Watch me turn this muffin into a donut

Sometimes I just want a donut.  And sometimes I give into that craving.  And most of those times, I feel icky after eating one.  Perhaps it’s the type of donut I’ve chosen.  Or maybe it’s the guilt I often associate with eating foods that are not “good for me”.  I once drove for miles on highway 99E in search of a donut shop.  Didn’t there used to be lots of donut shops in the world? They seem to be disappearing, perhaps replaced by Starbucks, McDonald’s and Taco Bell’s.  At any rate, I’ve been having a love-hate relationship with donuts, of late.

After driving south on 99E from Portland, through Milwaukie, Gladstone and practically to Oregon City, I finally found Heavenly Donuts.  My expectations were high.  Anything named “heavenly” should be, in my mind, out of this world.  These donuts should taste like God made them, right?  Or angels, at the very least.

With my sugar junkie adrenalin pumping, I entered the shop.  Nerves and guilt were starting to overtake me.  What was I doing?  Why did I drive all this way for a donut?  These things better be worth it.  I scanned the display case.  Disappointment creeping in now, as there was not much of a selection.  Just the usual suspects; cake, glazed, chocolate covered, maple bars and some really greasy looking apple fritters.  Well, I can’t leave now.  I should have, but I drove all this way.  I’m obligated to buy not one, but two of these things.  And I did.  I purchased an apple fritter and a cinnamon swirl raised sort of affair.  Then I made a mad dash for my car, where I sat and consumed these sins.

God did not make these donuts.  Nor did angels.  Hell, I’m sure if the Devil himself made these donuts, they would have tasted much better.  No, I’m pretty sure these donuts were made by the Hispanic gentleman behind the counter.  No offense to him at all, but these were not donuts worth making a special trip for.  In fact, I’m pretty sure the donuts at Safeway might be a little better.  Either I’m waxing nostalgic for the donuts of my youth, or there are no special donuts in the Portland vicinity.

All this being said, I have found a substitute sweet morsel that comes close to a donut without as much guilt attached to it.  I recently purchased a Williams-Sonoma cookbook simply entitled “Muffins”.  And in that book there is a recipe for Cinnamon-Buttermilk Muffins.  And surprise!  They taste like Buttermilk Bars.  No kidding.  You know the kind of donut I’m talking about?  Kind of shorter and fatter than a Maple Bar, with that buttermilk tang and glaze.

It is my pleasure to share with you what I now call my Donut Muffin recipe.  It could save you a trip searching the streets for a donut shop.  Or maybe that’s just me.

 CINNAMON-BUTTERMILK MUFFINS

From the Williams-Sonoma book

MUFFINS

7 tablespoons (3 ½ oz / 105 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (5 oz / 155 g) sugar

1 large egg

1 ½ cups (7 ½ oz / 235 g) all-purpose (plain) flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

½ teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg IF YOU ONLY HAVE GROUND NUTMEG IT WORKS JUST AS WELL.

½ cup (4 fl oz / 125 ml) buttermilk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract (essence)

FOR THE TOPPING

2/3 cup (5 oz / 155 g) sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons (3 oz / 90 g) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350° F (180° C).  Grease 9 standard muffin cups with butter or butter flavored non-stick spray;  fill the unused cups one-third full with water to prevent warping.

To make the muffins, in a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg, beating well until pale and smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.  Add to the butter mixture in 2 increments, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla.  Stir just until evenly moistened.  The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it three-fourths full.  Bake until golden, dry and springy to the touch, 20 -25 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.  Unmold the muffins and let stand until cool enough to handle.

To make the topping, stir together the sugar and cinnamon in a small, shallow bowl.  Have ready the melted butter in another small bowl.  Holding the bottom of a muffin, dip the top into the melted butter, turning to coat it evenly.  Immediately dip the top in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, coating it evenly, then tapping it to remove excess sugar.  Transfer to the rack, right side up.  Repeat with the remaining muffins (DUH).  Let cool completely before serving.

It just occurred to me as I was writing this post, you could totally substitute a simple powdered sugar and milk glaze for the cinnamon sugar, for a true Buttermilk Bar effect.

Next time!

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On Board the Crazy Train of Inspiration

Inspiration. I love that word. I love the idea of inspired thoughts and action. As human beings we are inspired by our world around us, every day, every moment. We just have to be aware of it.

