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If you hear a cackling voice floating over the wind this weekend, it’s just me, eager with delight that Halloween is so, so very close. It’s been a few months since I’ve made a batch of cookies, so I approached this week’s bake with a “go big or gourd home” mentality. I knew I wanted to make boozy cookies stuffed with chocolate, so the most logical thing to do was make Jack O’Lantern cookies, naturally. I know, ideas like these, they take guts. Pumpkin guts.

I simply took my peanut butter whisky cookie recipe, swapping the whisky for Baileys because chocolate filling needs a boozy-flavored casing to cover it. Since I do a very detailed step-by-step on that blog post, head over there to get the nitty gritty if you need more help getting your dough put together; otherwise, head down the page for the simplified recipe and instructions. You can also view a quick tutorial on my Instagram about how I put these together. But oh my gourdness are these little cookies delightful to both look at and eat, so I am calling it a win in my big “boooooook!” of spooky baking recipes. The cookies are nice and soft with a hint of Baileys, and that semisweet chocolate filling takes them over the top when you heat them up for 10 seconds in the microwave to make it all melty again. It’s like a softer Orange Milano cookie with double the chocolate filling (and booze). It just doesn’t get any better than that…especially at only 152 calories a boozy, chocolate-stuffed cookie! They’re rather large, so one will definitely tide you over unless your stomach is feeling emptier than a pumpkin that’s been turned into a Jack O’Lantern.

Recipe and Instructions

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Alright, it’s mid-October, I’ve watched all my favorite silly Halloween movies six times, it’s 50 out, gray, and rainy, and I am pretty sure I’ve died and gone to spooky heaven. The only thing that could make the day any more perfect is a cupcake, so it’s good thing I’ve got a creepy dozen (not to be confused with a baker’s dozen) waiting for me in the fridge. If you’re not spending a Sunday on the couch with the Sanderson Sisters and a chocolate cupcake, you’re just not Octobering properly. Allow me to guide you to achieving peak eeriness with these chocolate cupcakes adorned with ghoulish fiends and dead roses.

These ghosts, cats, and roses are a chocolate cupcake base with my leftover caramel cream cheese frosting from my spiderweb cupcakes on top. While the frosting does give me deja boo, this chocolate cupcake mix is insanely good–it’s more a Devil’s Food cake flavor than a standard chocolate cake, which is both taste and holiday appropriate. A caramel frosting and a rich chocolate cupcake base makes for a match made in flavor heaven (or hell depending on how your diet’s going…because you’re not gonna be able to eat just one). Each cupcake is 225 calories, and the recipe makes 12 total. I mean, you can definitely share, but I’m more into treats (for myself) than tricks.

To make, you’ll need:

• 1 bag of Empowrd gluten free chocolate cupcake mix
• 115 grams (1/2 c) unsweetened applesauce
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake wrappers. These do make smaller cupcakes, so realistically, I’d say it would make 8-10 normal-sized cupcakes if you want fuller cakes.

Mix all the ingredients together in a stand mixer on medium-high for two minutes. Use a small cookie scoop to evenly distribute batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out of the center of a cupcake mostly clean. Let these rest in the pan for 10 minutes before placing on a cooling rack to completely cool before frosting.

While your cupcakes cool, you can make the ghosts and cats. You just need white and black candy melts (I get mine on Amazon, Wilton brand). I traced a cat and ghost template I made on Canva onto Parchment paper with a Sharpie, then flipped it over. If you have cookie cutters to trace or can draw a cat or ghost freehand with no issues, these are also other options. I can’t even draw a stick figure that looks human-adjacent, so I like to size a silhouette down in Canva and print it out.

I melted about 1/4 of a package of white candy melts following package directions and placed in a piping bag. I snipped the edge off the bag and outlined my ghost. Then I filled him in quickly and used a toothpick to swirl the chocolate around while it was still melty to smooth out. It doesn’t need to be perfect, you just don’t want any gaps. While these set, I melted 1/4 of a package of black candy melts following package directions and placed into another piping bag. Once you can touch the ghosts without feeling any tackiness (a.k.a. ethereal ooze), they are safe to gently flip over and add eyes and a mouth.

Snip a very small corner off your bag, then draw a small circle for the mouth and two eyes using the black melts. Then you have a Casper-level of friendly ghost who’s ready to adorn the top of a cupcake even though he knows you’re going to eat him (like I said, he’s a really ghoul guy; he gets it. It’s a haunt or be haunted kind of world).

You do want to work quickly, so don’t admire those boo-tiful ghosts for too long or your chocolate melts will, well, no longer be melted. Work quickly to pipe the outline of a cat, then fill in and use a toothpick to swirl out any gaps.

I must have piped that poor kitty on top of a stray strand of white chocolate from my ghosts. He’s haunted, for sure. Now, let these set before adding black edible glitter to them with a food-safe paint brush. If you don’t have edible black glitter yet, you’re not really living Baketober in all its glory. Do I have a shelf reserved for edible glitter and Halloween sprinkles in my pantry? Does a ghost lurk in the woods? Do werewolves howl at the moon?

I had a whole bunch of leftover frosting, so this is what I used to pipe all my cupcakes with. I also bought all my Spooky Sprinkles^TM and edible glitter from Amazon. I dumped a bunch of one sprinkle mix into a small bowl and a bunch of the other sprinkle mix into another bowl. Then I used a large round tip to pipe a mound of frosting on top of half of my cupcakes. Once done with this, I swirled the top of a cupcake face down in a bowl of sprinkles until it was completely coated, then gently slid a ghost on top. I repeated this process, varying which bowl of sprinkles I used. You can catch a video tutorial of this and how to paint the roses on my Instagram as well.

To make the roses, fill another piping bag with frosting and a 2D or 1M tip. Start in the middle of the cupcake and pipe a small mound; now, draw a circle around this mound, continuing around the cupcake until you reach the edge. I’m a lefty, so I find it easiest to start in the middle and pipe around counterclockwise. Now, you will need to let these freeze for about 30 minutes so you can paint them, so pop them into the freezer while you mix your paint.

I used silver and gold luster dust, but you can use just about any color, and it will pop on the black roses. I took 1/4 tsp of clear vanilla extract and mixed a teaspoon of gold luster dust in a small bowl; I used the same ratio in another bowl for the silver. You can also use 1/4 tsp of vodka, but we somehow don’t have an ounce of vodka in our house. Probably because I don’t bake with it, and my husband is a whisky guy. The flavor of either the extract or the vodka will evaporate as the paint dries, so don’t worry about your roses tasty like a distillery.

Take a chilled cupcake and a small food-safe paintbrush dipped into your paint. Take small, simple strokes around the edges of the petals to paint. It is a little time consuming, but it was fun to paint in all the little nooks and crannies. Once painted, place in the fridge to allow the paint to set.

I am 100% buying a smaller paint brush to try painting flowers again very soon. I still love how these turned out, but I wanted a thinner line. Altogether though, they’re creepy and they’re cooky, mysterious and spooky…they’re all together ooky, my cupcake family. The cats and ghosts are truly so simple to make, so definitely use these tips to make your own batch to inspire shock and eww at your next Halloween get together. I highly recommend trying that Empowerd cupcake mix because it so, SO chocolatey. It’s rich, the cocoa flavor is off the charts, and anything that holds together caramel cream cheese frosting with spooky accoutrements is a winner in my book. ‘Til next time, my fellow eaters!

Recipe and Instructions

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Dessert shouldn’t be the only thing getting the Baketober treatment. That’s right, it’s my mission to make breakfast spooky, too, and through donuts, all things are possible. This black velvet donut recipe is insanely easy to throw together, and even piping spiderwebs (more spiders, seriously?!) and glazing with ghost slime only adds mere minutes to the total time from start to donut-in-your-mouth finish. You could say this recipe is pretty a-glaze-ing, and you’d be right.

Donuts so good, they’ll haunt your dreams. But at only 110 calories a donut, they won’t also haunt your waistline, so that’s nice. This recipe makes 10 donuts that taste exactly like a giant Oreo thanks to the black cocoa and the vanilla glaze. I am a firm believer that donuts are for all ages, so share with your kids, friends, parents, that ghost that haunts your basement–anyone will love them.

To make, you’ll need:

• 1 bag of Empowrd gluten free protein donut mix
• 115 grams (1/2 c) unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 ounce of black cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 c + 2 TBS water
• Optional black gel dye to make darker

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a donut pan with cooking spray; alternatively, you can make these into muffins if you don’t have a donut pan. Mix all ingredients together by hand with a whisk until smooth. I use a piping bag or plastic bag with the tip snipped to pipe my donut dough into each donut cavity; this makes 10 donuts. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Let cool for 15 minutes before glazing.

