Tag: Breakfast Treat

Brown Butter Almond Cake with Chocolate Filling

With the holidays quickly approaching you may be looking for new recipes to share with your loved ones. Today I am bringing you a Brown Butter Almond Cake with Chocolate Filling that I personally wouldn’t say is ideal for dessert but better suited as a breakfast / brunch treat. Or for an afternoon watching holiday movies, decorating or wrapping gifts while enjoying your favorite warm beverage.

I started this cake by making brown butter. After letting it cool, I got to work on making the batter for the cake. I whisked the cooled brown butter with eggs, sugar and vanilla extract, until it was smooth. In another bowl I whisked together the dry ingredients – flour, almond flour and baking powder. I incorporated the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 3 batches alternating with buttermilk. While you can buy buttermilk, I always opt to make my own by combining whole milk and vinegar. Once the batter was ready, I poured half of it into my prepared pan and then topped it with diced almond paste and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I then topped it with the remaining batter and gently spread it with an offset spatula. Before placing it in the oven I sprinkled the top with sliced almonds. After the cake cooled I dusted it with Confectioners’ sugar before enjoying a slice.

You may be wondering why I said this cake wasn’t very dessert-y. Well, besides the fact that it wasn’t very sweet, the texture was more reminiscent of a muffin or scone to me. It did taste good, but I think the recipe title is a bit deceiving. I was really hoping the brown butter flavor would stand out more as it did in the batter – yes, I tried the batter raw – but it somehow melted away while baking. And while the title does say “Almond Cake”, adding almond flour to the batter didn’t really give the cake an almond flavor, that really came from the almond paste that was added to the filling along with the chocolate chips. The almond flour aided in making the cake extremely moist though – always a good thing when it comes to cakes. No one wants to eat a dry cake, regardless of how good it may be. It is possible that the brown butter and almond flour somehow cancelled each other out, both having a nutty flavor or that the almond past just overpowered everything. Maybe a better title for this cake would be Brown Butter Cake with Almond & Chocolate Filling. Apologies if I sound negative, as I mentioned, the cake was good just not really what I thought it would taste like based on the recipe title. I would be curious to try this recipe again by omitting the almond flour and increasing the amount of all-purpose flour. Maybe then the flavor of the brown butter would really shine through.

Brown Butter Almond Cake with Chocolate Filling

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 ounces almond paste, finely diced (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Brown the butter: Place the butter in a medium saucepan and melt over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter reaches a warm amber color, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to large bowl to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8-inch springform pan with baking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Add the eggs to the cooled brown butter and whisk together until smooth. Whisk in the sugar and vanilla extract until combined. Add the flour mixture in three parts alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk until the batter is smooth.

Spread half the batter into the prepared pan. Scatter the chocolate chips and diced almond paste over the batter in an even layer right to the edge. Top with remaining batter and gently spread with an offset-spatula. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the cake in an even layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springs back when pressed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a knife along the edges of the cake to loosen from the springform ring. Remove the springform ring and let the cake cool completely before dusting with Confectioners’ sugar.

Recipe from Food Network

Cranberry Orange Walnut Muffins

Not sure why, but, I had two bags of dried cranberries in my pantry that were quickly approaching their expiration date. They were probably on sale or I was planning on eating more salads than I have been. Either way, I decided it was time to start using them before they did expire. Cranberries are always a good add in for baked goods since they offer a pop of sweetness and do have health benefits. I like to think they are still healthy even after they are baked into something sweet. I was debating between cookies or muffins, but, I opted to go with the muffins… A Cranberry-Orange Walnut Muffin.

The recipe for these is pretty straight forward. Next time I make them though I will cut the sugar in half (1/2 cup as opposed to a 1 cup). They were delicious, but, I just found them to be a tad bit sweet and since I normally eat muffins for breakfast and I am not big into sweets for breakfast I think I would enjoy them more with less sugar. Also, since you are using freshly squeezed orange juice and if your orange is sweet and then you add sugar and dried cranberries on top of that you are getting sugar from all sides so it’s best to cut back on the actual sugar you are adding in. They will still be delicious and even a bit better for you. And while the original recipe called to make these in a 12-cup cupcake tin, I opted to bake them in 6-cup muffin tin instead. I prefer bakery sized muffins than cupcake sized ones. To accommodate the extra batter, I placed my muffin liners in ramekins on a baking sheet and baked them as normal.

Cranberry Orange Walnut Muffins

  • Servings: 8 Large Muffins / 12 Small Muffins
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Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice*

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

*I used 3 large navel oranges

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder & soda together. Set aside.

In a small bowl stir together the orange juice & zest. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar using a handheld mixer on medium speed. Add the egg and continue beating until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture in three parts alternating with the orange juice mixture. Stir in the cranberries and walnuts.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-25 minutes for smaller muffins and 30-35 minutes for larger muffins. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes before removing muffins from pans and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from Fisher Nuts

One Banana Three Muffins

Normally when I have overripe bananas my go-to is to make a Banana Nut Bread. But that requires 3 bananas and this time around I only had 1. And while I could have tossed it, I’m not keen on eating overripe bananas, I also don’t like to waste food. So, I decided to tweak a recipe to turn that 1 banana into muffins.

