Chocolate Banana Muffcakes

In an effort to not gain weight, Dan and I have been purchasing limited quantities of dessert. This way, instead of immediately eating cookies from a box, we spend an hour discussing whether to get ice cream or make cupcakes.

This weekend, cupcakes won out.

After foodgawking for 15 minutes, I clicked on a chocolate banana cake/muffin recipe, and immediately decided to make it. We had all of the ingredients, including exactly 0.5c of sour cream that was languishing in our fridge and leftover frozen bananas.

The recipe came together very quickly, especially with some help from Dan.

The end result is tender, moist and equal parts chocolate and banana. The crumb was tight, but had a lot of give. They would make spectacular cupcakes without the chunky fillings, and topped with peanut butter frosting.

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Chocolate Banana Muffincakes

makes 6 jumbo muffins

1.25c AP flour

0.25c cocoa powder

1t baking soda

0.5t salt

1 stick butter, room temperature

130g sugar

2 eggs

1t vanilla

0.5c sour cream

1.25c mashed bananas (4-5 medium)

0.5c chocolate chips

0.5c slivered almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Sift together the first four ingredients.

3. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until slightly fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time. (It looks kind of like pancake batter at this point.)

4. Add the vanilla, beating to combine.

5. Add the sour cream and dry ingredients alternately, beating until just combined.

6. Fold in the mashed bananas, chocolate chips and almonds.

7. Divide into jumbo muffin tin and bake for 35 minutes, or until center is set. (Test w/ a toothpick). 

For regular muffins, divide into 12 muffin cups, and bake for 18-20 minutes at 350°F.

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These were good even the next day, and didn't need any warming for consumption. Keep them in an airtight container, preferably out of sight (or you'll eat them faster than you should).

Note: These are in no way good for you, unless you're trying to gain weight. They've got about 500 calories apiece! I think they're delicious for breakfast--I can't handle less than about 600 calories in the mornings.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Beets!

This weekend has been filled with lots of baking, shopping and eating... not as much homework, but it will get done eventually. Let's call it my own little way of celebrating Valentine's day.

Another favorite knife in the background!!!

D and I were watching Good Eats last night while our cinnamon bread was baking. The episode was about  parsnips, or more specifically hiding veggies in other foods to trick unsuspecting children. He used parsnips because they're sweet, mildly nutty and easy to disguise. He uses them in pear sauce, in muffins and to make chips.

At the beginning of the episode he mentions that beets would also be a good veggie to use, but their red color gave them away.

Since I'm not as worried about hiding my veggies, when I saw beets at the store, I decided to grab a couple and see what I could do with them.

After some pondering, I decided to try red velvet cupcakes, using beets as coloring. Not only in the spirit of V-Day, but this was a perfect opportunity to use our new blender! [The RA's bought a blender as a group for smoothie study breaks! I am currently the guardian.]


They're incredibly tender and light, with a fairly strong beet and chocolate flavor that I think is wonderful. They're not very red, but they are very delicious so it's ok. I've also given them a sour cream frosting with a hint of nutmeg.

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One-Bowl (Chocolate) Borscht Cupcakes
makes 24 large or 36 regular cupcakes


Ingredients
1.25c butter, very very soft
3c beet puree [see Notes]
2c sugar
1.5t salt
3 eggs
1.5t vanilla extract
1c milk (soy or regular) with 2T white or balsamic vinegar added [see Notes]
3.5c all-purpose flour
1c natural cocoa powder [see Notes]
2t baking soda
1 recipe of sour cream-nutmeg frosting (see below)

(Vegan) Chocolate Grapefruit Marzipan Cupcakes

Wow, what a mouthful.

These were pretty incredible. I put the vegan in parentheses because they don't taste at all vegan... at all. It took a while to get the frosting down, and you'll probably need to taste just to check and make sure it works with your cocoa powder and your grapefruit, but it should be very tart and chocolatey. It will be balanced by the sweetness of the cake and the richness of the marzipan.

My sister sent me pig shaped marzipan, so I thought I would mock the fact that these cupcakes are vegan by putting slices of pig on top of them.. It's a little difficult to tell what they are, but at least I was amused.

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(Vegan) Chocolate Grapefruit Marzipan Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes


Ingredients
0.75c soy milk
0.25c fresh grapefruit juice (this is about half of a juicy grapefruit's worth; if you use the whole half and it's not enough, use equal parts soymilk and vinegar to fill out the quarter cup)
grapefruit zest from as many grapefruits as possible (I used two, three would be great, but one would also be ok)
0.75c sugar (make sure it's vegan!)
0.33c canola oil
1c all-purpose flour
0.33c cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli--yum! make sure the only ingredient is cocoa powder!)
1t baking soda
0.25t baking powder
0.25t salt

3T cocoa powder
0.25c fresh grapefruit juice (use the other half of the juicy grapefruit!)
4T powdered sugar

12 pieces of marzipan

Directions
1. Mix all the ingredients through salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Pour ingredients into muffin tins (they should be about 2/3rds of the way full) and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F, or until the tops spring back when pressed gently.
3. While the muffins are baking, mix the 3T of cocoa powder with the remaining grapefruit juice. It should be very runny and very tart. Add powdered sugar 1T at a time until the frosting thickens to a thin buttercream consistency and the tartness is just overcome. (This is really to taste, so taste!) If it's still thin but sweet enough, add more cocoa powder. If it's too thick but still tart, either add more grapefruit juice or add some soymilk.
4. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting them with the glaze/frosting. (If it's liquidy, just dip the tops into the frosting and let them dry; otherwise, spread like regular frosting.)
5. Top each cupcake with a piece of marzipan.
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How to cook like a college student

aka 6 things you never thought to cook in a microwave...

Like any good college student, I have a microwave, a slow cooker, and no stove or oven in my dorm room. I resort to making a lot of things in the microwave. Over the past two years, here are a few of the things I've learned to make:

1. Rice - I always use this post as my guiding recipe.
2. Yogurt - see my earlier post about this.
3. Cupcakes - I like this recipe because you can do it all in the mug, which makes for easy cleanup. You don't get the nice chewy crust, but it's as close to a cupcake as I've seen without an oven! Delicious.
4. Polenta - see below for a simple 'recipe'
5. Spinach - see below
6. Eggs - see below

How to make dinner in the microwave:
1. Place 0.5 cup of polenta into a 4 cup microwave safe dish. Add 1.25 cups of water and two pinches of salt. Stir and microwave covered for 2.5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, rinse two cups of spinach. When the polenta has finished, uncover it, place the spinach on top, and microwave for an additional 3 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, crack two eggs into a flat bottomed microwave safe dish. Add salt, pepper and seasonings. You can also add a tablespoon of milk. (I like to add some pecorino romano, too)
4. When the spinach/polenta is done, take it out of the microwave, stir the spinach into the polenta and put the cover back on.
5. Place the egg in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. Check for liquid. If there's still liquid, microwave it for an additional 30 seconds.
6. Grate some good cheese (parmesan, romano...) onto the polenta/spinach, add pepper and any seasoning you want, slide the egg on top.
7. Wait a minute or two for it to cool down before eating.. it's hot!

Warning: this is quite a bit of food. If you're not super hungry, I'd scale down the amount of polenta. Microwave for less time in step one, but keep the same amount of time in step 2.