Banana Cream Cheese Breakfast Cakes

Oh look, another muffin recipe. Ha!  Sorry, they're just about my favorite things on this earth.  Thus, I go out in search of new muffin recipes all the time.  As a matter of fact, I should probably think about branching out to include cranberries or other kinds of fruit in my muffins.  Incidentally, that's what brought me to this next recipe. 

Banana breads and banana-things aren't always my favorite - although I love eating bananas by themselves.  However, when I saw this recipe I thought it would be fun.  Plus, I'm actually combining two different recipes to bring this to you. 

The recipe for cream cheese filling can be found here.  The banana muffin part is a recipe I found in the latest Food Network Magazine (May 2012 issue), compliments to Gary Danko.

BANANA CREAM CHEESE BREAKFAST MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups plus 3 tblsp cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 stick plus 2 tblsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 6 tblsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 very ripe bananas, mashed

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

3. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with the paddle attachments on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Beat in the mashed bananas until combined.  Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until almost combined, then add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined (do not overmix).

4. Drop a small scoop of batter for each muffin.  Drop in about 1 tsp of the cream cheese mixture for each muffin then scoop on the remaining batter over the cream cheese mixture (cups should be about 3/4 full).

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake (not the filling) comes out clean, 20-35 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool about 15 minutes, then remove the cakes to the rack to cool completely.

PERSONAL NOTES:

The directions for the cream cheese mixture in the magazine seemed so involved, I went back to the cream cheese filling I used for other muffins.  It was a good decision, I like the way they came out.  I love biting into muffins or cupcakes only to find a surprise in the middle.  Yum!

Oh, and I didn't bake the muffins all that long... probably only 20 minutes - max.  If I baked them for 35 they would have burned.  So my recommendation is to check them at 20 minutes and see if they need more time or not.

Cinnamon & Sugar Muffins

I really like cinnamon.  Looking back at some of my older posts, many of them are cinnamon something-or-others.  Of all the cinnamon baked goodies I've made, I can't say there's been a bad one in there.  Kinda like pumpkin, cinnamon anything is just a wonderful thing.

Enter these new muffins into the picture: Cinnamon & Sugar Muffins.  Of course I had to give them a go.  The verdict: they're really good!  Definitely a keeper recipe.  One important thing about these muffins that make them a particular favorite is that they're low in calories.  Each muffin is approximately 155 calories.  Not only that, they're DELICIOUS.  And as with muffins or scones in general, these are convenient to take with you and have on the go.  As a yoga teacher, I'm always on the go.  Thus, these guys work great for me.

I adapted the recipe from this one found on Simpledailyrecipes.

CINNAMON & SUGAR MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup non-dairy milk (soy, almond, coconut, etc.)

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tablespoon distilled vinegar

2 cups flour

2/3 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

For the topping

• 1/2 cup melted butter in one bowl
• 1/2 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon in another bowl

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 400ºF. Grease bottoms of 12-muffin cup pan.

Beat milk, applesauce and vinegar in a medium bowl. Add in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt all at once. Stir just until flour is moistened. Batter will be lumpy; do not over stir.

Use a large cookie dough scooper to fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake until golden brown, 16 to 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan and carefully roll hot muffin tops in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Store cooled muffins in a container with a loose fitting lid and enjoy them later on in your day.

PERSONAL NOTES:

These would be wonderful vegan muffins had I followed the directions as stated.  But you know me, I have to go switching things up.  In place of the non-dairy milk (for which I usually use coconut milk), I used fat free Greek yogurt.  Let's just say that's my all-time favorite go-to ingredient.  It's just so versatile.

Beautiful British Scones!

So scones are my latest endeavour in baking.  I'm experimenting with a few different types.  I've previously made the Cinnamon Streusel Scones and last week made Black Treacle Scones.  Yesterday I tried out this wonderful recipe for what I consider typical English scones.  SO good!  I adapted the recipe from this one found on Allrecipes.

This latest recipe worked out great.  Although, I have to say that if the Black Treacle Scones had raisins in them, I'd probably like them better.  (Plus, the Black Treacle Scones were only about 90 calories the way I made them!).

BEAUTIFUL BRITISH SCONES

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

1 egg

1 cup raisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the butter. Stir the sour cream mixture and egg into the flour mixture until just moistened. Mix in the raisins.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

Yields 12 scones.

PERSONAL NOTES:

I must have made these guys much smaller than the recipe stated.  The original recipe yields 12 scones and I halved it (after all, it really is just me and my hubby chowing down on them. We don't need 12 large scones!).  Even after cutting it in half, I still came out with 10 scones.  I used a glass to cut out round scones.  I suppose I could have made them thicker, but I just didn't.  Frankly, I really like them as they came out. The way I made them each scone is approximately 220 calories.

