Mini Banana Muffins

While waiting for class to start, I put up a Facebook status asking what I should bake with extremely ripe bananas. I got plenty of responses and most people asked me to bring them whatever I end up baking. Well, I came to the conclusion of making mini muffins. They are great bite sized and there is more result which means breakfast for more mornings. One suggestion was banana nut muffins, which you could say that I did an interpretation of, but I'm not a huge fan of nuts so I decided to make candied almond slivers to put on top.

 

I also made plain banana muffins because I didn't have very many almonds and I can't let batter go to waste.

 

Needless to say, these are probably the best banana muffins I've ever made. I don't like to toot my own horn, but sometimes I truly surprise myself about how great I am at baking.

 

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 12 muffins, or 48 mini muffins

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

 

1 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour

1 teaspoonbaking powder

1 teaspoonbaking soda

1/2 teaspoonsalt

3 largebananas, mashed

3/4 cupwhite sugar

1egg

1/3 cupbutter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Candied Almond Slivers

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup almond slivers

1. Combine water, sugar, and cinnamon in a small sauce pan
2. Bring to boil on medium high heat then add almonds
3. Stir and continue to boil until liquid has cooked off and almonds are covered in syrup
4. Pour onto baking sheet covered in wax paper, spread out with fork, and let cool
5. Cumble on top of batter in the muffin pans before baking.

Baking the World a Better Place!

Fall Favorites!

It's finally Autumn!

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the crisp air, the cute clothes, and of course it's football season! But above all else, fall food is comfort food. My favorite fall meal is my mother's potato soup, it's creamy and delicious and warms my belly.

On Monday, it was cold and rainy and it had been quite a long day, so i decided to put on some sweats and bake for a while. I decided to go with a classic during fall, Pumpkin Bread. I love everything pumpkin; the seeds, jackolanters, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, and the list goes on. My original plan was to try a new recipe and make pumpkin bread in the crockpot, but the bread pan was too big, so I just decided to make it in the oven.

I found a great, easy recipe that made two loaves on one of the blogs I follow called: My Baking Addiction.

Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sugar (I used light brown sugar)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons pumpkin spice (I used 1 tbsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp nutmeg)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8.5 x 4 x 2.5 inch loaf pans.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, vanilla and sugar until well blended.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

The best way to eat the bread is warm with a little smear of butter!

Baking the World a Better Place!

 

Snack Attack!

I have found a new favorite snack: roasted garbanzo beans, commonly known as chick peas. I found a couple recipes Pinterest for some great flavors for this crunchy snack. I have a major sweet tooth (isn't that obvious) so I decided to try the honey cinnamon glaze recipe. NOM

Not only are these golden brown garbanzo beans quite tasty, but they made my apartment smell phenomenal! The other options were sesame soy, garlic parmesan, and smoky spice blend. I'm curious about how the sesame soy recipe is like.

Ingredients

• 2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or about 4 cups cooked chickpeas from dried beans
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• seasonings of your choice (see below for suggestions)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Prepare the beans for roasting by draining and rinsing them, then letting them dry on a towel until most of the excess moisture is absorbed. Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Roast the chickpeas in the oven for 45-60 minutes or until the beans are crunchy throughout (just test one- if they are still mostly soft on the inside and there’s no crunch, keep baking).
3. Immediately (while beans are still hot), toss with olive oil and seasonings. Serve hot or at room temperature. They are best the first day, but can be kept in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Honey Cinnamon- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, a pinch nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 2 tablespoons honey (you can throw these back in the oven for 10-15 minutes to carmelize if you like)

The recipe comes from the site Mindful Parents, Messy Kids

Baking the World a Better Place!

Wookies...

...and I'm not referencing Star Wars. I was baking sugar cookies and looked in my fridge and saw a box of Franzia. Classy, I know, but it made for some amazing cookies. I had some friends over and they deamed the tasty treat "wookies" aka wine cookies.

 

 

 

These cookies might be the best I've every made which is saying a lot. I substituted white wine for vanilla extract which was brilliant. The cookies turned out so fluffy and they melted in my mouth. I've decided I can't really go wrong when I'm baking with alcohol. It's extremely fun and results have always been great!

