chocolate banana muffins

This recipe originally comes from a food blog I frequent, For the Love of Cooking. The concept of adding cocoa powder to banana muffins was super appealing to me, so I decided to give it a try. I changed a few things {adding a few ingredients... skipping a few steps...etc.}, but the recipe is mostly hers. It was a success! We all loved them, and James {let's be honest... Derek} didn't even know that they were good for him. :)

RECIPE: Chocolate Banana Muffins

Yield: 2 dozen muffins

Ingredients:

1 egg

2-3 ripe bananas

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1/3 c. canola oil

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 c. cocoa

1/4 c. flax seed meal

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix first set of ingredients, whisking well. Then add dry ingredients, minus the chocolate chips {you could and probably should pre-mix these dry ingredients separately, but I never do... who needs another dirty bowl??} and mix/whisk well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Then spray muffin tins with non-stick spray and spoon the batter into greased muffin tins. Bake at 350F for 20-ish minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a rack and then gobble 'em up!

chocolate mug cake

This recipe came from Aubrey via our mommy blog, Young Wives' Tales. I have no idea if it is hers alone or if she got the idea elsewhere, but it's so. darned. good. Really. You nuke the stuff right in the mug... I know! It takes less than two minutes and comes out all sorts of chocolatey and gooey and devine. No more worrying about having tons of leftover cake to devour and/or waste... we're talkin' single portions, people! Try it. It really is that good.



RECIPE: Chocolate Mug Cake

Ingredients:
5 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
4 Tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients together in your mug of choice. Then add the milk, oil and vanilla. Stir well, making sure to get all the flour mixed in from the bottom corners.

Set your microwave to 2 minutes. Microwave for about 1 minute, 45 seconds. Stop around 50 seconds to let deflate; then continue cooking. Check to make sure the cake is cooked through {by sticking a toothpick into the center; it won't be clean but should have some residual goo, like when checking brownies}.

Top with chocolate chips. Mix it all together if you want {this is best, imo}. Have milk on handy, as it's wonderfully rich. And mmm.... enjoy.

Serves: 1*

Calories: 444

*(unless you share, and you may want to)

no-bake cookies

I LOVE no-bake cookies! They're so darn delicious, and super duper easy to make. I used to make them a ton as a kid {pre-teen/teenish}, so I associate them with that part of my life. For example.... in eigth grade, I was in a Speech and Drama class {which was awesome, by the way; thanks, Mrs. Shelton!} and did a "How-To" speech on How To Make No-Bake Cookies. I dropped my mom's nice saucepan in the process, so the memory is bittersweet {i.e. impending doom}, but the speech went great... and... um... yeah, that story really has no climax.

Anyway, a friend of mine {Brittney} made these the other day {which inspired- literally- a happy dance on my part}. That recipe was from her mother-in-law, and who knows where she got it. Perhaps it was an original. Perhaps it was from a box or book. Regardless of its origins, it was scrumptious. I tweaked it just a bit to be more fool proof, but mostly this is the same. Mmm... pour me a glass of milk, baby! We're havin' cookies tonight!

RECIPE: No-Bake Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cube (1/2 c.) butter

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

4 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. peanut butter

2 1/2 c. quick oats

Directions:

Melt butter. Add sugar and milk. Bring to a boil. Add cocoa and boil for 1-2 min. Remove from heat and add vanilla, peanut butter and oats. Spoon onto foil and let cool. Then eat up!

Serves: 12

Calories: 130