Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Nutmeg Pancakes

I'm getting so into pancakes lately!! This morning I woke up and said to my mom "if you make the coffee I'll make the pancakes". And pancakes are pretty easy to make vegan. You just need the liquid, the flour, and the b powder. No eggs, no butter or milk necessary. They are so versatile and so much fun to cook. I'm perfecting my flipping technique. Needs work.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Dash of salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup of water- more as needed to thin the batter to the right consistency
1/4 cup buttermilk or regular milk or soymilk

2 Bananas- cut up
Handful of walnuts- chopped up

Method:

Combine all dry goods (1st paragraph of ingredients) in one bowl, set aside.
Combine all wet ingredients (2nd paragraph) in another bowl, set aside.
Mix dry into wet, just til combined.
You may need to add more water at this point to get the right consistency. It should be like thick soup.
Add bananas and walnuts and mix til just combined.

Heat your skillet to med-high heat and melt some butter on the pan.
Drop on a small tester pancake and wait until it starts to bubble, then flip it and let it cook for another 20 seconds or so, when it comes free of the pan easily it's done.
Now you know your pan is properly heated and you can cook the rest.

Photo Credit: cuizoo

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Mom texted me today and said she needed a cake for a birthday at work. Right away I remembered this banana cake I've been wanting to try...

This cake is from White On Rice Couple. I changed the original recipe by adding nutmeg and molasses and halving the sugar. 3 cups of sugar AND 8 bananas? You're joking right? I also left out the pecans and the butterscotch sauce all together because I didn't have the time to get in to all that fanciness.

Cake Ingredients:

3 c Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Nutmeg

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted Butter, room temp
1 1/2 c Brown Sugar
4 Egg Yolks
2 whole Eggs
1/2 c Canola Oil
1 T Molasses
8 ripe Bananas

Icing Ingredients:

8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
2 sticks Butter
3 c Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 10" cake pans or use two 9" pans and make a couple of cupcakes too.
Mash bananas and set aside.
Mix flour, b powder, salt, and nutmeg and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer beat the butter on high until fluffy.
Add sugar and cream with the butter.
Add eggs and mix just til combined.
Add canola and molasses and mix til combined.
Add dry ingredients to mixer and mix just til combined.
Add bananas and mix just til combined.
Pour batter into cake and muffin tins depending on the size you are making.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, the cakes are done when they are firm to the touch and a knife comes out clean from the center.
While the cake is cooling make your icing.
Beat the butter and cream cheese in a mixer until fluffy, then add powdered sugar one cup at a time beating well and then add vanilla.
Once the cake is cool cut each layer into 2 horizontal pieces making 4 pieces all together.
Layer each piece of cake with cream cheese icing in between and then ice the top and decorate with walnuts.

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Pancakes

I made these awesome pancakes for my family yesterday morning. They were really tasty and very very easy. I made the batter very early in the morning and just left it in the fridge until they arrived. They were so good they didn't even really need syrup. Just a little butter and yummmmm...

Original recipe from Eatliverun, it had chocolate chips which I left out but that would be awesome too. I doubled the original recipe because I was feeding several hungry people. Also next time I'm adding either vanilla or molasses. It seems to me that pancakes are just more liquidy muffins, so you could probably put all kinds of nuts or seeds or the zest of an orange, or fruit in them.

Ingredients:

3 small sweet potatoes- peeled and diced, microwaved to cook and then mashed
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 cup milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice

water if the mix is too thick

Method:

Mix all the dry in one bowl and all the wet in another bowl while you are microwaving your potatoes.
Mash your potatoes and mix them in to the wet ingredients.
Add dry to wet and mix just until combined.
At this point you would add your chocolate chips or what have you, then possibly a bit of water if the mix is too thick.
Heat up your skillet with a little oil or butter and test out the dough to see if the pan is hot enough.
When the test pancake is really getting cooked properly you are ready to start cooking the rest.

Coconut Banana Oatmeal Bars

I was feeling adventurous today... I took a simple bar recipe and made it into a delicious combination of natural sweetness with a butterscotch surprise.

So if you leave out the peanut butter and the butterscotch chips this recipe is crazy healthy- no added sugar, no gluten, no animal products. It's vegan, gluten-free, and sugar conscious. You can definitely add nuts, chocolate chips, any kind of seed or other fruit you want, a tbsp of molasses would make it darker and richer, I think the possibilities are endless. Next time I want to try baking it in a smaller pan so they come out thicker, because they don't rise they stay short and dense. It might be nice to have them thicker and crustier on the outside with a soft inside. Some sort of crusty top might be nice too, like coconut or oats on the top that will get toasted and brown. Hmmm...

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

2 large, ripe bananas
2 apples, peeled and grated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peanut butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 350
Line a 9x9 pan with tin foil and brush foil lightly with canola oil
In one bowl combine all dry ingredients- 1st paragraph
In another bowl combine all wet ingredients- 2nd paragraph
Combine wet and dry and pour into pan
With a fork press the mixture flat into the pan
Bake for about 35 mins or until the bars are brown and toasted on the edges
Let sit for a few minutes- they do taste really good warm so you can eat them right away
Keep in tupperware in fridge because of the fruit

Whole Wheat Rubarb Raisin Muffins with Nutmeg

So I figured out a way to use up all of the rhubarb... I took this Armenian Nutmeg Cake and made it into a muffin of sorts. I added rhubarb, raisins, orange zest, made it half whole wheat and half white flour, and accidentally added some cardamom. I backed off on the sugar and changed the cooking time and temp.

Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk or you can sub applesauce
2 tbs hot water

1 cup ap flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup polenta (to add crispness)
Just under 1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cardamom
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbs ground chia or flax
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup raisins
rhubarb- as much or as little as you like- I used more than 2 cups
zest of one orange

Method:

Preheat oven to 400.
Mix all wet ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer.
Mix all dry ingredients in a separate small bowl.
Pour dry into wet and mix just until dough comes together.
Stop mixer and add rhubarb, raisins, and zest.
Turn on mixer for like 5 seconds just to incorporate.
Pour muffin mix into paper- lined muffin tin.
Bake about 20 ish minutes until muffins bounce back to the touch and have a little color on top.

Muffin Thursday: Pear Almond Chocolate Spice Muffins

Christmas has come early!! Muffin Thursday has arrived a whole day early this week. Instead of studying for a huge test that I have tomorrow- I can't look at my notes anymore I'm going insane- I decided to make cookies and these delish muffins. From Pastry Affair, these muffins have the perfect balance of spice and cocoa powder.

Unfortunately I was halfway done the recipe when I realized my mom didn't have any cardamom, so I changed the recipe to ginger and nutmeg. And I threw in some allspice and extra cinnamon. I'll try to remember all of the changes I made. I also halved the sugar. Remember- muffin not cupcake. I think this same basic recipe would be really good with cranberries and walnuts or chocolate chips and hazelnuts instead of the pear and nuts. The basic batter recipe is really easy and lends itself to a lot of different flavor possibilities. It's easy to take cake recipes and make them into muffins by backing off on the sugar and changing the bake temp from 350 to 400 and the bake time from an hour to around 25 mins.

Ingredients:

1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2-3 pears, diced (I used Red Pears)
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put muffin papers in a 12 cup muffin pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together boiling water and cocoa powder until cocoa is dissolved.

In another small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil together. Add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract. Alternatively add the flour and cocoa mixtures, mixing gently between additions. Don't mix too much. Using a spatula, fold in the diced pears and chopped almonds.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

And now back to pretending to study.