The Foodie's Food Trip

Nutella Cookies

have to post this now before I completely forget about it hihihi!

I baked some Nutella cookies a few days before Christmas. I got a bit tired of baking all those chocolate crinkles we gave out for Christmas, plus I got some orders from a friend (happy!). So I decided to bake something new... something I haven't tried before.

I've been wanting to bake something with Nutella since I got my oven. I have a jar half-empty that's starting to harden and needs to be used immediately. I finally saw a recipe from My Kitchen Addiction (original recipe from Taste of Home Recipes). The cookies are called Caramel Nutella Crisps, which the author shared as part of the 12 Days of Sharing.

The author got the recipe from Taste of Home Recipes. It's originally a peanut butter cookie recipe, and not made of Nutella at all. But I read from another blog (I seriously can't find the link... I'm so sorry) that since peanut butter has the same consistency as Nutella, you can substitute one with the other.

I made a few changes - I did not roll the cookie doughs in sugar and I didn't put Milk Duds inside. In other words, it's plain Nutella cookies.

I got two ice cream/cookie scoops at home. One is the normal ice cream scoop size, and the other is a smaller cookie scoop. I used the big cookie scoop first, and realized that the cookies will flatten and spread out while baking. It ended up so big it was four times bigger than the size of a chocolate crinkles.

So I used the smaller scoop for the succeeding cookies. I didn't bake it as long as I should (just 8-10 minutes), so I can still have the cookies soft and chewy.

The first bite... didn't end on the first bite. Even when they were still a bit warm, I think I had two to three cookies in one sitting.

If you love Nutella, you'll love this recipe. Next time I'll try rolling it in sugar, or maybe adding some chocolate chips hihi!

Banana Crumb Muffin

I loooove bananas! As a kid I can finish two to three bananas in one sitting! hihihi! I also looooove banana bread! My favorite so far is the one from Red Ribbon... very flavorful and with a sweet crumbly top... perfect!
When I was searching for a banana bread recipe, I always thought that banana extract/flavoring was added to the batter to make it tasty... when I finally baked some I realized that the flavor was all natural. :)

I finally found a recipe for banana crumb muffin and was able to try baking some a few weeks ago (see previous post Bake On Baby!). It has the crumbly top too, just like the one from Red Ribbon! :)

The muffins were moist and soft and the crumbs made a perfect complement.

Banana Crumb Muffin
from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

The original recipe yield 10 muffins. I was able to make 11-12.

I've been added to Petitchef

My blog's been added to Petitchef!

Check out their site. There are a lot of recipes to try out, and some shared by bloggers like me. :)

Lookie Here

Look what I borrowed from the library the other day...

Nigella Christmas: Food Family Friends Festivities

The Cupcake Survey

I have a problem and I need your help. On Christmas, there will be a small gathering in our house with some friends. They will spend Christmas lunch at home. It's pot luck, everyone will bring something and since I'm still in the hype of my baking, I volunteered to make the desserts.

I'm planning to make a few cupcakes since there will be less than 10 people coming over. Now my problem is... what to bake?

The Cupcakes

I have three choices for the cupcakes:

Red Velvet - red... perfect for the holidays
Chocolate - for the chocoholic in me
Vanilla - something simple for a change

The Frostings

If I choose red velvet cupcakes, I have two options for the frosting:

Creamy vanilla frosting - a la NY's Magnolia Bakery
Cream cheese frosting - perfect combination.... sweet and tangy

For the vanilla cupcakes, I also have two options for the frosting:

Vanilla frosting - plain and simple
Chocolate frosting - to contrast the vanilla cupcake... plus the chocolohic in me just won't let go. :D

For the chocolate cupcakes, I have three options for the frosting:

Chocolate ganache - rich, dark, thick
Whipped chocolate ganache - whippy version of the chocolate ganache
Chocolate buttercream frosting - back to basic

So all in all, there are a total of seven choices. I'm planning to make one type only. But depending on the number of people attending, I'll make the top two, for a bit of variation. Or maybe make the cupcake the same and just change the frosting.

Take your pick (cupcake and frosting)! Send me a message or comment which one you like most. I will be announing the winning cupcake/s by weekend.