For example, a few weeks ago as I was quickly breezing through the produce department on my way to the time clock, I overheard a snatch of a conversation between two co-workers. They were talking about Ozzy Osbourne. Bam! It hit me. I knew what I was going to be for Halloween this year. It was that simple and inspired.

Vampire Gran as Ozzy

Ozzy as Ozzy

A little scary

I’m not the only one lookin’ a little old

This was everyone’s favorite shot

Looking at some over ripe bananas in the fruit bowl this morning, I knew some baking had to occur today. Would it be muffins or waffles? I’ve fallen in love with two recipes lately and have been making them weekly. The muffins won the mental coin toss, so I commenced to prepare the pan, mash bananas, and gather my ingredients. The last time I made these muffins I added some sweetened flaked coconut. Everyone raved. I always put chopped nuts in the muffins, usually walnuts or pecans. Inspiration reared up and the bright light came streaming in. I heard the faint angelic voices in my head sing out in unearthly splendor. What if I add cocoa powder today? Chocolate, coconut and pecans = German chocolate goodness. German Chocolate Banana Muffins!

 

Holy breakfast break though, Batman! These are some fantastic treats. But are they really muffins? Or are they naked cupcakes? Cuppins? Muffcakes? (oh, that sounds kinda naughty). Breakfast cupcakes? Whatever we call them, they are inspired goodness. You be the judge.

German Chocolate Banana Muffins

1 ¾ cups spelt flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt (Kosher or sea salt)

¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 ½ cups ripe mashed bananas (about 3 large or 4 medium bananas)

2/3 cups pure maple syrup

1/3 cup canola, sunflower or extra virgin coconut oil, melted

½ cup chocolate chips (use dairy free if making vegan muffins)

½ cup chopped pecans

1 cup flaked coconut

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375° Prepare 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or light coating of oil

Whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cocoa powder in large mixing bowl.

In a smaller bowl mash bananas, oil, and maple syrup together.

Stir wet into dry ingredients until just mixed. Add chocolate chips, pecans and coconut.

Divide evenly into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar.  Bake for about 25 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Store in airtight container for up to 3 days. These freeze beautifully. Double wrap individually in plastic wrap and store in a freezer Zip Lock baggie.

Crazy full of chocolaty coco nutty Germany goodness

Buckwheat is O-Tay!

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “buckwheat”? Kid with a funny name on the Little Rascals? Pancakes? Something that pillow you heat in the microwave is stuffed with, perhaps? If you are in the know, maybe soba noodles? I just found out that soba noodles were made from buckwheat. I did preface that sentence with “if you are in the know”, which, obviously I am not. I’d be willing to bet that blueberry muffins and granola might not make it into the top answers on “Family Feud” when they surveyed 100 people about buckwheat usage.

Be that as it may, I’m here to tell you that buckwheat makes both great granola and muffins! And that both are vegan AND gluten free. And they taste great. Who knew? Another tid bit of information that I’d like to pass along is that buckwheat is another one of those power foods that helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure. The fact that buckwheat is so good for us is reason alone for adding it to our diet, and the fact that it makes killer treats is a plus.

Moist, buckwheaty blueberry muffins

Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins

adapted from “Get it Ripe” by Jae Steele

1 3/4 cups whole buckwheat groats (raw, not toasted)

2 cups filtered water (room temp or just-boiled)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 organic non-dairy milk

1/3 cup flax seeds (golden preferred) I used ground flax seeds and they worked great!

1/4 cup softened non-hydrogenated coconut oil or sunflower oil (plus extra for coating the pan)

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

zest of 1 organic lemon (if unavailable, skip it)

1 tsp anise seeds, ground (optional) I used cinnamon instead because a: I didn’t have any anise and b: I don’t really care for the flavor of anise

1/2 tsp sea salt or kosher salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups fresh or frozen (not thawed) blueberries

Rinse the buckwheat, then combine it in a bowl with the room temperature water and soak overnight (or combine with the just-boiled water and soak for an hour).

Preheat oven to 375 degfrees F.

