Banana Crumb Muffins

I am still in awe of my SITS day last week.  If you haven't joined SITS yet, please take a few minutes and join these special ladies.  The amount of support I got from my fellow SITSas on my SITS day was just...mind-boggling.  It was truly awesome.  I'm still reading all the comments and trying to say thank you to all of you who were kind enough to visit and comment.  And thank you to all of my new followers, it's great to have you with me!

In the process of having my SITS day, I found a new blog, Irresistible Icing, and I managed to win a giveaway Mimi hosted there, so I've got an awesome new cookbook coming my way.  Make sure to visit Mimi, she's got a beautiful blog full of fashion, trying to watch her weight, and good old fashioned girlie fun!  I was so excited to hear I won her cookbook giveaway!  Talk about a jackpot - a new cookbook and a SITS day?  Wow, it doesn't get much better than this for me!

When I started thinking about what to post next, I was honestly shocked that I hadn't already posted this particular recipe, since it's been around my kitchen for quite a long time - before I even started this blog!  It was actually one of Toddler's very first favorite foods, back when he was not even 1 yet.  I was obsessed with trying to make healthy "treats" for him, and fiddled with my mother's old banana muffin recipe to make it a little more healthy, little being the operative word.  I've never been a huge fan of banana bread of banana muffins, even I like these...especially if you heat them up in the microwave for 10 seconds.  These muffins also freeze beautifully.  To defrost, just stick them in the microwave for about 10 seconds at a time until thawed nicely.  This recipe makes 24 muffins, but you certainly can half the recipe and make just 12 if you like.

He's convinced they're blueberry muffins.  He's also convinced that he can open the clubhouse door on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so much so that he tries to reach through the TV to open it.  Oh well.  At least he loves eating the muffins!

Banana Crumb Muffins

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1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

6 bananas, mashed

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2/3 cup canola oil

Topping (optional):

2/3 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place muffin papers into 2 muffin tins, or thoroughly grease all 24 muffin cups.  

2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients - flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl, mash your bananas with a fork, and then use a mixer (hand or stand) to beat the bananas with the sugar, oil, and eggs.  Stir the banana/sugar mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened - do not overbeat!

3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. 

4. In a smaller bowl, mix together softened butter with brown sugar, then flour and cinnamon.  Mixture will be crumbly, don't worry, this is a good thing.  Sprinkle generously over muffins.

5. Bake muffins at 375 for 18-20 minutes, until tops spring back after a quick tap.  Muffins will still be a bit moist.

Super Yummy Vanilla Waffles

Okay, okay, I admit it.  I don't use pure maple syrup on my pancakes and waffles.  Oh, the sacrilege!  I know, I know, pure maple syrup is supposed to be like the nectar of gods...but I grew up on Karo Pancake syrup.  Green label Karo, which is becoming harder and harder to find where I live.  It doesn't even call itself maple syrup.  That's how far removed it is from maple syrup.  But darn it, it tastes like home.

Growing up, my mom and I had waffles for dinner when my dad worked nights sometimes, when she had a long day or when she just didn't feel like cooking anything complicated.  She always used Jiffy Biscuit Mix for the waffles and we doused them in Karo.  I still sometimes make my waffles with Jiffy, and every bite makes me feel like a kid again.  Most often, though, I try to make my waffles from scratch.  In part, because cooking from scratch is important to me and also because I love trying new recipes and experimenting.  This recipe is an amalgam of three or four different ones, and it came out super yummy.  Nice and light, with a nice vanilla flavor to them, which of course complimented the Karo syrup just right.  This recipe doubles nicely, and freezes beautifully - just lay your cooked waffles out on cooling racks until fully cooled, and then pack up into large freezer bags.  Pop them in the toaster to reheat, and voila, it's like fresh waffles all over again!

Yummy Vanilla Waffles 
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2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat your waffle iron.  Beat eggs in a large bowl until fluffy, then add the remaining ingredients and beat until just smooth.  Do not overmix!

2. Cook according to your waffle iron's instructions.  Beware, this batter does spread well when you close your waffle iron!

Homemade Chocolate Doughnuts

Valentine's Day this year in our household was pretty low-key - we'd decided to upgrade our cell phones for Valentine's Day, so I already knew what my gift for the day was, but I wanted to do something special. Naturally, I turned to my apron and trusty oven, and made some homemade baked doughnuts. My absolute favorite doughnut is a chocolate cake donuts drizzled with yummy glaze. I love Dunkin Donuts for doughnuts. They're certainly not as good as they used to be, but they're still pretty darn good.

