Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins

Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins

Bananas.
Nutella.
All in a muffin.

Let's do it. I found this recipe on The Novice Chef's blog. I had some very sad looking bananas in the fridge and wanted to use them up...and I had a new jar of Nutella. Match made in heaven!


The recipe is easy to make. Normal muffin blending with a dollop of Nutella on top. I ran about 1/3 cup of Nutella through the microwave for about 15 seconds. That made it easier to scoop and swirl. I also did not include the chopped pecans in the original recipe.


By the way, I found my camera! It's been "misplaced" for several months now...and I almost gave up hope. You know when you place something in a super SECRET place...so secret that you forget where you put it? That's me.

I could blame the fumes from the floor refinishing or paint, but I was trying to be clever...and so failed. The camera was put in a bin of kitchen equipment, with other stuff on top. I've lifted the lid on every box in the house and missed it. Yesterday, when I was putting away loaf pans in that box, I found the camera! Whoo hoo!

Note to my family and friends: Because I seem to forget this kind of stuff, I don't "hide" money around the house. Don't bother opening every book in the house looking for money when I'm gone... :)


All the muffins are unique based on your swirl pattern. Because of the Nutella, the top can get a little messy. You might want to serve them with a napkin (or you can just lick off the Nutella from your fingers!)



RECIPE:
Find full recipe on the Novice Chef's Blog here:  http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/01/nutella-banana-swirl-muffins/
My changes: Did not include pecans.

Chocolate Scones with White Chocolate Chips

Chocolate Scones with White Chocolate Chips

I was going through my chocolate stash and found some white chocolate chips that I forgot about. Thus, chocolate scones with white chocolate chips!

I'm such a fan of scones. They are easy to make in the morning and are perfect for a morning meeting. My department has a standing weekly morning meeting, and I bought these to share.

After the meeting, I placed the "leftover" scones on a table for other staff to eat. I ran into a colleague later that morning holding one of the scones. As she walked by, she said, "I'll eat anything you bake. You can make mud pies and I'll eat 'em." Hee hee.

The dough comes together very quickly. Remember - don't overmix scones. I like to make smaller scones (more to share) so I made two circles and cut each into 8 pieces. Brush some cream on top and finish with a sprinkle of sanding sugar. (I totally use sanding sugar on everything...well, except a chicken dinner, but pretty much all baked goods!)

See you soon - I'm going to try and blog more...life has been really busy! Also, my nice camera is still MIA so these photos are from my Samsung phone.

I hope you make these scones someday. They make people happy. - mary

Chocolate Scones with White Chocolate Chips
2/3 cup of heavy cream (plus a little more to brush on the scones)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (25 grams) Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Callebaut)
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 Tablespoons (75% of one stick of butter) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Sanding sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix together in the measuring cup or a small bowl the cream, egg and vanilla.
3. In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers until the butter is pea-size.
5. Add the white chocolate chips to the mix and stir to blend.
6. Pour the cream mixture over the batter and mix until just blended together. Don't overmix and it's okay if you don't get it all incorporated because you'll knead it a bit in the next step.
7. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead to pull everything together but try to handle the dough as little as possible.
8. For mini scones: I split the dough in half and made two circles and cut each into 8 wedges. If you want larger scones, you can press it into one circle and cut into 8 wedges.
9. Place the scones on a baking sheet (I use parchment paper for easy clean up) and brush the top with a little cream or milk. Sprinkle sanding sugar on top.
10. Bake for 17-20 minutes (depending on the size of the scones and your oven) until they are firm around the edges.
11. Cool on wire rack and enjoy!

Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry & Cream Biscuits

Strawberry & Cream Biscuits

It's hot in Los Angeles.
Like 91 F hot.
And our poor Dodgers get rained/snowed out in Minneapolis.
I wish I could send Minneapolis some of our heat. And they give us some of their snow pack for our drought!
(Don't get me started on the whole Clippers fiasco. I hope Oprah buys the team.)

These are like scones/biscuits. Cut up strawberries and fold in with the flour/butter mix. Be sure to coat the strawberries in flour before adding the cream.

