Cinnamon Banana Muffins

More ripe bananas sitting on the counter? Not such a bad thing, make muffins!

Cinnamon Banana Muffins:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana, about 3 bananas
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
2 Tbl butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375°. Spray 10-12 muffin cups with cooking spray (I made 10 large muffins, can make 12 small muffins), or you can line with papers.

Whisk together sugar, oil, eggs. Add mashed banana and vanilla; whisk well. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add to banana mixture and whisk all together until combined.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. About 2/3 full or 3/4 full, depending on how big and how many muffins you like. Bake 17 to 21 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and tops of muffins are set. Remove muffins from pan to a cooling rack.

For cinnamon sugar topping, combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in small bowl. Put melted butter in another small bowl. Dip muffin tops into melted butter and then into cinnamon sugar mixture.

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Glazed Old fashioned Donut Cake

I was so mad at my Bundt pan! Refused to use it again, definitely close to buying a new one. OK, it was probably my fault, I did spray it but should have also dusted with flour. I made a banana bread recipe that you bake in a Bundt pan. When I turned it over, half of the cake came out and the top half we ate out of the pan…delicious but ugly. Today I decided to give the Bundt another chance. I love love love donuts, so why not a giant donut. I also love nutmeg and nutmeg is the dominant flavor, besides the tender vanilla cake and drizzled glaze. Everything came out to my satisfaction, so the Bundt pan was lovingly washed and put in it’s place in the cupboard. All is well.

Cake:
1 cup butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3½ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 12- to 15-cup Bundt pan with baking spray and dust with flour. Beat butter and sugar in stand mixer using paddle attachment until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating until just combined after each addition. Spoon batter into prepared pan; gently tap on counter 3 to 5 times to release air bubbles.

Bake about 50 minutes, until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Invert cake out of pan onto a cutting board or platter, then gently flip cake back over so rough side is facing up. Let cool on wire rack completely, about 1 hour. Whisk together powdered sugar and water in a medium bowl until smooth. Brush over cooled cake. Recipe from southernliving.com

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dessert

Who says pumpkin desserts are just for Fall, they tastes really good during quarantine too.

1½ cups crushed gingersnaps* (about 30 cookies)
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 pkg. (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 can (15oz) pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
5 large eggs, room temperature, beaten
nutmeg
maple syrup
whipped cream

In a small bowl, combine gingersnap crumbs and butter. Press onto bottom of a greased 13×9-in. baking dish; set aside. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin, cinnamon and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour over crust; sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of baking dish to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Cut into squares; serve with syrup, if desired (I forgot the maple syrup in the picture!) and whipped cream. Refrigerate leftovers. Recipe from tasteofhome.com.
*I used Biscoff cookies, chocolate cookies would be good too.

Apple Pie

This makes quarantine a little better! Recipe #15 on kingarthurflour.com‘s Best Basic Recipes Collection. This is a really good apple pie, not too sweet not too tart. In our family we usually have Cherry Apple Pie, it is a heavenly combination. It is always a nice treat to have pie!

 

Crust
2½ cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup cold butter
7-10 Tbl ice water

Filling
8 cups peeled, sliced apple (from about 3 1/4 pounds whole apples)
2 Tbl lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbl flour
2 Tbl cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 cup boiled cider or undiluted apple juice concentrate
2 tsp vanilla, optional
2 Tbl butter, diced in small pieces

To make the crust: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Work in the shortening until mixture is evenly crumbly. Dice the butter into 1/2″ pieces, and cut into mixture until you have flakes of butter the size of a dime.

Add water 2 Tbl at a time, mixing with a fork as you sprinkle water into the dough. When the dough is moist enough to hold together when you squeeze it, transfer it to a piece of wax or parchment paper. It’s OK if there are some dry spots in the pile. Use a spray bottle of water to lightly spritz these places; that way you’ll add just enough water to bring the dough together without creating a wet spot.

Fold dough over on itself three or four times to bring it together, then divide it into two pieces, one about twice as large as the other. The larger piece will be the bottom crust; the smaller piece, the top crust. Pat each piece of dough into a disk about 3/4″ thick.

Roll each disk on its edge, like a wheel, to smooth out the edges. This step will ensure your dough will roll out evenly, without a lot of cracks and splits at the edges later. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a 9″ pie pan that’s at least 2″ deep. This will make serving the pie easier after it’s baked.

To make the filling: Combine the sliced apples and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt, and spices. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples, and stir to coat them. Stir in the boiled cider (or apple juice concentrate) and the vanilla, if you choose to use it.

