Easy Chocolate Banana Muffins

Easy food is good food.

That's why I try to make the bulk of the recipes of this site pretty simple.

But let me tell you, when you want some dessert, and you want it fast, sometimes even the easy recipes on this blog take too long to prepare.  But fear not, my fellow dessert lovers, for I have solved the problem.  This recipe for Chocolate Banana Muffins has six ingredients, comes together in less than 10 minutes, uses only one bowl, and tastes delicious to boot.

Total success!

Next time you're in need of a quick chocolate fix, look no further than these delicious muffins!

Easy Chocolate Banana Muffins

• 2 banana
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup special dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 12 cups in a cupcake pan, or line a muffins pan with cupcake liners.  In a large bowl, mash bananas until smooth.  Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, honey, and milk and mix until a smooth batter forms.  If you have trouble mixing it together, add some more milk by the tbsp. Mix in chocolate chips.  Scoop batter into prepared pan or liners until about 3/4 full.  Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until firm.  Recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

Enjoy y'all!

Lemon Cream Filled Cupcakes

Let's talk summer food.

What foods just scream summer to you?  Burgers on the grill, ice cream in the sunlight, a nice big smoothie?

For me, it's fruit that reminds me of summer most.  Juicy peaches, triangles of watermelon, fresh berries, and the refreshing taste of lemon.

As the weather's been warming all of those flavors have been practically begging to be used in some kind of dessert.  Unfortunately, berries and peaches still aren't quite plentiful enough to use and I'm sort of at a loss for how to use watermelon (If you have any ideas don't hesitate to share them!).  That leaves me with lemon.

I'm super weird and love lemon on/in everything.  I use it instead of salad dressing, squeeze it into my water, and even eat it plain!  I've got some sort of crazy sour tolerance.

Because of this, I sometimes forget to use lemon in baked goods.  Luckily, my dad reminded me of how awesome lemon desserts are when he requested cupcakes with lemon cream for his birthday dessert.  I was happy to take on the challenge.

Let me just say that these cupcakes are such a summer dessert!

A light vanilla cupcakes filled with refreshing lemon cream.  This is not a dessert that will leave you feeling heavy or weighed down in the least.  Which is good because now that the weathers warmer all I want to do is be outside in the sunshine, and that isn't too fun when you feel like you're going to explode!

Basically, these cupcakes = your new favorite summer dessert

Lemon Cream Cupcakes
For Cupcakes:

• 1 cup oat flour (you can make your own by combining 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp flax + 1 tbsp flax, divided
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt (a vegan version will work as well)
• 3/4 - 1 cup milk (start with 3/4 and add more if batter seems too thick)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted

For Cream:

• 180 g silken tofu (I used the shelf stable kind from Trader Joes)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp flour

To Make Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, 1 tbsp flax, and cornstarch.  Mix together.
3. In another bowl, mix together 1 tbsp flax, honey, vanilla, yogurt, milk (3/4 cup to start), and oil.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until a smooth batter forms.  If you are having trouble mixing, add 2 tbsp of milk at a time until batter becomes smooth. (You should only need up to 1 cup milk)
4. Divide batter between 10-12 lined muffin tins and fill about 3/4 of the way.  When the cupcakes are done baking they will not have domed tops, but instead a slight cup to put the cream in.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Set aside to cool completely.

To Make Cream:

1. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.  Blend until completely smooth.  Mixture will look thin, but it will firm up as it chills.
2. Transfer mixture to container and chill in fridge overnight, or for at least 8 hours.  It should be thick after that time.
3. Use a knife to cut a small hole out of one cupcake.  Fill the hole with cream, and then add a bit more on top to cover the top of the cupcake.  If desired, add a bit of lemon zest.  This process is shown in the picture below.
4. Repeat will all cupcakes.
5. Store cupcakes in fridge until serving time.  Over this time the cream will firm up even more.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Lemon Zucchini Bread

Recipe ReDux - Chocolate Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting.

Is it just me or did April fly by?

I swear, it felt like I was reading the new Recipe ReDux theme just yesterday.  Maybe it's because this months theme was finally in my comfort zone again?