I cut them into rounds. Next time, I would have thicker biscuits. I think these are a little too thin.

Nothing like a light biscuit filled with strawberries!

It's strawberry season in California now (well, we grow strawberries all year, but now they are crazy sweet good). Like "get 1/2 flat of strawberries (6 green plastic containers) for $9-11 at the Farmer's Market" strawberry season. Deliciousness.

When you get some strawberries (hopefully California grown!), make these Strawberry & Cream Biscuits from Smitten Kitchen.

RECIPE: Click here to go to Smitten Kitchen's blog and recipe

Fava Beans with Meyer Lemon, The Vegetable Diva

Fava Beans with Meyer Lemons

It's Fava Bean season! It's a bit early (the farmer's market vendor says it has been so hot in Central California that things are burning up and coming up early). The season is pretty short so get them when you see them.

And get them when you are full of peaceful zen and patience.

To me, Fava Beans are vegetable divas. They require TWO peelings. But there is a reason why Mother Nature gave it so much padding - to protect it's yummy center.

Russ Parson's of the Los Angeles Times recommends buying a POUND of fava beans PER PERSON. Serious. There is a lot of organic compostable waste in fava beans.

First, you remove the pods from the bean.

Then, blanch the pods in boiling water for a minute or so.

The pods look milky white. But you aren't done. You need to remove that white layer to grab the beautiful green fava bean.

 

To get the bean out, I split the white layer with my nail. You can't just pop it out. You need to peel/slit the outer cover. Dude, I warned you. DIVA VEGETABLE.

Finally, after getting to the fava, you might be exhausted. So go simple and saute the beans with some olive oil and Meyer lemon zest. Finish with some good sea salt and cracked pepper.

Here are some other pretty things I found at the Farmer's Market. I'll post something I made with these strawberries this week!

Recipe:
Fava Beans with Meyer Lemon

1. Listen to an audiobook and get the fava beans out of the pods.
2. Blanch beans for a minute or so.
3. Remove the outer milky layer to reveal a bright green bean.
4. Saute beans in olive oil.
5. Zest a lemon into the pan, to taste.
6. Top with sea salt and cracked pepper. Serve immediately (well, after you take a photo! :)

Here's some other recipes:
LA Times: 6 Recipes for Fava Beans
The Kitchn: 5 Ways to Cook Fava Beans

Nigella's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I can't find my digital scale. Eeck.

Due to some home improvements, things were moved around and crammed in other areas of the house and the garage. And I don't know where the digital scale went! Eeck. I use it all the time and feel like my arm is cut off when baking without it. Oh, and I can't find my camera too. It's kinda a disaster in the making. I'm lucky to have gotten these muffins out the door. I'll keep you posted on the lost and found that is the house.

These are Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins. They have some cocoa powder and chocolate chips. I switched regular chocolate chips for mini chips because mini chips are cuter.

I really liked this recipe. Super easy to make and the texture was very good. I made them two days in a row and will definitely make them again in the future!

Let's hope my scale and camera show up soon!
(These photos were taken on my Samsung 4S phone with the VSCOcam app)

I slightly adapted Nigella's recipe from the Food Network

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder (I used Callebaut dutch chocolate)
3/4 cup superfine sugar (one time, I used granulated sugar and it turned out fine)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top (1 cup total chips - I used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line a muffin tin with liners.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
4. In a measuring cup, mix together the oil, milk, egg and vanilla together.
5. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and mix together. Don't overmix - it's fine if it's lumpy.
6. Scoop into muffin tin.
7. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top.
8. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 12 muffins.

Sour Cream Bisquick Biscuits

Sour Cream Bisquick Biscuits

This is total comfort food. 

Bisquick. 

Sour Cream.

Old school recipe. 

After all that happened this month so far, I needed comfort food and these are the ticket.

My mom used to make these biscuits when I was little. My cousin makes them small and I think they are better that way (and you can eat more).

My cousin has an index card written by her mom. I'm sure you can make this all from scratch, but Bisquick has a special place in my memory and it's foolproof.

On Sunday, I went to my parent's house and made some little ham and egg biscuits.

This is super easy to make. Just some Bisquick, sour cream, a bit of sugar, baking soda and an egg.

I made mini biscuits with a one-inch (or so) circle because they are cute and you can eat a bunch. Sure, if you count the calories, it's all the same, but I'm always more satisfied if I can eat four small ones instead of only one big one.:)

By the way, I only had my cell phone camera to take these photos. Sorry about the quality. But the quality of the biscuits? Yummmmmmy.

Sour Cream Bisquick Biscuits

Mix together in one bowl:

2 1/2 cups Bisquick

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix together in a small bowl:

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Pour the wet mixture onto the Bisquick bowl. 

3. Stir until just combined. Don't overmix.

4. Knead dough 5-7 times on a flour or Bisquick covered surface.

5. Pat or roll out and cut into desired shape.

6. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown on top and bottom (depends on how big you make them - around 12-20 minutes)

Spreads Cookies by Pioneer Woman

Spreads by The Pioneer Woman

On Saturday morning, I turned on the DVR and found a new episode of Ree Drummond in The Pioneer Woman Food Network show. It was all about football camp with her making 120 sandwiches and these "Spreads" cookies for the football camp boys.

Spreads are the often requested treat of Ree's older brother and it's basically a cookie dough topped with melted chocolate chips. In her 2009 post on her blog, she doesn't top it with extra stuff, but on the show, she went crazy and filled it with toppings.

On this spread, I topped it with two types of candy sprinkles.

This was topped with Heath English Toffee Bits. I just love these. They go great in scones too (see this recipe)

The dough is very close to a cookie dough and you simply spread it on a baking sheet. After it bakes for 15-20 minutes, you take it out and place chocolate chips on top. Then it goes back in the oven for 1 more minute (just long enough to soften the chips) and then you spread them out with your offset spatula. Seriously easy peasy.

After they chill out, you can cut the spreads into any size pieces. I found it helpful to refrigerate them for 15 minutes before cutting.

I made one batch and split it between two quarter-sheet pans. You can make one big spread, or smaller individual ones too. On the show, she topped one with this crazy s'mores gone wild: crushed graham crackers, mini marshmallows, M&Ms and caramel sauce.

Cidney the Girl Dog was hanging out on her Costco doggie bed (the cover was in the wash) while I made the Spreads. I'm not sure she liked me interrupting her rest. :)

Spreads by The Pioneer Woman
See her original recipe (2009) and from the Food Network

1 cup (200 grams) light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 large egg
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (I added this, not in the original recipe)
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 - 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 8 ounces, but I think 6 ounces would be fine)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place parchment paper on a half-sheet or quarter-sheet pan. The Pioneer Woman does not use parchment, but I find the clean up easier with parchment.
3a. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
3b. With an electric mixer and paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and blend together, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
5. Add the vanilla and blend.
6. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour and salt and blend until just combined.
7. With an offset spatula, spread dough on the baking pan to a thickness of 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Don't spread it the edges of the pan.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown on the edges.
9. Pull out of the oven (leave the oven on) and sprinkle the chocolate chips on the cookie.
10. Return to the oven and for 1 minute. Remove and spread the chips over the top with the offset spatula.
11. Spread your selected toppings on top.
12. Let cool before cutting into squares. Enjoy!

From @instagram - My account is @foodlibrarian - follow along! (it's 85% food, 10% dog and 5% more ridiculousness).

Meyer Lemon Glazed Cookies

Meyer Lemon Glazed Cookies

Our coasts in the US are polar opposites right now. Los Angeles has been going through another heatwave...we've been in the 80's. And the East Coast is getting hit by a snow storm. What to do?

Make cookies. That's the answer for everything.


My parent's have a great Meyer Lemon tree and come winter, it's bursting with lemons. Meyer Lemons are very fragrant and sweeter than your regular lemon. They've gotten super popular in recent years and they deserve the attention! I hope you are able to find some...and I hope they are from California.

This is a simple cookie to make. I made it while watching Sherlock. Oh, I love that show. Don't you? I tried really, really hard to stay up to watch it after Downton, but didn't make it so I watched it the next day while baking these cookies.

I made smaller cookies - the original recipe from Martha Stewart has about double the yield.

Both the cookie batter and the glaze include lemon zest.

Fresh from the oven. Let them cool completely before glazing the cookies.

After glazing the cookies, let the cookies rest for an hour so the glaze sets up.

Recipe: Meyer Lemon Glazed Cookies
Adapted from: Everyday Food/Martha Stewart Glazed Lemon Cookies

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (original recipe was 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely grated meyer lemon zest (I used two meyer lemons)
2 tablespoons fresh meyer lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze
2 cups confectioners'/powdered sugar
zest of 1 meyer lemon (about 1 Tablespoon)
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh meyer lemon juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the lemon zest until damp and fragrant. This will release the lovely meyer lemon flavor.
3. In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter with the lemon zesty sugar until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat until combined. It may look curdled but that's okay.
4. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture until just combined.
5. Drop dough onto cookie sheets (I line my half-sheet pans with parchment paper). I used a small cookie scoop and got 42 cookies. The originally recipe uses one heaping tablespoon and yields 24 cookies.
6. Bake until edges are golden, 12-15 minutes for small cookies or 15-20 minutes for larger cookies, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. To make the glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest until pourable. Spread glaze on the cooled cookies and let sit for an hour until the topping is set.

Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt - I Like Big Bundts 2013 - Day 15

Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt 

I Like Big Bundts 2013 - Day 15

Happy National Bundt Day! November 15th is one of my favorite days of the year! :) I don't know who made up this silly food holiday, but I'm glad they did.

I hope you make a Bundt to celebrate the inverted, curvy cake! If you do celebrate today, let me know by filling out this ONLINE FORM and submitting a photo - I'm going to do a round-up of yummy cakes. (You don't need a blog to join in). If you want, I'll send you some food gift tags that you can put on a slice of Bundt cake that you give to friends and family. (Don't have a photo of these yet, because I haven't made them yet ;) If you live in the US, you'll be entered in a raffle for a cool Jubilee Bundt pan too! Notes: Bundts need to be made within the last 30 days, and deadline to enter is Nov 23, 2013. This is not sponsored - I'm paying for this.

This is the Julibee Pan you could win if you bake for National Bundt Day! 

I make this cake All. The. Time.
Really.
If you invite me to a meeting next week, I'm likely to show up with this Bundt.
You just got home with a new baby? This Bundt might show up on your doorstep.

And you should make it too! Each year I have profiled this Bundt because it's my go-to Bundt and so versatile - I've made cupcakes with the recipe too.

You don't need a mixer and it all comes together in a flash. If you want to celebrate National Bundt Day today and can't decide from the 100 plus recipes I've made in the past... then pick this Bundt. You probably have many of the ingredients in your house. And if you don't have buttermilk, just make it with some milk and vinegar.

This cake is moist and delicious. It keeps for a few days too...if you don't eat it first!

See this earlier post for step-by-step instructions with photos!

Thank you sooooo much for following along on my crazy adventure (I'm not the crazy cat lady, I'm just the crazy Bundt lady). Although it was the "light" edition with only 15 days of bundts this year, I'm going to take a breather and rest for a bit... Happy Bundt Day to you and yours! - mary the food librarian

Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/4 c plus 1 T (or 5 T) cocoa (I have used both Dutch processed and natural cocoa with fine results). I used 30 grams of Hershey's Cocoa.

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
2 cups (400 grams) sugar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 c buttermilk
1 t baking soda

2 eggs
1 t vanilla

Instructions:
Prepare 10-cup or 12-cup Bundt pan (I prefer to use Pam with Flour or Bakers Joy but you can also butter and flour the pan). Preheat oven to 375 degree.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together: flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon
2. Bring to a boil in a pot: Water, oil, butter and cocoa. Once it reaches a boil, remove from heat.
3. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour and whisk by hand until combined.
4. Add the buttermilk and baking soda and mix.
5. In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla. Add to the batter and combine.
6. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven and pan), until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and let sit on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert onto wire rack and let cool completely.
9. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.

I Like Big Bundts 2013
Day 15: Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt (this post)
Day 14: Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bundt
Day 13: Fresh Ginger & Molasses Bundt
Day 12: Matcha Green Tea Crème Fraîche Bundt
Day 11: Triple Chocolate Bundt
Day 10: Biscoff Speculoos Cookie Butter Bundt
Day 9: Zucchini Bundt with Chocolate Ganache
Day 7: Cranberry Crème Fraîche Bundt
Day 6: Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt
Day 5: Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt
Day 4: Moosewood's Fresh Apple Spice Bundt Cake
Day 3: Butterscotch Bundt Cake
Day 2: Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake Bundt
Day 1: Orange Marmalade Jubilee Bundt

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bundt - I Like Big Bundts 2013 - Day 14

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bundt

I Like Big Bundts 2013 - Day 14

Dude, tomorrow.
Tomorrow is National Bundt Day!
Whoo hoo!

I hope you are celebrating with me by making a Bundt for your friends, family, co-workers, or even your frienemies. Bundts are great - easy to make, little or no frosting, shapely cakes that always deliver love and deliciousness.

If you make a Bundt, let me know and I'll post a photo/link on a round-up! You have til November 23rd to submit. If you want, I'll send you some homemade food gift tags (so you can gift your next bundt to friends). If you are in the U.S., I'll enter you in a raffle to win the pretty new Jubilee Bundt pan. Submission info here.


Today's bundt is super yummmmmy. If you follow my instagram, you know that I often bring food to meetings at the library. One my monthly meeting colleagues sent me a link to this recipe that she makes all the time. Ricotta, Lemon and Blueberries - sign me up!


Ricotta makes the cake rich and moist. Definitely make this - it's perfect for a meeting with a cup of coffee or tea. I like baking with ricotta - try this delicious Orange Ricotta Bundt!



I baked this cake in a 10-cup Heritage Bundt pan. This is one of my favorites. Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook instagrammed this photo for me. Yes, it's MINI Heritage Bundts. So cute! It's on my list to Santa.


Lemon, Blueberries, Ricotta... do it.

Finally, thanks to the American Libraries for mentioning my crazy little project in this week's eNewsletter, ALDirect (November 6, 2013). See it here (scroll to the bottom or search for "bundts"). Thanks for the shout-out!

Whew! I'm almost done with this year's light version of I Like Big Bundts...

I Like Big Bundts 2013
Day 13: Fresh Ginger & Molasses Bundt
Day 12: Matcha Green Tea Crème Fraîche Bundt
Day 11: Triple Chocolate Bundt
Day 10: Biscoff Speculoos Cookie Butter Bundt
Day 9: Zucchini Bundt with Chocolate Ganache
Day 7: Cranberry Crème Fraîche Bundt
Day 6: Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt
Day 5: Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt
Day 4: Moosewood's Fresh Apple Spice Bundt Cake
Day 3: Butterscotch Bundt Cake
Day 2: Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake Bundt
Day 1: Orange Marmalade Jubilee Bundt

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bundt Cake
Adapted from Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bread on Tasty Kitchen

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 cup (250 grams) sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (I used whole milk ricotta cheese)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 3/4 cup (245 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup blueberries (I used Trader Joe's organic frozen blueberries)
Powdered sugar

My directions are different than Tasty Kitchen's directions (they didn't use a mixer and started by mixing the eggs and sugar together).

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 10-cup Bundt pan by spraying it with Pam with Flour or Baker's Joy, or greasing and flouring the pan.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating on medium speed for 1 minute after each addition.
4. Add the ricotta, vanilla, and zest and blend to combine.
5. On low speeed, add half the flour mixture followed by the buttermilk, and then the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined - don't overmix.
6. With a spatula, fold the blueberries into the batter.
7. Pour into prepared Bundt pan and smooth out the top.
8. Bake for 45-50 minutes (depending on your oven and pan used)until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Let sit for 15 minutes and then invert onto wire rack until completely cool.
8. Sift powder sugar on top of the cake and enjoy!

 

OMG. I totally want this Mini Heritage Pan.