You can trust today’s recipe for two reasons. #1: My friend Amy made these muffins and shared the recipe with me. Amy is an amazing cook. Amy knows good food. Amy always finds the best recipes. #2: It’s an Ina Garten recipe.

I haven’t made this recipe myself yet, so I don’t have much to say except that it is DELICIOUS. These muffins were SO GOOD I just had to photograph them (thanks for being my hand model, Ana – J.P. Prewett would be proud) and share the recipe with you.

I’m trying not to think about how many of these muffins I ate. It was like I lost all self-control. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Banana Granola Coconut Muffins

 

Print

My friend Amy, who is a fabulous cook, adapted this recipe from Ina Garten's Banana Crunch Muffin recipe. They are fabulous. 'Nuf said.

Author: Adapted from Ina Garten

Serves: 18

Ingredients

• - 3 cups all-purpose flour
• - 2 cups sugar
• - 2 teaspoons baking powder
• - 1 teaspoon baking soda
• - ½ teaspoon salt
• - ½ pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• - 2 extra-large eggs
• - ¾ cup whole milk
• - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• - 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (~2 bananas)
• - 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (~1 banana)
• - 1 cup granola
• - 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don’t overmix.
4. Fold the diced bananas, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

Notes

Jane note: I ate these muffins fresh out of the oven and then later on after they’d cooled. WAY BETTER fresh out of the oven. If you are able to resist eating the whole batch when they have just finished cooking, be sure to heat up the leftovers in a toaster oven at 200 degrees for 5-10 minutes. It will be worth it, trust me.

3.2.2265

Two nights ago I started thinking about the date because, well, I haven’t thought much about the date lately. And then it hit me that Thanksgiving was just over two weeks away. It’s like I’ve been living under a rock or something. Oh wait, I have! Anyway, I haven’t the foggiest idea what we’re going to do for Thanksgiving this year and I probably won’t know until a few days before. But even with that lack of planning, I do have a few recipes I can share leading up to the big day that will be mighty scrumptious for your probably-much-more-organized Thanksgiving!

I’ve had this recipe for squash rolls on the the site forever, but I never actually wrote a post about them. Because whenever I made them I didn’t have a chance to photograph them. Because we ate them too fast. And it’s a crying shame because if any recipe deserves a post, it’s this one.

This recipe comes from Nate’s mom. Of course I asked her to make them while she was here. And of course she obliged because she is {seriously} the best mother-in-law around. These rolls are moist, sweet, delicious, homemade goodness. I guarantee you cannot eat just one…especially hot out of the oven and smothered in butter.

If you do happen to end up with leftovers, be sure to zap your roll in the microwave for 20 seconds or so to get it piping hot again. And don’t forget that butter!

Squash Rolls

 

Print

A holiday favorite from my mother-in-law, Pat Maynard

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Side Dish, Breads

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked squash
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup scalded milk
• 1 yeast cake (1 envelope active dry) dissolved in ½ cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 4-5 cups flour

Instructions

1. Mix squash, butter, salt and sugar. Add milk and mix. When cool, add yeast mixture. Add flour till bread dough consistency, just til it holds together. Turn dough over in a greased bowl to coat both sides. Cover with a dishcloth and let rise in a warm place till doubled. Punch it down and let rest for 5-10 mins. Shape into rolls in a greasy pan and let rise again till doubled. Bake at 400 for about 12-15 mins.
2. A good way to find a warm place to rise is to turn the oven on (any temp) for 2 minutes and then shut it off and that way it’s away from drafts, etc.
3. My mom and I have both had times where we make the rolls and the middle seems a bit underdone”¦Pat doesn’t ever seem to have this problem. I think next time I make them, I’m going to try making the rolls in two 8×8 pans instead of one 9×13. Just thought I would mention that!

3.2.2807

When I was getting ready for the Cambria Cove post, I wanted to make something “cute” for the purpose of showing off my cake stands. I had these cute white paper cup thingys, so I decided to go with cupcakes. I made the batter then realized the papers I had bought were not for baking. My muffin tins are packed away somewhere, so I was left with 1 mini muffin tin and no papers. Needless to say the cupcakes were a pain in the patootey to bake, and by the time I got around to icing and photographing, I was over it! So, my cupcakes aren’t that cute. But they ARE delicious. So I have to share them anyway! (PS…if you don’t have cupcake liners, don’t make cupcakes!)

Have you ever seen the Cupcake Bakeshop blog by Cheryl the software quality engineer, aka Chockylit? It was one of the very first blogs I ever laid eyes on and I’ve loved it from day 1. I used one of her recipes and I loved everything about it – the cake itself came out great, and this strawberry frosting? Be still my beating heart…it is perfect. PER. FECT.

The original post for this recipe is great – Cheryl provides detailed explanations as to why you want to perform each step of the recipe. It’s a very handy post. Thanks, Cheryl! (P.S. You have to read her bio…I love her completely non-cupcake related background!)

Chocolate Cupcakes

 

Print

Author: Cupcake Bakeshop with my notes

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of butter (room temp)
• 2½ cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1¾ C flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 C cocoa powder
• 1 C milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

1. Beat the butter until it's all nice and whipped. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy...as in for a long time, so the butter is completely incorporated into the sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. (Cheryl mentions that whisking will suffice over sifting...but my cocoa was all lumpy, so I wish I had thrown at least the cocoa through the sifter quickly...just keep an eye out for that problem in your cocoa.)
3. Mix the milk and vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter mixture - alternating and beating between each addition, about 3 cycles.
5. Scoop batter into cupcake tins (with liners!!) or those uber-cute cupcake papers that Cheryl uses that I can't wait to get my hands on. ONLY FILL THEM HALF WAY. Bake for 22-25 minutes at 350, or until tester comes out clean. (Obviously my mini cupcakes baked a little shorter than that.)

