Strawberry (Banana) Muffins

I wasn’t going to write about these. I just wrote about muffins! But then I had them for breakfast… toasted… with peanut butter. And that changed things.

So, with strawberries popping up and going on sale at supermarkets across the country, I searched for a strawberry muffin recipe, though I’ve probably never had a strawberry muffin before. This recipe, from Food & Wine, looked like a solid one, and I generally trust the source to put forth good recipes. Taking inspiration from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for the best blueberry muffins, I cooked down half of the strawberries in some of the sugar for a more concentrated flavor.

 

I made a few other changes to add some nutritional value to these breakfast bites – using almost half whole-wheat flour, adding a banana and reducing the oil. You could probably reduce the oil to as little as 1/4 cup and still have good results. The muffins are anything but dry, not at all too sweet and full of delectable strawberry bits.

Check out the recipe rundown after the jump.

21 Digits of (S’mores) Pi(e)

Does anyone out there not like s’mores? I love them, especially at a small fire on the beach on a cool summer night. I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to my marshmallows, though. I prefer to roast them just above the flame, so that the entire mallow gets warm and gooey. No burned edges for me! Aside from campfire s’mores, I’ve made s’mores cheesecake,  s’mores brownies AND s'mores cookies. Having done all of that, I had to tackle s’mores pie for the 2011 Serious Eats Pi Day Contest.

The filling was the hardest part to figure out. After searching through a ton of recipes, I came up with one that ended up most like a brownie, but very moist and not too dense. I think it turned out great! You could possibly cook it for a little shorter time… who doesn’t like slightly undercooked brownies? Yuuuummm.

The topping, while beautiful and fluffy, was a work of love thanks to my lack of an electric mixer to whip it up. But I persevered, after whipping for 10+ minutes, and ended up with a glossy, marshmallowy finish for the pie.

Now… the Pi factor. I could’ve easily gotten away with a simple approach to incorporating Pi into my pie, which I kind of did just by swirling the symbol into the marshmallow topping.  But, my dad gave me a suggestion that allowed me to take it a step further. I converted the entire list of ingredients so that when you read down it, it’s the first 21 digits of Pi! If you don’t mind doing a little math, this is a great recipe for a super sweet and chocolately pie.

Pi Day 2011

Happy Pi Day!

Today, I'm going to get started on my entry for the 2011 Serious Eats Pi Day Contest. Last week, I decided it would be pretty awesome to make a s'mores pie and since then I've had almost nothing but pie on the brain.

Here's what I gotta do: I need to pull together my own recipe, which I'm going to base on a couple recipes I've used before as well as a new one for the pie filling. I'd like to have a filling with more structure than a cream pie but one that isn't as dense and cakey as a brownie. I stumbled upon what I think will work... but that's what today's for! It's pie testing time :)

Now, as far as how to make it unique for Pi Day? Well, you'll have to hang around to find out...

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Three overripe bananas in the kitchen had been staring at me for days. But with so many uses to choose from – banana bread (but no loaf pan at the time), banana muffins, banana cupcakes – it took me a couple days to settle on a recipe. Even though someone wasn’t thrilled with any of the ideas, those bananas had to go, and not in the trash.

I made a few adjustments to the original recipe, using whole-wheat flour for 1/3 of the total flour, mixing brown and white sugar and replacing some of the butter with chunky peanut butter. True to form, I almost forgot the chocolate chips after I had spent a few painstaking minutes chopping them with a steak knife, but managed to stir them directly into the muffin cups at the last second.

The muffins weren’t quite as light and crumbly as those you’d get at a bakery. I’ll have to do more investigating into baking powder vs. baking soda – perhaps these could’ve used some of the latter. But the flavors? Oh, they were spot on. My super palate claims that you first taste the bananas, then a healthy hint of peanut butter before you’re wooed by the gooey sweetness of the chocolate chips. If you don’t eat these right away, I definitely recommend throwing them in the toaster oven or microwave oven before eating.

As for that someone? He definitely enjoyed his fair share.

Well, Hello There

First off, be sure to like my page on Facebook and follow me on Twitter for updates and commentary in between posts! Now that we’ve gotten the hummus-as-icebreaker out of the way, I thought maybe I could entertain (hopefully not bore) you with a little about myself.

I’m Jennifer – a twentysomething who recently left a relatively comfortable full-time job as a copywriter to explore other avenues. One of the catalysts for making this jump was my desire to conquer – I mean, travel – the world. I didn’t waste any time and jetted off to South America in January to spend three weeks in Peru with a Gap Adventures tour group. What an adventure it was! One thing I ate there that I HAVE to find a recipe for is this chili sauce they served at almost every meal. It was incredibly flavorful and packed a fiery punch – just a few dashes was enough for me. Also, did you know that Peru has over 3,000 varieties of potatoes? Well, now you do.

Since then, I’ve been spending a good amount of time in the kitchen earning my nickname, Spill. I tend to move a little too fast and often find myself knocking things around; for example, an entire container of kosher salt on the floor. Oooops J  I love to bake, but do everything I can to force my creations on other people so I don’t have to go to the gym as often as I really should. I may not be anywhere near a great cook or baker, but I feel a certain strength come over me when I’m in the kitchen. It’s an addicting feeling.

I hope you return often to read about my kitchen successes and disasters – of which I hope there are few. I will say, I am not a professional photographer, but think it’s important to visually document the goings-on in addition to writing about them. Plus, then you can see stuff like before and after I originally forgot to mix chocolate chips into my muffins.

Now, I’m heading out tomorrow for a quick jaunt on a boat down to the Turks & Caicos for a few days. Catch ya on the flip side!