easy desserts Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Chocolate Chip Cookie – Rye Flour Fiber

Chocolate chip cookie like this rye flour crunchy one is easy to like as a cross between a dessert and a breakfast cookie.

…Where some like their cookies soft and cake-like. Some like them oven-warmed. And some like them crispy or chewy in parts. To each her own.

And sometimes you like an old-fashioned-hearty-styled, light crunch cookie. Especially when it’s so easy to make.

That’s what this giant cookie is out of the oven.

It’s the crunch that makes it satisfying.

And soft chocolate chips add to the taste and mouth experience.

Which btw, these are mini chocolate chip morsels so it’s not as much as it looks like… it’s many more.

…And a non-issue if you like chocolate. 😋

But however your chocolate chip cookie ends up looking like, this one is one of the easiest baked dessert or cookie you can make.

And it’s lacking granulated or brown sugar on low-sugar-dessert-purpose, as the sweet tastes comes from the chocolate, or you can add maple syrup or a little sugar of your choice if you want

It’s up to you what you make, as it won’t break your cookie texture.

This is not a bake you need ingredient amount precision with especially if you just want to satiate a sweet craving. That can be satisfying in itself!

It’s made from these simple ingredients: rye flour, chocolate chips, egg white, and 1/2 Tbsp of softened butter (or a slim pat with a bread knife).

Even a fraction of a tablespoon of butter adds to this cookie without adding many fat calories if that’s what you’re after.

And rye and butter are a delicious pairing. The mild nutty rye is not strong and earthy like whole wheat.

If you’ve never tried rye flour, this cookie is a good way to try it out.

Because all-in-all, it’s a simple one-bowl mix.

To make this rye chocolate chip cookie, measure out 1/3 cup rye flour and add to a bowl (or even simpler, use the bowl that has measurement marks as your bowl).

Smoothly blend in one egg white and softened butter. You can do this with a spoon and by hand.

Let cool-chill in the fridge for a few minutes.

Then bring out the dough and flatten with the palm of your hand, into a rustic circle (roundish shape).

It will be about a 4- inch cookie before it goes in (and when it comes out).

Then add your mini chocolate chips on top (…and yes, you can add them inside the dough mixture before it goes in the fridge).

And if you use regular size chocolate morsels, you can use less than mini-morsels. Up to you!

These cookies do not have to be cookie cutter.

When I worked as a Doubletree Hotel catering manager, we had daily access to their fresh baked dense chocolate chip cookies that were rustic shape.

Those were my breakfast-fill in on some mornings, and they were like double size (double chocolate chip cookies). That could’ve been the hotel logo. 🍪🍪

Had I known about an ingredient like rye flour as more available to source, and more fiber-sourced, I would have made these at home decades ago to fill the hole from my work chocolate chip cookie memories.

Rye is a healthier ingredient with about 22 grams of dietary fiber per 100 grams of flour.

That’s like double what’s in whole wheat flour. And far and above, hands-down no comparison to all purpose flour that only has 3 grams or less.

Sometimes all-purpose flour is what’s needed for baking texture, but not for this cookie, so why not go aw-rye? 😊

And if you want double crunch, leave the chocolate chip cookie in the oven a little longer. or let the cookie cool out of the oven and put back in the heated oven for 5 minutes.

…I like to do this when I’m doing multiple bakes. So while the cookie is cooling, I’m baking or heating up something else in the oven. There’s not wasted heat. And that’s something you can do too to be energy efficient in your home.

And now you’ve got what you need to make these double crunch chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookie - Rye and Crunch

This is a larger 4" chocolate chip cookie you can make with one-bowl and high fiber rye flour.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1/3 cup rye flour
1/2 Tbsp softened butter
1 medium egg white
1-2 Tbsp mini chocolate chip morsels

Instructions

Make the dough with the first four ingredients combined smoothly.
Refrigerate for a few minutes.
Add to cookie sheet and flatten with the palm of hand. Shape roundish.
Bake at 350°F/180°C for about 20-25 minutes. For extra crunch, add back to heated oven for about 5 minutes after cooling cookie.

