Hot cross bun can be traditional, or you can give it an unconventional modern twist. These are made with a celebrational sweet (but low-sugar) cake recipe, and piped with berry yogurt and blueberries.
Dried blueberries shrink from a raisin size to a smaller currant size.
And you can make these from start to finish in 30 minutes with no proofing needed. Because it’s an easy cupcake recipe. So you make your one bowl batter and fill your muffin tins.
Then bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool. And pipe each cupcake hot cross bun style with healthy blueberry yogurt and adding dried blueberries ontop (or currants) for decoration.
I found there are a wide selection of yogurt choices at Publix grocery stores where they have also have milk-alternative yogurts, like plant-based yogurts.
For the dried blueberries (optional), you can use frozen blueberries that you pull out of the freezer, drain, and leave in the refrigerator. Let dry out for a few days.
For a blueberry-lemon tasting pairing, add a tsp of lemon zest and a tablespoon of dried blueberries to the batter before baking. 🫐🍋
Berry yogurt smoothie is one great breakfast starter that you can make quick and easy with your speedy and mighty Magic Bullet. With probiotic pro-gut health, you add good bacteria to your gut and you can feed the good bacteria with prebiotics like a banana, flaxseeds, oats, and chicory root.
These days chicory root is common in ingredients, like tea and coffee. It’s a prebiotic add to help your gut (good bacteria).
This all makes your gut happy, where a lot of the happy hormones are made that make you happy.
The recipe below is filled with fiber and healthy fat options that give your body the healthy food variety it craves, and make great breakfast starters.
And teaming with your body, if you’re someone with a sweet tooth, this is a celebrational start as a party in the mouth.🥤🍓 An amuse bouche.
And the best part is you can make this smoothie in 5 minutes with a blender. And if you have and use a Magic Bullet blender or similar, you can even use the top capsule to keep the smoothie in a cup (or temporarily store in your fridge).
How easy is that!?
Gathering your ingredients will be the heaviest lifting you’ll do for this treat that looks like a milkshake.
But this is a berry healthy starter that won’ weight you down, and has natural sugars (fruit, yogurt, honey, etc.).
Cranberries also add a tartness that pairs great with orange juice, and superfood wild blueberries pair well with lemon juice. Or you can make a hybrid pairing of these flavors!
Or mixed wild berries that can be turned into home berries.
And they’re all healthy Vitamin C adds. Cranberries also have a natural ability to protect against bacteria along the gut and urinary tracts.
So, how can you say no to the tart berry that you can store frozen in the freezer?
And to this berry yogurt smoothie you can enjoy today!
Add juice and berries to blender and pulse blend once.
Add in yogurt and banana (if adding). Pulse blender several times until smooth.
Stir in honey and seeds with a spoon.
Notes
To thicken your smoothie and/or add another flavor dimension, you can add natural peanut or almond butter for a healthy fat. And if you do not have flaxseeds (or other seeds), you can also add a healthy gluten-free flour such as coconut flour, for additional fiber, healthy fat, and minerals.
Cannoli shell with a waffle iron machine makes life easy and delicious for brunch or a dessert. This is a low-sugar recipe where you won’t even miss the sugar. And you can skip any frying, even though the shell is sizzling!
It tastes like it was fried. But since it’s not, it’s healthier.
You can also more-healthy bake your cannoli shell if you don’t have a waffle iron maker… that you could even further roll up into an ice cream cone if that’s what you’re after.
But a waffle iron maker makes a cannoli shell with the bubbly look in easy minutes, a lot like a copycat fried street food cannoli shell dessert you would buy!
So to make this treat, this is what you will need…
Tools:
Waffle Iron Machine
Piece of aluminum foil
Magic Bullet blender (optional)
And if you’re wondering how you’ll make your cannoli shell on your waffle iron without waffle iron marks, I explain below how to make your easy flat irons with your waffl-y iron! 🧇
This reminds me of the wavy hair vs. flat iron… and if you like playing with your hair, you’ll love playing with your food iron this way. I do with mine!
Another easy way is using a Magic Bullet blender that will make this a 2-minute prep for a smooth cannoli shell batter. And a 30 second clean rinse if you’re short on time.
But first you gotta make the batter…
So start by frothing the egg white in a Magic Bullet or easy blender by pulsing a few times. If you don’t have a blender, you can use a whisk to whisk up the egg white(s). One egg white per cannoli shell.
Light fluffy egg white(s) are crucial for this recipe where you don’t need any granulated sugar! Whaaat?
