Low Sugar Chocolate Ice Cream – No Churn!

by 5 Comments

If the Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream would work with three ingredients without being churned, I figured a Chocolate version would work.

I was right!

Low Sugar Chocolate Ice Cream Bowl

Several suggested that if we added whole milk to the cream/sweetener/vanilla combo it would scoop out nicely. I tried that on my round two of ice cream and didn’t find it to work as well as the milkless version. I’ve decided to stick with only cream and not add milk. I’m curious what you discovered if you tried the recipe!

The only adjustment you need to make to make a chocolate version is to simply add cocoa powder to the vanilla ice cream recipe. (And if you want Chocolate Mint, just switch the vanilla extract with some mint extract. Easy!)

Low Sugar Chocolate Ice CreamYum

Low Sugar Chocolate Ice Cream - No Churn!
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3 Tablespoons real maple syrup (more or less to taste)
  • 3 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients together with a hand mixer or in a high power blender until they have thickened - but have not yet turned into stiff whipped cream. (The mixture should still be runny.)
  2. Pour mixture into a small casserole dish.
  3. Cover and freeze for about three hours.
  4. Scoop and serve right away.
  5. If ice cream has been in the freezer overnight, you may need to let it sit out to soften for a few minutes before serving.

Low Sugar Chocolate Ice Cream

If you didn’t guess already, this ice cream tastes delicious in my favorite Coffee Milkshake. Follow the recipe here, scoop in some of this chocolate ice cream, and you’ll have a Chocolate Mocha Milkshake.

Still to come as I continue to experiment – Low Sugar Peaches and Cream, Strawberry, and Peanut Butter Ice Cream! Hmm, while I’m at it, I suppose I should try a Mocha Ice Cream. This is too much fun.

Related posts:

  1. Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream ~ 3 Ingredients ~ No Machine
  2. Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait (With a “To-Go” Option)
  3. Make Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream – No Ice Cream Freezer Required
  4. Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce (3 Ingredients!)

Iced Chocolate Using Homemade Nesquik!

by 15 Comments

Iced Chocolate

When you are the youngest of four boys, growing up in a home filled with silliness and sarcasm, you pretty much have no hope of becoming anything but silly and sarcastic.

Malachi, our 11 year old, barely remembers how to shoot it straight anymore. When we say, “How’s your project going?” he’ll answer with an enthusiastic, “Terrible!” which of course translates to mean, “I’m making some great headway here.”

This is funny-not funny because sometimes I just really need to know the answer to something without being given the run around. And then there is the issue with him using sarcasm around younger kids or unsuspecting adults. Someone might say, “You look nice today, Malachi.” and he’ll come back with with a happy, “I know.” which takes people off guard and I always hope they know he’s kidding.

We’re working on teaching discernment on when to be “funny” and when to simply answer a question already.

In the meantime, I tried a new recipe a readers sent to me that sounded amazing, but then of course, I cut down the sugar so I didn’t send everyone off to Bible class with a major sugar high. I prepared the drink, then ran upstairs to finish getting ready for church. Later when I hesitantly hollered down, “Does it taste okay? Do you like it?” Malachi promptly answered with, “No. It is really not good.”

Oh man, I had hoped this would be a fun, refreshing, filling drink I could make this summer. Oh well, I’d move on to the next idea.

Then he smiled and said, “It’s actually really amazing. Make it again.”

That kid!! I give up.

(Because that’s what frustrated parents do. They give up. They stop trying. There is no other way.)  Weird. It’s as if Malachi comes by his sarcasm naturally.

We’ll continue to work on when to be silly and when to shoot it straight, but according to Malachi, you should definitely not try this recipe. You won’t even like it. It’s disgusting.

Welcome to my world.

Iced Chocolate Using Homemade NesquikYum

By the way, all credit goes to Laura on this one. Not me. Another Laura. Laura D. She emailed me this idea!

Iced Chocolate Using Homemade Nesquik!
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 3 servings
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • ½ cup Homemade Nesquik (see recipe below)
  • 2 cups ice cubes
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients on high in the blender until smooth.
  2. Serve right away.

You’ll find my easy Homemade Nesquik recipe here.

Delicious and Easy Iced Chocolate

Take note that there’s still quite a bit of sugar in this because I don’t know how to adjust that in my Homemade Nesquik recipe. This makes for a great summer treat, though!

