I just… have a muffin problem.

Actually, I have a mid-morning snack problem. And probably a mid-afternoon snack problem… as well as an after dinner snack problem.

I snack a lot. All day long. Because every morning I leave the house  around 5:30 , I pack both my breakfast and my lunch and take them with me to work. Everything goes into the same bag, and breakfast and lunch kind of blend together, morphing one mega-meal that’s consumed at a slow but constant rate between the hours of 7:00am and 3:00pm.

Rarely is there a time of day when there isn’t something edible sitting on my desk, slowly disappearing as I work and munch. And oftentimes, that slowly savored snack (see what I did there, with the alliteration?) is some variety of muffin.

Because my relationship with muffins is such an important one in my life, I’ve established some standards. Muffins should be:

1. Texture-wise: Sturdy (not a cupcake); Moist (not a rock).
2. Taste-wise: Good (um, obvious); Not too sweet (again, not a cupcake); Hopefully unique
3. Nutrition-wise: Not a sugar bomb (yep… still not a cupcake); Contain some redeeming value in terms of protein, fiber, healthy fat, etc.

Most of the muffins on my site fall within these standards (I’ll admit that the Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins suffer slightly in terms of nutritional value… but they obviously have other strengths). Where these Banana Cappuccino Chip Muffins stand out, though, is in the taste department.

These are distinctly coffee-flavored, naturally sweet from the banana, a little spicy from the cinnamon, and slightly richer due to the chocolate chips — which also gives them texture. The oats+ ripe banana combination really give these a sturdy-yet-moist muffin texture that, happily, is also nutritious and satisfying.

Have I convinced you yet? They’re also easy to make, and quite unique! Go ahead, make yourself a snack. The recipe makes exactly a dozen — if you eat one in the morning, one mid-afternoon, and one at night, this batch should last until… Friday!

Nutritional facts (per muffin): 160 calories, 5 grams fat, 1.5 grams fiber, 3 grams protein

Banana Cappuccino Chip Muffins

Adapted from my Best Healthy Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

• 2 tablespoon milk (I used skim)
• 2 heaping tablespoons instant coffee
• ¾ cups oat bran
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed black bananas
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a small bowl or microwave-safe mug, heat the milk for 15 seconds in the microwave. Stir in the instant coffee, and keep stirring until the coffee is totally dissolved.

In a large bowl, combine the oat bran, flours, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the bananas, egg, milk/coffee combination, and vanilla extract. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. Do not over mix. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Cool on a wire rack.

Hi there! How about a healthy snack? I mean… a healthy breakfast treat? Or, uh… a healthy dessert?

Friends, I’m not even really sure what to call this one. You’ll notice that I graced this recipe with the “dessert” tag as well as the breakfast” tag… I guess those two categories can overlap once in a while… especially when combined with the “chocolate” tag

Remember those Healthy Banana Apple Pumpkin Pie Muffin Tops that I made a few weeks ago? Well, I was so attracted to the concept of a healthy muffin top — a chewy, sweet, satisfying combination of the best part of a muffin and cake-like cookie — that I made another version. These Banana Cocoa Muffin Tops are just as healthy (per serving: 82 calories, 1 gram fat, 2 grams fiber, 2 grams protein), but the addition of cocoa make them richer and more dessert-like.

These are just as dark, dense, and chocolatey as they look in the pictures. They’re a little sturdier than the Banana Apple Pumpkin Pie version — and just slightly flatter. But what I adore about these Banana Cocoa Muffin Tops is that while they absolutely satisfy my chocolate cravings, they’re also healthy enough to be an everyday food, rather than a sometimes treat. It’s a win-win!

By the way, I should note that when I made these Banana Cocoa Muffin Tops, as well as the Healthy Banana Apple Pumpkin Pie Muffin Tops, I baked them, let them cool, packed them in plastic containers, and froze them right away. I’m not sure what kind of countertop-life these muffin tops have in them, or whether they get dry or sticky or something strange in two days. I almost always freeze my baked goods — with two people, we don’t have the belly space to eat everything I bake! But, that also means that I don’t know how well these little guys age. If you make them and find  out — let me know in the comments!

