Breakfast

Banana Bran Muffins

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This is the second time around for me and these bran muffins from Ina Garten.  The first time I made them I followed the recipe exactly…well, I did leave out the orange zest.  They were terrific.  There wasn’t a real need to change anything.  You will not be disappointed if you try the original recipe.  Here is the link.

I had some blackened bananas that needed to be put to good use, and fast.  So I decided to try them in these muffins instead of the firmer chopped banana I’d used the first time.  Here are the other changes I made.

  • Added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients
  • Used skim milk (mixed with lemon juice) instead of buttermilk
  • Used half whole wheat and half AP flour
  • Used half golden raisins and half regular raisins
  • Substituted pecans for the walnuts
  • Used the orange zest

The result was yet another yummy bran muffin.  They do not photograph well though, so I used this photo courtesy of foodtv.com.  I liked the subtle flavor of the orange zest.  I definitely like the pecans better than walnuts…but that’s just a personal preference.  The texture was a bit heartier with the wheat flour.  The skim milk might have made the texture or moistness of the muffins a bit different, but not to a degree that I really noticed.  The combination of golden and regular raisins is nice, but not necessary.  I had some extra golden ones left over, so I used them.  I wouldn’t buy them just for these muffins as the plain raisins are great.

You can change a lot of things in these muffins to make them your own.  I would not leave out the banana though since I am sure that gives some necessary moisture.  Next time I might use cranberries instead of raisins.  I think that would be nice with the orange flavor, which I might bump up more by using more zest and some orange juice.  If you think of or try anything else, let me know.  Enjoy!

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Sweet Potato Cake

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Why I ever bought a can of sweet potatoes is a mystery.  I bake sweet potatoes every now and then, but I have never had a use for canned sweet potatoes.  I saw this can of potatoes and went to the trusty internet in search of something I could bake with it.  I found this recipe on cooks.com for sweet potato muffins.  I changed it to a sweet potato cake by simply baking it in a bundt pan. Here is the link.

Ben is not a sweets person, but he really liked this cake.  He even ate it for breakfast on 2 mornings last week, and he always has cereal.  When I make something that Ben eats without being asked to or having a piece served to him, I am pretty excited about it.  The cake is moist, the raisins and pecans add nice contrasts, and it is delicious.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes or yams, fresh or canned
  • 1 stick butter, room temperature
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup chopped raisins
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

  1. Grease and sugar a bundt pan.
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  3. Beat sugar, sweet potatoes and butter until smooth.
  4. Add eggs and blend well.
  5. Sift together flour, baking powder, spices and salt.
  6. Add alternately with milk to sweet potato mixture, stirring just to blend. Do not overmix.
  7. Fold in raisins and nuts.
  8. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until firm to the touch, and cake tester comes out clean.
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Daring Bakers: Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Donuts

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My house now smells of deep frying, I have a pot of oil cooling on the stove that I have no clue what I am going to do with, and a sink full of sticky dishes.  On the bright side I have a rack of apple cake donuts and donut holes covered in cinnamon glaze awaiting consumption.  I guess I can’t complain.

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

There were quite a few donut options for this deep-fried challenge.  All the Daring Bakers could choose from a yeast donut, a buttermilk cake donut, filled bomboloni or pumpkin donut.  I was quite close to choosing the pumpkin since I have been on a pumpkin kick lately, but chose the buttermilk cake donut and added some grated apple and cinnamon to the dough.

The recipe says the dough will be sticky.  I was not prepared for the level of stickiness.  Use as much flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking to the cutters and your counter.  I even found that after my first cutting and re-rolling the donuts cut and handled much better thanks to the additional flour that had been incorporated.  Do not be shy with the flour.

After frying these beauties to a golden brown, let them drain on paper towels.  After cooling you can glaze them.  I used a simple glaze of powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk.  If you don’t want to glaze, you could dip the donuts in cinnamon sugar while they’re still warm and get a nice crunchy exterior.  Or just sprinkle them with powdered sugar. (more…)

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Cinnamon Pecan Muffins

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These muffins, while a tad bit crumbly, are so incredibly delicious.  I have a true and undying love for pecans, and so these had me from the very beginning.  The combination of cinnamon and pecans in these muffins is wonderful, and greasing and sugaring the muffins cups gave them such a great crunchy, sweet exterior.  You can always use paper muffins cups instead of greasing the muffin pan.  These are on the sweeter side for breakfast muffins, but I don’t mind that.  Anything I can do to fit in another dessert in my day is a good thing.

I found the recipe on Group Recipes, but used melted butter instead of the oil originally called for in the recipe. Here is the link to the original recipe. The oil would probably make them more moist, so I might try that the next time I make these…and there will be a next time.

These are great when enjoyed warm, but also great at room temperature.  I warmed mine in the microwave for about 15 seconds each morning as I enjoyed them all week.  That’s just one of those things you must deal with while living with only one other person, leftovers always last a long time.  Sometimes this is a good thing, like with these muffins.  Other times I wish I had more people to eat the last couple servings of a dish.  Our family is growing, but Baby won’t be enjoying these muffins for a while!

Cinnamon Pecan Muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon shopping list
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup, 1 stick, melted butter
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

  1. Mix first 5 ingredients together, then add egg, milk and butter.
  2. Mix until almost blended, adding pecans. Do not over mix batter.
  3. Fill greased and sugared muffin pans two-thirds full.
  4. Bake muffins at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes.
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Blueberry Muffins

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When I first started to get a little crazy about baking in college I asked for this Martha Stewart Baking Handbook cookbook for Christmas.  I used it quite a bit at the beginning as evidenced by the flour crusted on the front cover and bits of food scattered on some of the pages.  Sadly, I haven’t used it as much recently.

This is a beautiful book with lovely photos of every single recipe.  After making these muffins I have a newly rekindled love for this book and for Martha.  I need to take a break from online recipes and get back to my huge collection of cookbooks.  Why have them if I’m not going to use them?  You might know what I’m talking about if you have at least 30 cookbooks, many of which are just sittin’ pretty on a bookshelf, and yet you find yourself searching on the internet when you want to make something.  What a shame!  Let’s get back to loving our cookbooks.

Every recipe in this cookbook is great.  The cinnamon raisin bread is especially delicious and I’ve made it more than just a few times.  It was the first yeast bread I tried that worked!  It has a great cinnamon swirl and lots of juicy raisins.  I am making myself crave it right now, so I might have to go make a loaf or two…

The blueberry muffins were easy to prepare and made my house smell delicious while they baked.  The generous amount of blueberries guarantees at least a few juicy berries in every bite.  I ate these at room temperature and also halved and toasted with a nice spread of butter.  Either way they are wonderful.  Watch the muffins after about 20 minutes, because mine were done after 25.  I did not sprinkle the sugar/nutmeg mixture on the muffins, but think they would be extra yummy with the nice crunch.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Generously grease and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Working over the bowl, toss blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 teaspoons flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and the blueberries.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in vanilla.
  5. With the mixer on low speed, add reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined.
  6. Add milk, beating until just combined. Do not overmix.
  7. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries.
  8. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.
  9. If desired, in a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle sugar mixture on top of muffin batter.
  10. Bake, rotating pan halfway though, until muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes.
  11. Remove from pan and let cool.  Serve warm or at room temperature.
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Swedish Pancakes

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There are some foods you ate when you were younger that will always hold a special place in your heart and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you think about them.  This is one of those foods for me.  I remember having “Who can eat the most Swedish pancakes?” contests with my sister.  Those were the days.  It was always so exciting on a weekend morning when my mom made these for us.  It’s probably something I’ll do for my kids, and I hope they’ll have the same fond memories.

If these are not what you think of when you think of Swedish pancakes, well, I’m sorry!  These are more crepe-like than American pancakes, and much better…in my opinion.  They don’t fill you up to the point that they sit in the pit of your stomach for hours after breakfast.  There is no right way to eat these light and delicious pancakes, but I will recommend a few things that have never let me down.

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Buttery Jam Cookies

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A good friend of mine makes jam every year and brings me a few jars when we see each other.  It is so much better than store bought!  The last time she was in Amarillo, she brought me 2 jars of blueberry jam.  I used one of those jars in these cookies.

These cookies are delicate, cake-like in texture, and are not overly sweet.  This recipe is from TWD, Tuesdays with Dorie.  Members cook their way through Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I am not a member of this baking group, but after trying this recipe I may decide to join when they start accepting new members!

I only made slight changes to this recipe.  I drizzled some glaze on the cooled cookies and added sliced almonds to half of the batter.  I would consider pecans next time.  When I mixed in the jam it just didn’t look like quite enough, so I added a little more.  I ended up mixing blueberry jam with a little strawberry rhubarb and the combination was nice.  You really can use any kind or combination of jam, so this is a truly versatile recipe that you can adapt to your personal taste.

These would be perfect with an afternoon cup of coffee or tea, and I even think you could pull off eating them for breakfast.  Enjoy!

