037 Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

One of my biggest vices is buying too much food. They say to never go grocery shopping when you're hungry, because you tend to buy more than you need. Which is true. And I know this because I am always hungry. Pair that with my attempt to "eat fresh" and "live longer" as we are often told to do, I often find my pantry/kitchen counter/fridge filled to the brim with perishable food items.

Like bananas.

I discovered the other day that I had a few bananas that were way past the point of eating fresh, so I decided to look for a recipe that would allow me to not let them go to waste. Banana bread is one of the easier baking projects one can attempt, so I decided to whip up a quick batch. Naturally, I also proceeded to take a somewhat healthy snack and make it worse for you by adding chocolate chips. NO SHAME. I really didn't add that many calories, so read on. :)

These are the ingredients needed - I had everything at home, which is usually a requirement for me to actually try recipes...haha lazy.

Yum yum bananas.

Step one is to mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Then, add the chocolate chips in and stir to combine. 

Aww yeah.

In a separate, smaller bowl, mix together the bananas, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.

The beginnings of something beautiful. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use an electric mixer to beat until just blended and all the ingredients are moist.

Moist.

Spoon the batter into a prepared cupcake/muffin tin. Pro-tip: Fill up cupcake/muffin liners till about 2/3 of the way. This will usually give you a good-sized cupcake/muffin without the dreaded MUFFIN TOP! 

None of that.

Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Second pro-tip: If you're having problems with the cake sticking to the liner, that is usually a sign of over-baking. Shorten the bake time by a few minutes, and keep testing with a toothpick until it comes out clean. My mom always said under-baking is better than over-baking - you can always pop things back in the oven for a few minutes longer, but you can't undo things have already been burned. 

Mini disclaimer: There are definitely a few items that you shouldn't use this baking time testing method on (opening and shutting the oven door multiple times) like souffles, but it works great for amateur-hour snacks. Like most of what I make, lol. 

And there you have it - it really is that simple.

I had fun taking pseudo-professional food pictures.

Here is the recipe for your convenience, slightly adapted from Money Pit Love's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Yield: 16 muffins

Nutrition: 187 calories/muffin 

Ingredients:

    2 cups all purpose flour

    1/4 cups sugar 

    2 tsp baking powder

    1 tsp baking soda

    1 tsp ground cinnamon

    1/4 tsp salt

    1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

    2 cups smashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

    1/2 cup light butter

    1/4 cup almond milk

    2 eggs

    1 tsp vanilla extract 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Whisk dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt) together in large mixing bowl. 
3. Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.
4. Mix wet ingredients (bananas, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract) together in a separate, smaller bowl.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together with electric mixer until just blended and all the ingredients are moist. 
6. Spoon batter into prepared cupcake/muffin tin until liners are about 2/3 full. 
7. Bake in preheated oven for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
8. Allow to cool completely, and enjoy! :)

Nutrition Information from MyFitnessPal:

036 Valentine's Day Nutella Linzer Cookies

I had every intention of posting my attempt at Valentine's Day cookies before Valentine's Day, because I had every intention of making them prior to Valentine's Day eve. But I am was lazy.

Essentially my life. 

I finally managed to get off my well-used bottom to bake last Thursday night. Clint said that me making Valentine's Day cookies for the office was very American, which I thought was evident enough by the fact that I also bought over $20 worth of candy at Walmart to celebrate this made-up holiday. Kidding - I love America, and candy, and Nutella Linzer Cookies. Smooth transition, I know.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and am pretty happy with the way it turned out, so enjoy and good luck if you try it!

The first step is to gather the ingredients. I had everything except for slivered almonds, which you can pick up at Walmart in the baking aisle.

Needs more Nutella.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder together, and set aside.

In a food processor, blend slivered almonds and brown sugar until finely ground and delicious. 

Delicious before.

Delicious after.

Using an electric mixer, whip the butter and powdered sugar together on medium-high speed until creamy and fluffy, which will take about a minute.

Then, add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Okay - so, at this point in the recipe I was supposed to add the almond-brown sugar mix before the flour mix, but apparently I don't read very well, so I added the flour first. :( 

Oops.

I don't think it affected the taste at all, but it did make mixing very difficult when I added the almond-brown sugar mixture after, because the dough got too thick. So, I had to revert to the traditional mixing method aka using my hands.

After successfully combining all the ingredients (however you get there), form the dough into a ball and flatten on a piece of plastic wrap. Cover and let chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. 

Hanging out with Dory while waiting.

After you've finished watching two episodes of something on Netflix, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously dust working space with flour, cut the dough in half, and roll out each portion to about 1/8- to 1/6-inch in thickness.

The dough was pretty "wet" when I pulled it out from the fridge, so I kept adding just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the table and the rolling pin. Pro-tip: Keep the dough that you're not using in the fridge - chilled dough is easier to work with and keeps its shape better.

Start cutting out your cookies. You will need an equal number of bases (big hearts), and tops (big hearts with little hearts cut out). Recycle the dough and keep making cookies until you run out.

