The Best Banana Muffins
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!
Fresh Strawberry Pie
In case you were wondering…life is crazy with 3 kids! Â So much more crazier than I would have ever imagined! Â But everyday gets a little easier, sort of. Â So hopefully, one day I can get used to it. Â It will be much easier when I can get 8 straight un-interrupted hours of sleep, but that’s a ways down the road. Motherhood is also a beautiful, beautiful thing. Â And I treasure every second I have with my beautiful children. Â I’m so lucky. Â And luckily I have an awesome husband to share it with!
I made this delicious Fresh Strawberry Pie for Father’s Day and I cleaned it up today (sorry hubby). Â In about 2 minutes. Â I couldn’t stop eating it! Â How in the world am I ever going to get off this baby weight? Â Anyways, like I said, this was soooo good. Â I found some really sweet strawberries and paired it with a homemade graham cracker crust (so much better than store bought). Top it with some fresh whipped cream and you’ve got yourself a winner of a dessert. Â Give it a try! Â Have a great week everyone!
Fresh Strawberry Pie
1 (9 inch) graham cracker crust pie shell,
2 pints fresh strawberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
3 Tablespoons strawberry flavored gelatin
In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and corn starch; make sure to blend corn starch in completely. Add boiling water, and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mix, and stir until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature. Place strawberries in pie shell; position berries with points facing up. Pour cooled gel mixture over strawberries. Refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter until well blended . Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked pie shell, just chill for about 1 hour.
Chocolate Covered Apple Bites
Oh how I’ve missed baking. Â I think of something that I want and I usually go to the kitchen and bake it. Â It’s been a hard struggle not to be able to do that! Â So when my Mom came and stayed with me for a couple of days I took full advantage of her baking ability. Â These little cuties were her idea. Â There are just as delicious as they are cute. Â Strawberries aren’t the only fruit you can cover in chocolate. Â We attempted covering them in caramel first, but that proved to be impossible. Â If anyone knows any good tricks, let me know, because they tasted fantastic, but the apples were much too moist to hold the caramel on. Â It just dripped off onto the wax paper and all that was left was a soggy apple. Â But the chocolate stayed on perfectly. And the flavor combination was amazing. Give them a try! Â
Chocolate Covered Apple Bites
You will need:
melon baller
4 inch lollipop sticks
granny smith apples
chocolate of your choice
chopped nuts, nonpareils, sprinkles, toffee bits (optional)
1. With a melon baller, scoop little balls out of the apple. Pat the apple pieces dry. Place a lollipop stick into each apple ball and dip in melted chocolate. Roll apples in nuts, sprinkles, nonpareils or toffee bits, if desired. Place on parchment paper until set.
Enjoy!
Healthy Spring Smoothies
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Now that spring is in the air and strawberries are back in season, it makes me think of one thing: smoothies.  I love smoothies!  I recently was contacted by Pom and they sent me an entire case of their awesome pomegranate juice.  Have you tried it? Delicious!  They didn’t last long in my house.  I used it in my smoothies and it was the perfect tangy touch.  My newest smoothie creation is made from equal parts of strawberries, bananas, ice, strawberry yogurt and a dash of pomegranate juice. It is sweet and so satisfying, you won’t miss the sugar!  What’s your favorite flavor combination?
And on a completely different note, it seems like it’s been forever since I was on Studio 5, but I finally got the video up and running (thanks hubby) and I had promised a lot of you that I would get it up so you could see me in action. Â Just don’t look too closely at the growing belly. (It’s even bigger now! Ugg!)
*having some technical difficulties with this darn video…stay tuned….
Banana Cupcakes With Cinnamon-Vanilla Icing
Thanks to everyone who watched Studio 5 today. Â I love the support I receive! Â It gives me warm fuzzies! Â I had a blast and I am so surprised with myself on how much I enjoy doing these cooking segments. Â I’m usually not the type of person who does anything close to this, but I find it invigorating somehow. If you missed it, I will hopefully be able to get a video of it here on my blog soon. Â Just keep checking back. Anyways, thanks for all the support! Â Now onto the cupcakes.
Is it a cupcake or a muffin? It originally started out as a Banana Muffin. Â I had some ripe bananas I needed to use up and thought it sounded especially satisfying at the moment. Â But then I had the idea to add the Cinnamon-Vanilla Icing and I’m pretty sure that when you add the icing it magically turns into a Cupcake. You can sure correct me if I’m wrong, but either way these are delicious. Â And you can justify eating more because they are filled with fruit, right? Â I think that’s how it works. Anyways, give them a try because they are delicious!Â
Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Â I know I plan to!!
Banana Cupcakes With Cinnamon-Vanilla Icing
makes 18 muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium bananas)
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Using a mixer, beat the eggs, sour cream, butter and bananas; slowly add the dry ingredients and blend just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-22 minutes. Top with Cinnamon-Vanilla Icing. Top that with chopped nuts if desired. Â
Cinnamon-Vanilla Icing
2 ounces softened cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Using a mixer, mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until well combined. Add half of the confectioners’ sugar and mix until creamy. Add the milk, cinnamon and the remaining confectioners’ sugar and beat until creamy and smooth.
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