Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and there are so many different side dishes that accompany the big meal! Many tables feature rolls as a side dish but I thought it would be nice to try a slightly more rustic cornbread recipe. The muffins are surprisingly not too crumbly and retained a good amount of moisture on the inside. The outside was golden and just slightly crusty on top. Slightly sweet, not too crumbly and a pretty yellow color makes for a nice display on any Thanksgiving table! Slice open a warm muffin and pair with butter or a healthy dollop of cranberry sauce–or if you’re gunning for a food coma make it both!
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Baking
Pumpkin, Banana & Oat Breakfast Muffins
I have been really into breakfast muffins lately. They’re not too sweet and more fulling than regular muffins because of the rolled oats. They’re quick to make and easy to grab and go in the mornings. For October, I thought a pumpkin based muffin along with bananas would be a delicious combination. One of the benefits of never going through bananas fast enough is I always have plenty of over-ripe ones to get creative with! These muffins are flavored with seasonal spices to compliment the pumpkin. They also freeze well so keeping them as a back up snack or breakfast in the freezer is a great way to go!
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Banana Bread Scones
Using over-ripe bananas in baking goes way beyond standard loaf bread! These are not your typical dry and crumbly scones. They are a lot more moist, but just as dense as a typical scone. The insides are more light and fluffy and totally delicious! A lot of banana bread scone recipes call for a brown sugar glaze but to cut down on the sweetness I only topped the scones with cinnamon sugar and a dusting of powdered sugar. Which still sounds like a lot right? But it actually turned out being not overly sweet at all. If you have a bunch of over-ripe bananas languishing on your counter give these scones a try!
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Blackberry Banana & Oat Breakfast Muffins
I love breakfasts that I can grab and go while I’m halfway out the door. This recipe is a simple answer to folks who have busy mornings (or if they’re just late). These muffins are packed with good stuff: fresh berries, bananas and oats but not a lot of added sugar. My recipe makes a large batch, about 15 big muffins. I like when the muffins are larger in size and bake over the sides of the muffin tin but that’s just my personal preference. If a smaller size muffin is preferred, simply divide the recipe in half. Raspberries, cherries and blueberries make great substitutes if blackberries aren’t available.
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Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Muffins
When everyone is super busy these days who doesn’t love a grab and go breakfast? These muffins are the perfect “wrap in a napkin” breakfast. A lot of muffins you buy at cafes and stores are loaded with sugar but these are much better for you in that respect. I also added some rolled oats for fiber and hardiness. You can pretty much add whatever fruit you want to these since they are surprisingly versatile: raspberries, blackberries, currants and boysenberries would all work great as an added fruit. I added a little lemon zest to brighten up the fruit flavor. The muffins were fluffy on the inside and taste amazing straight out of the oven!
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Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies
I love red velvet and when I came across a recipe for red velvet chocolate chip cookies I knew I had to give it a try! This recipe combines the best of red velvet cake and the classic chocolate chip cookie. It was very easy to throw together and the total time took about 90 minutes. Most of that time was used to chill the dough as it was too sticky to pop in the oven right away. The inside had an almost cake-like consistency–so soft and pillowy! I will definitely be making these again.
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Italian Sausage and Apple Stuffing
There are lots of ways to make a great stuffing for the holidays and this one uses hot Italian sausage and granny smith apples to kick things up a notch. The combination of the softened tart apples and spicy crumbled sausage was so delicious! Instead of leaving the bread out over night or using a toaster the bread cubes are baked in the oven until brown and slightly crispy. Everything is combined in a bowl and then baked in the oven once more. So easy and a great side dish for the holidays!…
Dark Chocolate Cherry Scones
These scones are a perfect weekend breakfast food that are quick and easy to whip up. The key to making perfect scones is to not over mix the dough. The little chunks of butter create pockets in the dough which results in a fluffier scone. I used dark chocolate chunks and unsweetened dried cherries which paired together perfectly. The scones turned out crusty on the outside, warm and fluffy on the inside. Even though the scones have chocolate and dried fruit in them they weren’t especially sweet. They make for a great grab-and-go breakfast and even a lazy Sunday morning one too!
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Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins
For the last few weeks I have been making my own coconut milk. One of the benefits of making coconut milk is having your own coconut flour at the end of the process! This site provides a good how-to for home-made coconut milk/flour. You really can’t go wrong with home-made coconut milk since the flavor tastes much better than canned. I decided to use these ingredients in a filling breakfast recipe and the first thing I thought of was muffins. These muffins are made almost entirely out of coconut, banana and chocolate, no all purpose flour or sugar needed. They make a great breakfast muffin and will allow you to eat chocolate for breakfast guilt free!
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Homemade Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Pop-Tarts
Happy Fall everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted so I wanted to kick off October with this great recipe for homemade pop-tarts! This recipe turned out to be surprisingly easy and not as labor intensive as I thought it would be. Although it obviously is more labor intensive than just popping a pop-tart in the toaster, the rewards for home made can’t be beat! The pastry is flaky and buttery, just like a pie crust, which really kicked these up a notch in deliciousness. The inside is a simple mixture of cinnamon and sugar but once baked in the oven it transforms into a warm, soft filling. Once you have this recipe there’s no need to ever get store bought again! Fruit fillings, nutella/chocolate, and even savory cheese fillings can be substituted for the cinnamon sugar.* The possibilities for these tarts are pretty much endless!
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