In place of the sour cream I used fat free Greek yogurt.  My favorite go-to ingredient when recipes call for sour cream or even buttermilk.  It's a fantastic substitute.  You would never tell the difference in flavor. 

In place of butter I used Olivio so there's no cholesterol.  And for the egg I used Egg Beaters - another  go-to for eggs used in dishes.  Because believe me, when it comes to eating eggs, I'm going to make the real thing!

Coffee-Coffee Cake Muffins.

That's right.  That would be coffee-flavored coffee cake muffins.  Oh and by the way; Happy Easter to everyone!

This morning my husband asked for french toast for his breakfast.  Since I pretty much only make it once a year, I decided that today would be that day.  Although, I didn't have the proper bread for the french toast.  Real french toast should only be made with Challah bread.  Anyhow, I digress.

This being Easter I thought it would be nice to come up with a new muffin recipe.  Well, maybe not new as it was thought of by someone else who put it in a book.  But I saw the muffin recipe and thought it would be nice to try a new variation of a muffin I've made several different ways.

COFFEE-COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS

This recipe comes to me courtesy of Muffins: Over 200 Recipes and Variations to Accompany Any Meal by Francesca DiPaolo

INGREDIENTS:

Muffins:
1 cup butter
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream or milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder

Filling/Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a muffin pan (either lining with paper liners or using Pam to spray).

In a medium bowl, blend the eggs, sour cream (or milk), vanilla and instant coffee powder. 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder.

Cut in the softened butter.

Blend all until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with 1 tablespoon reserved brown sugar mixture and then with the remaining batter.

In a small bowl, mix the filling ingredients.  Sprinkle the tops generously.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan, and cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm.


PERSONAL NOTES:

Let's see...what did I do differently this time?

No sour cream, I used fat free Greek yogurt.  Absolutely no difference in texture or taste.  So good.

And instead of using 1 cup of butter, I used 1/2 cup butter and then 1/2 cup of applesauce to lighten it up a little bit.

Finally, I didn't have pecans or walnuts (although I'm sure either would have tasted wonderful) so I used raw hazlenuts instead.  I have to say, they really added a nice chewiness to the texture.  So good.

These are a keeper - yummy and easy to make. 

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Yes, I've said before I'd be moving away from the simple carbs.  And yes, here I am again baking those evil sweets.  It's official; I can't let go of these things.  I'll just have to learn with having these in moderation.  Life without baked goods is not a life worth living.  Much.  Besides, I really enjoy making these things.  It's too much fun waiting to see how they all come out and imagining what the muffins will taste like. 

So I decided to go for these sour cream coffee cake muffins.  The original recipe can be found here. 

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

TOPPING:

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and beat until combined. Pour half the batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle half of topping over batter. Add remaining batter and topping. Bake at 325 degrees F for 40 minutes or until done.

PERSONAL NOTES:

For starters, I omitted the pecans and used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  I always believed Greek yogurt would be a sufficient substitute and I was right.  It worked great!

Next, as you can see by the photos, I made muffins instead of a full sized coffee cake.  I like making muffins because you can freeze the uneaten portions and have them when you want :)

Cinnamon Muffins. A yummy part of any breakfast.

One of my favorite things about weekend mornings home with my husband is making breakfast.  He'll ask me what I'm making and I either thumb through the recipe book or troll online until I come across something that strikes our fancy.  This weekend was no different.  Part of the fun is discovering the ingredients in my cupboard; I try not to plan too much in advance so the weekend baked goods are spontaneous and extra special (at least I think so).

So of course I was pretty psyched when I discovered I had all the ingredients to make these cinnamon muffins.  (Original recipe can be found here from allrecipes.com).

They were easy to make and came out just fine.  I've had other muffins I enjoyed more, but these really did hit the spot just fine. 

CINNAMON MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup skim milk

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons margarine, melted

TOPPING:

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS:

 In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and allspice. Combine the egg, milk and margarine; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Spoon into greased or paper-lined mini muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until muffins test done. For topping, combine sugar and cinnamon. Brush the tops of warm muffins with margarine; sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

Makes 24 mini muffins.

PERSONAL NOTES:

I halved the recipe and it came out to 5 large muffins.  I was happy with that.  With just me and my husband at home, we simply didn't need more (our waistlines certainly don't!).

Snickerdoodle Muffins. Oh yeah.

There's something about cinnamon and sugar together that makes me smile.  Actually, I smile about a lot of different food combinations but these two take me back to my childhood.  To the good things in my childhood.  It's probably safe to say I'll always enjoy these two flavor combinations. 

Naturally, this looked too good to pass by when I saw it on Pinterest.  Ever since I joined that site a couple weeks ago, I cannot stop trolling for all kinds of yummy goodness that people have to share.  A lot of what I find I call "food porn".  It's just that good - at least to look at.  That said, I had to give this recipe a test drive. 

I've made snickerdoodle cookies and blondie bars so it only makes sense to try these guys out too.

Original recipe can be found here. 


SNICKERDOODLE MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

2 ¼ cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup buttermilk

For the Topping:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line muffin cups with muffin liners. (Do not use cooking spray.)
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tarter, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Beat in half of the dry ingredients. Beat in the sour cream and buttermilk. Beat in remaining dry ingredients until just incorporated (batter will be soft).
To make the topping, in a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

Using an ice cream or large cookie scooper, drop the scoop of batter into the bowl with the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the dough with the mixture and roll it around until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar. Place the ball into the muffin liner. Repeat with remaining batter. Sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar onto the tops the muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm.

Makes 16 muffins.

PERSONAL NOTES:
I made a few changes to these.  For starters, I didn't have any buttermilk so I improvised. In place of the buttermilk I used cream cheese.  It worked out great!  The muffins are still light, fluffy and soft.

The directions state to drop scoops of batter into the cinnamon/sugar mixture but I found this very difficult.  I dropped in a scoop and it kinda went all over the place.  So instead, I scooped batter into the paper liners then I scooped smaller amounts of cinnamon/sugar and placed them on top of the batter.  I made sure the batter was covered and that was that.  I put them in the oven.  Of course, coming out the other end, some of the sugar topping baked off onto the muffin pan.  It made it a little challenging to clean, but no big deal otherwise.  The muffins looked and tasted great.
Oh - I also substituted brown sugar for the granulated sugar.  I like it better that way.

Cinnamon Rolls

When my husband woke up this morning he asked, "What's for breakfast?"  Without skipping a beat I answered, "Cinnamon rolls".  I'd seen this recipe and knew I wanted to try it out.  Since I rarely have a Saturday morning in, I decided this was the best time to give it a whirl.

They took a lot longer than I expected.  By about an hour.  Mixing the dough was quick and mixing the icing was quick.  Aside from the time spent allowing the dough to rise, the longest part was slicing 12 semi-even rolls and placing them in the pan.  Not an easy task, I can promise you that.  I tried using both a knife and dental floss to make the even cuts.  The dental floss would have worked better if the dough underneath didn't keep sticking to the wax paper.  I used the wax paper to prevent any of it sticking in the first place. So that was frustrating.  And as I mentioned, it took far longer than I thought it would. 

But... they came out wonderful in the end.  Here's what they looked like straight out of the oven:

CINNAMON ROLLS

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1 cup water

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

6 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cups dark brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

ICING:

2 cups confectioners' sugar

6oz mascarpone cheese, softened

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the butter; stir until melted. Add water and let cool until lukewarm.
2. In a large bowl, combine the milk mixture, yeast, white sugar, salt, eggs and 2 cups flour; stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
3. Divide dough into two pieces. Roll each piece into a 12x9 inch rectangle. In a bowl, stir together the cinnamon and brown sugar. Spread each piece with half of the butter, half of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough, using a little water to seal the seam.
4. Cut each roll into 12 slices using a very sharp knife or dental floss. Place rolls onto two 9x13 inch greased baking pans. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
6. To make frosting; combine confectioner's sugar, mascarpone, butter and vanilla. Add milk gradually until frosting reaches a spreading consistency. Spread over warm (but not hot) cinnamon rolls.

Makes 24 rolls.

PERSONAL NOTES:

These are absolutely yummy, but they do take a fair amount of time to make.  The original recipe called for 3oz. cream cheese for the icing, but I used twice that amount plus switched it to mascarpone.  So much better.  I also increased the amount of cinnamon to make it a little spicier.  I like my cinnamon rolls to really taste like cinnamon rolls.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Muffins

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Muffins?  Yeah, there was no way I was avoiding these guys.  Holy Moly - they're yummy.  The muffins are very light and fluffy - almost cake-like.  The amount of chocolate chips is just the right amount - not too overpowering.  And that's coming from someone who LOVES chocolate.  This was perfect. 

At first I was a little unsure because the dough seemed a little bit on the gummy side - like it had too much flour in it or something, but really, they came out just fine.  Even the next day the consistency and freshness remained unsullied.  So wonderful.  In terms of grabbing this and eating on the go, they're probably better than some of the of the other muffins I've made.  There's nothing sticky on the tops to create a mess (like if you put one in a sandwich bag for "on the go").  They're just easy.  And the batch only took about 10 minutes to whip up.  Easy all around.  Plus, they're only about 160 calories each!

You can find the original recipe here from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 cup cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin cups or use paper liners.

Beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Beat in egg, cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into cream cheese mixture until flour is moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups filling them 3/4 full.

Bake in preheated oven until tops are golden, about 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins*
PERSONAL NOTES:

As I mentioned above, you really don't need to smother the muffins in chocolate chips. They have just enough in what the recipe calls for. Also, I used skim milk where it called for cream and Egg Beaters for the egg. YUM!

*Actually, they made more like 14...