Today I’m doing a guest post for Renee at Magnolia Days. Renee is certainly one of the most helpful, knowledgeable and friendly food bloggers I’ve come across in my year of blogging. Renee was nice enough to guest post for me a few months ago while I was on vacation and now I’m honoured to do the same for her. One day, Renee and I will meet. And we’ll have a good old talk as good friends do. Most likely after we’ve cooked and baked up a storm.
I’ve always loved unusual, simple, tasty little treats. Madeleines certainly fit that description. These little cakes (they have also been called cookies) have French origins and are made with a special pan which can be purchased from specialty cooking stores, or online. I remember when I brought my Madeleine pan home. I was so excited because I had a new baking utensil to play with. I searched through my cookbooks and found a recipe that was so unusual for me, but had my favourite ingredients. I decided to give it a try and now I will share my very first Madeleines with you all. Remember to check out my guest post for the recipe, and be sure to say hello to Renee 🙂
Zucchini & Gruyere Madeleines
Zucchini and cheese. Such a great pairing. I enjoyed these little darlings with some tea- any kind will do. I also added some cream cheese to each savoury bite. I think this is a great way to spend these chilly afternoons. There’s really no fuss in making Madeleines. The ingredients are simple and the recipe is quite versatile. The recipe used was slightly adapted from “Quick Cooking, 1,001 Recipes”.
Madeleines with Zucchini and Gruyère
I haven’t had my Madeleine pan for long, but without a doubt… I know I will get lots of use out of it.
Welcome to another edition of #MuffinMonday! Today we are sharing a cheesy savoury muffin to get your week started in the best way possible. No cranberries and mixed fruit in my muffins just yet. Sit tight. 🙂
I’m not sure how I let it happen, but Christmas seemed close but not that close. I mean Halloween was just here…and now stores are playing Christmas music. I guess retailers have to keep up. I don’t. By now, your mood should be changing as you get into the seasonal spirit of tinsel and ornaments. I dread putting up the tree just as how I dread taking it down. But I have kids and therefore it must be done. Kids really do make you become awesome parents.
My selection for today’s #MuffinMonday is Parmesan, Quinoa and Pine Nut Muffins. I added some Quinoa Flour in the batter to increase the nutritional value of my muffins. I loved the cheesy aroma from these muffins as they baked. I also loved the toasted pine nuts scattered over top of each muffin.
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins for #MuffinMonday
A savory, cheesy muffin for Monday mornings. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.
Author: Lyn adapted from 100 Muffins from 1 Easy Recipe
Recipe type: Muffin
Ingredients
1½ Cups All Purpose Flour
½ Cup Quinoa Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
⅛ Tsp Salt
¾ Cup Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
½ Cup Pine Nuts
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Buttermilk
6 Tbsp Butter, softened
Topping: 4 Tsp grated parmesan cheese, ¼ cup pine nuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners
For the topping, combine parmesan and pine nuts and set aside
In a large bowl, combine flour, quinoa flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk
Stir in the parmesan and pine nuts
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs and then beat in the buttermilk and oil
In the large bowl with the flour, make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid mixture
Stir gently until just combined. Be sure not to over mix
Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle topping over the batter
Bake for about 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown
Allow muffins to cool for about 5 minutes.
Notes
This recipe yields 12 muffins
3.1.09
The pine nuts were not very well behaved! They kept falling off as you took a bite, much to the annoyance of my hubby 🙂 He enjoyed these muffins but wished there was MORE CHEESE. That seems to the answer to everything these days. More cheese. Duly noted.
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins
Quite a tasty muffin. I enjoyed them. But now I have to figure out how to make it even more cheesy.
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins
Happy Monday!!!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
I’ve been looking at this recipe for a few days now. I was determined to make it and thanks to #SundaySupper, I’m able to share it with you all today. You see, we are entering a wonderful season of giving – Thanksgiving in the USA, and of course Christmas is almost upon us. It is a beautiful thing to give a thoughtful home-made gift to family and friends at this time of the year. This weeks theme for #SundaySupper is Gifts From The Kitchen. The host this week is our very own Susan from The Wimpy Vegetarian. With our usual spectacular line up, we hope to inspire you with gift ideas for the season. Please take a look out our baked items, condiments, soups, snacks, drinks and yes, without a doubt…sweets. Maybe you’ll find something special and thoughtful for you to give as a gift.
I chose this recipe because of the ingredients and how easy it was to prepare. The aroma was just something to talk about. It was awesome when my husband came home from work and the house smelled wonderful. He was a nicer man and I know this cake had something to do with it!