The glaze is also very simple to make; you’ll need:

• 30 grams Quest vanilla milkshake protein powder
• 30 grams Lakanto powdered monkfruit
• Water to get a drizzly consistency (about 4 TBS)
• Lime green gel dye
• Spooky sprinkles

You can also just choose to use all powdered sugar/powdered monkfruit, but this will make the glaze a lot sweeter. Mix the protein powder, monkfruit, and water until you get a consistency that is thick enough to pipe with. Load a piping bag or plastic bag with half the glaze and gather half your donuts.

Snip a very small corner off your bag, then draw 6 lines coming out of the center of the donut to start the spiderweb.

Then draw a curve from one vertical line to the next to form the outside shape of the web.

To finish, draw another set of curved lines closer to the center of the donut, and you’ve got more edible spiderwebs than probably necessary, but hey, it’s Halloween.

Now, have the slime of your life and take the remaining glaze and dye it lime green; add another tablespoon of water if needed to thin out a little bit. You want the consistency of this glaze to be a tiny bit more drippy than the spiderweb glaze. Dip a donut face-down into the glaze, give it a few twists, then flip upright and shake to get the glaze coated evenly over the donut (and, also, your entire hand; worth it). Repeat with remaining donuts. Slime is of the essence, so before the glaze sets, be sure to top with spooky sprinkles!

These donuts are best eaten right away, as are all donuts, but given eating nearly a dozen donuts at once is “frowned upon,” keep leftover donuts in an airtight container in the fridge. These reheat very well in the microwave for 10 seconds. I also typically freeze half and save for later; they thaw out great- a Halloween miracle! Anything that black or that slimy deserves to be celebrated; so eat, drink, and be scary for breakfast with these Oreo-adjacent spooky babies. ‘Til next time, my fellow eaters!

Recipe and Instructions

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I know that summer is coming to close when two things happen: 1. I no longer have to get up before the sun to take my dogs for a walk without dying, and 2. I begin to have an uncontrollable yearning to put pumpkin spice or caramel in literally everything. Both of these things occurred over the weekend, so between that and 31 Nights of Halloween premiering on FreeForm, I’d say we’ve safely made it to my favorite season, as well as my favorite month, of all: BAKETOBER! I had initially planned to make my first Baketober event a Hocus Pocus cake, but since I am still feeling victimized by the Disney-fied second movie that dropped last week (it couldn’t hold a black flame candle to the original), I just wasn’t up to running amok, amok, amok, if you will. Instead I was feeling a little creepy, a little crawly, and a little like something sparkly might make things better. So, I made these sparkly spiderweb cupcakes instead, and I gotta tell you, as much as I hate spiders (the only thing with 8 legs that can be trusted is an octopus), these filled me with great, spooky glee.

Pictures simply do not do the sparkles justice; since I refuse to shell out money to WordPress so I can upload videos, head to my Instagram to get the full sparkle effect; truly, the only time spiderwebs have been mesmerizing and not terrifying. I tried a new gluten free cake mix to make these scrumptious caramel-flavored cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting. I’d rate it a 6 of 10 purely because there’s so much cornstarch in the mix that it tastes more like a caramel-flavored cornbread recipe than a cupcake. It’s not bad though, and the caramel cream cheese frosting brings it back into dessert and not side dish territory. I can’t really complain since they’re also only 154 calories for one cupcake, so I can eat two at a time and still fit into my Halloween costume later this month.

For this recipe, I used:

• 1 box gluten free yellow cake mix
• 2/3 cup fat free milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp caramel extract

Start by preheating the oven to 350 and lining two muffin tins with 12-15 cupcake liners (this made 15 cupcakes for me). Mix all ingredients on low in a stand mixer for 30 seconds before turning to medium-high speed for one and a half minutes. Divide batter evenly into the cupcake liners and bake for 22-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with some crumbs.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a cooling rack. You can put this in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process while you make frosting.