So often sugar is used to help emulsify ingredients, and in most cannoli recipes you’ll find quite a bit of sugar, but this one you can use a little healthy honey only for the sweet taste (or substitute for maple syrup).
Honey, btw is a beautiful tasty-pairing duo with butter. Where you will add just a small pat of butter for each cannoli shell you will make. About 1 Tbsp per cannoli shell. A lot of butter isn’t essential (e.g. if you’re counting fat/calories or trying to be healthy). I used 1/2 Tbsp butter per shell and it worked just fine!
And if you prefer oil already in liquid form, or want to do this quicker or dairy-free, use 1 or 1.5 tsp of neutral olive oil (or oil of choice) instead. And then add about 1/4 tsp of water for a little steam like butter does when cooking (and add back a little more flour as needed to keep a thicker batter that won’t run off the waffle maker sides).
And if healthy are your desires for this cannoli shell, the final cannoli cream for your cannoli shell can be healthy Greek yogurt like what I use.
…Where you’ll want to find a thicker Greek yogurt you like, and you can check on the label if there’s no added sugar. The lactose in yogurt already has natural sugar. You can use plant-based (no dairy) yogurts too.
Then you can pipe into your cannoli shell. How fun!
Add a few sweet mini chocolate chips for a classic cannoli. This is a delicious bite, and probably even better than it looks! You can also drizzle ontop a little honey if you like, or pair with your favorite sweet breakfast foods.
So – ready to make this?
Make the cannoli batter (recipe and step-by-step waffle iron instruction below).
Make cannoli shell batter and add onto foil on waffle iron.
This low-sugar recipe is for one cannoli shell so multiply the ingredients by how many cannolis you want to make that are regular size 4" long cannoli size.
Course brunch, Dessert
Cuisine American, Italian
Total Time 10 minutesminutes
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Equipment
waffle iron machine
Magic Bullet (optional)
Ingredients
1eggwhite
1/2tspraw honey
1Tbspmelted butter
1/4cupflour
1/8tsppinch of salt (optional)
1/4tspvanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
Melt butter in heat of choice, and set aside at room temperature.
Froth egg white with Magic Bullet blender or whisk in a bowl.
Make the batter: if using a blender, add the remaining ingredients and pulse a few times until fully combined. You can shake or use a spoon to ensure all the flour is added. Or combine in your mixing bowl.
Cook the cannoli: if you have a waffle iron with waffle grids (most do), cut two pieces of square aluminum foil that will cover the bottom and top waffle irons. Add one oil piece to the bottom iron and add the cannoli batter to the foil sitting on the iron. The batter should be slightly thicker (closer to a pancake batter) to hold a circle shape that does not run off the iron. Use a spoon to make a thin layer batter circle shape (it does not need to be perfect). Add the other piece of aluminum foil ontop of the circle and lightly close the waffle iron to not make waffle marks. Turn the iron on to medium heat (e.g. middle setting). Cook for about 3-5 minutes until browned all around after iron is heated (e.g. light turns green) and depending on your waffle iron. You can peek from time to time to lift up the aluminum foil.
Shape the cannoli shell while still hot (for best results): turn off waffle iron. While still hot, with a safe kitchen glove in hand, roll up the hot cannoli shell (like a burrito) in the one piece of aluminum foil it's sticking to. Let cool completely.
Reveal the cannoli: after cooled, slowly peel out the cannoli shell out of the foil. It should come out pretty easily after cooled. Be sure any small foil pieces sticking are discarded.
Notes
All-purpose flour works best but you can substitute with gluten-free all purpose blends (like a tsp of buckwheat flour will change the color). If your batter is too liquid runny, add a little more flour for a consistent smooth batter that won't run off the sides of the iron.
Virgin blue curaçao drink is a light beverage that reminds me of the tropics and warmer poolside and beach weather, that seems to drift earlier and earlier. Or maybe, spring break that’s more of a calendar planned event.
The virgin drink is a citrusy sweet vibe that you can infuse with coconut water, pineapple juice (and orange juice).
Or you can give a tropical boost with passionfruit (less sweet), mango (more sweet), or both.
Fun fact: coconut water comes from baby coconuts and coconut milk comes from mature coconuts. And you can make your own homemade coconut milk from mature coconuts.
Because coconut water comes from baby coconuts, it has young, pure tastes… (a lot like when we were young coconuts 🥥). And it’s a hydrating water with electrolyte (minerals) that will help boost. It’s definitely a healthy substitute, instead of sodas.
