strawberry raspberry muffins

Do you remember Mrs. Fields cookies and muffins?  Well – these muffins reminded me of the Mrs. Fields raspberry white chocolate muffins (my absolute favorite).  It was really cake.  But I felt better eating them when they were called a muffin.  These are not as rich, do not have white chocolate, and are strawberry as you can see. 

I put them on the top of my “to bake” list and I’m glad I did!  I didn’t have enough strawberries on hand so I added raspberries and wow.  I love these.  Everything about them – moist, fruity and the icing – well – yum!  I follow dianemorrisey on instagram and EVERYTHING she cooks/bakes/presents calls out to me.  I mean everything.  And the joy she shares through food really is like no other.  

I will just post  her recipe here since it is concise and clear.  You can mix the raspberries and strawberries as I did – or use only strawberries.  Make them for your next treat.  They are worth it.

Enjoy-

blueberry pancakes (one bowl, healthy)

Andy learned how to cook last year- how to make dinner for himself – and breakfast – and well he is pretty good!  Being home however, brings out the little boy in him – pleading (well truly just asking now that he is 21) for me to make him waffles.  At the start of the pandemic with all the kids home I was eager and excited to cook for them.  As time passed, the morning waffles became a bit tiring especially because Andy knows how to make them – and dinners are a handful because of Greg’s dietary needs and Andy eating a ton and everyone wanting leftovers!  Recently though he asked me to please make him blueberry pancakes (he has moved on from chocolate chip).  I have many old recipes in the blog – but I’m always searching for the next best recipe.  Be it brownies, chocolate chip cookies or pancakes – it is a never ending endeavor.  I succeeded I think – I found this recipe from the blog Amy’s Healthy Baking (I fiddled with it a bit) and I have to report that they might be the best to date.  Oh and don’t skip the vinegar.  I know it seems weird but I promise you cannot taste it.  And please don’t compare these to buttery, white flour, decadent pancakes.

For measuring flour it is best to use a small digital scale.  Jamie from My Baking Addiction gives a really thorough tutorial on how to measure flour with a measuring cup – and how that this specific measurement can make or break your cookies (in this case pancakes!) 

Sylvie said “delicious, truly good mom” and Sarah (Greg’s girlfriend) said “I’m really full but I wan’t more – these are REALLY good!”  And Andy said “They are fire”.  So there you have it.  Bake and enjoy – 

Oh, I usually double the recipe – esp if I have a crowd.

20 small pancakes

Prep time: 5 minutes

Easy

ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted 
  • 1 large egg
  • 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup (60 g) plain nonfat greek yogurt 
  • 2 tablespoons milk (I used 1 percent)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (135 grams) white whole wheat flour (or half whole wheat and half white) 
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

Melt the butter.  And in a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, vanilla, maple syrup, and salt.

Stir in the Greek yogurt and mix until there are no lumps.  Stir in the vinegar and then the milk and water. 

Pour the flour evenly over the patter and sprinkle the baking soda and baking powder on top.  Stir until just incorporated and fold in the blueberries.

I use my griddle to cook these – and they work fine with or without butter.  You can also use a non stick pan.  You really can make any size you want so have some fun!

If you look at Amy’s Healthy Blog blueberry pancake post  she gives a lot of advice regarding substitutions for special diets.  So check that out too.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes

Gluten Free pancakesMade gluten free pancakes and didn’t tell Andy.  He had one and said “This is awful, are they gluten free?”  So I researched and made them again. This time success for Andy, Sylvie, Rob and me.  Made them the next couple of days…then decided to try a different recipe for fun.  Andy complained – “Why are you trying again??  We like the other one.  Stop.  No more!”  So I’m sticking with these and everyone is happy.  Even Andy who is not on a gluten-free diet.

I found the recipe from Taste of Home.

I add diced bananas and add extra mini chips.  I also reduce the sugar by half because well, the chips and banana make up for it.

Enjoy!

banana bread (gluten-free and DELICIOUS)

This banana bread is really very good.  Seriously good.  For real.  Andy was home from school today, studying in his room and started texting me…What are you making! Smells so good!  I informed him that I made the banana bread again, but in muffin form.  Down he came and quickly gobbled up two and oh, BTW, he isn’t even gluten-free (and is a harsh critic).  You will not miss the gluten in this recipe.  Full of banana flavor, a delicious rich tasting crumb – and some extra chocolate chips, well, good good good!  Found myself muttering the good, good good as I tasted and sampled over and over again.

