Banana Nut Muffins

A few months back I posted a Banana Bread recipe that was fantastic – if I do say so myself. I liked it so much that I honestly never see myself making any changes to it. However, I did want to make a version that was a bit healthier.

Now I’m not going to tell you that this is a super healthy banana bread/muffin recipe that you can eat as much as you want of guilt-free, but it is healthier that my other recipe. The best part it is that it’s really just as good. The only difference is this recipe is slightly less sweet and the texture is a tad different.

I like to think of my original version as the kind you make for a special occasion or holiday and this version for anytime. 

Banana Nut Muffins

*Makes 1 dozen muffins

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

-          4 very ripe bananas

-          3 tablespoons softened butter

-          ¼ cup light brown sugar

-          ¼ cup white sugar

-          ¼ cup honey

-          1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-          1 large egg

-          ¼ teaspoon salt

-          ¼ teaspoon baking powder

-          ½ teaspoon baking soda

-          ½ teaspoon cinnamon

-          1 ½ cups wheat flour

-          Heaping ½ cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine bananas, butter, light brown sugar, white sugar, honey, vanilla extract and egg. Smash all ingredients together until well combined. Some banana chunks are ok.

2. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix to incorporate and then slowly add to wet mixture, Next beat on low with hand mixer to fully combine for about 1 -2 minutes. Stir in walnuts.

3. Pour batter into a greased or lined muffin tins (3/4 the way up) and bake in oven for 16-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. (Bake 50-65 for a loaf.)

4. Allow muffins to cool for several minutes before removing from pan. Allow muffins to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container. 

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Lazy Man's Donuts

Yesterday I posted about low-calorie menu options at Applebee’s, today I’m going to talk to you about donuts.

By the way – if you haven’t entered for the giveaway for a $25 gift card to Applebee’s, CLICK HERE and go enter! The giveaway ends tomorrow at 6PM.

When I was in middle school a friend of mine had an all girl sleepover for her birthday. I think there were about a dozen of us, which I’m sure for her parents it was probably a nightmare. The next morning before we all left to go back home, we made donuts….from a can of biscuits. I’d never seen that done before and was completely amazed that you could make freaking donuts at home.

Remember, I was in middle school.

Anyway, I’ve been making them on occasion ever since. I call them Lazy Man’s Donuts because while they still take a bit of work, they are so much easier than making donuts completely from scratch.

The recipe below makes 8 donuts and 8 “munchkins” as Dunkin Donuts calls them. I’ve included ideas for a chocolate icing, glazed, powdered, and cinnamon sugar donuts. Each will yield enough for two donuts and a few munchkins, so you’ll need to adjust if you want them all glazed or all with chocolate icing accordingly.

Lazy Man’s Donuts Recipe

*Makes 8 donuts and 8 munchkins

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

Donuts:

-          1 16.3oz can of 8 Grand Home-style biscuits (DO NOT buy the layered kind)

-          Enough canola or vegetable oil for about 2 inch deep oil for frying.

Glazed:

-          2/3 cup powdered sugar

-          ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

-          1 tablespoon milk

Chocolate Icing:

-          1/3 cup powdered sugar

-          3 ½ teaspoons cocoa powder

-          2 tablespoons melted butter

-          ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Powdered:

-          3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Cinnamon Sugar:

-          2 tablespoons powdered sugar

-          ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Helpful Equipment:

-          small brown paper bags

-          1 inch biscuit cutter or sharp pairing knife

-          Thermometer for oil

Directions:

1. Start by preparing the donuts “toppings”. For the chocolate and glaze icings, mix them (separately) in two shallow bowls. For cinnamon sugar and powdered, add them (again separately) to two small brown lunch bags.

2. Heat your oil to approx 350 degrees.

3. While oil is heating cut the holes in your donuts. Use a 1” diameter cutter or take a small pairing knife and cut a hole in the center of each biscuit. Remove the center hole and set aside. TIP: Keep the biscuits in the fridge and take them out one by one to cut. They are easier to cut – especially with a knife – if they are cold.

** If you are using a knife, don’t drag it. Bring the knife up and down, moving in a circle. Repeat two or three times to fully cut through. 

4. When oil is ready, take one donut hole and test. The hole should float quickly and bubble. Donut holes take about one minute each and be sure to flip them so they brown evenly. When lightly golden brown, remove from oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate. You can do several of these at a time and repeat until done.

Banana Black Walnut Bread

I like bananas. I also like banana bread or banana nut muffins. But I can't stand banana flavored things or adding a banana to a smoothie.

Like strawberry-banana smoothies? Yuck. I love strawberry smoothies and as I said above, I like bananas. Just please don't put them together. The banana just overpowers it. And banana flavored candies and such are just too sweet.

This banana bread? 

Out of this world. 

Maybe even the universe. It's that good. Brent and I ate the whole thing in less than 48 hours.

The original plan was to make it and take it to his family's Thanksgiving. We were headed up the night before and I thought it would be a great late morning snack while the turkey was cooking.

But the bananas didn't ripen fast enough. Which is the opposite of what happens when I buy them and want to eat them whole. They seem to spoil in like 1.5 days no matter how green they are when they hit my counter.

Anyway, we came back a home a few days later and my bananas were finally perfect for making banana bread.

This banana bread is dense, moist, flavorful and delicious. I don't think I'll ever need another Banana Bread recipe again...well except maybe a "healthier" version. 

I used black walnuts which have a bolder walnut flavor but feel free to use regular or english walnuts, which are more readily available and cheaper. Also, if you'd like the bread to be a bit less sweet, you can reduce the granulated sugar to 3/4 cup instead of a full. 

Black Walnut Banana Bread Recipe

*Makes 1 loaf

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

-          4 very ripe bananas

-          4 tbls softened butter

-          ¼ cup light brown sugar

-          1 cup granulated sugar*

-          1 tea vanilla extract

-          1 large egg

-          ¼ tea salt

-          ¼ tea baking powder

-          ½ tea baking soda

-          ½ tea cinnamon

-          1 ½ cups flour

-          Heaping ½ cup chopped black walnuts or plain walnuts

• You can reduce the white sugar amount to ¾ a cup if you prefer less sweet bread.

Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffins

There about a zillion different recipes for this type of muffin. This is mine. There really isn’t anything more to it! Please note in step 3 there are two different methods to choose from.

Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffins

*Makes 24 muffins

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
- 8oz cream cheese, softened

- 1 cup white chocolate chips

- 3 eggs

- 1 15oz can plain pumpkin

- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

- 1 cup of water

- 1 box vanilla cake mix

- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon

- ½ teaspoon allspice

- ½ teaspoon nutmeg

- 2oz plain pumpkin seeds

Directions:

1. Soften white chocolate in the microwave for about 45 seconds. You want the chips melty but NOT melted. Add to 8oz of softened cream cheese and mix together with a wooded spoon.

Place on a large piece of wax paper and create a 12 inch log. Wrap ends tightly and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

2. Combine eggs, pumpkin, water, cake mix, oil, and spices. Stir to combine then beat for 2-3 minutes with a hand mixer until smooth.

Mmmmm French Toast

I don’t think I’ve met a single person in my life that doesn’t like French Toast. Not only is it such a yummy start to the day, but its easy to make with ingredients almost everyone has on hand at any given time. I add a little “secret” ingredient to give it a little something extra.

French Toast

(print recipe)

Ingredients:

- 8 slices of bread, any kind you prefer

- 1 cup of milk

- 3 eggs

- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- butter for the pan

Procedure:

1. Crack eggs into a shallow pan or bowl. Add milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and whisk well together.

2. Bring frying pan or griddle to medium heat and melt a couple of pads of butter. You want a thin, even layer of butter.

3. Once butter is melted, coat each side of the bread in the egg/milk mixture and place in the pan immediately. Only coat the bread right before cooking.

4. Fry bread until golden brown on the first side, and then flip. Takes about 3-5 minutes per side. Repeat procedure with remaining bread.

5. Serve hot with butter, maple syrup, or powder sugar.

Thoughts: The vanilla extract gives the French Toast just a touch more sweetness and another layer of flavor. It’s that little something extra that makes people wonder what you did differently than what they do.

Easy Cheesy Biscuits!

These are so so SO yummy. They are suspiciously close to the Cheddar Bay Biscuits you can get at Red Lobster. I came across this recipe years ago in a Taste of Home magazine that my great aunt had. I’ve been making them ever since and they always go fast. And you really can’t find an easier biscuit recipe. The original recipe can be found here at Taste of Home’s website. I’ve added a few variations so mine is below.

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

(print the recipe)

• This recipe yields two dozen but can easily cut in half.

Ingredients:

- 5 cups of Bisquick

- 1 14.5oz can of roasted garlic chicken broth

- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

- 2 tablespoons parsley flakes

- ½ cup melted butter

Procedure:

1- Preheat your oven to 375. Mix Bisquick, broth, cheese, and parsley in a large bowl until dough forms.

2- Drop large tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

3- While biscuits are baking, melt your butter. Brush butter over biscuits when they are done and still hot.

Its.That.Easy. If I had one of those Staple’s “That was Easy” buttons, I would have just pushed it.

Thoughts: The two additions I added (parsley and butter) were really just to enhance the biscuits a tad more. I liked how the parsley adds a little fleck of color, and the melted butter gives them a more golden color and adds a bit more of a richer flavor. They go great with any dinner and especially great with chili. A bit of a warning though: Don’t be tempted to add more cheese. I tried that once and it didn’t work out well. Save them in an airtight container and they will keep for a couple of days.

Kitten ^..^

Parmesan Pastry Twists

Out of all of the Food Network stars, Paula Deen is probably one of my favorites. She just seems like she would be a joy to be around. I would love to just spend a day sitting on a front porch with her, drinking ice tea, and talking about life. You just know that THAT would be a great day.

While I love Paula Deen and have seen her show hundreds of times, I have never made anything from them. No particular reason why - I just never have. I happened to catch it the other day on a lazy Saturday when I was flipping through channels. I think the show I caught was centered on soup and she happened to make some breadstick to accompany one of them. A week or two later I recreated them to go with a pasta dish I was making. You can find Paula’s recipe here and mine is below.

Parmesan Pastry Twists

(print the recipe)

Ingredients:

- 1 sheet puff pastry

- ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

- 1 tablespoon garlic powder

- 2 tablespoon oregano

- lots of fresh ground black pepper

- melted butter for brushing – a couple tablespoons

Procedure:

1- After your sheet of puff pastry is thawed, brush with melted butter. Flip and repeat.

2- In a shallow dish mix parmesan, garlic powder, oregano and black pepper.

3- Slice puff pastry in 1 inch slices. I think I got about 8 or 10 from mine.

4- Take one slice of puff pastry and dredge in mixture until well coated. Twist pastry lengthwise and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat until done.

5- Place into a 350 degree oven and bake until golden brown. Mine took about 15 – 18 minutes. Remove and serve.

There are little variations between mine and Paula’s, but not many. This should show you how easy they are because when I did these I did them from memory but wanted to reference her recipe for you here.

My thoughts on this dish: These came out really light, fluffy and with tons of flavor. I was able to taste each of the ingredients separately and they blended really well together. These also looked really impressive and kinda fancy. The boys (BD and HD) were also pretty impressed and loved them. I think you could also cut each strip in half before twisting and baking and they would probably be great for a party served with a side of alfredo or marinara!