Chocolate Banana & Truffle Muffins for #MuffinMonday

Nov 19, 2012 by

I guess every now and again, we can indulge in some chocolate goodness. Besides, there’s no better time than the upcoming holiday season. The sweet indulgences that I get flooded with on Pinterest leaves me no choice but to just dive in!

When I first saw this recipe as our selection for #MuffinMonday, the first thing I wanted to do was add chocolate chips. But then I thought… that’s too easy. And is it really festive? Of course it would taste great but, I wanted to do something else. From now until the end of the year, our #MuffinMondays will be quite sensational. I hope I can keep up! I’ll be wearing my special holiday pants on from now on. You know? The one with the stretchy waist? Yes, you know the one. We ALL have a pair!

On my trip to the grocery store, I went along my merry way, picking the items on my list. I came across my most favourite treats ever! Belgian Chocolate Truffles!!!! You guys have no idea how much restraint it takes for me not to have more than one or two at a time. That’s why I rarely buy them unless it’s around Christmas time.

While I was envisioning what I was going to do with my truffles, I had to figure out how not to eat them. Sadly, I lost about three before they could get to the batter. I wanted my muffins to have a truffle centre. Can you imagine that smooth velvety truffley centre of a muffin? Heavenly! What I love about this muffins that it’s not overly sweet but still quite a chocolatey muffin. This is the most decadent muffin I have made to date. The possibilities are endless, now that I’ve made these gorgeous muffins.

 

Chocolate Banana & Truffle Muffins

 

 

Chocolate Banana & Truffle Muffins
 
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A chocolate treat with a sweet and decadent truffle centre
Author:
Recipe type: Muffin
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • 1 Tbsp 2% Milk
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla
  • 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 2 cups All Purpose Flour, Unbleached
  • ¼ Cup Dutch Dark Cocoa
  • 1 Tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 Tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 15 of your favourite Truffles
Instructions
  1. Preheat Oven to 325F
  2. Grease a 12 hole muffin pan, or line with 12 paper cups
  3. In a medium bowl, mash bananas until smooth. Add milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Mix until combined
  4. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy
  5. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition
  6. Add the banana mixture to the butter mixture and stir until combined
  7. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa powder. Combine with a whisk.
  8. Add flour mixture gradually to the banana mixture, stirring to combine after each addition
  9. Put about 2 tablespoons of batter into each paper liner
  10. Add a truffle to the centre and then cover with batter until about ¾ full
  11. Bake for 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
Notes
This recipe yields 15 muffins Adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe/index.html

 

I didn’t actually decide to add the cocoa powder until when I realized that the batter was going to be plain. Yes, filled with sweet flavourful banana, but plain. I added it on a whim, and hoped that it would turn out okay. I can’t see how I could have gone wrong with adding more chocolate.

 

Each Truffle inserted into batter

 

I used two spoons to  fill each cup with the remaining batter.

 

Truffles covered in batter

 

The kitchen was filled with that comforting aroma of chocolate. I could not wait to dig in! You have no idea!

 

Warm Muffins

 

And because I simple could not wait for my muffins to cool, this is what my truffle shavings looked like after a mere few seconds of making contact. I wasn’t complaining though! It wasn’t the look I was going for but hey ~ I ate this one first!

 

Melted Truffle Shavings

 

I just couldn’t help but wonder what the inside looked like… yes, the muffins were still warm. I was on a roll 🙂 The centre gets firmer when the muffins are completely cooled.

 

Warm Truffle Centre

 

Sweet, messy, awesome, Truffles! Believe me when I say none of this went to waste.

 

Truffle Shavings

 

I waited for the muffins to cool completely so that I could cover them with some truffle shavings. I allowed the truffles to firm up a bit by putting them in the fridge for a few minutes before using them.  This helped me to achieve the desired results. I was very VERY happy with these muffins. My family LOVED them!

 

Chocolate Banana & Truffle Muffins covered in Truffle shavings

 

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.

Muffin Monday: http://bakerstreet.tv/muffin-monday/

Muffin 101: http://bakerstreet.tv/muffin-monday/muffin-101/

 

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Banana Coconut Coffee Cake with Macadamia Nut Streusel for #SundaySupper

Nov 11, 2012 by

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
 
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A wonderful cake infused with banana and coconut with a sweet and crunch streusel topping. A perfect gift for any holiday season.
Author:
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
  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Grease and flour three 8X1/2-inch round foil cake pans and set aside
  3. In a medium bowl, add flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift to combine. Set aside
  4. In a large mixing bowl, add butter, granulated sugar and coconut sugar. Beat with a mixer until fluffy and fully combined
  5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
  6. Beat in coffee, coconut milk and vanilla.
  7. Beat in mashed bananas on low speed, just until combined
  8. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. (about ¾ full)
  9. 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
  10. Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  11. Allow to cool in the cake pans for about 30 minutes before serving.

