Category Archives: Breakfast

July 29, 2014 · 9:15 am

Coffee Cake Muffins

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It took CH approximately 28+ years to figure out that: (1) a Coffee Crisp chocolate bars do, in fact, have coffee in them (at the time, he disliked coffee and this was shocking to him), (2) coffee cake does NOT, in fact, have coffee in it (previously, a deal breaker on the suspicion of coffee alone), (3) coffee isn’t so bad after all, and (4) coffee cake is delicious.  CH is now quite happy with himself :)!

Growing-up I remember my Mom making coffee cake – she got the recipe from a friend at work and it was amazing.  A while back (while stocking the freezer for my pregnant girlfriend), I came upon this recipe from Melissa at I Was Born To Cook and it immediately brought back memories of my early days enjoying this treat – except this was a modern approach in muffin form, and a few less ingredients involved, so I gave them a shot.  As soon as I made these with my friend, I knew I had to make them again for CH because a) he loves all things cinnamon and b) he loves muffins, so I had a feeling this would be a win-win in his books.  And they were.

These muffins aren’t overly sweet – they have perfect balance and the layered approach definitely helps that.  I’d bake-up a few batches of these to have on hand in the freezer for an unexpected weekend guest or just to please a hungry-breakfast-seeking family member.

Enjoy!

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Coffee Cake Muffins

Yield:  12 muffins
Prep Time:  20 minutes
Cook Time:  20-30 minutes

Ingredients for the Muffins:

  • 5 TBSP butter, melted, divided into 2 TBSP and 3 TBSP
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk, plus more if needed

Ingredients for the topping:

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or cashews
  • 2 TBSP butter (from divided amounts above)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients together, along with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together flour, sugar and baking powder.

In a third bowl, mix milk, egg and remaining 3 tablespoons of melted butter together.  Whisk until well incorporated.

Make a well in dry ingredients, add wet to it, and blend. Fold until dry ingredients are wet, then add in half of the brown sugar/nut mixture. Batter should be lumpy, not smooth, and thick but very moist. Add more milk if needed to achieve this consistency.

Spoon batter into tins, filling them about 2/3 of the way. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar/nut mixture on top. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let rest at least 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe from I Was Born To Cook

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June 17, 2012 · 8:52 pm

Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies

You read that right, there are chickpeas in these cookies.  OKAY, forget I said that.  Instead, you read this: the most amazing, life-changing chocolate chip cookies.

That’s all you need to know, I promise.  Make these, it’s that simple.

Ohkay, I will provide a little blurb.  I “Pinned” these on Pinterest a while ago, forgot about them, and then remembered them when I felt like baking something a few weeks ago.  I never need to worry about eating too many baked treats (unless it’s chips or popcorn…then it’s fair game), but CH is bad at indulging.  Thus, when I bake goodies, I try to make them as healthy as possible, so that when he eats 10 right away, I don’t feel as bad.

I admit it though, I couldn’t believe someone would put chickpeas in cookies…but something was telling me to just try it.  I followed the recipe, getting more and more excited as I went through the steps, and when they finally went in the oven, I couldn’t wait to get them out.

These cookies are everything a good chocolate chip cookie is:  slightly crispy on the outside, moist and chewy on the insider. These have easily replaced my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and just to prove they are “that good” here is a comment I received at work via email from CH:

“I never want to eat a non-chickpea chocolate chip cookies again, in fact, I will throw out the Chips Ahoy cookies at home tonight in protest […]”.

Just trust me, they are that good.

And enjoy a cookie that clocks in a 83 calories, 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber and 3.1 grams of protein per cookie.  Now that’s a cookie that you can have more than one of 🙂

Enjoy.

Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield:  4 dozen
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time:  12 – 14 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temp
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
  • 1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed + patted dry
  •  2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup almond meal
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together fours, almond meal, salt and baking soda.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add chickpeas and beat until finely mashed. Add eggs one at a time continuing to beat.

Mix in yogurt and vanilla and then incorporate dry ingredients on low speed until dough forms.

Stir in chocolate chips by hand.

Drop dough by teaspoonful on each cookie sheet about two inches apart.

Dampen hands and gently push on the top of each piece of cookie dough flattening each slightly.

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or just beginning to brown and toothpick comes out clean. Resist the urge to over bake! They will look undercooked but if the toothpick comes out clean they are done.

*** I divided the dough in-half and frozen one portion of it for future use (I rolled it into a long log and wrapped it in plastic wrap). When I wanted a batch of cookies, I sliced the log into disks’ and then cut the disks in half).  They were just as good as the first batch!

Recipe from Cooking With My Kid

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March 12, 2012 · 10:31 pm

Strawberry Banana Breakfast Bread

I have a confession – I’m not good with preparing breakfast (and I think I may have admitted that before!)  Yes, I love egg mcmuffins, but you have to be somewhat organized to make these during the week. CH is even worse, usually because he is up way later than me working, and leaves the house many days before I am out of bed.  He needs something he can grab as he heads out the door and eat as he is walking to work. Weekends see a lot more breakfast action, but that is because there is no getting up early, when you’ve gone to bed late.

But this breakfast is a game changer – it’s quick and easy to prepare, it stays fresh and delicious for days and the best part – it’s HEALTHY.  It started out as a healthy recipe from Cate’s World Kitchen (which is a fabulous blog featuring many vegetarian and health-happy recipes), but I tweaked it a little further, and it’s now perfect for our household.

Fresh strawberries, banana, yogurt and applesauce are the main ingredients…all baked together to create a healthy, breakfast bread that keeps you satisfied for hours.  It isn’t overly sweet and you definitely feel healthy indulging in this recipe.  CH often steals the last piece, and always has one-extra piece because it is “so good for him”.

Give it a try and I hope you enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Bread

Yield: 1 loaf (about 12 slices)
Prep Time:  15 minutes
Cook Time:

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1 banana, mashed
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1.5 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 6 TBSP sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 1.5 cups fresh strawberries, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease an 8 x 4″ loaf pan.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt, applesauce, mashed banana and vanilla.  Whisk lightly until combined.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Stir to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently until well combined, and no traces of flour.

Gently fold-in the strawberries.

Pour the mixture into the greased loaf pan.  Tap the loaf pan on the counter, gently, 4 to 5 times to release the air-bubbles (this is an important step to prevent an un-even bread).

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a tooth-pick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a sharp knife around the bread and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy.

(Store in an air-tight container for freshness).

Recipe adapted from Cate’s World Kitchen

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