Several week's ago I was honored with a request from Lorraine, my most enthusiastic cookie fan, to cater a breakfast meeting for my Alma mater - University of Florida. I was intrigued with the prospect of finding a healthy breakfast cookie and some really tasty muffin recipes. After a week of "research and development" and a couple of flops, I ended up with three recipes. Since tonight I am functioning on 2 1/2 hours of sleep, I will post my favorite of the three and follow up this weekend with the rest. Thanks Lorraine for believing in me. I had a blast!
Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Cream Frosting
Muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 ground nutmeg
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed
Frosting:
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in the mashed banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.
3. Divide the batter amoung the prepared muffin cups. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean with no crumbs attached...about 25 minutes (my oven took 28 minutes). Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins are amazing warm without the frosting, but even better topped with the creamy sweet mascapone confection.
4. To frost the muffins: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the mascarpone cheese and follow with the honey. Spread the frosting over the muffins and sprinkle with the toasted walnuts.
Tip: I used (2) 12 cup muffin pans and yielded 24 muffins. They did not have large puffy tops, but were plenty big enough for me. To frost 12 muffins, I doubled the frosting recipe...would probably need to triple it to frost all 24. My brother suggested I try adding mini chocolate chips to this recipe. Mmmmmm, sounds good. Maybe next week...
Enjoy!
Many hugs,
Kathy
Friday, March 20, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Luck of the Irish Cookies
With the state of our world right now, I think we all could use a little luck of the Irish. This weekend I baked Sandy's Sugar Cookies from a previous blog posting and dressed them up in their best Irish finery.
Many hugs,
Kathy
Many hugs,
Kathy
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from Dennis
My friend Dennis makes the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. Last week he shared the recipe with me and I finally had the opportunity to make them this weekend. Unfortunately I cooked mine a little too long, but they were delicious anyway. Dennis, thanks for sharing!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup real butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups nuts (I used toasted mixed nuts)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups oatmeal (then grind in a blender)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream first five ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients, except chips and nuts...add them last. Combine all ingredients. Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes. Watch carefully!
Tip: While they tasted great, my first attempt was a little dry. I baked mine for 13 minutes, but will cut it down to 11 or 12 minutes next time. I also measured the 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal after it was ground. Next time I will follow Dennis' directions and measure the raw oatmeal instead, prior to grinding.
Many hugs,
Kathy
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup real butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups nuts (I used toasted mixed nuts)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups oatmeal (then grind in a blender)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream first five ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients, except chips and nuts...add them last. Combine all ingredients. Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes. Watch carefully!
Tip: While they tasted great, my first attempt was a little dry. I baked mine for 13 minutes, but will cut it down to 11 or 12 minutes next time. I also measured the 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal after it was ground. Next time I will follow Dennis' directions and measure the raw oatmeal instead, prior to grinding.
Many hugs,
Kathy
Mary's Nutella Cookies
While I am not a huge fan of peanut butter and chocolate, I LOVE the chocolate and hazelnut taste of Nutella. Last week I bought the double huge COSTCO size package of Nutella and decided I better find a cookie recipe to make wise use of my purchase. The recipe comes from a fellow cookie blogger, Mary in San Francisco. Her site it really beautiful. Check it out at alpineberry.blogspot.com. The cookies are easy to make and quite good. Enjoy!
Mary's Nutella Cookies
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup Nutella
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted and skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.
Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chips and hazelnuts.
Drop tablespoons of dough 2" apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for about 11 minutes or until edges look set. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully remove to cooling racks.
Many hugs,
Kathy
Mary's Nutella Cookies
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup Nutella
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted and skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.
Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chips and hazelnuts.
Drop tablespoons of dough 2" apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for about 11 minutes or until edges look set. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully remove to cooling racks.
Many hugs,
Kathy
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Confessions of a Foodie
For me, food has always had an amazing power to conjure up warm feelings and happy memories. I may not be able to remember dates or birthdays or certain names, but I can remember every special, and not so special eating experience I have ever had.
I blame my grandmother, Mema, for my passion for food. She made having a cup of hot tea an event. She poured the steaming hot brew into a special china tea cup, made sure I scooped up the bubbles with my spoon for good luck, added tiny sugar cubes decorated with sugar flowers, and always accompanied the tea with something sweet. Tea and sweets were her weakness and her passion. Every time I have a cup of tea, those feelings of a wide eyed little girl sharing special time with her grandmother come to mind and I get a big smile on my face.
I had the same big smile this week when I was presented with a gift from my son - a box of crushed almond macaroons all the way from Mike's Pastry in Boston. Immediately my thoughts returned to the November night my son, Ryan, and I visited Mike's Pastry in Boston's North End. The cookies were amazing, but the time spent with my son was the best. All it took was seeing the box to bring it all back. Thanks Ryan for my cookie "hug".
As I keep telling my friends...don't ever underestimate the power of a cookie.
Many hugs,
Kathy
I blame my grandmother, Mema, for my passion for food. She made having a cup of hot tea an event. She poured the steaming hot brew into a special china tea cup, made sure I scooped up the bubbles with my spoon for good luck, added tiny sugar cubes decorated with sugar flowers, and always accompanied the tea with something sweet. Tea and sweets were her weakness and her passion. Every time I have a cup of tea, those feelings of a wide eyed little girl sharing special time with her grandmother come to mind and I get a big smile on my face.
I had the same big smile this week when I was presented with a gift from my son - a box of crushed almond macaroons all the way from Mike's Pastry in Boston. Immediately my thoughts returned to the November night my son, Ryan, and I visited Mike's Pastry in Boston's North End. The cookies were amazing, but the time spent with my son was the best. All it took was seeing the box to bring it all back. Thanks Ryan for my cookie "hug".
As I keep telling my friends...don't ever underestimate the power of a cookie.
Many hugs,
Kathy
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