strawberry banana muffins with toasted coconut

i saw this recipe on the joy of baking and wanted to make it but add toasted coconut and use fresh strawberries.

Strawberry-Banana Muffins Recipe

1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup (160 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup (240 ml) fresh or frozen blueberries or strawberries (cut into pieces) (i used fresh strawberries)
2 1/4 cups (315 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon (4 grams) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) salt
** i added about 2/3 cup toasted coconut.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Line the muffin pan with paper liners or grease with butter or a vegetable spray. Set aside.

In a small saucepan melt the butter. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.

In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour. This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking. Do not overmix or the blueberries will end up coloring the batter blue. Add toasted coconut. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not overmix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Fill each muffin cup about two thirds full of batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Fill any unused muffin cups halfway with water to prevent warping of the pan and/or over browning of the muffins. Place in the oven and bake until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Adapted from Oregon's Cuisine of the Rain by Karen Brooks.

lemonade cupcakes

my oldest sister sent me this recipe the other day and i have to say, it's all she said it would be. moist deluxe and lemony.

Lemonade Cupcakes

white cake mix
3 eggs
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz sour cream
6 oz lemonade concentrate, thawed; reserve 2 T for frosting

Mix together on high for 3 minutes. Fill muffin tins
3/4 full and bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes.

Frosting:
1 can cream cheese frosting
2 T reserved lemonade from above

Makes 30 cupcakes

these are messy but so worth it!

ps- happy mother's day mom!

working from home

equals toasted PB&J on homemade bread with mom's homemade apricot jam.


sorry you couldn't be there...

i'm gonna have to get me one of these

i can't tell you how many times i could have used this.

molten(ish) cupcakes

so i FINALLY made these cupcakes i've been wanting to make. my oldest sister sent me this recipe from a cookbook we gave her for her birthday and after she sent me the recipe she said she's not as much a fan of them as she expected. she didn't really like the cake part. so i figured i'd try them with the birthday bundt cake recipe.

so i mixed that cake recipe with this

Cupcake:
1 pkg Devil's Food cake mix
1 cup water
1/2cup oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting

Prepare ganache (recipe follows), cover with plastic
wrap and place in fridge to chill.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly mist 24 cupcake
cups with spray and dust with flour. Mix together
cake ingredients. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into prepared
tins, filling them 3/4 of the way full. (will make 22
to 24 cupcakes). Drop heaping teaspoon full of
ganache onto the top of the batter in each cup. Bake
until cake bakes up around ganache 12-14 minutes. Let
cool one minutes. Run a knife around edges of cups,
lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups
using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the
cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on
dessert plates, sift with powdered sugar and serve.

Ganache:
3/4 cup heaving whipping cream
1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Place cream in saucepan over medium heat and bring to
a boil, stirring. Meanwhile, place chocolate chips in
a large stainless steel mixing bowl. Remove the cream
fro the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir with
a wooden spoon until the chocolate has melted Stir in
vanilla. Let sit at room temp for 1 hour or chill
20-30 minutes.

i just did the ganache part, then added it to the other cake recipe, put it in cupcake liners and cooked it for 20 minutes at 350° (325° on my crazy oven.)

pictured is one with powdered sugar all over it. unwrapped from the wrapper and upside down.

next time i'll just make hot fudge sunday cake for really molteny (not a word, i know) cake. but these weren't a bad way to eat a cupcake.

uh-oh

this might cramp my future bakery's style.

cake in a jar

ok, so i saw this post here, and have been wanting to try this for a while now. and i wanted to send my friend cindy some cake she likes for her birthday (the poppyseed cake - the poppyseed + extra glaze) and my friend jessica came over to bake, and we came up with this version of cake in a jar.

these are my notes. i would make them in smaller jars cause it's easier to get out. and these might be better for an "in-person" gift because i ended up having to cut off the top which is the cutest part and these suckers are sorta expensive to mail. and you can give the person a few, rather than just mailing one big heavy one. it's a cute idea, but i don't know if i'd do it again. but you never know, i could get inspired and try it again. just how i haven't mastered éclairs yet but i swear i will one day...

my one true love: straws

my friend julia and i were discussing our affinity for straws and how it's nice they are so cheap and recyclable but were thinking that to cut back on waste maybe we should get re-usable ones like these or these. is that taking our neurotic need for straws to a ridiculous level? maybe. am i ashamed? not in the least.

granola bars

cooking in a new kitchen the first time is always a learning experience. for example, i have to learn where exactly i put all my stuff, i learned that i didn't have raisins like i thought i did, and that both my oven and stove-top cook extra hot/fast (note to self, bake everything at 25° less than called for—ALWAYS). consequently, my granola bars came out crunchy when i was going for the softer kind. still very yummy just more crunchy than i was going for.

this recipe came from my oldest sister and are always a hit on road trips or just for a good healthy-ish treat. and since i'm trying to eat as little processed goods as possible (darn you cheetos and oreos for being so delicious)– these are an easy snack to make.


1/3 c. oil
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 T. honey
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 c. oats
2 c. rice krispies
1 c. raisins (or chocolate chips if you don't have said raisins or just plain don't like them)

in large bowl, combine oil, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, and egg. add
flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. mix well. stir in oats,
cereal, and raisins. grease 9x13 inch pan. press mixture into pan. for
chewy bars bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. for crunchier bars, bake 25
minutes. slice into 16 bars.

this is an ode to cheese and fresh tomatoes

that's all.
love,
ck