Cinnamon Sugar Banana Bread

We have had an abundance of overripe bananas in our house lately, and although I have a great go-to recipe for regular banana bread, I thought it might be time to try something new.  Let me just say that this was a great idea!  While I have paired banana bread with cream cheese frosting before (amazing, by the way), I've never thought to use cinnamon.  The bread is moist and slightly spiced, and the topping is obviously sweet and delightfully crunchy, but still soft.

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, increasing the amount of flour and mashed bananas a little bit, and making two smaller loaves instead of one huge loaf.  If you would rather make one loaf, half the topping recipe and bake for about 10-15 minutes longer.  

Cinnamon Sugar Banana Bread
Adapted from Cannella Vita

For bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey
¼ cup water

For topping:
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
5 Tbsp. packed dark brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter and flour two 9"x5" metal loaf pans.  Or, spray with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the sides.  I used cooking spray without the parchment paper, and it was really difficult to get the bread out without messing up the topping.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the banana, eggs, oil, honey, and water. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir well.  Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle them evenly over the batter in both pans and pat down.

Bake the bread until a tester inserted into its center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread from the pans, taking care not to dislodge the topping. Cool completely before slicing.

Makes 2 loaves.

Chewy Gingersnap Cookies Recipe

Nothing says "the holidays are here" quite like homemade chewy gingersnap cookies.  Are they still considered gingersnaps if they are chewy?  Either way, these cookies have the perfect blend of spice and sweetness.  This recipe is a favorite of my husband's from his mom's repertoire.  We got the recipe from her, and these were easy, relatively quick to make, and so yummy!

Chewy Gingersnaps
3/4 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. molasses
1 egg
2 1/4 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. ginger
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves
White sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream shortening, brown sugar, and molasses together.  Add the egg and mix together.  Next, add dry ingredients- flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.  Form dough into cookie balls, then roll in white sugar.  I like to put the sugar in a shallow bowl for this step.  Place cookie balls on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.  They will look a little underdone in between the cracks when you pull them out, but this is how they stay chewy.  Leave them on the cookie sheet to cool for another 5-10 minutes.

Molten Cake Neighbor Gifts

For our neighbor gifts this year, we decided to go with a fun treat that didn't necessarily have to be eaten right away.  Let's be honest, there's a huge overload of sugary treats this time of year, so why not give something that can be saved until all the festivities die down?  For this quick and easy gift, all you need is a box of cake mix, a recipe card, and a piece of festive ribbon.  I also added some cute Christmas cards that I was able to get on a deal last month.

I included the recipe for a family favorite-- single serving molten chocolate cake.  I would totally give you a printable for the recipe, but my computer did an auto-update before I had a chance to save the file.  Here's the recipe, though:

Single Serving Molten Chocolate Cake
 1/2 cup chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup water
Hot fudge
Chocolate or white chocolate chips
Whipped topping or ice cream
 
In a microwave safe, cereal size bowl, stir cake mix and water together for one minute.  Top with five generous teaspoons of hot fudge and sprinkle on some chocolate or white chocolate chips.  Microwave 95 seconds.  Top with ice cream or whipped topping.  

The best part about this recipe is that you can really do any variation you can think of with the chocolate chips and toppings.  Hot fudge is a must if you are going for the molten cake taste.  Since baking supplies are generally on sale this time of year, you should be able to make these for a pretty reasonable price.  I was able to get the cake mixes for about a dollar at Winco, but I think it's a really great gift for that cost.

Good luck to any last-minute gifters!  We were able to finish all our shopping today, and boy does it feel great.

Cadbury Egg Popcorn

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So, it's no secret that I am a huge popcorn lover.  I eat popcorn as a snack at least once a week, if not more.  Check out my Scotcharoos Popcorn and Microwave Caramel Popcorn for more of my favorite recipes.  This easy recipe is a fun seasonal variation of the simple popcorn/candy coating mix.  Throw Cadbury Mini Eggs in anything, and you can bet I will eat it.  I've even substituted them for the chocolate chips in my Manntastic Chocolate Chip Cookies.  That was a good idea.

It's so simple I can hardly call it a recipe, but here we go!  For a treat to share with a group, I'd double this.

