Mini banana muffins are better when rolled in cinnamon sugar

I made these banana muffins yesterday and they turned out good, but a little white looking as my mother pointed out.  They were definitely cooked through, but hadn't gotten any color on top.  This was partly my fault for not adding any whole wheat flour to the recipe, a lot of times that's how I hearty-up an anemic looking muffin.  If you use only white flour a muffin turns out more like a cupcake and loses it's breakfast appeal.

Banana Oatmeal Cinnamon Mini-Muffins with Golden Raisins
Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 mashed overripe banana
• 1/2 cup raisins

• cinnamon sugar for dusting 

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 and spray two mini-muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.  In a small bowl add oats to milk and let soak while preparing batter.  Mix flour, b powder, b soda, and salt in a small bowl, set aside.  In another bowl mash the bananas and add b sugar, egg, and oil.  Add milk and oat mixture to bananas.  Now pour the wet into the dry and fold to combine, add raisins and fold a couple of more times.  Don't over-mix at this point.  Divvy the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 12 minutes.  Test the center of the muffin, it should bounce back when you poke it, better a little under than over-done.  Pull the muffins out of the oven and while still warm throw them into a bowl of cinnamon sugar.  Completely coat the muffins and then let them cool on a wire rack.  Enjoy!!

Makin' bread on the weekend

Bread is really fun.  I have found a few really easy recipes that turn out pretty much every time and are big crowd pleasers.  I'm adding this one to the list.  This recipe was a little off for me, I had to add a significant amount of white flour to the dough to get it to come together.  I added 1/4 cup at a time and probably added about one additional cup all together.  I also had to throw away my first starter because my yeast didn't turn out.  It didn't foam so I had to start all over.  No biggie I just hate to waste all that honey.  Anyway...

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Raisin Bread
Recipe adapted from Naturally Ella

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup warm water
• 1 package yeast
• ½ cup honey
• 3 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1½ cup whole wheat
• ½ cup white flour (plus more)
• 1 cup raisins

Method: 

Start by placing water, yeast, and honey in the bowl of stand mixer. Stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve yeast and honey, let sit for 5-10 minutes or until mixtures begins to foam. (If this does not happen your yeast was either old or your water was too cold or hot or your yeast was no good.)  Once yeast is ready, add oil, salt, oatmeal, and 1 cup of the whole wheat flour.  Add raisins.  Begin to knead with dough hook, adding the rest of the whole wheat flour and white flour as needed until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.  I had to add about 1 cup of extra white flour at this point, this may be different for you so don't take my word for it (dough should still be kind of soft, just not sticky.)  Continue to knead for 10 minutes.  Once done kneading set in a warm spot to rise.  If there are no sunny spots outside I turn the oven on to the lowest degree for a few minutes and then turn it off and make sure it's just warm and let it rise in there.  Let dough rise until doubled in size- usually about an hour.  Turn dough out and shape into a loaf or some rolls and place on a parchment-papered baking sheet. Again, place in warm spot and let rise until dough doubles in size-this is usually about 45 minutes.  Heat oven to 375˚, spray loaf lightly with water, sprinkle oatmeal on top, and spray with water again. Bake for 45 minutes or until bread is golden on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool and slice.

Bran muffins on the weekend

How does a Maida Heatter bran muffin with fresh Jersey blueberries sound?  I went to Long Beach Island this past week with my friend Maya and her family.  We had a great time even though there was no sun for my whole visit!!  My friends Phil and Alisha went out fishing one night and cought bluefish that we cooked for dinner.  That was definitely the highlight of the vacation.  Fresh bluefish with garlic roasted in the oven.  On the way home I stopped at a farm stand on 206 that had the best watermelon I've had all year.  I also got tomatoes, peaches, green beans, and blueberries.  The first pint of blueberries got eaten pretty much right away, but the second one I reserved for baking.  And that's how this muffin came about...