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Ingredients

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

2 3/4 cupsall-purpose flour

1 teaspoonbaking soda

1/2 teaspoonbaking powder

1 cupbutter, softened

1 1/2 cupswhite sugar

1egg

A couple of splashes of white wine

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Baking the World a Better Place!



Football Season!!

Clemson football is a lifestyle for us devoted fans. We tailgate hard and play for keeps. This past Saturday we had our season opener against Auburn....it was kind of a big deal. Our game was in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. My room mate found someone with an extra ticket, so I snatch that up. Here comes the fun part....I made all the food for our tailgate. Granted...it wasn't a lot, but I was impressed with myself. I made BBQ chicken and brownie bites...yuuuummmmy!

In our apartment we have this awesome tiger picture, so I think it's the perfect background for out tailgate prep. In the crock pot is the bbq, the brownie bites, and the other stuff in my basket. I know bbq, isn't considered baking, but it is sooo delicious so I decided the whole meal with you!

That is the BEAUtiful bbq that I made. It was super easy, but soo extremely yummy! I got this recipe from Pinterest...hurray!

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/10/crockpot-bbq-beer-chicken/

Next is the great finale!! The brownie bites! I adapted the recipe from one of my favorite sites called Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (1/2 stick)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, grease the mini muffin tin
2. mix oil, sugar, and vanilla
3. combine the dry ingredients
4. slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients
5. stir in the chocolate chips
6. fill the cups and bake for about 15 minutes

The tailgate was a hit!! Everyone loved the food and naturally Clemson beat Auburn!!!

 

1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 C-L-E-M-S-O-N Fight Tigers, Fight Tigers, Fight Fight Fight!

 

Baking the World a Better Place!

Blog Revival!

Friends! Despite the long drought of no posts, I am back with a vengeance. I sometimes just have this feeling when I want something soo delicious but I can't pin point what I want. In reality, I just want to bake and I won't sleep until I satiate my need. My best friend (http://runningintoahealthylife.blogspot.com/) has been nagging me to blog for a couple weeks now and it's not like I haven't been baking, but I just needed an internal nudge. So I decided to go with a Classic but always delicious treat: Peanut butter oatmeal cookies.... they melt in your mouth cookies. I made one batch with chocolate chips too!

Even though people rave about my baking, I'm no pro so I decided to check out a recipe then put my own twist on it. Google, is the best....search anything and you'll get exactly what you want....and easy recipes are the best. So this is what Google came up with for me courtesy of Simply Recipes:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Directions

1 Beat the butter until creamy for about 2 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. Then mix together the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar butter mixture.
2 Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours or I just put the bowl in the freezer while the oven preheated and in between batches. Works just the same ;)
3 Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.
For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes.

-Baking the World a Better Place!

Crunchy or Soft--How do you like your cookies?

One of my favorite memories of growing up is when I would come home to school and my mom had fresh baked cookies waiting for us on the table. They came in all different types, chocolate chip, chocolate-peanut butter chip, oatmeal, or even peanut butter, but what mattered was that they were D-E-licious. So I wanted to be like her today, since my mom had to go pick up my little brother from school, I got to do the cookie baking. No pressure...living up to her cookie baking skills. But when they walked in the door and smelled the cinnamon and sugar my mom and brother were pleasantly surprised. What kind of cookies did I choose to make, you ask?

Skickerdoodle!

Not only is that one of the coolest cookie names ever, but these cookies are light and not too sweet to handle. I wouldn't eat too many at once because of all the butter and shortening, yikes! Snickerdoodles are really easy to make, so no stress.

I got the recipe from reliable Betty Crocker online.

Ingredients

1 1/2  cups sugar

1/2    cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2    cup shortening

2        eggs

2 3/4  cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or unbleached flour

2      teaspoons cream of tartar

1      teaspoon baking soda

1/4   teaspoon salt

1/4   cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions
1.Heat oven to 400ºF.

2. Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

How do I like my cookies?
Well, I think they are best soft, but I don't mind crunchy cookies as long as I don't feel like my teeth are going to come out when I bite down. The Snickerdoodles are a little crunchy, but the good kind. They fall apart in your mouth right when you bite down and go perfectly with a glass of milk.

Baking the world a better place!

White Wine Cupcakes (Best yet!)

We had white wine in the fridge earlier in the week and I have always wanted to try to make cupcakes with wine or champagne. I've had chapagne cake before and it was delicious, but I wanted to try it on my own. My original plan was to use a cake mix and substitute the water for wine, but I wasn't sure how that would go. Instead I found an easy recipe from scratch. The recipe was on one of my new favorite blogs, We are not Martha.

On Friday was Clemson University graduation. I went back to see many of my close friends walk across the stage and receive their diploma. I thought it would be fun to make the wine cupcakes to bring down to for the festivities. My mother was quite jealous that I was giving them away.

Right out of the oven the cupcakes smelled amazing! It was hard to not to eat them!

White Wine Cupcakes (makes about 20):
• 2/3 C butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 3/4 C riesling wine (or other sweet white wine)
• 6 egg whites
(Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees)



In your mixer or large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, until light and fluffy.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
Mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, alternating with the wine.
In a separate small bowl, beat your egg whites until stiff peaks form
Fold the egg whites into the batter.
Fill cupcake liners in tray about 2/3 of the way full.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Strawberry Icing!

1 cup fresh strawberries
5 cups powdered sugar
splash of white wine
1 cup butter

Beat butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar slowly. Add the white wine to loosen and continue adding powdered sugar. Once fully mixed add the strawberries and finish mixing. Honestly, there is no method to the madness, you just have to keep adding sugar and liquid until you get the right texture of icing that you like best. Taste it along the way to make sure you like it too!

They were a hit! The cupcakes were even more delicious than I expected and everyone enjoyed them. We had a wonderful lunch after graduation! Congrats to all graduates!

-Baking the world a better place!

Strawberry Shortcake

Summer fun! I have very little time at home before going to Asheville to work at the best camp in the world for the summer, so I have been spending much of my time in the kitchen of course. I have not only been baking, while it is my forte, I do love making meals as well. On Monday afternoon, I got to spend some quality time with my mother. We went strawberry picking!! I was soo excited to get to do this since my room mate went a couple weeks ago. With fresh strawberries comes the classic of all recipes....strawberry shortcake.

The shortcake was so easy to make. It came out golden brown, light, and fluffy.

Ingredients

	4 cups sliced strawberries (1 quart)
	½ cup sugar
	2⅓ cups Original Bisquick
	½ cup milk
	3 tablespoons sugar
	3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Directions

Mix strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar; set aside. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Stir Bisquick, milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and butter until soft dough forms. Drop by 6 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet OR spread evenly in 8×8 inch ungreased pan. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe from KeyIngredient.com (off my mother's online recipe box)               

We usually just pour heavy cream over the shortcake and strawberries, but I have become a whipped cream purist. It can only truly be done well by hand. I whisked for over half and hour, but it was by far the best whipped cream I have ever tasted.

I know my picture quality needs a lot of work, but atleast I'm trying. Finished product was soo delicious and the perfect summer treat!

-Baking the world a better place!



Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I love waking up and starting my day with a delicious bite to eat. When I am at school I often don't have time to eat breakfast, so now that summer has finally arrived, I begin with a classic breakfast treat: muffins.

My go-to recipe is usually blueberry-banana muffins, but I decided to try a new recipe. I made banana-applesauce muffins.

I added dark chocolate chips because my wise mother told me that if you have a little bit of dark chocolate in the morning it helps with weight loss. Not arguing with that, chocolate and weight loss in the same sentence...it's a go.

Ingredients

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 cup mashed bananas

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup applesauce

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease muffin tin. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, beat the bananas, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. Pour into muffin tin, and bake 15-20 minutes

Recipe from The Reality of Skinny blog.

-Baking the world a better place!

Cake in Mug

It has been one of those weeks. Crunch time before finals + no motivation = baking. It's my anti-stress so completely kosher. I recently was introduced to Pinterest. BLD: also known as bad life decision. It is an addicting, time waster, but there are endless recipes. Cake in a mug is perfect for a quick sweet tooth fix.

 The cakes took just about 5 minutes and there was minimal clean up. This recipe was found on my best friend's Pinterest before I got one of my own. It comes from the blog: Experiments of  Housewife.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 3 tbsp nutella/chocolate syrum
• 3 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp oil
• Pinch salt

Directions

1. In a mug ( I use a 300 ml coffee mug), break the egg and whisk a little with a fork.
2. Add milk, oil and mix together.
3. Mix in the nutella well.
4. Add sugar, cocoa, salt and espresso powder. Mix well.
5. Fold in the flour with fork. Mix well but be careful as to not overmix else you will get a rubbery, tough texture.
6. Microwave for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on high. You will have to figure out how long you want to microwave. For me the cake is done after 2 min 45 sec.
7. Let cool a bit and dig in.

Peanut Butter-Strawberry Bars

My room mate, Christy, went strawberry picking this weekend. They picked over 11 pounds of strawberries. My task: find a recipe to encorporate strawberries for a tasty treat. Challenge Accepted.

I decided to take some liberties with the recipe because I have not been eating so healthy this weekend. So, I decided to add some oatmeal for texture and some health factor.

Into the oven it goes!!!

This recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens online which was quick and easy to find.

Ingredients

¾ cup butter, softened

 

¾ cup peanut butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup strawberry jam

4 cups small whole strawberries, halved or quartered

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 13x9x2-inch baking pan with foil, extending foil beyond the edges. Set aside.

2. In large mixing bowl beat butter and peanut butter on medium to high for 30 seconds. Beat in sugars, baking powder, and salt until combined. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining flour.

3. Spread dough in prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

4. Cool completely on rack. Remove from pan by lifting foil. Spread jam and top with berries. Cut into bars. Serve at once or refrigerate up to 6 hours. Makes 24 bars.Cool completely on rack. Remove from pan by lifting foil. Spread jam and top with berries. Cut into bars. Serve at once or refrigerate up to 6 hours. Makes 24 bars.

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·3/4

The Final Product!! It's got Christy's seal of approval.

cupbutter, soft

-Baking the world a better place!!

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Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I know it has been quite some time since I have blogged. As the semester is coming to a close, I have had no time for myself it seems. This weekend, the leadership team (council), of Lutheran Campus Ministry-Clemson, new and old, went up to Waynesville, NC to discuss the upcoming year. As the incoming president of LCM, there was a lot to be discussed and a lot to learn.

Maglin, the outgoing president and a good friend of mine, decided it would be a good chance to get to bake together. Since I had not done any baking in a while, I quickly took her up on the offer, she even had a recipe already picked out, Root Beer Float Cupcakes.

The recipe was soo easy and amazingly tasted just like Root Beer Floats, in cupcake form. Our fellow leadership team members loved having a snack in between sessions of intense discussion, some, like Kevin Lybrand, even came back for seconds.

Cupcakes
2 cups root beer (I used Boylan because it was easy to find and made with cane sugar)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
Toppings
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pint of vanilla ice cream (you’ll have leftover; you’re welcome)
Maraschino cherries (optional)

Make the root beer cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 22 cupcake cups with paper liners. In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Fold the liquid and flour mixtures together in the large bowl. The batter will be slightly lumpy; this is okay. If you overbeat it, it will get tough.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 to 3/4 full (a 1/4 cup scoop or measuring cup will filled mine perfectly) and bake cupcakes, rotating trays back to front and top to bottom halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of each comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Assemble cupcakes: Whip heavy or whipping cream with powdered sugar and vanilla until it holds soft peaks. You can do this with an electric mixer, but if you do it by hand, not only will you get a killer arm workout (which you can trade in for a cupcake, very soon), it will be nearly impossible to overbeat the cream. (Which I almost always do with a mixer.)

Use the tip of a knife to cut a small cone of cake out of the top center of each cupcake; feel free to snack on these, I won’t tell anyone. Using a spoon or a small cookie scoop, nest a scoop of ice cream in each indent. Surround ice cream with dollops of whipped cream. Top with a cherry, if using. To keep cupcakes in a holding pattern while you assemble the remaining ones, you can put them in the freezer, but try to do so for no more than 5 minutes or the whipped cream will harden.

-Baking the world a better place!