Cadbury Egg Popcorn
1 bag microwave popcorn or 1/3 c. unpopped kernels
6 oz. white candy coating (a.k.a. almond bark, but not white chocolate chips)
5 oz. Cadbury Mini Eggs candy (1/2 normal size bag)

First off, pop your popcorn, either in the microwave or with an air popper, then add to a large mixing bowl.  Put your Cadbury eggs in a ziptop baggie and whack it with a rolling pin or hammer, so that each egg is at least broken in half.  You don't need to go crazy here, just make sure that you don't have any whole eggs.

Add the broken candy eggs to the popcorn bowl and set that aside.  Next, melt your candy coating in 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth.  If your coating came in a block like mine, make sure you chop it up into 1-inch cubes before melting.  Once the coating is all melted and smooth, pour it over the popcorn and Cadbury egg mixture.

Stir or fold everything together to combine.  I have found that folding the melted coating into the popcorn is the best method to evenly distribute the coating and keep the popcorn mostly intact.  When everything is evenly coated, pour out onto a jellyroll pan (cookie sheet with lipped edges) and let cool.  Once the candy coating is hardened, which shouldn't take long, break it up and you are ready to enjoy.

And believe me, you will enjoy!

Linked: TT&J

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was looking for some fall comfort food when my brother came to visit a couple of weeks ago.  I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a go, with a couple of twists.  The result was the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I've ever had! There are a lot of ingredients, but it is so worth it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(slightly adapted from Bow Peep Creations)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. milk
1 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1 egg
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t. salt
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. almond extract

Dissolve baking soda into milk; set aside.  Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg until well combined.  Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda mixture.  Stir well, then add chocolate chips, vanilla, and almond extract.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Enjoy!

Mann-tastic Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is easily the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever tried.  It is a family and friend favorite.  I originally got the recipe from my mother-in-law.  She gave it to me at my bridal shower, since these are my husband's favorite cookies.  The recipe I have is actually titled "Mrs. Field's Cookies", but I have tweaked them a little bit, so I figured I could give them a new name.  Since our last name is Mann, and these cookies are so fantastic, they ended up as Mann-tastic Chocolate Chip Cookies.


Mann-tastic Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 c. butter (3 sticks)
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
2 T. vanilla
6 c. flour
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking soda
3 c. chocolate chips variety

The directions are pretty much just like any other cookie recipe.  Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla.  Add dry ingredient mixture. (Although I usually just throw them all in the mixer at once, since they seem to mix together on top a little bit before getting mixed into the rest of the dough.)  At this point, there is too much dough in my mixer to add the chocolate chips, so I transfer the dough to a bigger bowl and mix in the chips with a wooden spoon or spatula.  I like to do half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half of another kind of chip, usually white chocolate or peanut butter.  I have been known to add all three from time to time as well.  This is what your dough should look like:

Oooooh yeah.  Did I mention that this recipe makes a huge batch of cookies?  At this point, I use my cookie scoop to put the dough out on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

  When you pull these out of the oven, they may not look completely done, but they will continue to cook as they cool.  You can transfer them to a cooling rack about five minutes after they come out of the oven.  You won't need to worry about storing these for very long, since they will all be gone in a matter of days, but they do freeze well and will keep in an airtight container on the counter for a week.

I have tried halving this recipe, but the results are never as good.  Since this makes such a large batch, I usually freeze half (or more) of the dough.  The best way I have found is to make cookie dough balls with the cookie scoop and freeze them already portioned out.  That way, you can pop a few in the oven (up the cooking time to 14 minutes if they are still frozen) and have fresh cookies in just a few minutes.  Or, if you are my husband, you can eat the frozen cookie dough balls straight out of the freezer.  Either way.

Linked up: Tatertots & Jello

White Chocolate Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake for my white-chocolate-loving husband's birthday.  It may have been my best cheesecake yet!  I didn't have any cracks in the top, and the middle wasn't too soft like last time.  The recipe I used needed some tweaking, so I ended up with my own creation in the end.  I also tried a white chocolate ganache for the topping, which didn't act quite like I was expecting.  It was a lot runnier than a normal chocolate ganache, so I think it may need more white chocolate than cream.  It was still quite tasty, though, and it added a nice white chocolate flavor, as the cheesecake itself doesn't have a strong white chocolate taste.  Here is my version of the white chocolate cheesecake, complete with low-fat cream cheese!

White Chocolate Cheesecake
(adapted by me from Food.com)

Crust:
2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c. melted butter

Filling:
10 oz. white chocolate
4 (8 oz.) packages of low-fat cream cheese, softened*
1/2 c. plus 2 T. sugar
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
6 T. flour
1 T. vanilla

Ganache Topping:
8 oz. white chocolate
8 oz. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Blend graham cracker crumbs and melted butter and press lightly onto the bottom and sides of a spring-form pan.  To make the filling, melt the white chocolate and stir until smooth.  Beat softened cream cheese until light and fluffy, then add in the sugar.  Add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating well in between.  Add the flour and vanilla, stirring until combined well.  Add the melted chocolate in a slow stream while beating the mixture, until everything is smoothly combined.  Pour into prepared crust, sprinkling more white chocolate chips in if desired.  Bake for one hour for 10 inch pans (70 minutes for 9 inch pans) or until top is firm to the touch.  Turn the oven off and leave cheesecake in the closed oven for another 1/2 hour.  Allow cheesecake to cool completely before covering loosely and refrigerating overnight.

To add the ganache topping, microwave chocolate and cream in 30-second intervals, stirring between, until all the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth.  Allow the topping to cool, then pour over cooled cheesecake.  Refrigerate until serving.

*Note: If you want to use regular cream cheese, reduce flour to 2 T.

Linked up: Tatertots & Jello

Chow Mein Bird Nests

Instead of dyeing eggs this year, even though I bought 18 eggs for just such an occasion, I made these cute little nests out of chow mein noodles and marshmallows.  Think rice crispy treats.  I used the mini-sized robin eggs to fill the nests.  I can't take all the credit, though.  I found the idea and the recipe at Bake at 350.  I made mine a bit smaller than hers, so I ended up with sixteen nests, each with three robin eggs.

Chow Mein Bird Nests
(adapted from Bake at 350)
3 c. mini marshmallows
3 T. butter
1/2 t. vanilla
1 package dry chow mein noodles (between 3 1/2 and 4 cups)
48 Mini robin's eggs, mini Cadbury eggs, or jellybeans

Melt marshmallows and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.  Once everything is melted and combined, stir in the vanilla, then remove from heat and stir in the noodles.  Line a cookie sheet or the counter with parchment paper.  Coat your hands with shortening before working with the noodles.  Grab a golf-ball sized bit of the mixture and form a nest by sticking your thumb in the middle of the ball and working your way around, keeping your thumb in the inside of the nest and using the rest of your hand to pinch from the outside.  Makes about 16 nests.  You may have to go back to some of the first nests you made and reform them slightly as the marshmallow cools.

I had my parents, in-laws, and brother over for Easter dinner, so I used these as place card holders.

They were super easy- just print the names on the right side of file folder labels and fold them over on themselves with a toothpick in the middle.  I know it's too late for Easter, but these would be cute for any spring dinner or bird-themed party.

Marshmallow Fondant and White Butter Cream Frosting

Last weekend I helped my friend Shauna make this rubber ducky cake for a boy baby shower.  It was my best one yet!  I didn't have any problems with the fondant cracking or anything.  The only thing I changed in my recipes was to make the butter cream frosting a little thinner, and to do a half batch of fondant.  The half batch was just so it would fit in my mixer better, and so I could do the different colors with the mixer, rather than by hand.

White Butter Cream Frosting
(adapted from Lion House Weddings)

2/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon water
4 tablespoons meringue powder
12 cups powdered sugar
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. clear vanilla
1 tsp. almond flavoring
1 ¼ cups shortening

Combine water and meringue powder, whip at high speed till peaks form. Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until well incorporated. Add salt and flavorings; beat slightly. Alternately add shortening and remaining powdered sugar. Beat on low speed until smooth. Makes 7 1/2 cups frosting. (*I added more water at the end until the frosting was a smoother consistency.)

Marshmallow Fondant (Half Batch)
(I got this recipe from my aunt Sharon)

1/8 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1/2 pound of white mini marshmallows (good quality)
1/2 tsp. clear vanilla flavor
1/2 tsp. butter flavor
1 tablespoon water
1 pound powdered sugar

Grease the inside of a large microwavable bowl with shortening. Be careful, the melted marshmallows can get very hot.

Put marshmallows, flavorings, and water into the bowl. Microwave on high for 60 seconds.  If marshmallows are completely melted, you’re ready to move on. If not, stir and return them back into the microwave for 30-second intervals—stirring after each—until the marshmallows are completely melted.

Put powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Fit stand mixer with dough hook. (If not using a stand mixer, use a wooden spoon).

Add melted marshmallow mixture to powdered sugar. This is where I also add any coloring that I want. (Hint: a half batch is the perfect size for covering a two-layer nine inch cake.)  Process at low speed until well incorporated, then turn speed up slightly and allow dough hook to “knead” mixture until sugar is fully blended into the liquid.

For the rubber ducky cake, we did one half-batch of leaf green (Wilton gel coloring) and one half-batch of sky blue.  Easy peasy!  This fondant recipe is the one used for my wedding cake, and it is my favorite.  The marshmallows make it actually taste like food.

Once the cake was frosted with buttercream, we covered the whole thing with a sheet of blue fondant, then added the green stripes and all the little bubbles.  The rubber ducky was a real one, so that made things easier.  All told, this cake took the two of us about three hours to make the frosting and fondant and decorate it.  Photos were taken by Shauna Spencer.

Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies

This recipe is perfect for St. Patrick's Day.  The recipe is fairly common; I have found similar ones on a bunch of different websites.  This version is a little bit different, though, because you get to use the microwave instead of the stove top, and I've adapted some of the instructions.

Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies
3/4 c. butter (I really think you could get away with 1/2 c., but I haven't tried it yet)
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
2 T. water
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
30-36 Andes mints (depending on the size of the cookies), unwrapped and snapped in half

Combine butter, brown sugar, water, and chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave for one minute, then stir.  Keep heating in thirty-second intervals and stirring until everything is melted and well-combined.  Some recipes say to let it sit for ten minutes at this point, but I did not.  Whisk in the eggs.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Stir everything together, then cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.  If you leave it in the fridge overnight, your baking time will be a little bit longer, but other than that it's about the same.

After the dough is refrigerated, either roll into balls or use a cookie scoop and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or 12-14 if dough has been refrigerated overnight.  As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, place a mint piece on top of each cookie and let it melt.

At this point, you can either leave the mints like that, let them cool, and be on your merry way.

Or. . . you can swirl the mints around with a toothpick (hold it sideways like a knife instead of up like a pencil) and get a marbled effect with the different colors of the mint.  I tried to draw shamrocks, which I thought would have been an awesome St. Patty's Day touch, but it didn't work at all.  The chocolate on top is too thick to let the green show through.

Enjoy!  Let these cookies cool completely before storing.

 Linked up:

Valentine Sugar Cookie Pops

Still trying to find a fun idea for Valentine's gifts?  These sugar cookie pops are so fun and easy!  I made them even easier by using sugar cookie mix.  Seriously, it was so quick for a project that looks so good.

Here's what you will need:

-Sugar cookie dough (either from scratch or a mix)

-Lollipop sticks (I found mine in the Wilton section at Walmart)

-Glacé icing (No, I don't know how to say that)

-Cellophane treat bags or clear wrap

-Thin ribbon

First step, roll out your cookie dough and cut out your shapes.  They can't be too big, or else the stick won't be able to support them.  I used a medium-sized heart.  Lay each dough shape on the pan over the top of a lollipop stick.  I put mine about two-thirds the way up the stick.  Press the dough into the sides of the stick a little bit, but not too much.  Bake cookies according to directions.  They should come out looking like this:

Perfect!

Let them cool while you make your icing.  Here's the recipe:

Glacé Icing

(adapted from Our Best Bites)

4 c. powdered sugar

6 T. milk (I used 1%, but 2% or whole would probably be better)

6 T. light corn syrup

1 t. vanilla extract

Mix the powdered sugar and milk together until all the lumps are gone, then add the corn syrup and vanilla.  The icing should be fairly thin for glazing.  For piping, add more powdered sugar until it thickens up and becomes hard to stir.  If you want a great tutorial on how to use this icing, click on the Our Best Bites link above.

I glazed my cookies and didn't really wait until they had dried before I started piping.  This way, the icing sort of blends together and looks like a watercolor painting.

I did the white dots at the end, so they look raised up, like how the icing would act if you wait for the base layer to dry.  At this point, you want to let the icing dry for a half a day or more.

Next, I wrapped the pops in cellophane and tied it with a ribbon.

These turned out great!  You could use these as awesome party favors or Valentine's presents for friends.  I am using them as party favors, so I decided to display them in Valentine themed takeout boxes:

I know I wouldn't mind getting one of these on Monday.

Linked up: tatertots and jello, Michelle Paige

Marshmallow Peppermint Pie

This is one of my husband's favorite pies.  I made it for the first time last week, and it was deliciously light and fluffy.  This pie combines many of my favorites: peppermint, marshmallow, whipped cream, and chocolate cookies.  It's best if you make it a day ahead and let the flavors fuse together overnight.

Marshmallow Peppermint Pie

1 pint whipping cream

4 candy canes, crushed

4 c. mini marshmallows

For the crust:

1 package chocolate Nabisco wafers, crushed

4 T. melted butter

             OR

1 store-bought Oreo crust

Whip the cream until hard peaks form.  Add the crushed candy canes; fold in the marshmallows.  If you are making the crust, combine the wafers and butter.  Press the crumbs into the pie pan.  

Pour the whipped cream mixture into the crust.  If you made the crust, sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top.  Refrigerate the pie until ready to serve, preferably the next day.  The peppermint candy will soften and the flavor will spread into the whipped cream.  Makes one pie.

Homemade Apple Pie

I learned how to make homemade pie this week at one of my mom's ward's Relief Society activities.  This was my first pie from scratch, and I was pleasantly surprised at how (relatively) easy it was!  Here's the recipe we used for the crust:

Pie Crust

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. Butter-flavored Crisco

1/4 c. cold water

First, combine the flour and salt.  Then, cut in the shortening with either your hands or a pastry blender.  I found that using my hands was much faster and easier.  Once all the flour is mixed in and the shortening is in tiny balls, slowly add the water and stir in with a fork.  Don't mix it too much or the crust will get chewy.  Divide the dough evenly into two balls. 

The crust is ready to roll out!  Try to keep the edges from splitting too much by continually pressing the cracks back together.  Put the rolled out crust into the bottom of your pie pan.  Be very gentle and make sure not to stretch the crust out.  Trim the edges by running a knife around the edge of the pie pan.  Now you are ready for the filling!

The filling was also easier than I expected.  Here's what you need:

Apple Pie Filling

Cored, sliced, and peeled apples (We used tart apples)

Cinnamon

Flour

Sugar

The whole thing was pretty inexact.  We just filled the bottom pie crust with apples and sprinkled a bit of each of the other ingredients on top.  You don't need a ton of cinnamon, flour, or sugar.  Make sure you put more apples than you think in, because they will shrink when you bake the pie.

Now, roll out the other dough ball for the top crust.  Lay it over the top, trim the edges, pinch the edges together, and cut some vent holes into the top.  You can get creative with this bit.  I did a star pattern.  You can also use the extra pieces of crust to make little shapes for the top.  My mom did a berry and leaf pattern.

For the final touch, brush the top of the pie with milk and sprinkle raw cane sugar all over.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until you can see the filling bubbling and the crust is brown.

We ate ours with some vanilla bean ice cream, and it was really tasty!

Scotcharoos Popcorn

Scotcharoos Popcorn

(adapted from this recipe for peanut butter cup popcorn)

22 cups of popped popcorn

1 bag butterscotch chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tbsp. vegetable shortening or oil

1/2 c. toffee bits

2/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (for drizzling)

Pop the popcorn and put in a large bowl.  In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the butterscotch chips, one cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and vegetable oil or shortening and heat for 2-2 1/2 minutes or until smooth, stirring every 30 seconds.  Pour the melted chip mixture over the popcorn and toss to combine.

Spread the popcorn onto two wax paper-lined baking sheets.  Sprinkle the toffee bits over the popcorn evenly.  In a Ziploc bag, heat the semi-sweet chocolate chips until just melted and smooth (about a minute in the microwave, mashing the bag every 20-30 seconds). Cut a small corner in the Ziploc bag and drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn. Allow to stand long enough to become solid (you can transfer the pan to the fridge or freezer to hurry this step along). When done, break the popcorn into small pieces and enjoy!  

TIP: Store this popcorn in the fridge if it doesn't set up all the way.  Some chocolate chips are softer at room temperature than others.