apple banana muffcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 apples - peeled, cored and shredded

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 24 muffin cups, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and buttermilk. Beat in the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the mashed bananas and shredded apples. Fill each muffin cup half full.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

ha, so i should be studying for a med-surg midterm tomorrow, but was having a muffin craving, so what better time to bake? i've made this recipe many times before and it's not bad. as always, i substitute vegetable oil for shortening and substitute yogurt for buttermilk. somehow, i think that they end up being healthier this way... i also reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup white and 1/2 brown. unintentionally, i also used 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup wheat flour (since we ran out of all purpose). so all in all, these muffcakes ended up being pretty healthy considering the ingredients. i call them muffcakes because the recipe calls them cupcakes, but i honestly think that they're more muffin-like than cupcake-like, but maybe that's just me.


anyway, hope that everyone that i haven't kept up with is doing well. drop me a line if i haven't heard from you in a while!

chocolate chip cookies 2

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

(from allrecipes.com)

so is it that obvious that i love allrecipes.com? i was kinda hesitant to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. after all, the other one was an obvious winner, so why redo an already good thing? but during my small group this week, one of the members brought these awesome, soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies, and i thought that maybe it's time for a change. you know, the recipe says chewy, but they aren't really. i'm not sure if it's the way i'm shaping them or what it is, but they're just not coming out soft and chewy. my cookies are always fat and round. still, the recipe's a good one, uses less butter than the other recipe, and (according to my older brother) they're softer than the other cookies (although i think that may have to do with the fact that he ate these cookies right after they came out of the oven).

so the older brother deemed them better than the other cookie since they 1) have less butter and 2) are softer. i'm not sure about that, but anyway...

(as an aside, i made these terrible oatmeal cookies about a week ago. my mom wanted me to try this recipe on the back of the oatmeal container. we didn't have shortening, so i tried to substitute using butter and vegetable oil.. *sigh* another case of a substitution gone very, very wrong. the cookies looked okay.. in fact, i'd say they looked good. but they were rock solid. i guess that's what happens when you get rid of fat. i'm not sharing this one though...)

cranberry oatmeal cookies

• 1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped white chocolate

1. In a small bowl, soak dried cranberries in orange juice to soften, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Combine the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Drain cranberries and stir into the dough along with white chocolate making sure not to over-mix and make tough cookies. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

(from allrecipes.com)

for christmas, matthew gave me a bag of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries (it's obvious he wants something =P). so i felt obligated to bake something using these ingredients. so i searched on allrecipes.com for a recipe using these two ingredients, and this recipe came up. i normally don't use a recipe which hasn't been reviewed too much and which doesn't have a picture, but there weren't many options for recipes using white chocolate chips and cranberries, so i decided to give it a go. i must say, the dough was DRY before i added the cranberries to the mix and it was kind of scary looking. but the cranberries (which had been soaking in oj) added plenty of moisture when i added them. it actually made the dough really WET, which looked scary too.

anyway, after baking the cookies up, the thing about these cookies is that they look FUNNY. they look kind of pale, doughy, and raw on the top even though the dough is cooked through, and the shape that they take on is irregular. i tried different ways of shaping the dough, but i can't seem to make these cookies pretty. thankfully, i gotta say that they taste great. it's a good recipe, and the very sweet white chocolate perfectly offsets the tart cranberry. oh well, it's all the same in your stomach, no matter what it looks like...

brownies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

(from allrecipes.com)

wow, i love making brownies - so easy and no fuss (no grating vegetables.. thank goodness!). they came out kinda rich for my taste, but then i guess brownies aren't supposed to come out light and fluffy either. i skipped out on the frosting since i'm not much of a frosting fan in the first place, and that was fine. i was thinking of doing the healthy substitution of using applesauce for butter, but i had a bit of a brownie disaster about a week ago, so i decided to stick with the butter this time around, but maybe i'll modify it the next time around. stay safe and happy new year!


oh, and here's a picture of a whole different kind of brownie (ha!):

chocolate chip cookies

• 2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1 c butter, softened
• 3/4 c packed brown sugar
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 c semisweet chocolate chips

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees f (175 degrees c). sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
2. in a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. stir in the eggs and vanilla. blend in the flour mixture. finally, stir in the chocolate chips. drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. edges should be golden brown.

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

these are totally killer chocolate chip cookies. i used another adaption of this recipe with a 1/4 cup more flour, which was fine, but i think that this one is definitely it. i used ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips for some extra "omph" and they are awesome. i love my dark chocolate... suzanne (the baker extraordinaire) has also baked a variation of this recipe using chocolate pudding and white chocolate chips, and they come out great that way too.

zucchini (or carrot) cake

another recent obsession of mine has been baking. there've been a few hits, but also the failed tries that ended up in the trash can. here's a good one that i got from my mom:

• 3 eggs
• 2 c sugar
• 1 c oil
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 2 c flour
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 c grated zucchini (or carrot)
• 3/4 c walnuts
• 1 1/3 c raisins

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees f. grease and flour pan (9 x 13 x 2) or bundt pan. sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder in bowl. set aside.
2. in a large bowl, mix together sugar and oil until light and fluffy. beat in the eggs one at a time, and then stir in the vanilla. add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. add the grated zucchini (or carrot), walnuts, and raisins.
3. bake for 50 to 60 minutes in preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

i followed the recipe to the tee except for the fact that i only added 1 1/2 cups of sugar.. i actually think it'd probably still taste good with only 1 cup of sugar (i'll try it out and update later). another tidbit is that i squeezed the moisture out of the grated zucchini with a cheesecloth. it worked out pretty well, as the cake didn't come out too soggy.

my gauge for a good recipe is seeing what the family's reaction is. unanimous approval on this one. merry christmas and happy baking!

** UPDATE (12/27/06): so the cake was so popular that it disappeared almost instantaneously and my mom requested that i make more. instead of using zucchini this time, i used carrots using almost the exact same method except for the fact that i reduced the amount of sugar, using 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. that ended up tasting fine, but the big issue with carrot cake is that i squeezed the moisture out the grated carrots like i had done with the zucchini cake. totally unnecessary since carrots are (according to my mom) a drier vegetable. so the carrot cake ended up coming up much drier than the zucchini cake. next time: no squeezing the carrots.


p.s. i did learn how to knit after all! i'll post a picture of the finished product when i'm done.