Banana Eggnog Bread

My oldest is starting to get hormones. The hormones I don't mind, I could do without the back talking and general dislike of everything I do that goes along with it. One minute he will be angry and want nothing to do with me and the next he is wanting to sit next to me on the couch and cuddle. He is only 8, but he is definitely beginning to go thru puberty (thanks genetics for early puberty in my family!). My mother and I fought all the time when I was going thru puberty, I didn't think she could do anything right and I would be frustrated by the smallest things. I survived, but I definitely think it's easier to be the kid than the parent once hormones start kicking in. Plus my husband seems to be perfect, he's not baring the brunt of any of the dislike that is aimed in my direction. Apparently it's the beginning of years of good times to come.

Approximately twice a week I bake something for an after school snack. My two boys eat everything in site and without snacks they get cranky quickly. I'm a big fan of breads, sweet, savory, you name it. The following is a recipe for Banana Eggnog Bread that is great for this time of year.

Adapted from Taste of Home Nov. 2014 issue.

Banana Eggnog Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 medium bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup eggnog
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Cooking Directions

1. Combine butter and sugar and beat until well creamed.
2. One at a time, add eggs.
3. Beat well.
4. In another bowl beat bananas, eggnog, and vanilla.
5. Add to butter and sugar mixture.
6. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients, mix well.
8. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan.
9. Sprinkle with remaining nutmeg.
10. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 60-70 minutes.
11. Tent top of bread with foil if it browns too quickly.
12. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Tips: 

• If the batter is too thick add additional eggnog. I have made this a few times and the amount of eggnog has ranged from 1/4-1/2 cup. 1/3 cup seems to be approximately the right amount. 
• Make sure to tent the bread if it browns too quickly. Sweet bread will often overbrown on the sides and be raw in the middle, so make sure that you tent the top if it starts to get browner than you would prefer before the middle has set. 

Moist Double Chocolate Muffins

I had a baking fail kind of day today. Everything that I touched seemed to end badly. I tried a new Food Network Magazine for S'more Bread and it was a disaster. It didn't rise, was greasy, and ended up having to be thrown away, which I absolutely hate. I hate wasting food and my time on recipes that don't work. Most recipes I try at least work, they might not be great, but they work. However, then there are days like today where everything I try to make ends in utter disaster. Two separate recipes were complete failures and I felt like throwing in the towel half way through the day. Luckily I was able to bake a loaf of Banana Eggnog Bread that turned out great this afternoon and my stir-fry for dinner was delicious. Hopefully things calm back down tomorrow. Regardless never feel bad when you have recipe failures, they happen to all of us, including me. Just keep trying in the kitchen and in time you will have fewer failures, but don't feel bad about the failures that happen. Oftentimes a magazine or online recipe just isn't great, even if you make it perfectly.

So with that in mind, on to the recipe. I make a lot of muffins (most of which turn out). My kids love them and I love that muffins are easy for little hands to hold and eat. Chocolate is always  favorite in my house and these Moist Double Chocolate Muffins are moist and full of chocolatey goodness.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Moist Double Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1 egg
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup + 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

1. Combine dry ingredients (first 4 ingredients) in a bowl and stir.
2. Combine oil, yogurt, egg, vanilla, and milk in a separate bowl.
3. Stir.
4. Stir dry ingredients into bowl with wet ingredients.
5. Add 3/4 cup chocolate chips, stir well.
6. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin and fill each muffin cup 3/4 of the way full with batter.
7. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips over the tops of the unbaked muffins.
8. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
9. Let cool for 10 minutes in pans and they move muffins to a cooling rack.

Tips: 

• Muffin liners can be used instead of greasing the muffin cups. This saves time and if you are making them for a party keeps hands cleaner (plus they look great on display). 
• I prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips for baking, but dark chocolate or milk chocolate chips can also be substituted. I have not tried these muffins with peanut butter chips, but I bet the combination would be delicious! 
• I have used both Greek yogurt and regular in these muffins and both types worked. I often bake with Greek yogurt since it's higher in protein and the fat free version works well in baking (I prefer to eat 2 percent if it's not being used in baked goods). 
• I have not made these muffins gluten free, but I have tried similar recipes with success using an all-purpose gluten free baking mix and xanthan gum (1-2 tablespoons). 

