Green "Hulk" Smoothie Muffins

I'm going to stop apologizing every time I post that it has been forever since I posted! Life has been busy. We moved, I've been working on making new friends and setting up play dates for the little one. He just had his fourth birthday party, and it was a complete success, so I'm really happy about that a week later! I have been doing a few more cake orders (click here to see some of my work) and although I have still been cooking a lot and trying new recipes, I haven't really had much of an urge to share them.

Until today!

I love green smoothies. And I love these muffins because they taste like banana bread and my 4 year old inhales them as fast as I can bake them. He has no idea that he is getting a good serving of spinach and fruit in each one, he just knows that they are green and so is The Hulk, and if he eats them he will get big and strong too!

This is an adaptation of another recipe that I found. I made that one and wasn't entirely pleased with the results, even though we still ate them all up. The next time, I made some adjustments and was much more pleased with the finished muffins. It makes kind of a strange amount of muffins... I made 12 regular sized ones and 15 mini muffins. You can make any combination you like! Mini muffins are perfect for toddlers and little kids.

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

8 strawberries (thawed, if frozen)

2 cups raw baby spinach, packed tightly

¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour

½ cup old fashioned oats

¾ cup sugar (or ¾ cup honey plus ¼ cup extra flour. I used organic coconut palm sugar)

1 large egg

¼ cup vegetable oil or melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put bananas, hulled strawberries, spinach and yogurt into a food processor or blender. Blend and set aside.

In a mixing bowl (I use my Kitchenaid mixer) combine flour, oats, egg, oil, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Mix on low speed until course and crumbly.

Pour in the fruit/veggie puree and mix well.

Line muffin cups with liners or grease well with cooking spray. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes (about 17 if you are doing mini muffins) or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I recommend putting any leftover muffins in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Super Moist Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

 I love muffins. I love baking them. I love eating them. Breakfast, lunch, snack, I don't care.

I'm not always a chocolate person. But there are times I just NEED some, and these muffins satisfy that craving in a slightly less decadent way than if I were to bake a chocolate Crazy Cake or a batch of fudgy cupcakes.

After some trial and error, I've come up with this recipe.

Makes 18-20 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I use 1/4 cup dark and 1/4 cup regular)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup yogurt (I used vanilla greek yogurt)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup cooled, strong coffee (This does not make the muffins taste like coffee! It deepens the chocolate flavor. If you prefer, use milk instead.)

3/4 cup chocolate chips for the batter and 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top. (You can use milk, semi-sweet or even white or butterscotch if you want to add more flavors. I used a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients. A few lumps won't be a problem.

Mix together the wet ingredients, and pour into the dry ingredients.

 Add the chocolate chips, and stir until just combined.

Line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill the cups 3/4 of the way. With these I usually lightly spritz my paper liners with oil because the chocolate chips can stick. They actually don't puff up much, so depending on how many you want to make, you could fill them all the way. I usually fill up my 12 cup muffin tin and then scrape the rest of the batter into one or two small loaf tins. It just depends on my mood. Be aware that this does make more than one dozen muffins, even if you fill the cups up all the way!

 Bake the muffins for 15-18 minutes. A small loaf takes 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin.

Enjoy your tasty, chocolatey, heavenly muffins!!

Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Once again it has been too long since I posted! I think it will be easier to get back in the habit now that fall is approaching and I will be making more baked goods, soups and casseroles. I've really been on a skillet meal kick lately... anything with easy clean-up and fast prep is good for me!

These little muffins are really tasty! I'm sitting here at my computer eating my third one. Well, technically my toddler stole half of my last one, but still. I decided to post this recipe because I found the original on Pinterest with the ingredient list but only half the instructions!

Since I've made quite a few muffins in my life, I was able to figure it out on my own, with a few little alterations.  I didn't take any pictures in the process, but these are so quick and easy, you shouldn't have any trouble!

Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients


1 cup old fashioned oats
½ cup all purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 egg
2 TB oil
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup evaporated fat free milk (Or any other kind of milk. I actually used vanilla Greek yogurt mixed with soy milk to make one half cup)
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup fresh blue berries, floured (the flour keeps them from sinking to the bottom during baking. The flour sticks)

I actually used slightly less than a cup of blueberries and split my batter so I could make a few with chocolate chips in them. Both versions are really wonderful!


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 12 slot muffin tin by adding paper liners, or spray with cooking spray.

Put the dry oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a blender and process until most of the oats have been ground up.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, oil, vanilla, milk, and brown sugar. Add mashed banana and mix well.

