Banana Cupcakes

 A couple weeks ago I made an awesome fruit dip.

You can find it HERE.

So of course, I had to find a low calorie banana cupcake

recipe to balance out this awesome high calorie topper.

The banana cupcakes turned out perfect.

And they were toddler approved.

I made the cupcakes low calorie by making my own adjustments.

This is what I did:

Banana Cupcakes

Cooking spray

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 c. granulated sugar, 1/4 c. Domino Light sugar and stevia blend 

1/2 c. mashed bananas (I used two medium)

1/4 c. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 c. cottage cheese

Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan and spray lightly with cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Whisk together and set aside.

Combine 1/4 c. sugar and mashed bananas in a bowl. Set aside.

Place 1/4 c. sugar blend, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix on high speed until everything is well blended. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each.

Add banana mixture and mix well. 

Add flour mixture and cottage cheese alternately. Beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter evenly into paper liners. I divided mine until I had exactly 12 cupcakes.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until wooded pick comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Remove cupcakes and cool completely on wire rack.

Top with the awesome Cookie Butter Reese's Dip.

See Ya'all Soon!

Cookie Butter Reese's Dip

 Look where we went a couple weeks ago.

Trader Joe's!

I love Trader Joe's!

When I enter a Trader Joe's I skip.

Seriously!

I actually skip through the store because I am so happy.

Then people look at me like I'm strange.

But I don't care.

Sometimes it's good to skip through life because of happiness.

We all skipped as children. 

Why not continue that happy feeling when you're middle age?

 The inspiration for this recipe came from ShugarySweets.

I substituted the peanut butter with Trader Joe's Cookie Cocoa Swirl.

Everyone went nuts over this stuff.

As you can see we used it with apple slices.

It would be great on bananas too.

 I a little of this to work with me, along with two apples.

I will just say, "I was dearly loved that day."

Make some of this for yourself.

I have already proven it is awesome.

Cookie Butter Reese's Dip

1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. Trader Joe's Cocoa Swirl Cookie Butter
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. semi sweet mini chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

In a small sauce pan melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat until sugar dissolves (about 1 minute). Remove from heat and immediately add vanilla. Allow to cool to room temperature (very important).
In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, cookie butter, and powdered sugar until creamy (about 3-4 minutes. Don't skimp on beating time). Using low speed beat in butter/sugar mixture slowly. Mix until combined.
Fold in mini chocolate chips and Reese's Cup pieces. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until serving. I found it best, if removing from refrigerator, let it set to room temp before eating. Serve with fruit pieces, or grahams.

See Ya'all Soon!