Banana-Graham Muffins

I'm always surprised when I find a great recipe on the back of a box.  But why?  It makes perfect sense that a big, profitable company (Nabisco) would spend a couple of dollars on recipe development.  Well, a good muffin is a surprise I'm always happy to taste.  So, I'm sharing.  Look at these beauties!

This is a low fat, dense muffin.  Most muffins I make without oil or butter offer me but a breath of taste, and I find myself longing for another . . . and another.  These have a heft because of the crushed graham crackers, but the banana is the perfect match, adding more than enough moisture.  Just look at the inside. 

 Mmmm.  Enjoy!

Banana-Graham Muffins
(from Nabisco)

Makes 12 standard muffins

2 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs (in a food processor, I pulsed about 2/12 sleeves of crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup fat-free milk
2 tbsp honey
2 ripe bananas, mashed
walnuts for the top (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Combine graham crackers crumbs, sugar and baking soda in a bowl, and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, honey and mashed bananas.  Add the dry mixture to the wet, and stir until moistened. 
Using an ice-cream scoop, fill paper-lined muffins cups with batter (these don't rise too much, so you can fill 'em up).  Top with nuts, if desired.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes.  Remove from pan to cool completely. 

Cookie Dough Brownies

I don't know about you all, by my kids are obsessed with cookie dough.  Cookie dough ice cream, frozen yogurt, candies, flavoring, frosting, cupcakes - whatever.  If it says cookie dough, they have to have it.  And so, when I clicked on these little treats, their cookie dough radars went "ding!ding!ding!," and they demanded I make these for SnacKlub.  So this was the treat last Friday. 

I like a good treat, but these were just too much.  Two really rich desserts in one.  The dough is, indeed, eggless, and it is spread on top of the cooled brownies.  Feel free to use your own brownie recipe.  I will, next time.  I like a fudge-y brownie with a much richer taste than these had.  When I told the kids these were not my favorite, they looked at me like I had just grown antlers.  So, maybe it's a kid thing.  Like I said - cookie dough has some mad powers. . .

Here's the link to the recipe.

Oreohhhhh!

This was the teenager's birthday cake this year, and if I were to listen to absolutely everyone who tasted it - it will be the birthday cake for all birthdays until the end of time.  It was pretty darn good.  And cakes don't really thrill me.  This one thrilled me, took me out to a show, and bought me a car.  This cake has elements of love in it that don't exist in any romance, fairy tale, or parent/child bond.  You have to make this, and make it for a crowd.  People will lavish you with thanks, praise, and kisses.  You will reign supreme over birthday cakes.  You will be cherished. 

Now go - bake!  The recipe's right here.  You're just a click away from forever happiness. 

Homemade Concord Grape Jelly

In our farm share last week, we got a few bunches of Concord grapes.  They're much smaller than what we're used to getting at the supermarket, but their aroma and taste are spot on Welch's grape jelly.  Ahh, they took me back.  But then . . . I crunched on the seed in there.  That would not do.  No one in the house liked them any more, whether or not they tasted "just like Welch's grape jelly!"  So they sat in their colander on the counter.  Alone.  Untouched.  I was about to just toss the small purple orbs, when I thought - maybe I can make my own grape jelly.  So I plucked each little grape from the stem, tossed all of them in a heavy sauce pan along with a scoop of sugar (maybe 1/3 cup), and turned on the heat.  It bubbled and boiled, and I started mushing the grapes into the liquid with my potato masher, and after only 20 mins or so, things were looking good.  I added about a tblsp of cornstarch, and pushed the hot liquid through a strainer.  Ta da!  My own Concord grape jelly. 

I spread some cream cheese on a graham cracker and topped it off with the jelly, and was instantly transported back to childhood.   Such a treat.  Enjoy!

If Baking Was Like Dating

Hi, I'm peanut butter frosting.  Some dig my flavor, and most can't live without me.  I'm sweet and salty, and oh so creamy.  But I'm looking for a better half.  I've tried vanilla, but when we're together its flavor is so cloying.  I crave a dynamic taste to really make me swirl and enjoy life at the top.  If you're fresh, and cool, I'd love to top off your evening with my charm.

Well, hello there.  I think I have the flavor you crave.  I'm very rich, too.  Many icings say I'm the only cake for them, but I just "choc" that up to frosting's high opinion of itself.  Aren't all the flavors the same - thinking it's all about being at the top?  Just why, then - when we're together - are we called a cupcake?  I don't see the words frosting or icing in there.  If you're whipped up in a frenzy, and want a place to settle down, then I'm your mate.  I add depth of flavor to anyone who can pay me a compliment.  Might that be you?

Hubba, hubba.  Look who's at the party.  Everyone's talking about how these two met up - on this blog.  It's where all the ingredients for love are totally sweet on each other!

We know what's for dessert, but who's paying the tab?

Whoopie!

Look what I did.  It was the kids' first Friday of the school year.  If it's Friday, during the school year, it's SnacKlub.  Each kid brings home whomever they like (11 kids in my little house this past week), and I have a new treat waiting for them all.  I can't believe it, but this is our third year of SnacKlub!  Where does the time go?
So, for this year's first SnacKlub, the treat was: Banana Caramel Whoopie Pies.  Here's the link from a fave blog of mine, Annie's Eats.  I have a lot of faves, I know.  These were easy as, well, pie!  I used a different filling.  I whipped together 2 sticks of softened butter, with 12 oz of softened cream cheese.  Then I added, a little at a time, 4 and a half cups of powdered sugar.  Finally, I whipped in Annie's caramel sauce - the half cup she calls for.  Now, when making the caramel sauce (I did it the day before), just watch that sugar.  As soon as it's amber-colored, you should turn off the heat, even if there are little flecks of unmelted sugar.  I'm telling you, if you really stir it until there are no more flecks, you'll burn the sugar, and then your caramel sauce will lose that desired, deep sweetness, and you'll have to make believe you wanted it that way by calling it burnt sugar sauce.  And who wants to make believe?  Get real, and make these.  The sweetness of the banana comes right to the edges of the "cookie" halves and almost crunches on your teeth.  That, mixed with the cream cheese filling - oh my dear, I'm faint with love.
Enjoy.