Banana Bread Bites

 The best part about ripe bananas is making banana bread!  I have found the easiest recipe on a website called Simply Recipes.  I use it all the time and the only thing I changed was adding some cinnamon.  Cinnamon makes everything better.  Well almost everything!  Jessica has a Pampered Chef brownie pan and I used that to make the bread in.  The bread turned out great and it's not exactly bite size but you can hold it one hand and your cup of coffee in the other.  Perfect!

Banana Bread Bites
adapted from Simply Recipes

3 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of flour

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl mash the bananas.  Mix in the melted butter.  Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Mix in the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Add in the flour.  What is great about this recipe is that you don't need a mixer you mix everything up in one bowel with a whisk or a spoon.

Spray a 4x8 loaf pan or a brownie pan or make muffins.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan or distribute evenly into the brownie pan.  If you are making a loaf bake for an hour to an hour and ten minutes.  Check after 50 minutes by sticking a toothpick in the center to see if it comes out clean.  For the brownie pan bake 20 to 30 minutes.  Mine cooked for 25 and came out perfect.

Blueberry and Butterscotch Scones

On Main St. in Hobart there is a Tea Room and one day I had a butterscotch scone.  It was really good but, I thought to myself, "Self you could make this."  So that is what I did.  Then I served them at my book chat program.  Those ladies were always my guinea pigs!

Both the butterscotch and the blueberry were delicious!




Butterscotch Scones
from Bakingdom

Ingredients

Scones

3/4 cups heavy cream
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup butterscotch chips

Glaze

1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, egg, and vanilla extract; set aside.

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the ingredients 5 or 6 times to combine. Distribute the butter evenly over the top of the flour mixture and pulse another 5 or 6 times until the butter is cut to about pea sized. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and add the butterscotch chips. Pour in the heavy cream mixture and mix until the ingredients just come together as a dough. Pour the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and lightly pull any loose pieces together to form a more cohesive dough.

Once your dough is formed, shape it into a disk about an inch thick and 7 to 8 inches across. Using a sharp knife or a dough cutter, cut the disk into eight equal wedges and transfer them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or Silpat mats.

To make the glaze: Lightly brush the tops of the scones with the 1 tablespoon heavy cream and sprinkle the brown sugar on top.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire cooling rack for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve warm.

Blueberry Scones
from Sallys Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup  granulated sugar
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 heaping cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, do not thaw)
• coarse sugar for sprinkling on top before baking

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream (or half-and-half or milk)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Adjust baking rack to the middle-low position. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Grate the frozen butter.  Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with a pastry cutter, your fingers, or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk the cream, egg, and vanilla together. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a rubber spatula until everything appears moistened. Slowly and gently fold in the blueberries. Try your best to not overwork the dough at any point. Dough will be a little wet. Work the dough into a ball with floured hands as best you can and transfer to the prepared baking pan. Press into a neat 8″ disc and cut into equal wedges with a very shape knife. Top with a sprinkle of coarse sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. To make the glaze, simply whisk all of the glaze ingredients together and drizzle lightly over scones right before serving. Scones are best enjoyed right away, though leftover scones keep well at room temperature for 2 extra days. Scones freeze well, up to 3 months.

Taco Dip

This dip is super easy and it is out of this world yummy!  It is great for picnics, parties, and just making for yourself at home.

I put it in cute little cups for a work party so that everyone could have their own individual dip.  Normally you put it in a round pie plate or square dish.  If you are just making it for yourself, I recommend keeping everything separate because the tomatoes can make the sour cream mix soupy.


Taco Dip
from Kraft

What you need:

1 (16 oz) sour cream
2 (1 oz) packages of taco seasoning
2 to 3 tomatoes, diced
1 small package of shredded lettuce
1 package of shredded Mexican cheese
Bag of tortilla chips

In a bowl mix together the sour cream and the taco seasoning.   Refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.  Some taco seasonings have dried onions that need to soften and I think that refrigerating it makes the flavors meld.

If taking to a party, spread out the sour cream onto a glass pie plate or square dish.  Then layer on the cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes.  Or you could make them in individual clear cups.  Or if you are making it just for yourself just do as above enough for one person.  Leave the separate ingredients separate so that it doesn't get soupy.  Serve with chips.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

These little babies are like little bites of love!  They are so good and you can't stop with one.  I made them for a co-workers birthday and they were a hit.









Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites
from Baked In

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (4 oz) butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature chocolate chips
• 1 cup Nutella, at room temperature

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line two mini muffin pans with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar together on medium speed until well-combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating each until combined. Beat in vanilla.
4. Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips with a spatula.
5. Place about ½ tablespoon of batter in each cup. Dollop about ½ teaspoon of Nutella into the center of each. Then top with another teaspoon or so of batter.
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely in pans.

Yields: 36

Strawberry Jello Trifle

I made this dessert a long time ago for a co-workers birthday and it was so, so good!  It really wasn't that hard to make.  It does take a few steps but it is well worth it.

Strawberry Jello Trifle
from Flour Me With Love

Shortbread:

1 C butter, softened

1/2 C powdered sugar

2 C flour 1/2 tsp. salt

Layers:

4 small boxes of (sugar-free) strawberry jello

4 C boiling water

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

16 ounces frozen whipped topping (cool whip)

1 pint fresh strawberries, diced

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a cookie sheet.

Mix together the boiling water and jello; stir until dissolved.  Place in the fridge to start setting up (you don't want it to set up completely).  Cream together the butter, powdered sugar, flour and salt.  Spread evenly onto prepared cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown; set aside to cool.  Cream together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla.  Fold in the frozen whipped topping (cool whip); set aside.  Take the cooled shortbread and break it into crumbs.  Place a layer of crumbs into the bottom of a trifle bowl.  Spread an even layer of the cream cheese mixture on top of the crumbs.  Add an even layer of jello.  Then a layer of strawberries.  Repeat the layers until all the ingredients are gone. Place in the fridge to allow the jello to finish setting up; about an hour.