Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Hello, everyone! I hope you have been enjoying our blog. Today's recipe came about when I watched Save My Bakery. Seriously, I can't get enough of that show. It's so cool to see the transformations of the different bakeries! If you haven't seen it yet, you should watch an episode. Or ten. 

Anyway, when I saw them making cupcakes, it was one of those moments where you wish you could pull the food out of the screen and eat it. I ended up making cupcakes soon afterwards. I have a book called The Great Cupcake Book. That's where I got this recipe.

They didn't turn out as good as I expected them to, but they were still good. I am reducing the vanilla in the frosting by half a teaspoon in the recipe because my vanilla has alcohol in it, and it ended up leaving a really strong taste. If you use non-alcohol vanilla extract, you can probably put a full teaspoon in. Without further ado, we'll get into the recipe! 

                              Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
                      
                        Cupcakes:
                                   3 1/4 cups cake flour* 
                                   1 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder
                                   1 pinch salt
                                   1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
                                   1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
                                   1 3/4 sticks butter 
                                   2 cups sugar
                                   5 egg whites, room temperature
                                   2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
       
                         Frosting:
                                     3 sticks butter
                                     3 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
                                     1/2 tsp. vanilla
                                     2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

*if you are using all-purpose flour, reduce the amount by 2 Tablespoons per cup! 

Preheat the oven to 350*. Line 30 muffin tins with paper liners. 
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 
Combine the milk and vanilla, set aside. 
In another bowl or mixer, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar in a steady stream, mixing the whole time. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, mixing well after each addition. 
Beat the egg whites in a mixer until stiff peaks form, then gently fold it into the batter. 
Divide the batter between the muffin tins and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took about 30 minutes, but I would start at 20 and test add time by five minutes at a time if it's not done. 
Place the cupcakes on wire racks to cool. Meanwhile prepare the frosting. 
Cream the butter until it is smooth, then add the powdered sugar gradually. Mix in the vanilla. Here you can add the chocolate chips if you want, or you can put the plain frosting on the cupcakes and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. I mixed it in, but I think it would be really good with them separate. 
Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them and enjoy! 

I love cupcakes! Try these out and let us know how you liked them in the comment section below! We'd love to hear from you! Happy Baking! 

                           ~Nutmeg        

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread

Hello everyone!  Hey, guess what!  Another banana recipe!  The fried bananas just didn't get rid of enough bananas, so I made something else with our (what seems to be anyway) never ending supply of the strange fruit.

Really though, what are bananas?  They are classified as a fruit, but they are unlike any other fruit I've ever eaten.  Then again, star fruit are pretty weird too.  I've never actually eaten one, but I'm getting off topic.  Hmm, I should look all this up!  Today's recipe is a delicious variation of banana bread, and it was gone in a flash!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread

3 large mashed bananas

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup oil

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup oat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 325*.

Grease large loaf pan.

Beat together bananas, sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

Add rest of ingredients and mix well.

Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Enjoy!

As I said before this was eaten quickly, so get some while you can after you make it!

Gingerbread Muffin Tops

Hello, everyone! Today's recipe is probably more of a holiday one, but if you like gingerbread, it can be eaten all year! A friend of ours gave us this recipe to try, so I am posting it today! 

These gingerbread muffin tops are really fluffy and light. Not to mention the wonderful smells while they're baking! Enjoy! 

                                     
                                  Gingerbread Muffin Tops

                                        2/3 cup shortening
                                 2/3 cup brown sugar
                                 2 eggs
                                 1 1/4 cups molasses 
                                 4 cups all-purpose flour
                                 3 tsp. ginger
                                 1 tsp. baking soda
                                 2 tsp. cinnamon 
                                 1 scant tsp. salt
                                 sugar, for sprinkling 

Preheat the oven to 350*. 
In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Add the eggs and molasses. Mix until well incorporated.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones, making sure to mix it well. 
Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 2 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle them with sugar. 
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until set. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 2 or 3 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool. 

Fried Bananas

Hello everyone!  We had too many bananas in the house, and my mom thought that fried bananas sounded good.  I was surfing the net, and found a lot of recipes that sounded pretty good, but had butter in them.  My mom can't have dairy, and I had wanted to find a recipe that I didn't have to substitute oil for butter.  I finally found one that sounded good, but all the other recipes I had found had rum in them.  I decided that instead of trying to find another recipe, I should just add a little rum to this one.  The thing is, I don't cook with alcohol very much and didn't know how much to put in.  I was very pleased when this turned out as well as it did.

Fried Bananas

2 ripe bananas

1 T. highly refined sunflower oil

2 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon rum

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

Remove the peels from the bananas and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Set a nonstick skillet over medium to medium high heat and add the oil or butter, honey, rum, cinnamon, and salt.  Whisk together.

Lay down your banana slices, and fry for 4-5 minutes on each side. Be sure to watch the heat and turn it down if it browns too quickly. You want enough heat to caramelize and brown the slices, but don't want them to burn.  Enjoy!

This was really good, and disappeared quickly.  You should all give it a try! 

Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie

Hello, everyone! I don't know about you, but kiwis are one of my favorite fruits. A few days ago, I had a craving for a fruity something, but I wanted a smoothie at the same time. The result? This strawberry kiwi smoothie! It was really good, and I am definitely going to be making it again! 

                                    Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie

                           1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
                           1 kiwi, peeled 
                           1/2 cup frozen strawberries
                           sugar or sweetener of your choice

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender, and blend them until they are smooth. Pour into a cup and enjoy! 
This smoothie was delicious! Let us know how it worked for you! 
                            

Black Raspberry Muffins

Hello everyone!  Did anyone go berry picking this year?  I did!  Berry picking is super fun, and this season my eyes were bigger than my stomach.  My mom said that I should make sure to use up the berries before they went bad, and suggested I make muffins.  The muffins I made turned out wonderful, so I decided to share them with you!

                                                         

Black Raspberry Muffin

 1/4 cup highly refined sunflower oil

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup raw sugar

3 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups fresh black raspberries

 Directions

Preheat oven to 375*.

 In a large bowl, mix together vanilla, oil and 1-1/4 cups sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually stir into creamed mixture alternately with almond milk, beating well after each addition. Fold in blackberries.

 Fill greased or paper-lined muffins cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.  Enjoy!

I am ashamed to admit that I ate two of these before they had even completely cooled.  In my defense, they were absolutely delicious.

Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream {Dairy-free!}

Hello, everyone! It's Nutmeg again! Today I have another dairy free recipe for you! This ice cream is extremely simple and easy to make as well! 
For this peanut butter ice cream, I used coconut milk. I really like the creaminess it adds to the ice cream. I also didn't use an ice cream maker. I don't ever really use them to make ice cream. I have found that it works just as well to simply freeze it. 
I think this ice cream would be really good with some chocolate magic shell on it to make it almost like a peanut butter cup, but I have yet to find a way to make dairy free magic shell.
I hope you try this recipe and it turns out well for you! Enjoy!

                     Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream
    
                                 2 cans coconut milk
                                 1 1/4 cups sugar
                                 2 tsp. vanilla extract
                                 1 cup creamy peanut butter

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and pour it into a medium container. Place the ice cream in the freezer to harden, then serve! Yummy!