Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes

Before this recipe, it had been a long long time since I had baked something. And boy, did I miss baking or what! I think my baking stuff missed me too, I may or may not have found a dead spider and a layer of dust in a pan that obviously hadn't been used recently. Do not fret, if I did find such things in my pantry I would most certainly scrub them!

I am not really sure what I am trying to say to you in this post, for it is coming out all garbled, mangled and rambling. Good evening. NOT. See I don't even know where I am going with this, and I am just going to quit my incoherent rambling while I am ahead as they say. 

Brown Sugar Banana Cupcakes

Very Loosely Adapted from The Novice Chef 

Ingredients: 

1 and 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour

3/4 Teaspoon baking powder

1/4 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 

1 Cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed

1 Egg

2 Teaspoons of vanilla

1/4 Cup plain whole milk yogurt

2 Tablespoons applesauce 

1/2 Cup banana, mashed (about 1 banana) 

1/2 Cup buttermilk

Directions: 

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Spray or line cupcake pan with papers. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. On low, beat in egg and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Scrap down the bowl. Beat in yogurt and applesauce. 

4. In a glass measuring cup, mash banana and measure to 1/2 cup. Beat mashed banana into wet ingredients in stand mixer. 

5. Add the dry ingredients to wet in three additions, alternating with two additions of the buttermilk. Gently stir/fold until just combined. Do not over mix. 

6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 23-26 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for 20 minutes in pans on wire rack, then remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on wire rack. 

Notes:

Always cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

I enjoyed a few of these without frosting, it you want to dress non-frosted ones up, just dust with powdered sugar for presentation! 

Print Recipe Here 

I never wrote down the recipe I used for the frosting, and it was a Bakelette original, so it is gone forever (UGH). However, this Brown Sugar Cream Cheese frosting by Spiced sounds very similar! 

Cherry and Nectarine "Crisp"

I say "crisp" because I don't know what this really is. It started out as a galette, but did not end up as a galette. I went to roll out the galette dough, and lets just say that the dough was not of a sufficient quantity. I am not really sure what I did wrong, but SOMETHING happened. So, I just pressed the dough into the bottom of a pie plate, put the fruit on top and then decided it needed a crisp-like topping. And that my friends is how the "crisp" came to be (and if I were for some reason reading this to you out loud I would most definitely be using air quotes!). Just a riveting story now isn't it?

When I make this again, I will forgo making the "under dough" because it was not that noticeable and it just seemed superfluous. Therefore I will not be including it in the recipe, but if you REALLY need to have it feel free to email me and I can search for the scrap of paper on which I wrote the recipe. Do you write your recipes on scraps of paper or are you more high tech and save them on your computer? Sometimes I write them out, but then there are those times I get really lazy and just pin them. I really need to get into typing them up, but there is just something so comforting about handwriting things. 

It took me forever to post this recipe because of my stupid infatuation with handwriting things. I wrote down the recipe on a scrap of paper, and lost it and literally just found it this morning! So voila here you go!  

Also I hate these pictures. My family, specifically Mama Bakelette, devoured this concoction before I photographed it. This is also the reason for the strange shape that has been eaten away, it was spoonful here and there, you do that too right? Also the lighting is terrible. Sorry the pictures are not very appetizing, but I hope the fact that it was devoured before I could do so vouches for its deliciousness! I leave you with this photo to try and tempt your palette. 

Cherry and Nectarine "Crisp"

Ingredients:

Fruit Filling:

2 Cups cherries, chopped and pitted

3 Nectarines, roughly chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1 Tablespoon raw sugar

Crisp Topping:

1/3 Cup all-purpose flour

1/4 Cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 Cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 Cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or butter a pie dish. Prepare fruit. Combine cherries, nectarines, flour and sugar in a medium bowl, stir together. Let fruit mixture sit for 15 to 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile prepare crisp topping by combining flour, oats, brown sugar and butter in a small bowl. Work the butter into the mixture with your fingers until it is thoroughly incorporated and looks like wet sand. 

3. Pour fruit into prepared pie dish. Cover with crisp topping. Bake until golden brown and filling is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes  (longer for crispier topping).

Recipe by Bakelette 

Print Recipe Here

Refreshing Watermelon Spritzer

Have you seen some of the gorgeous cocktail and drink pictures on Pinterest? Oh my gosh talk about making me drool all over my keyboard! I never realized that something with such an ugly name as 'beverage' can be so beautiful! Beverage, BEV-ER-AGE, what a weird word! You know those words that just make you uncomfortable, well I have got a few. Want to hear them? Great, and I would love to hear some of the words that make you shiver! Here are some of mine!