Maida Heatter's Bran Muffins with Blueberries
Adapted from Maida Heatter via Star Chefs

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dark or light molasses or honey

• 2 eggs (large grade)
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk

• 1 1/2 cups bran cereal (do not use flakes, Maida recommends Kellogg's All-Bran)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds

• 1/2 cup unsifted whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsifted all purpose white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

If your oven can not fit both muffin tins side by side on the middle rack, adjust the 2 racks to divide the oven into 3rds.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Butter 18 2 3/4 inch muffin forms. Note: Buttering the tins will create a very nice crust for the muffins, if using paper cups the crust may be diminished but the muffins will keep longer.
Melt butter over low heat. In a large mixing bowl combine the melted butter, sugar and molasses or honey and stir to mix.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk to mix.
Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture stirring with a wire whisk to blend. Mix in the bran and raisins and let stand for a few minutes. Or cover and refrigerate overnight. Stir in pupmkin seeds and blueberries.
Sift together flours, salt, and baking soda and add to bran mixture. Stir quickly with rubber spatula just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
With a large spoon, fill prepared cups with batter about 2/3rds full.
Bake for 15 minutes rotating muffin pans once to insure even cooking. Muffins will be done when they spring back from touch. Note: If muffin mixture has been refrigerated, cooking time will be 4 minutes longer. Take muffins from oven and remove from baking tins immediately and cool on rack.

**Notes:

So in addition to the blueberries I added pumpkin seeds (because I had some in the fridge to use up) instead of walnuts.  I also used bran flakes even though she prefers to use actual bran cereal.  I opted for the molasses rather than the honey- I really like that dark richness from the molasses.  Lastly, I used buttermilk as my milk.  

Muffin Thursday: Sweet Potato Zucchini Muffins

This is a great recipe. I love a muffin with a lot of stuff in it. And anything that fills the house with cinnamon smell is a keeper.

The original recipe is from Bake-A-Holic. I made a few changes. I made it half whole wheat flour and half white, I quartered the sugar, subbed out some of the oil, and made the whole eggs into yolks because I eat the whites and save the yolks for baking.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup ap flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy milk or regular milk or OJ- whatever your preference
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small zucchini- grated
1 small sweet potato- peeled and grated
1/2 cup nuts (I used pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup raisins or craisins (I used some of both)

Method:

Preheat oven to 450.
Combine first paragraph of dry ingredients in a small bowl, set aside.
Combine 2nd paragraph of wet ingredients in another bowl, set aside.
Add dry to wet and combine, don't over-mix.
Add grated veggies, seeds, and dried fruit, mix until just combined.
Divide batter into prepared muffin tin and throw them in the oven for 5 minutes at 450. Then bring the temp down to 400 and bake for about 18 or so minutes more until they are mostly done in the middle.
The zucchini is so wet they might be a little under in the middle, it's ok, they'll set up as they cool.

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.

Whole Wheat Raisin Challah

I came across this Challah recipe on Naturally Emma. My mom used to make Challah bread at the bakery and since I'm on a bread kick and the recipe looked similar to the other breads I've been making I decided to try it. I made the dough and worked on a poster for school while it rose. Then I braided the dough and let it rise again, finished my poster and put it in the oven for 30 mins. When I cut it I decided maybe it should have stayed in for another 5 minutes, it was a tiiiiiiiny bit undercooked. I cut off a piece and went for a run with Lauren in Flourtown.

For my first official loaf of bread it came out well. Not as light and buttery as the white flour Challah I'm used to but the whole wheat has it's own rustic charm. The only changes I made were to add raisins to the dough and the sesame seeds to the top after brushing it with the egg wash. Next time I'm going to try a traditional white flour recipe and get it really light and fluffy inside.

Dough Ingredients:

* 1 cup water (luke warm)
* 1 package yeast
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 whole egg
* 2 cup whole wheat (or white wheat) flour
* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup raisins

Egg Wash Ingredients:

* 1 egg yolk
* 2 tablespoons water

Sprinkle On Top:

* Any seeds you want- sesame, poppy, sea salt, herbs etc.

Instructions:

1. Combine water, yeast, and 2 tablespoons of sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for five minutes until yeast begins to bubble.

2. Add the rest of the sugar, salt, egg, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix until combine with dough hook. Continue to add flour until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the mixer and dough begins to form one big ball. Continue to mix until dough becomes smooth and elastic (around 8-10 minutes longer).

3. Remove bowl from mixer and place in a warm place covered with a towl. Let rise until doubled- around an hour.

4. After first rise, remove dough from bowl and divide into three pieces. Roll each piece into a snake-like strand and squeeze together one end of all three strands. (We are going to braid them together). After you squeeze the ends together to start the braid, tuck under the joining spot so you can't see where all of the strands come together. Then oil your hands with olive oil so the dough is easy to handle and start your braid. Make it nice and tight. When you finish the braid squeeze all three ends together so the braid doesn't come undone and tuck the end under again letting the weight of the loaf hold the end together underneath. Quickly and carefully- so you don't mess up the form- transfer the bread from your counter to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Place loaf in warm spot and let rise again until doubled- half hour to forty-five minutes.

5. Towards the end of the second rise, preheat oven to 375˚. In a bowl, mix one egg yolk with two tablespoons of water- brush loaf (making sure entire surface is covered). Now you can sprinkle on your seeds if you want to- I used black sesame. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.

Cinnamon Swirl Povitica Bread

Remember those cinnamon swirl pinwheel snack cakes that your mom used to put in your lunch when you were little? I used to unroll them before I ate them. Well this bread is exactly like that.

I made the dough, went to the coffee shop for an hour to do some work, walked over to the new Green Street Consignment and got a pair of AG Jeans for $24.00, then went home and made my bread. The dough needed 90 mins to rise so I had plenty of time to do some shopping, and since I had to leave my mom at the consignment shop because she was taking so long to try on dresses, I ended up rolling the dough out all by myself- my first adventure with yeast was a huge success!!

I found this recipe on Brownie Bite's Blog. I added raisins to the filling and I'm thinking next time apples or chunky applesauce in there too. Or some kind of a coffee cake crumble filling. There are a lot of possibilities. I also added some extra cinnamon, right before I rolled up the dough in a spiral. Ooooh I should have sprinkled some on top before I put it in the oven too!! Next time...

Ingredients:

ACTIVATING THE YEAST:
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/4 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

FOR THE DOUGH:
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour, measured then sifted

FOR THE FILLING:
1 1/2 cups walnuts, ground or chopped
1 1/2 cups raisins
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

FOR THE TOPPING:
1 egg, beaten (to brush onto the dough)
Mixture of demerara (or any raw sugar), cinnamon, and cardamom


Method:

ACTIVATE THE YEAST:
In a small bowl, stir 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp flour and yeast into 2 TBS warm water. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to stand for 5 minutes until bubbly.

MAKE THE DOUGH:
In a medium saucepan, heat the milk to just below boiling , stirring constantly. Allow to cool slightly.

In bowl of mixer, add the scalded milk to 3 TBS sugar and 3/4 tsp salt until combined. Add the beaten egg, 1 TBS melted butter, and the yeast mixture. Add 1/4 cup of the sifted flour. Stir until combined. Slowly add small amounts of the remaining flour (1 3/4 cups) until the dough begins to clean the bowl. (I had to add a couple more tbsp of flour to really get the dough to pull together).

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, continuing to add small amounts of flour until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Place dough ball into a greased mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 90 minutes or until doubled in size.

Go shopping

TO MAKE THE FILLING:
In a bowl, mix together the walnuts with sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom.

In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter to boiling, and then pour over the nut mixture.

Allow to cool slightly and then add egg yolk and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Allow mixture to come to room temperature.

ASSEMBLING THE DOUGH:
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and with a floured rolling pin roll out dough to a rectangle approximately 10×12 inches. Continue rolling until dough is very, very thin. Occasionally lift the dough and sprinkle extra flour on your surface as needed to prevent sticking and tearing.

Spread nut filling over the top of dough, leaving a little room around the edges. Spread raisins on dough as well. Shake some extra cinnamon on there while you're at it.

Carefully and slowly roll the dough up like a jelly roll. Starting at the center, gently pull the log toward the edges to make it slightly longer.