That's right, today we are back to desserts!  Thank god!

To quote the Recipe ReDux people, this months theme cantered around "The Cupcake Conundrum".  Our job was to to do one of the following: "If you think cupcakes never go out of style, show us your most delicious 'ReDux-ed' mini-cake creation. Or if you're in the camp that cupcakes have been a bit overdone, share your favorite hand-held dessert destined to be the next big trend"

Well, I don't know about you, but in my mind cupcakes never get old.  Especially when there's cookie dough involved!

This was by far the easiest Recipe ReDux theme yet.  As soon as I read the theme, I knew just what to do.

It was Cookie Dough Frosting time!

I made a simple chocolate cupcake in my mini muffin pan, and then used a big scoop of my Healthy Cookie Dough recipe to frost them.  Delicious!

If you want a cute + healthier dessert for a party, your family, or just for you to hog, this is your recipe!  They.  Are.  So.  Adorable!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting
Cupcakes:

• 2  1/2 tbsp ground flax
• 7 1/2 tbsp water
• 2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup honey (note that these cupcakes are not super sweet, if you like things on the sweeter side, add a bit more honey and reduce milk accordingly)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp milk

Frosting:

• 3/4 - 1 cup Healthy Cookie Dough (you can make this up to 2 days ahead of time) (for vegan cupcakes make vegan version of cookie dough)

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a small bowl, mix together flax and water.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Add in applesauce, honey, vanilla, milk, and flax/water mixture.  Mix until a smooth batter forms.  Scoop batter into greased mini muffin tins and bake for 10 minutes.  Let cool before removing from pan and frosting with a big (around a heaping 1/2 tbsp) scoop of (premade) Healthy Cookie Dough.  Recipe makes 18-20 cupcakes.

The cupcake trend is so not over.  Now with these little guys around!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Food Processor Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

I sort of make it a point to try every chocolate layer cake I can find.

When eating out, when passing bakeries, when at someone's house.  If it's chocolate and layered I am going to try it.  It's become a sort of tradition, and I'm not even sure why.

But anyway, I've had so many cakes that I've started to rank them in my head.  There's the bronze, silver, and gold cake.  The gold cake has stayed gold for some time now, never to be beaten by anything else I've tried.

You know what's so special about it?  It was made with beets!

I had never heard of that before, but as soon as I tasted the cake, I knew it was something I had to replicate at home!

These cupcakes are about as close as I've gotten so far.  They're super chocolate-y and have a light texture just like the #1 cake I tried.  The beets not only help to create the perfect texture, but also add an earthiness that's pairs perfectly with the chocolate flavor.

Whether you're doubtful or not, you've got to try them.

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

For cake (makes 18 cupcakes):

• 260 g beets, cut into very small pieces or grated
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup date paste
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (make your own by combining 1/2 cup milk with 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice or letting it it)
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp spelt flour
• 1 scant tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1/3 cup extra dark cocoa powder

For Frosting:

• 2/3 cup 2% greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup date paste
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp egg whites

Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine first 6 ingredients for cake in a food processor and process until smooth.  In a large bowl, mix together remaining ingredients for cake.  Pour wet ingredients from food processor into dry ingredients.  Mix until well combined.  Scoop batter into paper lined or sprayed muffin tins.  Bake in preheated oven for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
While cupcakes are baking, make your frosting.  To do this, mix together the yogurt, date paste, and milk called for in the frosting ingredients in a small bowl.  Slowly stir in the cocoa powder until combined.  Mix in egg whites.  When cupcakes are ready, place a large dollop of the frosting on each one.  Store cupcakes in fridge.

As for the making these cupcakes into a layer cake, I'm still working on that.  Though I think I've got the cake recipe down, I'm still trying to figure out a good frosting recipe.

The one used for these cupcakes is delicious, but not quite as thick and fudgy as I'd like.  Don't worry though, I will recreate that golden cake.

But in the meantime... Why don't you make some cupcakes?

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Single Serving Mocha Cake