bakingbites.com

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins

A freshly baked batch of muffins is often reserved for the weekends, when we have the luxury of being able to spend some extra time in the kitchen and some extra time to drink coffee, read the paper and relax. But muffins can easily be an everyday food, especially if you make a batch that has a few health-conscious tweaks made to it, and you can bake a batch over the weekend to enjoy even on a busy weekday morning. These Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins are that everyday type of muffin. Packed with fresh mashed banana, they are made with whole wheat flour, vegetable oil and have a handful of heart-healthy nuts thrown into the batter to add a little extra texture and flavor. The muffins are moist and have that same tight, dense crumb that a traditional loaf of banana bread will have, as opposed to a light and cake-like crumb. They have a good banana flavor, accented with a hint of cinnamon and brown sugar. They muffins aren’t too sweet and you can taste the nuttiness of the whole wheat flour, which actually works well with the nuts in the muffins.

I prefer to use white whole wheat flour in these muffins because the finished product is slightly lighter than muffins made with regular whole wheat flour, although both will work just fine in the end. I typically use a mixture of chopped pecans and walnuts in these. You can opt for one or the other – or even use chocolate chips if you want to make these slightly healthy muffins a little more indulgent.

These muffins, like banana bread, store quite well. They will stay moist and fresh in an airtight container for a few days if you’re not going to eat them all at once. They also freeze fairly well, though I like to wrap the individually so that they’re a little more convenient to grab for snacking. They’re good plain, but I also like them warmed up and served with a little smear of salted butter on top.

Fig and Goat Cheese  Bread  Pudding

Bread puddings are one of those dishes that can be incredible versatile. Like a basic muffin recipe where you can incorporate all different kinds of fruits, nuts and other goodies to change the flavor completely, you can do the same thing with a bread pudding. A basic bread pudding gives you a rich, custardy base for both sweet and savory dishes – and this Fig and Goat Cheese Bread Pudding happens to have both sweet and savory in one dish.

Figs and goat cheese are a great combination any time they meet. I used dried figs in this recipe, which have a rich and intense sweetness to them. Mine were very moist, but you can rehydrate dried figs in a bit of hot water if yours are on the dry side. You can also use fresh figs in this recipe if you have them. The sweetness of the figs contrasts very well with the goat cheese, which has a rich, tangy cream cheese-like flavor with a slightly savory/salty finish to it. The cheese incorporates easily into the bread pudding, but holds its shape and doesn’t melt, so you get pockets of sweet fig and savory cheese in different bites as you eat. The custard for the bread pudding is made with buttermilk, milk and a little vanilla extract.

This bread pudding sounds very grown up, and while it will certainly appeal to adults looking for something a little different, it has a beautifully balanced flavor that almost anyone will enjoy. The dish is fantastic for breakfast or brunch, but also works very well when served for dessert. Serve it plain or dust it with a little bit of confectioners’ sugar to highlight the sweetness of the figs and the vanilla in the custard. It is good both warm and cold (and leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for a couple of days).

Nutella Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients:
crust:
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon salt

filling:
16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 large eggs,at room temperature

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray with baking spray an 8x8 inch pan. In a small bowl, add the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa, oats and salt, mix thoroughly with a fork. Press into bottom of the pan. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten and press firmly. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cream together the cream cheese and sugar. Add the egg and flour, beat until smooth. Pour about 2/3 of the batter into the 8x8 inch pan. Add the Nutella into the remaining batter and mix throughly. Spread on top of the first cheesecake layer. Bake 25 minutes or until set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream

White Cinnamon Cup-cakes

Ingredients

·         2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

·         1 tablespoon baking powder

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

·         1 cup butter or margarine

·         1 3/4 cups sugar

·         4 large eggs

·         2 teaspoons vanilla extract

·         1 1/4 cups milk

Directions

·         Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line standard muffin tin with paper cups.
·         Combine in medium size bowl both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
·         Mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
·         Add each egg one at a time until incorporated.
·         Mix in vanilla and add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined.
·         Pour batter into paper cups each 2/3 of the way full.
·         Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
·         Cool completely before icing, about 45 minutes.

Whipped Sweet Frosting

Ingredients

·         1 1/2 cups sugar plus 2 tablespoons

·         2/3 cup water

·         2 tablespoons light corn syrup

·         6 large egg whites

Directions

·         In a small saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with water and corn syrup.
·         Bring to boil over medium heat, stir until sugar has completely dissolved.
·         Continue boiling without stirring until syrup has reached 230 degrees F.
·         Ideally if you have a standing electric mixer, whisk egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form while your syrup is boiling.
·         Mix remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with eggs whites.
·         Remove syrup from heat when it reaches 230 degrees F.
·         Pour Syrup onto eggs whites and mix until completely cool, about 8 minutes.
·         Use on cupcakes immediately.
·         Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.

the first one is BAKERELLA !!

I loved it..

Some spoilers from the site :)

Better to share a well written receipe of one of my favorites than write it all over again!

There are 3 main links:

KAWAii FooDS
http://kawaiifoods.com

Hello Kitty Kitchen Gadgets