Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

Here is another recipe that has come from my mom. Like I mentioned in my last post, my mom has a lot to do with my love of cooking. Ever since I can remember when ever my mom was cooking or baking, I was in the kitchen with her helping out.

My parents have recently moved to Germany and I haven't had a chance to eat my mom's cooking, so I am trying to master some of her recipes.

 

 My mom and I

Okay enough rambling. Let get started.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 3 large bananas
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flower
• 1/3 cup melted margerine
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your over to 375 F
Lets face it, we all have a pile of banana's in the freezer, they get too brown on the kitchen counter and get thrown in the freezer and they add up... (or is it just me?)

If you are using frozen banana's make sure they have been thawed.

Mash up your banana's and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the egg (lightly beaten), and then add your chocolate chips and vanilla

 

 Mix in the melted butter.

In a separate bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together

 

add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and mix until well incorporated.

 Place muffin papers into your muffin tin and put about 1/4 into each cup.
Bake at 375 F for 20 min

Eggs Benny go Vegetarian

One of my absolute all time favorite breakfasts is Eggs Benny. I could eat this every day of my life and though I would be huge, I would be in heaven.
Oh and I guess this is pretty obvious so far, but I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian, so my recipes do have eggs and dairy in them. 
This eggs benny doesn't have ham or any veggie form of it, though I am sure it would be delicious if you added some veggie breakfast meat of some sort if you would like. I was never a big fan of ham, or bacon, or sausage so it is not something that I usually buy in vegetarian form.
 FYI the hollandaise sauce I make, is not  your average hollandaise, this is the stuff I grew up with. My mom has always made this recipe and to me it is the only way to do it. The sauce has a bit more of a bight to it from the lemon juice and dry mustard, it brings hollandaise to a whole new level.

Eggs Benny for the Vegetarian

 Serves 2

 Ingredients

•  2 whole wheat english muffins
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 4-5 white mushrooms
• 1 shallot (diced)
• salt and pepper 
• 4 eggs

Hollandaise Sauce

• 2 egg yolks
• 1Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter

Like I had said before, this hollandaise recipe came from my mom. A few years ago she made me a cookbook with all of her recipes I grew up on, this book is my far the cookbook I use the most.

 

(My mom is a wonderful cook and I give her full credit for my love of cooking)

The first thing to do is get everything prepared. Having little things ready from the start like your english muffins cut and waiting in the toaster, and veggies chopped will make it much easier to throw everything together and have it ready at the same time.

This was my first chance to use my beautiful new egg poacher. Now when using an egg poacher, make sure to spray each little cup with cooking spray. otherwise your eggs will stick and it will be messy trying to get them out.

 

(isn't it beautiful)

Getting the veggies ready

Spray a medium sized pan with cooking oil and turn the heat up to medium high. Toss in your chopped shallots and mushrooms and let them cook and soften.

 

This is a good time to start your hollandaise sauce. Now this sauce will be made using a mini food processor (not on the stove). 

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, dry mustard, and salt into the food processor and blend.

Sorry for the jumping back and forth, But the timing is important to ensure everything is done at the same time, and you can serve your breakfast hot.

Now get your eggs in the poacher and fill the base with water, cover and turn the burner onto med/high to high. 

Return to your pan with the mushrooms and shallots and add 4 cups of fresh baby spinach. The spinach will reduce quite a bit so don't worry, though it sounds like a lot it will be perfect.

Don't forget to turn your toaster on

Okay so the last step of the hollandaise can be done while your eggs are cooking and your veggies are softening.

Place the butter into a bowl and heat it in the microwave until bubbling and HOT. You want to make sure the butter is all melted and again HOT because this is what is going to be bringing your sauce together.

This is the tricky part.

You want to hold the blend button on your food processor with your other ingredients in it, while you SLOWLY (I can't stress this enough) pour the hot butter through the little holes in the lid of the processor. 

It should look like this

 If you poor the butter in too quickly, or do not blend while you do it, the sauce will separate. (though it will still taste delicious it won't look the same or have that wonderful creamy texture)

At this time your veggies should be just about ready. You want all of the water to have come out of the spinach so you do not end up with a soggy english muffin. Season veggies with salt and pepper to taste.

Take your english muffins out of the toaster and using tongs place your spinach and mushroom mix onto each piece.

 Pop your eggs out of the poacher and place the little cup upside down over your spinach and the egg should come right out.

Now spoon on your hollandaise (the best part)

 YUMMM!

  I am already craving more

Apple Pancakes toped with Cinnamon Butter

These pancakes are perfect for spring. You get the goodness of pancakes, and also the light fresh taste of the apples. The cinnamon butter pulls these pancakes together wonderfully,
This morning I decided to wake up a bit early and make Dan a nice fresh breakfast to start off this rainy Saturday properly.
The one thing I love more then cooking, is cooking for other people. Dan is a great cook as well, on my birthday a few weeks ago he woke up early and made me some spinach mushroom quiche for breakfast before I left for work (he is so sweet), so it was my turn.

Now pancakes are not something I make a whole lot, or crave that often either. Now these apple pancakes on the other hand, are so delicious that as soon as I think of pancakes, I want to make these right away.

Cinnamon butter

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Pancakes

• Juice from half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon
• 2 medium Granny Smith apples peeled, halved, cored

• 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the cinnamon butter:
Using an electric mixer, beat all the ingredients in small bowl until blended. 

 

(all of the ingredients for the cinnamon butter before mixing)

 

(The butter should be nice and fluffy after beating it with the electric mixer)

Set the butter aside until the pancakes are ready.

For the pancakes:
Combine lemon juice and zest in bowl.

Coarsely grate apples into bowl, tossing to coat with juice. 

Whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in center of dry ingredients.

Whisk in milk, eggs, and melted butter until smooth. Stir in apple mixture. Cover and let batter stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. 

(The batter will be pretty thick)

Preheat oven to 200°F. Place baking sheet in oven. Heat heavy large nonstick griddle or frying pan over medium-high heat 1 minute. Place some butter in the pan and let it melt, move the pan around so the butter coats it. For each pancake, drop about 1/4 cup (I used just under that) batter onto pan, spacing pancakes apart.

Cook until golden on bottom and bubbles start to form on surface, about 3 minutes. Turn pancakes over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer pancakes to baking sheet in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter, add a small amount of butter before each batch of pancakes. 

Serve with a little dollop of cinnamon butter.

Enjoy!

Loaded Smoothie

Who doesn't love smoothies, they are creamie and delisious, fresh, and FULL of nutrients.
This was the perfect way to start our rainy Saturday morning. Also a great excuse to use our new immersion blender.

So this morning I decided it would be nice to wake up a little early and make Dan a nice breakfast. This smoothie was a delicious addition to breakfast. Also a great way to get some more fruit into us.

Smoothies and so easy too, as long as you have a few simple basics you can add just about any fruit and make it delicious.
Now these measurements are pretty rough, but that is the fun of smoothies nothing has to be exact you can adjust it to the way you like.

 Ingredients 
   served 2

• 1 handful blueberries
• 1 handful raspberries
• 4-5 strawberries 
• 4-5 pieces frozen mango
• 1 tangelo
• 1 banana
• 3 Tbs (heaping) plain yogurt (make sure there is no gelatin in it)
• 1-2 Tbs of maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like it) if you don't have maple syrup you can also use honey

I used my immersion blender but of course a regular blender will work just fine.

Before you start getting your fruit ready and blending, I would suggest taking the frozen mango pieces out of the freezer and letting them sit for a bit, You want them still frozen but just soft enough that they will blend in well.

First I threw all the berries in the cup and squeezed the juice out of the tangelo over the berries.

First I wanted to make sure to blend the berries really well so the smoothie would be nice and creamy.
Next throw in the yogurt and banana and blend like crazy. You don't want any chunks.
Now throw in the mango chunks and add the maple syrup.
Finally blend until you can not blend anymore.

(the syrup is just meant to add a bit of sweetness, you don't want this to be a dominant flavor so make sure you taste as you go)

 The smoothie will keep very well in the fridge for a few hours until you are ready to serve.

Enjoy! and as always I would love to hear what you think, so feel free to comment.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

These cupcakes are the ultimate chocolate cupcakes. Not only because everyone LOVES chocolate cupcakes but also because they are filled with chocolate ganache.
I was being a little bit over eager with these and decided to buy actuall vanilla beans for the frosting instead of just using vanilla extract. It was well worth it.

the chocolate cupcake recipe has been adapted from one on Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients

Ganache Filling:

• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
• 1/3 cup 18% cream
• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• ¾ cup hot coffee
• ¾ cup all purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
• 3-4 cups confectioners sugar, SIFTED
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1  vanilla bean
• 2 tbs heavy cream (you can also use milk)

Ganache Filling: (I made the ganache while the chocolate mixture for the cupcakes was cooling in the fridge so it didn't have too long to sit and get hard)

Place-chocolate, cream, and confectioners’ sugar in medium -microwave-safe bowl. Heat
in microwave on high power until mixture is warm to touch, 20 to 30 seconds.
Whisk until smooth; transfer bowl to refrigerator and let stand until just
chilled, no longer than 30 minutes.

Chocolate Cupcakes:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan
 with baking-cup liners.

Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and whisk until smooth. Set in refrigerator to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. 
Place one slightly rounded teaspoon ganache filling on top of each cupcake.

Bake until cupcakes are set and just firm to touch, 17 to 19 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before frosting, about 1 hour.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
• 3-4 cups confectioners sugar, SIFTED
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 tbs heavy cream (more for a thinner consistency)

Beat butter for a few minutes with a hand mixer on medium speed.
Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter.

Increase mixer speed to medium
Slice through one side of the vanilla bean so you can open it up and scrape the inside into the icing

 (this picture turned out terribly but hopefully you get the gist)

add the salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.

 

AND NOW to ice the cupcakes

I used my little icing gun thing.

And for the final touch.

a few sprinkles for a bit of color