Banana Coconut Muffins

This is my first try at roasting ripe banana's.  All the hype about the increased intensity of flavor is true.  400 degrees for 20 minutes does the trick.

 Baker Street Blog  has a list of different combinations, nuts, berries etc. that can be added to this basic recipe.  These have the roasted banana's, pecan's, mini chips and coconut.

Author: from epicurious.com
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (3/4 cup)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Instructions
1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin cups with liners.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened.
3. Divide batter among lined muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup coconut. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to a rack and cool slightly.

Recipe by Baker Street at http://bakerstreet.tv/2012/03/muffin-monday-banana-coconut-muffins/

Orange Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Wow!  These are WONDERFUL.  I too had to change a couple items due to not having the right stuff in stock.  I used the juice and zest from 1-Orange, 1-Lemon and 1-Lime.

Also, I didn't not have any yogurt, so I used 1/2 cup of Spin Blend.  Pretty crazy but it worked.

Sallys Baking Addiction


Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups (315g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons poppy seeds
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (115g) salted butter, melted*
juice and zest of 2 medium lemons*
juice and zest of 1 orange*
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (120g) non-fat or low-fat Greek or regular yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
coarse sugar, for sprinkling
Try Land O Lakes® Butter w/ Canola Oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Spray 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, orange juice, and orange zest together until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition. Whisk in the yogurt. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix together until no pockets of flour remain. Do not overmix. The batter is extremely thick.

Spoon the thick batter into the muffin tins, filling them all the way to the top. Sprinkle each with coarse sugar. Bake for 5 minutes at 425F. Keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce oven temperature to 375F and continue to bake for 10-13 minutes longer until tops are lightly golden. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Top with additional lemon and/or orange zest if desired (optional).

Muffins stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Try them with a simple lemon glaze too!


*I have used salted and unsalted butter interchangeably in this recipe without changing the amount of added salt.

*1 medium-size lemon = approximately 1 tablespoon of lemon zest = 2 to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice

*My large orange yielded about 1/4 cup of juice and 2 Tablespoons of zest.

© SALLY’S BAKING ADDICTION. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.

Crusty Bread

Simply so Good Recipe

The above blog has a VERY detail process shown with the recipe.  Here is my shorter version.  The basic recipe is below.  You can make it your own by adding any herbs, cheeses or fruits of your liking.

Crusty Bread
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon Instant or Rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours. Overnight works great. Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.

Add dry ingredients to large bowl.

I decided to add 1-1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese and a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of home grown Oregano. Mix all dry ingredients, start adding water and cheese.  Mix until all flour is obsorbed.  Dough will be wet.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 12-18 hours. 

Here is what my dough looked like after 16 hours.

Yup, it's a sticky mess.

There is a reason why Simply so Good suggests a "heavy" coating of flour on your board.

Let rest for 30 minutes while your oven and covered dutch oven are heating up.

Once your oven reaches the 450 degrees, take the pre-heated dutch oven out and place your dough in the HOT pot.  Cover.  Be very careful do not burn yourself on the VERY hot dutch oven.

In Simply so Goods blog she recommends using the Le Creuset dutch oven which is enamel coated.  I do not have a coated dutch oven so I used my old fashioned black cast iron one.  I did not oil it, and placed the dough right in the HOT pan and put the lid on.  Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, after the 30 minutes, remove lid and bake up to 15 minutes to brown the crust.   

Cool and enjoy!

Apple Banana Blueberry Cake

Like everyone else that keeps banana's in the house, sometimes they get a little too ripe.  I was tired of the standard banana bread recipes, I also had blueberries in the freezer and a couple apples in the frig... so I started the hunt for something new.  I found this recipe on the Food Network site.

The changes:

 2 cups of grated apple

1 cup of blueberries

1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg.

I also baked in a bundt pan for the 60 minutes.

I also added a vanilla glaze/frosting

1-1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 tablespoons of melted butter

2 tablespoons heavy cream

I poured over warm cake and let it run.  If too thick add a little water.

Food Network Recipe

Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
4 cups of peeled cored and grated apples ( generous)
2 mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup pecans (optional)
Dry Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine all the wet ingredients in large bowl and mix well.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well.
Add dry to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Pour into an UNgreased 9"x13" pan.
Bake for 1 hour.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Muffins By: NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE

Prep:15 mins

Cooking:18 mins

Cooling:0 min

Yields:18 muffins, 1 1/2 dozen
Looking for a delicious little snack that will satisfy your peanut butter and chocolate cravings any time of day? These creamy peanut butter muffins, studded with mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels, will serve as the perfect mid-morning snack or after-dinner treat.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup reduced-fat creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375º F. Paper-line or grease 18, 2 1/2 –inch muffin cups.

COMBINE all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, peanut butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs and milk; beat until smooth. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture; beat until just blended. Stir in morsels. Spoon batter into prepared cups, filling 3/4 full.

BAKE for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out slightly sticky. Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Nutritional Information

Serving Size
1/18 muffins, 1 1/2 dozen of recipe
Calories 300
Calories from Fat 120

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Battered Cod and Mountain Dew

I had some really nice cod in the freezer... Husband likes batter fried fish... what to do...Husband does not like beer batter.. so this is what I came up.  The picture is terrible..taste was great.

Basic recipe:  1 cup of flour and one 7.5 oz. can of Mountain Dew.
1+ lbs. Cod Fillets cut into serving size pieces.

Now to make it your own.

I added:

1 heaping teaspoon Chili Powder
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon oregano

Mix the dry ingredients and add the Mountain Dew.

Mix well.

Dry Cod (fish) well. Lightly dust fish with Corn Starch then dredge the fish in the batter mix. Heat your oil of choice.  (I used corn oil) Fry until golden brown.

Try it you might like it...husband went back for seconds.

Jumbo Large Muffins--Blueberry/Chocolate Chip

Food.Com Recipe

Ingredients:
Serves: 6

Large bowl
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (tad overflowing from cup)
1 cup milk (tad overflowing from cup)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (do not add for blueberry muffins)
Medium bowl
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or a small bag of frozen blueberries)
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
Directions:
Mix eggs, oil, milk, sugar and extract (remember no extract if you are making blueberry muffins. It will be too moist) together on medium speed with a mixer. I add a little extra of the oil and milk so the muffin isn't too dry. Just a little overflowing from the cups. (again, not needed if you are making blueberry muffins.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in other bowl.
Combine and mix with mixer.
Once all mixed together add Chocolate Chips and mix with spoon. The 1 1/4 cup may sound like a lot but it really isn't. Add nuts if you wish. Make sure its mixed well. (here is where you add blueberries if you wish to make blueberry muffins. Don't add too many ore they'll be kinda gross).
Fill each cup ALL the way to the top for a bigger topped muffin.
Bake at 400 degrees for 29 minutes.
AllRecipe Topping Recipe
To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking