Hummingbird Cupcakes

Cake:
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1½ tsp vanilla
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
2 cups chopped bananas

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 36 muffin cups (or use cupcake liners). Set aside.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the eggs and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the vanilla, pineapple, pecans (if using) and bananas.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Then remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Frosting:

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy, Gradually ass the sugar beating until light and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla.

Frost the cooled cupcakes. Garnish with chopped pecans, if desired.

Oatmeal Topped Peach Crisp

Topping:
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
¾ cup rolled oats
⅓ cup plus 2 tbsp flour
¾ tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp cold butter (¾ stick), cut into small pieces

Filling:
⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ tsp cornstarch
¼ tsp vanilla
2 lbs, ripe but firm peaches (about 5 medium, halved, pitted and cut into ½” thick slices)

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Topping: Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl. With your fingertips, blend the butter pieces into the dry ingredients until large clumps form and the flour and butter are completely incorporated, about 3 minutes. Crumble the clumps into small pieces the size of kidney beans, then refrigerate the streusel while you make the filling.

Filling: Place the brown sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the peaches and stir until evenly coated.

Transfer the mixture to an 8”x8” glass or ceramic baking dish and arrange it in an even layer. Sprinkle the reserved topping evenly over the peaches.

Bake until the topping is browned and crisp, about 20 to 25 minutes. Place the dish in a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Flourless Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup Trader Joe’s Creamy Almond Butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
⅔ cup Trader Joe Organic Coconut Sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp Trader Joe’s Colombian Instant coffee
3 tbsp cocoa powder
⅓ cup chocolate chips
sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Mix all dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients. SLowly add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Use a table scoop to scoop out cookies and roll them into a ball. Use the palm tp slightly flatten and then add more chocolate chips in top if desired and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.

Salted Dark Chocolate Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
⅓ cup Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder*
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk
1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips and/or chunks
sea salt for sprinkling

NOTE: Dough must be chilled  for 3 hours before cookies can be baked.

Whisk the flour, cocoa powders, and baking soda together until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and beat on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Beat in egg and vanilla on high speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

On low speed, slowly mix the dry ingredients until combined. The dough will be thick. Switch to high speed and beat in the milk, then add the chocolate chips. Cover the dough tightly with foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.

Remove the dough form the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. This makes the dough easier to scoop and roll.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.

Scoop and roll balls of dough, about 2 tbsp of dough each, into balls. Place in the baking sheets and sprinkle with a little sea salt.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. The baked cookies will look soft in the center when you remove them. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. If desired, press a few more chocolate chips or chunks into the top of the warm cookies. The cookies will deflate as you let them cool. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

*⅔  cup of unsweetened cocoa powder can be substituted for the cocoa/dark cocoa mix.

Constant Comment Spice Cake

½ cup milk
5 Bigelow Constant Comment Tea Bags
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1⅔ cups flour
2½ tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9” round cake pan. Combine milk and tea bags in a small saucepan. Heat over medium/low heat until bubbles form around the edge, stirring occasionally. (DO NOT BOIL). Remove from heat and let cool (15-20 minutes); remove tea bags squeezing out liquid. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and whisk to blend. Add the cooled milk; continue to whisk until thoroughly combined. Add the flour and baking powder; mix until a smooth batter forms.

Pour batter into pan. Bake approximately 35 minutes, or until center of cake springs back when touched. Cool on wire rack before removing from pan. Let cool completely before serving. Dust top with confectioners sugar.

Chocolate Madeleines

4 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla
1¼ cup sifted cake flour
½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs, at room temperature
⅔ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees, if using nonstick pans). Spray madeleine pans with nonstick cooking spray. Melt chocolate in top of a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir in the butter. Set aside. Mix together flour, and baking powder.

Beat eggs in a large bowl until light and lemon colored; add vanilla. Gradually add the sugar, beating constantly at high speed 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and beat until mixture has quadrupled in volume, about 5 minutes. Gently fold in the flour mixture, then the chocolate.

Place one tbsp batter in center of each mold. Bake 12 minutes (placing pans on racks on the lower  half of the oven). Cool on rack. Dust with powdered sugar.

Madeleines with Almonds and Apricot Glaze

⅓ cup plus 1 tbsp butter

2 large eggs

½ cup sugar

½ cup plus 2 tbsp plus ½ tsp flour

1 tsp baking powder

1½ tbsp milk

¼ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp almond extract

2 tbsp chopped almonds

For glaze:

3 tbsp apricot jam

1 tbsp water

MADELEINES: Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until foaming subsides and butter starts to smell nutty and milk solids are a deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Pour brown butter into a heatproof container and set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk 1 egg with the sugar until foamy. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining egg until the batter looks smooth. Add milk to the cooled (but still melted) brown butter and drizzle the mixture into the batter, whisking continuously. 

Whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts. Set the batter aside for 50 minutes at room temperature, then refrigerate for 10 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 390 degrees and adjust oven rack to middle position. Spray a madeleine pan with non-stick cooking spray and fill each mold almost to the top. No need to smooth batter as it will even out as  it bakes. Sprinkle almonds on top. Bake 9-11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove madeleines from the oven and immediately invert the hot pan over a wire rack, gently rapping the pan to dislodge the madeleines. 

GLAZE: Combine jam and water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat stirring, until the jam melts into the water. Remove from the heat. Using a pastry brush, brush the shell-side of the madeleines with the glaze.

Best served on the day they are made but you can keep them in an airtight container for up to 2 days.