Thank you Laura D. for sending in this recipe idea. Malachi really does appreciate it, even though you might not be able to tell at first. :)

Related posts:

  1. Orange Creamsicle Recipe
  2. 7-Minute Strawberry Ice Cream ~ Dairy Free Option
  3. Make Your Own “Nesquik”
  4. How to Make Iced Coffee for a Crowd

Low Sugar Coffee Milkshake Recipe

by 3 Comments

If you’re wondering what I’m up to every single afternoon of every day during the entire summer – and obviously, you surely do wonder – you can be certain that I am making myself a smooth and creamy coffee shake and sipping it slowly. This, at about 1:30 each afternoon, CST. Set your clock by it. At 1:30 each day, you can think to yourself, Laura is most certainly enjoying her coffee milkshake right about now. We are so happy for her.

Thank you for your support.

Coffee Milkshake

I would love for you to also have the option of beginning your afternoon in this way, so please, allow me to share this recipe so you can indulge and love your treat right down to the last drop. The good news is that this is very low in sugar (though you can add more if you like!) and includes all real food ingredients. I suppose the other good news is that the coffee will perk us all up for the afternoon so that we can rock on with whatever it is we need to do. Hi-yah! Glory, hallelujah.

Perhaps the one draw back to making this milkshake is that you must think and plan ahead. Hot coffee ruins the moment. All key ingredients must be cold or even frozen. And then there’s the homemade ice cream issue. The ice cream amazing and easy, but too hard to scoop if not set out a few minutes ahead of your milkshake making endeavors. So here’s the breakdown so that you can achieve Low Sugar Coffee Milkshake perfection:

  1. Cold brew some coffee, or make regular hot brew and chill it thoroughly.
  2. Make yourself some coffee iced cubes. This isn’t a must, but almost.
  3. Be sure to have Homemade Low Sugar Ice Cream in the freezer (it’s easier than you think).
  4. Set your ice cream out on the counter about ten minutes before making your shake so that it will be soft enough to scoop.

Don’t get the impression that this is a high maintenance recipe. It really is not. I typically have coffee in my fridge and coffee cubes in my freezer. It takes 2 minutes to whip up a batch of this Homemade Low Sugar Ice Cream. Then it’s just a matter of pulling it all together. At 1:30 every single afternoon.

Low Sugar Coffee MilkshakeYum

Low Sugar Coffee Milkshake Recipe
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1-2 scoops Homemade Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream
  • 4-6 coffee ice cubes
  • 1-2 cups cold coffee
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a blender.
  2. Serve right away.

low sugar coffee milkshake

Take note that this is not a super-sweet treat as is, so you’ll want to adjust the sweetness level by adding maple syrup according to your taste. I personally love it with a strong coffee flavor and only a tiny bit of sweetness and creaminess. But the beauty of this recipe and the Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream recipe is that you can make it sweet or less sweet without messing anything up!

Get your ingredients ready! 1:30 will be here before you know it.

Related posts:

  1. Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait (With a “To-Go” Option)
  2. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
  3. Low Sugar Almond Fudge Bars
  4. Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream ~ 3 Ingredients ~ No Machine

Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream ~ 3 Ingredients ~ No Machine

by 16 Comments

I just ate a bowl of vanilla ice cream. This hasn’t happened in over three years because my body gets mad at me now when I eat much sugar. But let me say it again: I just ate a bowl of ice cream. Happy, happy, happy, happy!!

Low Sugar Ice Cream

I’ve been wanting to figure out how to make low sugar ice cream (for three years), but I had two hang-ups:

  1. I was feeling pretty lazy about pulling out my ice cream freezer.
  2. I wasn’t confident that cutting the sugar in ice cream would taste good and I didn’t want to waste ingredients.

So I started doing some looking online. There are plenty of recipes for “no churn” ice cream so I could avoid the trouble of getting out my ice cream machine, but they all call for sweetened condensed milk. Nope. That wouldn’t make it low sugar.

Other recipes took way too many steps, at which point I figured I might as well suck it up and get out my ice cream freezer.

Finally, I decided to try the “no-churn” method I’d read about – but with healthier ingredients I feel good about instead of condensed milk – and just see what would happen. I decided if it didn’t turn out – at the very least I could re-purpose the cream mixture into a smoothie.

When you see this recipe you will wonder (like I am wondering) why it took me so much research and time to figure this out.

Three ingredients. Three. They are so obvious. (Cream, maple syrup, vanilla. See? Why did I make this so hard?)

The trick is to whip the ingredients together just long enough that they thicken, but don’t turn into whipped cream. This isn’t hard as long as you’re watching carefully. I put the ingredients into my Blendtec, whipped for 15-20 seconds, poured the mixture into a dish, froze it, and boom. I had Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream.

Low Sugar Vanilla Ice CreamYum

5.0 from 3 reviews
Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream ~ 3 Ingredients ~ No Machine
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3 Tablespoons real maple syrup (more or less to taste)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients together with a hand mixer or in a high power blender until they have thickened - but have not yet turned into stiff whipped cream. (The mixture should still be runny.)
  2. Pour mixture into a small casserole dish.
  3. Cover and freeze for about three hours.
  4. Scoop and serve right away.
  5. If ice cream is left in the freezer overnight, you may need to let it sit on the counter a few minutes before serving!

Low Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream

A key player in this recipe is Homemade Vanilla Extract. I decided “why just add one teaspoon when I could add two?” This, of course, makes the ice cream much, much better tasting. (Ironic, isn’t it, since I was just saying that you can use half the amount called for in recipes since this vanilla is so potent? Use less vanilla in this if you like, but I am loving the strong vanilla punch of two teaspoons in this vanilla ice cream!)

I learned that if you freeze this for less than 3 hours, the ice cream will be too liquidy. But if you freeze it for more than 3 hours it becomes a bit hard. The solution for “too hard” ice cream? Simply pull it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes before serving. It’ll soften just enough for you to scoop it out.

low sugar icecream5low sugar icecream4

Want your ice cream to be not-so-low in sugar?

My kids agree. Simply add a little more maple syrup until you have reached your desired sweetness level. You might also try adding a few drops of liquid stevia.

Because we have the whole summer ahead of us, I will now spend time creating variations of this Low Sugar Homemade Ice Cream. I’m thinking peach, strawberry, chocolate, mint, chocolate mint, and whatever other ideas you have for me.

Go make yourself some ice cream!!

Related posts:

  1. No-Bake Snickerdoodle Bites – A Quick and Easy Low Sugar Treat
  2. Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait (With a “To-Go” Option)
  3. Make Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream – No Ice Cream Freezer Required
  4. No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites

Low Sugar Banana Cake

by 2 Comments

I’ve come a long way since 2008.

Here’s what I used to think about adapting recipes to make them healthier: I thought that if I simply switched white flour for whole wheat, white sugar with sucanat or honey, and vegetable oil with coconut oil or butter – I was healthifying a recipe. So way back in 2008, I did just that. I took my regular recipe for Banana Cake and switched out all the bad for the good and shared the recipe with you here. I even called it “Healthy Treat for Today: Banana Cake.”

I really thought the changes I’d made had created a healthy treat.

In my defense, I suppose the changes I’d made did make the cake healthy-er. Getting rid of empty ingredients and bad fats and replacing them with ingredients our bodies can utilize does make a recipe healthier. But I stop short now of calling a treat healthy if it still has loads of sugar in it.

This goes to show that we always have room to grow and learn, right? Makes me wonder what I’ll write a year from now after I learn more!

In the meantime, I’ve re-healthified what I thought was a healthy cake. Even with this newest version of Banana Cake, I still maintain that it is a treat and that other foods provide more of a nutritional punch than this. Still – with the sugar cut way down and with the ingredients all being foods our bodies recognize and can utilize – do feel free to eat this for breakfast if you like. ;)

Banana Cake

Low Sugar Banana CakeYum

Low Sugar Banana Cake
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • ⅓ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 over-ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup milk or buttermilk
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
  2. Mash bananas in a separate bowl.
  3. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients.
  4. Pour in mashed bananas and all other ingredients.
  5. Stir well (or beat with hand mixer).
  6. Pour into a greased 9×9 inch pan.
  7. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
  8. Allow to cool completely before frosting with the Cream Cheese Frosting below.

I prefer to make Cream Cheese Frosting with Stevia now so that it has no sugar in it. My boys prefer it if I add just a little bit of maple syrup.

Stevia Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid stevia to taste (I use 2 droppers full)

Whip ingredients together until smooth. Spread over cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces softened cream cheese
¼ cup softened butter
3-4 Tablespoons real maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

With a hand mixer (or in your blender), whip together all ingredients until smooth. Spread over cooled cake.

Low Sugar Banana Cake

Share something you’ve learned recently that has changed your mind about what makes a recipe “healthy.” 

Related posts:

  1. Low Sugar No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
  2. Low Sugar Almond Fudge Bars
  3. Make Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream – No Ice Cream Freezer Required
  4. Low Sugar Sunshine Cake

Americana Cheesecake Parfaits (It’s too easy)

by 2 Comments

What happens when you cross a blueberry with a strawberry with cheesecake filling? Red, white, and blue. This is what you have. Regular cheesecake parfait becomes Americana Cheesecake Parfait. Just like that, you’ve created a perfect treat for your holiday.

Strawberry Blueberry Cheesecake Parfaits

I realize it might be too late for you to do this for Memorial Day – unless you happen to have these fine ingredients already in your fridge. I once (last week) bought 18 packages of cream cheese at one time because it was on sale for $1.00 and I couldn’t help myself (obviously). Plus, I frequently bring home 12-16 pounds of berries at once when they are in season and on sale. (No one ever looks at me funny while I’m going through check-out.) Perhaps you also have a fridge full of cream cheese and berries?

If not, you can tuck this recipe away to make when you find these ingredients on sale. After all, it never hurts to make these with no holiday attached. And of course, you’ll want to remember these for the Fourth of July.

The Original Cheesecake ParfaitsYum

About this time last year, I concocted our first Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits. We have since declared this to be the best way to eat fruit. Recently we tried Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits, which are just as amazing.

chocolate cheesecake parfait

Matt and I much prefer this made with stevia. Our boys make a batch for themselves with a little sugar instead. We’ve been eating this and serving this to friends who come over pretty much constantly since berries came back in season a few weeks ago. This is a definite family favorite!

Americana Cheesecake Parfaits

4.0 from 1 reviews
Americana Cheesecake Parfaits (It's too easy)
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 Tablespoon real maple syrup
  • Liquid stevia to taste (I use about 20 drops) (Use a few Tablespoons of sugar if you prefer.)
  • 1 -2 pounds fresh, sliced strawberries
  • 1 pint fresh blueberries
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients (minus the berries) into a blender.
  2. Whip until smooth and creamy.
  3. Spoon mixture into bowls or cups - layering them with blueberries and sliced strawberries.

Americana Cheesecake Parfaits

However are you remembering and celebrating this weekend?

Related posts:

  1. Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait (With a “To-Go” Option)
  2. Whole Wheat Pumpkin Donuts
  3. Easy Peppermint Milkshakes
  4. Cinnamon Sugar Pecans ~ a Great Gift or Christmas Snack

Low Sugar Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

by 2 Comments

If we can make Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies, then surely we can add a little cocoa powder and make Low Sugar Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, dontcha think??

It’s too easy.

I had the grand idea of baking these in muffin cups so that they’d take on the look of a peanut butter cup. Too bad that didn’t really work.

low sugar chocolate pb cookies1

They look kinda cute in the muffin liners, but they didn’t really flatten enough to take on the shape of a peanut butter cup. We ate them anyway. It wasn’t a problem.

Low Sugar Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Get my Homemade Natural Peanut Butter Recipe here. You’ll be amazed at how delicious homemade peanut butter tastes (and how easy it is to make)!

Low Sugar Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter CookiesYum

Low Sugar Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15-20
Ingredients
  • 2 cups natural peanut butter
  • ⅓ cup sucanat, honey, or brown sugar
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
Instructions
  1. Mix the ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Use a small or medium scoop to place dough balls on a cookie sheet, about two inches apart.
  3. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
  4. Allow them to sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing them to cool on a rack.

The flavor of these cookies is super delicious. These will give you a great chocolate peanut butter fix, without all the sugar or even flour!

I know I just shared this low sugar cookie list last week, but when it comes to cookies and cutting sugar, I want to be sure you know I have your back.

More Low Sugar Cookie Recipes

I get many of my best ideas from YOU. What other cookie recipes should I play with to see if I can create a low sugar version?

 

Related posts:

  1. Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
  2. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
  3. No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites
  4. Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

by 11 Comments

Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies and my Mother’s Day flowers!

Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies

About the time I think I’ve cut the sugar in every recipe that would possibly work, I find another that works just as well.

Do you remember my Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies? One cup peanut butter, one cup sugar, one egg. They’re delicious. They’re naturally gluten free so I can make them for my GF friends. They’re incredibly easy. And they have a very high sugar content.

I thought surely cutting the sugar in that recipe would mess up the consistency and turn out weird cookies – if they even turned out cookies at all. I am so happy to say, “I was wrong.”

The only thing that didn’t work when I cut the sugar in this recipe is that the dough didn’t allow me to do the cute little criss-cross fork squish thing. The dough was too sticky. Thankfully, life goes on and we’re all grown up enough to eat our peanut butter cookies without fork-squishing them, right? Thank goodness.

Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter CookiesYum

Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 20ish
Ingredients
  • 2 cups natural peanut butter
  • ⅓ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • 1 egg
Instructions
  1. Mix the ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Use a small or medium scoop to place dough balls on a cookie sheet, about two inches apart.
  3. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
  4. Allow them to sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing them to cool on a rack.

Get my Homemade Natural Peanut Butter Recipe here.

Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

Matt and I are totally good with barely sweet treats. But the boys? Well, they’re a little more particular. Therefore, my kids are always the true testers for whether or not one of my Low Sugar Treats actually tastes good to other people.

I always hesitate to say these are low sugar, come try them because sometimes that makes the boys unsure from the get-go. But there I was, standing in the kitchen eating a peanut butter cookie. This made the boys suspicious. If Mom is eating it, it must be low sugar.

All that to say: These cookies smelled really good, which made my boys want some. Then they saw me eating them, which made them not so sure. I insisted they try a bite because I thought they were so good I could hardly stand it, and I knew they would like them once they tried.

What did they think?

Well, let’s just say that I had to stop them from finishing the entire batch in one sitting, and we all started shaking our heads once again at Betty Crocker for making us all think we needed eighty cups of sugar in cookie recipes just to make them taste good. C’mon, Betty.

You’ll want to look through all of our tried and true Low Sugar Recipes here. It is amazing how much sugar you can cut out of treats and still make them taste delicious! These Peanut Butter Cookies went from 2 cups down to 1/3 cup of sugar – and they are amazing.

Need more Low Sugar Cookie Recipes?

Related posts:

  1. No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bites (Low Sugar, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
  2. Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
  3. Coconut Fudge Bars
  4. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse

How to Make Iced Coffee for a Crowd

by 14 Comments

iced coffee

In three years I went from not liking coffee, to loving coffee, to becoming a coffee snob. I mean this in the sweetest way. I’ve learned that there’s coffee, and then there’s coffee. Can I help it if I prefer the coffee that makes me feel the actual love of Jesus flow over me? Well of course I can’t help this.

I blame my oldest son for my particular coffee preferences, because any time I can blame one of my children for something, I do. (I hate it when I spill something and none of my kids is around to blame. It’s very frustrating.)

Why are my coffee snob issues Asa’s fault? Because I was in my early years of drinking coffee about the time he took a mission trip to Ecuador two years ago. While he was there, I happily sipped my “coffee from a red canister that shall remain nameless” like I had done since I started my coffee drinking ways. When he came back home, he brought me a cute little Ecuador bracelet as a souvenir and a package of Ecuadorian coffee. How nice, I thought. Coffee from Ecuador. I’ll pray for the ministry there while I drink it. It will be so lovely.

Lovely didn’t even begin to describe this experience. I took my first sip and exclaimed, “Oh my goodness!! This coffee!! I’ve never had anything like it. I think this must be the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted. I might even like this more than butter.”

From that moment on, no other cup of coffee measured up. Once you have the best, it’s hard to go back.

(Our second son, Justus, will have the delightful opportunity to go to Ecuador this summer for his first overseas mission trip. I am so excited for him to bring me back a suitcase full of coffee share the love of Jesus with people there.)

How to Cold Brew Coffee

Needless to say, I hoarded my little bag of Ecuador coffee and rationed it – saving it for the mornings I could truly savor it. I might not have shared even a drop with anyone, but I can’t remember all the details. I’ve since started buying (and yes, even sharing) these Guatemalan coffee beans online. I find the flavor to be very similar to the Ecuador beans. This coffee is so delicious!

