No-Bake Mini Pecan Pie Bites

These no-bake mini pecan pie cups are gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and made with Siete cookies. Quick, healthy-ish, and perfect for holiday desserts!

If you love pecan pie but don’t love baking crust, rolling dough, or turning your kitchen into chaos… these No-Bake Mini Pecan Pie Cups are about to become your new obsession.

They’re:

✔ gluten-free
✔ refined sugar-free (sweetened with maple + date sugar)
✔ made in under 15 minutes
✔ no crust, no oven, no fuss
✔ perfectly sweet + salty + crunchy

Instead of a traditional crust, these mini pies use Siete Mexican Shortbread Cookies as the base — which makes them buttery, crumbly, and naturally gluten-free without any extra work from you. Top them with a drizzle of chocolate and flaky sea salt and they taste like a gourmet holiday dessert with zero effort.

⬇️ 🎥 A YouTube video tutorial below if you want to watch the full step-by-step!

Storage Instructions (Food Safety-Friendly)

Refrigerator:
Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days. Because the filling contains butter and nuts, keeping them chilled preserves freshness and prevents oil separation.

Freezer:
Freeze in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
Let thaw at room temperature for 10–15 minutes before enjoying.

Recipe Notes + Brand Recommendations

• Cookies: Siete Mexican Shortbread Cookies make the perfect gluten-free base. You can use my code ROOTS15 15% off.

• Salt: I use flaky salt from Redmond Real Salt — code ROOTS15 works here too.

• Chocolate: Hu Kitchen Sea Salt Dark Chocolate gives the best flavor for drizzling.

✨ If you try this recipe, make sure to tag me in your socials so I can cheer you on in the kitchen! Or leave feedback in the comments!

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No-Bake Mini Pecan Pie Bites (Gluten-Free, Healthy-ish + SO Easy)

These no-bake mini pecan pie cups are gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and made with Siete cookies. Quick, healthy-ish, and perfect for holiday desserts!

Servings: 22 mini pies Prep: 10 MIN chill time: 20 MIN

Ingredients

Base

• 22 Siete Mexican Shortbread Cookies (1 per muffin cup; sometimes bags contain 20–22)

Pecan Pie Filling

• 2–4 Tbsp butter (use 4 tbsp for richer filling; 2 tbsp works if you prefer lighter)

• ½ cup maple syrup

• ⅔ cup date sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Generous pinch of cinnamon

• Generous pinch of sea salt

• 1½ cups chopped pecans

Optional Chocolate Drizzle

• ½ bar Hu Kitchen Sea Salt Dark Chocolate

• 1–2 tsp coconut oil

• Flaky sea salt (I use Redmond Real Salt)

Directions

1. Prepare the muffin tin.
   Lightly spray a 24-count mini muffin tin with avocado oil. This helps the mini pies release easily, especially if adding chocolate.

2. Add the cookie base.
   Place one Siete Mexican Shortbread Cookie into each muffin cup. You should get 20–22 cookies per bag — either amount works.

3. Toast pecans in butter.
   In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the chopped pecans and stir until they are fully coated and lightly toasted (1–2 minutes).

4. Create the filling mixture.
   Add the maple syrup and date sugar. Stir quickly and continuously to prevent burning. Once the mixture becomes glossy and sticky, immediately remove the skillet from heat.

5. Add flavor.
   Stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Mix until everything is evenly combined.

6. Fill the cups.
   Using a 1 tablespoon scoop, spoon the warm pecan filling over each cookie. Work quickly before the mixture thickens.

7. (Optional) Add chocolate drizzle.
   Melt chocolate with coconut oil (microwave or double boiler). Drizzle over the top of each pecan pie cup and finish with flaky sea salt.

8. Chill + remove.
   Transfer the muffin tin to the fridge for 15–20 minutes to set.
   Once firm, slide a thin knife around the edges to release (most should pop out easily, especially with the oil spray).

9. Serve or store.
   Enjoy immediately or store chilled — see storage notes above.

Cherry Almond Protein Yogurt Cup

Yogurt and cottage cheese cups have become a popular high protein snack trend, and with good reason!

You can:  

1. Mix in new ingredients without having to dirty another bowl. 

2. Increase the amount of protein by adding a scoop of collagen or favorite protein powder. 

3. Crack into a hardened dark chocolate shell with a spoon. Who doesn’t love that!? 

Yogurt and cottage cheese is often marketed as a healthy food; however, added sugar and flavorings can alter their health-promoting properties so choosing the best yogurt or cottage cheese cup is very important. 

A great first step in choosing the best yogurt or cottage cheese is simply reading the label. You want to look for a plain style that has few ingredients. They should include milk, the bacterial cultures used to turn milk into yogurt or cottage cheese, and not much else. If you consume plant-based yogurt, the same holds true.

Protein amount is also very important as it relates to this post. Greek yogurt has more protein and fewer carbs, while plant based yogurt tends to have less fat and no lactose. Organic may be richer in certain nutrients, but it’s lower in others. 

Cherry almond protein yogurt cup video will show you how you can make your own protein packed yogurt cup using a plant based yogurt but will show protein amounts for both greek style and cottage cheese cups for reference.