Moist, crusty, beverage,  gelatin...okay so I guess I don't have a long list. Maybe more will come to me soon because in my brain the list seemed much lengthier. Things always seem to be better in my head, except for this drink! Delicious!

Let's bring it back in from that tangent. Sometimes I have no idea how my mind goes from blog post beginning to middle and then somehow finishes it up and then tries to relate it to whatever recipe I am sharing. Honestly, I wonder how you follow my thought process on this bloggy blog. Well I hope you somehow manage because y'all are awesome! And to celebrate how awesome you are here is a light and refreshing watermelon drink that can be enjoyed by all for Cinco de Mayo!

Refreshing Watermelon Spritzer 

Click here to Print Recipe

Ingredients: 

Crushed Ice

1/4 Cup Watermelon Juice (See Note Below)

1/4 Cup Coconut Water

1/2 to 3/4 Cup of Unflavored Seltzer

Directions:

1. Fill glass with crushed ice.

2. Add watermelon juice, coconut water and seltzer to taste. 

3. Gently stir drink. 

For watermelon juice:

In the bowl of a food processor, puree mostly seedless watermelon. Once liquefied, strain puree through fine mesh sieve and press pulp to extract as much juice as possible. If desired, strain again. For super freshness, either use immediately or freeze. Then defrost for a short time on the counter or overnight in the fridge. 

This makes one big glass, or two small ones (pictured). 

Recipe loosely adapted from How Sweet Eats 

Peanut Butter Cherry Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Bars

Peanut butter is one of my favorite things to eat. You too? If not, I don't think we can be friends (is that the right term for me writing crazy stories and telling them to people I have never met) anymore, unless of course you are allergic then I totally get it. I would give up peanut butter in exchange for not having anaphylaxis. I am allergic to dust mites and I am all for avoiding them, but I am totally lazy and do not clean nearly enough.

Adding on to my laziness these bars couldn't be easier and tastier. These bars make a tasty breakfast or a delicious post-work out snack. I wouldn't know about them for post-workout seeing as I am lazy and barely workout, but I imagine they would be great after a workout. Now that I feel terrible because you know the true extent of my laziness...I will get on with the recipe.

Peanut Butter Cherry Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Sugar in the Raw
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Dried Cherries

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8x8 glass or nonstick baking dish.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the peanut butter and sugar until it becomes lightly colored and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
3. Gradually mix in the flour, oats, salt, and baking soda on medium speed. The batter will be thick and clumpy. Slowly and steadily drizzle in the milk until a dough forms.
4. On low speed mix in the chocolate chips and dried cherries. Knead the dough with your hands a few times to make sure it is evenly combined.
5. Spread and press the dough into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown and set. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan, then cut into squares.

Click Here for Printable Recipe
Recipe Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

P.S. These photos are from months ago, so sorry for the poor quality!

Lemon Curd

Only a few months ago I heard about lemon curd. When I hear the word curd, I cringe because I instantly think of cheese curds. And that is totally cool if you are into cheese curds, but something about their texture just gets to me, same with cottage cheese, fudge and cold macaroni salad. I am a texture-sensitive eater, for the longest time when I was younger I refused to eat yogurt, it gave me the chills. I have gotten over that...sort of, every once in awhile yogurt bothers me. Anyhoo I would define lemon curd as this sublime, or should I say "sublemon" (sorry that was really terrible), confection made from eggs, butter, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. It has a smooth, velvety consistency and a very tart yet appetizing taste that you wouldn't expect from its appearance. 

 I first heard of lemon curd while browsing Sweetapolita where Rosie discusses how delicious it is and how sometimes she sneaks a spoonful form the freezer. I sat back and was like wow, where can I try some of this stuff!
Some time went by, I would often visit the recipe page and contemplate making it. Then more time went by. Finally, I made lemon curd. The first time I followed the stove-top method, but that can be very tedious and time consuming. There is always the possibility of overcooking your eggs and getting a lumpy curd (doesn't that sound appetizing). I am happy to report I was successful in my first attempt, but I never made it again because of how unpredictable lemon curd can be and you know who can be extremely lazy at times. Well, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered from Southern Living  that you can make lemon curd in the microwave! And the recipe was titled "Super Easy Lemon Curd", oh, yeah baby right up my alley!

Look at that ooze, oh my goodness! Can't handle it! 

