Recipe: Healthy Banana Bran Muffins

I live in Louisiana and while there are many reasons to make this a great place to live, the climate is not one of them. Specially on this day as we all await the arrival of hurricane Gustav. Yesterday I had lunch with friends- ok...drinks with friends while all the men where at the football game- yes on the eve of this category 5 storm LSU is still playing football at 10 am in the morning (insane!). That's the south for you- sort of the the last hurrah before the storm. We were all talking about what provisions we needed to compile for the weeks ahead since it is pretty much unknown what the effect of the storm will be. The funny thing was that every single one of our provision lists began with wine or beer...I guess we all know we will soon be stranded and having house parties will be our only source of entertainment.

So this morning I set out to get gas, wine, bread and water. The only bread available at the store was raisin bread, water was a plenty and wine was not sold until after 11 am!!! I still don't understand the reasoning behind that law. After spending half the day in a frenzy doing all this- gas was available but gas cans were not...not so good for my generator situation- maybe this is why I should have done all this on Thursday. Anyhow, now I'm home baking...the stress reliever, it's not actually the storm I'm stressed about though. Yesterday I had an abrupt career change- yup am sort of jobless and amazingly enough not too worried about it. I tend to land on my feet and do have the comfort of knowing that things in my life do tend to work themselves out for the best.

Now to the point of the post- the banana muffins. After all this is a food blog. They are the healthy version, quite moist due to the ratio of bananas and full of whole grains and bran. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Banana Bran Muffins

1 cup unprocessed wheat bran
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1- 3/4 cups mashed banana (about 4-5 small bananas)
1-1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Mix bran, flours, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk to combine.

2. In a medium bowl combine buttermilk, sugar, egg, canola oil, mashed bananas and vanilla. Whisk well until thoroughly combined.

3. Pour buttermilk mixture into bowl with flour and stir with a spoon gently- only to barely combine. Do not over mix- that is what makes muffins tough!

Spoon into muffin tins filling to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Citrus Cakeletes

I haven't been doing much posting lately as a result of a short little trip to Virginia to visit my dear friend Sharman. But, I am back, totally energized and full of ideas for the blog and work. I came up with citrus cakelet idea after looking through one of Sharman's Martha Stewart cookbooks which I fell in love with. She was sweet enough to send the book home with me, so today I set out to make the cakes. The recipe originally called for Strawberry jam, I substituted orange marmalade and added the zest of a beautiful bright orange tangelo I found at the market. For the icing, I used the juice of a couple of tangelos mixed with some powdered sugar.

Citrus Cakeletes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1- 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely grated tangelo, mandarin, or orange zest
6 tablespoons Orange marmalade or preserves of your choice

6 tablespoons Tangelo or Orange juice
1-1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed for 3-5 minutes.

2. Add egg yolks, one at a time, blending well between each one; beat until incorporated.

3. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add flour and milk to butter mixture and beat until incorporated.

4. Transfer the batter to a large bowl, wash the mixer bowl, then in the same mixer bowl beat egg whites until fluffy at medium high speed.

5. Fold a little bit of the egg whites into the batter at a time until incorporated. Grease and flour a jumbo muffin tin (6). divide half of the batter evenly in the tin, add a tablespoon of preserves or marmalade then cover with additional batter. Make sure the preserves are completely enclosed in the batter so it does not leak out.

6. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Cool on a rack. When muffins are completely cooled through, combine sugar and tangelo juice and spread on tops.

Very Moist Corn Muffins

Last year for Christmas I made a great corn pudding, sort of a blend between pudding and cornbread. The recipe was wonderful and everyone loved it, the only problem is I cannot find the recipe. I have looked high and low and I'm absolutely clueless as to where it came from or where I put it. I have looked through the hundred plus cookbooks I own and yielded no results-- Oh well. On the bright side though, I found this one in the process and after I made a few changes, I was very pleasantly surprised. Putting a small dollop of sour cream on top made them very moist. And yes, this time I have saved the recipe...I knew this blog would come in handy for something! :)



Very Moist Corn Muffins

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup sour cream for topping

Preheat oven to 400 F

1. Butter or line 12 muffin cups.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

3. Add corn, egg, and 1- 1/2 cups sour cream and whisk until just combined. Do not over mix.

4. Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups. Top each muffin with about a teaspoon of sour cream. Bake until lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes. Allow muffins to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a rack.

Banana Bread / Muffins

I have for a very long time now been on the lookout for a very good banana bread, I am happy to tell you, I have found it. Some of the breads I made before were either sort of soggy-like on the bottom or not moist enough. Some were too dense and some had too many nuts, while I love nuts, I don't really like them in cakes of any kind. So, if you like nuts, add 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts to the recipe, I think it will turn out just fine. Also, remember whenever you use nuts, toasting them always enhances their flavor. I have also made this recipe into banana cupcakes with cream cheese icing on top. The same cream cheese icing I use for carrot cupcakes.

I changed the original recipe which came from Epicurious, I added extra banana and replaced half of the sugar with brown sugar. I also added vanilla extract and of course omitted the nuts. My picky little eater has found a new favorite- and imagine...he doesn't like nuts either! The banana bread will come in handy for my 3:30 sugar fix- everyday around that time I must have sugar...I'm addicted, I know. But I don't hear anyone complaining about the amount of baking I do at my house and if that's my only addiction, I think I will be just fine- my skinny jeans haven't seemed to mind! Anyhow, when I took the photo the banana bread had already been dug into by little hands so the muffins were the only ones which remained untouched. The recipe makes two loaves, but I usually make one loaf and six jumbo muffins. When filling the muffins, fill almost to the top, they do not rise very much.

Banana Bread / Muffins

2/3 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks) at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana (about 6 medium bananas)

4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Brown sugar crystals for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 325 F, grease and flour 2- 9x5 loaf pans, or 1 loaf and 6 jumbo muffins with liners.

1. Combine sour cream and baking soda and set aside. Using electric mixer cream butter and sugars in large bowl. Add eggs one at a time incorporating well between additions. Add vanilla and mix well.

2. Add ripe banana and sour cream, mix well. Sift flour and baking powder in and mix until incorporated. If adding nuts (1 cup) add them now.

3. Spoon mixture into pans sprinkle generously with sugar and bake for 50 minutes or until browned (loaves) or, 30 minutes for jumbo muffins.

The bread will keep covered at room temperature for 3 days. Sometimes when I have a plethora of ripe bananas I mash them, measure them out for the recipe and freeze them in a Ziploc bag. When I'm ready to bake, I just pull the baggie out, defrost and voila.

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

On a fairly regular basis people call the restaurant to get this recipe...I have never given it out. (after all, it is my livelihood) But today, I am feeling rather generous, so here it is. These are pretty tasty little gems, the perfect amount of dessert, a good ratio of icing to cake, and most of all, not too coingly sweet. While I am a big fan of sweets, (that being quite an understatement) it is my opinion they should be well balanced, not too sweet, not dry, not too moist, and not too rich. (I like to be able to finish my dessert)

A small side note: As I proof the previous paragraph, I am becoming keenly aware of how many 'food rules' I actually have. (hmm...self-discovery) This is something I have long denied and as a result have had many discussions about. So...all right, I admit it- I have a plethora of food rules. The difference now is- I am proud of it!

OK, so back to the cupcakes. When making the icing make sure the cream cheese and butter are soft and at room temperature, if you don't have time to wait, place them in the microwave for 10 seconds intervals until they soften. Whip the icing until you can whip no more,(about 8 minutes or longer) the fluffier, the better. You can substitute Cointreau or Triple Sec for the Grand Marnier. It Should not make a big difference, Grand Marnier just happens to be what I usually have.

Carrot Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 lb grated carrots

1 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cream cheese Icing:

1 lb. cream cheese, softened

1/2 lb. butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat sugar, oil, and eggs until light yellow. Add the vanilla and Grand Marnier.

3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

4. Combine all ingredients in mixer bowl. Add carrots, raisins, and pecans and mix well.

5. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack.

NOTE: Makes about 2dz. I usually make the full recipe and freeze half, if you decide to freeze as I do, make sure the cupcakes are completely cool then place in a plastic bag to freeze. The icing makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes, if you would like frost all 24 at once just double the icing recipe.

Icing: In mixer bowl with the paddle attachment beat cream cheese and butter until very fluffy. Add vanilla and Grand Marnier and beat until incorporated then add sugar. Pipe or spread icing generously on cooled cupcakes.