Buttery Jam Cookies

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

Cookies:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tbsp. whole milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup jam (any flavor)
  • ¼ cup sliced almonds (optional)

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place two racks in the oven, one in the upper third of the oven and one in the lower third of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (on high speed) for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat on high speed for an additional minute. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the jam and beat on low speed for 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients, with the mixer on low speed, just until they’re mixed in. Stir in almonds here if using.  The dough will be extremely thick and stiff.
  4. With a an ice cream scoop or a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto baking sheets, forming cookies that are about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in size.
  5. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the trays from top rack to bottom rack halfway through.
  6. Once baked, let the cookies sit on the pan for a minute or two and then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Drizzle with glaze if desired.
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Yogurt Banana Bread

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Last week I made pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches and made cole slaw as a side dish.  The cole slaw used  mostly plain yogurt and just a few tablespoons of mayo.  I had to buy a big container of plain yogurt since everything in the small containers was flavored.  What to do with an entire pint of plain yogurt?  I ate some of it for breakfast with granola, but after 2 days of this I went in search of something I could make to use up the yogurt.  I found this recipe for banana bread on The Fresh Loaf.

I made two batches of the bread; one with chocolate chips and one without.  The bread is much more moist than other banana breads I’ve made, and not as dense.  The plain bread is just sweet enough, and is delicious toasted with a little spread of butter.  I would add some toasted pecans or walnuts next time.  The chocolate chip version was also tasty, but I prefer my banana bread without chocolate.  Call me crazy.

Yogurt Banana Bread

Ingredients

  • 1/2 stick (4-5 tablespoons) butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 or 3 very ripe bananas
  • 1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt (fat free is fine)
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
  • ½ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and sugar a 9×5 loaf pan.
  2. Cream together butter and sugar until creamy.
  3. Add in eggs, one at a time and mix well.
  4. Mix in yogurt and vanilla.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and powder and cinnamon if using.
  6. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients a little a time, then stir in chocolate chips if using.
  7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.
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PW’s French Breakfast Puffs

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This recipe was posted to Pioneer Woman back in December of 2007 and I knew from the ingredients alone that these had to be delicious.  And who can argue with bread dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar?  No one.  That’s who.  Here is the link to her post.  I really like her site and every recipe I’ve tried has been great.  If you don’t follow her blog already, then you should.

I don’t know why I haven’t tried these until now.  My mother-in-law made them a few weeks ago, and I was inspired to try them myself.  I made them in mini muffin cups instead of the regular size so that I would have more tasty treats.  I had leftover batter after filling the 24 cups, so I used a madeleine pan for the rest…they didn’t look that great t, but they tasted good.

Since I was using a smaller pan, I reduced the baking time to 15 minutes.  Other than that everything is the same as Pioneer Woman’s recipe.  Why mess with a good thing?  While these are a bit messy to prepare, they are worth it.  Any puffs left over can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days.  They don’t taste quite as good as fresh, but they will still satisfy your sweet tooth.

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Caramel Banana Oat Muffins

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If you are anything like me, when you look in your freezer you might see about a dozen or so frozen black bananas.  When bananas go bad in my house I either make banana bread if I have the time, or I stick them in the freezer.  This pile of frozen bananas adds up quickly.  Before I made these muffins I had 16 frozen bananas!

I pulled out 3 bananas from my stash and made these muffins earlier this week.  The recipe is from allrecipes.com.  Here is the link.

To the original recipe I added a cup of caramel pieces and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  I lowered the oven temperature from 400 F to 375 F.  My batch of muffin batter made more than enough for 12 muffins.  I was able to make an additional 8 mini muffins, so maybe 16 regular sized muffins total.  Everything else is just as it is in the original recipe.

The oats add a nice texture, and the caramel pieces bring in some extra delicious sweetness.  Some of the caramel pieces sunk to the bottom of the muffins, so some of them were hard to remove from the pan.  Be sure to grease your pan and paper well!  These muffins are OK at room temperature, but I recommend warming them in the microwave or toaster oven.

Caramel Banana Oat Muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup mashed bananas
  • 1 cup caramel pieces

Directions

  1. Combine flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and salt.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla, then mix in the sugar.
  3. Add the mashed banana, and combine thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined.
  4. Fold in caramel pieces.
  5. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper bake cups, spray with cooking spray, and divide the batter among them.  You may have extra batter to make a few more muffins.
  6. Bake at 375 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 18 to 20 minutes.
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