How To Make Easy Healthy Sweet Treats

Alright, this one is for my friends with a sweet tooth! Time for a blog with recipes for healthy cookies, healthy desserts, healthy oatmeal cookies (the easiest and my favorite), protein cookie recipes, healthy baked apples, low-calorie cookies, healthy vegan desserts, and easy healthy desserts. You name it, this blog will have it! We will also feature heart-healthy desserts, low-calorie desserts, healthy muffins that will bring joy and taste back to healthy baking.

My love for healthy baking started with a healthy oatmeal cookie recipe from Trader Joe’s that I modified to be vegan. This healthy baking era started right in Dr. Mamak Shakib’s chiropractic office when she and our patients loved the cookies so much I started making them in bulk. I then started a small gluten-free baking business with a friend. That has since ceased, but I still love baking for family/friends and sharing my recipes through my Virtual Wellness Studio. So, let’s kick this sweet treats blog off with my healthy gluten-free oatmeal cookie recipes.

Modified Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Rolled Oats Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup earth balance (or any vegan butter)
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 cups Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats (or any gluten-free rolled oats)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 oz. chocolate chips (vegan or cacao)
• 1/2 cup mashed banana
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup peanut butter (or any nut butter of choice)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and vegan butter and beat until creamy. 
3. Add banana, vanilla and baking soda and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix well. 
4. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and nuts. 
5. Place each teaspoon full of dough about 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. 
6. Bake 10 -12 minutes until lightly brown around the edges (makes approximately 48 cookies)

The following recipe is unmodified and from one of my very favorite cookbooks Fixate Vol. 2 and can be purchased here.

Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal:

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 tsp. baking powder, gluten-free
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt or Himalayan salt
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup grated carrots
• 1/4 cup crushed pineapple, in 100% pineapple juice, drained
• 3 Tbsp. light sour cream
• 3 Tbsp. powdered sugar

You will need paper cupcake liners, also if that is too many spices and you are on a budget try 1 tsp. allspice.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F 
2. Prepare twelve muffin cups by lining with muffin papers, set aside. 
3. Combine oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl; mix well. Set aside. 
4. Combine coconut milk, eggs, maple syrup, extract, carrots, and pineapple in medium bowl; mix well. 
5. Fold coconut milk mixture into oat mixture; mix well. 
6. Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups. 
7. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the pan after 15 minutes. 
8. While oatmeal cups are baking, make the icing. Combine sour cream and powdered sugar in a small bowl; mix well; set aside. 
9. Let oatmeal cups cool in pan until you can handle them. Remove to a cooling rack.
10. Drizzle each oatmeal cup with approximately 1 tsp. icing before serving; serve warm.

A total babe that I follow on Instagram is @cottercrunch and recently I discovered her recipe for oat flour thumbprint cookies and here is my modified version of her recipe!

Oat Flour Thumbprint Cookies:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free oat flour (you can buy or make your own, I put
• 1 3/4 cups of oats in my Vitamix and blended into a flour)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. grapeseed oil
• Sparkling cane sugar or sugar sprinkles
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup red jam of choice (I used a mixed berry)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 
2. Mix all ingredients in their order up to sugar.
3. Form 1 inch dough balls and put them into a container with a lid and store in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. 
4. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or foil (I used foil because it was all I had). 
5. Mix jam and almond extract in a small bowl. 
6. Remove dough balls from the refrigerator and roll them in the sugar and place on a baking sheet.
7.  Once the sheet is filled with 12 cookie dough balls make a hole in the middle of each dough ball with your thumb or index finger. 
8. Fill the center with jam almond extract mixture and then sprinkle with remaining sugar. 
9. Bake for 12-14 minutes. 
10. Serve or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Provecho!

Ok, now on to some other healthy cookies I love that do not involve oats! Although, they do involve healthy root vegetables. Here is another gem from Fixate:

Peanut Butter Sweet Potato Cookies:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups mashed cooked sweet potato
• 1/2 cup all-purpose gluten-free baking flour
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar + 2Tbsp
• 1/4 cup all-natural peanut butter
• 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 dash sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly coat with spray or oil or butter. 
3. Place sweet potato, flour, sugar, peanut butter, pumpkin pie spice, extract, xanthum gum, baking powder and salt in a food processor or immersion blender, process until a smooth batter is formed, scraping sides as needed. 
4. Dollop 12 balls, approximately 2 Tbsp. each, onto each prepared pan. Lightly flatten with the back of a fork in a criss-cross pattern. 
5. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, rotating the pan after 7 minutes, or until lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool and serve!

My last two recipes for this blog come from my coach and mentor Meredith Gnau. One is made from the daily super-foods I drink. The healthiest desserts you can eat packed with 70+ super-foods, vitamins, minerals, adaptogenic herbs, probiotics, pre-biotics, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. The super-foods can be purchased using this link.

These two recipes come from my teammate and fellow coach Meredith Gnau and her blog “A Grateful Life”. The first recipe for Salted Maple Almond Butter Bites does not incorporate the super-foods but is vegan, gluten-free and can be found on her blog.

Super-Food Infused Vegan Chocolate Bark:

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
• 1 Tbsp Coconut Butter (I used Nutivas coconut manna)
• 2 Tbsp cacao powder
• 1 scoop or 1 packet VEGAN Chocolate Superfoods
• 2 Tbsp Vegan Vanilla Superfoods
• Culinary Dried Rose Petals
• Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Start with your base: Coconut Oil and Coconut Butter. Melt them in a pot, stirring over med-high heat stirring often. 
2. Remove from the heat and add in the powdered cacao and Shakeology, stirring until all the little lumps are smoothed out. 
3. Pour into a non-stick container and let sit in the fridge for a short moment to cool. 
4. Before the top begins to harden add on any additional toppings; pictured here dried rose leaves and sea salt. Other great options are goji berries or dried cherries, dried coconut, pumpkin seeds, and sea salt. 
5. Once your toppings are on, place the pan in the freezer until frozen (freezes quite quickly). 
6. Remove from the freezer once set, break into chunks, and store in the freezer until ready to eat (they do melt quite quickly).

If you feel like you are wanting more recipes, tips, and tricks to living your healthiest life, I have a lot more tips where those came from. All of my meal plans include access to hundreds of recipes and short, easy, all levels workouts. If you have any specific recipes you would like or fitness program questions, always feel free to reach out to me. 

Love and Light Always,

Sarah

“Sarah Savino is my recommended Wellness and Nutrition Coach who resides in Colorado but has a community of clients she guides and manages nationally. She has her frequent retreats that her clients are encouraged but not required to attend and someone who knows first hand how it is to be overworked and overweight. She is a living truth that once within the right community and with the right guide, everything is possible. She can be reached thefitphilanthropist@gmail.com and facebook.com/sarah.savino IG- the_fit_philanthropist ”- Dr. Shakib, your Irvine Chiropractor