Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I love lemon poppyseed muffins. When I was growing up, my mom had 3 standard muffin recipes: banana mini-muffins, lemon poppyseed normal-sized muffins, and blueberry jumbo-muffins. I love them all, and eating those kinds of muffins is always very nostalgic for me.

This isn't the recipe my mom makes, but I thought I'd try it out. It's a very soft muffin--almost like cake, but a little less sweet. Next time I might try sprinkling the top with sugar (as the original recipe suggests), but the overall crunch and lemony-ness was pretty good.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Recipe by Dine & Dish

1/2 cup sweet creamy butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 lemons, zest of, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time. Beat well after each.

In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, poppy seeds, and lemon zest.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating two times with the buttermilk, then lemon juice, and then vanilla. Beat just until smooth.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Gently fold them into the muffin batter until blended.


Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, 3/4-full. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

The last few recipes have been breakfast recipes, and it can't hurt to add more. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day...well, if I have time to cook. Generally I eat something quick during the week, but I love going out for breakfast or having time to cook or bake something delicious at home!

This recipe was pretty good! I used spicy sausage and that had a perfect amount of flavor. I'd recommend adding more salt to the gravy but other than that this was a yummy, hearty breakfast! Just try not to look at the gravy before reheating it if you can't eat it all in one day.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Recipe from Taste and Tell

Biscuits:
2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 C buttermilk
Additional flour
2 Tbsp melted butter

Sausage Gravy:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 16 oz. tube of pork sausage
Additional fat if needed: bacon grease or butter
4 Tbsp flour
3 C milk
A little bit of dried herbs (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste


To make the biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 500F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs. Fold in the buttermilk. Stir just until blended - the mixture will still be lumpy.

Line a small plate or bowl with flour. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop to scoop out the dough and put on the plate of flour. Roll the dough in the flour to coat. (Note - the "dough" will be very sticky and wet - not like a typical biscuit dough. It is best to use a scoop so that the mixture won't stick to your hands.) Place the dough balls in the prepared pan - 9 balls around the outside and 3 balls in the center. Brush the tops of the balls with the melted butter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes then lower the temperature to 450 and bake another 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

To make the sausage gravy:
Heat the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a heavy duty skillet or cast iron skillet . Add the sausage and cook until cooked through, breaking up the sausage as it cooks.

Remove the sausage and drain, reserving the fat. Return 3 to 4 tablespoons of the fat to the pan. (If you don't have enough grease, add more bacon grease or butter to make up for the difference.) Add the flour and whisk, allowing the flour to brown and form a dark roux. Keep whisking and pour in the milk. Whisk out the lumps. Return the sausage to the skillet and add in any herbs you'd like. Simmer the gravy until it thickens.

Serve the gravy over split biscuits.

Baked Cinnamon Donuts

I just went on vacation to Hawaii earlier this month. I miss vacation already. About a month before that, I went to Boston with Adam, and got to eat delicious Dunkin Donuts. When will it come to San Francisco! So dying for the delicious vanilla-frosted nommy-ness...the iced coffee was super good, too. So strange.

I decided to bake up some donuts on my new donut pans to enjoy with my Dunkin Donuts coffee mug (I love buying mugs that remind me of places I've been that I loved!) shortly after my trip. I got the recipe from my mom, who made these the last time I visited home.

Baked Cinnamon Donuts
Recipe by Ina Garten

Baking spray with flour, such as Baker's Joy
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 doughnut pans well.

Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the baking pans, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full. Bake for 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then tap the doughnuts out onto a sheet pan.


For the topping, melt the 8 tablespoons of butter in an 8-inch saute pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip each doughnut first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, either on one side or both sides.

Our Favorite Buttermilk Pancakes

Hey! Remember me?

Here's my go-to pancake recipe. You don't need to make it with blueberries. I've used both fresh and frozen blueberries, and you could also go plain, go chocolate, whatever you like! I've made it with fruit and whipped cream on top, with syrup, powdered sugar...whatever! The picture you see above (nicely decorated with my foot and a greasy bacon tray) is from Adam's birthday last month. I'm still cooking and taking pictures of food, so hopefully I'll share some of the recipes I've been trying out soon!

This is definitely our favorite fluffy pancake recipe. If you're looking for a delicious standard to always keep in your back pocket, try this out!


Buttermilk Pancakes
Recipe from Ambitious Kitchen

2 cups Gold Medal Flour All-Purpose Flour (or White Whole Wheat)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups low-fat buttermilk, plus extra if needed
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 container (6 oz) Nonfat Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and yogurt until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter or cooking spray and heat over medium. Drop batter by 1/4 cup onto skillet. Sprinkle tops with a few blueberries. Cook until bubbles appear on top, about 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter. Makes 14-16 pancakes.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Yum yum yum yum yum. I always love banana bread and I just love baking in the morning for breakfast. My boyfriend has expressed slight disinterest (not extreme, just slight, but enough) in banana in the past, so I tried to find a very yummy, sugar-topped, chocolate-filled version for him. These are SO GOOD! A big hit! I was actually fine with just 2 large bananas for this recipe.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Recipe from Better With Sugar

Muffins:

1-1/2 C all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large bananas, mashed (or 4 medium)

3/4 C granulated sugar

1 egg

1/3 C unsalted butter, melted

3/4 C chocolate chips (optional)

3/4 C walnuts, chopped (optional)

Crumb Topping:

3 TBS all purpose flour

1/4 C packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 TBS butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners.

In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the Crumb Topping. Stir together with a fork, and then use your fingers to make it crumbly. 

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix this together really well or you'll get that weird baking soda/powder taste!

In a separate small bowl, mash the bananas (with a potato masher if you have one. If not, a wooden spoon will do). Then beat in the sugar, egg, and melted butter. 

Add the banana/sugar/egg/butter mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined (do not overmix!)

Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts if you are adding them.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin. 

Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each muffin.

Bake for 22-23 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. 

Let cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes, and then transfer the muffins out of the pan, and onto a rack to cool completely.

Madeleines

For my birthday this year, my friend Marrisa sent me two Madeleine pans. I've ALWAYS wanted Madeleine pans, but for some reason never got around to getting any. Finally, FINALLY I could make some! A few weekends ago I made these alongside our breakfast coffee. SO good. I was starting off following one Allrecipes recipe, but while using their app, somehow my finger swiped too strong and the recipe changed without me noticing. I was suddenly following another recipe and was slightly confused by the change from what I'd remembered were the portions of each ingredient, but thought that maybe I'd misread the recipe the first time around.

By the time I noticed I'd switched recipes, it was too late, and I decided to just wing it. They turned out deliciously light and buttery. SO good. Love the zesty lemon flavor. I'd make these again in a heartbeat.

Madeleine's
Recipe adapted from Madeleines II and French Butter Cakes

2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter and flour 24 (3 inch) madeleine molds; set aside.

Melt butter and let cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl beat eggs, vanilla and lemon zest with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar. Beat for 5 to 7 minutes or until thick and satiny.

Sift together the flour and baking powder. Sift one-fourth of the flour mixture over the egg mixture, gently fold in. Fold in the remaining flour by fourths. Then fold in the melted and cooled butter. Spoon batter into the prepared molds, filling 3/4 full.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden and the top s spring back. Cool in molds on a rack for 1 minute. Loosen cookies with a knife. Invert cookies onto a rack and cool. Sift confectioners' sugar over the tops. Store in an airtight container.

Strawberry Greek Yogurt Pancakes

These were super yummy. I love all things breakfast and I love fruit! Pancakes soo yum ahh. I don't have a waffle maker (SAD) but pancakes are super easy. I wanted to make a pancake that was relatively healthy (aka had more protein) so I tried out this recipe and it was pretty good!

Strawberry Greek Yogurt Pancakes
Recipe by Amy Zhang

1/2 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 to 1 cup fresh strawberries
1 tsp sugar (optional)
Butter, for pan

Chop strawberries into small pieces. *Optional: In a small bowl, combine about 1/2 cup of the strawberries with 1 tsp sugar and set aside to macerate.*

In a medium bowl, mix together yogurt, egg, vanilla, and honey. Add in salt, flour, and baking powder, then stir until wet and dry ingredients are mixed. Fold in 1/2 cup of strawberries. In a pan over medium heat, melt a small amount of butter, then add in about 1/4 cup of the batter (it's thick, so you might need to spread it out a little with a spoon). Repeat if you're pan is big enough. When you see bubbles starting to form on the top (after about 3 minutes), flip the pancake(s) and cook another 2-3 minutes.


If you macerated strawberries, use as a delicious, naturally sweet topping!

Pumpkin Bread

So I was super bummed with Starbucks started carrying La Boulange instead of the regular beauteous pastries. La Boulange, at first glance, looks okay, but then you realize it's all tired and gross and just does not compare (at least in my opinion--and to be honest I didn't really try all that much, since I was mostly just bummed that they don't have the same exact pumpkin bread). So anyway, the pumpkin bread. Yeah I've seen some Starbucks carry a mini-loaf of pumpkin bread by La Boulange but it is just not the same. So I'm currently looking for the best Starbucks Pumpkin Bread Copycat Recipe.

This one is from CopyKat recipes, found only by google searching "starbucks pumpkin bread recipe". It was okay--actually, pretty darn delicious, but I still don't think it's the same. I can hardly remember the old Starbucks pumpkin bread recipe anymore. I can only hope that I remember it when I taste it! It'll probably take a helluva lot more fat and sugar than I want to add.

Still, this one was pretty good!

Pumpkin Bread

Recipe from CopyKat Recipes

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon clove

** if you are going to use pumpkin pie spice, use a scant 2 teaspoons of spice in place of the spices mentioned here

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup vegetable oil (do not use olive or peanut oil)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 to 1/2 cup roasted and salted pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl add all of the dry ingredients; flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, salt, and spices. Sift the dry ingredients together.

In a smaller bowl mix together the 2 beaten eggs, the oil, and the vanilla. 

Once the liquid ingredients are mixed well pour over the dry ingredients. Stir until the lumps are out. Do not over-stir the mixture. 

Pour into a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top of bread. 

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center of the loaf. 

Cool for approximately 5 minutes in the pan, and then turn the pumpkin bread onto a cooling rack. The bread cuts best when allowed to cool completely.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

If you're looking for something to make for breakfast--for guests, family, work, yourself--look no further. Please, stop looking and just try this recipe. It's really, really good, and really, really easy. I've always wanted to try making coffee cake and I finally did it! I didn't eat it with coffee--you don't have to--but it's a delicious cake and was perfectly dense and just...great. I'm not sure what coffee cake is supposed to taste like, actually, but I think it should taste like this one. My older brother liked it a lot, too--and he's a coffee lover and usually doesn't care for most of the things I make--so I'm definitely liking this recipe.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Recipe adapted by The Baker Chick from King Arthur's Flour

Streusel topping
2/3 cups granulated sugar
pinch of  salt (if you use unsalted butter)
3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
1 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (for color not for taste- you can leave it out if you want.)

Cake
3/4 cup butter softened
1 teaspoon salt (1 ¼ teaspoons if you use unsalted butter)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt. (regular yogurt would also be ok.)
1 1/4 cups milk (anything from skim to whole)
3 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.

Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring till well combined. Set the topping aside.

Make the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set it aside.

To make the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk till well combined. You don't need to whisk out all the lumps.

Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/yogurt mixture, beating gently to combine.

Pour/spread half the batter (about 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges. If you're using two 9" round pans, spread 1 1/3 cups batter in each pan.

Sprinkle the filling evenly atop the batter.

Gently spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.

Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.

Bake the cake until it's a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the 9" x 13" pan, 50 to 55 minutes for the 9" round pans. When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve cake right from the pan.

Note: If you wanna make this ahead of time for a brunch or something just cover it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Bake as directed, but you may need to add 5 mins extra or so since the batter will be cold!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

This recipe was delicious and really easy! I've been wanting to make lemon poppy seed muffins for a while and finally got a hold of some poppy seeds so I made these about a week ago. They were really delicious both warm and after a few days! I'll definitely make these muffins again.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Recipe From Connor's Cooking
Found On Katherine's Martinelli

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a standard 12 muffin pan or a jumbo 6 well muffin pan (or use cupcake tins). Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and lemon juice.

Make a well in center of the flour mixture and pour the buttermilk mixture into the well. Add the melted butter and use a rubber spatula to blend with quick strokes, being careful not to overmix the batter; it should still be slightly lumpy. Gently stir in the poppy seeds and lemon zest. Spoon batter into muffin pan, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until slightly puffed and golden, 20-22 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool slightly on a wire rack.

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I've been dying to make this recipe for so long...long as in, usually I want to make a recipe for a while and then eventually lose interest, and this was before I lost interest. So just 1 or 2 months. I wanted to make it immediately but kept on forgetting to buy blueberries, and in my Collegetown I guess I can buy 6 ounces of "fresh" blueberries for $4, so no way was I going to do that. Eventually I remembered when visiting Target (they just brought Fresh food to our Target in March!) and got the frozen blueberries, and made these about two weeks ago.

This was sooo good and soo easy! A perfect addition to breakfast. It was delicious warm but also good for a few days after!

For this recipe I used 10 oz frozen blueberries, regular salt, and instead of buttermilk I used skim milk with a little vinegar and it worked fine and tasted just as delicious.

Blueberry Breakfast Cake
Recipe from Dainty Chef

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar.

Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Scones

Just realized I forgot to top my scones with sugar--oops, but they were sweet enough without it. It probably didn't need the egg coating either. I've been so busy lately! I haven't really got a chance to bake at all, and 3 weeks ago I promised my friend Philip that I'd bake him something for his birthday...and still haven't. I made these because hey, breakfast is easy to make and eat. I wanted to make some other breakfasty bread but I have no food and the only special food this required was chocolate chips, which I could easily buy. I substituted milk and a pinch of vinegar for the buttermilk and there didn't seem to be a difference.

These were perfect warm, but I'm not sure if I'd make them again because the next day they weren't as good. They were soft and crumbly the day-of though, so if you're planning on serving to a group, these were super easy!

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Scones
Yield 8 scones
Recipe from evilshenanigans

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces and kept very cold
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, well beaten
Sugar for topping

Heat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the cold butter and rub it in with your fingers until the butter is in small pieces, no larger than peas. Add the chocolate chips and mix well.

Pour in the cold buttermilk and vanilla and mix until the liquid is absorbed. The dough will look very dry and shaggy.

Turn out onto a cutting board and knead the dough three times by pressing the dough into a fat disk, folding the dough in half, turning it 1/4 turn and repeating. Do not over knead.

Once kneaded press into an 8″ circle and cut the disk into 8 wedges. Places the wedges on the prepared baking sheet and brush with beaten egg. Top each scone with as much sugar as you like.

Bake the scones for 15 – 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Cool ten minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack.

Almond Milk Pancakes

I don't remember when I made these, but I was feeling like pancakes, and I made them, and they were delicious, and easy, and worth it, so worth it. Plus relatively healthy for pancakes because seriously there's like 40 calories in a cup of almond milk and I definitely didn't eat all of them. Soo good. I just had the plain pancakes with unfrozen strawberries on top, but fresh fruit would have been deliciousss or really anything. I don't eat maple syrup...is that weird? I can't stand it. Like juice. Too sweet. And yet I have a crazy sweet tooth and love to bake and would totally eat an entire cake if I could without getting fat or getting diabetes or feeling sick to my stomach afterwards haha.

Almond Milk Pancakes
Recipe from About.com

1 cup all-purpose flour
3 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk or other non-dairy milk
1 large whole egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 ½ t. canola oil

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, making a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk, whole egg, egg yolk and canola oil until well combined. Add to the well in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. (Batter should still have some lumps.)

Lightly oil a heavy-bottomed skillet or griddle and heat over medium heat. Once hot, add the batter to the pan, about ¼ cup at a time, flipping when bubbles begin to form on the surface of the pancakes and the edges begin to rise. Cook the other side of the pancakes for about 1-2 minutes more, or until golden brown. Repeat until all of the batter is used, keeping the pancakes warm either on a plate beneath a towel or in a 200 F. oven. Serve with toppings of choice.

Nutella Marbled Banana Bread

The second thing I made for my mom's bookgroup retreat is this Nutella Marbled Banana Bread. It was really good and pretty easy--though I'm not very good at marbling. If you like nutella, I still very much reccommend these Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I've made 3 or 4 times already and everyone always loooves. I go back to the East Coast in less than a week, and school shortly after that, and that'll probably be the first thing I bake in my new kitchen for my friends back at school!

Nutella Marbled Banana Bread
Recipe from Sugar Plum
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Nutella
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together banana, butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy and well combined - about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs until well combined - about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture until just combined. Divide 1/2 of of the batter into a medium bowl; stir in Nutella until combined.

Alternate spoonfuls of batter into loaf pan until all of the batter is used up. Swirl batter gently with a knife (not too much!). Bake 1 hour or until well risen, deep golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into bread comes out with moist crumbs attached.
Makes 1 loaf

Mushroom Onion Quiche

This year my mom had another book group retreat. Last year, I made Lemon Cake with Chocolate Buttercream and Vanilla Yogurt Cake with Orange Glaze. This year, I made 3 different dishes. The first one is this Mushroom Onion Quiche, a quiche that my mom used to make back when she went to college. It's super easy and you can easily use a frozen crust (which I did, and then baked it and let it cool ahead of time) to cut down the time even more.

My Mom's College Mushroom-Onion Quiche

1 prebaked, 9-inch pie crust
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup grated swiss cheese plus 1 tsp flour
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Saute onions and mushrooms. Remove when onions are soft and transparent. Cool and spread on bottom of prebaked pie shell.

Toss cheese with flour and sprinkle over mushrooms and onions. Beat eggs with remaining ingredients until well mixed, and pour over mixture.

Bake at 375F for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted at center and edge comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This bread was great! I made it along with the quiche I posted last week, for father's day this year. Yes, regular banana bread is great, too, but I think that the chocolate chips in this one make it so that the bread tastes good even at room temperature. Sure, regular banana bread is fine, but in my opinion it tastes better warm or heated up...this one does, too, but you can enjoy it either way!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Recipe from The Family Kitchen

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a standard 9×5 loaf pan*.

Mix together butter and sugar until fully combined. Add eggs and vanilla extract, mix well. Add mashed bananas, mix again until completely combined.

In a separate bowl mix flour, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Stir this mixture a few times and make sure the chips are fully coated with flour.

Working slowly, stir flour mixture into egg mixture. Keep stirring until all flour is fully incorporated. The batter may still be a little lumpy from the bananas, this is normal.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, carefully remove it from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack before serving.

*You can also divide the batter into smaller loaf pans, or mini loaf pans if you want to make smaller breads.

Freezer Tips: This bread freezes well. If you want to save it for later simply wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Then wrap it again with an outer layer of aluminum foil. Make sure none of the bread is exposed to air. It will last in the freezer for 2-4 months.

Quiche

I made this quiche for father's day this year, so...a while ago. It was really good and very simple! For father's day breakfast I also made another recipe which I will post next week.

Quiche
Recipe from Allrecipes

8 slices bacon
4 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.

Line bottom of pie plate with cheese and crumbled bacon. Combine eggs, butter, onion, salt, flour and milk; whisk together until smooth; pour into pie pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, until set. Serve hot or cold.

Mom's Blueberry Muffins

When I got the recipe from my mom, she had written it for 6 big muffins instead of 12 small ones, so I got confused about the timing--her timing was for the 12 but she'd written for the 6, I don't know. So I could have baked mine for an extra 2 minutes, but they turned out fine and were done according to the toothpick test!

She's been making these muffins for a while. I didn't know where she got the recipe but just looked up some of the directions word-for-word and found the Betty Crocker original. They're really good straight from the oven, and they're very easy to whip together. You should probably thaw berries if you use frozen ones: I didn't and they were fine, but a little cold in comparison to the rest of the muffin.

Mom's Blueberry Muffins
Recipe adapted by my mom from Betty Crocker

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk (my mom and I use 1%)
1/4 cup salad oil
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (thawed)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease muffin tins with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, using a fork, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a small bowl, beat eggs slightly with a fork, then stir in milk and salad oil.

Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Add blueberries. Stir just until flour is moistened. Avoid overmixing--batter should be lumpy.

Spoon batter into muffin tins. My mom usually uses large 6-muffin tins, but you can also use 12 muffin tins.

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes if using a 12-muffin tin, longer if for 6, until they are well-risen and golden and a toothpick inserted in center of one comes out clean and dry.

Immediately remove from pan onto wire rack to cool and serve.

Vanilla Yogurt Cake with Orange Glaze

I've been dying to make this recipe for so long, and finally got the opportunity for my mom's bookgroup retreat (which was actually a long time ago). I was also dying to try this, but unfortunately, the dog ate the rest that my mom brought home. Oh boy.

I altered the recipe from making two mini-loaves, to making one big loaf. I also made a mistake and added two extra tablespoons of orange juice to the batter instead of putting over the fresh-from-the-oven loaf, but apparently it was delicious, so maybe I'd do that again if I were to make this again (which I probably will, since I still really want to try it). For the original recipe, you can click the link.

Vanilla Yogurt Cake with Orange Glaze
Recipe adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, seed scraped out, pod discarded
1 ½ TBSP vanilla extract
7 oz Greek Yogurt
½ cup vegetable oil
4 TBSP orange juice, divided

Spray an 8x4 loaf pan with baking spray. Or coat with butter and flour.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a stand mixer (or a large bowl and and electric hand mixer), beat together the egg, egg yolk, and sugar on medium-high speed, until it turns pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla beans, vanilla extract, and oil, beat another minute, until fully incorporated.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

With the mixer on low speed, add half the amount of dry ingredients. Then add half the amount of Greek yogurt, and 2 TBSP of the orange juice. Add remaining dry ingredients and followed by the remaining yogurt and the rest of the orange juice. Remove from mixer and finish mixing by hand using a spatula until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Pour into prepared pan til it's 2/3 the way full and bake for 1 hr to 1:05 hrs.

Remove from oven. Using a toothpick or large wooden skewer poke holes into the cake.

Let cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan. Place on wire rack to finish cooling. When cool, glaze cakes.

Orange Glaze

1 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 TBSP orange juice

Combine the two ingredients together with a whisk. Pour over cake.