To make the healthy blue virgin drink, blue spirulina is added as a super healthy antioxidant (anti-inflammatory) food. It’s also a natural blue food color that will give the turquoise blue in the virgin blue curaçao drink.
I first discovered the ingredient in a smoothie bowl that was called the Mermaid bowl. And it turned heads. It turned my head. Never thought a smoothie without a mermaid could do that. 🧜♀️
And you can source the blue spirulina ingredient online. It’s much easier now than it was 5+ years ago, when it wasn’t as common an ingredient.
You can also use butterfly pea tea, but it will give you more of a greenish hue, because it’s lighter and less concentrated. Whereas the blue spirulina is more concentrated and you want to use very little… maybe less than a pinch, but I wouldn’t touch the powder with your fingers.
Also, you don’t want to wear white in case it ends up on you, and then you can end up with a light blue or tie-dye blue and white shirt. 👕
But the azure blue spirulina color is amazing and the healthy benefits too, so the ingredient is worth the fun effort. 💙🩵
For 5 ounce drinks or larger, you want to add about 1/8 tsp (or just a wee bit of the powder that you carefully portion out that’s hard to measure).
An easy way: What you can do is dip your smallest teaspoon you have and tap it back in the bag. And then use what’s left on the teaspoon and stir.
That’s actually the first method. But it won’t dissolve the blue spirulina powder completely…
So the second technique, is shaking. You can do this with a Magic Bullet blender capsule. Or any kind of shaker…where you shake over your shoulder like a champ.
Either way will do the job.
But I like the Magic Bullet because it’s easy and one less tool cup to have to rinse and clean.
Then when it’s fully mixed up, pour in your drinking glass.
You can add a little seltzer water or club soda if you want to give a fizzy mocktail finish. And of course, a zhugh like orange zest or coconut shavings… and voila!
Anti-inflammatory recipes help you practice daily meal prep and healthy eating habits, that pay off in your long run toward longevity. Below are recipe links from this blog to inspire your year, no matter what season you’re in. To your anti-inflammatory life! 🎉
Because an anti-inflammatory diet helps protect against inflammation in the body (skin, joints, teeth, vital organs) that are health warning signs.
And preventing inflammation flare-ups help protect against and prevent chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases that are still among the highest causes of mortality.
Chronic inflammation is linked to tell-tale body signs that can also lead toward certain cancers and cognitive decline.
And type 2 diabetes (or lifestyle diabetes) is the one of the fastest growing diseases on our planet. No matter what genes you were bestowed, anti-inflammatory habits help fight against what’s stacked up against you in the environment that you don’t have control over.
Anti-inflammatory foods were and are a leading source of prevention, where anti-inflammatory spices are a big deal. Adding more spice in your life and to your diet helps support better health and longevity.
And sticking to an anti-inflammatory diet is also a remedy from following Diet Culture of some kind. It’s a long-term healthy eating strategy.
Where whole and minimally processed healthy food and ingredients in meals and bakes you eat are at the core of anti-inflammatory foods and your health eating. Anti-inflammatory foods are real (nutritious) foods that the body recognizes as healthy
And this includes plant-based foods, so eating plant-forward helps the body. And foods on a Mediterranean diet, which is a type of anti-inflammatory diet that includes healthy proteins and healthy fats, such as wild fishes and olive oil.
👉 To learn more, grab my FREE Anti-Inflammatory Diet Food Guidewith printable food lists to help you make more healthy decisions for grocery food shopping. And get insights about an anti-inflammatory diet in the free guide.
And here on these pages of Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle (Winter/Spring edition), you’ll discover simple and easy recipes you can make weekly. And get inspiration about anti-inflammatory living and seasonal foods you can lean into (that are more abundant and coins per ounce). To turn the pages forward/backward, click on the arrows at the lower corners of the pages. ↪
One of my favorite meals is weekend brunch. 😊 You can make your own no-butter bearnaise for a lower-calorie and anti-inflammatory-infused olive oil brunch sauce to pair with delicious savory meals like Eggs Benedict (with French bistro vibes🍽️). You can make this recipe and other healthy-conscious (but always tasty) waffle iron recipes.
And low-sugar desserts where the sweet tooth list is growing (variety is the spice of life! 🍥)
🍴You can also get more anti-inflammatory recipes and food ideas for the table from the Summer/Autumn anti-inflammatory food recipes. 🥄 That for some may be the season you’re celebrating and living out (literally or figuratively!).