 

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

 

Here are the gifts from the #SundaySupper team:

 

Breads / Breakfast

Condiments / Ingredients

Soup and Snacks

Sweets

Drinks

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.

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Black Bean Soup With Hot Roast Pepper Cream for #SundaySupper

Nov 4, 2012 by

It’s November and the boots and coats are officially necessary when going outdoors. The weather has been terrible and watching the news has been quite depressing. Hurricane Sandy did some serious damage in the Caribbean as well as the East Coast of The United States and parts of Eastern Canada. My heart goes out to all those affected. While I was making this soup, I thought about my friends/family in Jamaica who went several days without electricity – and some without water. Thankfully, everything is returning to some sort of normal, as life indeed has to go on.

I really like this weeks theme for #SundaySupper. There’s nothing better than a home-made soul warming meal on a wet, cold, gloomy day. I don’t know about you guys, but I feel better when I’m with my family eating a nice soup or stew with the family! I was so impressed with the line up this week,  I encourage you all to check out the wonderful dishes prepared by my fellow food bloggers. This weeks #SundaySupper is being hosted by Susan from The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen.

My recipe today comes from a book I bought while I was in Jamaica last year called Caribbean Food Made Easy by Levi Roots. I didn’t have to make many changes at all. Most of the ingredients I already had on hand – whether in my fridge or in my pantry. I’m really thinking about having soup more often. My husband absolutely loved this soup and asked me to kindly note this soup as a definite favourite. Enough said! This soup made about 6-8 servings and I was able to freeze 3 servings for lunch this week.

I should note that I used Scotch Bonnet Pepper in this recipe. I have never been able to fully enjoy spicy food. Seriously. But somehow this soup hit the spot in the best way, because I enjoyed it immensely! I also did an extra step because I’m picky with my gravies and creams. I strained the pepper cream – which was a task because it is rather thick. This step is totally optional, but I do like the smooth creamy texture that resulted in me doing so.

 

Black Bean Soup With Hot Roast Pepper Cream

 

Black Bean Soup With Hot Roast Pepper Cream for #SundaySupper
 
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A hearty soup, perfect for the fall or winter season. Can be served as an appetizer or as a main dish.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Jamaican
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • For the soup:
  • 1 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil
  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 1 Onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Large Carrot, finely diced
  • 1 Stick of Celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 1½ Tsp Ground Cumin
  • 1 900ml Carton Chicken Broth (I used no salt added)
  • 3 540ml/19oz Cans Black Beans, rinsed and drained
  • Salt & Pepper
  • For the cream:
  • 2 Red Sweet Peppers, cut in half, seeds removed
  • ½ Scotch Bonnet Pepper, seeds removed
  • Olive Oil
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 2 oz Double Cream (I used Whipping Cream)
  • A pinch of Kosher Salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F (roast)
  2. Brush sweet peppers with olive oil (both sides) and roast for 30 minutes
  3. Place the peppers along with any juices into a blender along with the scotch bonnet, lime juice, cream and salt. Blend until smooth.
  4. Optional: strain the pepper cream and store in a jar.
  5. Refrigerate until needed.
  6. In a dutch oven, add the grapeseed oil and butter over medium-low heat.
  7. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic.
  8. Sautee for a few minutes and then add about 2 tbsp water. Cover for about 15 minutes. Check every few minutes to ensure that the vegetables do not burn.
  9. Add cumin and stir to combine
  10. Add black beans and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer
  11. Cover for about 20 minutes
  12. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 15 minutes
  13. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth or a desired consistency is achieved
  14. Reheat the soup, stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  15. Serve hot with a few spoons of the pepper cream on top
Notes
Recipe from Caribbean Food Made Easy by Levi Roots

Black Bean Soup & Hot Roast Pepper Cream

 

I absolutely love the vibrant orange and the creamy texture of the Hot Roast Pepper Cream. For those who love the heat, use a whole scotch bonnet pepper. It’s only a few teaspoons of the cream that gets stirred into each serving of the soup. So the intensity of the pepper does get toned down a little bit.