3.2.2310

AMAZING Strawberry Icing

 

Print

Author: Cupcake Bakeshop with my notes

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter (room temp)
• 1½ - 2 C powdered sugar
• ⅛ C strawberry puree (I had some pretty big strawberries - ⅛ C was a little less than one giant strawberry all smooshed up)

Instructions

1. Beat butter until soft. Sift in the powder sugar and beat. Add strawberry and mix. Add more powdered sugar if you need it. Seriously...this frosting ROCKS.
2. This is about enough frosting for one-half standard batch of cupcakes.

3.2.2310

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Print

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 3 oz white chocolate
• 4 oz cream cheese
• ⅛ C butter (room temp)
• 1 C powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Melt chocolate and set aside to cool. Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add chocolate and beat. Sift in powdered sugar and beat for a long while.
2. This makes about enough frosting for one-half standard batch of cupcakes.

3.2.2310

A few months ago, my friend Rachel’s babysitter, Maria, made a cake for Rachel’s birthday. I couldn’t stay for the whole party, so Rachel sent me home with a generous amount of cake (that’s a good friend, eh?). The cake was white, the frosting was white…I knew it would be good, but I wasn’t that excited since there was no chocolate involved. Then we ate the cake. Oh. My. Goodness. It was wonderful, and the frosting was amazing…and completely mysterious. We couldn’t quite figure out what it was made of.  As soon as we finished our cake, I emailed Rachel asking her to beg Maria for the recipe.

Thankfully Maria likes to share. Below is the recipe for the most wonderful White Chocolate Raspberry Cake this side of anywhere. I hope you love it as much as I do. (Sorry, no picture of a cut slice…we had friends over that night to enjoy this cake with us and the whole thing was gone by the end of the evening, no joke!)

P.S. – I will have a follow-up cake recipe tomorrow. You won’t want to miss that one either.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cake

 

Print

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

• 3 oz White chocolate; chopped
• ¾ cup Milk; divided
• 1¾ cup All-purpose flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• ⅓ cup Butter; at room temperature
• 1 cup Granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon Raspberry Extract
• 4 Eggs
• White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting {Recipe Follows}
• ⅛ tsp Red Food Color
• 1 cup Raspberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8- or 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Melt white chocolate with about half of the milk in a small, heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly until chocolate starts to melt. Remove from heat; stir until smooth. Stir in remaining milk. Let cool.
3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer until soft and smooth. Add sugar and raspberry extract; beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until well-combined. Alternately add flour mixture and white chocolate mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.
4. Jane Note: Several people have commented that their cake did not rise when using this recipe. This recipe has worked for me and for the woman who gave me the recipe, as well as for other commenters. Cakes are sensitive in terms of the mixing process and, when not mixed properly, can collapse when cooking. Butter and sugar should be well mixed, eggs semi-mixed, and flour barely mixed at all. I would recommend the following technique when mixing in the ingredients in the above paragraph. Beat the butter for 30 seconds alone on medium-high speed. Add sugar, ¼ cup at a time, beating for 3 minutes between each addition, at medium-high speed. Add eggs one at a time, beating at medium speed for 30 seconds after each egg. When adding the flour and chocolate mixtures (alternating as directed), beat on low speed and mix until just combined. Beat for 10-20 seconds at medium-high speed at the end for one final mix. Following this technique should increase the chances that your cake will NOT collapse in the oven.
5. Spread batter in pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cake tests done. Let cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.
6. Stir food color into ⅔ cup of the frosting until well blended (I actually didn't do this part...I just kept all the icing white, mostly because I didn't read the recipe carefully 😉 ). Place 1 cake layer on serving plate. Spread with the tinted frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and side of cake with remaining frosting. Top with raspberries just before serving. Store cake in the refrigerator.

3.2.2265

White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Print

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 6 oz white chocolate (melt as directed on package, then cool 5 mins)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• ¼ cup butter (softened)
• 2 tsp raspberry extract (I'm thinking of leaving this out sometime to use with other cakes/rolls/etc)
• 2 cup confectioners sugar

Instructions

1. Beat cream cheese and buter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium (I used my KitchenAid) until well blended. Add cooled white chocolate and raspberry extract. Mix well. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy (I let the KitchenAid go for several minutes and the frosting truly got light and fluffy).

3.2.2265

I recently picked up a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Oat Bran Hot Cereal. Our girls love hot cereal so I thought we’d give it a try. On the back was a recipe for oat bran muffins.  I love bran muffins, so I had to make the recipe. (I’ve yet to cook hot cereal with our bag of oat bran!)

I made quite a few adaptations to the recipe – it was far too healthy. 😉 Our muffins came out light and fluffy, with just the right amount of sweetness.  I used a mini muffin tin and was popping muffins like candy. (Side note: Cate, my 5-year-old, gave me the muffin tin for Christmas and I LOVE it. What a smart little girl. Mini muffins are my new fave.)

Oat Bran Muffins

 

Print

Author: Jane Maynard (adapted from Bob's Red Mill packaging recipe)

Ingredients

• ¾ cup whole wheat or regular pastry flour
• ¾ cup Bob's Red Mill oat bran cereal
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅓ cup banana (1 medium), mashed
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon butter, melted
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients. Mix liquid ingredients in separate bowl. Combine the two mixtures and stir until moistened. Lightly grease or line muffin tin with paper cups. Fill ⅔ full. Bake at 400º for 18-20 minutes. Makes 10-12 muffins. (If you use mini muffin tins like I did, bake at 350º degrees for 18-20 minutes. Makes 24 mini muffins.)

3.2.2310