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

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Ingredients

• 1 plain flavored yogurt cup (non-dairy, greek, or cottage cheese)

• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder*

• 1 tsp almond extract

• 1-2 Tbsp dark chocolate chips, melted

• 1 Tbsp cherry preserve or fresh cherries, mashed

• 7 raw almonds, chopped

• Pinch of sea salt flakes

Directions

1. Mix protein powder, almond extract and cherries into your preferred yogurt cup. 

2. Top with melted dark chocolate, almonds and a pinch or two of sea salt flakes. 

3. Freeze for 10 minutes to harden the chocolate, crack into it with a spoon and enjoy!

Notes: *Equip Foods is my go-to for protein powder! Use code: ROOTS for 15% off your first order today!

Peach Crisp Skillet For One

Peach Crisp Skillet For One - Healthy peach crisp that is easy, gluten-free and no leftovers!

Summertime = peach season, here in Georgia and I am HERE. FOR. IT! 

My favorite thing to do is turn on the grill to make my favorite go-to summer salad Grilled Peach and Steak Salad and with the leftover peaches, make this single serve peach crisp skillet! 

With that being said, this recipe is flexible as you can cook the peach crisp on the grill or in the oven, up to you! 

Individually portioned desserts have been my new favorite - especially during the summer time when I don’t want an entire tray of brownies staring me down, begging to be eaten! 

If you would like to share this recipe with friends and family, then simply double, triple, etc the recipe ingredients and use a bigger skillet or dish! 

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

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Peach Crisp Skillet For One - Healthy peach crisp that is easy, gluten-free and no leftovers!

Serving: 1 | Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients

• 1 fresh peach, sliced and peeled (optional)

• 3 Tbsp gluten free oat flour

• 1 Tbsp butter or coconut oil

• 1 Tbsp coconut sugar

• ¼ tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp vanilla

• ¼ tsp cinnamon

• 1 Tbsp chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Spray cast iron skillet or small ramekin with cooking spray oil and lay peaches in a spiral. Dust peaches with cinnamon and coconut sugar and set skillet or ramekin aside. 

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients until fully incorporated and the mixture is crumbly. 

4. Cover peaches with the crumble topping and bake for 18-24 minutes or until topping is golden brown and juices are bubbling. 

5. Top with a scoop of ice cream and garnish with chopped pecans (optional) and enjoy!

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Coconut Milk Panna Cotta

Coconut Milk Panna Cotta - A healthy spin on a classic Italian dessert that’s dairy-free, refined sugar-free and gluten-free. Accompanied by your choosing of honey citrus compote, strawberry sauce and dark chocolate sauce! 

When I was in Italy, panna cotta was one of my favorite desserts! And fortunately enough, my body was able to tolerate the luxurious mixture of whole milk and heavy cream. But when ordering panna cotta from an Italian restaurant in the states, it definitely hits me (and my gut!) differently. Lol 

So that is why I have created a healthy spin on the traditional panna cotta, using full fat canned coconut milk. Not only is this dessert dairy free, but it’s also free of refined sugar using pure maple syrup as the sweetener. 

Travel nostalgia birthed this recipe but also the idea of using bovine gelatin. Recently, I have switched over to using Perfect Supplements as my main supplement source - taking desiccated liver capsules as my “multi-vitamin” and switching over to their hydrolyzed collagen powder. And now, I have been wanting to experiment using their bovine gelatin. 

To give you the lowdown on this form of gelatin: 

• Made with 100% beef gelatin (collagen protein)

• Sourced exclusively from brazilian pasture raised (grass fed) cows

• The only gelatin to receive perfectly pure certification 

• And is great for recipes that call for gelatin or a gelling or thickening agent. (i.e. soups, fruit gelatin, gummy treats, custards, marshmallows and more!)

If you want to try it for yourself, here is CANDACE10 for 10% off your first order!

Now, back to Panna Cotta!

A couple tips when making this dish: 

• Make sure to not boil the coconut milk or the gelatin will lose its setting power

• The consistency of panna cotta should have a soft jiggly texture. 

• Panna cotta can be made ahead of time (up to 2 days) and stored in the fridge. 

• You can easily double the recipe when making for a crowd or dinner party!

• Instead of vanilla extract, you could use ½ vanilla bean. 

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A post shared by Candace Dorsey| From the Roots (@fromtherootsblog)

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

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Coconut Milk Panna Cotta - A healthy spin on a classic Italian dessert that’s dairy-free, refined sugar-free and gluten-free. Accompanied by your choosing of honey citrus compote, strawberry sauce and dark chocolate sauce! 

4 servings | Cook time 10 min | Prep Time 20 min

Ingredients

• 1 can full fat unsweetened coconut milk

• ⅓ cup pure maple syrup

• 1 scoop or ¼ oz gelatin

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Strawberry sauce

• 2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled and sliced

• 3 Tbsp water

• 1 Tbsp organic sugar or pure maple syrup

• Juice of half lemon

Honey citrus compote

• 1-3 citrus fruits (grapefruit, orange, blood orange)

• Honey

• Bee pollen

• Fresh mint leaves

Directions

1. Grease 4 small dishes (ie ramekins, bowls, pudding dishes) to pour the panna cotta into. 

2. In a small saucepan, whisk together half of the coconut milk and gelatin until combined. Set aside for about 5-10 min at room temperature to let the gelatin bloom. 

3. Place the saucepan over medium heat and add vanilla. Whisk thoroughly until gelatin dissolves. Continue to heat until steam rises (but do not bring to a boil). Turn off the heat. 

4. Remove from heat and whisk in maple syrup and remaining coconut milk. Pour the mixture equally into each dish, let sit at room temperature before placing them in the fridge for 2-3 hours. 

5. While the panna cotta is setting, prepare sauce mixture or citrus salad, or both! 

   1. For the strawberry sauce: add sliced strawberries, lemon juice, honey and water to a medium pot. Cook for 7-12 minutes and remove from heat. Blend using an immersion blender, food processor or blender. Strain the sauce into a sieve (to remove strawberry seeds) and transfer sauce to a bowl or jar until ready to use. 

   2. For the citrus salad: slice the citrus fruits, and remove any pith. Cut in smaller pieces if desired. Add a drizzle of honey, bee pollen and mint! 

6. To serve, you can either serve them directly in the dish or unmold them onto a plate. Top with strawberry sauce, citrus salad, or chocolate sauce and enjoy! 

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Salted Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie Nice Cream Sandwiches

Salted Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie Nice Cream Sandwiches - Made with an easy homemade banana ice cream, sandwiched between two soft chewy cookies and half drenched in a salted dark chocolate shell. 

(Dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and grain-free)

Hands. Down. My favorite dessert on this blog! 

I feel like I always say that but as the stakes get higher, so does the quality of desserts and I’m telling you, this one will be hard to beat! 

Honestly, if you just read the tag line and see notes of homemade, soft and chewy, drenched, salted on top of the best dessert words like ice cream, cookie, dark chocolate shell - it’s like my taste buds are crying for joy! 

And my taste buds continue to cry as I make this dessert time and time again! 

It’s honestly a flawed system because my intentions are to make a big batch, store them in the freezer, so that I can have them longer. But since I know that I have the best dessert ever in my freezer just seconds away from my room, I can’t help but to run straight to the freezer and possibly (cough* eat all of them within days…). Again, as my taste buds scream in delight - sorry, not sorry! 

I would like to mention before you dive right into the recipe that this dessert recipe can be taken apart if you find yourself short for time, don’t have the patience to make banana nice cream, or just simply want to make one recipe over the other - completely up to you! Personally, the cookie recipe is hands down my favorite of them all! They really should have their own blog post on their own (make mental note). 

But if you really want to make this recipe and don’t have time, just simply cut corners by purchasing a good quality ice cream vs making homemade nice cream. This is also the right decision if you are allergic to bananas. Enough said.

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, pin it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

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Salted Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie Nice Cream Sandwiches - Made with an easy homemade banana ice cream, sandwiched between two soft chewy cookies and half drenched in a salted dark chocolate shell. 

(Dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and grain-free)

PREP TIME: 45 MIN | COOK TIME: 15 MIN | SERVINGS: 12 COOKIES

Cookies 

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup cashew or sunflower butter

• 1/2 cup coconut sugar

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

• 1/2 cup cassava flour

• 1/4 cup coconut oil

• 2 Tbsp plant based milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Nice cream

• 2 cups frozen banana slices (1 large banana)

• 2-4 Tbsp milk of choice

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• pinch of sea salt

Salted Dark Chocolate Shell

• ½ cup dark chocolate chips

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• Smoked (or regular) sea salt flakes

Directions

1. Prepare the cookie dough by combining the wet ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients minus chocolate chips until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and set cookie batter in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. 

2. While the dough is chilling, prepare the banana nice cream by combining all ingredients into a blender or processor until smooth and creamy. May adjust the liquid portion as you want a "soft serve" texture. Transfer ice cream to a bread pan to freeze. 

3. Freeze banana nice cream for 1-2 hours so that it hardens enough to scoop like ice cream, but isn't too hard where you can't scoop it. 

4. When you are ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

5. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out 1-2 Tbsp of cookie dough and roll into a ball (if 2 Tbsp will make 6 large cookies | 1 Tbsp 12 cookies) 

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes and let rest for 10 minutes before transferring cookies to a cooling rack. 

7. Top with smoky flaky sea salt and eat as is or wait oh so patiently so that you can make either ice cream sandwiches or crumble the cookies into the ice cream and make cookie dough ice cream! 

8. If you want to dip the ice cream sandwiches into chocolate, simply melt 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips with 1 tbsp coconut oil and dip premade sandwiches into the melted chocolate. Set sandwiches on a freezer safe plate and freeze for 5-10 min or longer until ready to eat! Sprinkle additional sea salt flakes on chocolate just before you put them in the freezer!

9. Eat immediately or store in the freezer in a freezer safe container for up to a month...if you can wait that long! 

Notes

• If you need a great dark chocolate recommendation, I highly recommend Hu Kitchen! Use code FROMTHEROOTS for 15% your first order!

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