Halloween Cookie – Easy Macaroon

Halloween cookie is a good alternative to candy. And a macaroon is a 2-ingredient easy cookie idea. That’s not to be confused with a macaron. But still a treat and not a trick with these appearing ghostly Halloween cookies.

They have a candy bar bite if you add some chocolate like these chocolate-morsel ghost staring with mac-raccoon eyes.

What makes these different from traditional macaroons is they are made without a can of condensed milk.

The fat from condensed milk never settled with me and I figured out this cookie doesn’t need that, or even need any butter like most cookies.

You can make this Halloween cookie macaroon easy with whole milk if you don’t mind the dairy.

And one tip is: if you want to make whole milk last longer than the going-sour expiration date daily clock from ticking, freeze the milk you won’t be drinking anytime soon. That freezes the clock (and takes the pressure off).

When you bring the milk back down to the fridge, after overnight or so, it’s as good as good drinking milk or milk to bake with… Just a helpful idea.

And that’s milk that’s perfect for this ghostly good cookie recipe (and dunking baked ghosts in if that’s what you choose)! Or you can pair with a coconut chocolate smoothie.

Then to make the ghosts, combine the milk with unsweetened coconut. This is a low-sugar, fiber ingredient. Along with milk, you’re getting vitamins and minerals that most (Halloween) candy can’t boast.

So these Halloween cookies are light, but heavy in nutrients, relative to their ghostly body weights.

And they won’t disappear in the oven (like a light meringue ghost would without sugar 👻). Here they are happy as can be as a Halloween cookie trio.

And you can add to your yogurt parfaits or cereals. Or any meal or snack you would add coconut or milk to.

The best part is this is a 15-minute prep to bake finish project… and just one bowl prep easy.

Oh, and actually you can measure your coconut in a measuring cup and then add the milk in tablespoons to the same cup. So you don’t even need a bowl.

That’s it to make your ghost mixture!

Add them to a non-stick baking pan or on a silicone mat on a baking pan so they don’t stick. Avoid baking parchment paper as you ghosts can stick.

And if you’re wondering whether to add the chocolate eyes before they bake, yes!… go ahead. That way they can stick to the ghosts and cutely look back at you as they bake.

They will meld and not melt at low temps.

And after baked, then you have a low-sugar, sweet-ish, and happy-spirited snack to munch on. 👻

Halloween Ghost Cookie

This is an easy ghost macaroon cookie that's low-sugar.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Total Time 15

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 cup coconut, unsweetened
5 Tbsp whole milk (2.5 ounces)
mini chocolate chip morsels

Instructions

Blend the ingredients and then shape mixture using cookie cutters as guides or use your fingers to shape into a ghost (round top and swervy bottom)
Add two chocolate chips as eyes.
Bake at 350°F/180℃ for about 10 minute when the edges are browneds. Do not over bake. If you will be distracted, bake on a lower temperature and bake for a little longer.

Rough Puff Pastry Bite – Low-Sugar

Rough puff pastry bite plates are great anytime as appetizers when you need a sweet or savory snack, or something tasty for guest plates. These lemon tart ones (but not tart tatin) are easy baked desserts you can make…

easy rough puff pastry bite plate.

And in one kitchen session. They can be made with no fancy tools, even though they’re a twist on a French classic puff pastry…

Vol au vent which means “fly in the wind.”

…Was someone baking and there was a swirling fly? Well, the name’s story origin is that the pastry is so light and puffy that they’d fly away with the wind.

…And hopefully straight into someone’s mouth. 😋

But with its fancy name, don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s complicated.

Because it’s as easy as dare I say premade bought phyllo sheets (that believe it or not, I’ve never used before, but I do know you have to bake them too!).

…Which btw, so easy to make your own phyllo dough for baklava.

…And easy to make your own pastry dough (that’s more forgiving than say cake or bread, so you don’t have to be fully ON and can make it before you finish your warm morning drink).

For starters, you just need 3 easy ingredients… flour, cold water, and butter.

…that will make these layers.

…And my favorite part is you don’t even have to remember to take the butter out of the freezer in advance… yep, you read me right… take it straight out of the freezer and start prepping with your flour.

You can use a pastry cutter tool or knife to cut the hard butter.

Cold butter helps against have to fight a warming pastry dough that you would possibly need to refrigerate-and-wait for more than once.

Because besides for better bake texture, it’s also easier to work with cold or chilled (as in rested in the fridge) pastry dough.

And that’ll let you chill out. I like to relax in chair pose while waiting. 😊

Since puff pastry puffs are best when cold set in the oven where it warms and steams, you can take your freezer butter out when you’re ready to start. Yay!

Wow… that was a longwinded mouthful (like the blow away wind tasty pastries 💨) way to describe why you want to use cold ingredients.

And worth the describing effort as cold vs. room temp dough is one of the the differences between a flat pastry and a puff pastry result.

I found it’s not the amount of butter, if fat or calories matter to you.

It’s a couple pats of butter (2 Tbsp) that’s all you need.

You don’t need a stick for a cup of flour, in order for the butter tastes to come through and for your rough puff pastry to do its magic in the oven.💕

So in a few ways, this type of pastry is much lighter than a cookie (that relies on butter).

And this has one additional magical ingredient… cold water. 🪄

You gotta love ingredients that are 0.00 calories and zero dollars.

And another thing I love about pastry is you don’t need to add sugar (unlike cake) for it to work.

…Or you can even make savory puffs (or both on a plate)… I’m thinking mushroom or cheese puffs. 💭 Along with dessert puffs.

But you’re only as limited as your food flavor imagination and ingredients on-hand.

Tip: If you do decide to add a runny or wet filling in the hollow part of the rough pastry puff bite, keep it mind if it’s jam or a runny sauce, it will ooze out of the pastry in the heated oven.

An option would be to bake in a little in and then add more at the end or toward the end, if you want your bites to look full or gem-stone like.

Like, I added ready-lemon curd to each blueberry rough puff pastry bite at the end.

That looks like an inviting nest or bright egg yolk.

But I added frozen (…there’s that magical word again. 🪄) blueberries for the oven. I didn’t drain them to keep them from oozing out.

Draining them and drying them still brings them to warmer temps that won’t work as well as frozen ingredients to preserve shapes.

And making this method of delightful pastry is more about discovering optimal temperatures for dough prep and oven rise, and temps for ingredients, and how they work in and out of the oven than say flavors.

…Because the refined buttery pastry tastes will be delicious with or without additional flavors. I mean… have you met a croissant you didn’t like? It’s like that. 😊

And for an optional glaze finish, I brushed whole milk instead of egg that works all around.

You can also bring out the pastry toward the end and do this step. Or omit dairy and add honey. But first you gotta bake ’em!

…And before that, now you’re ready to make them!

Rough Puff Pastry Bite - Low-Sugar

These are easy pastry bites where you don't need to buy premade pastry sheets.

Course Appetizer, brunch, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American, French

Total Time 1

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

metal cookie cutters
small kitchen knife and/or small kitchen palette knife
rolling pin (baking roller)

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour (add more as needed)
2 Tbsp frozen or cold butter
3 Tbsp cold water (add more as needed)
pinch of salt
whole milk or egg for shine (optional(
sweet or savory filling (such as lemon curd and blueberries, or vegetable and herb ingredients)

Instructions

Step 1: Make the pastry dough: Add a layer of flour in a mixing bowl to start. Use fork or pastry cutter to cut/add in the frozen/cold butter in small pieces. Add remaining flour and start adding cold water. Work in ingredients together evenly by hand.
Step 2: Make the lamination layers. This will give nice lines to the bake out of the oven. This is a dough you can work and not be shy with. and actually you'll want to roll out or use the palm of your hand to flatten out and then fold the dough into thirds (like paper or envelope folds).
Turn the dough 90° and do the same folds (they don't have to be exact). If the dough is too wet, add back a little (bench) flour on top and bottom of dough.
Step 3: Let rest/cool: Place pastry dough in a container with a top in the refrigerator and let rest for about 10 minutes.
Step 4: Bring dough out and roll out ontop bench flour to about 1/4" thick. Cut out 2 of the same shapes for each bite, creating a bottom and then a top that has a hollow (window) center. Easy tip for the top: use a knife and/or small palette knife and cut out a hollow rectangle, and from there you can shape with your fingers into a more defined rectangle, or even a circle. Or use small metal piping circles. They will puff up in oven and change shape slightly.
Step 5: Assemble the rough puff pastry top/bottom and add any filling(s) you want to bake such as frozen berries. You can add jam and curds after baked.
Step 6: Brush pastry with whole milk or an egg wash if you want a light pastry top shine.
Step 7: Bake at 375℉ for about 35 minutes on the lower oven rack until golden brown. If you want more of a dark and crunchy texture, bake 40-45 minutes total or until deep brown.
Step 8: Let cool and add any additional zhugh, glazes, or sauces to your pastry.

Don’t forget to eheck out more brunch ideas or low-sugar dessert recipes.

Apple Meringue Dessert (No-Bake Light and No Added Sugar)

Apple meringue dessert is a light dessert that melts in the mouth. It can be made deliciously satisfying with low calories (under 100 if you’re counting) and from natural tasty sugars in healthy foods.

…Oh, and so easy to make and NO Bake. Its creamy texture is pillow dreamy to dunk into.

An apple meringue dessert with light and cinnamon flavors is great for balancing seasons, like in-between autumn and end-of-summer wanderlust when you’re craving fall vibes, but not just ready for pumpkin comfort season.

It’s got cinnamon that also helps with anxiety (…Vata feeling?) that flavorfully pairs beautifully with apples… any and all apples.

That includes your favorites.

Gala apples are the classic red apple to me and great for this.

But if you’re like me, you can be lazy, and ready-made 4 oz applesauce container cup will work great! And actually even better for a smooth dessert. And is light with around 50 calories. And a large egg white is about 18 calories so you do the light math (and light food math)!

Then it’s just a little mixing, spoon plopping, and folding in… 1-2-3 and you’re done! It’s a 5-minute prep dessert that makes me so happy when the season strikes!

…And maybe you too?

Because Vata season is upon us in the Western hemisphere (as September approaches). And if you’re a dominant Vata, then this’ll help you calm too.

That’s when back-to-school or nostalgic moods can strike… where you may not feel settled in transition and you can’t put your finger on what it is.

And your moods can be all over the place… like you like comforting fall vibes and vibrant summer colors and flavors so you settle on mustards and burnt oranges.

But an apple dessert like this can be enjoyed year-round. 🍎

You can omit the cinnamon and add in lemon zest. Or do both. And if it’s winter (or you’re feeling Kapha), add a little allspice that has cloves and/or cardamom. That’ll get you movin’!

And if you’re feeling like doin’ it easy, grab a 4 oz applesauce that you keep in your pantry and comes in handy!

Actually applesauce sometimes taste even more pure with cinnamon. It’s important to use unsweetened applesauce because apples are already sweet. And use cassia cinnamon (which is the usual cinnamon you find in the spice or baking food aisles).

And if you want to do some cookin’ you can take whole apples, and cut them into chunks. Then heat in a pot until they’re softened and turn into apple “butter.” There’s no butter. But it’s a thicker compote than jam.

Let cool and then mix into your bowl. And you’re good to go!

Don’t skimp on cinnamon. When you’re needing the balance, it’s so calming! And it’s good for the gut. It’s anti-inflammatory and a great substitute for sugar taste AND helps lower blood sugar.

This is the dessert using applesauce that is less than 5 minutes to make.

For more flavors (and fun), I can think of more than just cinnamon to dunk into this… how about you?

Apple Meringue Dessert - No Sugar and Low-Fat

This is an easy dessert that you can make no-cook with applesauce.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

1 handheld mixer

Ingredients

1 4 oz applesauce, unsweetened
1 tsp cinnamon spice plus more for zhughing
1 egg white
1/2 tsp lemon juice
lemon zest (optional)

Instructions

Mix the egg white on a mixer on medium for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. Add in lemon juice to help stabilize.
Add in applesauce and cinnamon. Alternative: if you would like a chunky dessert, use a whole apple instead. If you would like a smooth dessert using whole apples, cook apple chunks on medium heat on the stove until softenedd and turns into apple butter (closer to applesauce consistency). Let cool and fold into the egg white.
Zhugh with more cinnamon on top and/or lemon zest.

Notes

Tip: Since it's often hard to mix just one egg white with a mixer, you can add two and save the other half for another time.

You can also check out other low-sugar sweets and lighter, low-fat desserts.

Cottage Cheese Chocolate Mousse – Easy and Light Dessert

Cottage cheese chocolate mousse is something that’s light and full of protein. How easy is this delicious dessert to make? …Easy to very easy.

And these are the easy steps:

Step 1: Blend up cottage cheese (to get rid of the soft small chunks). You can use a Magic Bullet blender that’s easy. Add a little milk if needed. I added coconut milk. Water will be too thin.

Tip: For individual mousse single portions, you won’t need to add as much cottage cheese or ingredients to blend. Blending 1/2 cup of cottage cheese will work in a Magic Bullet

But to make a 6 oz. or more, maybe you’ll need to do 1 cup of cottage cheese (minimum) in a regular size larger blender.

Step 2: Then take about 1 oz chocolate either from a pure chocolate bar or morsels, and place in a heat safe bowl inside a larger heat safe bowl (bain marie setup). I broke up a regular dark chocolate bar. In other words, you don’t need to go to the baking section of the grocery store for chocolate. 🍫

It all works the same for melitng chocolate.

I added in coconut milk that’s a great add to melt chocolate. it’s like a ganache finish, but without any heavy cream. You can also use your milk of choice. You do you! 😁

With a double broiler (bain marie) setup, the chocolate won’t likely burn and the milk doesn’t curdle. You can microwave or heat water in a bowl and then add a smaller heatproof bowl or mug with the chocolate.

If you use a ceramic bowl, the water shouldn’t be that hot. I usually hold the heated water bowl without oven mitts, just to let you know that it doesn’t need to be that hot. (Use heated tea in a mug as a simple comparison).

After the chocolate bowl bathes in the water bath for a few minutes, the chocolate should easily melt. You can stir with a kitchen silverware utensil to encourage the bigger bits to finally melt quicker.

I like to use polyphenol-full dark chocolate to melt so it takes slightly longer than milk chocolate, but we’re talking unnoticeable seconds longer.

Step 3: Incorporate in the cottage cheese, that should lighten up the mousse. Hand combine until the mixture is even and smooth.

You could stop there for more of a chocolate pudding texture. but for a lighter mousse, add in some of a whipped egg white. That’s extra protein too. 😊

Step 4 (optional): In a separate dry bowl, whisk an egg white for 1-2 minutes on high where it will fluff up looking like a pillow cloud.

No sugar needed (like in a meringue). Why add if you don’t need to for better taste or texture? Healthy is good. 👍

It’s easiest to use a machine hand mixer (instead of a stand mixer) as they can handle one egg whipping and quickly.

…It’s similar thinking to using a Magic Bullet instead of a full-on size blender. 💭

Then add a little of the fluffy whipped egg white (meringue) to the melted chocolate (ganache). You will find that you can use 1/4-1/2 of the voluminous fluffy egg white. And then you can use the extra meringue egg white to layer your final cottage cheese chocolate mousse dessert if you like.

Like this… it kinda looks like chocolate marshmallow ice cream, but we know that’s not what this is…

Or…

Cottage Cheese Chocolate Mousse

This is a protein version of chocolate mousse dessert that's easy to make with cottage cheese and healthy enough for breakfast.

Course Dessert

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

Magic Bullet blender or regular blender
handheld mixer

Ingredients

1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 Tbsp coconut milk or milk of choice
1 egg white
1 oz chocolate morsels or 2 Tbsp chocolate bits

Instructions

Make the melted chocolate. Setup a double broiler (bain marie setup) method with chocolate bowl set inside heated water bowl. Stir in the milk.
Blend the cottage cheese to smooth. Add milk as needed.
Pour cottage cheese into melted chocolate-milk mousse mixture.
Whip up egg white in a separate bowl for 1-2 minutes on the high setting on a handheld mixer, until light and fluffy voluminous.
Add some of the fluffy egg white to chocolate mousse. Add up to 1/4-1/2 of the egg white to your lightness preference.

You may also like summer light dessert recipes, and easy Magic Bullet recipes.