Happy Valentine’s Day! And, yes, Friday Show and Tell is happening on Saturday because the kids were home from school yesterday and we had a fun family day at the beach (sorry snowbound friends!). Anyway, here are a few things I wrote in other places this week:

• On Babble: Copycat Recipe: Kettle’s (Addictive) Salt and Pepper Potato Chips
• On Parade’s Community Table: 15 Fabulous Ways to Enjoy Granola

Let’s talk Netflix for a moment. We are really loving their original series and now there are too many to keep up! Nate and I just finished watching The Fall. It was great, albeit disturbing. And the ending. Geesh! It’s still a few weeks until the Underwoods return. Too bad the third season wasn’t up in time for Valentine’s Day like last year…it was such a romantic way to spend the holiday. 😉 I also just saw the preview for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Tina Fey’s new show on Netflix starring Ellie Kemper. It doesn’t come out until March…can’t wait! So much great TV, so little time!

I hope everyone has a chocolate-filled Valentine’s Day! And don’t forget to post your own stuff for Show and Tell!

Ever since I wrote about homemade granola bars last fall I have been consistently making them every week. I haven’t bought a box of granola bars since – the homemade version is just too delicious!

With all this granola bar making that I’ve been doing, I finally have the recipe memorized and making them is a snap. However, there is one part of the process that is always a little tricky – pushing the granola bar mixture out into a rectangle before baking. The granola mixture sticks to your hands so you have to work very carefully, especially around the edges. Well, I accidentally stumbled upon a trick that solves the problem: push the granola into shape with wet hands!

One day I washed my hands and went to make the granola bar rectangle without drying my hands off first – it was the most magical mistake! With just slightly damp hands, the granola mixture does not stick at all to your hands, making it sooooo much easier to form the granola into a nice, squared-off rectangle.

That’s all for today. Just a simple little trick to make your granola-making endeavors easier. Also, if you haven’t started making homemade granola bars, hop to it already. Super, duper, crazy delicious.

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

 

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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.

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