Take a Megabite

Banana + Honey + Cinnamon Smoothie for One

I’m completely impatient right now. I can’t sit still. It has a little bit to do with throw pillows and shaggy rugs. It has a lot to do with with the fact that I get to move to a cute flat in a couple weeks.

But for now, it’s time to drink this smoothie and try to stop wishing the days away.

Banana + Honey + Cinnamon Smoothie for One

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana* + a couple fresh banana slices for garnish
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 t honey
• generous sprinklings of cinnamon

* 1 banana peeled and wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the freezer until firm.

Directions:

1. Dissolve honey in milk by microwaving them together in a small jar or bowl for about 20 seconds. Stir or shake to ensure that the honey is completely dissolved. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Chill until smoothie time.
2. Chop the frozen banana into a few pieces and blend with the chilled honey infused milk until smooth. Pour into a small glass and top with a fresh banana slice and sprinkle with more cinnamon. Chug it and feel good about life.

P.S. Did you guys know I’m on Facebook? Sometimes I post fun things.

I tricked the honey, Honey.

Did you know that honey hates being cold? That’s why I dissolved it in milk before making this smoothie! Talk about a dreamy smoothie, despite the all-khaki outfit.

Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets

I’m looking forward to moving, because I know for a fact that there will natural light promised in the lease. I also can’t wait to have a yard that doesn’t back up to mean growly dogs that want to eat Elliot.

When I envision my future home, I imagine white walls, a white oven and windows Elliot can see out of without standing on the back of the couch … and preferably a huge tupperware of these mini tarts in the fridge.

These are cheesecake-ish mini tarts … also known as a cookie stacker … also known as delicious. I’m totally down with ricotta being dessert-y. And as you’ve probably noticed, I’m always down with a dessert involving strawberries. Did you know there’s lemon in these? Oh yeah. Zest in the ricotta + juice in the berries.

And I can just say, that I’m glad to have some strawberries leftover? I’d like to put them on my yogurt and ice cream, please. Would that be an ok dinner? When it’s really hot out, is that kind of thing allowed?

Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets
Recipe adapted from Food & Wine via Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

graham cookies -

• 1 cup + 2 T all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 cup graham flour, or whole wheat if you can’t find graham
• 3/4 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• pinch of ground cloves
• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 T light brown sugar
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 2 T honey
• 1 1/2 t molasses, you can just use more honey if you don’t want to use molasses

strawberry goodness -

• 3/4 pound strawberries, thinly sliced
• 3 T granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice

ricotta mixture -

• 1 1/4 cups ricotta (10 oz.), fresh if you can find it, or a full-fat store-bought
• 2 T confectioners’ sugar
• 1 t finely grated lemon zest

Directions:

1. Make grahams. In a bowl, whisk both flours with the cinnamon, salt and cloves. Beat the butter, light brown sugar and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar at medium speed on an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the honey and molasses, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the side of the bowl and beat in the flour mixture at low speed, just until incorporated. Pat the dough into a disk, cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.
2. Preheat ove to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. Using  a 1 1/2 inch round cutter (or a larger cutter of your choice) stamp out your bases (about 45 minis). Reroll the dough scraps as necessary. Transfer the grahams to the baking sheets and bake for about 9 minutes (12ish minutes for 3 1/2 inch cookies), or until lightly golden around the edges. Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer the grahams to racks to cool completely.
3. Make toppings. In a bowl, toss the strawberries with 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar and lemon juice. Let stand until syrupy, 20 minutes, or overnight. In a medium bowl mix the ricotta, confectioners’ sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer. Cover both and refrigerate until time to assemble.
4. Assemble tartlets. Divide ricotta mixture between all the graham bases. Arrange strawberries over the ricotta, drizzle with syrup and serve.

P.S. Just know that with these little (1 1/2 inch) tarts, you might only need half of the ricotta + strawberry mixtures, since so little fits on the teeny 1 1/2 inch cookies. If you make the graham cracker bases a bigger size, you’ll be all set since you can just be so generous with the topping.

Do ahead: The grahams will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Ricotta mixture will last only for a day or two if fresh, or up to a week from packaged ricotta. Strawberry mixture will keep for a few days, but tastes amazing on everything so probably won’t last that long in real life.

Just the tall-drink-of-water of the cookie world.

