Banana Chocolate Muffins

I have no problem with bananas. Fresh bananas, that is. But turn them into ice cream, muffins, bread, cake or cookies and I won't go near them. The problem is, that in my exceptionally warm apartment, any fresh bananas I buy turn from ripe to way past ripe in less than 24 hours. And when faced with overripe bananas... well baking is usually the way to go. So I thought, how do I mask the bananas as much as possible? With chocolate!

Chocolate Financiers - Gluten free and Passover friendly!

I have started and abandoned at least three posts over the past couple weeks. Inevitably - life: school, work, friends, errands, laundry - gets in the way. And now - now it's almost Passover! As the four hours I spent cleaning yesterday can attest, the yearly tradition of removing any products with flour from your home - and baked goods! - is almost here. So while I have tons more flour-packed goodies to share with you, the next couple weeks Baking and Mistaking is going gluten free! And there's no better place to start than these delicious chocolate financiers. 

Iced Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cupcakes

After six months of pastry school,  working with pulled sugar, wedding cakes, entremet, laminated doughs and the like, it is nice to go back to simple. And while these iced chocolate chip oatmeal cupcakes are simple, they're sweet, moist and packed with flavor. 

Cookie Dough-Filled Brownie Cups

Special occasions call for special desserts. So when my cousin Esther got engaged a couple weeks ago, I set out to create something special.... and certainly indulgent. And what is more indulgent than a giant brownie stuffed with cookie dough? Nothing, that's what.

Chocolate Muffins - Three Ways

I made a batch of chocolate muffins a few weeks ago. Or...did I make three? Well, I mixed up one big bowl, divided it in to three, and went to town. Each third of the dough got its own fun mix-in. Can you guess what they were?


First up - crystallized ginger! Ginger and chocolate are a fun combination, the spice of the ginger playing well with the richness of the chocolate. I find people either love or hate ginger, so make sure you know which you're dealing with when making these muffins.

Guest Post at Dulce Dough

Hi All - 


The vacation is almost over, but before it ends I can direct you to my guest post with Jill, over at Dulce Dough, who is taking a vacation of her own. So head over and check out my recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Muffins!

Honey Almond Financiers

If you've been around here a few days, you'll know that I don't like nuts. But the truth is - I don't like whole or chopped nuts - it's a texture thing - but I'm perfectly happy to use ground nuts. And I did just that in these financiers. That's a French word that I can't really pronounce correctly. All you need to know is that in this instance, it means small cake. 

These mini tea cakes - which I made in my mini muffin pan - apparently get their name from the fact that they are traditionally baked in small rectangular pans, resembling bars of gold.

Pumpkin Muffins....the hard way

I'm not big on free time these days. Or sleep. But somehow, when I managed to have a few hours on a Sunday free of all obligations, I decided to buy a pumpkin. Some people buy pumpkins to carve into scary faces and put on their porches. I bought a pumpkin to eat. And about six hours later...my pumpkin became muffins.

Carrot Muffins: Passover and Not

A few weeks ago I made some carrot muffins for a meal I hosted in my apartment. They were a hit. Today I thought I could try them out for Passover - substituting a combination of matzah meal and potato starch for the flour. They were...interesting.

The ones with flour were cute and delicious - moist without being too heavy, and just enough carrots that you felt they may have some redeeming nutritional value aside from being cake.
They were smaller than I thought - the recipe called for 18, but I could certainly make 12 or 14 slightly larger ones, and adjust the baking time.
The ones without were not so cute, and definitely not as delicious. But they weren't bad. They were not so cute because they didn't spread at all, or even out, so they had funny, lumpy shapes.
They weren't as delicious, because, well, let's face it - they weren't made with flour. I definitely wouldn't say they were bad. - quite decent for Passover muffins - maybe could do with an upping of the sugar or cinnamon content, but overall pretty OK. I know, a resounding compliment.
In addition to having to substitute the flour, my baking powder was a special Passover mix made with potato starch instead of corn starch. I also had a problem with the milk. Normally I use soy milk to keep my baked goods dairy free. Soy is one of those things that Ashkenazi (of Eastern European descent) Jews cannot have on Passover, and I couldn't find any coconut milk. So I used orange juice. And I used about an extra 1/4 cup to add some moistness.
Anyway - if I have to pick which one was better, obviously the flour-based version wins by a landslide. But the Passover ones are pretty good for what I have to work with.

Tip of the Day: In this recipe - and in all - I measured the oil out first in the 1/2 cup, then the honey, which enabled the honey to slide right out.

Recipe: (adapted from RecipeZaar)
1 1/2 cups flour (OR 1 cup cake meal plus 1/2 cup potato starch)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup milk (OR soy milk or coconut milk or orange juice)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups grated carrots

Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Make a well in the center and add in the wet ingredients - oil, egg, honey, milk, vanilla and carrots.
Stir together until all ingredients are moistened.
Divide among 14 to 18 muffin cups and bake on 400 F for approximately 15 minutes.

Baked Jelly Doughnut Muffins

While I'm all for having a deep-fried jelly doughnut every night of Chanukah (unfortunately I missed Sunday and today), I understand that it's probably not the healthiest option.

Instead, I present you with baked doughnut muffins! Of course, you may think without the deep frying, these lose their significance for Chanukah, but there is oil in the batter - and Chanukah is about oil, not frying!
Now, I'm not going to pretend that if you close your eyes, that this tastes like a jelly doughnut, but they are sweet, delicious, and slightly healthier. My jelly sank a little, probably because I didn't have quite enough flour in the batter. Measuring isn't my strong point. Eating is.
Whatever resemblance these do have to doughnuts, comes from the quick bath they take in granulated sugar while still warm. I gave them about a minute after I pulled them out of the oven to cool down, but they're still pretty hot when you do it, so you'll need strong fingers.
If you're not a jelly fan (which I am, and obviously used raspberry), you could always leave that out. Tip of the Day: After 24 hours, the sugar coating on this begins to crust a little, so you'd better eat them all up quickly!

Recipe:
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking power
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup jelly
1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

Beat together the sugar and egg until pale yellow.
Add in the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir to combine.
Pour in the oil, milk and vanilla, and mix until combined
Fill 12 muffin cups halfway full (don't use paper liners!), and place a teaspoon of jelly on top.
Top with remaining batter.
Bake on 350F for 15 to 18 minutes, until done.
After removing from oven, roll each muffin in sugar and place on wire rack to cool.

The Lost Desserts

Sometimes I made a dessert, and it's delicious, and it's pretty and it all get's eaten (very rarely does this not happen), but I don't run to blog about it. Instead, the pictures sit on my hard drive, the recipe wanders around in my browser history, and I never quite get the push to share them with you.

So recently while I was going through my picture files, thinking about what to share next, I figured it was time for a little fall cleaning. Now keep in mind, these weren't bad. The complete disasters in my life I run to share with you. These were good. Just not too exciting.

First up: Apple Pie Bars.
I made these in July. I know, July! Remember that? Weird.
Anyway, these were a variation on these Strawberry Pie Bars. Because I'm lazy and all-around uninterested in hard work, I used a can of apple pie filling for the center. Don't knock it.
They were tasty. After about 36 hours, they started to get a little soggy, when the apple pie filling seeped in the crust and filling. They were still tasty, but they kind of needed a fork to eat, instead of just hands.

Next up: Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I made these on September 4th. Ah the good old days. It was the weekend before I started school, and I had no idea what the year would bring.

Well now I know. And it's tough.

I honestly can't even remember what these muffins were like. They probably weren't bad. They probably weren't amazing either, or I doubt I would have forgotten them. I'm pretty sure those are my teeth marks, so I definitely ate one.

And finally: World Peace Cookies.

I know, I know, those of you who have heard of or made Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies, are probably shocked to see them on my list of blah desserts. After all, they are said to cure international disagreements.

