Sweet and Kickin' Pecans

Welp, I am doing another mini-sugar detox right now. This time for 2 weeks before I'm off to Buffalo for a family member's wedding. I find detoxing is so much easier when you have a lot of items on deck, especially snack type food. One of my favorite go-to detox snack is nuts, but sometimes just eating plain nuts gets boring, so I decided to get a little creative and spice things up a bit.

The bag that inspired it all

My inspiration came from the back of a bag of pecan halves I got from my local Albertson's. Their recipe included corn syrup and sugar, so I had to make a few modifications to make my version 21DSD approved. I was a little nervous as I wasn't sure what exactly was a good substitute for corn syrup (and I am sure I could have just Googled it, but I was feeling lazy) and I wasn't sure how to balance out for omitting a half a cup of sugar (again, probably could have Googled it, but what's the fun in that?). Also, because I've never cooked nuts before.

I was pleasantly surprised with the results as there were quite a few moments of panic (Can you really use coconut oil instead of corn syrup? Where's my pure vanilla extract? Oh no! The butter just exploded in the microwave! Was that too much cinnamon? Was that too much cayenne pepper?). But my worries were unfounded as the final product was delicious.

Sweet and Kickin Pecans

16 ounces pecan halves
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a cookie sheet with greased aluminum foil. In a large bowl, mix together pecans, coconut oil butter and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well coated. Spread onto the cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Stir and continue baking another 5 minutes. Spread pecans onto parchment paper and let cool.

No Sugar Coconut Apple Cinnamon Cookies

Welp, I fell off of the healthy bandwagon (I blame 4th of July, World Cup and all the awesome breweries in walking distance of my new house) and needed to get back on track, so it's back to 21DSD, although it's more of a 10DSD mini detox since I'm off to the east coast to visit family at the end of this week. I'm a week in a feeling good, although I learned the hard way yesterday on my run that I need to add the "energy" allotment of a small amount of starchy carbs to my diet. Otherwise, this time around has been a lot easier than the first. I think knowing what to expect and being overly prepared have really helped.

Anyway, hubs and I were craving something sweet and I was itching to bake something. I wasn't in love with the No Sugar Pumpkin Spice Cookies I'd made the last time, so I decided to look for something else. I found a recipe for Not-Sweet Cinnamon Cookies in the 21DSD cookbook that looked promising until I saw it required the dreaded BANANA. Ugh. So instead, I substituted green apple. I was nervous about how the consistency would turn not using banana, but I was pleasantly surprised.

These cookies turned out to be quite tasty and I will definitely be making them again! Maybe with bacon..................stay tuned.

No Sugar Coconut Apple Cinnamon Cookies

1/4 cup mashed green apple (about one small apple)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons melted coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon coconut flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Wisk together apple, eggs, oil and vanilla. Sift in the coconut flour and cinnamon and stir until well mixed. Stir in coconut and salt.

Spoon onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper into 9 equal portions and flatten.

Bake about 15 minutes. Cool completely on cooling rack or foil.