Bakery Style Banana Muffins

I have already made banana muffins, but those were simple ones from a generic box recipe (kind of).  These are much more fun and ever-so delicious.  Nutmeg and cinnamon lend a bakery taste to the muffins that just isn't found in simpler recipes, not to mention that even though they're homemade they are amazingly easy.  Top it off with butter and roll it in cinnamon and sugar and you have banana muffins made to perfection.

Ingredients

For Muffins:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/2 cup milk

For Cinnamon Sugar Topping:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

Instructions

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl.  It's easy to use a whisk to ensure even distribution but not necessary.

2. If you haven't already, mash the banana in a small bowl.  Don't bother getting out a large bowl for this, just mash it in a small bowl, even one that you'd eat from.

3. Combine the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, milk, and banana and mix until smooth.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ones gradually. Its a very thick mixture so I would recommend a rubber spatula or wooden spoon at this point.

5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray mini or regular sized muffin pans with baking spray.

6. Fill muffin cups three fourths full, if you make mini muffins it should make about 24 to 30, with a regular sized muffin tin I was able to make ten.

7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, my regular sized ones took about 15 minutes total.

8.  While the muffins bake, melt the butter in a small-ish bowl and combine the sugar and cinnamon on a medium to small plate.  When making mini muffins, you can halve the cinnamon and sugar so that you don't waste near as much.

9.  After the muffins have cooled just a tad, dip the tops in the butter then roll the muffins in the cinnamon and sugar.

Notes:

~ Instead of using the typical baking oil, I used grape seed oil.  It's a much healthier choice when compared to the standard cooking oil and has little effect on the taste overall.  If anything, the muffins tasted better.  I also like this oil because it's a cool shade of olive-y green, so there's that.

~ It's helpful to run a butter knife around the muffins while they're cooling to make it easier to get them out of the pan.

Enjoy!

Texas Sheet Cake

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  While I am not a big fan of chocolate cake (I'm strictly vanilla with sprinkles), I love this recipe.  It's kind of hard not to, but you never know.  Like many other of my recipes, it's extremely easy to make, so there's no excuse for making good cake.  And this is such a fantastic recipe that you shouldn't want to make excuses.  It's like an explosion of chocolate on your taste buds.  Basically, make it.

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cocoa (not leveled, heaping scoops)

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cups buttermilk

2 whole eggs - beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting:

1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (not necessary, I didn't add them this time)

1 3/4 stick butter

4 tablespoons cocoa (again, heaping)

6 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound (minus a 1/2 cup) powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the cocoa and mix.

4. Bring the mixture to a boil, boil for thirty seconds, then turn off the heat and pour over the flour mixture.  Stir the mixture to cool.

5. Pour the buttermilk and add the beaten eggs (it's best if the eggs are beaten in a small bowl prior to being added), baking soda, and vanilla.  Add this into the butter and chocolate mixture.

6. Spread the batter into a sheet cake pan and bake for twenty minutes.

7. Now you'll make the icing.  Chop the pecans finely (if you'd like to ask them).

8. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the cocoa, and stir.

9. Combine this with the milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

10. Add the pecans if you so choose, then pour the frosting over the cake.

11. Allow the frosting to set as the cake cools.

Notes:

~ The batter for the cake is very runny for a cake, this is normal.  Do not add anymore flour.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Mug

After making the Chocolate Caramel Cake in a Mug, I realized that instead of making one or two huge recipes every week, it'd be easier to make single serving recipes a few times.  That way I don't have a ton of extra sweets laying around waiting to be eaten, and there isn't as much mess for me to clean up.

The first version for this is what I did the first time.  To put it simply, I didn't like it.  It tasted funny and didn't look right either.  Part of the issue with the taste may have been that I had to use milk chocolate chips, but even if I had used semi-sweet I don't think I would have liked this recipe.  I'll post that one anyway, in case someone would like to try it even though I didn't like it.

VERSION #1

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3 drops of vanilla

Pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons chocolate chips (make sure they're semi-sweet!!!)

Instructions

In a bowl (or the mug) mix the butter, brown and white sugar, vanilla, and egg yolk.  Be sure to completely mix in the yolk.

Add the flour and salt, then mix again.

Fold in the chocolate chips, then (if you made this in a bowl) put into the mug.  You can also use a bowl, just make sure its microwavable.

Microwave for 40 to 60 seconds, it make not look done on top but it is.

VERSION #2

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar, firmly packed (can be light or dark)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 egg yolk

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 - 2 tablespoons chocolate chips (1 1/2 is usually good)

Instructions

Again, this can be made first in a bowl then transferred to the mug or made directly in the mug.  Melt the butter in the microwave, about 40 seconds.

Add the brown and white sugar, vanilla extract, and salt then mix thoroughly.

Mix in the egg yolk.  Make sure the egg is completely mixed in with no visible egg 'chunks.'

Combine with the flour, then add the chocolate chips.  This is where you would transfer the dough to the mug if you made it in a separate bowl.

Microwave for a minimum of 40 seconds, a maximum
of 60 seconds.  Mine took about 50 seconds to be completely done.  Eat while warm

Notes:

~ If you use a thinner mug, I would make the dough in a separate bowl.  If the mug is a wider one, then go ahead and make it in the mug.

~ As with the first version, the cookie may not look done on top, but it is.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Caramel Cake-in-a-Mug

Typically I don't like chocolate cake, but I do like brownies and caramel paired together.  So when I saw this recipe I decided to give it a try in hopes that it'd be good.  Since it's a mug cake recipe, it doesn't take as long to make, it uses less ingredients, doesn't make as big of a mess, and is generally easier to make.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

4 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg beaten

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola, it doesn't really matter)

2 salted caramels (or normal caramels, that what I used)

Instructions

Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a small bowl.  You can also do all of this in the mug to save yourself from cleaning a lot of dishes.

Add the egg, milk, and oil and mix again.

I wiped up the edges, it was not this pretty when I had just mixed it.

If you didn't make it in the mug, pour the mix into a mix now.  At this point I tasted the batter to see what it tasted like, and similar to many cakes, it was a bit too sweet for me at this point.

Drop in the caramels one at a time.  Before making this, I read the comments to see if there was a way to stop the caramels from sinking as I expected them too.  I found a nice little nugget of advice, coat the caramels in flour before dropping them in.  I wasn't sure how much flour to put on them, so I just rolled them around in flour a bit.

Microwave for one minute and thirty seconds.  You can microwave it for up to an additional thirty seconds if needed.

Notes:

~ Even with the flour, the caramels sank more than I would have liked.  Perhaps adding more flour would have prevented this, but who knows.

~ After baking, it was still too sweet for my tastes, but my family loved it.  Definitely don't use sweetened cocoa powder.

                      Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Bars

I first got this recipe from my aunt at a family Christmas, mainly for my mom who LOVES peanut butter deserts.  And let me tell you - this recipe is peanut butter to the max.  It's also filling, and actually really simple to make.

Ingredients

Bars:

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup oatmeal

Frosting:

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup peanut butter

Instructions:

Bars:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Combine the butter or margarine, brown and white sugars, and flour.

3.  Add the eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, and salt.  Mix again.

4.  Mix in the peanut butter.

5.  Finally, add the oatmeal and mix thoroughly.

6.  Press into a jelly roll pan.

7.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Frosting:

Mix all ingredients well, then spread over the bars once they have cooled.

Notes:

~  This is a really peanut-butter heavy recipe, as you can see above.  It is also a dry bar, so have a glass of milk ready when eating this.

~ My mom's favorite way to serve this is warm (the bars) with a bowl of delicious vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!!