banana muffin yumminess

banana muffins!

banana muffins/cake/bread are some of my all-time favorite things.  every year, i have a banana cake with homemade cream cheese icing for my birthday.  the recipe my mom uses was passed down from her mom and has been a family tradition for years.  this past weekend, i found myself with a few over-ripe bananas, so what did i do?  made banana muffins, of course!  i tweaked the family recipe just a bit - a tad less butter and sugar, a little extra banana - and added an oatmeal streusel topping.  fabulous!  seriously...this recipe will change your life...

ok, so here's what i did...

banana muffins

2¼ cups flour
1½ cups sugar
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
1¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening or softened butter
⅔ cup buttermilk (or 1½ tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar in ⅔ cup milk)
1¼ cups mashed bananas (about 3)
2 large eggs
dash of cinnamon & nutmeg

streusel topping

4 tbsp butter, chopped
1/2 cup quick oats
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar

amazingness...

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease 18 large muffin cups.

2. sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

3. put dry ingredients in a mixer and add butter, buttermilk and bananas.

4. beat for 2 minutes then add eggs.

filling muffin tin

5. beat for 2 more minutes then pour batter into 18 large muffin cups.

6. while muffins are baking, mix together streusel topping ingredients with back of fork until crumbly.  when muffins are lightly browned (after about 20 minutes of baking), top each muffin with a spoonful of the topping.

streusel topping

7.  bake muffins for another 10-15 minutes (so 30-35 minutes total) or until cake tester comes out clean.

7. allow muffins to cool completely before removing from tin.

8. enjoy with a cup of your favorite tea : )



banana muffin & chai



want to know something wonderfully fabulous? i calculated (and then recalculated because i didn't believe it...) the caloric value of each muffin (including the streusel topping), and they're only 220 calories each!!! how delightful is that?!

holiday happenings (in no particular order)

this month has flown by...as usual.  each year i try to savor each moment, but it seems to get harder and harder to find the time to just sit back, relax and revel in that seasonal glow.  it's december 22.  can you believe it?  and i don't know about you, but i plan on making the most of the next few days leading up to christmas and the new year.  after all, it only comes around once a year : )

here are some picts from the past few weeks.  hope they make you smile.

charlie brown tree

my homemade cinnamon rolls : )

craig, me and han (my sis) at the continental in philly

my laptop advent calendar from my mom

wanamaker's light show in philly

me cutting the cinnamon rolls

recipes galore!

light show : )

well, that's the photo summary of a few of the holiday-ish things i've been up to.  and tonight, we're going on our "christmas ride" to see all the decorated houses in the area.  yay!

so, what have you been up to this holiday season?  make time for anything super fun?

butter, sugar & love

part of our pre-christmas prepping always includes a day...or two...or three of baking.  each year, me, my sis and my mom set aside a day to gather in the kitchen and bake up a storm.  this year we're planning our bake-a-thon for next friday.  with my baking day on the horizon, i thought i'd share a recipe that we make year after year (and always get lots and lots of compliments on).  these amazingly delicious cookies come straight from scotland and have been enjoyed by my family for generations : )  i hope you enjoy them too!

our holiday dessert table

authentic scottish shortbread cookies

1 pound butter (4 sticks)
1 egg
1 cup sugar
4 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. add sugar to room temperature butter and knead with hands.

2. add beaten egg and salt.

3. add flour gradually, continuing to knead dough with hands.

4. roll dough to ½ inch thickness and place on a cookie sheet with a lip.

5. cut dough into rectangular cookies (¾ inch by 2 inches). for a decorative touch, score each cookie 3 times with the tines of a fork, leaving 9 dots on the face of each cookie.

6. bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 200 degrees and continue to bake for 1 hour or until lightly golden brown.

7. while cookies are still warm, cut again along same grid lines. allow to cool completely on baking sheet.

(the baking tray we use has lots of score marks in it from all the years of making these cookies.  i just love that.)

credit {here}

happy holiday (cookies)!

sinfully sweet tooth

reeses!  yum!

what is it about this time of year?  generally, i'm a very healthy person.  i work out 5 days a week (and enjoy it most of the time).  i eat healthy food because i like it and it makes me feel good (inside and out).  but then fall weather arrives and with it comes pumpkin muffins, halloween candy and spicy chai lattes.  and my healthy aspirations seem harder (and harder) to stick to...

i <3 halloween munchkins too!

all i want to do is bake oatmeal raisin cookies, drink hot chocolate, purchase (and consume) reeses and go apple-picking (and make apple pies, crumbles and coffee cakes...and then eat them...)  i feel like i could literally subsist on sugar, spice & everything nice this time of year.

baking apple pie : )

there must be something in the air that arrives with falling leaves, early dusk and crisp breezes.  something that makes my sweet tooth come alive with ravenous force.  luckily, i can (usually) control my voraciousness just long enough to get me through to the next celebration or holiday (or weekend).


pumpkin muffins

oh, pumpkin muffins, how i love thee (and thanks to han, i have a dozen of you in the fridge : )  ok, i can't resist.  i'm going to get a pumpkin muffin now and some tea too...


what's your favorite fall indulgence?