The frosting is the clear winner in this recipe, but that’s usually the case when you have a sweet tooth or 32. To make this totes fall apropes caramel cream cheese, you’ll need:

• 8 ounces (225 g) of 1/3 the fat cream cheese at room temp
• 1 cup (226 g) plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, strained overnight
• 4 cups/1 bag of Lakanto powdered monkfruit or regular powdered sugar
• 2 tsp caramel extract
• 2 tsp clear vanilla extract
• To make black frosting later:
  • 1 ounce (2 TBS) black cocoa
  • Black gel dye
  • 1 TBS fat free milk

Start by mixing the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add in half the powdered monkfruit or sugar and half of the extracts. Mix on low until incorporated, then add remaining monkfruit and extracts. If the frosting seems too thick after mixing together, add 1 tsp of milk at a time until you get an easily spreadable consistency.

Before you do anything else to the frosting, load some plain white frosting into a piping bag and snip a decent chunk off. Use this to pipe a circle of frosting on top of each of your cooled cupcakes. Then take a sheet of Parchment paper and place it on a large cookie sheet. Flip a cupcake upside down and gently press onto the surface of the Parchment paper. Repeat on all cupcakes, then place in the freezer to set for 30 minutes.

I found this template on the web (irony). The whole design process is actually very simple. You only need the template, some black edible glitter, and if you want to also pipe spiders, a #12 round tip and a #5 round tip, and some eerie sprinkles for eyes.

Once you’ve got your cupcakes in the freezer, you can dye your remaining frosting black. Honestly, my spidey senses tingled a little, and I wish I had set aside plain white frosting to dye bright purple or lime green because my black spiders on sparkly black background got lost. So if you want to pipe spiders, save a little frosting to dye a brighter color. Then add 1 ounce of black cocoa and squeeze of black gel dye to the white frosting and mix. Things will probably get pretty thick, so a tablespoon of milk will thin things out.

Take your cupcakes out of the freezer, and set your stencil on top of a cupcake. Press gently to secure the template to the cupcake.

Slather a thick layer of black frosting on top of the template, then use an angled spatula to smooth across the top of the cupcake to get into the grooves of the stencil before swiping away excess frosting, wiping the spatula off with each pass over the top of the stencil to remove more black frosting. Once you can start to see the white of the stencil again, stop swiping and dip a food-safe paintbrush into the edible black glitter and tap this on top of the cupcake. Repeat until the top of your cupcake sparkles like the darkest abyss.

Very carefully, peel the template off the top of the cupcake to reveal your spiderweb. It can be a little tricky, but use a slow, steady hand (and beweave in yourself) to remove the stencil completely.

To make a spider, load your purple/lime/orange/yellow/red whatever color you choose to dye a little frosting into a piping bag with a coupler and a #12 tip. Pipe a large blob for the body and a smaller blob for the head. Switch to a #5 tip to draw all eight ungodly gross legs, then finish with a few bright sprinkles for eyes.

If you like cornbread with honey, then boy is this the box cake mix for you. If you like your cupcakes a little more dessert-y, skip Nature Made brand. We’re still gonna eat the whole bundle because 1. Spooky cupcakes, and 2. Caramel cream cheese frosting is absolutely divine. It’s like getting a caramel apple without risk of losing a tooth when you bite into it- smooth, creamy, caramely. Keep leftover cupcakes in the fridge for as long as they last (if you make it past three days without devouring every last one, congrats, you have more willpower than I do). I am SO HAPPY it’s finally October, and I’ll be back again next weekend with a spooky breakfast bake. Because dessert shouldn’t be the only meal (it’s a meal in this house) that gets to be frightfully delightful. ‘Til next time, my fellow eaters!

Recipe and instructions

I may be a grown woman, but dang do I ever love Poptarts. I haven’t had a real one since before 2019 when I began to have a terrible gluten intolerance (thanks, aging!) and had to eliminate wheat from my diet. I’ve tried some gluten free Poptart-adjacent pastries from various brands, but most of them were cardboard flavored and didn’t have that sweet icing drizzle that just makes the Poptart. Needless to say, when I found a gluten free puff pastry at the grocery store, an idea popped into my head. Since I’m also obsessed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (I might be 35, but I have the taste palate of a 6 year old), I wanted to make the best Poptart flavor to never exist (seriously, this is such low hanging fruit, people of Kellogg’s). For a video tutorial, head to my Instagram!

Recipe and Instructions

As someone who loves fall and a rich history of French Canadian ancestry, you might find it surprising that I’ve never had maple cream pie. Syrup practically runs through my veins, so I knew this was one thing I had to try. I will say it is obviously a very sweet and not at all macro-friendly pie, but thankfully it’s fall (a.k.a. the start of bulking season), so my carb intake has greatly increased. But even if it is calorie dense, it’s absolutely worth it to have a slice- crust me. It’s light and creamy but also sweet and sticky. Like the softest stack of flapjacks topped with syrup to ever exist. Plus, it’s super easy to throw together!

Recipe and Instructions

Oh my gourd am I ever happy its pumpkin season again. After a lovely 2-week trip to Amsterdam and Norway, I am back home and baking gluten free goodies like crazy. These pumpkin pie blondies are satisfying my major basic white girl need to bust into fall by pumpkining all the things. And at only 113 calories a blondie, you can have like four of them and they’re still healthier than a pumpkin spice latte! Fall miracles. These are super moist, soft, and taste exactly like a slice of pumpkin pie, just with way more texture. Full disclosure: I hate pumpkin pie with a passion that consumes my soul; the flavors are all there–it tastes so great, but the texture is a shapeless mush that is absolutely disgusting and revolting on my tongue. Turning the pie into blondies gives a solid texture and not a gelatinous, well, ooze.

Recipe and Instructions

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I had such a blast making my Shark Week cupcakes last month, I wanted to try out a new set of animal cupcakes featuring my second favorite animal of all time: the hedgehog. Much like how I can relate to the shark’s bottomless hunger and angry resting face, I feel similar kinship to the hedgehog. I am also small, prickly on the outside, and have terrible eyesight. I’ve also been know to roll up into a tiny ball to avoid awkward social situations.

These doughy little spike balls were so much fun to make, and they’re so stinkin’ cute I almost don’t want to eat them…I have to close my eyes to take a bite or it seems like an act of animal cruelty. These rotund babies are cake batter yellow cupcakes with cake batter cream cheese frosting, and although an actual hedgehog wouldn’t go near one, that just leaves more for me. They won’t share the hedge, I won’t share the cupcakes. And at only 170 calories a cupcake (recipe makes 16 total), I’m definitely eating these faster than a hedgehog can scarf down some mealworms (Fun fact! Hedgehogs are primarily insectivores, and feeding them worms and crickets is both a unique and gross experience, and probably the only thing I don’t miss about having a hedgehog).

Have I tried Pamela’s gluten free cake mix on the blog yet? I’ve tried so many, it’s hard to remember. But considering how great Pamela is at making giant gluten free fig jammies, I was hoping her cake mix would be aces as well. Happy to report: very yummy, very soft, and very easy to adapt. For the yellow cake batter cupcakes, you need:

• 1 bag of Pamela’s vanilla cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup (111 grams) unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp cake batter extract (I find mine at Walmart)
• 2/3 cup of fat free or skim milk

Preheat your oven to 325 and line two muffin tins with 16-18 cupcake wrappers. Mix the eggs, applesauce, extract, and milk until smooth on low in a stand mixer. Add in the cake mix, and mix on low for two minutes until smooth. This batter will be very runny. Also, this cake mix REALLY puffs up (totes apropes since hedgehogs are super puffy, too), so definitely only fill your cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full. I definitely went for 3/4 of the way and all my cakes were overflowing. I easily could’ve make 18 cupcakes instead of 16. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cupcake.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a cooling rack before removing from the pan and cooling completely on said cooling rack again. You can put these in the fridge while you make your frosting.

This is me underselling cake batter extract: it is the single greatest extract I have or will ever use in a frosting recipe. This frosting tastes exactly like cake batter; we all know we’re not supposed to lick the spoon or the beaters, but we do. We risk salmonella because cake batter just tastes that good. It’s worth it. OK, now imagine this flavor, but in frosting form…and without risk of hospitalization due to a bacterial infection. It’s a miracle. Here’s everything you need for the frosting and the decorating:

• 8 ounces (225 grams) 1/3 the fat cream cheese at room temp
• 1 cup (226 grams) fat free Greek yogurt, strained overnight to remove moisture
• 4 cups (1 bag 16 ounce) of Lakanto powdered monkfruit
• 1.5 tsp cake batter extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Gel dyes in black, brown, and beige
• Tips 1A (or another large round tip like an 806 or 808), two #2 round tips, one #80 tip for ears and feetsies, one grass tip for spikes

Blend the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth; add in half of the monkfruit and both extracts. Mix well on medium speed. Add in the remaining monkfruit and blend well. If the frosting is too stiff, add in a tablespoon of milk. Dye half of the frosting beige for the hedgehog’s body, ears, and feet. Dye a tiny bit black for the eyes and nose, and dye the rest brown for the spikes.