Using a 9×5 loaf pan as a guide, create an S-shape with your dough that will fit inside of the pan.
Thoroughly grease your pan and lay the dough inside. Then brush with a beaten egg and top with raw sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom.

Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes. Turn down oven temperature to 300F and bake an additional 45 minutes. Add an aluminum foil tent to dough if it starts to brown too quickly or too much. Bread is done when it is a deep golden brown, begins to pull away at the edges, and has a hollow sound when you thunk on it.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before removing from pan. Slice with a serrated knife. Sometimes it’s easiest to turn the loaf upside down before cutting.

Stressed Out Baking: Compost Cookies

Oh my god I am so stressed ouuuuuuuuuut!! So much stuff to do for school and so little time and patience. I wanted to make these cookies- I sort of got the recipe from The Yum Yum Factory but changed a lot of the ingredients in the end.

I've been downloading compost cookie recipes and "kitchen sink cookie" recipes for a while now so the ideas have been piling up in my head. The idea behind this cookie is sweet and salty combined in a pretty basic cookie dough. The Yum Yum Factory recipe calls for pretzels, some people used salted peanuts, potato chips, you name it. I used blue corn chips because that's what I had and I've seen them used before with good results. For the sweet you can use your typical chocolate chips, other chocolate candy like heath bar pieces, butterscotch or toffee bits, coconut, raisins, whatever you want. You can't really go wrong with this recipe. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1 stick Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup tbsp Brown sugar
1/2 tbsp Corn syrup
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 large Egg
3/4 & 2 tbsp cups All purpose flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 cup Dark chocolate (some easter eggs and the head of a dark chocolate bunny coarsely chopped)
1/4 cup Old fashioned oats
several handfuls of crumbled Blue corn chips
1/2 cup Sweetened coconut
1/2 cup Raisins
1 1/2 tbsp Coffee grounds (yes- freshly ground coffee beans)

Method:

First cream the butter, sugars, and the corn syrup in your stand mixer on medium high for 2 or 3 minutes, until it's nice and fluffy.

Next, throw in the egg and vanilla and mix for another 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add the flour mix to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed. Mix just until combined.

Now you add in the sweet and salty ingredients that you chose.

Use a big spoon to form your cookies - it should be about 3 tbls in each cookie. Put them on a tin foil lined cookie sheet, making sure that there is at least 3" between each cookie so they can spread. Put the sheets in the fridge for at least one hour.

Preheat to 375F

Bake for 14-18 minutes depending on the size of the cookies and your oven. They are done when they start to brown around the edges but we left ours in longer because they're good when they're extra brown.

Omar's Carrot Cake Cookies

So my friend Omar must love sandwich cookies because this is another one that I used to make for him. He is the only person in the world who likes a carrot cake without raisins or nuts in it so I made these ultra-plain for him- but I recommend that you stick to the recipe and add lots of raisins and nuts. Tradition!! (Tevia)

These cookies are super soft and cakey and don't hold hold up too long so keep them in the fridge and eat them fast baby!! Original Recipe from Epicurious.

The Cookie

Ingredients:

1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
1 scant cup walnuts (3 ounces), chopped
1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 ounces)

Preparation:

1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets.
2. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
3. Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins at low speed, then add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
4. Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

For the filling-

Ingredients:

2 ounces bar cream cheese, room temperature
2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

1. Blend cream cheese, butter, sugar, and lemon juice with electric mixer until light and fluffy

When your cookies are cool, sandwich them with as much or as little icing as you like, store in tupperware in the fridge. Try to eat these guys as soon as you can or they will start to get soft in the fridge or Omar will break into your kitchen and eat them himself.

Photo Credit: Epicurious

Martha Stewart Gold Standards

So let me share with you a few Martha Recipes that I have made many times with good results. These cookies are delish and always come out great- unlike a very crappy corn muffin recipe of hers that I tried the other week. I ended up feeding that one to the neighbor dogs. Very disappointing Martha. I am in the process of finding a new cornmeal recipe that will make a bangin muffin. I have one to try later this week possibly. But I digress... back to Martha:

Healthy Oatmeal Cookie:

This cookie is for anyone who likes a honey taste. It is also made with oil instead of butter so it's a dense, heart-healthy cookie.