Prepare muffin pan with paper liners or a light coating of oil (you’ll need tp prepare 16 cups instead of the standard 12)

Poar the soaked buckwheat (along with any unabsorbed water) into the bowl of a food processer or blender; add syrup, milk, flax seeds, oil, lemon juice, zest, anise (or cinnamon)

and salt, and give it a whirl for about a minute, until the buckwheat kernels are broken down. Add the baking powder and baking soda, and whirl again for another 10 seconds to combine. Srape with a silicone spatula and give it another pulse or two.

Pour the batter into a large mixing bowl and, using a silicone spatula, fold in the blueberries.

Portion batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them to the top (I like to sprinkle the muffin tops with turbinado sugar to give them a sweet, crunchy crust) and bake for 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack and remove from pan while still a bit warm.

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.

ready for it's close up

and here's a peek inside

These muffins are seriously good.  I shared one with my friend, Emily, and she made them for breakfast the very next day!

buckwheat groats

Buckwheat groats are hulled, crushed grain.  Some of you may know them by a different name, kasha.  What ever you call them, they are super easy to work with.  You can roast them or cook them like rice.

Here is another easy recipe that makes a low fat granola everyone loves.  Seriously, everyone who has tried this stuff at our house has asked for the recipe. And here it is:

BUCKWHEAT GRANOLA

3 cups raw buckwheat groats

1 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or other dry sugar)

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamom

a dash or two of ground nutmeg or a few grates of fresh nutmeg – even better!

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup peanut butter (or any nut butter)

3/4 – 1 cup dried fruit of choice

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.

Lightly oil or use silicone liner (my preferred method) on baking sheet

Place buckwheat in strainer and rinse throughly

Place buckwheat in large mixing bowl and add sugar, spices and nuts.

all that goodness in a bowl (the buckwheat groats are underneath)

Spread evenly on baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then stir. Bake an additional 20 minutes, or until lightly brown

'till it looks like this

After removing from oven, pour the contents of the baking sheet back into the bowl and add nut butter and mix thoroughly while still hot.

stirring in the peanut butter

Add dried fruit and let cool in bowl to crisp up.

I added dried apricots and dates to this batch

all mixed in

Store in air tight container.

looks good enough to eat

This granola is great as a snack, as a topping on ice cream or mixed into yogurt.  I hope you try these recipes, especially if you have someone in your life who is gluten intolerant.  They will love you for it.

All right, already, I’ll write something!



Hi, Vampire Gran here. I'm sorry I haven't posted here in Vampire Gran's Kitchen for a few months. Other interests have dragged me away, as I am sure happens to all of you from time to time. I'm back for the moment and ready to share some stories of what has kept me away. Hopefully they will be of some interest to someone out there. Let's get started, shall we?

The thing about seeing some of your blog readers in person on a regular basis is they can give you a hard time about not posting.  Right, Cat and Robert H.?  Yes, I am totally guilty of not keeping up with my self-professed passion of interest.  I’m sorry.  And I wish that I could tell you all about some amazing adventures of travel or winning the lottery or some such excitement, but there has been none of that.  Well, there was a nice trip to the coast recently and I will write about that, but not today.

Truth is I have allowed other interests to tear me away from my beloved blog.  For starters, I bought a new sewing machine.  It even has a name!  Anna. I did not name her, she came into my life already saddled with that moniker.  She’s a Baby Lock brand and she is so sweet!  Our old Singer needed some TLC and the cost of having that overhauled was about $50.00 less than a brand new machine, so, you do the math.  Anyway, I’ve been having fun mending a ton of clothes around here and making some frocks for my Barbies.  I’ve also been playing a lot of pool, getting ready to be on a 9 ball team with Katie starting tonight. I don’t want to make our team look bad by being a sucky player!

In January I taught a cooking class.  My friend, Angel, is the volunteer co-ordinator at North West Ministries and she asked me to come and teach again.  I taught a tofu class there this past November and it was a lot of fun.  Last time I had a set curriculum complete with printed recipes for everyone and actually knew what I would be working with.  Angel and I thought it would be fun to do a “black box” class.  A black box test is what you get in culinary school.  You don’t know what you will be cooking until you open the box and see what your ingredients are.  Since there is a full food pantry at the church and you never know what will be there, we thought it might be helpful to the people who depend on that food to learn how to utilize it and make it tasty.  Hence, the “Black Box” cooking class.

Fortunetly, Angel had a volunteer to help me all lined up.  His name was Robert and he was awesome.  Turns out he does personal cheffing so it really turned out to be the Patty and Robert show.  He wasn’t very vocal, so I did all of the talking, but I turned the stir fry portion of the class over to him and we worked well together.  Plus he was a whiz at keeping the kitchen spic and span as we worked!

A sweetheart of a guy came in and took pictures and a little video that I will share with you now.

It’s not the greatest video, but it’s something to share with you.   I wish it had some music or narration so you could get a better idea of what we were making.  Here are a bunch of still shots where I will attempt to describe what the class was like.  I’ll share a recipe at the end of this post.

As I mentioned, there is a food pantry at the church for people in need and this is some of the pretty nice produce that was available the day I taught the "black box" class.

I'm adding olive oil to some peeled and cubed butternut squash in this shot. The photographer arrived a little late for the actual cubing of the squash. This student was fascinated with everything. She had never had butternut squash before was was ready to try it.The baking sheet was lined with foil. After adding olive oil, salt and pepper to the butternut squash, I spread it all out on the baking sheet to roast.Here I am starting to make a glaze for the squash. There is some soy sauce in the bowl and the photographer asked me to show the bowl for the picture. Not too exciting as I had not added the remaining ingredients yet.

Squeezing in some lime juice to the sauce. Fresh lime juice is better but we're using what we have on hand, remember?

Whisking it all together. There's my most curious student. Wish I could remember her name. She was pretty sweet and very enthusiastic.

He moved in for a close-up of the whisking action.

This is a really nice food pantry. They even had Portobello mushrooms! I marinade it with lots of garlic, olive oil, soy sauce and hot sauce.

We cooked this mushroom off in a frying pan.  At home I would have used a grill pan or the barbecue.  The class really was impressed with this simple, yet unusual for them, treat.

That's Robert, my volunteer assistant. Not sure what was up with the dark glasses. I'm pretty sure he could see what he was doing.

See, there really was a few more students besides my number one fan there.

I look a little confused in this shot. Getting ready to measure some rice.

Robert is on veggie chopping detail for his stir fry.

He was a lot more precise than I would have been!

I'm telling you, if you need emergency food assistance, contact NorthWest Ministries in Portland. Look how nice these vegetables are!

Let's get some onion in there.

Vampire Gran taking the squash out of the oven for a bit of a stir before adding the glaze.

Doing a little glazing action now

Still at the stove while students look on

Meanwhile, back at the prep table, Robert keeps cutting up the beautiful veggies

We're turning, we're glazing

Unfortunately, the photographer had to leave before our feast was ready, so there are no photos of the complete meal!  Everyone sat down to a meal of grilled Portobello mushroom, vegetable stir fry over steamed rice, mixed green salad with a simple vinaigrette and sweet and spicy roasted glazed butternut squash.  We did it all in a two-hour time slot, including clean up and consumption of the meal.

I love this squash recipe.  I actually adapted it from a recipe that was on Vegan Good Things (you can click on her link over there on the right under  BlogRoll).  the original recipe was for Brussel sprouts which is fantastic, but I have found that this glaze works great with any vegetable.

SWEET AND SPICY BUTTERNUT SQUASH

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1/2′ – 3/4′ cubes
olive oil
Kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
In a large bowl, toss cubed squash in small amount of olive oil.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Spread on foil lined baking sheet and place in a preheated 350 degree oven.  Roast for about 20 minutes.

GLAZE

2 – 3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
juice of one lime
hot sauce to taste ( I usually free pour about 2 tablespoons)

Use the same bowl that you tossed the oil and squash in.  Mix glaze.  You are going to glaze the squash AFTER FIRST ROASTING IT FOR 20 MINUTES.
Remove squash from oven and toss in glaze.  Spread glazed squash back onto the baking sheet, reserving some for drizzling before serving, and return to oven.  Bake for another 15 minutes or until the squash is tender and caramelized.

That’s it.  You are done and it is delicious.

Triple Chocolate Threats

Evil temptress chocolate treat

 

Sometimes I question which is it that I am most addicted to, the consumption of sugary

goodness or the creation of such treats?  I enjoy both, but if I had to choose but one, I’m

pretty sure that creation would win.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, I would have a really hard

time shaking the sugar monkey off my back.  He’s been with me for deep.  But, I know I could

do it.  I’m just not ready yet.