I wanted to create a two-toned look to my hedgehog spikes, so I took two piping bags, one fitted with a grass tip and the other fitted with a #2 tip, and painted beige buttercream up the sides of each bag with an angled spatula. Then I placed my brown frosting into the center of each bag, piping out a little until the colors started to mix. I put my black frosting into a bag fitted with the other #2 tip, a small amount of beige into a bag fitted with he #80 tip, and the remaining beige into a bag with my 1A large round tip.

I was a little bit on hedge when I first tried piping out the body with my 1A tip. I found the best way was to pipe with my tip straight down on the cupcake’s surface, making a flat, circular mound of frosting. Once I had a big enough mound, I stopped piping, with my tip still in the center, then slowly dragged my tip downward to create that little point at the very end to make the space for a face. It took me a couple hedgies to get this just right, so just know if you try this, everything quill be alright in the end. Some of your hedgie cakes may have double, triple, or even quadruple chins, but as someone who accidentally opens her front-facing camera on her phone while looking down at it frequently, same. We may have many chins, but we’re still adorable.

I took a toothpick and drew a little widow’s peak on each head/face area so I knew where to stop piping before dotting the eyes and nose onto each. You can really have fun with these because each face shape will inevitably end up a little different than the last, so they all have their own personality. Then I froze my cupcakes for 30 minutes so the body would be firm enough to pipe the spikes onto.

Once firmed up, you can use your grass tip to pipe on the body and pull away quickly to make spikes. I found it easiest to go around the outside and work my way toward the face. The biggest pain here is how quickly the grass tip gets clogged up. I used a toothpick about every third row of spikes to clean out the nozzles.

Once you get closer to the face, it is easier to switch to the other bag with the #2 tip and brown/beige frosting mix to fill in the smaller areas or any empty patches on the body.

To make the world’s cutest ears and teeny feetsies, I used the #80 tip, piping near the top of the head. I placed my bag straight up and piped a small amount, pushing down to squish the ears a little before pulling the piping bag away. I did the same technique to pipe the feet.

Terrible puns? Just roll with it like a hedgehog would. I am just giddy that these turned out the way I was hoping. Each one is a little different, whether it’s the face, ears, quill patterns, or ridiculous number of chins. I did take breaks to let my frosting refirm in the freezer since this yogurt and cream cheese combo gets soft under the heat of your hands quickly, but the flavor is worth the few extra minutes. The cupcakes themselves are really light and airy with a great cake batter flavor, and the frosting is next level cake batter goodness. It’s decadent without being too heavy, which is almost dangerous because I want to eat several at a time. These cupcakes have fueled my want for both more cupcakes and another hedgehog (for keeping, not eating). I will make do with the cupcakes for now, and dream of the day I can have another cranky, huffy, tiny little adorable animal to run my life. ‘Til next time, my fellow eaters!

Recipe and instructions

I know, that’s a mouthful to say, but thankfully it’s also a mouthful to eat. And BOY I have been sleeping on blondies. I 100% consider myself a brownie kinda gal…the only Blondie I was a fan of before this recipe sings “Call Me” and “Rapture.” But add a little American Dream cashew butter to a recipe, and I become a believer. Sorry, it’s hard to act cashewal when I’ve stumbled upon a new dessert favorite. But American Dream’s apple strudel cashew butter has crushed gluten-free shortbread cookies, caramel chips, and diced crunchy cinnamon apples just swimming around in each jar, so the flavor of these blondies are apple-solutely amazing. At only 134 calories a blondie, you can totally go nuts for these cashew butter blondies.

Recipe and Instructions

Back again with another Empowrd’s gluten free donut mix spin. Naturally, now that it’s only 90 degrees out every day and not 95, the whisper of fall has thrown me into full-on pumpkinpalooza. You know, pumpkin spice and everything nice season. These pumpkin donuts are the right way to start every day a few degrees cooler than the last. They’re soft, the right amount of sweet, covered in vanilla glaze, and topped with sprinkles. They aren’t overwhelmingly pumpkin-y in flavor (you know, no pumpkin spice latte slap in the mouth). It’s the less basic white girl’s (hi!) answer to the perfect fall treat. And at only 97 calories a donut, I also consider them magically delicious.

Recipe and Instructions