Truthfully before making and dividing the batter I wasn’t sure how many muffins I would get from it. Once I was done prepping it, I was able to divide it into 3 large muffins. I used a 6-cup muffin pan as opposed to a 12-cup cupcake pan.

After baking in a 375 F preheated oven I let the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

And the following morning enjoy one for breakfast.

These muffins were delicious! From now on when I buy bananas I may leave one to overripe so I can bake up a batch of these muffins. They are quick, easy, delicious and the perfect amount!

 

Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:

3 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cups flour

1 overripe banana, mashed

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 3 cavities of a 6-cup muffin pan with liners.

In a medium bowl sift together the flour and baking soda and set aside.

In another medium bowl cream together the butter and sugar using a handheld mixer. Add the egg and continue to beat until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture and beat until just incorporated. Stir in the mashed banana and the walnuts.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the muffins and transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana Chocolate Chip & Nut Muffins

So once again I had a few bananas that were a tad over-ripe and while I had a few ideas as to what I wanted to make I settled on some muffins. I figured I had to have a recipe somewhere for something so basic and then I came across a 50 Muffin booklet I ripped out of an issue of Food Network magazine last year. The recipe was simple and I had all of the ingredients on hand so I got to baking.

Up first I mixed together my dry ingredients: flour, walnuts, baking powder, salt and baking soda. I also added some chocolate chips which weren’t part of the original recipe.

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Secondly I mixed together brown sugar, melted butter, mashed banana, sour cream and eggs.

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I then folded the wet mixture into the flour mixture.

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Since it was fall I decided to use up the last of my pumpkin decorated cupcake liners. I was concerned since they seemed as though they had lost their shape….

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But once I filled them with the muffing batter they were just fine. While the recipe said it only yielded twelve muffins I had some extra batter to squeeze out two extra muffins. I filled the empty compartments of the muffin tin with water so the two muffins would bake evenly but recently read that it’s not necessary.

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I baked them for about twenty minutes in a 350 degree pre-heated oven. After letting them sit in the pan for a few minutes I then transferred them to a wire rack so they could cool completely.

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While these muffins did taste good I wasn’t too thrilled about them so I doubt I will be baking up another batch of them anytime soon. I am thinking the next time I have some bananas past their prime I might make a Banana Cream Pie.

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Banana Chocolate Chip & Nut Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips*

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup mashed banana

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

*The original recipe didn’t include chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl whisk together the brown sugar, butter, banana, sour cream and 2 eggs and then fold it into the flour mixture. Divide among 12 prepared muffin cups and bake 20 to 25 minutes.

Baked Cinnamon Sugar Apple Doughnuts

There are a few great things about going apple picking… The scenery, the apples (of course) and the freshly made apple cider doughnuts. The doughnuts are amazing but unfortunately they don’t stay fresh very long. By the following day they are quite hard. Hoping to get that yummy goodness at home I decided to bake my own Apple Doughnuts by tweaking the recipe for the Pumpkin Doughnuts that I made last month that.

The scenery…

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To begin I whisked together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda and set it aside.

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I then peeled and cored three apples – I used the Golden Delicious apples I got while picking – and pureed them in a food processor. While the original pumpkin recipe called for 1 cup of pumpkin puree I decided to use only 1/2 cup of the fresh apple puree (it was essentially applesauce) since it wasn’t as thick as the pumpkin puree and I didn’t want my batter to be too watery.

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To continue with the batter I mixed the apples with sugar, brown sugar, oil, an egg and vanilla extract and then added in the dry ingredients.

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It was then time to fill up my doughnut pans. I filled in each doughnut crevice with a 1/4 cup of the batter.

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I baked them for about thirteen minutes in a 350 degree preheated oven and they were done to perfection. I recently bought a second doughnut pan so I wouldn’t have to wait for my first batch of doughnuts to cool in the pan before using it again.

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And finally I melted 3 tbsp. of butter in one bowl and combined 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. of cinnamon in another bowl so I could coat the doughnuts in cinnamon sugar. I dipped each doughnut in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar.

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Final verdict… They were delicious! Doughnuts have quickly become one of my favorite things to bake!

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Baked Cinnamon Sugar Apple Doughnuts

Ingredients

1/2 cup canola oil

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. fine salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup fresh applesauce

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

3 tbsp. melted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Spray two 6-compartment doughnut pans with baking spray. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Peel, core & puree three apples. Whisk the pureed apples with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (do not over mix).

3. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each compartment of the prepared pans. Bake until the doughnuts are golden brown and spring back lightly when touched, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.

4. Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping in a shallow bowl. Dip each doughnut into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place each doughnut on a wire rack to cool completely.