Those of you who know me personally have likely heard me say that I don't like baking. I can do it, and I'm pretty good at it, but it's more a chore than a joy to me. However, I have a lot of walnuts in my pantry that I don't want to go stale, so I need to start using them a little more. Hence the development of this recipe. Hooray for #testkitchen day!

When I was a kid we used to eat homemade "trail mix"- little bits of nuts, dried fruit, a little chocolate, etc. My children won't touch nuts as a snack. These brownie bites are cleverly disguised as a dessert but have the added benefit of ground walnuts. What they don't know won't hurt them. Am I right?

1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. chocolate (I used chocolate chips, but use what you have)
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1-1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2  tsp salt
1/2 c. ground walnuts (grind into flour consistency)
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Melt together butter and chocolate, on low heat. Make sure you stir often, and when the chocolate has almost melted remove from heat and stir in sugar. Beat eggs in, one at a time, and add vanilla extract. Set aside.

Mix cocoa, flour, powder, salt, and ground walnuts. Add the chocolate mixture, and gently mix until combined. Cook at 325*F for about 13 minutes in paper lined mini muffin tins. This recipe made about 3-1/2 dozen mini brownie bites.

I greatly dislike throwing food away, so when apples get too soft (or sometimes, you buy them, and they are already too soft! I hate that!) rather than toss them I've been playing with crumble recipes. This one is the one I'm going to stick with: developed, tasted, and enjoyed right in The Meals Maven kitchen.

Traditional recipes usually include quite a lot of butter and sugar. I've got a little less of those and a little more nutrition from the addition of nuts. There's also no flour, so this is perfect for a GF dessert. Using pre-made granola was a shortcut I was happy with- the results speak for themselves. And adding a pop of chia seeds gives more nutrition per serving.

Truth be told I was torn between putting this in the dessert category or adding it to breakfast. I ate some this morning and it was just as delicious cold as it was fresh from the oven.

3 large apples
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/8 c. butter
1/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp saigon cinnamon
1.5 c. granola
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 tbsp chia

Spray a glass 8x8 square baking dish with oil. I used my Pampered Chef kitchen spritzer and canola oil.

Wash and slice the apples into pieces, removing the core. I keep the skin on (more fibre!). Place in the bottom of the baking dish. Drizzle with maple syrup, and toss the walnuts in.

Cut brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter together. Add chia, and mix. Add in granola, and mix as best as you can. Sprinkle over apple mixture. Bake, uncovered, 40 minutes, at 350*F. You'll know it's done when the apples pierce easily with a fork, the liquid in the bottom is bubbling, the topping is browned a bit, and your kitchen smells amazing!

Note: When baking for someone with celiac disease, make sure your granola or oats are certified gluten-free. This bag of granola, while not containing any wheat ingredients, does have the standard "may contain" warning. Better to be safe!

This delectable loaf is rich. It started out as a way to use up my eggnog, and to sneak some nuts into my children's diet.
I recommend serving this with a nice cup of hot coffee- so good.

1/2 c. butter, room temperature
1-1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
2/3 c. eggnog
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. ground hazelnuts (grind into flour consistency)

Cream together the butter and sugar, until the sugar is well-incorporated. Next, mix in eggs, 1 at a time is easiest, and set aside.
Mix eggnog with vanilla, and set aside. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and hazelnut "flour" together, and set aside.
Add the eggnog and flour mixtures to the butter mixture, alternating, until all the ingredients are incorporated. 
Grease your loaf pan, and flour it.
Even though my loaf pan is silicone, I lightly misted my loaf pan with vegetable oil and floured it. The loaf still stuck in the corner where I missed greasing, so definitely don't skip that step.

Bake at 325*F. My oven cooked it in 1 hr. and 17 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before attempting to turn out onto cooling sheet.

I know, I know. S'mores are great because to eat them you have to go camping, which involves a lot of physical exertion- from setting up the tent to hiking to chopping firewood- you earn those s'mores, by golly!
So I hate to set a dangerous precedent here, but last night I made s'mores on the stove. And they were so good. 
I'm going to say this right now, so you don't kid yourself into thinking that because just about everything else I cook is a pretty healthy meal, these must be good for you too...nope. Not even a little bit. Health Canada does not want you to eat these as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

4 Graham Wafers (I used Honey Maid- brand name ones taste so much better than off brand)
12 mini marshmellows (I used store brand and they're just fine)
4 squares of chocolate (caramel, dark, almond, whatever you like)

Turn a cast-iron pan on higher heat on your stove. While that's heating, lay out a square of foil. Put down a graham wafer. Position mini marshmellows and chocolate. Top with a second graham wafer. Wrap in foil, turn the heat down to low, and place packet in pan. Pick up and flip over in a couple of minutes. Leave another 2-3 minutes, until the packet "squishes" when prodded. Remove from heat, open the packet, and enjoy.
Simple, right?
I know you don't get the burnt marshmellow taste that everyone except me loves...but you also don't make that much of a mess and they taste great. I always found traditional s'mores with the regular marshmellows a bit too sweet for my taste. These balance out the taste for me.

So what do you think?