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

I used to have really great time management. Apparently it has gone away, or my kids have taken it I'm not sure which one is to blame. Regardless of the cause I can't seem to get things done as quickly or in the same amount of time that I used to. I make lots of plans and 10,000 things seem to sprout up to waylay them. I never used to be late for weddings or funerals. The last wedding my family went to we missed everything except the reception and the last funeral we made it in time to drive to the graveside burial. Granted my youngest was car sick both times and there was road construction that we were stuck in for an hour (we were literally 20 feet from the exit, we could have walked quicker). Still I hate being late, or not getting things done early and the older I get the more things seem to be getting done last minute. However, I have also learned that sometimes last minute strokes of genius aren't so bad. I once made a dragon tail for my son's music performance out of an old towel and some newspaper after I found out all the other mommies had sewed costumes for weeks. My son's tail ended up being a hit and he felt like a superstar. So maybe not all things that happen last minute are so bad.

It's fall and that means one thing, pumpkin recipes. I love pumpkin, in drinks, breads, sweets, you name it. One of my favorite ways to incorporate pumpkin in is cookies. Pumpkin cookies are a great way to celebrate fall and the following recipe for pumpkin cookies has a beyond delicious recipe for a browned butter frosting. The frosting alone is worth making the recipe!

Adapted from Betty Crocker Website.

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

Recipe by Foodie in WV

Yield: 30 Cookies

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose or bread flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons whole milk or heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter

Cooking Directions

1. With a mixer combine sugars, 3/4 cup unsalted butter, and vanilla.
2. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. Add in pumpkin and eggs.
4. In another bowl combine flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add to ingredients in mixing bowl and beat on low speed for 1-2 minutes.
6. Roll into one tablespoon balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes in a pre-heated 375 degree oven.
8. In a saucepan melt 1/3 cup unsalted butter oven medium heat.
9. Stirring constantly cook butter until it turns light brown.
10. Take butter off stove and add to mixing bowl along with powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.
11. In mixer beat on low speed for 2 minutes until combined.
12. Add more milk if needed.
13. When cookies have cooled, frost with browned butter frosting.

Tips: 

• If you don't have ginger, cloves, and cinnamon, 1-1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice would also work well in this recipe. 
• Make sure to constantly stir the butter while waiting for it to brown in order that it doesn't burn. Browned butter can go quickly from browned to burnt, so make sure to not leave it unattended. 
• If you don't have parchment paper a greased or foil lined baking sheet would also do. I prefer parchment paper since it allows for even baking of cookies and other baked goods. It really does make a difference. 

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

My kid's bus stop has turned into mommy drama central. I try to stay away from drama as much as possible. I'm not one of those people who loves to be involved in other people's business, I would prefer things to stay pretty vanilla. However, I am also a person that when I see bad behavior repeatedly for weeks at a time I do finally say something. This week I had to go into drama central and I'm not feeling awesome about the whole thing. Here's the back story. My kid's bus stop is on a very busy street. There are approximately 15 kids at the stop, 7 of which are boys. Recently the boys have been standing at the very edge of the curb almost into the street for over 5 minutes while waiting for the bus. Then they fight, hit, and shove each other. Yesterday I hit my breaking point. I had tried telling them not to do it, but since their mommies were not at the bus stop they chose to ignore me. Then yesterday one of them talked back to me and told me that there was nothing that I could do about it. That did it. I got them written up by the principal. I had to deal with the aftermath of my decision with a confrontational mom at the bus stop this afternoon. Luckily I am quick thinking and turned the anger into laughter about raising boys. I hope the whole thing is over, two weeks of dealing with drama is way more than I am equipped for, it's making me tired and sick of the whole thing.

On to the recipe! I love cookies, but most cookies made with gluten free flours are either too dry, or just taste lacking. Peanut butter cookies are great gluten free and can be made completely without flour and only a handful of ingredients. The following is an easy recipe for Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies.

Adapted from Southern Living.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

With only 5 ingredients and one bowl this is an easy and delicious dessert recipe.

Preparation Time: 0h, 5m

Cooking Time: 0h, 15m

Ingredients:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• optional : 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Directions:

1. Stir together all ingredients (except chocolate chips), add chocolate chips if using.
2. Roll into one tablespoon rounds and place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes.
4. Wait 10 minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack.

Tips: 

• These cookies are crumbly if you do not allow them to cool before moving them. For best results allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet. 
• I have tried these cookies both with chocolate chips and without and they work well either way. They would also work with peanut butter chips or toffee bits. 
• If you do not eat granulated sugar you could experiment with coconut sugar or sugar substitute. I have not tried these substitution, but I have tried coconut and date sugars in other recipes and they have worked well. 

Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Frosting

I still have my maiden name even though my husband and I have been married over 10 years. The thought of changing to my husband's name was never something that I ever really though about. My husband and I were both working on our master's degrees when we got married and professionally it made more sense to keep my maiden name. Plus I joked with my husband that I wasn't property and there was no reason I needed a new identity just because we got married. Oftentimes I have to explain to people that yes my husband and I are married, no I did not change my name. Honestly, I find the whole thing a big hassle and not something that makes my marriage any stronger. A commitment is a commitment whether I took his name or not. I'm no more likely to get divorced due to a different last name than if we shared the same. My oldest uses my different last name as a source of pride, he tells people that his mommy is strong enough to be different. I love his saying and it's the perfect description of how I run my life and the values that I want my kids to understand. A unifying bond has nothing to do with a shared last name, it has to do with the love that connects the people within it.

One thing that brings my family together is dessert. We all love dessert. My husband is picky about the kind of dessert, but my kids and I will pretty much eat anything with sugar. Since sugar should be eaten in moderation, we don't enjoy dessert all the time. When I do make sweet goods I also try to modify the ingredients to be healthier by using alternative flours and natural sugars. Recently I tried a new recipe for Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Frosting. The recipe is as follows.

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living.

Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Frosting

Recipe Type: Dessert

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Cooking Time: 0h, 20m

Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon grate lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl combine butter, sugar, and lemon zest.
4. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes.
5. Add in lemon juice, vanilla, and egg.
6. Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients.
7. Add yogurt just until the batter comes together.
8. In a paper lined or greased muffin tin add the batter to each cup 3/4 of the way full.
9. Bake 18-20 minutes.
10. Let cool before frosting.

Fresh Raspberry Frosting

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

Cooking Directions

1. Place berries and sugar in a food processor and puree.
2. Using a sieve or cheesecloth pass mixture through pressing out solids.
3. Beat butter until fluffy, approximately 2 minutes.
4. Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time.
5. Add berries until frosting is light and fluffy.
6. Store in the fridge for up to two days.

Tips: 

• Paper liners make it much easier to take the cupcakes out of the muffin tin. 
• I have used both Greek yogurt and regular and they both worked well, plus the Greek yogurt has added protein. 
• Don't worry if a few seeds get into the frosting, after they are pureed in the food processor they really aren't noticeable. 
• I tried the frosting with a small amount of almond extract and it was delicious. A small amount of vanilla extract would also work. 

Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

I have a pet peeve with companies that follow a ton of people on social media and then unfollow everyone a few days later. While it's irksome when an individual does it, with a company it just comes off as a little tacky. We all know that the company is doing it to get massive amounts of people to follow them and then betting that most people either don't know how to check or don't care enough to unfollow the company once the company unfollows them. Then the company has 30,000 followers while only following 10 people. It looks bad. I wish that PR companies would do a better job of discouraging this behavior. Almost all the likes that they receive with this type of social media behavior won't be the ones buying their products, the followers don't equal profit. It's a much better idea to actually have a great product and offer coupons on social media, making people care enough to genuinely follow your company. I'm hoping that once companies get a better grasp on how to run social media effectively this behavior will begin to stop. However, as of now that isn't happening, it's pretty much  a free for all.

Since going gluten free I have tried just about every type of gluten free flour. Some have been okay, others kill my stomach (I'm referring to you soy and quinoa flours, no thanks). I've joked with my husband that I'm going to go to a straight steak and potato diet. It would taste awesome and my stomach would be happy. However, it would also cost a mint and variety is better for my health. Coconut flour seems to be all the rage right now, so the following is my recipe for Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting.

Adapted from Healy Eat Real.

Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes

Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Recipe Type: Dessert

Preparation Time: 0h, 20m

Cooking Time: 0h, 30m

Recipe by Foodie in WV

Yield: 8-10 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 5 eggs
• 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup milk

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend.
3. Allow batter to sit for 5-10 minutes.
4. Place batter into a muffin tin either greased or with muffin liners.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
6. Let cool before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Cooking Directions

1. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and cream and beat for another 1-2 minutes. If needed add more cream to get to a spreading consistency.