Super Easy Microwave Lemon Curd
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Zest
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice (strained with a mesh sieve)
2 Cups Sugar
4 Eggs

Directions:
1. Zest and juice lemons. Strain the lemon juice using a mesh sieve, and measure out 1 cup of strained juice. Set this aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and sugar until blended. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating until blended after each addition, and scraping down the bowl as necessary. On low speed, gradually add in lemon juice, mixing until well blended. (The mixture will look curdled, this is a okay.)
3. Transfer the mixture to a microwave safe 3 quart bowl.
4. On high, microwave for 5 minutes, stirring at 1 minute intervals. Then microwave for 1-2 more minutes, stirring at 30 second intervals. When done, the mixture should coat the back of a metal spoon and will mound slightly after stirring.
5. Stir in the lemon zest. Immediately cover the surface of the curd with heavy duty plastic wrap to prevent the formation of a film. Refrigerate curd for at least 4 hours or until firm. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for 1-2 months.

Recipe Adapted from Southern Living Magazine (February 2013)

P.S. See you next time for my fiftieth post! Can you believe it? I can't!

Old Fashioned Crumb Cake with Raspberry Preserves

 In my family on Christmas morning you can always count on there being crumb cake, but usually of the sour cream variety. The recipe we usually use if from my grandmother, it has a dense crumb made with oats, and the cake has a unique tang from the added sour cream. The recipe is our go to for Christmas morning sweets to nibble on as we open our presents! This year I decided to buck our family tradition (Sorry family!) and try a new variety of crumb cake.

So much crumbly goodness! 

I upped the yum factor by spreading a generous (I used an entire jar :)) layer of raspberry preserves over the cake before the crumb! I would highly recommend the raspberry, but I am sure any flavor jam would work just as well! Next time I want to try blueberry!

Old Fashioned Crumb Cake with Raspberry Preserves
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 Box Pillsbury Yellow Cake Mix
3 eggs
1 cup water
1 Jar of Bonne Maman Raspberry Jam (or any flavor you choose)
Topping:
4 sticks of butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
5 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 plus 1/4 cups brown sugar
2/3 plus 1/4 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
(Optional Confectionary Sugar for Dusting)
Directions:
Cake: 
1. Preheat oven to 325 F, and spray jelly roll pan with baking spray.
2. Using a large mixing bowl and handheld mixer (or standup mixer), beat the eggs, water and cake mix for 4 minutes.
3. Pour the cake batter into prepared pan and smooth with a rubber spatula.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, remove from oven, but keep the oven on. While the cake is baking, make the crumb mixture.
Topping:
1. Microwave the butter until melted, allow to cool slightly, then add vanilla and almond extracts.
2. In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugars and cinnamon.
3. Using a pastry blender (or two forks) cut the butter into flour mixture until it becomes crumbly.
4. When the cake comes out of the oven, spread with the raspberry preserves (I used the entire jar). Then sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the cake.
5. Return the cake to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden in color. Allow the cake to cool completely, then you can dust with confectionary sugar if you wish!

Recipe Adapted From My Life as a Mrs.

Blueberry Boy Bait

The story goes that a young girl once entered a recipe similar to this into the Pillsbury Baking Competition! Although she only took second place, her lovely story has lived on! She named her confection Blueberry Boy Bait because of its ability to have boys swooning over her! Now if only my baked goods had boys swooning for me...I have had two off-the-cuff marriage proposals after sharing my cookies! I guess that counts as swooning? Right? Only these have so far not panned out, but anyways on with the food!

This recipe makes a delightful complement to your breakfast or brunch, and will not have you stressing about whether or not it is too difficult to pull off! It is "easy peasy lemon squeezy"!

One of my favorite aspects of this recipe is subtle crunch and hint of flavor given by the cinnamon-sugar mixture that is sprinkled over the top of batter! I would have never thought of putting cinnamon and blueberries together! The next time that I make this recipe I plan to add a touch of vanilla extract. I could not believe the recipe did not call for vanilla, but I decided to try it without. While it was delicious without the vanilla, I think the vanilla would really push this over the edge and make it superb!

Do you have any go-to ingredients that you seem to put in EVERYTHING? For my mom it is cinnamon, she puts it in all sorts of things. I really like to use vanilla!


Blueberry Boy Bait 
Ingredients For Cake:

• 1 Cup plus one TBS all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup plus two TBS cake flour
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 Cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 Cup skim milk
• 2/3 Cup Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 Cup Fresh of Frozen Blueberries

Ingredients for Topping:

• 1/2 Cup Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 3 TBS sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 13x9 baking dish. 
2. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the cake flour, 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Set this aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugars until light and airy. Beat in the eggs, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together the yogurt and milk. 
4. Reduce speed and alternate mixing in the milk/yogurt mixture and the flour mixture until evenly incorporated. 
5. In a separate bowl stir the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour. Then gently mix the blueberries into the batter. 
6. Spread the batter into the prepare pan. Then sprinkle the blueberries and cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
7. Bake 45-60 minutes, or until cake bounce back when poked, and/or a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then transfer with the topping side up to a serving dish (I just left it in the pan overnight until picture time!). 
8. Wait for your bait to lure the boys! Or you can eat half before you can even take pictures...

Enjoy,
Molly
Recipe Adapted From Smitten Kitchen

Vanilla-Banana Muffins

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This is the tragic glorious story of four overripe bananas who resided on the MollyCakes kitchen counter.  Why would this be a tragic story, well I had to mash up those little suckers....ANYWAYS, these banana martyrs produced delicious results! Now in this delightful story the bananas are mashed up, then combined with brown sugar and vanilla Greek yogurt! There is no butter in these, so eat as many as you want! According to Chobani, there are only 180 calories in each, practically guilt free!

These muffins combine some of my favorite baking ingredients, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. While there is no vanilla extract in the muffins, you get a warm hint of vanilla from the yogurt! Hope you enjoy these as much as I do! Now I am off to eat more of them!
Enjoy!
Molly

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1 C white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 C packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 C canola oil
• 1 large egg

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line muffin pan with paper cups or spray with cooking spray. 
2. In a medium bowl combine both flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set this aside.
3. Beat or mix by hand the bananas, yogurt, brown sugar, canola oil and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until just combined. 
4. Divide batter evenly into muffin cups, bake for 20-22 minutes, or until muffins bounce back when pushed or a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are golden brown. Cool a few minutes in pan and then cool completely on wire rack. 

 Coming soon meals and fun from my trip to Boston!

Peach Cobbler

So the other day, I went peach picking!! It was a beautiful sunny day while picking and I was so excited to bake with them. Well, by the time I lugged my bushels home, I wasn't as ecstatic, instead I was very very tired and the peaches sat on the counter for awhile. They continued sit there....and sit there. Well, finally I decided to make something with the peaches, so I hoped onto the internet and headed over to one of my favorite blogs, BrownEyedBaker, and scrolled through her compilation of her favorite peach recipes. I decided upon this one! Its both sweet and spicy because of the hint of nutmeg and cinnamon! The biscuit-like topping is a perfectly simple almost bland complement to the peaches. I do wish I had more peaches as I seemed to have a lot of topping and not much peaches, anyways I still thoroughly enjoyed it! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Ingredients: 
For the Peach Filling:
6 peaches, peeled, pitted & sliced into ¼- to ½-inch slices
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons instant tapioca, (ground up a bit)

For the Cobbler Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
¾ cup buttermilk

Directions:

1.  Preheat  your oven to 350 degrees F, and grab a large oven safe baking dish. 
2. In a bowl mix together the peaches, lemon juice, sugar, spices, salt and tapioca. Stir together and let sit for 15 minutes. 
3. To make the cobbler topping, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, suagar and salt, then mix in the butter with your hands. Keep mixing until the mixture resembles a corse meal with small bits of butter. Then pour in the buttermilk and mix with a fork. 
4. Dump the peach mixture into your baking dish, then drop the cobbler topping over the peach mixture (I used a large cookie dough scoop). 
5. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, the peaches will bubble and the top should become golden brown. 

Adapted From BrownEyedBaker

Flour's Banana Bread

In the past two weeks, my life has gone from zero to sixty to about 100 million! So again I am very sorry that I am not yet able to post on a regular basis, hopefully I will come fall! Also I have had these pictures on my computer for a while, I just have not been able to get around to writing the posting. Finally, here I am writing this...so here goes!
Today I have a delicious banana (I credit Gwen Stefani with teaching me how to spell banana :D, but I ain't  no hollback girl!) bread from my favorite Flour Cookbook. The version I made for the photos below was not my best, I think my bananas were WAY overripe, they were like liquid it was disgusting! Anyways when used with slightly overripe bananas, this is the best banana bread I have had...EVER! Of course Joanne's version is fab, but I felt it necessary to add a smidgen of my sugar n' spice and by that I mean more vanilla and cinnamon!

Flour's Famous Banana Bread 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plus 2 TBS sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 1/3 cup mashed bananas (about 3 1/2 ripe bananas)
• 2 TBS sour cream
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup of toasted walnuts (optional) 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and butter a loaf pan (9 by 5). 
2. Sift and set aside the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes on medium). 
4. While on low speed, slowly add in the oil (if done too fast you will lose all the air in the batter). Add the bananas, sour cream and vanilla, mix until just combined. 
5. Fold the flour mixture and nuts into the wet ingredients. Make sure there are no flour streaks, then pour batter into prepared pan. 
6. Bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. It should be golden brow and bounce back when poked. Let the bread cool for thirty minutes in the pan before popping it out. 

Enjoy!
Molly