Healthy Banana Cocoa Muffin Tops

Very loosely adapted from Fat Free Vegan

Makes 16 muffin tops

• 1 cup regular or quick oats
• ¾ cup white whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ½  teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 overripe (almost black) bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• ½ teaspoon vinegar
• 1 egg

Preheat the oven to 375.

Combine the oats, flour, cocoa baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, mashed banana, vinegar and brown sugar. Whisk until well combined. Pour into the dry mixture and stir just until the texture is consistent. Do not over mix.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat or parchment paper. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly pressed. Don’t overbake – these are cake-like, not like a crispy cookie!

I promise to explain why my Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies aren’t… red. But first, play a little imagination game. Pretend that it’s Monday morning. Imagine that the temperature is way below freezing, and that it’s snowing (AGAIN). Let’s say, hypothetically, that you’ve been sick, tired, and cranky for… possibly… three weeks.

If — you know, just IF — that were true of you (me) right now, what would make you (me) feel better?

This morning, if you happen to find yourself in this, ahem, hypothetical situation, I give you the virtual gift of brownies. And not just any brownies: Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies. On an Oreo Cookie Crust.

I adapted my Red Velvet Cheesecake brownies from this recipe, basically turning up the chocolate factor by starting with an Oreo cookie crust and adding more cocoa powder to the brownie layer. I’m in love with the crusted brownie idea — the crunch and sweetness of the cookies adds a whole new texture to an otherwise rich, fudgey cheesecake brownie.

The ratio of cheesecake to brownie in this recipe is spot-on; the components (crust, brownie, cheesecake) are perfectly balanced. However, when I tasted the brownie batter, it just didn’t have that dense chocolate taste that I crave in brownies. Adding more cocoa powder to the brownie layer was, therefore, a no brainer.

Now.  To the question you are all dying to ask, but are just too polite to come right out and say: “If these are red velvet brownies… why aren’t they red?” Excellent question. Let’s explore that.

I love cocoa powder-based brownies — I rarely make any other kind. And for my cocoa powder, I always use Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa. It is incredibly dark and chocolately — so dark, in fact, that it turns baked goods a really, really dark color. Almost black. Take this cake, for example — or these Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies, and especially these Andes Brownies.

So, I’m afraid that my poor red velvet cheesecake brownies never had a chance of being red. When I added in my additional two tablespoons of cocoa powder, their fate was sealed. I had fantastic dreams of how pretty they would look for Valentine’s Day — black cookie-crusted bottom, festively red fudgey top with playful cheesecake swirls… cute, romantic, and delicious.

What I got instead were these deliciously dark black velvet cheesecake brownies… with a little bit of red showing up around the cheesecake swirls. Almost as if the brownies were bleeding. However, if you wanted to try yourself to realize my red velvet dream, I am 100% convinced that with a different cocoa powder, and maybe some additional food coloring, red velvet cheesecake brownies would be your reward.

For now, though, I can’t imagine any Valentine — romantic or otherwise — would say no to red velvet cheesecake brownies… even if they are black.

Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Swirl and Oreo Cookie Crust

Adapted from Sunny Anderson.

Oreo Cookie Crust Layer

• 25 crushed Oreo cookies
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

Red Velvet Brownie Layer:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour

Cream Cheese Layer:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking pan with tin foil; spray the foil with baking or nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Crust: In a small bowl, mix together crushed cookie crumbs with melted butter until combined; press into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Brownie layer: In the microwave, melt the butter. Pour the butter into a large bowl and add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, in that order, whisking together between additions.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs lightly with a fork and fold them into the cocoa mix. Fold in the flour until lightly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, saving ¼ cup of the batter for the top.

Cream cheese layer: In a medium bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Remember to scrape down the edges of the bowl frequently to fully incorporate the cream cheese.

Gently spread the cream cheese layer on top of the brownie batter in the pan – I find that an offset (icing) spatula works well for this step. Dollop the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese layer. Using a skewer or the tip of a knife, drag the tip through the cream cheese mixture to create a swirl pattern, being careful not to disturb the Oreo layer.

Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before cutting.

If you’ve been around Bridezilla Bakes for a while, you may have noticed my love for muffins. We’ve had Cinnamon Apple Muffins. Then I made you all some Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins (aka chocolate therapy). There were also Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins, which introduced one of my very favorite flavor combinations. In September, I even went so far as to declare that I had discovered the Best Healthy Muffins (you may want to check those out… they really are good!).

Less frequently, but just as emphatically, I also declared to you my love of the chewy, cakey cookie.

Today, I have a new passion to share: muffin tops. Muffin tops are what happens when my favorite muffins get together with my favorite cakey cookies, and have love children.

They are cakey. They are chewy. They are carb-y… and yet, they are healthy. Go figure.

Really, they’re exactly like the top of a muffin (obviously, the BEST part of the muffin). The texture is what makes them so satisfying. The consistency is indulgent and fun, just like my Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies, yet they contain no butter or oil, and have less than a half cup of sugar. Which, by the way, isn’t white sugar — it’s a combination of brown sugar and pure maple syrup.

These Banana-Apple-Pumpkin Pie Muffin Tops were inspired by the awesome Oh She Glows blog, where Angela frequently posts healthy cookies and baked goods. Back in August, she made these Pumpkin Pie Banana Chunk Oatmeal Cookies. Then last week, she posted these oil-free apple pie muffin tops. This healthy muffin top recipe is a cross between those two recipes — but is mostly a modified version of my favorite pumpkin muffin recipe. The flavor, then, is what you like best about pumpkin muffins (spicy, moist sweetness) crossed with what you like best about apple pie (cinnamon-kissed cooked apples). And check out the nutrition facts at the end of the recipe. Not bad at all. Wouldn’t you rather have one of these than a packaged 100-calorie snack? Yes, you would.

By the way, I was so excited about the concept of muffin tops that I baked TWO kinds of healthy muffin tops this weekend. So keep your eye out for version #2.

Oh, and… get it? Healthy muffin tops? Heh, heh.

Banana-Apple-Pumpkin Pie Muffin Tops

Inspired by Oh She Glows

Makes 15 muffin tops

For apples:

• 1 peeled and diced apple
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup — look for Grade B pure maple)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

For muffin tops:

• 1 cups oats
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 ripe banana, mashed (around ½ cup)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small saucepan, combine the apples with the 1 tablespoon maple syrup and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon. Heat the apples on low for 5-10 minutes, until they softer but not mushy.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine oats, flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, ¼ cup pure maple syrup, brown sugar, banana, pumpkin, and vanilla. Whisk until well combined.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture, then add the apples and their juices. Fold to combine but do not overmix.

Spoon onto a baking sheet lined with nonstick silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly pressed.

Nutrition (for 1 serving, if yield is 15 muffin tops): 97 calories, less than 1 gram fat, 1.5 grams fiber, 2.2 grams protein, 20 grams carbs,  7.7 grams sugar

It’s a good thing that the amazingness of this dessert speaks for itself, because tonight, this blogger is bone-wearingly tired (you can tell I’m really tired by the fact that I am knowingly posting an entry that contains the pretend word “amazingness”). It’s been a good but exhausting week over here at Bridezilla HQ. Between 5:00am wake up calls, evening work sessions, and physical therapy sessions that have kicked my butt from here to Missouri, this week has left me begging for mercy emotionally and physically.

One good thing that happened this week was my return to running… well, kind of. I am run/walking in the mornings now, and so far, it’s not been too bad on my knee! All that butt-kicking physical therapy is paying off a little bit. And as I said to myself on Tuesday morning: the perk of getting up and working out at the crack of dawn is that sometimes, you can actually see the crack of dawn:

Another highlight was the fact that I made this Caramelized Apple Cobbler on an Oatmeal Cookie Crust for friends on Sunday evening, and we had a few pieces left over to get us through the week. Yay! Ya’ll, this is simply the best apple dessert I have ever eaten. The idea belongs to the amazing Heather, who calls her creation Deep Dish Caramelized Apple Oatmeal Bars. I changed the name to highlight my favorite part of this dish: the oatmeal cookie crust.

The crust is from the recipe for Crack Pie, which is apparently very famous in NYC (ok whatever, I’m just here for the crust). It’s incredible — you basically make a giant oatmeal cookie, press it into a pan, bake it, take it out, crumble it, add more butter and sugar, and then press it out again so that it covers the bottom and sides of the pan (creating the “deep dish” effect that Heather brilliantly envisioned!). Sounds fussy, but you can do it while caramelizing your apples, and the results are so, so worth it.

The crust gets even more divine when you add the buttery, cinnamon-y apples to it. The caramel soaks into the oatmeal cookie, giving it a texture that is out of this world delicious. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discern that the texture is so great because of the butter — there’s plenty o’ that in this recipe. So please, share with friends. Then make sure you have leftovers to take home to get you through the week.

Serving notes: This was great out of the oven, but really, we loved it even more when it was re-heated in the microwave, piece by blessed piece. Vanilla ice cream on the side is a no-brainer. Don’t think… just do.

Caramelized Apple Cobbler on an Oatmeal Cookie Crust

Adapted from Heather’s Dish and Bon Appetit

Serves a crowd

Oatmeal Cookie Crust

• Nonstick spray
• 12 tablespoons plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup (packed) plus 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon (generous) salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Preheat the oven to 350.

Cream 12 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating between additions. Add vanilla extract. Dump in dry ingredients, mix to combine. Press into the prepared pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool — if you’re coordinated, you can start the caramelized apples at this point.

When the crust is cool, crumble oat cookie into large bowl; add 6 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons brown sugar. Rub in with fingertips until mixture is moist enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture back to the 9×13 dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and sides of dish.

Caramelized Apples

• 6-8 large apples, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Sprinkle the sugar evenly on top of the butter. Let it cook without really messing with it for around 10 minutes – be careful that it doesn’t burn. Immediately when it starts browning, stir like heck for about 3 minutes. Then add your apples and cinnamon – I had to do this in batches, stirring to combine the mixture gradually.

Let the apples and caramel cook together for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently and carefully. The apples should cook down quite a bit. When the apples are tender, pour the mixture into the prepared crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until you can’t handle the heavenly smell anymore.

I’ve been feeling quite nostalgic these days. Maybe it’s the back to school buzz, or the fact that my wedding anniversary is coming up (ok, in like five weeks, but it’s coming… sooner than it ever has before… haha). I think part of it is being thrown into another transition because of Sean’s new job. I mean, yay for having jobs — no really, I’m incredibly thankful — but this is his third job in the history of our marriage, and as we’ve already  gone over, we haven’t even been married a year yet. I’m bad at transition, and there have been some this year. You know, because last year was really stable. I only graduated college, moved, got married, and started my first job.

So, I think it’s the transition that’s getting me nostalgic. Anything I look at conjures up a memory. As in, “Oh look… my running pants. Sean bought me those when we were first married. Awwww… Oh look… butternut squash. That reminds me of Fall. Fall reminds me of getting married. Awww…” Yes. Totally out of control. Is this normal?

In the spirit of nostalgia, I bring you my friend Kelsey’s family recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake. Such a classic recipe — even written with the classic shorthand (t. for teaspoon, T. for tablespoon). Kelsey sent me this months ago, and I baked the cake and took the pictures in July. Not sure why it took me so long to post it, but I’m glad I waited. It fits right in with my nostalgic mood today

When Bethany first asked me to write a guest post for her blog, I accepted enthusiastically.  Right away I knew I wanted to share our family’s recipe for sour cream coffee cake.  This cake has been part of my life since I was a little girl, back in the days when my mom would buy a dozen eggs just so my brother and I could learn how to crack them.  She called it cheap entertainment; I call it brilliant.