Banana Coconut Coffee Cake with Macadamia Nut Streusel
I gave one cake away already to a friend and she and her mother loved it. Giving home-made gifts are always nice, but it is very important to consider food sensitivities. I plan to bake another set without the macadamia nuts. I’m sure it will taste just as fabulous. The nuts are there to give added texture. Either way will be fine. The streusel has a nice crunch because of the Turbinado sugar.
Banana Coconut Coffee Cake with Macadamia Nut Streusel for #SundaySupper
A wonderful cake infused with banana and coconut with a sweet and crunch streusel topping. A perfect gift for any holiday season.
Author: Adapted from Food Gifts 2012, Better Homes & Gardens SIP
Recipe type: Cake, Dessert
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
3½ Cups All Purpose Flour, Unbleached
¾ Cups Flaked Coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
Wet Ingredients:
1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter, Softened
¾ Cup Granulated Sugar
¾ Cup Coconut sugar
4 Eggs
3 Ripe Bananas, mashed
¼ Cup Strong Brewed Coffee
¼ Cup Coconut Milk
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Streusel Topping:
¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp Coconut sugar
2 Tbsp Turbinado sugar
½ Tsp Ground Cinnamon
4 Tbsp Cold Butter, cut up in small pieces
½ Cup Macadamia Nuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F
Grease and flour three 8X1/2-inch round foil cake pans and set aside
In a medium bowl, add flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift to combine. Set aside
In a large mixing bowl, add butter, granulated sugar and coconut sugar. Beat with a mixer until fluffy and fully combined
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
Beat in coffee, coconut milk and vanilla.
Beat in mashed bananas on low speed, just until combined
Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. (about ¾ full)
For the streusel: In a small bowl, add streusel ingredients and mix with a fork, combining until it appears to be like coarse clumpy crumbs. Stir in the macadamia nuts. Sprinkle evenly over the cake batter
Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the cake pans for about 30 minutes before serving.
3.1.09
I made a few adjustments to make it a little more interesting. I replaced brown sugar with coconut sugar. I replaced the milk with coconut milk. For the streusel, I went half and half with coconut sugar and turbinado sugar instead of using brown sugar. I believe this gave it a more coconut flavour than just the shredded coconut in the body of the cake itself.
Banana Coconut Coffee Cake With Macadamia Nut Streusel
The cakes came out beautifully. They were fully baked at 35 minutes as per the recipe.
Banana Coconut Coffee Cake With Macadamia Nut Streusel
I didn’t wait too long to taste the cake. It is an absolute MUST that the cook and the official testers sample the cakes before they are given away. Unless of course, its something that you bake all the time and you know exactly what you’re going to end up with.
Banana Coconut Coffee Cake With Macadamia Nut Streusel
I for one, was completely satisfied with this cake. It is a nice item to bring as a gift while making your rounds over the holiday season, and its something that can be easily shared among a small group of people. I was very grateful for the inexpensive foil baking pans. It made the gift convenient to bake in, and portable! I enjoyed dressing these cakes up. I’m sure they will put a smile on anyone’s face 🙂
Banana Coconut Coffee Cake With Macadamia Nut Streusel
Please join on us on Twitter throughout the day during #SundaySupper on November 11. In the evening we will meet at 7pm EST for our weekly #SundaySupper live chat.
All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag or you can follow us through TweetChat.
We’d also love to feature your own posts for Gifts From the Kitchen on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board to share them with all of our followers, too.
Hi folks! It’s the start of the start of a brand new week and I’m happy to be joining #MuffinMonday today. It has been a rough couple of weeks and I’m doing all I can to get back into the kitchen more often for blogging purposes. One of my biggest challenges of course, is this season of limited natural light which is ideal for food photography. It’s a common complaint. But I’ve decided that no matter what, I will be taking photographs. If I’m not happy with the result, then at least I tried. For a long time, I refused to do my shoots after dark, even with the equipment that I had. The result just wasn’t pleasing to me. I’ve since then tried to come up with solutions to give me decent images after dark or with low lighting. So todays photos are my first with a weird and wacky temporary set up. I laugh about it because its nothing like the bright home studio with windows from floor to ceiling that I often day-dream about.
Today’s recipe is from Taste.com.au and is filled with nutty goodness. I made my substitutions based on what I had on hand. I had some dried cherries that I wanted to use and wouldn’t you know, I had just enough to make this recipe. I also wanted a streusel topping instead of crumbling crushed nuts on top.
Cherry Almond Spiced Muffins with Almond Streusel
Cherry Almond Spiced Muffins with Almond Streusel for #MuffinMonday
A dense, nutty muffin with chunks of cherries and an almond streusel on top
Author: Lyn via Taste.com.au
Recipe type: Muffin
Ingredients
1 Cup Dried Cherries
2 Cups Self-Raising Flour
¾ Cup Brown Sugar
½ Cup Slivered Almonds
2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ Tsp Ground Nutmeg
¾ Cup Buttermilk
½ Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Egg, lightly whisked
For the streusel:
¼ Cup Almond Flour
¼ Cup Unbleached, All-Purpose Flour
½ Cup Turbinado Sugar
5 Tbsp Cold Butter, diced
½ Tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 392°F
Line 12 x cup muffin pan with paper cases.
Soak cherries in boiling water for about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, slivered almonds, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cherries.
In a small measuring cup, combine buttermilk, oil and egg with a whisk.
Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined (do not overmix).
Spoon evenly among the lined pans.
Combine the the ingredients for the streusel in a small bowl and sprinkle over the muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when tested.
Notes
This recipe yields 12-15 muffins
3.1.09
The first thing I noticed was that the streusel was very crumbly but also delightfully crunchy due to the turbinado sugar. I like crunchy, so thats ok.
Cherry Almond Spiced Muffins with Almond Streusel
Because the streusel has ground almonds, the nutty flavour was heightened.
Cherry Almond Spiced Muffins with Almond Streusel
My greatest delight about this muffin, is the burst of tart flavour if you are lucky enough to sink your teeth into a piece of cherry. Its not too sweet, not too tart but certainly perks you up a bit.
Cherry Almond Spiced Muffins with Almond Streusel
Have an amazing week!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
Today, I’m doing a guest post for Kimberly over at Badger Girl Learns To Cook! Kimberly has a weekly feature called Healthy Blogger Thursdays and I was fortunate enough to be invited! I’m really happy to be a part of such a wonderful network of food bloggers. We truly support each other and get introduced to new bloggers regularly. Check out Kimberly’s blog and follow her culinary journey focusing on clean eating and using whole foods in her diet. You’ll also be introduced to such amazing health conscious bloggers that inspire with wonderful recipes, health tips, and other health related topics.
Todays recipe is just so simple. I’m going to call it healthy because my favourite superfood is included and you probably wouldn’t even know. I rave about Quinoa all the time because of its wonderful benefits and versatility. I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay’s cookbook “Fast, Fresh, Simple”. The original title is “Standby Brownies” since cocoa powder is used instead of melting chocolate. Please visit Kimberly’s blog for the full recipe and my very first guest post 🙂
Quinoa Brownies
Sometimes you just really need a chocolate fix. I do, all the time! Quinoa Brownies certainly hit the spot ~ especially with a glass of really cold Almond Milk.
Quinoa Brownies
I just love Kimberly’s “can-do” attitude towards eliminating processed foods and learning how to cook! It’s both refreshing and inspiring! Thank you Kimberly for including me as part of your Healthy Blogger Series!
Good Monday morning to you all! Ready for another #MuffinMonday? I hope so – because today’s recipe is nothing short of tasty simplicity!
Our recipe is by Down Home With The Neelys from Food Network. I’m always looking at ways to bake with cornmeal. Yes, I’m quite fond of it. I was more than happy when I saw the ingredients. I was wondering what I could do to make this one different. I was tempted to leave it just as it is, actually. I’ll probably follow the original recipe at some point. But I decided to use up some Gruyère cheese that I had to see how well it would incorporate into the recipe. As fate would have it….it turned out FABULOUS! I liked the sweet and salty combination.I think next time, I’ll take hubby’s advice and cut the cheese into cubes instead of shredding. Perhaps it will be interesting to bite into chunks of melted cheese. We’ll see!!! Something tells me he enjoys #MuffinMonday just as much as I do.
For now, I just want to let you all know, that this muffin is perfect with a cup of coffee….especially on a Monday morning after a super busy weekend.
Cornmeal Muffins sweetened with honey, extra flavour with Gruyère cheese
Author: Lyn, adapted from Down Home With The Neelys
Recipe type: Muffins
Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup 2% milk
2 large eggs
½ stick butter, melted
¼ cup honey
1 Cup Shredded Gruyère cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine milk, eggs, butter, and honey
Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed
Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin.
Evenly divide mixture into the muffin cups
Bake for 15 minutes until golden.
3.1.09
Yes, this is exactly how I had it. The kids were waiting patiently for me to finish taking pictures. They even offered to help because I was “taking sooooo long.” They were very kind this time. Probably due to the absence of chocolate chips.
Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins
And there you have it! A perfectly moist and cheesy muffin to start your week! A little bit of sweet, and a little bit of savoury all bundled up in a muffin.
Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins
Happy Monday and have a spectacular week!!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week. Check out Muffin 101 here.
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