Banana Snack Cake + Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

I had four bananas that were a way too freckled to function. They needed a home. So I figured why not put them in a cake and top them with the dreamiest frosting ever and call it a snack.

Do me a favor and try not to be as impatient as I was about frosting this cake, ok? On top of it being super hot out, and hotter in my kitchen, this cake wasn’t completely cooled when I frosted it. The frosting tried to melt. But now the cake is hangin’ out in fridge, which happens to be the only place in my flat with air conditioning. So this cake is livin’ it up.

Do you have some oldie bananas laying around causing trouble? Make this! It’s tasty.

Banana Snack Cake
Recipe adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups cake flour*
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t vanilla

* If you don’t have cake flour on hand, just use all-purpose. No problem.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and pale. Add eggs one at a time. Beating until thoroughly mixed. Add bananas and mix until evenly distributed.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt). Add dry mixture to the banana mixture. Add vanilla. When smooth pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife comes out mostly clean and the top is golden. Cool and frost cake! Or if you don’t feel like frosting it, just sprinkle it with powered sugar and serve it up.

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 T honey
• 1/8 t ground cinnamon

Direction:

1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat all ingredients until smooth. Use immediately!

Elliot’s favorite place to lounge.

Honey Cornmeal Scones

I can count on Jake making pizza every week.

I can count on Elliot mistaking a tulip for a squirrel and trying to fight it.
(He gets embarrassed when we go up close and he realizes it’s just a tulip.)

I can always count on being hungry for corn bread topped with honey, and these scones have that cornbread and honey thing that I find completely irresistible.

These guys are best warm, right out of the oven, but what isn’t? When they are no longer warm, dunk these guys in your coffee. Don’t bother being shy about it. Scones think of coffee as a hot tub.

Honey Cornmeal Scones {8 scones}
Recipe adapted from A Mingling of Tastes

Ingredients:

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour*
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 T packed brown sugar
• 5 T unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes or frozen and grated

glaze -

• 2 T milk
• 1 T honey

* If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour substitute 1/2 cup cake flour + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.

Directions:

1. Place the butter in the freezer. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the egg, buttermilk, honey and vanilla in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In another large bowl, whisk together the flours, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Grate the cold butter using the large holes on the side of your box grater. Add the cold butter and mix it in with a fork until it’s a loose sandy consistency.
4. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and gently combine just until all the flour is moistened.
5. Pat into a  half inch high circle and cut into 8 triangles. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Brush with glaze (2T milk + 1 T honey whisked together).
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are golden and toothpick comes out clean. Cool on baking sheet a couple minutes and transfer to a wire rack. Eat while warm!

Look at at that crumby middle.

Roasted Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

I saw a guy eating nachos over the weekend. Then I saw that same guy dunking tortilla chips in ketchup instead of nacho cheese. Ketchup people? That’s just gross.

These cupcakes, on the other hand, are the opposite of gross. Even people who think bananas are gross, love these. At least one lovely banana-hater that I know, sure loved her cupcake despite the whole banana-hating thing.

So it turns out the art director I’ve been working with is moving on, and her last day of work was yesterday. She’s the kind of girl who loves banana everything … banana cream pie, banana boats, a pancake loving nannerpuss and roasted banana cupcakes. So there you go… So just for her, I made these cupcakes!

These cupcakes have a way of disappearing. You’ll take one bite, thinking you’re going to save the rest for later, but you’ll find yourself sitting there with a crumb covered cupcake paper and a sheepish face. It’ll happen… Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Roasted Banana Cupcakes
Recipes for both cupcakes and frosting from: Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 3/4 t salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 t pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place 3 whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes. The peels will darken (like below). Remove from oven and allow to cool before peeling. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
   
2. Line a regular muffin tin or two with 16 paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add roasted bananas, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream. Beat until just combined after each. Beat in vanilla.
3. In another mixing bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites to soft peaks; fold one-third whites into batter to lighten. Gently fold in remaining whites in two batches.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 T honey
• 1/4 t ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat all ingredients until smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate up to 5 days in an airtight container; before using, bring to room temperature and beat until smooth.
2. Pipe frosting onto your cooled roasted banana cupcakes!

Honey Graham Pound Cakes with Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting

Last year my Thanksgiving contribution was to drive a smooshed pumpkin roll six hours to my sister’s house. Not this year though. Because this time tomorrow I’ll be in Minnesota hanging out with my parents. My mom and I will be going over the Thanksgiving dinner menu and Wednesday will consist of cooking and prepping.

I decided to channel my excitement for Thursday by making these delicious s’more’eque pound cakes.

S’mores are on my mind often as the ideal flavor combo for a dessert. I think about that magical menage a tois of graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallow. So here you go! A remix of that childhood favorite. Maybe coming up I’ll make a pie and then brownies expressing s’more love yet again.

Honey Graham Pound Cakes (makes 4 mini loaves)
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups graham flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 T) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 4 mini loaf pans and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the graham flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, whip the butter, sugar and honey at a medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute after each addition. Scrape the bowl as needed. Add the dry mixture and buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is evenly incorporated.
4. Transfer the batter to the 4 prepared mini loaf pans. Smooth the top and bake for 25-30 minutes turning half way through baking. Remove from the oven when a thin knife comes out clean when inserted in the center and cake is golden brown.
5. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Now make the frosting!

Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting
Recipe adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 large marshmallows
• 4 T (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup milk

Directions:

1. Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Place marshmallows, butter and milk in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Stir until the marshmallows are melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and pour over the sugar and cocoa powder mixture. Stir until smooth, satiny and combined.
3. Frost the tops of your mostly warm honey graham cakes!
4. Slice and eat, chasing with a cool glass of milk.

Graham Crackers

You look kinda hungry. I think you need a snack.
Perhaps you should eat some graham crackers dunked in milk.
Yeah, you most definitely should.

These guys stand up to milk like champs. You can dunk them to your hearts content without getting stressed out that they’ll break.
Who knew these were possible?

This recipe makes approximately 36 (2 1/2 inch) squares of honey graham goodness.

Graham Crackers
Recipe from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book

Ingredients:

• 4 T (1/2 stick) butter, softened
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 6 T sugar
• 4 T honey
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 2 t water
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 cups graham flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine the butter, egg and sugar in a medium bowl, and beat until smooth and creamy. Stir in the honey and blend.
3. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture. Add the salt, graham flour and all purpose flour to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too “tacky” add a little more graham flour.
4. Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Cut into 2 1/2 inch square sections. (I cut a piece of parchment paper into a 2 1/2 inch square for measuring purposes.)
5. Using a spatula, place the cracker squares onto the parchment paper lined cookie sheets. With a knife gently score the dough in the center of each square without cutting through. Prick each square a few times with the tines of a fork on each side of the scored cracker.
6. Bake on the first side for 8 minutes, then turn the crackers over and bake for 6-7 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on racks.

I gobbled up a few promptly after they came out of the oven. Fannie Farmer describes them as “flavorful and fresh”. She wasn’t kidding. She’s not a prankster.

Mom’s Honey Wheat Bread

One of my most favorite things in the entire world is the end piece of this bread right out of the oven. I’m far too impatient to wait long for it to cool.

Another one of my favorite things is the smell of baking bread…and polka dots, of course.

Bread is like cake to me. It tastes decadent with strawberry jam and some melted butter on top. My uncle suggests sprinkling it with brown sugar while it’s warm. Regardless, it’s a treat, a dessert and a party worth attending.

Bread takes time, so I reserve it for the weekend. It’s well worth every minute.

Mom’s Honey Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 – 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 (1/4 oz) packages active dry yeast
• 1 T salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 3 T butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup honey ( I used half honey half maple syrup)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine 1 cup all purpose flour, all 2 1/2 cups of the wheat flour, yeast and salt. Mix well.
2. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, heat the milk, water, honey and butter until warm, not hot. (about 130 degrees). Add to flour mixture. Add egg and stir until moist.
3. Add the rest (or most) of the all purpose flour (2 1/2 – 3 cups). When mostly mixed, pour contents onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is compact and all bits are incorporated.
4. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and put the dough in, flipping it over so it’s greased on top. Cover with a light towel and allow to rise 1+ hours, or until double in size.
5. Pat dough down and divide dough in half between two greased bread pans.
6. Allow to rise again in bread pans until just peaking over the top of the bread pans, about 40 minutes to an hour (depending on how warm the house is).
7. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, until the top is nice and dark and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven and brush the top lightly with butter and allow to cool on a wire rack. Delish!