 

Hot Roast Pepper Cream

 

Scotch Bonnet Peppers! A staple in every Jamaican home (well, almost every Jamaican home).

 

Jamaican Scotch Bonnet Pepper

 

Photography by Lyn of The Lovely Pantry

Black Bean Soup with Hot Roast Pepper Cream. A perfect appetizer or main for an autumn or winter night.

 

Here are the soul warming recipes brought to you by the #SundaySupper team! Please share, pin, email, print, make and enjoy!

Main Entrees: 

Chili/Stews:

Soups:

Desserts/Beverages:

Join on us on Twitter throughout the day during #SundaySupper.  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 Sunday Supper Soul Warming Recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers, too.

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Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins for #MuffinMonday

Oct 15, 2012 by

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.

 

Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins

 

Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins
 
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Cornmeal Muffins sweetened with honey, extra flavour with Gruyère cheese
Author:
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
  1. Preheat oven to 400F
  2. Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
  3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine milk, eggs, butter, and honey
  4. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed
  5. Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin.
  6. Evenly divide mixture into the muffin cups
  7. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.

 

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.

~Lyn

 

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Bavarian Apple Torte for #SundaySupper

Sep 23, 2012 by

Sunday Supper!!! I’m so glad to be participating again! Sunday Supper has got to be one of my most favourite communities. There’s a lot of fun and support amongst the members behind the scenes. Each Sunday has a unique theme and sometimes, a member gets to host! Don’t miss out on the Twitter chat at 7PM EST. Recipes and ideas are shared all day long, so feel free to jump in at any time using the hashtag #SundaySupper.

Today’s theme is “Autumn Apple Party” where we use wonderful crispy apples as an ingredient in our meal creations. My choice is Bavarian Apple Torte! I made this lovely dessert last year and I was very happy to re-visit the recipe as it was greatly enjoyed. I came across this recipe via Laura Calder’s whose version was titled Easy Pastry Shop Apple Tart. It was super easy and super tasty so here I go again! We have such a talented bunch of contributors this week (and every week)! So many awesome apple recipes to drool over!

Let’s start with mine! Oh so good…such sticky caramelization of the apples on top… I used Gala apples. They are my absolute favourite to bake with.

 

Bavarian Apple Torte

 

5.0 from 5 reviews
Bavarian Apple Torte for #SundaySupper
 
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A simple tart made with royal gala apples and cream cheese
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: German, French, European
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • Tart Shell:
  • ½ Cup Butter
  • ⅓ Cup Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla
  • 1 Cup Unbleached Flour
  • Cream Filling:
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla
  • 8oz Cream Cheese, Softened
  • ¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
  • Topping
  • 3 Royal Gala Apples, peeled and thinly sliced
  • ¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
  • ½ Tsp Cinnamon
  • ¼ Cup Slivered Almonds
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F
  2. Tart Shell:
  3. Cream the butter and sugar. Add vanilla and combine. Add flour and mix until a smooth dough is achieved. Press into the bottom of a pie-dish or an 8-inch spring form pan lined with parchment paper. Give the edges about an inch in height. Bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven.
  4. Cream Filing:
  5. Beat egg, vanilla, cream cheese and filling until smooth. Pour on top of the tart shell.
  6. Topping: In a small bowl, add cinnamon, sugar and almonds. Add apple slices and toss so that the apples are nicely coated. Arrange the slices in top of the cream cheese filling in a circular fashion. Spread any remaining almond/cinnamon/sugar mixture over the apples slices.
  7. Bake until the apples are tender and golden for about 40 minutes

 

Royal Gala Apples

 

I tossed the apple slices in batches and it just so happened that I had a few slices left over to munch on while waiting for this little tart to bake. The almonds are totally optional. I didn’t mind the extra crunch to this very special dessert.

 

Apple slices tossed in sugar, cinnamon and almond slices

 

As with all baked apple dishes, your kitchen will smell wonderful. I couldn’t wait to dive into this apple torte. My husband loved it! I think he exhibited great self-control when I asked him to wait a few minutes while I took some photographs. Bless his patient little heart!!! 🙂

 

Bavarian Apple Torte

 

The perfect dessert for Sunday Supper!

 

A delicate, creamy, crunchy bite!

 

Check out the apple dishes prepared by my fellow food bloggers! Apple lovers will have a GRAND time going through this amazing lineup!

 

Soups, Salads, Starters and Breads

Main Meals

Sides

Desserts

Beverages

We’d also love to feature your apple recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers!

 

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