Carefully transfer the cookie dough to a prepared cookie sheet (I used aluminum foil over mine), and bake the cookies in the oven for about 10-12 minutes until the edges or bottoms are lightly golden. Allow to cool completely.

Fun fun fun!

And now for the best part - use whatever spread you enjoy to cover the bases. The original recipe calls for strawberry jam for the red in the Valentine's Day heart. But I love me some Nutella, so that is what I used. #noshame

Dust the tops with powdered sugar. I don't have a sieve, so it looked a little ghetto...but I'm okay with that, because it was a delicious kind of ghetto.

Assemble the cookies for an awesome finished product!

Omnomnom.

I enjoyed these cookies because they weren't too sweet. Easy to eat...which also means I ate entirely too many. The office enjoyed them, though, so I can't complain. :) The recipe is below, slightly adapted from Cooking Classy's Linzer Cookies.

Yield: 24 cookies

Nutrition: 130 calories/cookie

Ingredients:

    2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

    1 tsp ground cinnamon

    1/2 tsp salt

    1/2 tsp baking powder

    3/4 cup slivered almonds

    1/4 cup light brown sugar

    1 cup unsalted butter, softened

    1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting

    1 large egg

    1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

    4 oz strawberry jam, Nutella, or any spread of your choice

Instructions: 

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder, and set aside.
2. In a food processor, blend or pulse slivered almonds and light brown sugar until finely ground, and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, whip butter and powdered sugar together on medium-high until fluffy, about a minute.Then, add in egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
4. Mix in the almond mixture, and then slowly add the flour mixture and mix on low. If the dough becomes too thick, knead with your hands.
5. Form dough into a ball and flatten on a piece of plastic wrap. Cover and let chill in the fridge for about 2 hours.
6. Watch something on Netflix for 2 hours.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
8. Generously dust work space with flour. Cut chilled dough in half, and roll out each portion to about 1/8- to 1/6-inch in thickness. Add flour where necessary to prevent sticking.
9. Cut out hearts with cookie cutters. You will need an equal number of bases (big hearts) and tops (big hearts with little hearts cut out). Recycle the dough where possible, and keep making cookies until you run out.
10. Carefully transfer the cut cookies to a lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges or bottoms are lightly golden. 
11. Allow to cool completely. Spread the spread of your choice onto the bases, and dust the tops with powdered sugar. 
12. Assemble and enjoy! :) 

Nutritional Information from MyFitnessPal:

029 Caramel Brownie Cookies

Time for the first baking project of the year! Yay! I decided to try out a recipe I found on Pinterest for Caramel Brownie Cookies. I've been trying to stay healthy (I've kept up with my calorie counting for 14 days in a row so far!), but with a picture like the one below, it was hard to say no. The description called this little slice of heaven a "rich chocolate-y cookie loaded with chipped mini Rolos", and they had me at "rich"...and "chocolate-y"...and "cookie"...and "Rolos".

I mean, come on.

First, start by collecting all your ingredients.

I didn't have any Hershey's chocolate chips at home, so I substituted it with a bar of Hershey's milk chocolate (leave it to me to have that lying around in the pantry).

Mmm...chocolate.

Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl.

Combine the eggs and sugar until they start to thicken. 

Add the melted chocolate and butter, and vanilla extract to the mixture. Fold in the remaining dry ingredients.

Then, it's ROLO TIME!!! Chop up the Rolos, and fold into your batter.

May or may not have snuck a few bites of this goodness.

The batter will be pretty wet, and the recipe called for it be chilled in the fridge for about an hour. I did so but found that the batter was still too liquid-y. So I went ahead and evenly divided the cookie batter in a standard cupcake pan. Remember to spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray, so you can pop the cookies out when they're done.

And voila! You have Caramel Brownie Cookies! 

Here is the recipe for your convenience, slightly adapted from the Roxana's Caramel Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cookies:

Yield: 18 cookies

Nutrition: 143 calories/cookie

Ingredients

        8 oz chocolate chips or baking chocolate

        3 tbsp butter

        1/2 cup brown sugar

        2 eggs

        1 tsp vanilla extract

        1/3 cup all purpose flour

        1/4 tsp baking powder

        pinch of salt

        1 cup chopped Rolos

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 350F.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, add the chocolate chips and butter, and heat until melted, stirring until combined and smooth. You can also melt the chocolate and butter in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (also known as double boiling).
3. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they start to thicken.
4. With the paddle attachment, at a low-to-medium speed, mix the melted chocolate into the sweetened eggs. It's important to keep mixing while you add the chocolate to prevent the eggs from cooking. Add vanilla extract and mix.
5. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir until combined.
6. With a spatula, fold in the chopped up Rolos.
7. Chill the dough for 1 hour or until hard enough to handle.
8. With a small scoop, place cookie dough on lined baking sheets, OR into a cupcake pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
9. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 11 minutes.
10. Let cool for about 10 minutes before transferring cookies to cookie racks to cool completely.
11. Enjoy! :)

Nutritional Information from MyFitnessPal: