Indulge Like Elvis Presley But Stay As Skinny As Elvis Costello

Yes! You can indulge like Elvis Presley but stay as skinny as Elvis Costello. Life is too full of challenges to deny dessert. The trick is finding the right recipes. Here are a few of the Ninja Baker’s discoveries while seeking the sweet stuff of life.

The Ninja Baker's Skinny Elvis Gluten-Free Chocolate, PB and Banana Cupcakes.

Here's the how-to for Skinny Elvis Gluten-Free Chocolate, PB and Banana Cupcakes:
Bake your favorite gluten-free chocolate cupcakes.
For the frosting: Whip up 4 tablespoons of organic cream cheese until fluffy.
Add 5 tablespoons of Just Great Powdered Peanut Butter, 4 tablespoons of coconut milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix until blended.
Garnish with a dried organic banana chip.

Containing 85% less fat than regular peanut butter,
Betty Lou's Great Stuff is also organic, gluten-free and nonGMO. (Yippee!)

For sugar free vanilla cupcakes, check out The Six Sisters' Stuff Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes. Or maybe you prefer pumpkin cupcakes which don't require another hour on the stair climber at the gym. Via Pinterest I happened upon a low calorie Weight Watchers 2 Point Pumpkin Muffins recipe which has rave reviews on the world wide web.

For fans of those famous cookies,
try The Ninja Baker's Almost Sugar Free Girl Scout Thin Mint Cupcakes.

If it's breakfast or breaktime when the Krispy Kreme craving attacks, be prepared by baking Averie's gluten-free version of Baked Orange Coconut Banana Donut. I riffed on Averie's Orange Coconut Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze. To 8 ounces of organic cream cheese, I mixed in 1 ½ cups sifted powdered sugar, ¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice, 1 tablespoon meringue powder, ½ teaspoon of coconut extract and 3 droplets of orange food coloring. The result was favorable: not too sweet, not too tart. But, honestly, without the frosting, the donut is still superb. The coconut adds a wonderful texture and does not overpower the moist orangey cake.

Tasty Gluten-Free Orange Coconut Banana Donuts from Averie Cooks

The great thing about baked donuts is that they are super easy to make. And deliciousness pops out of the oven in mere minutes. Plus the cleanup is minimal because most recipes only require one big mixing bowl. Of course, having a nonstick donut pan helps, too.

Speaking of stress-free baking and cleanup; morning, noon and night The Ninja Baker's Mini Butter Cake Bites are terrific treats. They're small so you can skip the guilt about eating sweets. Besides a soupçon of sugar, you're getting a smidgeon of red bean protein. Here's the recipe: Whip up your favorite yellow cake. Fill cake pop makers per the instructions on the package. Drop about a 1/2 teaspoon of red azuki bean paste (anko) into each center. Bake for about 18 minutes at 350 degrees. Stick a toothpick into one of the cake pop centers. If it comes out clean, take the cake pops out and cool for at least ten minutes. Release the mini cake balls and cool completely. Then shake the mini anko cakes in a Ziploc bag filled with organic powdered sugar.

A treat of mini butter yellow cakes with a smidgeon of red azuki anko bean paste.