When I was growing up, every once in a while I would come home to my mom making freshly baked banana muffins. Not for any special occasion. Just because we had some particularly ripened bananas or she felt like baking. I may be biased, but I think mom’s banana muffins are the best. Especially when chocolate chips are included. This weekend I called her early Sunday morning for the recipe because I just couldn’t rest without them. I’ll be honest – I don’t think they were quite as good as when she makes them, but Corey reassured me that they were delicious.
Crunchy Mixed Grain Banana Bread (I find this name to be highly questionable but for some reason that is what they are called. Just disregard it because it makes the whole thing sound less delicious.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup softened butter (Mom said she uses applesauce but I didn’t have any so I just used butter)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 egg
- 1 cup sifted whole wheat flour (I used regular because I didn’t have any fancy whole wheat flour. Ok I lied I totally did but it was expired because I never used it.)
- 1 cup regular or quick oats, uncooked
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 or 3 ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 cup of nuts or chocolate chips or other delicious mixings (I made this up. I just poured in a bunch of chocolate chips til the amount seemed adequate, but 1 cup seemed like a nice round number.)
Recipe:
1) Throw butter, banana, egg and sugar in a food processor and puree. Mix flour, oats, baking soda and salt separately.
2) Mix all ingredients together, add in milk. Once milk is incorporated, add chocolate chips. Lots of them. Muffin mixture should be the consistency of pancake batter. Scoop dough into muffin cups until they are 2/3 full.
As the younger sister, I spent a large part of my life looking up to Megan and even emulating her. Those pink plaid bell bottoms that I wore in 6th grade were only worn in attempt to be as cool as my high school sister, and I’ll bet you wouldn’t be able to tell us apart on the phone if you tried. She was always an incredible role model, inspiring me to be a better person and to be kind and thoughtful when I could. I am so lucky to have her. Happy Birthday to the best big sister ever!
See? She’ll even give you her favorite stick. I seem to be discussing something very important with that girl but she seems much more concerned about her eye.
Oh, and also, there’s cake! Megan requested this delightful vanilla cake with strawberry frosting for the party. I was feeling really proud of myself. I buttered and floured the pans (not really sure if I was doing it correctly, but I did it) and remembered to leave out the butter for softening, and despite having to pick out some dropped eggshells from the batter I pretty much baked the cake correctly. Unlike last time. I guess I was just getting cocky, because I forgot to leave the cream cheese out for the frosting, with a slightly lumpy result. Megan actually assembled the layers while I was out playing with streamers, as she is really much better at that stuff anyway. Regardless of any lumpiness or unevenness, it turned out delicious. I was cutting pieces and putting them on plates for people – wedding style – and those plates just kept disappearing. That thing was pretty large and it was just about gone after 15 minutes. So I guess the people like it.
- 2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature (whoops)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
- 3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
Cream
- 3 cup cake flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3 cup sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 7 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream
- 6 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam
- 2 1/4 lbs strawberries, sliced, divided (yah we didn’t use nearly this many)
Directions:
For the cake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour three 9-inch round cake pans (they used two 9-inch rectangular cake pans but I wanted it to be round). In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla and sour cream and beat for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture in three additions, beating after each addition. Divide batter into pans.
Bake cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and cool for 10 minutes. The recipe said 50-60 minutes, but mine were done by about 42 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edges and the turn cakes onto rack to finish cooling. I refrigerated mine overnight before assembling.
For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in sugar and then jam. Beat cream in separate bowl, chilled, until peaks form. Fold whipped cream into frosting. Cover and chill until it’s firm enough to spread.
Place one layer upside down, spread a small layer of jam, followed by a small layer of frosting, covered in chopped strawberries. Repeat for the second layer. Place the top layer right side up. Cover the sides and top evenly with the rest of the frosting.
Here is the free printable for the little watercolor birthday signs I made. Just print, cut out, and glue onto a pie pop stick.
A few weeks ago, I found this recipe on Pinterest and I had honestly been thinking about it ever since. Last Wednesday, I was having my friends over for dinner so I decided I should probably make it then so that I would have people to help me eat it (and not devour it all myself and become the size of a house). Other then the fact that it tastes like heaven, the best thing about this cake is you can make it in very little time. Like I got home from work at 5:30 and my friends were coming at 7 and I had enough time to fluff my house, make this cake, and prepare the mango salsa that went with my dinner by the time they got here. That’s what I call efficient, people.
This recipe makes enough for an 8X8 pan, but I didn’t have that so I doubled it for a 9X13 pan which worked well
Cake:
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 2 mashed super ripe bananas (my bananas were not ripe enough yet so I compensated by adding a little more sugar when the batter didn’t taste sweet enough for my liking)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I added a touch more because I always add a touch more vanilla. It is one of my hard and fast baking rules.)
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Frosting:
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract (the original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste but I surely didn’t have that and was also out of regular vanilla beans. Regular vanilla extract worked just fine. Also, please don’t buy imitation vanilla. That’s gross.)
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
Cake:
Preheat oven to 375 (350 if you are using a glass pan). Cream together sugar, sour cream, egg, and butter. Mash up your bananas and add those and the vanilla. Mix in flour, salt and baking soda and pour into a greased 8X8 pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean.
Frosting:
Cream butter and sugar. Slowly add cream and then vanilla and mix until smooth. Spread on cake once it is cool.
I’ve been having a rough few weeks at work. Ok that is an understatement; I have been miserable, and unfortunately it will be continuing through most of spring and summer. To top off my week last week, I was in a four car accident on the way home from the city I have been traveling to for work, which totaled my car. Corey really hates to see me when I am so down, so he has been acting as super-husband recently. One particularly gruesome day, I came home to find freshly baked cookies and a sweet note. Another day, I came home and he had painted our little sitting room off of the bedroom. Finally, last Thursday, he made this delicious blueberry coffee cake that I wanted to share with you guys. Even on the roughest days, I feel oh so fortunate to have him.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
Topping
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon cold butter
Directions:
1) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy in a large bowl. Beat in the egg. Combine 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt and then gradually take turns between adding flour mixture and milk to creamed mixture.
2) Toss blueberries with remaining flour. Stir blueberries and cream cheese into mixture and then transfer to a greased 8 inches square baking dish.
3) For topping, combine flour and sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly and sprinkle over batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