This recipe is from the book Purely Elizabeth and I just LOVE it.  I really do.  Elizabeth promised that you wouldn’t miss your old banana bread, and she is correct.  You do need to get a few special items from your grocery store or from Amazon.  If you are gluten free, I assume you have most of this in the house.  And even if you are not – I urge you to try.

Also – the first time I made this I baked in a loaf pan and it was really delicious – but I felt I needed more control on how cooked the middle was and so tried in muffin tins.  I liked both.  Next time though, I think I would pour most of the batter into the loaf pan, but hold a little back and bake the remaining in a mini loaf tin or make a few muffin shapes on the side.  Cooking time will be affected with all of the different shapes.

Oh, you want to wait for your bananas to be overripe – with dark spots on the skin.

banana bread (from Purely Elizabeth by Elizabeth Stein):

cinnamon sugar (2 T of coconut sugar for every 1 tsp of cinnamon)
1 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup coconut oil (just melt this if in solid form)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup walnuts (I didn’t add because my family doesn’t love)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I added a cup!  I did, but do what you want)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Use and oil spray or coconut oil to grease the loaf pan.  Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar to coat the bottom and sides and set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the coconut sugar, almond flour, millet flour, brown rice flour, cinnamon, and baking soda.  In a separate bowl (or in electric mixer) beat together the bananas, oil, eggs and vanilla until smooth.

Pour the wet into the dry (or if using your mixer you can put the dry into the wet) and stir until combined.  Add the chocolate and walnuts (if using).  Pour into pans – loaf, muffin, mini…and bake until done.  If you put all the batter into a loaf pan, Elizabeth says 45-50 minutes.  If you make the loaf pan less full as I mentioned above, baking time will be lower.  And muffin tins, much lower.  You want the top to spring back gently when touched.

Yum.  Enjoy –

 

 

triple chocolate banana bread

Wowee.  This is delicious.  Rich in flavor and color and texture – you can’t  miss this one. I mean it.  Best chocolate banana bread ever.  As mentioned in the post from Liv for Cake (below) you can certainly skip the chips and ganache for a less chocolatey experience.  And/or add walnuts to cut some of the richness and sweetness.  But we loved as is.  These days when I bake the sweet often sits on our counter and eventually looks sad and dry (after several days of being ignored).  This dessert never had a chance to sit and kids argued over who got the last piece.  Yum.  I plan to make again this week.

I used half the ganache in the recipe fyi – but saved the rest and will use tomorrow when I make this again.

Here is the recipe...chocolate banana bread.

I followed almost exactly – but used natural Valrhona cocoa powder.  Oh, I also doubled the recipe but baked one cake in a larger loaf pan than in the recipe.   I find I don’t have to bake as long and I have more control with the overall moistness of the cake.  Muffin/cupcake shape would be great as well.  You can follow my lead or follow the recipe.  Also, remember to read my baking tips (esp measuring flour!) before you bake.

Fruit Galettes

Yum – summertime fun and goodness all wrapped up in dough.  These galettes or rustic tarts are extremely easy to make and just delightful on the tongue.  I like them warm out of the oven but even more cold the next day (weird I know).  Made these for a IMG_9494dinner party and they were a hit.  Freshly whipped cream a top apricot and cherry – well, good stuff.  Berry galette too.  I didn’t change anything from Melissa Clarks recipes – and even though I know how to make these, I watched her video and it was terrific. You cannot go wrong!

puff pastry chocolate treat

I planned to make this little treat for my New Year’s brunch, but ran out of time so Rob jumped in and made it!  He will argue that he put it together, and didn’t bake anything – but even so, it shows you how easy this is.  (No offense meant for Rob, he just doesn’t bake a lot.)  Get some puff pastry in the house and grab a delicious piece of chocolate and you are prepared.

I love the Tasty recipes/videos on Facebook and Youtube.  They are so fun and charming.  Everything look so easy and fun.  Click here to see how to make this delicious treat.

Add almonds if you like.   Rob used bittersweet chocolate and it was delicious.  Enjoy –

 

new banana pancakes

Delicious.  Banana.  Chocolate.  Fluffy.  Yeah, ok, I made a new kind of pancake AGAIN.  What’s wrong with me?  I’m not sure but I seem to be obsessed with pancakes, brownies and chocolate chip cookies and my dog.  Oh well, there are worse things.  We all love these.  Andy and Sylvie of course as they are somewhat easy to please, although both would protest and exclaim that these truly are the best banana pancakes to date.  Greg though – big fan which is a bit more exciting.  And Rob and I tend to eat the leftovers every morning after our own breakfast.  Instead of buttermilk, this recipe calls for milk and white vinegar which is nice because I always have these ingredients in the house.  I used my new griddle to make these and I love the ease and non burn and easy flip factor.  My first griddle which is exciting too!  Enjoy another breakfast from me!

banana pancakes (slightly adapted from Little B Cooks):

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar (not white wine!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose, or half wheat, half white)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 small mashed bananas

optional

chocolate chips
blueberries
maple syrup (the original recipe says to heat and add a dash of nutmeg! I’d add a dash of sea salt too)

Add the vinegar to the milk and let sit for 5 minutes.  Heat your griddle (if you are using).

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Mix together the milk/vinegar, vanilla, egg, butter and bananas.

Gently fold into dry ingredients.  Add more milk if seems too thick.

Stir in chocolate chips if desired 0r sliced bananas, or blueberries.  Heat syrup with nutmeg and salt.  We tend to eat these plain but when splurging add the syrup.

Yum.

 

chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake

Oh jeez.  This is not the kind of thing that I can have lying around.  Big chocolate chips, moist cake, cinnamon and sugar laced throughout – can’t blame me.  Luckily I was baking for a charity so I quickly sent most of it away.  Also gave some to Leslie at Andy’s school since she is always on the receiving end of my absence calls.  She gave me a play by play via email…I WILL GLADLY BE YOUR TASTE-TESTER!  Hang on – let me try it . . . OMG!!!  FABULOUS!!!!!  Her enthusiasm and quick feed back will be rewarded 🙂

Anyway, this is super easy to make and really good almost any time of day.

This recipe is from SmittenKitchen which I love.  Because Deb Perelman writes this recipe up so eloquently and because I’m way backed up with posts to write I’m just going to give you the link to her recipe.

sour cream chocolate chip coffee cake

The only change I made was to exchange 1 teaspoon of kosher salt for her 3/4 teaspoon of table salt.

You know I love that kosher salt!

 

 

grapefruit cake

More citrus tasting that grapefruit so please don’t shy away.

DELICIOUS!  Moist, flavorful, sweet and yummy.   So good.  Soo good.  Really.  Equally loved by me, Andy, Sylvie, Charlotte, and Danika.  Rave reviews from all and oh, Will and Jason too!  Melissa found them wrestling over what they thought was the last piece and became very popular when she pulled another bite out of her bag.  This cake has three little parts – but each part is easy so don’t get scared off.  And you do have to squeeze some grapefruits (or do you say grapefruit) but I imagine that isn’t a surprise!  It is such a great cake to serve now – as the sun is starting to shine, the snow is melting, the temp is rising (kind of)…and this bright little cake kind of says all of that.  It does.

I found this from the blog Unwritten Recipes and her photos are BEAUTIFUL.

cake
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated grapefruit zest
2 grapefruits
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temp
2 eggs, room temp
2 teaspoons grapfruit juice
1 1/3 allpurpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk well shaken

syrup

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

glaze

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed grapefruit joice
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
pinch of salt

Prepare pans – grease then line the bottom of a 9×5 pan (other sizes will work, just adjust baking time) with parchment and grease again.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Zest the grapefruit (rem to wash and dry first) and just take the outside part of the skin.  The inner white layer is bitter.  Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers to incorporate the flavor.

With paddle attachment, beat butter and the zested sugar on medium high for 3-5 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time.  Scrape down the bowl, mix in the vanilla and scrape again.

Combine whisk the dry ingredients.

With mixer running on lowest speed, add the 1/3rd of the flour mixture, follow it with half of the buttermilk.  And repeat, ending with the flour.  Do not over mix.  Remove from mixer and fold 2 or 3 times to make sure all butter is incorporated.

Pour into prepped pan.  Bake until toothpick comes out clean and the cake is nice and golden.

Let sit 10 minutes.  While it sits, make the syrup.  Bring grapefruit and sugar to a boil (mix to incorporate first) – boil for one minute.  Be careful as it is hot!

Poke many holes in the cake with a toothpick.  Brush the syrup all over the cake and continue as it gets absorbed.  Yum.

Let cool completely.  Invert and remove from pan.

Make the glaze by mixing the confectioners’ sugar and juice – and the tad of kosher salt.  Spread over the syrup soaked cake.  Delish.