Tickled Pink Muffins

Hello, all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I went a little crazy at the Farmer's Market over the strawberries. But, I needed strawberries for salads, desserts, and just for popping into your mouth! I saw this recipe on Modcloth's Blog and I thought I'd give it a try.

Tickled Pink Muffins
Makes a dozen regular sized muffins.
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk or non-dairy substitute
1/4 cup applesauce for a vegan option, or 1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup sugar
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
1/2 cup of Neufchâtel or cream cheese
Pink sugar sprinkles

1. Preheat your oven at 400°F. Meanwhile, sift together your flour and baking powder.
2. In another bowl combine milk, oil, and applesauce/egg. Stir in sugar and mix until dissolved.
3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, stirring gently.
4. While there is still clumps of flour in the mix, fold in strawberries. Work batter lightly until just combined.
5. Pour batter into muffin cups about 2/3 full. Add a teaspoon-sized dollop of Neufchâtel or cream cheese  in each cup. Sprinkle sugar on top. (I used turbinado sugar)
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Once the muffins pass a toothpick test, they’re done.

I enjoyed these muffins. They came out super moist though, maybe 2 cups of strawberries was too much? It's also been stormy and humid in my corner of the world.
Mr. K and I actually prefer them without  the cheese. I also had more than 12 muffins, and ended up making 9 mini muffins in my babycakes maker. Those actually came out muffin-ier than the ones I baked in the oven. This recipe is easily veganized and is all pretty good. If I tried it again I might use fewer strawberries to lessen the "mush."

What are you cooking up these days?

Baking: Peanut Butter Banana Bread

You'll need:

• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar or raw sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 medium bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup unsweetened crunchy peanut butter (I used creamy)
• 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I used honey flavored Greek yogurt)
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbs. canola oil
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1/4 C white chocolate chips)

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
2. Whisk together mashed bananas, peanut butter, yogurt, egg and oil. Combine with flour mixture until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Let cool, then serve.

This yummy banana bread recipe just might give my regular go-to recipe a run for the money. The result was a moist bread with a crumble-y crust. The peanut butter makes it absolutely irresistible! The recipe felt a wee bit indulgent so I was tempted to omit the egg. But I didn't want to do to much experimenting with the recipe the first time around. Next time. And it's okay to indulge anyway, this banana bread was protein packed. Yum.


recipe from Vegetarian Times 

Apple-Pear Butter, Mm Mmm

Hello lovelies, I must have spent a week cutting up pounds and pounds of fruit to make this yummy apple-pear butter. I think 60 lbs of fruit were transformed into about ten jars of butter. Maybe more. This recipe has no preservatives and that's not a bad thing, just something to keep in mind!

Some of you received a jar (the rest of you will have to make your own, ha! or say "pretty please"). I thought I'd share with you some ideas beyond toast or the great English muffin!