To assemble the pie: Roll the larger piece of pastry into a 13″ circle. Transfer it to the prepared pan, and trim the edges so they overlap the rim of the pan by an inch all the way around. Spoon the apple filling into the pan. Dot the top with the diced butter.

Roll out the remaining pastry to an 11″ circle. Carefully place the pastry over the apples. Bring the overhanging bottom crust up and over the top crust, pinching to seal the two and making a decorative crimp. Prick the crust all over with a fork, to allow steam to escape. Or cut decorative vent holes, if desired. Alternatively, you can weave a lattice.

For extra crunch and shine, brush the top crust with milk (or an egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon of water), and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place the pie in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up the crust while the oven finishes heating.

Place the pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the pie for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake for 40 minutes more, until you see the filling bubbling inside the pie (and perhaps dripping onto the parchment). Check the pie after half an hour of baking time, and cover the edges with foil or a pie shield to keep them from browning too quickly, if necessary. When the pie is done — you should see the filling bubbling vigorously, either around the edges, or via any decorative vents — remove it from the oven.

Cool the pie completely before slicing — really. Cutting any fruit pie that’s still warm is a messy business. The filling continues to thicken as the pie cools, and if you cut it too soon it will run out all over the place. It’s better to bake the pie in advance, cool it completely, then warm each slice as needed after it’s been cut. Store any leftover pie, lightly covered, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.

My Favorite Pies!

Oatmeal Cookies

I love oatmeal cookies, so I was glad to see this recipe in kingarthurflour.com‘s Best Basic Recipe Collection. As bakers, I think we tend to have our favorite go-to recipes, so it’s fun to bake through this collection and try some new things. I love raisins in oatmeal cookies, but in my family there are a few who think it is a crime to put raisins in cookies. A poor, unsuspecting person sees dark brown lumps in their oatmeal cookie and they think they will bite into a chunk of chocolate and then aaaaahhhhhh! It’s a raisin! Trickery of the worst kind! This is why I usually put butterscotch or chocolate chips in my oatmeal cookies. ;o)

4 Tbl butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vinegar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup flour
1½ cups oats, old-fashioned or quick
1 cup raisins (or other mix-in, chocolate chips, nuts, etc)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, light-colored preferred. Beat together the butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and vinegar until fairly smooth; a few tiny bits of butter may still show. Beat in the egg, again beating until smooth. Add the baking soda and flour, beating until well incorporated. Add the oats (and raisins), stirring to combine.

Drop the dough in 1 1/4″ balls onto the prepared baking sheets; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. If you’re measuring, this is about 2 level tablespoons (using a tablespoon measure, not a dinner spoon). Space the cookies 2″ apart; they’ll spread. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, reversing the pans halfway through (top rack to bottom, bottom to top). For softer cookies, bake the lesser amount of time; for crunchier, the longer amount. At 12 minutes, especially if you’re baking on a dark pan without parchment, a few of the cookies on the edge should just barely be showing a pale brown around their edges. At 14 minutes, they should be starting to color all over. Remove the cookies from the oven, and let them cool right on the pan. Yield: 22 to 24 cookies.

More Oatmeal Cookies!

    

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie isn’t just for Thanksgiving, it’s for quarantine too! This is recipe #4 of kingarthurflour.com Best Basic Recipe Collection. I’m enjoying baking my way through this collection, it’s delicious!

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbl flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp pepper, optional
3 large eggs, beaten
2 cups (15oz can) pumpkin
1¼ cups light cream or evaporated milk
1 single pie crust, your favorite or King Arthur single pie crust

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugars, flour, salt, and spices. In a large measuring cup, beat together the eggs, pumpkin, and cream or evaporated milk. Whisk into the dry ingredients. For best flavor, cover and refrigerate the filling overnight before baking. Roll the pie dough out to a 13″ circle, and transfer to the pan. Crimp the edges above the rim; this will give you a little extra headroom to hold the filling when it expands in the oven. Refrigerate the crust while the oven preheats to 400°F.

When the oven is hot, place the pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the filling is set 2″ in from the edge. The center should still be wobbly. Remove the pie from the oven and cool on a rack; the center will finish cooking through as the pie sits.

My other favorite pies: Pie Pie Pie!

Pumpkin Spice Baked Doughnuts

My daughter Lindsay is visiting and we have been taste testing all things pumpkin spice. Have you noticed all the products in the stores? Pumpkin Spice Cheerios, Pumpkin Spice Lindor Truffles, Pumpkin Spice Kisses, Pumpkin Spice Ghirardelli Squares, Pumpkin Spice Oreos, Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal, Pumpkin Spice Life Cereal, Pumpkin Spice Jell-O Pudding, Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars. No, we did not eat all of that. Lindsay did make Pumpkin Spice Baked Doughnuts, and we did eat them, yummy!

Pumpkin Spice Doughnut Batter:
1 box yellow cake mix
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp clove
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3 Tbl melted butter

Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl, combine cake mix, cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg. Add pumpkin, eggs and melted butter; mix until well combined. Set aside, make streusel.

Streusel:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbl melted butter

In separate bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and melted butter.
Spoon batter into doughnut baking pan, filling each ring halfway. Sprinkle streusel over batter in each doughnut ring. Bake for 10 minutes.

 

More Pumpkin Goodness:

 

 

 

 

 

Nutty Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins

Sometimes I’m in the mood for healthy and low calorie, that is when I bake something like Bran Muffins. Today I throw all those cares to the wind and bake a bran muffin with sugar, chocolate and lots of nuts. I fool myself with the words banana and bran, that there is some health benefit in there somewhere. My workout tonight will have to be a little longer, but that’s OK, my craving is satisfied. ;o)

3 bananas, medium, mashed
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup All-Bran cereal
1¾ flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400°. Coat 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick spray.
In large bowl, stirring by hand, combine banana, eggs, buttermilk, applesauce, vanilla, brown sugar, and All-Bran cereal. Let sit 5-10 minutes. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; add to banana mixture. Stir just until all is combined. Stir in chocolate chips, pecans, and walnuts. Scoop mixture into prepared muffin cups, they will be full. Sprinkle some mini chocolate chips and nut pieces on top if desired. Bake 20-22 minutes.

Other Muffins:

    

    

    

    

 

Eggnog Cream Pie

Time to brush up on those pie baking/eating skills. Here is a great place to start,

Eggnog Cream Pie.

1 Prebaked single crust 9″ deep dish pie shell (recipe below)
3 cups eggnog
3/4 cup sugar
4½ Tbl cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg yolks, beaten
2 Tbl butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Combine eggnog, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in large saucepan.  Heat over medium heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Add a small amount of hot milk mixture to egg yolks to warm (whisking constantly), and then add egg yolks to milk mixture (whisking constantly).  Boil 1 minute stirring constantly till thick and smooth.  Remove from heat and add butter, vanilla, and nutmeg.  Beat several times while cooling a bit.  Pour eggnog filling into baked pie shell while slightly warm. Cover with wax paper. Cool completely in refrigerator until set for clean slices.  Serve with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Single Crust 9″ Deep Dish Prebaked Pie Shell:
1 cup flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening, cold
3 Tbl ice water

Combine flour, sugar, and salt.  Cut shortening into flour mixture.  Add water 1 Tbl at a time, stirring with a fork.  When dough comes together, shape into a disk and refrigerate for about an hour. Roll out on well floured surface, place in pie plate, crimp edges. Poke with fork, lay foil gently down inside, place pie weights (or dry beans). Bake in 425° preheated oven for 10 minutes. Gently take out foil with weights, turn heat down to 350° and bake 10 minutes more.

One Year Ago: Zucchini Crust Personal Pizza

Two Years Ago: Apple Pumpkin Pecan Cake

Three Years Ago: Eggnog Chocolate Chip Cake

Glazed Apple Crumb Cake

A delicious moist little snack cake. Glazed Apple Crumb Cake from layersofhappiness.com.

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, cold

Cake:
1½ cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Warm Vanilla Glaze:
1½ Tbl butter, melted
1½ Tbl brown sugar
1½ Tbl sugar
1½ Tbl milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Make topping by mixing flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly, set aside.

For the cake batter, in large bowl stir together flour baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a medium bowl whisk together oil, brown sugar, sugar, egg, egg white, and vanilla. Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients just until combined. Fold in apple and walnuts. Spread cake batter in well sprayed 9″x9″ baking pan. Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over cake batter, press down. Bake 30-35 minutes, until done in center.

For the glaze, in small bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and whisk until just combined. Drizzle over cake. Enjoy cake warm or room temperature.

One Year Ago: Confetti Cream Cheese Bars

Two Years Ago: Apple Fritter Cake

Three Years Ago: Orange Cream Swirl Brownies