awhile.  I am still immediately worried sick when I see his face get pale and his hands begin to shake when he is experiencing “a low”.  And I am trying so hard not to panic when his blood sugar is unexpectedly high even with our best efforts toward carbohydrate calculation.  I still wince when he lifts his shirt and I see bruises from the injections he gives himself 4-5 times per day.  I am so desperate for my favorite hobby of baking, but it feels so wrong to even have baked goods in the house to tempt him right now.

I am so very thankful and feel so blessed to have such an amazing support system of family and friends.  Shared recipes, cookbooks and advice have been so helpful and the phone calls just to check in and see how we are doing have been comforting beyond belief.

Immediately when I found out about this illness that we will live with every day of the rest of our lives, one of my first thoughts was that I was done with the blog.  But the more i understand how food is not poison or a reason for punishment for him, I am reminded of the “everything in moderation” philosophy.  I will still bake, but now I will use recipe nutrition calculators to determine how many carbohydrate a cookie or  a muffin has so that he can account for the additional carbohydrates and still enjoy a treat once in awhile.  I will not give up my creative outlet, but my process may change slightly.

Thank you for allowing me to share this with you.  Writing is so therapeutic to me and it feels so good to get my feelings out there.

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Did your high school cafeteria have any good treats that you still think about to this day?  My high school had these incredibly soft M&M cookies that I still miss.  When I came across a recipe for Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars, it immediately peaked my interest because of my fond memories of the beloved lunch lady cookies that I remember.

Chocolate and peanut butter in any recipe gives me high hopes that I will fall in love with the treat.  These cookies begin with a soft and chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookie base.  As soon as you take the cookies out of the oven you smear them with more peanut butter so that it melts with the warmth of the cookie crust.  Finally, top all of that goodness off with a classic chocolate frosting and you’ll have visions of adorable lunch ladies dancing in your head when you eat one of these Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars.

This recipe comes from the new cookbook from Six Sisters’ Stuff.  Can you imagine having a blog with your 5 sisters??? That’s exactly what this six remarkable ladies are lucky enough to do.  Their first cookbook is filled with easy any day recipes that they use to feed their busy families.  The sisters value getting their families to sit down together for a meal, which I admire.

Not only does Six Sisters’ Stuff cookbook offer over 80 recipes with nice color photos, but it also offers crafts and ideas such as a list of activities for children to do inside if they can’t go out on a rainy day.  The recipe chapters are divided into Main Dishes, Slow Cookier, Sides, Salads, Breads and Desserts and all of the recipes are based on ingredients that you will likely already have in your pantry at home.  Most of the recipes in this book are very simple and would be great for someone who is a beginner in the kitchen and is looking to learn some basics using easy-to-find ingredients.

There are certainly more dessert recipes in this book that have caught my attention such as the Sugar Cookie and S’mores Bars.  Many of the main dishes in Six Sisters’ Stuff are casseroles and good down home type cooking that may remind you of some of your family classics.

*Shadow Mountain Publishing sent me a review copy of the Six Sisters’ Stuff Cookbook but all opinions are, as always, my own.

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I have quite a vast cookbook collection.  And while I love to look at different types of cookbooks, there are only a couple in my collection that I consider works of art.  I consider these books art because the writing is so profound that it makes you think of a croissant as a some sort of mythical wonder.  The photographs are so gorgeous and lifelike that you feel like you could pick the item up of the page and just sink your teeth right into it.  The stories behind the author are so inspirational that they make you feel inspired to fulfill your own dreams.

Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel literally took my breath away when I first opened it.

Thomas Keller is somewhat of a god when it comes to the restaurant world.  He has won multiple James Beard awards and his restaurant in California, The French Laundry is world-renound.  This is only one of Keller’s famous eateries around the country.  Chef Keller has a philosophy that involves making patrons feel welcome and providing an extraordinary dining experience.

The Bouchon Bakery cookbook begins with a narrative by Thomas Keller describing his time in Paris when he was in his twenties and how he was mesmerized each day by the smell of baking bread coming from the boulangeries that lined the streets.  Just by reading his story, you can almost imagine that you are smelling the aromas that he smelled and you can fully understand his where his inspiration for opening bakeries came from.

This cookbook is filled with recipes ranging in difficulty from simple drop cookies to fancy pastries that take hours and require attention to procedure such as puff pastry.  The book includes chapters full of cookies, cakes, tarts and even a whole chapter dedicated to recipes that use pate a choux.  Many of the recipes are accompanied by step-by-step photos so that even if the recipe seems daunting at first, you have a visual aid to help you through.

The cookies that I shared from you from the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook were these delicious Speculoos Cookies.

I am committed to trying Keller’s recipe for pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants) and I can’t wait to have the perfect reason to attempt them. And have I mentioned this book is gorgeous???  Honestly, if you are looking to add a timeless classic that can double as a coffee table book of art to your collection, you need to buy Bouchon Bakery!

*Artisan Publishing provided me with a review copy of Bouchon Bakery, but all opinions are, as always, my own.

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