Dropping by

It's been a while. Ready for a photo heavy post? 

I’ve started college and it’s been both exciting and overwhelming at times. I miss my kitchen, every so often, when I eat at some of the dining halls. (The closest one to my residence hall really, really stinks.) I haven't been baking much. I did bake (many, many) batches of Trader Joe’s refrigerated cookie dough in my friend’s kitchen with a few friends. It was reminiscent of a simple time when I wasn’t bogged down with exams, papers, and readings.

I’ll be in touch soon. (Read: after Thanksgiving break. I already have a long list of recipes to test.)

Here’s a batch of chocolate banana muffins I made a few days before school started. They’re very delicate in texture and not too sweet – just the way I like ‘em. Perfect for a quick breakfast or an afternoon pick-me-up. 

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Chocolate Banana Muffins 

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson 

1 c. almond meal

½ c. whole wheat flour

¼ c. all purpose flour

3 T. cocoa

2 t. baking powder

½ t. baking soda

¼ t. salt

⅔ c. light brown sugar, gently packed

1 c. milk

⅓ c. mashed banana (1 medium banana)

1 T. grapeseed oil

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

40 g. 70% chocolate, chopped (1/2 Lindt bar)

sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line your muffin tin.

Sift together almond meal, flours, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar. There will be flecks of grain from the whole wheat flour left in the sieve. Dump those in.

Add mashed banana to a medium sized bowl. Add in egg, oil, and vanilla and mix. Once combined, add in the milk and slowly mix together.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together gently. It is okay if there are lumps. Add in the chopped chocolate.

Add sliced almonds on the top of the muffins, if desired. Add enough to cover the top in one even layer.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Because of the melted chocolate chunks, poke in the toothpick in at least two different areas. If you pull out the toothpick and there is some dark batter on it, it might be chocolate. So try in two places.

Fuzzy, warm, comforting

I don't even know how to start this post. I haven't been writing or baking much. A editorial, a banana bread. That's it, really. I'm back on my baking game; I made an incredible, craggy brown soda bread and a batch of rugelach (!) today. Can't wait to share the recipes. Til then, enjoy this circular picture of an aerial view of a slice of banana bread! (What a mouthful.) 

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Almond Banana Bread 

Adapted from Orangette and Bakerita
I developed this recipe with the help of the blogs mentioned above. Swap out 1/2 c. spelt flour for a more bread-like banana bread. Only almond meal produces a dense and thick bread. 

3 ripe bananas
2 large eggs
1/4 c. dark brown sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. almond meal
1 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. ginger
1/8 t. salt

1/4 c. raw almonds
1 t. dark brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mash the bananas. I like using the food processor. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add bananas and stir to combine. Add sugar and vanilla and mix well.

In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the almond meal, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.

Fold in the almond meal mixture into the banana mixture.

Line a loaf pan. Pour in the batter. Roughly chop the almonds with the sugar and scatter across the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool before turning out and slicing.

A couple of muffins

I've been eating a lot of chicken breast and poached eggs over steamed greens lately. The creamy yolk on the vibrant green is REALLY pretty. But I don't eat them because they're aesthetically pleasing. It's because of my excessive baking during the past weeks. I made three types of muffins, a clafoutis, banana bread, pumpkin bread, cheddar herb quickbread, choquettes, and cinnamon pull apart bread. I ate all those lovely treats and enjoyed them fully. Now it is time to do a little healthy eating, no? 

So, muffins. I'd pick them over cake any day. Cookie or cake? Cake. Cake or cupcake? Cake. Cake or muffin? Muffin! My favorites are the classics: blueberry and corn. After strolling down the baking aisle at my local supermarket, a small, yellow sack of cornmeal caught my eye. I immediately planned to transform the coarse meal into tender corn muffins. Scrolling through Smitten Kitchen's recipe at the supermarket, I picked up everything I needed... except the frozen corn kernels. Darn, I thought as I waited for the muffins to cool. Then I bit into one. Delicious, with or without corn kernels. (For the record, I have a bag of kernels, chilling in my freezer, waiting to be slipped into corn muffin batter.) Notes: I used white whole wheat flour and it gave the muffins a nice, slight nutty flavor. 

Banana bread is freaking delicious. There's no other words to describe it. Lately, my younger brother always rushed to school without packing himself anything for breakfast. I decided to make a hearty banana bread into portable muffins. I roasted the bananas, let them cool, then gave them a spin in the processor. We both love pistachios so I just added some crushed nuts into the crumble topping. The best banana bread made better with pistachios. Yes. Notes: I used white whole wheat flour. Like I said, pistachios in the crumble topping make it special. Roasted bananas gave it a touch more sweetness but I didn't really get a different flavor profile. I didn't have honey so I used agave nectar. 


Now, for something a little different. Music. I'm not really a "music person." I have a few friends who live, breathe, eat music. I have a few favorite artists who sing mostly teenybopper/ Top 40 music. (Mike Posner, Vampire Weekend, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, One Direction) Then, I came across Hoodie Allen in Jake and Amir videos. And. I. Fell. In. Love. A UPenn grad and an ex-Google employee, Hoodie Allen (real name: Steven Markowitz) could do anything he wants. Seriously. He chose music and he excels at it. I bought his EP, All American, on the first day of its release. 4.99 - a bargain! This is one of my favorite songs off his EP. Listen! Love! (Then buy his EP!)