Tips: 

• If you've never used coconut flour before it absorbs liquid like crazy. You have to use a lot more liquid than flour in order for baked goods made with coconut flour to work. 
• These cupcakes are a mix between muffins and cupcakes. The texture is somewhere in between. 
• If you don't consume cows milk you could try using coconut milk in this recipe. I often substitute canned coconut milk in baking recipes and it works well. 
• The coconut oil could also be substituted for vegetable oil, canola oil, or unsalted butter. 
• If you like sweet cupcakes/muffins I would increase the amount of honey to 1/2 cup. Additionally the honey can be substituted for date or coconut sugar (or granulated if you eat it in your diet). 
• The frosting obviously has butter and confectioners sugar so if you are avoiding either of those things you would want to make a substitution. An easy way to make dairy free frosting is to whip a can of full fat coconut milk and a teaspoon or two of vanilla. You can add cocoa powder (or cacao) if you are wanting chocolate flavored, approximately 2 tablespoons. 

Peanut Butter Banana Popsicles

I am so ready for cooler weather. It has been hot, sticky, and nasty humid here for months. Luckily the weather is supposed to cool down into the high 70's next week, which I am so looking forward towards. One thing I do love about summer are the thunderstorms. There is something so refreshing about a great summer thunderstorm. Everything becomes quiet, the temps drop, and for a few minutes everything is still. It's peaceful, calming, and a great refresher during a busy day. Thunderstorms might just be my favorite thing about summer.

With hot weather comes cold desserts and drinks. My kids are in love with popsicles and they are so easy to make at home and cost a fraction of the cost of store bought. Plus you can use whole ingredients making them a delicious summer treat. The following is my recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Popsicles.

Adapted from Kroger mymagazine mailer.

Peanut Butter Banana Popsicles

Peanut Butter Banana Popsicles

Recipe Type: Dessert

Preparation Time: 0h, 5m

Total Time: 4h, 5m

Yield: Serves 8

A simple summer dessert using fresh bananas and peanut butter. Only takes minutes to make. 

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Cooking Directions

1. Cut bananas into 1-inch chunks. 
2. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined (do not over mix).
4. Spoon into an 8-serving popsicle mold and freeze until set, approximately 4 hours. 

Tips: 

• If you don't have a blender a food processor would also work. 
• I know a lot of people avoid granulated and brown sugar. I haven't personally tried this recipe with honey, agave etc., but I would love to hear if anyone tries and how it turns out! 
• Run the popsicle mold under hot water to loosen the popsicles and they should pop right out. 
• I have tried this recipe with whole and non-fat milk and they both set beautifully. I have not tried it with soy, almond, or coconut milk, but you are free to try and tell me if it works. 

Basil Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

I wish that the internet would turn into a more grown-up version of its current self. As many of you may have noticed I have taken a little time away from blogging. The last year blogging has lost some of the charm it had when I first started (which was a while ago now). My kids were younger when I started, my youngest still took naps, and my oldest hadn't yet started school. I also feel that the internet has changed dramatically. While I love to talk about certain aspects of my life, I am a little burnt out of the over sharing and general debate nature that the internet and social media in particular have taken on. I really hate controversy. When possible I avoid it because 99 percent of the time I have vastly different opinions than everyone else. I grew up in Seattle in a very liberal household, went to a beyond liberal arts school (the same school k-12 with only 300 students), paid my own way through undergraduate and graduate school, and became the first person in my family to graduate college. I grew up very poor, we stood in line at the church food bank most weeks and my father worked his whole life in jobs that barely paid enough to survive. My opinions are a little crazy according to my husband, I rarely agree with any political party and would be perfectly happy avoiding contact with people with overzealous opinions (debating other people rarely leads to any kind of change of opinions). So the internet and I have had to have less contact. I honestly find social media and the internet a little tiring these days. I wish that people could learn the fine act of knowing when to keep their opinions to themselves, not everything has to be made into an argument or debate. Sometimes a simple 'Have a nice day' is just that and nothing more. I guess I am waiting for the internet to grow up, I'm too old to deal with all the drama.

My garden has been growing like crazy and I am swimming in fresh herbs. While I love basil, I get tried of making pesto over and over again so I decided to try a dessert recipe using the abundance of fresh garden basil I currently possess. I came up with the following recipe for Chocolate Basil Cake with Buttercream Frosting. Enjoy!

Basil Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Recipe Type: Dessert

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Cooking Time: 0h, 25m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 9

Adapted from The Food Network and Powerhungry.com

Basil Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten free replacement)
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Cooking Directions

1. Grease a 9 inch cake pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a food processor chop the basil and sugar until finely chopped.
4. Combine the basil/sugar mixture, melted butter, and cocoa powder until blended. Add the eggs one at a time, and whisk until smooth.
5. Add the vanilla.
6. In another bowl whisk the baking soda, salt and flour until blended.
7. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
8. Add hot water and stir just until combined (do not over stir or your cake will be flat).
9. Pour batter into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. After the cake has cooled make frosting.
11. In a standing mixer whisk butter and sugar together on low speed until blended. Turn up speed to medium and mix another 3 minutes.
12. Add cream and vanilla, beat for another 1-2 minutes on medium. Add more cream if consistency is too thick to spread.
13. Spread cake with frosting and enjoy!

My boys both start school in a week and a half so for the first time in 9 years I will have the house to myself for at least a couple of hours a day. I should have more frequent posts in the next couple of months I promise. 

Milk Stout Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I may have eaten a bowl of icing out of the fridge this morning. Last night I made a basil chocolate cake (which was actually very good!) and made a big batch of homemade buttercream frosting. This  morning it was calling for me to eat a bite, and then another, and before I knew it the bowl of leftover frosting seemed to have disappeared. This afternoon I made a batch of cream cheese frosting and had the same problem. There is something about frosting that makes me have to eat it, I can go without cake, but frosting is a completely different story.

So now that I have babbled on about frosting, it's time for a cupcake (and frosting) recipe. My husband loves trying new kinds of beer and our fridge normally has a variety of brands and types. For the last six months my husband has been nagging me to try a cupcake recipe that he found using Milk Stout online. So I finally gave in and made them today for my mother-in-law's birthday. The recipe is as follows.

Adapted from Left Hand Brewing.

Milk Stout Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Milk Stout Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

A delicious combination of chocolate and beer (yes beer). Great for parties!

Preparation Time: 0h, 15m

Cooking Time: 0h, 25m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 24

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 bottle Milk Stout
• 1 stick melted unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 1 pound confectioners sugar

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl mix together dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt).
3. In another bowl combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla.
4. One at a time add eggs.
5. Add sour cream and mix until combined.
6. Add dry ingredients and stir until mixture come together (do not over mix or your cake will be less fluffy).
7. Pour batter into 24 muffin cups (greased or with liners).
8. Bake for 12 minutes, rotate pan and then bake for another 8-12 minutes.
9. Combine the cream cheese and confectioners sugar to make the frosting.
10. After the cupcakes have cooled frost with the frosting.
11. Store in the refrigerator.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July today! These cupcakes were a great dessert for the steak, mashed potatoes, and salad that we had for dinner tonight. For a party they would be a nice way to have a dessert that both beer and chocolate lovers would like. Plus according to my family they are pretty yummy! 

Glutenfree Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake

Online I'm pretty vanilla. I make a conscious effort not to write all the things that pop into my brain on a daily basis. Part of this is an effort to not offend anyone online, but a larger part of it is that what I put online is only part of the person I am. In public I'm not very controversial. I think many things, but have learned as I've gotten older that learning to bite your tongue is hard, but an important lesson. I transfer this understanding online. I could have larger blog hit numbers if I ranted about things daily, if I attacked another person's point of view, or spoke vocally about everything that entered my brain. I chose not to. Yes, the person I am on my blog is only part of the person I am offline. However, it is the part of me that highlights the things that I wish I could be more of in life in general. My blog is me edited down to the person that I strive to be and oftentimes fail miserably at attempting to achieve offline. It's still me though either way.

So vanilla always makes me think of desserts. I love dessert as most of you know and last week I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake from the March 2014 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 2 hours of total time, 20 minutes of which is active, and makes 8 servings. I did make a number of large changes to the original recipe. First, instead of using all-purpose flour I substituted brown rice flour and a tablespoon of xanthan gum. Secondly, I used my mixer. I know the recipe says not to do the whole recipe in the mixer, to stir the dry and wet ingredients separately and not to over mix or the top will crack. Well, I hate having to make more dishes, so I ignored the instructions. That's right I threw everything in the mixer with the paddle attachment and let it go. Yes, the top split a little bit, but it tasted just as good and no one in my house cared. Plus, I was happy since I only used one bowl. I did find that my total cooking time was a little longer than the recipe suggests, approximately 1 and a half hours total.