Now, the thought of never baking another cake, cookie or pie strikes fear into my very soul.

Severe depression would be inevitable if I could never bake again.  Ya’ know, let’s just

not go down that path.

Many posts ago I shared a recipe and pictures of Lemon Coconut Pixies.  The recipe came from

the Hershey Company.  I have a recipe tin that was given to me as a birthday gift in 2009

and it sat on our kitchen counter for 10 months  before I ever made anything from it.  That

post was 13 months ago, so it’s time for another recipe from the tin.

HERSHEY’S Triple Chocolate Cookies

48 Hershey’s Kisses Milk chocolate or Milk Chocolate with Almonds (that’s what I used)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened (I used butter, of course)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa (I used cocoa powder form that bulk bins at WinCo)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Hershey’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips ( I used Safeway brand)

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 

What else was I going to do with all this candy left over from Christmas? I did play poker with it the night before I baked the cookies!

 

Mmmmm.......chocolate!

Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium

speed in a large bowl until well blended.  Add eggs and milk; beat well.
3.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into butter mixture,

beating until well blended.  Stir in chocolate chips. 

Make all the comments you want, it still tastes good

 Shape dough into 1 inch balls. 

Oven bound

Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Fresh out of the oven and hot

4.  Bake 10 – 11 minutes or until set. 

Press kisses into the center of each cookie while still hot

 Gently press a chocolate into center of each cookie.  Remove to wire rack and cool completely.

VARIATION:  For vanilla cookies, omit cocoa powder and add an additional 1/3 cup all-purpose flour.

I made the recipe verbatim, but I wanted to see how they would look with a little added sparkle.  I rolled the dough balls in granulated sugar before I baked another round.  Here is what that looked like.

Roll in granulated sugar for added sparkle

Both versions taste great. 

So good when they're still warm. The chocolate kiss in the center and the chocolate chips are all soft and gooey.

I can clearly state, with authority, that these are delicious.   After all, chocolate, chocolate AND chocolate?  How could they not be tasty?  These beauties will be added to my chorus line of confection.

Oh, great!  One more sweet memory to send packing with that monkey.

Don’t make me go into that kitchen!

Just give me one good reason to bake a cake and I’m all over it.  Actually, it doesn’t even have to be a GOOD reason or even a reason at all.  Or an excuse for that matter.  Ah, hell, just ask me to bake a cake.  Better yet, tell me you have something to celebrate.  I love a good celebration cake.  A couple of weeks ago, my Katie and her workmate, Patty B.,  both had work anniversaries.  These two ladies were both celebrating four years of working for the good Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.  Being a former Catholic School Girl, this still makes me slightly nervous, but the nuns are cool.  And they do love a good sweet treat!

Heaven on Earth - four layers of banana cake wrapped in a cloud of coconut cream cheese frosting

This here bad boy is a Banana cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting.  To really kick up the banana flavor, I put slices of banana between each of the layers (it’s a four layer cake!).  It was insanely heavenly, right up the sisters alley, so to speak.

Here is the recipe:

CORDON ROSE BANANA CAKE

Adapted from the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

2 nine inch pans, buttered and parchment lined bottoms

4 large ripe bananas
2 tablespoons sour cream
4 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups sifted cake flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
20 tablespoons unsalted butter, must be softened

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

In a food processor process the banana and sour cream until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and process briefly just to blend.

In a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer, combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend.  Add the butter and 1/2 of the banana mixture.  Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2 minutes to aerate and strengthen the cake’s structure.  crape down the sides. Gradually add the remaining banana mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and develop the structure.  Scrape down the sides.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.  Bake 30 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow cake to cool 10 – 15 minutes on a cooling rack before removing from pans.  Allow to cool completely before wrapping.

I like to chill my cakes before I frost them.  Remove the top “dome” with a serrated knife, for a more professional look.  You can make this a two layer cake or a four layer.  My preference is four layers.  It’s best to use a cake decorating stand.  Place cake on stand, and using a long serrated knife, slice the cake into two even layers.

COCONUT CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 # unsalted butter, softened
1/2 # cream cheese, softened
0.2 oz salt
0.4oz vanilla
0.2 oz lemon juice
2 oz water
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Place butter in bowl of electric mixer.  Cream for 2 – 3 minutes.  Add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, lemon juice and water.  Mix on low ( I pulse it until incorporated so my kitchen isn’t covered in powdered sugar) for about 1 minute.  Once it is incorporated, gradually increase the speed to the highest.  Stop and scrape the sides a couple of time during this process. Whip until light, fluffy and very white.  Add coconut and mix until incorporated.

So rich, so insanely decadent!

Frost the cake.  I sliced about four bananas for this cake for in between each layer.  You can see them in the pictures.  So good.

I really do love to tease you with these photos!

Dear, sweet Katie brought a piece home to me.  We ate on it for three days!  So, what are we celebrating next?  Anyone?

Electrolux #splits: Split from Tradition

Perfectly decadent summer treat

Many of you regular readers may have noticed the nifty badges to the right.  That’s right, Vampire Gran is  now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher. Yay!  That said, I am joining with other Foodbuzz publishers in helping to raise money for OCRF, Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.  Foodbuzz has teamed with Electrolux and actress Kelly Ripa to raise money for OCRF.  For more information about this important cause, please go to Kelly Confidential, 

Foodbuzz has a little something they like to call Top 9 Takeover.  They ask all of us Featured Publishers to construct a post around a theme, then for one day only, all Top 9 posts reflect that theme.  Sounds pretty straight forward. 

How am I contributing to OCRF, you may wonder?  Well, here’s something pretty cool.  For every Banana Split posted by a Featured Publisher created by July 16th, Foodbuzz will contribute $50.00 to OCRF.  So, by tempting you all with my wicked goodness, I am helping ovarian cancer research.  My ovaries would probably thank me, if I had any! 

I opted for using zero fat sorbet instead of traditional ice cream

Katie and I have been eating so healthy these days that the thought of a traditional Banana Split kinda gave me nightmares.  Since I am a total newbie to Foodbuzz and I really, really wanted to participate in this challenge, I decided to make my entry a more healthy version of the soda fountain staple.   My banana split is a  Tropical Treat.  Tropical, Raspberry and Mango sorbets with layers of banana and a fresh pineapple, mango, peach salsa.  I topped it off with a not-so-healthy swirl of coconut whipped cream, toasted almonds and a beautiful Bing cherry! 

The only thing with fat in it, Coconut Whipped Cream. Oh, yeah!

 Here’s how I made the fruit salsa: 

Start with a sweet, fresh pineapple

I actually had the produce guy at Safeway cut a couple pineapples to try before I purchased one.  A lot of people don’t know that you can do this, ya know.  Trust me, I work in a grocery store.  They would rather have you try before you buy so they have a happy customer. 

Chop the pineapple up as fine or as chunky as you like

The produce man picked out a great mango for me. 

Perfectly sweet and juicy mango. Yum!

Remove the pit and peel and start chopping. 

Chop the same as the pineapple

I also bought a decent peach.  I really love summer fruit. 

summertime = peaches

Combine the fruit and chill

I added a little honey to make it a wee bit more saucy and a pinch sweeter.  

Slice a banana and whip some cream

After you whip and sweeten your heavy cream, fold in a couple handfulls of sweetened, shredded coconut.  I used a large pastry tip to pipe my cream on top of  my banana split, but you could also use a spoon. 

You will not miss the ice cream or sugary sauces, trust me

I put a few slices of banana in first because I want that last bite to contain banana.  Next I added a scoop of tropical sorbet.  Top with fruit salsa and a few more banana slices.  Scoop of raspberry sorbet, more salsa and banana.  Mango sorbet, salsa and banana.  Top with coconut whipped cream, toasted almond slices and a cherry on top.  Viola!  A banana split that won’t split your pants. 

I can't help it, I just want you to keep looking at it

Fig & Hazelnut Scones

A sweet glaze tops these fig and hazelnut scones

I’m still recovering from my surgery, but you just can’t keep me out of the kitchen.  Katie picked these figs the other day and I just had to make something with them or they would just go bad.  It’s been a while since I invented a new scone so figs seemed just the right thing.  I still had toasted hazelnuts from making the ice cream earlier in the week so these two items would pair nicely.  And I just happen to have some hazelnut liqueur in the house, so the glaze will have a nice hazelnutty flavour.

I used my standard basic scone recipe that can be found in my“Everybody Must Get Sconed” post.  The substitutions are as follows:

Substitute  (1) hazelnut liqueur for the vanilla  (2) cardamom for the nutmeg, trim stems and bottoms of 5 large firm, ripe figs, any variety, and cut into bite size pieces.  Add 1/3 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts.

Mix and bake as directed.  While scones are baking, sift 2 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl, add 1 tbsp hazelnut liqueur and 2 tbsp heavy cream or half n half.  Mix until smooth.  It should be a nice glazing consistency.  Glaze scones while they are still hot, minutes after you pull them from the oven.  Allow the scones to cool a bit and the glaze to set.  Enjoy them warm or at room temperature.

Spicy Cinnamon Sugar

Sweet & Spicy Cinnamon Sugar

You know what I think I like best about creating recipes?  Taking a simple comment and running with it.  This morning, Katie and I were eating sourdough toast with butter.  Katie went for the ground habenero chile in the spice cabinet and liberally applied it to her toast.  The woman likes everything spicy.  Then she joked “wouldn’t it be funny to offer this to someone thinking they were getting cinnamon toast?”  What can I say; my wife is a sick woman.

An idea clicked in my foodie brain and this next recipe was born.  I love sweet and spicy!  This simple, spicy sugar is great on toast with butter but I think it would be good on oatmeal or roll cookie dough in it before baking.  OOOH!!!  Snickerdoodles!  Ginger cookies!  Sugar cookies!  Try it and tell me what you use it on.  I think I’m making some snickerdoodles today.

SPICY CINNAMON SUGAR

Stir together in small bowl

1/2 CUP SUGAR

2 TBSP CINNAMON

1/4 TSP HABENERO POWDER

 

That’s it, just cinnamon toast with a spicy kick.  You can use cayenne or chipotle powder if habenero isn’t available in your area or it’s just too hot for you.

When I was in Weight Watchers several years ago, there was this toast spread I used to eat.  Fat free ricotta, cinnamon and sugar substitute.  I deluded myself into thinking this was some tasty stuff, but anything flavoured with artificial sweetener pretty much sucks.  But, fat free ricotta and this spicy mix is great!  And nothing artificial about it.

I think it would be good mixed in with nut butters, too.  And maybe ice cream, the home made variety.  You could toss it in buttered popcorn.

CAUTION:  Will cause sneezing and coughing while you are mixing it.  Stir carefully.  Used with just butter on toast will clear your sinuses, so it will be great if you suffer from colds and flu this season.  Mixing with the ricotta settles it down as far as the sneeze factor goes but it still packs the heat.

Asian Pear Sorbet

This has been an exciting summer for us.  We moved into our current home in March of this year.  One of the fun things about new surroundings is discovering what springs forth from the earth during each season.  The spring brought us all types of flowers (and lots of weeds!!!).  The summer we were blessed with fruit.  Two types of plums, cherries, blueberries, raspberries and Asian pears grew in abundance.

This tree is loaded with juicy goodness

What does one do with so many Asian pears?  Well, of course give a lot away to co-workers, friends and neighbors.  But what about something cool and sweet?  What about sorbet!

This recipe I came up with is so simple, if you have an ice cream maker.  This is all I did.

ASIAN PEAR SORBET

4 lbs Asian pears

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tbsp vanilla paste or 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped

water

Peel and core Asian pears.  Place in a large pot.  Cover with water.  Stir in sugar and vanilla paste/beans.  Bring to a boil then lower heat to a hard simmer.  Cook until pears are tender, about 45 minutes.  Remove pears with a slotted spoon and continue simmering the liquid until it reduces to half the original amount. Combine pears and syrup and allow to cool until slightly warm.  Place pears and syrup in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.  Place in a bowl or plastic covered container and chill overnight in the refrigerator.  The next day,using the Asian pear puree,  follow your ice cream maker instructions to make sorbet.  Mine took about 30 minutes.

A cool offering to beat the summer heat

The delicate flavor of the Asian pear teamed with the intoxicating vanilla bean are a perfect match.  I hope you try this recipe because it truly is a winner.