Ok, here's the thing. They were delicious. Really. But they weren't all that appetizing looking, and not one person at the meal I brought them to ate one, and the pictures I attempted to take just never turned out right.

So, yeah, maybe I'm a little bitter. Maybe I'll try these again someday. Maybe I should stop whining. But hey, this is my blog. If I can't do it here, where can I do it?

Ok, I'm done complaining. I'll give you all the recipes I've mentioned, for those of you that are so inspired by my description of these items that you can't wait to try them for yourself.

Tip of the Day: Oh, where to start. Practice makes perfect?

Recipes:

Apple Pie Bars: (adapted from the Field Guide to Cookies)
Crust:
6 tbsps butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Filling: 1 can apple pie filling, diced.

Streusel:
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
6 tbsps cold butter

Crust: cream butter and sugar together until well mixed. Add egg and mix to combine.
Gradually mix in flour, baking powder and salt.
Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan, and 1/4 inch up the side.

Spread the filling evenly over the crust, stopping 1/2 inch from the edge.

Streusel: Combine sugar, flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter until mix is crumbly.
Sprinkle evenly over the filling.

Bake at 350F for 35 minutes until golden brown.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins: (via Wikibooks)
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Stir together the flour, chocolate chips, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
Make a well in the center, and pour in the egg, milk, oil and vanilla.
Stir until all ingredients are moistened.
Fill 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

World Peace Cookies (Dorie Greenspan)
11 tbsps (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or a generous 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Beat the butter on high until light and fluffy.
Add in the sugars, salt and vanilla and beat until mixed.
Pour in the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Cover the mixer with a damp towel and pulse for a few seconds at a time until integrated.
Continue to mix until flour is fully mixed in. The dough will be crumbly and you'll worry these cookies will never come together. Mix in the chocolate bits.
Turn the dough out on to a surface and divide in two. Form two logs of approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. Yes, I used a ruler. No, you don't have to.
Place in fridge (I used the freezer because these were hard to slice) for a couple hours.
Slice in to 1/2 inch rounds, and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake on 325 F for 13 minutes. Cool on baking sheet.

Cinnamon Bun Muffins

I've been reading Joy the Baker's website for a few months, and she has some great-looking recipes. I made her low-fat oatmeal muffins once, and when I saw this recipe for cinnamon bun muffins, I immediately wanted to try them.

But, well, if you came here looking for me to crash and burn once again...you're in the right place. This recipe is basically a cinnamon bun - yeast included - with a little less waiting and dough working. And baked in muffin tins. Sounds good so far, no?

I rarely work with yeast, since what little experience I have with it, has proven that yeast dough products deteriorate quickly. While they're good the first day, by the second day the drop off is significantly noticeable.

Anyway, I didn't let that stop me, and I set out to create these muffins. I was a little concerned working with the yeast, and mixing it with warm milk to "activate it." Since I really haven't worked with it much, I had no idea if it was doing the right thing, but I went ahead anyway.
Here's the dough, waiting patiently to expand.

At this point, you're probably assuming that something with the yeast went horribly wrong, and they either blew up to three time their size or sat in the muffin tin as hard little balls - but that simply isn't the case.

Instead it was the streusel, the innocent little mixture of butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, that turned my muffins into disasters.
I patiently followed the directions that said to press the streusel mixture down into the batter...
But, when I snuck a peak about halfway through the baking process the mixture had melted and spread all over the muffin tin, and was barely inside them at all.

Not easily discouraged, I let them finish anyway, and when they were cool I mixed up the icing and drizzled it on top. Since the tin was already such a mess I figured I might as well ice them in there anyway.

And yes, I ate one first.

Of course we ate every muffin, and they weren't bad, but something definitely went wrong. The next day, they were a lot drier, but after a quick zap in the microwave, they are certainly improved.
Moral of the story? Who knows. Sometimes with my disasters, it is clear what went wrong, but there are also times like these, where I'm just not sure what I didn't do.
One thing is for sure - in my house - even the mistakes get eaten.

Tip of the Day: Your yeast is working if it starts to bubble in the warm water after a couple minutes. Be patient!

Recipe: (from Joy the Baker)

Dough:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Filling:

2 tbsp butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk or cream

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Combine yeast and warm milk, in a cup.

Pour the milk, oil, vanilla and egg into the flour mixture and stir until smooth.

Divide batter into 12 greased cupcake tins.

Mix together the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a small bowl.

Sprinkle over the muffin tins and press down in to the dough.

Place the pan in a cold oven, turn it to 350F, and bake for twenty minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool before topping with the icing.

Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins

While I certainly need to bypass my reluctance to break out the stand mixer since I moved, I still enjoy making muffins and other one bowl, no mixer desserts. Like these Toll House Streusel Muffins.After the previous chocolate chip muffins I made, I was searching for something else, and found this recipe online that adds a nice crunchy streusel topping. I left out the nuts, because I'm not really a fan, and the muffins were still good.Everyone at work said they were great because they had such a high density of chocolate chips. So if you'd rather a little less, use 2/3 or 3/4 of the bag.
I always use Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips in my recipes - they're really big and very good!
There they are!

Tip of the Day: While its not usually a good idea to change the amounts of key ingredients like flour or eggs in your recipes - add ins are a place to be creative. Nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, dried blueberries, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips - I'm sure you could name ten more - can be substituted in recipes like this. Find a mix that works!

Recipe: (from Toll House)
Muffins:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
12 ounces (2 cups) chocolate chips

Streusel:
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Stir together flour, sugars, baking powder and salt. Mix in butter, milk and egg until just combined.
Stir in chocolate chips, and divide batter among 12 lined muffin cups.

Combine brown sugar, flour and butter in a small bowl.
Sprinkle over muffin batter, press down lightly.
Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here is another recipe from BakeorBreak, on which I spend hours of time looking at things that I just have to make. I'm sure I'll be sharing more from there in the future, but for now we have chocolate chip muffins!
As goes the eternal debate: muffin or cupcake? I'm here to settle the argument once and for all. Muffins are denser, often have fruit add-ins, streusel toppings, and are made with melted butter. Cupcakes are frosted, can have a jam center but usually not other additions, and are made with softened butter, and are therefore lighter in density.
So these are muffins, which, by having chocolate chips in them kind of breaks from the rules - but not so much. You can still eat them for breakfast, I promise.

Another reason I love to make muffins, aside from the excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast, is their ability to be made in one bowl, with no need for a stand mixer (which, while I have finally unpacked, I have yet to use in my new apartment.)

Anyway, back to these chocolate chip muffins: I made a double batch and brought half of them to work and half of them to class. They were well received (but really, what free baked good isn't?) and I think they were good, but not mind-blowingly so. But they were a good muffin, so what more am I searching for? Who knows. I'll let you know when I do. In the meantime, enjoy these muffins.

Tip of the Day: Subsitute chocolate chunks for chips if you're looking for a more sophisticated dessert.

Recipe: (from Bake or Break)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted & slightly cooled
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Stir together the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, butter, milk and vanilla.
Add to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Divid batter among 12 greased muffin cups.
Bake on 375F for 20 to 22 minutes.

Low-fat Oatmeal Raspberry Muffins

I rarely bake low-fat things. If I haven't already told you, my motto is, if it doesn't taste good, why make it? But, in this case, I relented.When I found this recipe for Low-Fat Oatmeal Muffins, I thought I would for once give it a shot. Applesauce, oats, whole wheat flour, fresh berries - healthy right? And since it came from Joy the Baker I thought it had to be good. The original recipe called for fresh blueberries, but since I've never been a big fan of those I figured I'd go with raspberries instead.
Well, I'll be honest with you - they were...okay. Not great. Not awful, just okay. There were a few specific problems I had that could potentially be corrected.
Firstly, the raspberries I used weren't very sweet, they were actually quite tart, and so biting into one in the cakey muffin was sometimes an unwelcome surprise. For me anyway.
Also, the fresh berries made the muffin surrounding the berry a little wet, not overwhelmingly so, but noticeably so.
And I have to admit, I made a perhaps questionable substitution. As I was measuring out my oats, I realized I was about 1/4 cup short of the 1 1/4 cups the recipe called for. I searched around my kitchen, looking for anything that might work - and then I found some plain shredded wheat in the cereal section. Crushed some of that up, poured it in - and tada! Don't know if I would recommend that in the future, but I can't really say if it affected the recipe at all.
And, well, finally - they tasted low fat. I also felt the dough itself was a little bland - maybe increasing the brown sugar and the cinnamon just a touch would help. Then again, that's just me.
I don't want to discourage any of you from baking low-fat, there are great recipes out there - and I know alot of you have had success with splenda replacements for sugar and brown sugar alike.
So, go forth and bake! And then tell me about it please!

Tip of the Day: Substituting applesauce in baked goods works best in oil based recipes, not those with butter. If you're trying it, substitute the applesauce for oil 1 to 1, and then add 2 tbsp oil in addition. Good Luck!

Recipe: (from Joy the Baker)
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp oil
1 egg
3/4 cup raspberries

Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, combined the applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil and egg.

Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. S

Fold in the raspberries.

Divide the batter in to 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups.

Bake at 375 F for 16-18 minutes.

Mmmm chocolatey

Ah, who doesn't love a good chocolate, chocolate chip muffin. Not me, that's for sure.These were quite delicious, and really not too difficult to make. The thing I like about muffins is that they generally call for melted butter, as opposed to softened, meaning you can just mix everything up in a bowl without needing to bring out the mixer. Yay for simplicity!
Well I got this recipe from JoyofBaking.com, and they worked out really well. At first when I added the dry ingredients to the wet (here they are just before meeting - do you think they knew their fate?).I was worried that the dough wasn't going to come together, but I kept mixing and it worked out just fine. Of course, as expected, they weren't all quite the same height, but you know what, that makes each one unique. Yeah. Take that, conformity. I didn't use liners with these, just sprayed the pan, I don't quite know why but I always put cupcakes in liners and not muffins. What does that say about me? Don't quite know.
Here is a close up of the beauty:

Tip of the Day: If a recipe calls for chocolate chips I like to use a variety of types and sizes, for a little exciting mix.

Apple and Cinnamon Smells

Mmmm these smelled great when they were baking. And they tasted great when they were done.These are apple and cinnamon muffins, again from the Cookie and Biscuit Bible by Catherine Atkinson. (Recipe at the end of the post.)
These were my second attempt at making muffins (the first didn't go so well - more on that another time) and was pretty successful. A muffin is different than a cupcake in that it uses melted butter instead of solid, and often has whole wheat flour (though not always) and fruit and nut additions, which overall make for a denser cake.
These were pretty great, and they smelled amazing while in the oven - who needs Glade plug-ins anyway, just bake all day long! I doubled this recipe, as the original only makes 6, and for once I got all the ingredient amounts right - go me!
I used Granny Smith apples in these, since that's what I had in the house (yes, another recipe selected simply because I already had the ingredients - nothing like laziness to make a baker resourceful!) and I personally thought they were a little tart against the sweetness of the muffin, but others liked the contrast. Golden Delicious would be a sweeter alternative, or you could experiment with a mix of different types.
The recipe topping calls for crushed brown sugar cubes, which I didn't have, so I substituted regular brown sugar. I doubt it made much difference.

Tip of the Day: If you don't want to use paper liners when making muffins or cupcakes, don't forget to spray the pan(s) first - or else you'll end up having to eat them out of the tray!

Recipe:
Apple and Cinnamon Muffins:
1 beaten egg
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinammon
two small apples chopped

topping: 12 crushed brown sugar cubes and 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix the egg, sugar, milk and butter in a bowl. Sift in flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the apple and stir until just mixed.
Spoon into muffin tin and sprinkle topping on top.
Bake at 400 for 30 to 35 minutes.
Enjoy!