I questioned myself. “Should I really be spending extra money on high quality coffee?” So I did the math.

I discovered that it costs between $0.50-$0.60 per pot of coffee when I use the good stuff. This is more than a pot of the cheaper coffee. But worth it? Well, is it worth it to spend more on butter instead of settling for margarine? Obviously! (I know. That’s not an apples to apples comparison because the butter/margarine thing is more about eating real food for good health, but still. I think it’s worth it to pay a little extra for good quality and taste.)

Iced Coffee for a Crowd

Well, all that to say – get yourself some good coffee and treat people to this delicious Iced Coffee I’m going to tell you about. Or just use the cheap stuff for this recipe since you’re adding sugar anyway. :)

Last week I was asked to provide drinks for a get-together. I made a gallon of Homemade Lemonade (with sugar instead of maple syrup to cut the cost). Then I decided to make a big jar of iced coffee just for fun. It was a hit, so I thought I’d better share the idea with you!

My rough calculations tell me that a half-gallon of this Homemade Iced Mocha Coffee costs about $1.00. (I priced it at the store a few days later. The cheapest one cost $2.66. Boom.)

How to Make Iced Coffee for a CrowdYum

How to Make Iced Coffee for a Crowd
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 quart coffee
  • 1 tray coffee ice cubes
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup homemade chocolate fudge sauce (more or less to taste)
Instructions
  1. Cold brew coffee, or hot brew as normal, then chill.
  2. Stir cold coffee, coffee ice cubes, cream, and chocolate sauce into a half-gallon jar.
  3. Shake well before serving.

Some helpful links for you:

You might also enjoy this idea:

How to set up an Iced Coffee Bar

How to Make an Iced Coffee Bar

We set up that Iced Coffee Bar for my birthday guests last year and it was so much fun! See? I’m nice and share my good coffee now. I’ve grown so much.

Are you particular about what kind of coffee you drink?

Related posts:

  1. Orange Creamsicle Recipe
  2. Easy Peppermint Milkshakes
  3. Make Your Own “Nesquik”
  4. Cinnamon Sugar Pecans ~ a Great Gift or Christmas Snack

Low Sugar Butterscotch Bars

by Leave a Comment

It’s a happy day. Gather ’round, my friends. I’ll share the secret of how we can remake a Heavenly Homemaker’s classic recipe, Butterscotch Bars, into Low Sugar Butterscotch Bars.

butterscotch bars 1

We have Colleen to thank for this. She’s the one who emailed me after I shared my Low Sugar Chocolate Fudge Cookie recipe, asking how I thought my Butterscotch Bars would turn out if we cut the sugar.

I wasn’t confident. While I’ve found that many recipes work amazingly well when we cut the sugar, the two I felt might have to stay sugar-full were the Butterscotch Bars and Chocolate Fudge Brownies.

But you never know until you try, right? Last week I shared that indeed, we can make Low Sugar Chocolate Brownies – proving myself wrong that it just wasn’t possible. Today I’m sharing that sugar in the Butterscotch Bars can be cut too! Boom!

Low Sugar Butterscotch BarsYum

Low Sugar Butterscotch Bars
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15 bars
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour (regular white whole wheat flour works too)
Instructions
  1. Cream melted butter and sucanat together.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla.
  3. Stir in flour and mix well.
  4. Spread mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  5. Bake in a 350° oven for 20 minutes.

Low Sugar Butterscotch Bars

Confession: I love these low sugar bars. I actually find that they are still almost too sweet for me so I can only have a tiny sliver. My family thinks they’re good. But when I made a pan of Butterscotch Bars for a houseful of college kids last week, I made the full sugar version.

If you’re going for a treat that’s rich and gooey – you’ll want to make the regular 2-cups of sugar (gag me) Butterscotch Bars. But if you want a treat that is lightly sweetened and deliciously tasty (just not ooey gooey super sweet) – this Low Sugar Butterscotch Bar recipe is what you want!

Find more Low Sugar Treats here. You guys – the list is getting long!! I’m loving this!

Related posts:

  1. Easy Low Sugar Key Lime Melt-Away Cookies
  2. Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce (3 Ingredients!)
  3. Rich Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies (Low Sugar!)
  4. Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups