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Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Kirsten — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:15:00 +0000

I’ve gotten into the habit lately of letting the last couple bananas of the bunch turn brown and sticking them in my freezer to make use of at a later day. Coincidentally my freezer door has gotten into the habit of flying open whenever it feels like it. After lying in bed one night unable to fall asleep because I was afraid my freezer would open during the night and all of the bacon and individual servings of soup inside of it would spoil, I resorted to taping the door shut with a strip of masking tape. The tape has worked so far, but I realize that the bigger problem is me loading my freezer with things like aging bananas and leftovers that I will probably never eat but feel guilty about throwing away. It seems slightly asinine that I’m unable to throw away about 25 cents worth of old bananas, but we all have our quirks, don’t we?

My initial plan for the bananas involved a banana chocolate chip bar recipe that I found in my co-op’s monthly newsletter. Unfortunately when the time came to make the bars they had replaced the October newsletter with the November one and the recipe was nowhere to be found. I resorted to searching Epicurious for something involving bananas and chocolate chips, ultimately settling on a muffin recipe. I doctored them up a bit with extra chocolate chips, peanut butter, and some oats, and the result was very tasty muffins. I thought about calling them Banana Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins, but that’s a little wordy, isn’t it? The banana and the chocolate are the flavors that really stand out and make them taste just like my mom’s banana chocolate chip cookies in muffin form, so I’m going to stick with the abbreviated version.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Adapted from Bon Appetit, March 1999

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 large egg

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup (at least) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl combine the bananas, egg, butter, milk, and peanut butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until combined, and then stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into 12 lined muffin cups. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden and a tester comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Posted in Breakfast

Applesauce

Kirsten — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:47:00 +0000

Hi, friends! I have a super quick and simple recipe today because that’s just what I need today. Quick and simple. I love homemade applesauce because I have complete control over the level of sweetness, and I usually stick to the tart end of the spectrum. The best thing about this is that it’s a foolproof recipe. Every time I make applesauce I just wing it and don’t really follow a recipe, and the end result is always a big, delicious batch of applesauce. So I guess I shouldn’t say it’s a foolproof recipe. More like a foolproof method. All you need is apples, water, and a little bit of sugar. How simple is that?

Applesauce

Apples

Water

Sugar of some variety (optional)

Cinnamon (optional)

I started with 1/2 peck of mixed baking apples. Judging by the fact that mixed baking apples are a sorry lot yet still produce excellent applesauce, I would imagine that any variety of apple would work just fine.

Core and peel ze apples.

If you have one of those handy little peeler/corer devices, lucky you. Otherwise a knife works fine. Just a tip: an apple corer makes a huge difference. I’ve made applesauce without one, and peeling and coring a dozen apples makes for really achy hands. Maybe I’m just a weakling, but whatever. I’m running a marathon tomorrow. Take that!

Having a bowl nearby for the discarded skins and cores is helpful. I learned that little trick from Rachel Ray. Did you know she sells “garbage bowls?” Yeah, they’re big bowls. And it says “garbage” on the label. Clever, huh?

Roughly slice the apples, and add them to a large pot with a little water. Unlike in some areas of life, size does not matter here. The apples will break down into applesauce whether you cut them into tiny little pieces or large slices. I added 2 cups of water for my 14 apples. They don’t need to be covered with water or anything. We’re not boiling potatoes here. You just need there to be a little water to simmer in the bottom of the pot.

Cover the pot and let it simmer over low heat until the apples have broken down enough that there are no longer big slices. Some chunks are fine at this point.

Add a little sugar, or a lot of sugar if that’s what you’re into. I added a small spoonful of brown sugar because although I don’t like sweet applesauce, this batch needed a little something.

Leave the lid off and let the applesauce cook over medium-low heat until the pieces break down more and it thickens a bit. Keep an eye on it, and stir it every couple minutes or so to prevent the bottom from burning.

Serve warm or cold. I like to add cinnamon or extra sugar to individual servings rather than the whole batch. It’s like the variety pack of homemade applesauce. Or something like that.

I hope to have a post tomorrow with my pre-marathon feast that’s baking away right now. If things get a little hectic laying around watching football, stuffing my face, reading for class, and, um, running a marathon, you might have to wait until Monday.

Posted in Fruit

Bagel Chips

Kirsten — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:55:00 +0000

After I posted my bagel entry with the bagel chip recipe I realized that I had some pictures of the process that were still on my camera. I thought I might as well put them up since I took them time to take them all.

Start by preheating the oven to 450, and then thinly slice the bagels.

Lay them on a cookie sheet and brush them with olive oil.

Sprinkle on whatever herbs or spices you want. Or leave them plain. We made dill, salt & pepper, parmesan, and garlic.

Bake them for about 5 minutes until they start to brown around the edges. Ours were a little overdone because my dad was standing in front of the oven and I thought I’d wait a minute instead of asking him to move. They came out a little too done for my taste, by my mom likes things more done, so they were perfect for her.

Another picture…

And the whole batch. They were very easy to make and a great way to use up old bagels or to preserve them for longer.

Posted in Appetizer