This cake turned out really well. It rose beautifully and the gluten free flour made for a moist cake. If you aren't a fan of brown rice flour, potato flour, sorghum flour, or white rice flour would work just as well. I rarely use gluten free all-purpose flour, but it would also be an acceptable substitute. If you use the all-purpose flour omit the xanthan gum since most pre-made gluten free all-purpose flours already have it in the ingredient list.

For the recipe go to Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake. 

Dark Chocolate Waffles

Almost everything I believed in strongly when I was younger has completely changed. There are a few things that have survived the years and life changes, but the major things that I was adamant and unyielding about I no longer believe in at all or nearly as much. I was determined in my early 20's that no one else could possibly understand how I felt and that everything I felt strongly about was of the utmost importance. Only I could understand things the right way and I knew that my opinions would only get stronger with age. Yeah, that didn't happen, not even remotely. I grew-up, I had kids, I saw the world from new eyes. I still believe in many things, but I also understand that opinions change with circumstance and that compassion is far more important than being right. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to not push something that you know is right because in the end it isn't what's needed. Oftentimes what's needed is just an ear to listen, not a mouth to tell us how to change things. As young women we want to change everything around us to make it better, change the world with our views. As older women we want to cherish the world that we have created and make sure that the loved ones we hold dear are sheltered from everything we had to endure. Age is a tricky thing, as women we are almost different people throughout our lives, each one unique and wonderful.

As a women in my middle 30's I still love chocolate. That hasn't changed much over the years, but I have made a shift from milk to dark chocolate. When I was younger I couldn't stand dark chocolate, now it's my favorite. This week I tried a new recipe for Dark Chocolate Waffles from the February 2014 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of total time, all of which is active, and makes 6 servings. I made a number of changes to the original recipe. First, I adapted it to be gluten free by using a homemade gluten free all purpose baking mix. Instead of buying a bar of dark chocolate I used dark chocolate chips which I finely chopped. Buying the dark chocolate chips was much cheaper than buying baking bars or chocolate bars.

These waffles had a nice dark chocolate taste without being over powering. I would consider these more of a dessert waffles than something for breakfast, they are pretty sweet for something in the morning. As a dessert they were great plain or with whipped cream and my kids loved them. They also froze very well in case you don't want to eat the whole batch at once.

For the recipe go to Dark Chocolate Waffles.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes Using Quinoa Flour

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes

Growing up once a year for my birthday my mom would buy a sheet cake from the Italian bakery. I would pretty much eat the entire sheet cake. I loved cake, and the Italian bakery sheet cake was delicious. My love affair with cake started with those birthday sheet cakes and only grew stronger once I started baking during my teen years. I would scour over cookbooks looking for new cake and cupcake recipes. Flash forward to a few years ago and my cake eating life was brought to a halt. I found out that I could no longer have gluten and I was devastated. Not only because I couldn't have pasta or bread, but because cake was taken away from me. I began trying various gluten free cake recipes using all purpose gluten free flour and pretty much hated all of them. Finally I came to the conclusion that I prefer straight flours, not store bought blends. Adding 10 different ingredients for one flour just isn't something that my taste buds seem to love. Now I try to use a variety of straight flours, some of which I have found I love and others I have never bought again. This week I tried a new recipe for Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes from the Bob's Red Mill site.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes Using Quinoa Flour

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 12 cupcakes. I made a few changes to the original recipe. First I used muffin liners that I got on clearance after Valentine's Day. I love when I only have to pay a few cents for liners. Second, I found that my baking time was a little longer than the recipe, 25 minutes total. Make sure to watch the cupcakes closely, they will go from done to burnt very quickly.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes Using Quinoa Flour

My kids loved these cupcakes. I was going to frost them, but my kids loved them plain. The fact that they ate the cupcakes without frosting says a lot since they are huge frosting fans. I was worried that the taste of the quinoa flour would be too strong, but they tasted chocolatey with no after taste. My husband thought that the quinoa flour tasted like peanut butter, which he really liked. Overall, these cupcakes were very popular with my family and I would make them again.

For the recipe go to Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes.