Oatmeal Banana cups with chocolate chips

I found this recipe over at Green Lite Bites, and had to try it out.

Ingredients
3 mashed bananas
1 cup vanilla Almond milk (I used skim because that's what I had)
2 eggs
1 tbsp Baking powder
3 cups (240g) Old Fashion or Rolled Oats
1 tsp vanilla extract (I bumped this up to 1.5 since I was using boring milk)
3 tbsp (42g) mini chocolate chips (I used regular, because that's what I had in the apt.)

(I also added about a tbs of splenda, again, because of the boring milk. Next time, I'd use brown sugar instead, and maybe a touch of cinnamon too.)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix all ingredients except the chocolate chips together, and let sit while you prepare the muffin pans.
Spray a muffin pan and/or liners with with non-stick spray.
Stir the chocolate chips into the oatmeal batter. (Instead, I didn't mix them in, and sprinkled them on top after I filled the cups with the chocolate-less batter.)
Divide batter into 15 muffin cups. They should be just about filled.
Bake 20-30 minutes, you’ll see the edges just starting to brown and they will be firm to the touch.

The Verdict

These guys are very filling, but they seemed a little flavorless and overly banana-y to me. Next time, I'd probably throw in the brown sugar and cinnamon, and use smaller bananas (mine were kinda huge). I might even try it with some sort of dried fruit mixed in to up the sweet factor - maybe raisins or cherries or apricots. But, all in all, it's a super-hearty breakfast, and I feel a little better because there is fruit involved and because there are so few ingredients (and none that required going to the store).

Wedding cupcake test 1

I'm planning to make three kinds of cupcakes for the wedding: perfect party cake, red velvet, and classic yellow with chocolate frosting. I've made perfect party cake before, and even made it as cupcakes for another friend's wedding, so I'm not worried about that one. I'm not sure of the other two recipes though, so I'm trying some out.

First, I tried this yellow cake recipe from bakerella. She said it was super-moist, so I'm not sure what I did wrong. Mine came out really dry. I wonder if it has something to do with the altitude up here? Or maybe it's just the trouble or translating to cupcakes?

I tried this one with a malted chocolate butter cream. Of course, now I can't remember where I got the recipe for the icing. Probably from Dorie or from BH&G. It was interesting, but I think I'll stick to a more traditional recipe for the wedding.

I am really happy with the way that the chocolates turned out though. It was super-easy to make them using Wilton melts, and they were surprisingly tasty too!

Lazy Saturday = cookies

I actually had a Saturday free to catch up on things! So, of course, I accomplished very little that actually needed to be done. Although I do have baking planned for Thanksgiving, I just wasn't feeling it today. Instead, I was craving chocolate chip cookies!

I stuck to the basic recipe from the bag of Nestle semisweet chips. However, I realized after most of the batter had come together that the bag of chips I thought I had was actually Ghirardelli bittersweet morsels. So, in went the better part of a bag of bittersweet, and about 1/8 cup of semisweet chips. I was a little worried that I wouldn't like the darker chocolate in my traditional comfort food, but I love it! And it has the fantastic side effect of satisfying me after just one (or two) cookie(s)! I've noticed that with dark chocolate bars - I just need a bite, and it satisfies my chocolate craving.

SHF: Cupcakes

The challenge for Sugar High Fridays this time was 'cupcakes'. Normally, I'd welcome an excuse to play with cupcakes, especially after the cookie crusade I've been on lately. But I just wasn't feeling it. I have an idea (that I'm excited about) for this month's cupcake hero, but I feel like it has sapped my cupcake creativity. And I didn't want to cheat and enter it into both. The way I look at it, the point of participating in these sorts of things is to push myself to try new things; if I'm doubling up, there's no point in participating in more! So... last night, I sat down with my collection of cookbooks, and started with the ones I hadn't baked from yet. I went through a couple in search of a recipe that didn't require a grocery store run, and finally settled on the Martha Washington Chocolate Mousse Cake from:

The challenge was to do something a little different from a typical cupcake, and on this I may have strayed. It is essentially a chocolate/chocolate cupcake. It's just a bit more grown-up. There's ganache instead of butter cream, and more importantly, there's chocolate mousse filling! The end result was far from Duncan Hines cupcakes with a clown on top served at a 6 year old's birthday party. These had a decadence to them. (But I couldn't resist adding a spot of color to the otherwise brown-on-brown color scheme that tastes wonderful, but doesn't inspire me in terms of presentation.)

Here's the recipe, modified from "City Tavern: Baking and Dessert Book":

Cake

1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)

4 eggs

1 c sugar

5 c cake flour

1/2 c cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 c whole milk (Mine had expired - oops!, so I used 1/2 half and half, and 1/2 skim, and it seemed to work)

Preheat oven to 350F

Beat butter and sugar on med speed until light and fluffy

add eggs, one at a time, beating each until blended

sift together dry ingredients

add dry ingredients and milk, alternately, on low speed until just combined

fill lined cupcake tins a little past 3/4 - these guys are thick, and don't rise as much as other cupcakes

(This is the best batter I've ever had in my life ... seriously! I think I probably ate at least 3 cupcakes worth of batter before it even made it in the oven. It's amazing!)

bake 20-25 minutes

Mousse

2 oz semisweet chocolate

1/4 c heavy cream

2 egg, separated

(subject to revision - I am putting in amounts from memory at the moment)

Melt chocolate in a double boiler

whisk in egg yolks

set aside for 1 min to cool

whip heavy cream in a chilled mixer bowl, with a chilled whisk, until soft peaks form - cover in plastic wrap and put in fridge to chill

in a clean, dry, mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form

fold chocolate and whipped cream together, gently

gently fold in egg whites

cover and chill for at least 1 hour

ganache

6 oz semisweet chocolate (I used ghiradelli)

1/2 c heavy cream

bring cream just to a boil, then pour over chocolate

let sit for 1 min, allowing cream to start melting the chocolate

whisk together, then cover and refrigerate until cooled to desired consistency (I'm impatient, so I didn't let it cool for long, and just dipped the tops of the cupcakes in for a ganache-glaze)

to assemble

place mousse in pastry bag, fitted with a metal tip (I use a medium-sized tip. Usually, I use a round tip, but I couldn't find the one I wanted, and used a star tip this time - basically, it doesn't really matter)

insert tip in top of cupcakes and squeeze filling into inside of cupcake

dip top of cupcake in ganache to coat

add a sprinkle ;)

More cookies

The Man's mom had surgery yesterday, and I'm headed down to join them/keep them company for the weekend. In response to my offer to make some real food (maybe a casserole) for the family, the Man suggested cookies instead. More specifically, he suggested that I try peanut butter cookies again (and see if I couldn't produce a chewier version), or maybe chocolate chip. So... I made peanut butter chocolate cookies!

I started with a recipe for peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips, but used dark chocolate peanut butter instead of regular, and mini chocolate chips instead of standard-sized. The result was a dense (perhaps too much so), lightly flavored (definitely not too sweet, at least in my book) cookie. The mini chips are so small as to not be noticeable on their own; instead, they add a little sweetness and little more chocolate flavor (but still not a ton). I think it's definitely a more grown-up cookie, while still being pretty simple and content with itself. And it's chewy.

Since this was a new experiment (I hadn't even tried the recipe as written before), I made sure to do some quality control. I packaged most of the cookies up for travel (and protection from a hungry pup), but put the last few in a take-out box to take into work with me so that everyone at work could give feedback (or so that I could munch on them all day).

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers

This week's selection - pg. 70 in Baking: from my home to yours

I love these cookies! It's a good chock-full-of-chunks cookie. I started to leave out the raisins and nuts altogether but talked myself out of it and told myself to trust Dorie. Instead, I out the raisins in as called for, but only put the (at most) 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts I had lying around waiting to be used up, and added another cup of semi-sweet chunks to keep it chunky. I wish I had taken the time to throw some peanuts in the food processor and made the recipe as written. The raisins are perfect in it, and it's just missing a peanutty crunch. Ooops. Now I know. Really, really, really, trust Dorie!

Housewarming cookies

I swear, this is the last cookie post for at least a day! I made cookies for a housewarming, and went with the Martha Stewart chocolate sandwhich cookies, decorated with little houses. I made them in a bit of a hurry, so they aren't perfect, but they were fun, and were a hit with the kids and adults alike. I noticed that they were all gone before we left!

TWD will return next month - when travelling and moving are really done.

Until then... an update on part of what has been keeping me busy.
One of my dear friends got married on Friday, and I made the cupcakes for her wedding! What an incredible honor!
It was a perfectly beautiful ceremony and reception overlooking the mountains. I can't imagine a more perfect setting, or a wedding more perfectly suited to the bride! She looked beautiful, and we all had a great time!

The cupcakes were 2 dozen lemon with raspberry filling (Dorie's Celebration Cake). Since I couldn't exactly layer them the way you would a cake, I injected the jam filling instead.;
2 dozen chocolate almond (modified Dorie Chocolate cake), with a dark chocolate buttercream icing (modified from Martha's dark chocolate buttercream); and
carrot cake with cream cheese icing (Dorie's Bill's Big Carrot Cake).

Those are little blue fondant birds to tie the cupcakes in with the small 2-tier real cake with which they were served. I ordered the custom fondant-cutter on etsy, and it was absolutely perfect!

The cupcakes turned out to be much easier than I was afraid they might be. It was actually kinda fun.

Wednesday Night Dinner

This week's dinner was fruity chicken salad as an appetizer, spicy spaghetti, and then brownies and chocolate peanut butter rice krispy treats for dessert. It was delightfully easy, and it was certainly satisfying.

I made a double batch of spaghetti, with half hot sausage and half beef (and a healthy dose of red pepper), over whole wheat pasta. Yum! I didn't want to use 2 dishes for the spaghetti, and I didn't have a pan quite big enough for everything, so I made it in a wok; please don't judge me.
Brownies were the ultimate cheat, Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate boxed brownies. Thanks to Dorie, I finally have a good from scratch recipe, but that'll have to wait for weeks when the Bar isn't sneaking up on me quite so quickly.
Rice Krispy treats are one of those easy desserts that really aren't that bad for you (as far as fat/calories, anyway). However, I almost doubled the marshmallows (marshmallow cream, to be more precise), added half a bag of milk chocolate chunks, and added 5-7 tablespoons of honey peanut butter. They barely resemble the light snack that the recipe on the side of the box would make. They were more like gooey Reese's bars with a hint of crunch from the rice krispies.

TWD: Chocolate pudding (pie)

I am a huge fan of chocolate pudding. It's one of my favorite easy snacks. This recipe is super-easy and quick... and wonderful!

I wanted to give it a little more, so I put it in an oreo crust, covered it with cool whip, and stuck in a few oreos (chocolate stuffed!). More often than not, I make desserts with others' tastes in mind, but this was all for me. I was PMS-y and craving chocolaty goodness. This definitely fit the bill. My big mistake was using fat-free cool whip. I think it ruined everything! I ended up scraping it off the top after the first bit, because it didn't have the decadence that the pudding really deserved - next time, real whipped cream.

Wednesdays with Dorie

This week's recipe was the peppermint cream puff ring, but I cheated a little and made it a day late and with (milk) chocolate custard instead of peppermint and topped it with powdered sugar instead of chocolate ganache (because I didn't want to run to the store for the 3d time today just to get heavy cream). I definitely had plenty left over for puffs, and made a good overflowing plate of them. Everyone seemed to like them, and they finished them all off.

I realized that I'm not really a fan of puffs in general. I knew that I didn't like frozen or catered cream puffs, but thought that this might be the thing to change my mind. Nah. I loved the custard, and could have eaten it straight, but I just can't get excited about the taste of pate a choix. Now I know. Still, I'm definitely glad I made it, if only so that I know I can.

Cupcake Hero - cocoa OR Ugliest Cupcake Ever!

This was a challenge. I prefer to bake with chocolate, not cocoa powder. I am comfortable it - the way it melts, combines, and tastes. My past attempts to use cocoa powder have been disappointing. Admittedly, I have only used Hershey's in past, and I have not used recommended recipes, but recipes found on boxes and cans, etc., but I really have been disappointed with past results. So... I try again!

I started by investing in some good cocoa. I didn't go with the recommended Askinosie Cocoa Powder. I have no good excuse other than fear of their shipping charges. Instead, I bought a kilo (which, may have been a little overboard) of Valrhona cocoa powder. I fell in love as soon as I took it out of the box. There is actually something erotic about the feel of a bag of good cocoa on your hand. I feels so fine, even through the bag. Seriously. This is almost the same high that I get from wandering aisles of books (in a library or a bookstore). Yeah, it's that good.

As some of you may have noticed, I'm on a banana kick. I love them. I love them more when they are combined with chocolate. So I opted for a banana chocolate cupcake for this challenge. I used 2 recipes from one of my so-far-unused cookbooks, Cupcakes!

I used the chocolate portion of the Neapolitan cupcake recipe to make the chocolate batter, and the banana cupcake recipe for the banana portion. I halved the banana recipe and did some impressive math (at least for me) and halved the whole recipe for the Neapolitan cupcakes but tripled, then halved the cocoa/milk addition to the recipe to make it all chocolate.

I was surprised at just how liquid the banana batter was and how un-liquid the chocolate was. I had to revise my original plan of piping them into the tin to get the same effect as a soft-serve swirl cone. Instead, I just dumped in the banana and then piped in a chocolate center. Right? Right!

Baked at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

I had visions of filling this with whipped ganache from the Junior's cookbook, then topping it with normal ganache and a candied banana slice. What a disaster.

The cupcake center (the chocolate part) was way to dense to even poke through, much less fill. So, no filling.
I went ahead with the ganache topping. That was fine.
Then I thought to pipe the whipped ganache on top to make it prettier. It probably would have been glorious, if I'd waited until everything had cooled. Oops. Instead, it started out beautiful but has since turned into a gooey, drippy mess.
Oh yeah! The bananas! Basically, they were way to gooey and buttery to be considered a topping. Why did I go ahead and sit them on top? Because I make bad decisions.

So tonight (after a night out with the girls, and before embarking on a 5.5 hour early morning drive), I plan to try to cover it all up with some banana buttercream. It'll hide all the messiness, right?

Update later, hopefully with something presentable.

Ice Cream Cupcakes

I was inspired by Cupcake Project's ice cream cupcake challenge. I had a huge bag of strawberries in my freezer, and had thought that they'd make a good ice cream. Then, I found vanilla ice cream in a 1/2 gallon jug from the local creamery in my grocery store. It seemed like the universe was suggesting that I make strawberry ice cream, and of course that meant that the cake had to be chocolate!

I used a star-shaped pan to bake the cupcake in, and then used the same pan to freeze the soft ice cream in. I cut the cupcake in half, and placed the moulded ice cream in there, and then froze it all together. I served it covered in hot fudge with a strawberry. :)

As it turned out, the ice cream didn't come together perfectly, and I'm not sure why. So, no more trying ice cream in a bottle. It did freeze solidly in the freezer, but I think the end result was closer to ice milk than ice cream... and that doesn't make me happy! However, the cake froze much better than I hoped, and was actually quite good, even right out of the freezer. The combination was definitely a good decision, and the ice cream, while not amazing, still tasted OK.

Laura Bush Cookies

I can't help it; I think Laura Bush is incredible. She's dignified and beautiful, and has all of the grace that I only wish I had. However, you don't have to like her in order to appreciate these amazing cookies!

Each Presidential election year, Family Circle magazine has a bake-off between the first lady candidates. 4 years ago, Laura Bush's recipe was definitely the landslide favorite! Her recipe has become one of my go-to recipes. It's traditional with a kick, and I think it's perfect (at least, it is with a few changes)!

Laura Bush Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies (with a couple Red Kitchen Aid changes)

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups light-brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 cups quick oats (not old-fashioned)

1-2 cups chopped walnuts

1 packages (11.5 ounces) chocolate chunks (~3 cups)

1-2 cups dried sour cherries

Heat oven to 350°.

With electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars.

Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla.

Add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and oats; slowly beat until blended.

Stir in walnuts, chocolate and cherries.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Makes about 8 dozen.

Earth Day Cupcakes

Here is the idea: Anyone can grow mint! Seriously, it's practically impossible to kill, and it thrives easily. It also can grom from cuttings. SO, I thought, make a cupcake that provides pretty much everything needed to start an herb garden. It has the pot and the mint - just eat the cupcake and throw in some dirt and water.

I did get to make the Earth Day cupcakes, and I'm quite happy with the way they turned out! I used a Chocylit recipe for the rich chocolate cupcakes and for mint buttercream icing, and it was delicious. The cupcake itself was almost more like a brownie. I used the mint extract for the flavoring of the icing, and it was good, but I think I might use creme de minthe next time, just because. The recipe below reflects my minor charges, such as the addition of food coloring, the use of locally available ingredients, changes in cooking time for the flower pots, etc.

Chocolate Cupcakes

24 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2-100 gram bars of Hershey 60% cocao

3 sticks butter

2-1/4 cups sugar

8 eggs

1-1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

(24 mini flowerpots)

1. line flowerpots with parchment and place on a baking sheet.

2. break up chocolate and transfer into the bowl of a standing mixer.

3. add butter to the chocolate and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. stir until chocolate melts and butter is combined.

4. remove from heat and stir in sugar. let mixture cool for 10 minutes.

5. beat in an electric mixer for 3 minutes.

6. add one egg at a time, mixing for 30 seconds between each

7. sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into the mixture and mix until blended.

8. scoop into lined flowerpots and bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Mint Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon all natural peppermint extract

1 tube of green gel food coloring

1. beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl.

2. add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, peppermint extract, and food coloring, beat until combined.

3. add more powdered sugar as needed to get piping consistency.

4. pipe on icing.
4. top with a sprig of mint

Rice Krispy Treats

Yumm! I don't know why, but this simple dessert always makes me happy. Perhaps it has something to do with never having these kinds of sugary snacks when I was growing up.

I added the remainer of a bag of chocolate chips, and a bag of chocolate chunks that were lying around. ...because chocolate is good. I also was a little short on rice krispies, since I was just trying to use up what was left of a giant box of rice krispies after making the Easter treats. I went ahead and used as much marshmallow fluff as I normally would, because I love gooey treats!

Giant Cupcake!

I finally got a chance to use my new pan! One of my friends has a birthday tomorrow, so we went out to lunch (and shopping) to celebrate. I thought this sounded like a great excuse to bake a giant cupcake, so out came the pan!

I have a few recipes that I've been looking forward to trying out, but everyone else seems certain that red velvet is the way to go. After weaseling out of making little red velvet cupcakes for tomorrow, I felt that I did have to give in to the birthday girl's request today. So... I tried a new recipe. I can usually depend on Southern Living not to lead me astray (because they believe in butter as much as I do), so I went with one of their recipes. Because of the shape of the giant cupcake pan, I had to leave it in the oven for a little over an hour and a half. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, since it was so deep, but I still would be happier if it would cook more quickly! I'm impatient. I also used the Southern Living recipe for cream cheese icing. I was afraid that I would need more than one batch of the icing, but I think it was actually a bit more than I needed, with the shape of the cake. The icing was also a little less sweet, and a little softer than I might normally make, but I was happy with it. I imagine that t could have made it a bit stiffer and sweeter by adding more powdered sugar, but frankly, it sounded like too much work.

Tomorrow, it's regular-sized cupcakes and rice krispy treats!

Master Baker March Challenge Roundup

I loved making all the Easter treats! I suppose that I have more than a little streak of competitiveness. While I am normally quite lazy, a competition moves me to action pretty quickly. Master Baker's March contest is a great example! Here are all the treats that I made with the theme ingredient: Easter Candy!

Reese's Egg Banana Bars

Reese's Egg Granola Banana Bars

Easter Rice Krispy Treats

(made with Peeps and Mini Reese's Eggs)

Mini Reese's Egg Cheesecake

S'more Peep Bars

Mini Cadbury Nest Eggs

...Just posting this makes me want to bake more!