It's official!

 As you can probably tell by now, I am not able to keep posting regularly on this blog. Buuuuu. This truly kills me, but as I mentioned in my previous post my life has been turned completely upside down, it is so hectic that it has just been impossible! I will try to post as often as I can but I just can't do it with the same regularity as I used to.

Hopefully one day I will be able to share with you great new recipes and photos every day, because I love this blog and the people who take the time to read it!!!

For now, I will leave you with this Pucca cake that I think came out absolutely divine! Not the best picture but I was in a terrible hurry, as usual!

This was a marbled red velvet and chocolate cake with ... wait for it ... Nutella filling! OMG, it was so good!!! And I think Pucca and Garu are just adorable!

Enjoy and tasty baking!!!

It wasn't me

Ok so maybe it was, but I couldn't help it, they looked so good!

Last week I posted about the effects of a banana cupcake that had no baking soda. You can check out my post HERE.

Well, I decided to make some of my banana cupcakes yesterday and share the recipe so that you could see what I meant.

Come on, tell me they don't look good???

Here's the recipe for you to enjoy

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ( 1 stick ) butter or margarine at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1/4 cup of wheat bran ( if you can find it with honey even better)
2 - 3 tablespoons honey ( I like to use 3 depends on your taste )
5 ripe bananas
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place paper liners into muffin tin.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add 3 bananas. With the mixer on low add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape the bowl and add the milk and vanilla. (The mixture will look curdled.) Add the dry ingredients mixing  until just combined. Add the remaining bananas and honey mixing on low speed until bananas are just broken down but you still have some medium sized pieces.

Pour into tins filling 2/3 of the way. I like using the 1/4 cup measurement for this. Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Martha's Cookies... with a little Tasty twist

These are by far my favorite cookies I think. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart, (not from her directly of course, I wish!) which of course is great, but I decided to change it a little bit and what came out was a truly different and delicious cookie.

So, here's Martha's recipe with my changes...

You can buy chocolate that has already been chunked, or you can just cut up your favorite chocolate.
Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
2 large eggs
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats or powdered oatmeal (I use this)

1 cup shredded coconut
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks (I just use chocolate chips)
1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped (5 ounces) pecans
Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set dry ingredients aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter with both sugars; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, milk, and eggs; mix well. Add reserved dry ingredients, and beat until just combined. Remove bowl from mixer, and fold in oats, chocolate, and pecans. Place dough in the refrigerator until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. Remove dough from refrigerator. Using an ice-cream scoop, shape into 2-inch-diameter balls. Place six balls on each baking sheet, spaced 4 inches apart, and press down
Transfer to oven. Bake until golden, but still soft in center, 15 to 16 minutes. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Favorite Cookies

My mom came over the other day with a gift. A box of homemade assorted cookies!! Yay, just what I needed! There were Russian Tea cakes, Almond cookies, these yummy cornstarch cookies that are like shortbread but better and Biscotti. This got me to thinking about which was my favorite. Now, I really like cookies so I have a lot of favorites but from this batch today I would definitely have to say the Cornstarch cookies... they're just melt in your mouth goodness. Coming in a close second, Almond squares. This one is actually a secret family recipe and I've never tasted anything like it.
Let me know if you have any favorite cookie and the recipe and I'll try them out!
Thanks mom!!!