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours and baking powder; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and stir to combine; mix in oats and currants.
Using two tablespoons of dough per cookie, roll into balls; place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper, 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Cornmeal Cookie:

I have made this cookie a hundred times. It is a huge fave at work, even with non-sweet lovers. It's really easy to make and comes out perfect every time. Sometimes I add chocolate chips to it as well.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, lemon zest, and salt.
In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, and egg until combined. Gradually add dry ingredients until moistened.
Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 1/2 tablespoons; place on 2 baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. With fingers, flatten balls to 3/4-inch thickness.
Bake until lightly browned around edges, 20 to 25 minutes; transfer to racks to cool completely.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies:

These cookies are a lot like a "brownie cookie" so I have made them on request for my best friend, Lauren. This is a recipe that takes melted chocolate and chocolate chips, if you replace a couple of Tbsp of flour with cocoa powder they would be a triple chocolate treat!! This is big crowd pleaser too but I tend to make them sparingly because I bake on a budget and they require a lot of chocolate. You could probably do the cocoa and melted chocolate and leave out the chocolate chips at the end and they would still be great while saving some choco-money.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, lemon zest, and salt.
In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, and egg until combined. Gradually add dry ingredients until moistened.
Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 1/2 tablespoons; place on 2 baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. With fingers, flatten balls to 3/4-inch thickness.
Bake until lightly browned around edges, 20 to 25 minutes; transfer to racks to cool completely.

Cook's Note

Don't worry if the batter seems thin. It should look more like a brownie batter than a cookie dough.

Photo Credits: Martha Stewart

Jenn's Didn't Have Any Eggs In the House Oatmeal Cookies

Question: what happens when you bake at Jenn's house and she doesn't have any eggs in the fridge? Answer: you google an eggless oatmeal raisin cookie recipe and pray for the best.

Ingredients:

1/3 C Butter
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1/8 C White Sugar
1/3 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 C AP Flour
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/3 Tsp B Soda
1/8 C Boiling Water (we used cold and it didn't matter)
2/3 C Oats (we used actual granola)
1/4 C Raisins
1/2 C Chocolate Chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.
We melted the butter in the microwave and then mixed it with the butter using Jen's wand mixer. Then we added the vanilla, salt, b soda, water, and last the flour and oats and choc chips. This recipe only makes about 6 nice big cookies because we were just baking a small batch for fun. Put them in the oven for 12 mins to start then add 2 mins until they're starting to get brown, but take them out of the oven while still a little soft because they are going to harden up and get crispy once you remove them from the oven.

Never-Fail Banana Muffins

This is another recipe passed from my mother to me that I have been making for years. I don't really use a recipe anymore, I'm sure I change it with every batch. It's really easy and forgiving as hell. You can add all kinds of stuff and take away ingredients if someone has allergies.

Ingredients:

1 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 C AP Flour
1 Tsp B Soda
1 Tsp B Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
A Few Shakes of Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice, Ginger, and Nutmeg- depending on what you like

4 Bananas- old and brown (mashed)
1/4 C Oil
1/4 C Sugar/ Brown Sugar/ Honey- more or less depending on how sweet you like it
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Molasses
Milk/ Soymilk/ OJ/ Applesauce- depends on what's in the fridge (This liquid is added only if
your batter is too dry- it probably will be because of the whole wheat flour) so add some
liquid of your choice in small splashes until the batter comes together and soaks up all the
flour.

Raisins
Nuts
Seeds
Oats
Coconut
Chocolate chips
Whatever you feel like adding that you have lying in the cabinet

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400- muffins like it hot
2. Spray your muffin or mini-muffin tin with Pam
3. Combine all the dry and all the wet in 2 separate bowls
4. Mix each bowl until all the wet is combined and all the dry combined in their separate bowls
5. Pour the dry into the wet and mix with a wooden spoon just until the flour is incorporated-
do not over mix at this point or the muffins won't have any fluff to them.
6. Now at this point if your batter needs a little more moisture you are going to add one of
the optional liquid choices from the ingredients list. Just a little at a time until it all
comes together with no clumpy flour chunks. Remember not to over-mix it.
7. Lastly add whatever nut, fruit, seed, blah blah you want- totally up to you- walnuts and
raisins are always a good standard.
8. Fill your muffin tins to the top and pop them in the oven
9. Bake regular muffins to start at 20 mins and add 3 mins until they bounce back to the touch
and a toothpick comes out clean- better to under-bake a little than have a dry muffin so err
on the side of under-done. Mini muffins start at 10 to 12 mins and go from there.

If you are doing a loaf- like a banana bread- try 35-40 mins to start at 350-375 and add
time from there- this will take longer because it's more dense.
10. Let muffins cool and then pop them out and enjoy!!

Note:

These guys can be made without eggs- just add some applesauce, without oil- again sub applesauce or some other liquid from the optional liquid list. They can be made with gluten-free flour, with nuts or without, basically they can be tailored to any need.
I often make them with no added sugar- they're not cupcakes people, they're muffins- like for breakfast.

Bran Muffins

Well Maida Heatter, you've done it again. This is by far the best bran muffin I've ever had. Once again, they used to sell these at my mom's bakery and we would cut them in half, toast them, and slather them in butter on weekend mornings.  was kind enough to type out the recipe for us.

Maida Heatter's Bran Muffins
Recipe from Maida Heatter via Star Chefs

Yields: 18 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dark or light molasses or honey
• 2 eggs (large grade)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups bran cereal (do not use flakes, Maida recommends Kellogg's All-Bran)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup walnuts broken into large pieces
• 1/2 cup unsifted whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsifted all purpose white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

If your oven can not fit both muffin tins side by side on the middle rack, adjust the 2 racks to divide the oven into 3rds.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Butter 18 2 3/4 inch muffin forms. Note: Buttering the tins will create a very nice crust for the muffins, if using paper cups the crust may be diminished but the muffins will keep longer.
Melt butter over low heat. In a large mixing bowl combine the melted butter, sugar and molasses or honey and stir to mix.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk to mix.
Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture stirring with a wire whisk to blend. Mix in the bran and raisins and let stand for a few minutes. Or cover and refrigerate overnight. Stir in walnuts.
Sift together flours, salt, and baking soda and add to bran mixture. Stir quickly with rubber spatula just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
With a large spoon, fill prepared cups with batter about 2/3rds full.
Bake for 15 minutes rotating muffin pans once to insure even cooking. Muffins will be done when they spring back from touch. Note: If muffin mixture has been refrigerated, cooking time will be 4 minutes longer. Take muffins from oven and remove from baking tins immediately and cool on rack.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was one of the best Martha recipes I've ever made. Click here for link. She's got a few recipes that I go back to again and again, and this is one of them. So I baked mine in a spring-form pan rather than indi ramekins. I also added walnuts to make it a little more interesting. Aaaaaand I had to use random old french bread that I found in the freezer. Another time I threw in some day-old scones that I bought from my local cooperative grocery store and subbed some of the sugar with mashed old bananas. And hell- sprinkle some brown sugar on it for good luck.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter, room temperature, for ramekins
6 tablespoons dark-brown sugar
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup bourbon
1/3 cup hot water
One 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of salt
One 12-ounce, day-old loaf brioche or challah bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter six 10-ounce ramekins or custard cups, and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and set aside on a baking sheet. Place raisins in a small bowl, and cover with bourbon, if using, and the hot water; let soak until plump, about 20 minutes. Drain; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, granulated sugar, milk, vanilla, spices, and salt. Toss in the bread cubes, and stir gently to evenly coat; let stand a few minutes. Fold in the raisins. Divide among prepared dishes, pressing down slightly to make level.
Bake until custard is set in the center and top is golden, about 40 minutes. If bread browns too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil. Remove from oven; let cool slightly. To serve, un-mold onto plates; dust with confectioners' sugar.

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart