Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Merry Christmas! Hope you all have a WONDERFUL day surrounded by family and people you love. Make sure to take lots of pictures, laugh lots, give thanks, eat lots of food, and help mum with the clean-up afterwards! I hope the New Year brings everyone lots of happiness and a fresh clean start; make a resolution! Best wishes in 2012! xoxo

Not quite a festive post but hey, it ain't snowing either. I baked these muffins for two of my closest friends and their family this year. I don't know why I thought 'muffins' were appropriate (it's usually sugar cookies, or gingerbread men for Xmas right?) but somehow banana-chocolate-chip came into mind when I thought of them. Well, here's the recipe if you guys ever want to make these yummy muffins! (They're both amazing bakers, too.)

Happy Holidays everyone!


Liann and Lauren's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins makes 12 muffins

3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or melted butter/margarine)
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour (you can sub some whole-wheat if you like)
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup-1 cup chocolate chips, as desired (or white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc. I subbed half walnuts half chocolate chips!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a standard muffin tin with muffin liners.

Combine all the dry ingredients (minus chocolate chips) in a medium bowl. In another bowl, beat in eggs with oil. Add liquid mixture to flour mixture, followed by mashed bananas. Mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts if using.

Equally fill each muffin tin (1/4 cup of batter is perfect) and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean. Cool slightly on cooling rack before eating.

Baked Donut Holes

These healthier "donuts" taste incredibly like their fried counterparts! The nutmeg and cinnamon really do their job here! Great with coffee or for a mid-afternoon snack! I baked mine in a mini muffin tin to resemble little "tim-bits" but you can bake them in a standard muffin tin for a larger size.

Recipe from Good Life Eats

Baked Donut Holes
1 3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup oil (for low fat version, I've used half oil, half applesauce and the results were fantastic)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

Topping:
1/4 cup butter (I used low-fat tub margarine)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease mini or standard muffin tin. Combine first five ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, mix together egg, oil, sugar, and milk. Add dry ingredients, and mix only to incorporate. If using a standard muffin tin, pour about 1/4 cup of batter for each tin. If using a mini, pour 2 tbsp of batter for each tin.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, the mini muffin tins should bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until tooth pick comes out clean.
Meanwhile melt 1/4 cup butter in microwave. In a shallow dish, combine sugar and cinnamon. While the donuts are still hot, roll them in the melted butter, then roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Repeat with remaining donuts and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving. :)

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Cute icing sugar crinkly top, slightly crispy edges, and extremely fudgey center. I think that pretty much sums up this cookie! Oh, and I think they're really festive too- they're also called Chocolate Snowballs!

Super easy to make, and a great recipe if you are letting your little ones help you out! This recipe has TONS of chocolate...which is why they are so awesome. :)

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies makes about 3 dozen cookies

6 ounces (180 grams) semisweet chocolate or 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (also known as icing sugar/powdered sugar)

Melt chocolate in a saucepan over simmering water (I just melted it sans water) and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then chocolate. Reduce speed to low and add in the flour mixture until a dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in freezer for 30-60 minutes until the dough is firm to touch.

Make ahead: the dough can be refrigerated for up to three days prior to rolling and baking.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough with your hands into little balls, then coat with icing sugar. Make sure to fully coat the dough (I rolled mine in icing sugar 2-3 times. Repeat with remaining dough. Place cookies about 2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. They will look underdone, but when cooled, will be nice and chewy. Cool for 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Soft Pillowy Pretzels (Vegan option)

This batch of soft pretzels is my very first success at making yeasted breads! Up until now, I've never had much success with the whole frothing, rising, doubling, kneading business! But these came out so soft and fluffy, I couldn't believe it!

The method includes letting the dough rise, as well as dunking the formed pretzels into water that is boiling with LOTS of baking soda! I call it the baking soda bath because wow was that pot of water ever fizzy. Dunking the pretzels before baking made them puff up really big.

I made half with a non-vegan topping (cheese, jalapenos, and minced garlic) and the other half with cinnamon sugar - my fave! This is the recipe for the cheesy one, I'll leave a note for the vegan version down below as well.

If you have some extra time on your hands this break, these are a must-try. Man, were they good!

Soft Pretzels makes 8

-1 1/2 cup warm water
-1 tsp salt
-1 tbsp sugar
-2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/4 cup olive oil, more for oiling bowl

For Dunking:
-10 cups water
-2/3 cup baking soda

Egg Wash (optional- makes the pretzels golden, glazy, and shiny)
-1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tbsp water

Spicy Cheese Garlic Topping:
-1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
-minced garlic to taste
-1 jalapeno pepper, seeds and membranes scraped out, minced


In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the warm water, sugar, and salt. Sprinkle the yeast over this mixture and let sit for about 5 minutes, until the mixture starts to foam at the top.

Add the flour and olive oil, mixing at low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and let the machine knead the dough for 4-5 minutes until it no longer sticks to the bowl. Remove the dough and transfer to a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a relatively warm place for 55-65 mins.

Preheat oven to 450 F (I find 425 F is enough for a convection oven) When the dough has risen to twice its size, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece out to a 2 ft long rope, and twist to make a pretzel shape (or any shape you wish :P) Repeat with remaining dough.

Bring 10 cups of water to a boil with baking soda. Dunk pretzels in one at a time, let boil for 30 seconds, then transfer to a lined baking sheet with a slotted spoon. Repeat with the other pretzels.

Brush egg wash over pretzels if you wish, and sprinkle cheese, garlic, and jalapeno on top. Bake in oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving!

**Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Topping Pretzels**

Omit egg wash. When pretzels have come out of the oven, brush over the tops with melted coconut oil, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top.

Cinnamon sugar (1/3 cup sugar mixed with 1 tbsp cinnamon)