These doughnuts were pretty good, although given that they're baked rather than fried, they're not quite as awesome as a good old fashioned fried doughnut. But you can comfort yourself that they are (mildly) more healthful this way. Not to mention less messy in the kitchen. I always make the biggest mess when I fry things. These are definitely a solid doughnut for a special breakfast, and perfect for a nice chocolate treat. These are best when they're warm, though they will keep for about a day. You must use a doughnut pan, but you can find these pretty cheaply on Amazon

Baked Chocolate Doughnuts

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1 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp melted butter

Glaze

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tbsp - 6 tbsp HOT water (depending on if you want icing or a glaze)

1. Preheat oven to 325.

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar and vanilla until thick.

3. Combine milk and butter in another bowl.

4. Alternately, combine egg mixture and milk mixture with flour mixture and mix until smooth and soft.

5. Spray doughnut pan lightly with cooking oil. Fill with batter 2/3 full.

6. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool (mostly). Carefully remove doughnuts from pan. Repeat with rest of batter.

7. Frost or glaze.

Mom's Banana Bread

Personally, I'm not a fan of banana bread. Most people love it. I'm not most people, especially when it comes to food. I'll eat an occasional banana, but put some bananas in a bread, and I'm just not interested. Sure, it smells good when it's baking, but there's something terribly unappealing about banana bread to me. Enough about my weird opinion of banana bread...

Husband, on the other hand, is a huge fan. Particularly if you warm up a slice and top it with some vanilla ice cream. He tells me that this is some truly awesome banana bread - and I will just take his word for it!

This is my mom's recipe, which she's been making just about all of her life, though the whole-wheat flour is a substitution I made. I think a little bit of whole wheat flour makes things taste heartier, which makes sense for banana bread. It's a very simple recipe, and I'll bet you've got most of the ingredients in your pantry right now! Happy baking!

Mom's Banana Bread

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1 stick butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Oven preheated to 350 F, grease a 9x5" loaf pan.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl and cream the butter in another. Beat the eggs and bananas into the butter, then stir this mixture into the dry ingredients. Finally, stir in the vanilla.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for around 1 hour, but start checking earlier at about 45 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test.

4. Let cool in pan for at least 15-20 minutes, then take loaf out of pan. (I usually let the loaf fully cool before I take it out, but that's just because I usually forget!)

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

While Cook's Illustrated may have called these the Best Buttermilk Pancakes, I personally think that my IHOP Pancakes are better! These were still quite tasty, but they just can't compare. These compare to the Barefoot Contessa's sour cream pancakes recipe, and it's a similar flavor to the IHOP Pancakes, but the IHOP Pancakes are really just so awesome that they're aren't words for it. These are a good alternative recipe, if you've got some sour cream to use up.

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Printer-friendly recipe

2 cups unbleached flour

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1-2 tsp vegetable oil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Spray wire rack set inside baking sheet with nonstick cooking spay; place in oven. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, eggs and melted butter. Make well in center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients; gently stir until just combined (batter should remain lumpy with a few streaks of flour). Do NOT overmix. Allow batter to sit 10 minutes before cooking.

2. Heat 1 tsp oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Using paper towels, carefully wipe out oil, leaving thin film of oil on bottom and sides of pan. Using 1/4 cup measure, portion batter into pan in 4 places. Cook until edges are set, first side is golden brown, and bubbles on the surface are just beginning to break, 2-3 minutes. Using thin, wide spatula, flip pancakes and continue to cook until second side is golden brown, 1-2 minutes longer. Serve pancakes immediately, or transfer to wire rack in preheated oven. Repeat with remaining batter, using remaining oil as necessary.

Yeasted Overnight Waffles

As you've probably noticed from my Menu Plan Monday posts, we have Brinner on Monday nights. Growing up, my mom would often make waffles for dinner or eggs and bacon, especially on nights where my dad was working and it was just the two of us. There's something especially comforting about having breakfast for dinner. It's the epitome of comfort food in my opinion. It's quite possibly Husband's favorite day of the week because he loves brinner so much.

On occasion, I get a wild hair that causes me to try a new recipe for brinner, but more often than not, I come right back to the recipes I know and love. This was one of those times. It's not that we disliked the recipe, it just didn't taste any different than the regular waffles that I make. And while having the batter all ready to go was kind of handy, it only takes a few moments to put the batter together in the first place, so I think I'll stick with my regular recipe for waffles.

Overnight Yeasted Waffles

adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Printer-friendly recipe

1 3/4 cups whole milk

8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast (but not dry active yeast)

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until the butter is melted, about 4 minutes, then let cool off the heat until just slightly warm. Whisk together the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl, then gradually whisk in the warm milk until smooth. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let refrigerate for at least 12 and up to 24 hours.

2. Heat the waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions. When the waffle iron is hot, remove the batter from the refrigerator (the batter will be foamy and doubled in size) and whisk to recombine and deflate. Spread the appropriate amount of bater onto the waffle iron and cook until golden brown, about 3 1/2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter, serving the waffles immediately or holding them in a 200-degree oven until all are cooked. You can place the waffles on a wire rack set over a baking sheet and cover them with a kitchen towel, in a 200-degree oven to keep them warm. When the final waffle is in the iron, remove the towel and allow the waffles to crisp for a few minutes.

** NOTE: Do not substitute lowfat or skim milk in this recipe - it will not work!

IHOP Pancakes

I enjoy IHOP's pancakes a good bit. There's a reason why they are the International House of Pancakes. We don't eat at IHOP very often anymore, so when I spotted this recipe, I was really excited to give it a shot.

Holy moly, these were good. So good that my husband would've probably eaten every single one I made, if I'd let him. Seriously. These kick my usual buttermilk pancakes' butts. These pancakes were light, fluffy, and perfect. I just loved them. I tend to make a ton of pancakes when I make pancakes, though, so I have frozen pancakes for Baby for breakfast in the morning, so next time I make these, I will double the recipe, because it really does make just 8-10 pancakes.

Do yourself a favor. Make brinner for dinner tonight. Seriously. These pancakes will rock your world!

IHOP Pancakes

Printer-friendly recipe

Nonstick Spray
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cooking oil
pinch of salt

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Use a pan with a nonstick surface or apply a little nonstick spray.

2. In a blender or with a mixer, combine all of the remaining ingredients until smooth.

3. Pour the batter by spoonfuls into the hot pan, forming 5-inch circles.

4. When the edges appear to harden, flip the pancakes. They should be golden brown.

5. Cook pancakes on the other side for same amount of time, until golden brown.

Makes 8 to 10 pancakes.

Buttermilk Waffles

I like waffles, but I've always made from them a mix (eek, the horror!). Even my mother, a self-described from-scratch-nazi, has always made waffles from a mix, but from a certain mix. Jiffy mix. The blue box Jiffy biscuit mix that's becoming increasingly harder to find as I get older. The recipe is ridiculously easy - biscuit mix, milk, melted butter and eggs, and hard to screw up. I also love pancakes, and I love my buttermilk pancake recipe, so I thought this week that I would try some buttermilk waffles from scratch and see what I think.

Yes, they were definitely yummy, and the texture was delightful, but I guess when it comes to brinner, I am mildly lazy. My pancake recipe is quite easy, and while this recipe isn't rocket science, it does dirty more dishes and requires egg separating. I think if I make a super yummy breakfast for a special occasion, I'll dust this recipe off, but in the meantime, I'll stick with my Jiffy mix waffles.

Buttermilk Waffles
adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal (optional - I didn't use this)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg , separated
7/8 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted

Directions:

Heat waffle iron. Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Whisk egg yolk with buttermilk and butter. Using a hand mixer, beat egg white on high speed just until stiff peaks hold (do not skip this step – beating your egg whites separately makes a huge difference in the end product)

Slowly add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients while gently mixing. Do not add liquid faster than you can incorporate it. Once all liquid has been added, gently fold egg whites into batter.

Spread batter onto waffle iron (enough to cover) and cook waffle until golden brown. This should take about 3-5 minutes depending on your waffle iron. As a general rule of thumb, your waffle is ready to come off the iron when it stops steaming. Serve immediately.

Yield: 3-4 waffles (note, this recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you’re feeding a family or a crowd)

Printable Recipe

Cinnamon Rolls

Growing up, we ate Mom's cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning after we opened our presents. Cinnamon rolls were always something special to me. Now, as a grown up with my own family, I'm a little more liberal about making cinnamon rolls - it's not just a once a year occurrence. Last week, I baked some cinnamon rolls for my friends when I hosted a playgroup at my house, and I even tried a different cinnamon roll recipe. Not surprisingly, it was not as yummy as the one my mother used to make. I'll have to ask her to write it down one of these days, because I don't think I've ever been able to reproduce them as good as she did. In the meantime, here's a pretty good recipe - my friends loved them - but not the creme de la creme.

Cinnamon Rolls

adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Dough

3/4 cup buttermilk, warmed to 110 degrees

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 large eggs

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 envelope instant or rapid rise yeast

1 1/4 tsp salt

Rolls

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Pinch salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons buttermilk or milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Whisk the buttermilk, melted butter and eggs together in a large liquid measuring cup. Combine 4 cups of the flour, sugar, yeast and salt together in a standing mixer with the dough hook. With the mixer on low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and mix until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes.

2. Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If after 5 minutes more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough clears the side of the bowl but still sticks to the botom.

3. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

4. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt together in a small bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and press it into a 16x12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the melted butter, then sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over top of it, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge. Press on the filling to adhere it to the dough.

5. Loosen the dough from the counter using a bench scrape or metal spatula, and roll the dough into a tight log. Pinch the seam closed and roll the log seam side down. Gently stretch the log to be 18 inches in length with an even diameter and pat the ends to even them.

6. Slice the cylinder into 12 evenly sized rolls (about 1 1/2 inches wide) using a serrated knife. Arrange the rolls cut side down in the prepared baking pan and wrap tightly with greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until the rolls have nearly doubled in size and are pressed against one another, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

7. Flip the rolls out onto a wire rack set over a sheet of parchment paper (for easy cleanup) and let cool for 5 minutes. Whisk the confectioners' sugar, softened cream cheese, buttermilk and vanilla together in a medium bowl until smooth. Flip the rolls upright, drizzle with the glaze and serve.

Printable recipe

Pumpkin Muffins

I have never been a huge pumpkin fan. Growing up, I avoided anything pumpkin. Never had a bite of pumpkin pie, in fact, because I decided that I didn't like the scent, so I wouldn't like the taste. I truly didn't try pumpkin until this year. I'm proud of myself for trying, but I'm still not a fan. It tastes okay, but I'd much prefer chocolate any day. Husband is a huge pumpkin fan - he'd have me bake pumpkin bread all the time if I would, so fortunately, I'm still able to do some pumpkin-related baking and have it all get eaten up. And it turns out, Baby is a huge pumpkin fan.

These muffins were a bit hit with the playgroup crowd - I had baked them mostly for the kids, and Baby seems to want to have one every day at this point. He calls them "pumcake," like a combination of pumpkin and pancake which is really, really cute.

Pumpkin Muffins
from Gourmet magazine, 2006

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin

1/3 c vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice (or 1/8 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice)

1 1/4 cups of sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar (for the topping)

1 tsp cinnamon (for the topping)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line muffin cups with paper liners or lightly grease the tin.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl.

3.Whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

4. Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

5. Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.

6. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Printable recipe

Huffy Puffy

Ever heard of Huffy Puffy? The infamous breakfast pastry? It's apparently quite popular. It's also known as the Puffy Oven Pancake. I decided (around 6 am) this morning to make it for my Father's Day breakfast for Husband (and family), which was both good and bad. I think I might have mis-measured something, because the center didn't rise as much as the edges did, but it still tasted pretty awesome. I forgot to take a picture, because we were too busy eating it.

Huffy Puffy
serves 1-4 people (depending on how many you want to serve)
Printer-friendly recipe

Preheat oven to 475. For each person you're feeding, add 1 egg, 1/4 cup milk, and 1/4 cup flour in a large bowl. Mix well.

Get a large cast iron skillet or gratin pan, and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the oven's all hotted up, put skillet/pan in oven to melt butter. Once butter's melted, pour batter into skillet/pan immediately and bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on how well your Huffy Puffy rises).

Serve hot, and garnish with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, or maple syrup. Super yum!

Type A Mommy's Famous Pancakes

There's little I enjoy more than a yummy, hot breakfast on the weekends with my family. This morning was one of those mornings. I decided to make pancakes for my family, given that I had a half-gallon of buttermilk in the fridge and the poor memory of my powdered buttermilk pancakes from a week or two ago still in my head. Yuck. But after today, all I can remember are super fluffy, yummy pancakes. Even Baby likes them!

They're really quite easy to make...but so far pancakes mixes like Bisquick and Aunt Jemima. The big difference, in my opinion, between a pancake mix and my pancakes is the flavor. Pancake mixes taste okay, but Type A Mommy's Famous Pancakes taste scrumptious. They really do. Don't believe me? Make tomorrow Brinner night, and enjoy some at your house. I just wish I could come make them for you.

Type A Mommy's Famous Pancakes
Printer-friendly recipe

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups real buttermilk
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Beat eggs until frothy with a whisk or fork.
2. Add buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla. Blend well.
3. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Batter will be lumpy - this is OK. Do not overmix.
4. Heat griddle/fry pan to 350 degrees.
5. Pour 1/3 cup per pancake (or thereabouts) to hot griddle. Cook till bubbly and firm around the edges, then flip.

This recipe makes approximately 10-14 pancakes. These pancakes reheat well both in the microwave and toaster if you have leftovers.

Enjoy!

P.S. - They taste really awesome with Karo pancake syrup (with the green label) - that is, if you like thick pancake syrup.