coconut macaroon spectacular

what’s spectacular about coconut? make these and find out for yourself. trust us.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups unsweetened coconut

2 tbsps water

4 egg whites

1 cup artificial sweetener

1 tsp vanilla extract

MAKE IT: Preheat oven to 350f. Mix vanilla, egg whites and water in a big bowl. Stir in coconut and sweetner. Let it sit for two minutes while you dance the macarena. Stop dancing, and roll the mix into about 1″ diameter balls — place onto a baking sheet (wax paper optional), about two inches apart. Bake about 15 mins, or until lightly browned on top. Makes about 14 cookies.

HOT TIP: If you’re trying to impress your special friend(s), you could always melt a bar of 95% cocoa chocolate (try Lindt), and dip the tops of your coconut macaroon spectaculars into the melted chocolate mixture. This is an untested theory, but how could it be wrong when it seems so right? You know? Of course you do.

black bean brownie delicacy

Are you a 4HBer who’s sick of looking at beans? Me too. I love them, but also love to hate them. Get those aggro vibes out. Whip them into shape — BROWNIE shape. That’s better.

Black bean brownies, a 4HB-friendly icing variation and unsweetened coconut. Hubba hubba.

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

3 eggs

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups artificial sweetner

MAKE IT:Preheat your over to 350f. Grease your 8×8 pan with olive oil. Throw ALL OF THIS into a blender — blend until smooth. Pour into your pan — bake for 30 mins, until the edges pull a bit away from the sides of the pan. Remove from oven. Let cool for one hour in pan before removing. (I was too excited when I first made them, and tried to get them out, uh, immediately. What a rookie, what a mess.)

ICING: You could go ahead and repurpose the Chocolate Pudding as an icing, if you want to take this next-level-chocoholic. You could even sprinkle with sliced almonds or shredded, unsweetened coconut, if you really wanted to get fancy. You probably do.

avant garde chocolate pudding

I’m not kidding. Chocolate pudding. 4HBs deserve some chocolate during the week. This is so easy to make that you’ll be tempted to mess it up by complicating it. Don’t!

INGREDIENTS:

2 avocados, whipped (yes, whipped)

Unsweetened cocoa, to taste

Calorie-free sweetner, to taste

Splash vanilla

Crushed salted peanuts, garnish

MAKE IT: Whip the avocados (with a fork, with a beater, whatever is your pleasure). Whip in cocoa, one tbsp at a time, alternating with sweetner. Taste it. Frequently. Stop adding cocoa and sweetner when it tastes so good that you want to kiss yourself for making such an awesome treat. Garnish with crushed peanuts, if you’d like.

THAT’S IT. Whipped ripe avocados, and as much unsweetened cocoa as you like, as much calorie-free sweetner as you like. As much crushed peanut as you like.

HOT TIPS: Don’t like avocados? Omit them, replace with the lowest fat, highest protein greek yogurt you can find. Heck, don’t like cocoa OR avocados? High protein, low fat greek yogurt can carry lots of flavors — savoury, sweet, whatever spins your spurs. Go forth and multiply recipes.