3 Healthier Snack Ideas for When You CRAVE SOMETHING SWEET

We've all been there.  That 3:00 afternoon slump.  It sucks.  And I know I'm not the only one who has more-than-a-few-times binged on something that wasn't the greatest for my body.  :'( 

SO TODAY I decided to share a few recipes that I love to whip up when I'm craving something sweet (no lie, I have the BIGGEST sweet tooth).  Y'all know I love to cook, but I hate making fancy recipes with a million ingredients that I for sure don't have, even if it's in the name of "health".  These recipes are QUICK to whip up and they all have less than ten ingredients :)

 I hope you find these recipes as helpful as I do!

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GRANOLA BOWL

Ingredients:

• Any granola of your choice

• Yogurt 

• Fruit (raspberries, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, pineapple, etc.) 

Directions:

1. Start by pouring the granola into a bowl.

2.  Top the granola with a few dollops of any yogurt of your choice, then layer on the fruit.  Voila! 

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To be honest, it felt a little weird typing this out as a recipe, because this IS SO EASY.  I mean, look at it.  Some friends brought this into school as a snack a few weeks ago, and I was blown away by how good it was, yet so simple.  Plus it's healthy enough to be a breakfast.  YES.

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BANANA CREAM DESSERT 

Ingredients:

• 1-2 bananas, sliced 
• Whipped heavy cream 
• 1/8 - 1/4 c. chocolate chips (to melt) 
• 1 T. Coconut oil 

Directions:

1. Start by layering the sliced bananas in the bottom of your dish.  Spread a few dollops of whipped cream on top.

2. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl at 20 second increments in your microwave.  Add in the coconut oil near the end, and mix till melted thoroughly.

3. Pour the melted chocolate over the whipped cream layer, then continue to layer with bananas, whipped cream, chocolate.

4. Serve immediately or keep refrigerated! 

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OKAY but this is so delicious.  (Can't you tell from the chocolate? ;) This is honestly such a filling dessert...if you're still hungry and you make this, trust me, this will fill you right up. 

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COCONUT FLOUR CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Credit: Immaeatthat

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed (I use coconut palm sugar) 
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted & cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (or vanilla bean paste)
• heaping 1/2 cup chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a cookie sheet.  In a bowl, combine coconut flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and all add-ins.  Add in eggs, butter and vanilla.  Combine until a dough forms.  Wet hands and roll dough into 9 balls, if you just spoon the cookies onto the baking sheet without rolling them into balls, the cookies won't come out pretty and smooth.  Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies turn golden brown.  

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This recipe isn't my own...it's actually a repost from this amazing recipe I found a few years back.  Not even kidding, if you want a tastes-like-the-real-thing but still gluten-free and sugar-free, YOU'LL LOVE THIS RECIPE.  It's so flipping good.  It definitely does have a coconut smell (because of the coconut flour), but to me it actually adds to the cookie.  I mean, instead of a regular old cookie recipe, it's coconut chocolate chip! YUM.

And as for the chocolate chips? I use Hershey's sugar-free chocolate chips.  They don't have any terrible sugar substitutes (it uses erythritol/xylitol), and it tastes pretty decent.  I'm SO SURPRISED, HERSHEY.

Annnddd that's it for today, frens! Are you going to try any of these out? (...um...are you kidding me you HAVE TO!) These are all super delicious and I've personally tried them out so many times.  AND they all lean a little bit more to a healthier side, so if you have a incurable sweet tooth like me (pretty sure I have a chocolate tooth or something xD), these definitely come in handy.  

Have an amazing week, try out a recipe, and keep smiling! What's one good thing that happened to you this week? (i had a snow day today so that was fun :) 

xx

autumn