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Monkey Bread Muffin Cups

March 12, 2010 By Steph 22 Comments

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Monkey Bread.  If you have never had this ultra tasty treat before, here are a few keywords to descibe this evil addiction of mine:

addicting
sweet crunchy edges
caramel-y
cinnamon-y
lil’ bit of heaven

These are only a few of many I could probably use to describe these little heavenly buns. It’s like a cinnamon roll you can take a part piece by piece and there is nothing in this world quite like it. Just remember – you’ve been warned. I’m not going to lie that you can eat the entire thing without even blinking an eye.

I decided that because I can eat an entire recipe when I make it using a bundt pan, that I needed to make them in individual portions so that I can ‘somewhat’ control myself. So I used the jumbo muffin tins. It makes 6. Just to make it extra evil I drizzled some icing over the top. They totally don’t need it. They are amazing on their own. Trust me.

Monkey Bread Muffin Cups
makes 6 jumbo muffins

2 tubes of biscuit dough (I like pillsbury) (20 biscuits in total)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar

Spray your muffin tin with non-stick spray. Cut each biscuit into 4ths. So in total you should have 80 little pieces of dough. In a bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Dip each piece of dough into the cinnamon-sugar mixture until totally covered. Divide evenly between the 6 cups. (about 13-14 in each cup) In a saucepan boil the butter and brown sugar. Spoon about a tablespoon of the brown sugar/butter mixture over each muffin cup. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until baked through. Best when hot and fresh out of the oven!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: bread, desserts, muffins

The Best Banana Muffins

March 4, 2010 By Steph 7 Comments

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I crave banana bread on occasion. This is really strange for me because until I became an adult, I never really liked bread that had even a hint of fruits or vegetables in it…banana bread, zucchini bread, carrot cake, you know what I’m talking about. But now, I crave it. My kids love it. They have no idea what is in it, but they love it. And I can totally justify them eating it because it is awesome when you can feed them something and you secretly know it has some nutritional value (minus the sugar) to it. But anyways, I made these the other day and I have to say it is some of the best banana bread (muffins) that I’ve ever had.

I’m going to let you in on a cool trick too. Maybe you already know it, but I didn’t. I had to google how to ripen bananas quick, because I was craving these so badly. Yes, I’ve heard the whole paper bag with an apple trick, but I was just not feeling that. So I threw them into the freezer overnight and took them out the following morning to thaw out. They were perfectly ripen and I didn’t have to wait around impatiently. I also like my banana bread to have a little banana chunks in it. I use a whisk to get it all smoothed out but I like to leave it just tad chunky. So much better this way in my opinion.

Add some nuts or chocolate chips to it if you like, but I personally like these as just plain ole’ banana muffins. I sprinkle a little turbinaro sugar over the top before I pop them into the oven to add a yummy sweet touch.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo
Steph

Banana Muffins
makes 12

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
3 or 4 ripened bananas (about 1 cup mashed bananas)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons melted butter

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, mash the bananas and add the sugars, egg and melted butter. Whisk together until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don’t over mix. Evenly distribute between 12 muffin cups that have been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, fruit, muffins, snacks

Creamy Peanut Butter Mousse Cupcakes and a video!

March 1, 2010 By Steph 10 Comments

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So I did my Studio 5 segment today.  Wow.  It was fast.  I’ve done this quite a few times now and I usually have around 5-6 minutes.  I can’t believe how fast this 2 minutes went by. And I was totally looking at an imaginary camera.  But its all good.  It’s always a blast to be there with all that awesome energy in the room.  All the cameras and sound guys around you.  Its a lot of fun.  Never thought this would be something in my life that I would get to do, and I feel really blessed.  So they finally posted a video, so here is the link.  There were 2 other bakers and recipes in the same segment, I am #2.  Just don’t laugh that I’m looking everywhere but the camera.  :)

And here is the recipe for the Creamy Peanut Butter Mousse and the Chocolate Cupcakes that I use with it.

Creamy Peanut Butter Mousse

3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups heavy cream(cold)
1 tablespoons vanilla extract

Using a mixer whip the cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Put in the fridge. Cream together the cream cheese, sugar, milk and peanut butter. Fold in the cold whipped cream. It may take a while, but it will come all together and create a creamy smooth textured mousse.
Refrigerate until very cold.

Serve Peanut Butter Mousse as an elegant dessert on its own or use it to turn ordinary chocolate cupcakes into an extra-ordinary dessert. Here’s how:

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 cup good quality cocoa
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. cold water
1/2 c. sour cream
1 c. chopped peanut butter cups

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa and sugar. Set aside. Cream together the eggs, vanilla, oil, water and sour cream. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Scoop evenly between 24 lined muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from pans and set on cooling rack to cool completely. Make mousse.

To assemble:
Remove wrappers from cupcakes. Cut cupcakes in half. Pipe mousse onto the cupcake half. Place the top half of the cupcake over the mousse. Pipe more mousse on the top of the cupcake. Sprinkle with crushed peanut butter cups.

Filed Under: cupcakes, desserts, studio 5