Cinnamon Applesauce Banana Muffins

Now that I'm a certified work-from-home lady for the next few weeks, I've brought up my homemaker skills to the next level. My brain is on Central time and my body is on Eastern time while I work my Nashville job from west Michigan, but I am finding more time to get things done around the house now that I'm not commuting to and from work and traveling to client meetings.

Yesterday I kicked ass in the kitchen. Slow-cooked pulled BBQ pork, chocolate cake with buttercream icing, and these delicious cinnamon applesauce banana muffins. I found a pretty generic muffin recipe online and decided to add my own spin on it. I love adding applesauce to muffins for extra moisture and flavor. You can see similar mini-muffins I made last year by clicking here. 

Ingredients:
+ 3 bananas, mashed
+ ½ tsp. salt
+ ¾ sugar
+ 1 egg
+  ⅓ butter, melted
 + ⅓ C. applesauce
+ 1 tsp. cinnamon 
+ 1½ C. all-purpose flour
+ 1 tsp. baking powder
+ 1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray if you don't have liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 

2. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, applesauce, cinnamon and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.

3. Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from tray once cooled. 

Makes approximately 6 large muffins or 14-18 mini muffins.

 I'll be eating these bad boys for breakfast all week. 

Enjoy!  

 

Miniature Pumpkin Pies

Last night I went over to Katelyn's house, and I picked up some pumpkin pie ingredients on the way. It seemed like a perfect night to make fall desserts and drink lattes. When I got to Katelyn's, I asked her if she had pie pans because I had completely forgotten to purchase some disposables while at the grocery store. She didn't have any. Laura's new solution to no pie pans: muffin pans. 

I always wanted to try out my idea of "mini pies", but hadn't done so until last night. This was the perfect opportunity for us to test out personal sized pumpkin pies made in a smaller pan.

It wasn't until later in the baking process that we noticed she had two pie pans up in a cupboard somewhere, so we made a regular sized pie as well. It all worked out, as we made a double batch, anyway.

What you'll need:

pie crust

(1) 15 oz can pumpkin

(1) 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon 

2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Whisk the pumpkin, condensed milk, and eggs in a bowl. Add salt and spices, then blend well until smooth.

Cut out the pie crusts in the size/shape you need. For the miniature pies, we used the rim of a mason jar for the perfect sized circle to fill the muffin pans.

 

Once you have your pans covered, pour your pumpkin mix into the crusts. 

Put them in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 30-35 minutes. 

Don't forget your whipped cream! 

Enjoy. 

xoxo,

Laura

100th Blog Post!

Happy 100th blog post to my awesome cousin Laura and myself! In honor of this achievement of ours I decided to do what anyone would do: bake a cake! If you've ever met me, you would know my weird love for all things banana flavored and especially banana flavored desserts. Here is a recipe I found on allrecipes.com for a scrumptious banana cake with homemade frosting. I wanted to test out my new bake wear I received as a gift from my wedding that makes heart shaped cakes. Take a look for yourself how it turned out:

I simply used baking candies for the "I <3 U" by melting some in a plastic baggie in the microwave. After it was completely melted I cut a small opening in the corner of the bag and traced what I previously outlined on parchment paper. I added the sprinkles while the candy was still wet so it would stick to the letters. It was super easy and I love how it turned out!

My heart shaped Pampered Chef cake mold turned out really cute too! Alex is going to be so mad I filled our house with not just one cake...but TWO. If anyone wants to take a cake off my hands be my guest!

xoxo, K

Bread Making + Face Masks

Katelyn here!
So I went home to Muskegon yesterday, and this morning I helped my stepdad make some bread! Here's a little insight to how it went. For those of you who don't know me too well...I wouldn't exactly say I'm the baking/cooking type. So first Wayne showed me how to make the bread (and I took photos), and then he let me make the bread! Here are some photos from today:

It is the most delicious bread EVER! Pictures really don't do it justice...you need to smell it and taste it to fully appreciate it. 

Then I came back to Grand Rapids and Laura and I decided to finally try the face masks we bought at Forever21. Well...I will let you decide how they went. 

WARNING! The images you are about to see are extremely disturbing. We truly are masters at being awkward.

Well...that's all for now folks! 

xoxo, K

Laura's Sweetheart Pies

I've been doing some experimenting with cooking & baking lately because I've set some new goals for myself.  I am cutting out processed foods, so anything that comes in a box is prohibited in the Bachelorette Pad.
I also cut out red meat (and Starbucks, but that's a different story).  This is actually incredibly easy for me since I was a vegetarian last year and just started eating meat again this past autumn.

So the other day I made my roommates and I some turkey chili and strawberry-raspberry pies.

And no dinner is complete without one of Katelyn's incredible lattes.

The pies turned out better than I could have imagined.  I've been buying an excessive amount of fresh produce lately, but have such a hard time eating it all before it goes bad.  I took all of my strawberries and raspberries out of the fridge and threw them into some pie crust with ricotta and sugar, and VOILA! Pies!

I decided to make them extra feminine and cute by using my heart-shaped cookie cutter.  ;)

 

The recipe is super simple and they turned out to be delicious! They are also great for on the go.
:)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

xoxo,

Laura Follow my blog with Bloglovin