The fall season brings on fun activities like apple picking, outdoor hikes, and everything pumpkin spice! It also reminds us of Halloween! Whether you like to dress up or not, this time of year can be fun for all ages. For those that may be stressing out about the weight gain, the comes with consuming all the candy you can put those thoughts on the back burner. Why? The desire to crave sweets is completely natural.
“Halloween and holiday sweet cravings may be uniquely influenced by seasonal changes, too. Studies show that as days get shorter and we are exposed to less sunshine, serotonin levels drop and this leads to increased carbohydrate cravings in susceptible people,” says Katherine Tallmadge, Personalized Nutritionist, author, speaker, and counselor.
Below are a few Halloween-inspired recipes you can enjoy with your friends, family, and workout buddies too!
Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
By: Roma Patel Founder of Tejari and organic, plant-based protein blend.
Yield: 12 peanut butter cups
Ingredients
4 tbsp Tejari Organic Pumpkin Spice Blend
7 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp raw honey
Directions
Line a mini-muffin pan with foil cups and set it aside.
To temper chocolate, place roughly 2/3 of the chopped chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Add the coconut oil and microwave on 50% power for 45 seconds. Remove and stir to combine. Repeat in 30-second increments, stirring in between, until chocolate is completely melted.
Remove from microwave and gradually stir in the remaining 1/3 of the chopped chocolate until shiny and smooth.
Using a spoon, drizzle about a teaspoon of melted chocolate to the bottom of each foil cup. Use the back of the spoon to gently push chocolate slightly up the sides of each liner.
Transfer to the refrigerator to firm up, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix peanut butter, Tejari Organic Pumpkin Spice, and honey until thoroughly blended. The mix will have the texture of dough. Divide into 12 equal portions and roll each into a plump disk, about the size of a quarter.
Once firm, remove chocolate and place a disk of peanut butter mixture in the center of each cup, pressing down to make sure the top stays flat.
Pour melted chocolate on top until just covered. You may need to heat back up in 10-second increments until remelted.
Let peanut butter cups set up in the fridge until firm, about 30 minutes.
These tasty treats are best served at room temperature, but should be stored in the fridge and will last a week (if they make it that long!).
By ah.mi
Makes one serving
Ingredients
1 cup almond milk
2 cups spinach
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ frozen banana
2 Tbsp almond butter
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
Directions
Add all ingredients to a blender
Blend together until smooth
Skeleton Almond Butter Cups
Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Ingredients
1 cup almond butter *
⅛ cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt (optional, if the almond butter is salt-free)
2 (2.8 oz) bars of dark chocolate
8 jumbo baking cups
8 mini marshmallows
Directions
1. In a medium bowl mix together the nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt. It will form a sort of soft dough.
2. Melt the chocolate over low heat in a double boiler (it’s easy – promise!)** 3. To assemble the buttercups, use cupcake liners. Add just enough chocolate to the cupcake liners to cover the bottom (about 1 TBL). Pop them in the freezer to set.
4. Take 1 tablespoon (or more) of almond butter dough and form a disc. (I like a thicker style, others prefer a thinner style. Experiment!) Pop the discs into each mold.
5. Now finish by pouring more chocolate over the top (about 1/2 TBL) so that the chocolate goes around the sides of the dough and covers the top. Repeat until you run out of chocolate and dough. Pop them in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes to set.
6. Meanwhile, make the frosting. See the recipe below. Set aside ⅓ of the frosting for the eyes and mouth.
7. Once the chocolate has solidified, you can pop them out of the molds, and decorate.
8. To Decorate: Use the frosting as glue to set the marshmallow head. Then pipe out the white frosting to form a skeleton shape.
9. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.
Peanut Butter: You can swap in organic peanut butter if you want a classic. To make it allergen-friendly, you can use sun butter.
**Create a double boiler by bringing a small pot filled with about 2 to 3 inches of water to a simmer. Once it starts to simmer or boil, turn off the heat. Place a heatproof bowl that’s just big enough to sit on top of the pot and add your chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar to the bowl. Stir the chocolate with a rubber spatula until silky smooth.
ICING*
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional; replace with water for very white icing)
2 to 2 ½ tablespoons room temperature water
Pinch of salt (optional)
For Black Frosting for the eyes and mouth: add a drop or two of natural food coloring, or add some leftover melted chocolate to the frosting and whisk. You may need to add a drop of water if using chocolate.
1. In a medium bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla (if using), a pinch of salt (if using), and two tablespoons of water together. This is very thick icing. If it’s too thick, whisk in ½ tablespoon of water. At this point, you can also add food coloring.
2. DIY Pastry Bag & Tip: Fill two ziplock bags with the icing (White and Black) and smoosh the frosting towards one corner of each bag. Cut a tiny hole in the corner of each bag to form a frosting tip.
Copyright: Lisa Roberts Hurd 2021