COOKING WITH SPENDA RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly spray a 9 x 13 inch non-stick baking pan with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and stir to blend.
• In another bowl, whisk the sugars with the butter, egg whites, applesauce and vanilla until light and fluffy.
• Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two additions until the batter is very well blended. If the batter looks more “crumbly” than smooth, add just a drop of water at a time (ONLY if needed) until it smooths out.
• Fold in white chocolate chips and 1/3 cup cranberries. Spread batter onto the baking pan using the back of a measuring cup to smooth evenly.
• Bake 10 - 14 minutes, until the edges are light brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't over-bake or your bars will be dry. Let it cool completely on wire rack.
• Meanwhile, prepare the frosting; in a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until well-blended. Frost bars and sprinkle with remaining cranberries. Drizzle with the melted white chocolate.
• *To melt the chocolate, place in a microwave safe cup and heat 15 seconds; stir. Another 15 seconds; stir until the chocolate is melted.
• When the chocolate sets, cut into 15 large squares (5 cuts by 3 cuts with the knife). Then cut each square in half diagonally to create triangles. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Steps:

• preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• peel and cube the butternut squash (this step disappears if you can buy it already peeled and cut either in half or cubed).
• toss the squash in a bowl with 1/2 - 1 Tbsp oil (I use light olive oil or Enova), 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 1 - 2 tsp maple syrup.
• pour everything into a baking pan and roast until done - about 30 - 40 minutes. If you have the oven on lower it will, obviously, just take a little longer! When it's done it is soft and steamy and sweet. You can also mash this, if you like, adding a little margarine or butter to taste. Once you try this, you can decide if you want to use another teaspoons of maple syrup. If you don't have syrup, brown sugar (or lite brown sugar) would work too. I have not tried the new Spenda Brown sugar yet.