Now I’m all grown up (sort of), I enjoy making this cake almost as much as I love giving it away.  It has always been a “gift cake” and always will be.  Fortunately, in the midst of my preparations to move abroad, there was no shortage of opportunities to whip up some goodies as going-away and thank-you gifts.

The recipe can be followed exactly as is.  I’ve always loved the simple, round numbers.  No quarter cup measurers needed here!  I will say, however, that we never really measure the ingredients in the topping (pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon).  Just add little bits of each until it looks, smells, and tastes good.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Serves a crowd

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• ¼ t. salt

Topping (amounts approximate):

• ½ chopped pecans
• 2 T. brown sugar
• 1 T. cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla, and mix well.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.  Gently mix in, just until incorporated.

Grease and flour a bundt pan.  Add half the batter (it’s less than you think!) and sprinkle half the topping mix over the batter.  Add the remaining batter and the remaining topping.  Pat gently to embed.

Bake at 350 for 60 minutes.  Check with a toothpick.

A few months ago, I came across this article that awards The Cheesecake Factory the prize for the “unhealthiest restaurant chain in America.” Now, I promise I’m not a health-obsessed weirdo, but reading articles like this one can get me upset. After listing some jaw-dropping statistics about Cheesecake Factory menu items (Pasta Carbonara: 2,500 calories, 85 grams saturated fat), the author notes,

What’s most striking about the Xtreme Eating Awards is not the calorie count itself — we’d be fools to expect anything less in a land that throws up gems like Arizona’s Heart Attack Grill — it’s the way restaurants have managed to camouflage unhealthy meals as dishes that sound like paragons of healthful deliciousness. Most of us wouldn’t touch a Quarter Pounder with a 10-foot-long fork, but wouldn’t think much of eating P.F. Chang’s Pan Fried Noodles instead (incidentally, 1,820 calories).”

Ugh! I think it’s the deception factor that really killed me while reading this article. I mean, I don’t get upset at cake for being made out of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. It’s OK to me that french fries are, well… fried. As the article points out, we expect things like Quarter Pounders to be fattening. Many of us eat them anyway, and in moderation, that’s OK. But while eating at some of the chains mentioned in the article (read it, you’ll be surprised), I always thought I was just eating… food. Normal food, with nutritional profiles not totally off the beaten track. When I read “salad” on a menu, I don’t read “STAY AWAY!” But buyer beware: the Tostada Pizza at California Pizza Kitchen — despite the “roasted tomato salsa” and “chilled shredded lettuce” packs 3,300 mg of sodium — in addition to its 1,680 calories (the National Institute of Health recommends that healthy adults limit their sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day). That’s just unreal. People eat that for dinner… and it’s a total assault on their cardiac health!

OK, I’m starting to sound a little strident. But I’m just trying to figure out how any restaurant chain can justify feeding Americans (and the rest of the world!) that amount of fat, calories, and sodium as responsible corporate behavior. I feel a lot of responsibility just for feeding Sean and I — if I don’t cook healthy food, we don’t eat healthy food, and that’s a serious responsibility. But these chains feed thousands of people a year. I think we deserve better.

Whew. End rant.

As a remedy to supersized, deceptively-marketed booby traps at your favorite chain restaurant (oops, now the rant is really over, sorry!), I give you my favorite healthy muffins. Soft, moist, and filling, these little guys are breakfast winners. I was especially impressed with the beautiful rise they achieved in the oven — very fluffy, not heavy like other bran-based muffins. And if you’re interested, they’re 139 calories each. 4 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and less than 2 grams of fat. No sacrifice in taste… just whole grain, berry-rich goodness!

Best Healthy Muffins

Adapted from All Recipes

• 1 ½ cups oat bran
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups applesauce
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups berries (I used frozen mixed berries — use whatever you like!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the oat bran, flours, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, blend the applesauce, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Fold the applesauce mixture into the flour mixture. Fold in the berries. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Let me explain.

On Saturday, I took the GRE. I studied really hard (hence the blogging mini-break). And, I’m happy to say that I did pretty well. Well enough to have the GRE disappear — forever — from my life. Never again will I have to compare quantities that may or may not possibly be compared (what kind of question format is that, anyway??). Never again will I devote myself to memorizing long lists of seldom-used words while commuting on over-crowded and under-heated public transportation (CTA, I’m talking to you right now. Can you make the bus a little bit more like a library and less like… a bus? Some of us are studying, here…). All the stress and frustration… it’s over.

The moment it was over, my first thought was — “I’m going to go back to blogging!” Honestly! Because I missed it. Blogging got squeezed out of my life for a while because I had other priorities — I’m assuming that this will happen from time-to-time, and I am OK with that. But I genuinely missed blogging! I missed the challenge of writing new recipes. I missed writing the posts themselves. I missed connecting with readers and friends who read Bridezilla Bakes, and those who go so far as to make my recipes (these two posts from a new bloggie friend are especially fun!!).

But most of all, I just REALLY missed the attention.

Just kidding!! (Kind of… no really, just kidding ). All this is to say, I’m back. It’s going to be sporadic for the next couple of weeks, but I do count myself extremely blessed to have this creative outlet and forum to connect with others… and I’m not going to take it for granted!

Today’s recipe is a very summery, buttermilk-based and berry-laden cake, adapted from this lovely cake on the popular natural-cooking blog, 101 Cookbooks. If you haven’t yet visited this blog, now is a great time to head on over there, because Heidi’s cooking is all about seasonal, natural, healthful ingredients and there just isn’t a better time of year to take advantage of all the beautiful, in-season produce than right now!

I loved this cake because it was simple to bake, delicious to eat, and rustically beautiful. Even though I used a combination of whole wheat flour and whole wheat white flour (email me if you’re curious about those…) it was still cake-like, not bready or heavy. It’s sweet (but not over-sweet) and moist without involving much butter, thanks to the magic of low-fat buttermilk. If you look at Heidi’s version, you’ll see that she topped the whole thing with large-grain sugar and salt. I’m just not that fancy, and I was making this on an illicit study break, so I skipped that minor elaboration. But I did top mine with some table sugar, and it formed a lovely, sweet topping that was just crusty enough without being crunchy and weird (if you know what I mean).

And… ok… you’ll notice that there is something about the top of my cake that maybe goes beyond rustic and kind of looks… mistaken. Yes, after extolling the virtues of in-season ingredients, I caved and used frozen berries for this cake. This explains the odd purple rivers of berry juice running down the top and sides of my cake (this happens as the berries defrost in the oven while the cake bakes). Luckily, I usually keep an old cookie sheet on the bottom rack of my oven to catch the spillage from such baking mishaps, so no berry juice ended up on the bottom of my oven. Since I was baking while I was supposed to be desperately studying, I counted this minor setback as a net win for Bridezilla and her baking.

By the way, if you’re interested, by my calculations (which should probably be taken with some skepticism, even though I did do OK on that whole GRE math section), one piece of this cake (if you cut 12 pieces), has 213  calories, just under 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of protein. Just FYI.

Very Berry Buttermilk Cake

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

• 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup butter, melted and cooled a bit
• 2 teaspoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup of berries (more if you like)
• 3 tablespoons large grain raw sugar (I used regular table sugar)

Preheat oven to 400F degrees, racks in the middle. Grease and flour (or line bottom with parchment paper) one 11-inch tart/quiche pan.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, and sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl whisk together the eggs and the buttermilk, whisk in the melted butter, and then the orange juice and the vanilla. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the flour mixture and fold until just combined – it’s important not to over mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, pushing out toward the edges. Drop the berries across top. Sprinkle with the sugar. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cake is set (or a toothpick in the center comes out clean), and a touch golden on top.

Serves about 12.

Hello everyone! I feel terrible that it’s been an entire week since I’ve posted, but I have a really good story to explain that. Ready?

It begins like this: I forgot.

And it ends like this: The End.

Great! I’m such an entertaining writer. Patting myself on the back as we speak

Ok yes… that was lame. You know what’s not lame? This:

Yeah, that totally makes up for the lame-lack-of-posting-made-worse-by-the-lame-jokes… right? Meet my Mocha Cream Pie, a recipe that I developed as an experiment that turned out amazingly — and surprisingly — delightful. I say surprisingly not only because it was an experiment that turned out a wonderfully well-balanced, decadent pie on the first attempt, but also because I learned a little something about cream pie fillings along the way.

If you’ve never made a cream pie before, read on, because while I am not going to explore the intricacies of pastry creams, custards, and puddings, there are some things in this post that are good to know before you try to make any of the above and shove them in a pie. Many of you readers who are more experienced cooks and bakers are going to giggle a little when I say this, but, um… I didn’t really know that my cream filling was going to thicken while I cooked it on the stovetop. I thought that it would thicken in the fridge as the pie “set up,” or something equally illogical, so I was hugely surprised when I was whisking the cream filling and it began to develop a pudding-like texture. This was a shocking but very welcome development, since the rich texture of the cream filling was the perfect canvas for the deep mocha flavor. And, if the filling had stayed liquid, well… it would have been a mocha puddle, not a mocha pie.

I have to say, though, that the real winner in this pie might have been the coffee whipped cream. Simple but effective… and addictive. The coffee-flavored whipped cream was another experiment (I think it was the first time I’ve actually ever made real whipped cream before) but WOW! It was like frappuccino-flavored air. Yes. Dreamy.

All told, this Mocha Cream Pie was a win. Buttery graham cracker crust, surprise-pudding filling, and coffee whipped cream that I wanted to swim in. Worth waiting a week for? You tell me

Mocha Cream Pie

Adapted from this recipe in Gourmet, also inspired by this recipe.

For graham cracker crust:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (from about twelve 5-by 2 1/2-inch crackers)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

For mocha cream filling:

• 6 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar, divided
• 2 whole large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 cups whole milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ½ stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For coffee whipped cream:

• 1 ¼ cups chilled heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules dissolved in (an additional) ¼ cup heavy cream
• 6 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Make crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Stir together all crust ingredients. Press over bottom and up side of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until set, 12 to 15 minutes, then cool.

Make filling:

Melt chocolate and instant coffee granules in a large bowl (use the microwave in intervals of 30 seconds, or a double boiler).

Stir together cornstarch and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in a small bowl.

Whisk together whole eggs and yolks in another bowl, then whisk in cornstarch mixture.

Stir together milk, cream, salt, and remaining brown sugar in a heavy medium saucepan and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Pour half of milk mixture into egg mixture in a slow stream, whisking, then pour egg mixture into remaining milk mixture. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking, 1 minute. The mixture will thicken as it cooks, and then boils (!). Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into melted chocolate and whisk to combine.

Transfer hot filling to crust and chill, its surface covered with parchment (or plastic wrap, as I did), until it’s cold, about 3 hours.

FYI… the reason you pour the milk into the eggs and then add the mixture back into the pan is to heat the eggs slowly so that you don’t cook & scramble them. The reason for the straining (which some people find annoying) is that some eggs may scramble anyway, so you just need to strain them out before adding them to the pie.

Make coffee whipped cream:

Beat cream, coffee cream, and confectioners sugar using an electric mixer until it holds stiff peaks. Spoon over chilled filling.

The last installment of our series on Puerto Rican food from my friend Courtney in Puerto Rico!

Here in Puerto Rico the most common sweet bread is called Mallorca, a sweet light pastry in the shape of a little round coil.  You can find this pastry pretty much anywhere here, but one of the places most famous for its mallorca is called La Bombonera.  It has been open since 1902 and serves delicious mallorca and café con leche (coffee with milk) along with other traditional Puerto Rican dishes.  It’s been serving Puerto Rico for over 100 years amigos, so you know it’s got to be good!  After passing the front window display filled with all the yummy pastries they offer, you go inside and see a long bar with old red cushioned bar chairs and behind the bar is their huge stainless steel espresso machine that is the same one they have been using since the restaurant opened.  The place is always filled with both locals on their lunch breaks and sun burnt tourists trying out Puerto Rican food for the first time.  It’s a fun place to be and the wait staff is always very friendly and super speedy.

One of the favorite items to order at La Bombonera is their mallorca with a café con leche in the morning, or a mallorca panini, that they make by slicing open the mallorca and putting cheese and ham inside and grilling it in a panini press and sprinkling it with powdered sugar.  This little sandwich isn’t even on the menu, I found out about it talking to a guy who used to work there, and he said that it was one of their most popular items!  So I went to try it out and I asked my waiter, a little old man in his late 70’s who I imagine has been working at La Bombonera his whole life, for this sandwich.  I also asked if he could put tomato and lettuce on it, which I thought was a reasonable request, but turned out not to be.  I got a lecture from the waiter about how if I put lettuce and tomato on the sandwich it will make the bread soggy and totally throw off the flavor of the sandwich.

I asked again, just to make sure he was serious, I mean, what’s the big deal about putting some lettuce and tomato on it?!  But my waiter was determined and he told me no again, that he would not put lettuce and tomato on it, and to trust him, that it was better without it.  I was a little thrown off by the fact that this man would not let me order my panini how I wanted, but I figured he probably knew best, and he did!

The lesson I learned that day was that some things are just better left how they are. I mean that sandwich has been being made simply with ham and cheese for 100 years, what was I thinking trying to put lettuce and tomato on it!?  I also learned to never mess with that little old waiter again, he is tough!  But all jokes aside, this little sandwich was amazing.  It is so simple but the mesh of flavors makes it something special.   The savory flavor of the ham and cheese in between the sweet bread, all warm with powdered sugar on top, is delicious.

So in order to recreate this recipe I decided to make mallorca, which was a little daunting.  This is a yeast bread, and the only bread on my repertoire is banana bread.  It takes a long time to make, you have to let the dough rise three times 45 minutes to an hour each time and my kitchen was a complete mess afterwards, but it was a success!  The bread didn’t exactly hold the coil shape, but what matters most to me is the taste, not the shape of my mallorca.  I got this recipe from The Noshery and the pictured steps gave me assurance along the way that my dough looked how it was supposed to.  After the mallorca had baked I let it cool a bit and then made it into a sandwich by adding cheese and turkey lunch meat and grilling it on the stovetop, using a heavy plate to smash it down.  I would recommend putting the little sandwich upside down in the pan, since that way you won’t cook the bottom even more and burn it.  Once your cheese is melted, sprinkle some more powdered sugar on it and enjoy!  ¡Buen Provecho!

Mallorca

• 1 package of dry yeast
• ¾ cups sugar
• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 6 egg yolks
• ½ lb melted butter cooled to room temperature

In a large mixing bowl pour in the lukewarm milk and water and sprinkle in the yeast.  Gently mix in 1 cup of the flour and set it aside to let it rise for about 45 minutes until the mixture starts to rise.

Beat the egg yolks into the mixture making sure to blend it very well.  Add the remaining flour little by little until well incorporated.  Then add ½ of the melted butter and set it aside until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Dust the area you will be working on to prevent the dough from sticking.  Divide the dough into 12 equal portions.  Roll each portion into a long strip and brush with butter.  Form the strip into a coil and make sure the inner end is tucked in in the middle and the other end is tucked under.  Butter the tops of the mallorca and place them on a 2 greased baking sheets (6-8 rolls per sheet).  Cover the rolls and let them rise until they have doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Bake the mallorca at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Cool on a cooling rack and dust with powdered sugar.