Berry muffins!

These fruit muffins are made from leftover pulp from a juicer! It's an awesome way to use all that stuff that's leftover after making juice, and it's all fiber and they taste awesome! Recipe is below...

Berry muffins

1 cup of pulp (any fruits you want) and 2 bananas (or use 3 cups of pulp).
1 cup of vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of fresh berries.

Mix pulp and bananas, then add oil, eggs and honey. Mix dry ingredients together and add to wet ingredients. Stir in fresh berries. Bake for 23-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Irish Up Your Cupcake?

I wanted to do a cupcake inspired by a St. Patrick's Day game my hubby worked on. He made these cool looking 3D animated coins for it, so I decided to re-create those. Plus, it's St. Patrick's Day so it's gotta have booze right?

Then I found this awesome recipe from this blog!  It seems like it's been passed on and on and on, but the original name seems a little offensive, so I'm not sure what to name them. Irish Kiss cupcakes? Irish Up Your Cupcake Cupcakes? Ah well, they taste amazing!

The only thing I did a little differently was adding green tea powder to make the icing green. It's a more subtle color instead of that crazy tons-o-food coloring green. The coins are made with fondant and shined up with lustre dust.

Here's the recipe!

For the Guinness chocolate cupcakes:
1 cup stout beer/ Guinness
2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey's ganache filling:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
2 tbsn. butter, room temperature
2 tsp. Irish whiskey OR Bailey's Irish cream

For the Bailey's buttercream frosting:
8 tbsn. unsalted butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 - 8 tbsn. Bailey's Irish cream (use 8, trust me)
(added 1 tsp of green tea powder to make it green, or use green food coloring)

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
2. Combine stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend.
5. Add stout mixture and beat to combine. Mix in dry ingredients on low until incorporated.
6. Divide batter among cupcake liner about 2/3 full and bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.
7. To make the ganache, place chocolate in heatproof bowl.
8. Heat cream in saucepan until simmering, then pour over chocolate, let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth.
9. Add butter and Bailey's and stir until combined. Set aside until cool and thick enough to be piped (you can use the refrigerator to speed the process but stir every 10 minutes to ensure even cooling). Meanwhile, cut a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method and once the ganache is of the right consistency, pipe the ganache into the centers.
10. To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high until light and fluffy.
11. Gradually add powdered sugar until incorporated. Mix in Bailey's until smooth. Add more if necessary until frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading (if adding green tea powder, or food coloring, add it here). Frost the cupcakes as desired and enjoy!

** (optional) Decorate with excess chocolate ganache

Production Photos can be seen on my Flickr Page!

Cookies!

Chocolate chip cookies made with whole wheat flour and honey instead of sugar. Yum!

Find the original recipe here!

Spreadin the bready goodness...

My mom gave me this awesome bread recipe she found in the newspaper and I finally tried it out. It turned out perfect! Way better than bread from the supermarket... I wish we could just eat this all the time!




Rich Egg Bread
16 slice loaf - 110 calories per slice

3 to 31/2 cups (750-810 mL) all purpose flour or bread flour, divided
1/4 cup (60mL) sugar
11/2 tsp (7mL) salt
1 envelope regular or quick active dry yeast
1 cup (250 mL) warm water
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
1 large egg
butter or margarine, melted, if desired

In a large bowl, combine 11/2 cups (375 mL) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast. Add warm water and oil. Beat with electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Add egg; beat until smooth.
Stir in enough of remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Grease a large bowl with shortening.
Place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides (at this point, dough can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours). Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

Grease bottom and sides of 5x9 inch pan with shortening or cooking spray. Gently push fist into dough to deflate.

Using hands or rolling pin, flatten dough in to a 9x18 rectangle. Roll up tightly, beginning at the short side. Pinch edge of dough in roll to seal. Pinch each end of roll to seal. Fold ends under loaf.

Place loaf seam side down in pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray and let rise in warm place for about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size again.

Move oven rack to low position so that the tip of baking pan will be in centre of oven. Heat oven to 375F. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until loaf is deep golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan to wire rack, brush with butter, and cool.

Best. Muffins. Ever.

I got this recipe for apple pie muffins from a book called "Muffins and More" and the recipe comes from Canadian chef/host Daphna Rabinovitch. I swear I could eat these every day! I figured it wouldn't be fair if I rave about something without giving the recipe, so I typed it below.



Muffins:
2 1/4 cups - all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups - packed brown sugar
1 tsp - baking soda
1/2 tsp - salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups diced peeled apples

Topping:
1/2 cup - packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used almonds)
1/3 cup - all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted butter

Topping - in large bowl, stir brown sugar, nuts, flour, and cinnamon. Drizzle with butter, toss with fork. Set aside.

Muffins - Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together egg, buttermilk, butter and vanilla; pour over dry ingredients. Stir in apples until dry ingredients are moistened.

Bake at 375 F.(190 C.) for 25 minutes, or until tops are firm to the touch.