Cooking at Home: Banana (Nut) Muffins

I love to bake, and lately, I've been on a muffin kick. Muffins are really easy to make, take little time, and are healthy and delicious. I've made blueberry, cinnamon sugar, and the ones in this post: Banana (Nut) Muffins. I used only ingredients I had on hand, so I didn't use any nuts this time, but they can be added if you have them.


I always try to make my muffins (semi) healthy, so I incorporated wheat flour into the recipe, usually about half and half.


These muffins are also (GASP!) vegan. Vegan baking can seem like a scary thing, but it's really not so difficult. There are a few key things you use for substitutions, and muffins are a good way to start experimenting with vegan baking since the recipe is very straightforward.

These muffins came out moist, fluffy, and absolutely scrumptious. The boyfriend loved them, and he didn't even know they were vegan.

Banana Muffins (Makes 12)

Recipe adapted from Spark Recipes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup plain flour

2 ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup rice milk (or any other non-dairy milk)

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup oil (sunflower, safflower, canola)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 175 ° C. Grease a muffin tin with oil or any butter/margarine of the vegan variety.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In another bowl, mash bananas and mix with milk, sugar, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.

Make a well in your dry ingredients bowl, and pour in wet ingredients, mixing well.

Fold in nuts if you choose to add them.

Pour batter into greased muffin tins, about ¾ full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Insert a toothpick into center of one to test. If it comes out clean, it’s done!

Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack.

Desserts: Brownie Icecream Sandwich

I. love. chocolate.

I don't know how many times I can say this. And brownies are one of my favorite chocolate desserts. I love it when they are gooey and warm and melt in your mouth. But alas, it's summer, and while we haven't had such a warm summer, it's still not the season for a warm dessert. Enter the icecream sandwich.

Now, I also love icecream, almost as much as a love chocolate. And chocolate icecream, well, don't even get me started. So we happened to have some vanilla icecream in the freezer, but, let's be honest, vanilla icecream is boring by itself. So, I decided to whip up a half-batch of brownie mix, and make an almost cookie-type brownie to use as the "bread" for my icecream sandwich.

The result was this delicious combination of chocolate and vanilla, a fun twist on the classic icecream sandwich. I made my brownie mix from scratch, but of course you can use a box of mix if that's your preference (no judgment here). And I used just plain store-bought vanilla icecream, but you can use whatever you prefer (double chocolate anyone?).

Brownie Icecream Sandwiches

Makes 4 sandwiches

1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4-1 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil (or butter)
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
vanilla (or any flavor) icecream, slightly thawed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.

2. In a large mixing bowl, oil, sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder.

3. Spread batter into prepared pan, making sure the mix isn't more than 1/2 inch thick. You want to make sure the brownies will be slightly thinner and firmer than normal, so they can stand up to being sandwich ends. Any excess mix can be tossed, baked, or eaten!

4. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes (check after 10 to make sure they do not overcook). Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack.

5. Once cool, cut the brownies into equal size rectangles, then use a knife to cut the icecream into simiarl sized rectangles. Place icecream in between two brownie pieces, and enjoy!

I hope you're hungry

So let's start things off by making everyone hungry, if you're not already.

I've done a lot of cooking and baking during my time in Prague, and here are just a few photos of the many meals I've whipped up. Recipes to follow later, for now, just try not to drool on the keyboard.

I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos. Most were taken with a (bad) camera phone, but I promise future photos will be much nicer!

Eggs Benedict. The brunch meal of champions. I've made this too many times to count, as my friends will attest to. Although it's traditionally made with Canadian bacon (basically ham), I mix it up and use either English bacon, smoked salmon, or tomatoes for my vegetarian friends. The Hollandaise sauce is not made from scratch, because who has that kind of time on a Sunday morning when all you want to do is drink mimosas and relax? The secret: I import Hollandaise sauce packets from the US. I know, I cheat!!! But it's  still amazing, trust me.

Good, old-fashioned apple pie. Who doesn't love it? This was actually made for our Thanksgiving dinner, from scratch (including the dough)! What can I say, for some things I just don't cut corners. I've made it a few times since, it's a nice departure from the Apple Strudel which is served in many places here.

You will find out quickly there are certain types of foods I can't get enough of, and Tex-Mex is one of them. I'm pretty much in love with anything I can smother in salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. These are my beef nachos, with baked tortilla chips and homemade pico de gallo and guacamole. This usually gets made at LEAST once every two weeks, if not more often.

Mmmm burgers. I cannot take credit for making these, as one of my friends actually did. But oh man, these were probably the best burgers I've ever had. It was juicy, flavorful, and ENORMOUS. We do our "burgin'" quite often, so be prepared for more burger goodness.

Sweet and succulent chocolate cake. I love chocolate, especially dark, and this cake is just that. A dark, moist, cakey center with dark chocolate ganache frosting. It's highly recommended that you do not engage in physical activity for at least 30 minutes after you eat a piece.

So that's just a few samples of my baking and dining-in meals, don't worry, we'll get to the restaurants soon too. In fact I'll be going to two this weekend, one I have never been to, and one that is an old favorite, so check back for those reviews next week!