Pour the dry ingredients into wet ingredients and fold lightly with a rubber spatula until incorporated. Do not over mix.

Add blueberries (or chocolate chips) and fold into batter.

Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Enjoy!!

Original recipe here.

Ebelskiver (Danish Pancake Balls)

Have you ever tried Ebelskiver?  The are Danish pancake balls that are solid like a pancake but fluffy and eggy inside like a popover.  You can make them sweet or savory, filled or not.

They are so much fun!  Who doesn't like eating little finger foods? Bonus if they are warm and dipped in cinnamon and sugar.  Of course, someone has to stand over the stove and turn these, but if your family is eating in the kitchen keeping you company, it really isn't too bad.  Plus you get to munch on the hot little pancake balls as you cook them!  They are definitely not low in fat because you have to cook them in butter, so they may be best as part of a special occasion or holiday.

My mom used to make these when I was little and I recently acquired my very own Ebelskiver pan on a one-day sale from Williams-Sonoma. They even sell a little tool to turn the ebelskiver in the pan, but honestly I think I had the best luck with long bamboo skewers that are $1.50 for 100.  Chopsticks would also work.  They have some nice recipes on the site as well, for both sweet filled ones and savory ones.  This recipe is a basic one.

My grandmother on my mom's side is 100% Danish. Her grandparents came to the United States in the very early 1900s and settled with a group of Danes in Nebraska.  They had their own little Denmark, much like other groups of settlers made neighborhoods in the cities, these people settled somewhere together where they could farm the land.  My grandmother was born in 1927, and her first language was Danish.  She didn't actually learn English until she started to go to school.  Over time, she forgot how to speak it.  My mom says that when she was young, her mother and grandmother would talk to each other in Danish, but time and non-use cleared most of it out of her mind.

I love how food can elicit so many feelings and memories.  This particular recipe isn't one that has been passed down through the generations or anything, but the feeling of connecting a little with your ancestors is a powerful one.  I hope you enjoy making them for your family, Danish heritage or not!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 TB sugar

4 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
4 TB unsalted butter, melted, plus more for cooking

Optional: Fillings, such at jam, peanut butter, chocolate ganache, chocolate chips, pie filling or fruit

For serving: Maple syrup, whipped cream, jam or cinnamon sugar for dipping.

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk and 4 TB melted butter.  Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined. The batter will be lumpy.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2-3 minutes.  Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions.  Here is my batter and some of the apple pie filling I used to fill. I also made some with raspberry jam and some unfilled.

Put 1/4 tsp butter in each well of the ebelskiver pan.  Set over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble.  Pour 1 TB of batter into each well. If filling, put 1 tsp filling in the center of each pancake, and top with another TB of batter.

Cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3-5 minutes. (They go faster once the pan really heats up.) Using two wooden skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes more.  This is the tricky part, but you will get it after a few turns.  It worked for me to kind of snag one side of the pancake with the skewer and push it downward to the other side while using the other skewer to pull the far side over.  That way you get a smooth, fast flip.

 When they are done cooking, transfer them to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve immediately with syrup or your chosen dip.  Makes about 40.

I love dipping them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, but you can top them with whatever you like, or eat them plain!  Here are some pictures of half eaten ones that I took just to show the fillings.

Filled with apple pie filling:

Filled with raspberry jam (do you like my awesome zebra print fuzzy pants? lol):
 

Unfilled:

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

There are some mornings I wake up and I just NEED a pancake!

This morning was not not of those days. In fact, I had planned to make Pineapple Upside-down Muffins, but I didn't have crushed pineapple. Then I thought, well, I have enough homemade mix left for Apple Cider Pancakes, so maybe I will cook some apples in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and put those on top! But I didn't have any apple cider, or even apple juice. I could definitely tell it is grocery shopping day.

So I turned to Pinterest! I had recently pinned this recipe for Vegan Banana Oatmeal Pancakes. But since I'm not vegan, I made them a little less healthy. I had hardly any milk yet so I had to substitute buttermilk for some of the liquid, and I added some spices for flavor! They are super easy and fast to make since you can just throw everything into the blender, blend and pour it out onto a hot griddle.  These ended up a little thin, but I liked them that way! They have a nice, soft, texture and are GREAT with some peanut butter and a little syrup. Just a little bit ago I spread peanut butter on one and rolled it up for a snack! I apologize for the less than fabulous photos... I was hungry and lazy. :)


Ingredients

1 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 dashes nutmeg
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk, buttermilk, soy milk or almond milk (or any combination of milks)
2 ripe bananas

Directions

Blend all the ingredients in a blender, except the bananas. Now add the bananas and continue to blend until the bananas are smooth. Pour onto a hot griddle (lightly oiled) and cook. Once the pancake bubbles on one side, flip it. This makes a dozen, medium-sized pancakes, serving 3-4 people. They are quite unexpectedly filling!

Yum yum! Enjoy!

Ridiculously Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Ok, so I'm usually a fan of making things totally from scratch. It makes me feel good about the finished product and I like knowing exactly what is in things. But sometimes, I just want something, and I want it right now with hardly any work.  Bonus points if it isn't filled with oil and butter (mmmm...butter) since it is only October and there are still months of holiday baking ahead!

This morning I wanted to make pumpkin muffins! Then I started looking at recipes, and I realized I didn't really want to make them, I just wanted to eat them.  In the comments of one of the recipes I saw someone say to just mix a box of spice cake mix with a can of pumpkin and bake it! I have been seeing a lot of variations of that on Pinterest lately, and honestly that is the reason I bought that spice cake mix a couple weeks ago. So next time you are feeling lazy, take 3 minutes to mix these up, bake and enjoy!

Ingredients

1 box of spice cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 15 oz can of pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

That's it! No eggs, no oil, no water.


Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place cake mix in a bowl. Add pumpkin. Mix with hand mixer until well blended. Batter will be stiff and lumpy. (If you are worried about there being too many lumps, you can put the cake mix through a mesh strainer so smash out the lumps. The muffins turn out almost exactly the same, but they are a bit prettier.)

Spoon into greased muffin tin. I used a mini muffin tin and filled all the wells completely full and then some. I just kept putting in batter until it was mostly evenly distributed. They did spread a little, but it was mostly up so none of them were touching by the time they finished baking, so don't worry about them being too full!

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 22-25 minutes (for mini muffins, I would say 25-30 for a regular tin) or until a toothpick inserted into the largest muffins comes out clean.

Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!  I was really pleased with the texture since I was worried about over mixing, but apparently that wasn't a problem either.

Now my whole house smells like fall!

German Apple Oven Pancake

This was a really tasty and fairly quick breakfast. Originally I had planned on making regular pancakes, but then I found this recipe and decided it would be tasty!

My husband and I both loved it, and it was really tasty served with some smoked beef sausage and drizzled with maple syrup.

German Apple Oven Pancake

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup half-and-half
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

powdered sugar for dusting

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 500 degrees F. Allow the oven to heat for at least 15 minutes before baking the pancake. In a blender or food processor, blend the eggs, sugar, half and half, vanilla and salt for about 15 seconds. Add the flour and blend until the mixture is smooth with no lumps, about 25 seconds.

Melt the butter in a 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon and cook, stirring often, until the apples are golden brown, about 8 minutes.





Quickly pour the batter around the edge of the skillet first, then over the apples.



Place the skillet in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Bake until the pancake is brown and has risen about the edges of the skillet, about 16 to 17 minutes.



Loosen the pancake edges from the hot skillet with a heat-proof spatula and flip the pancake onto a large plate or serving platter. Dust with powdered sugar, cut into wedges, and serve immediately.



Recipe from the cookbook The New Best Recipe.

Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring

These are soooo yummy! I am a big fan of semi-homemade things for breakfast/brunch, especially since sometimes by the time we really get going I'm too hungry to actually bake from scratch and then it all goes out the window. It's nice to keep a couple tubes of crescent rolls and biscuits on hand for such occasions. While they may not be the lowest in fat, they are nice for a treat!

For this tasty breakfast ring, this is what you will need:

2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits OR 1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1/2 C. pancake syrup
1/3 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. chopped pecans, optional

Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if desired). Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan.



Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top.



Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring.




Top with remaining syrup and sugar mixtures.





Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.



Cool for 1 minute in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter and enjoy!



Mmmm... so goooood!

Original recipe here.

Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup

This morning I surprised my husband with a stack of these yummy pancakes. He really enjoys things baked with pumpkin and since it is now October I thought it was time for this happy fall treat. I had made some Buttermilk Caramel Syrup last week for waffles and saved the extra in the fridge. This morning I reheated it and added cinnamon instead of making the syrup the recipe calls for. It was very tasty!



Pumpkin Pancakes
(original recipe here)
yields 6 pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (I used whole wheat, you could also use half)
1 1/2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 Tbs vinegar

Directions:
In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Cinnamon Syrup:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup water

Stir all ingredients together in a small saucepan. Over medium heat, stir occasionally until boiling. Let it boil for a few minutes while stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat and set aside until needed.

Enjoy!