Banana Muffins

I'm not going to lie - at this point, I have made banana bread a few too many times on this blog. I just can't stop! It's so perfect when you have a whole bunch of bananas that are getting over-ripe since someone decided that this week he doesn't like bananas. I have used the same basic recipe every time, just switching it up with what I add in. So far, I have yet to find a combination that doesn't work.

This time I used all butter, and a half a cup of granulated sugar with half a cup of brown sugar (as that is what I had in the house). I didn't do any other changes when mixing it up.

Once the basic recipe was ready, it was time to get creative. I originally wanted to make two little loafs - one to eat here and one to take to Y's parents' house, but I didn't have any more of the mini loaf pans. Instead I made muffins. The only muffin liners I had, however, were really big - like Costco sized. I wasn't sure how many muffins it would make, but I did still want two different flavors.

After dividing the batter in half, I decided that one would have chocolate chips in it. I emptied out the last of the chocolate chip bag and this was all that was left. Uhhhh, lame. I scrambled around the kitchen, but couldn't find any other chocolate to put in aside from M&Ms. M&Ms and banana bread sounded weird to me for some reason. Then I remembered that I had some Mexican hot chocolate tablets in the cupboard. I had never baked with Abuelita before, but I figured it would be okay.

I chopped up half of a tablet and threw it in.

The other half of the batter got broken up pecans and dried cranberries.

Once they were all mixed up, I put them into the muffin liners. I only got three muffins for each batter. A tad bit disappointing, if I do say so myself. I'm not sure why, but it seems I forgot to take photos of the finished product. You'll just have to believe me - they looked beautiful and holy moly were they delicious. The Abuelita and chocolate chip one was surprisingly good. It had a slight cinnamon taste to it and a few grains of crunchy sugar here and there, which totally reminded me of being little and sneaking a little piece while my mom made our hot chocolate.Yum!! These breads further my theory that it is impossible to make a bad banana bread using this recipe as the base. Try it!!

Banana Nutella Muffins - Part 2

Ages ago I posted about some Banana Nutella Mini-Breads that I baked up. They were delicious, but as I mentioned in the post, I totally regretted not swirling Nutella on top. This time I did it and it was definitely worth it!

I didn't take many photos of the actual mixing process because it was the exact same as the previous Banana Nutella post. The recipe was the exact same as well - my trusty Emeril recipe with the odd little adjustment here and there. I froze little Nutella bits for the middle, as I did the last time, and put them in after filling the cup about halfway.

Then I filled the cup up and added a drop of (unfrozen) Nutella to the top.

Then I gave the tops a quick swirl and they were ready to pop in the oven. As you may notice, only half of cupcakes got the Nutella topping. I was running low on Nutella, so I made six like this, then threw some chocolate chips into the batter and did the rest as just banana chocolate chip muffins - also delicious.

I think they looked quite cute once they were baked.

With Nutella in the middle and on the top, you are almost guaranteed a nice Nutella taste in every bite - yum yum!

Banana Nutella Mini-Breads

A week or two ago, one of K's friends from school came over. K had a lot of fun and I think it kind of helped with him adjusting to school. Since that boy came over, he has been talking a lot about another boy in his class and how they play together at school. So, on Wednesday we had a second school friend come over to play.

The school recently made a little booklet that has a photo of each kid in the class as well as what the kid likes and a message from the parents. I think this is an ingenious idea! Under this boy's name was the fact that he loves Tomica, basically Japanese Hot Wheels. Ages ago, one of my good friends here gave me a Tomica baking mold. Perfect!

We had some bananas that were getting a tad ripe, so I decided on mini banana breads. I started with Emeril's recipe, as I always do. As per usual, I used half butter and half shortening. To add another little change to the mix, I used about 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar and no macadamia nuts. The main reason for the sugar switch up was so that I wouldn't have to go to the grocery store.

While I figured I would leave the car-shaped banana breads plain and give those to the boys, I decided to spice up the adult ones with Nutella. I love Nutella. I looked online for Nutella cupcakes, but didn't really like what I was seeing. Most of the recipes had either Nutella piped in after baking or in the frosting. As I was making a bread recipe, I didn't think the piping would work and I didn't want to use frosting. Then I came across this recipe that suggesting freezing spoonfuls of Nutella and then putting it inside the batter. She also suggests swirling some on the top - I opted not to do this, but I definitely regret it.

Once my batter was ready and my Nutella frozen, I got to work. I started first with the car molds. I have used this little guy a few times now and I generally have issues with the cooked cake sticking to the bottom of the mold because of all the little grooves and designs. This time, I put a tiny bit of oil into each one and used my finger to spread it around. I figured that would help with the sticking. Then I filled these up and they were ready for baking - although a tad bit boring...

But not these!! These were not boring at all! I put a spoonful of the batter in each cup, then a drop of Nutella and gave the Nutella a little smoosh.

Then I covered them with another spoonful of the batter and they were ready for the oven. I was able to make the four cars, plus 10 regular-sized cupcakes. I baked them for about 20 minutes, although it might have been a tad bit longer than that. I just kept checking that for the tops to get a tad browned.

Once they were out of the oven and slightly cooled, I cut into one. It was exactly what I had wanted. It was delicious!! As above, I do regret not swirling a tad bit more Nutella on the top - I guess I will have to let some more bananas get a bit too ripe ;)

K had a lot of fun playing cars and trains with his friend and they had a good time eating their cars. The mom and I had a good time eating our little breads and just talking. What fun it is to make new friends!!

Pumpkin (Kabocha) Muffins

 

As I mentioned yesterday, autumn is here! There are many things that I LOVE about autumn - the colors, football, and food. Pumpkins, apples, turkey, sweet potatoes, the list could go on and on really. I had been craving some pumpkin the other day and as luck would have it, Alton Brown's Pumpkin Bread recipe came to my inbox that very same day! Apparently the cooking gods were smiling down on me.

 

The recipe includes baking time for changing these into muffins, so I was decided to go down that route. It is really difficult to find the big, orange pumpkins that we get in the US and when you are lucky enough to come across them, they are usually outrageously expensive. We do, however, have a squash - kabocha - that is fairly similar, but smaller and green on the outside. I figured it would be close enough and just went with it.

 

The first step was to toast the seeds. The recipe calls for 1 cup, but by the end of gutting a kabocha I only ended up with about 1/3 cup.  

 



 

I mixed the batter up (minus the seeds) and dropped it into the cupcake tins. After I got 12 of them ready, I put the seeds in and filled up another eight. I saved a few seeds and put them on the top so I could easily tell which were with and which were without. Twenty in all and we were ready to go!

 

In the end, they were pretty tasty. But, I found out the difference between pumpkin and kabocha: kabocha seeds don't ever soften. After toasting they were still super hard, but I thought they might soften up during the baking. No such luck. They are super hard and make the muffins a tad difficult to eat. Luckily I only put them into eight of the muffins. The other 12 are delish!

 



Cinnamon Muffins

K and I were invited to a friend's house for the morning. This little boy also loves trains and cars, just like K. I'd planned on making some car/train-themed dessert to bring along, but hadn't decided on what. Then yesterday, the mom mailed that a little girl will be joining the play date. I started to question my car idea.

I've been wanting to bake cake since cookies have been my thing as of late. Thinking about this, I remembered that I have a car cupcake mold, as well as a heart cupcake mold - perfect solution to the boy/girl situation.

I didn't want to frost them because taking frosted anything to some else's house knowing that three two-year olds will be making a huge mess of things is just wrong. I settled on cinnamon muffins. I used this recipe - it was fast enough to make in the morning before going, easy and I didn't have to run to the grocery store for any ingredients.

K wanted to help, so I have few photos of the process. It is only matter of time before K makes a huge mess when handling a bowl full of dry ingredients and a whisk. I beat the clock today!!

After filling up the car and heart molds, I still had some batter left, so I used these adorable paper cups given to me by my best friend from college. I was waiting to use them for something special, but I've had them for nearly a year and while not special, I thought they'd look cute with these muffins. OMG did they look adorable! Little red tulips - I wish I would have used them during the spring. Thanks, Lees!!

The cars and hearts turned out pretty cute as well.

The kiddies gobbled them up without making too big of a mess. Success all around!

Chocolate Muffins with White Chocolate Chunks

As I posted about yesterday, I made these chocolate muffins for a friend's birthday. They were super easy to make and quite tasty.

I based the recipe off of Nigella's,but I made a few key changes.

Chocolate Muffins with White Chocolate Chunks

1 3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
135 grams of chopped white chocolate bars
1 cup milk
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon applesauce
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 200C. Prepare a cupcake tin fitted with liners.

In a big bowl, whisk all dry ingredients together. Whisk all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add them to the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins. Bake for 20 minutes. Makes about 15.

Enjoy!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Surprise Birthday Party

One of my very best friends celebrated her 33rd birthday on Monday and today K and I went to her house for a play date. K and his two friends (her three year old daughter and two year old son) played so well together. He cried when we had to leave, but it was nearly 7 and I still had to make dinner. Whoops!!




While we were there, we had a mini birthday party. I brought along a present, chocolate muffins, and a candle to boot!







I crocheted her a lavender mohair scarf that totally reminded me of her when I saw it in my crochet pattern book.




It is the same book that I made this scarf from. After making that first scarf, I kind of thought I'd never do something like that again, but I decided it was the perfect gift for her. We both like to sew, but her skills are quite above mine; so that was out. Luckily, however, she's not a crocheter.

It took a good amount of time to complete, but it was easy to remember the pattern for the flower, so it worked up fairly quickly towards the end. For some reason, I could never remember the pattern of the first scarf, so I was constantly checking the book. I think that's one reason it took me AGES to finish.

As above, I also made a batch of chocolate muffins with white chocolate chunks for the celebration. I'll post about those (and the recipe) tomorrow. Be sure to check back - they were delicious and dead easy!!

Happy birthday, Hitomi!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone