Lovin' From the Oven

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel

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I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween! I spent mine at home, handing out candy to all the little (and not so little) trick or treaters. I also ended up watching “Isolation” with my DB. Yes, another bad scary movie to feed my guilty pleasure. Actually, the movie was quite enjoyable… despite the fact that it’s about cows having killer mutant babies.

Did anyone watch the premiere of The Walking Dead? I can’t get enough of it! I am desperately counting the days until Sunday again, when I can finally see the next episode. Zombies are just so intriguing to me.
My DB’s biggest fear is actually the zombie apocalypse (not that it’s ever really going to happen). When he was little, he used to shower with goggles on so that no one could sneak up on him without him seeing first. He’s gonna kill me for writing that, but it’s just too cute not to share.

These banana bars were a huge hit at work. Banana’s always a safe bet when bringing something to a group event. They were moist, had a wonderful topping, and kept people coming back for seconds. This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit. Bon appetit!

  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 large egg
  • about 4 mashed bananas
  • 3 tablespoons buttermilk
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Butter and flour 8x8x2-inch baking pan. Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in small bowl until well blended; set streusel aside.
  3. Mix the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Set aside.
  4. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, room temperature butter, and egg in a separate bowl until fluffy. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk.
  5. Add dry ingredients and blend well.
  6. Spread half of batter in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel.
  7. Bake coffee cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool coffee cake in pan on rack.

Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins with Pecan Streusel

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I’d like to welcome fall with these pumpkin muffins. It all starts with a can of this:

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which eventually turns into this..
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and CHOMP!:
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Pet names— What’s your take on them? Before I dated my DB, I was the kind of girl that cringed every time I heard “honey,” “sugar,” “sweetie,” “muffin”… I just didn’t understand why people had the need to call each other food names when they had a perfectly functioning birth name.

I never used pet names with previous boys that I dated, and they never used it with me. But all of a sudden, nearly three years ago, a boy answered my phone call with “Hi, honey,” and turned me into the world’s biggest hypocrite. Somehow, I actually enjoyed those words leaving his mouth and three years later, we rarely refer to each other by our actual names anymore. How does that even happen?
Same thing goes for these muffins.. when I was little, I always told myself that I hated pumpkin. One day, I was given a slice of pumpkin pie at my friend’s house and I was sold. How did I hate this for 13 years of my life? Pumpkin was and still is amazing! I guess you just never know until you try.

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All I can say about these muffins is HOLY GUACAMOLE! These are just about the most delicious pumpkin creation that I’ve tried yet. Given, I haven’t made very many pumpkin recipes (see here, here, and here), but when you know, you know. Slightly adapted from Ezra Pound Cake, which was originally adapted from Country Living.

Filling:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
Streusel:

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup pecans, chopped finely
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pumpkin Batter:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 15 oz can of pumpkin
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla, and blend to combine. Place the mixture in a bowl and put in the freezer until batter is ready.

For the Pecan Streusel: Combine flour, sugar, pecans, butter, and cinnamon. Set aside.

For the Pumpkin Batter:
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin/cupcake cups. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, lightly beat the pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
  3. Mix in the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices) into the wet mixture until just combined.
  4. Remove the cream cheese from the freezer.
  5. Evenly divide half of the batter among the muffin cups. Place about a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture in the center of each cupcake. Fill with the remaining batter, completely covering the cream cheese.
  6. Sprinkle some of the pecan streusel on top of each muffin.
  7. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
p.s. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway if you haven’t already. It ends tomorrow at midnight!

Banana Bread with Walnut Streusel

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I just got back from Vegas, yet again, from a girls’ trip! This time, there was a lot more relaxing and plenty of shopping. We had no set schedule and rented a car so we didn’t have to walk five miles a day. The whole trip was a lot of fun, being able to hang out with my mom, her favorite sister, and my favorite cousin! My cousin and I were basically looking into a time capsule as we watched our moms interact. It was going to be us thirty years later.. and we couldn’t love it any more! I would be thrilled to even be half the woman my mom is.

Oh, this is my 200th post! HOORAY! Thank you to everyone for following along and pushing me through everything. I wouldn’t be here without you guys! I have a story to share with you all for my 200th post:

I went to Vegas with hopes of buying the Speedy 30 with strap monogram idylle limited edition in fusain (since I saw it two weeks ago) as a birthday present to myself, only to find out that it was sold out in ALL of Vegas! I was SO disappointed. I told my dearest boyfriend my story and asked him to make my day better. What did he do? He sent me this picture:


With the caption “It’s Bo!” (Bo is our dog, for reference). Of course, on my little phone screen, I had to squint to see what was next to Bo. I just about had a heart attack.. “Is that a Louis Vuitton bag I see?! He couldn’t have.. could he? He did?! What the heck is in the bag?! When did he get this?!” I had to show my mom to see if she saw the same thing I did. Yup, it was confirmed.. there’s a definitely a Louis bag in the picture. The more I asked him about it, the more he kept saying how I was crazy and how he had no idea what I was talking about.

I was seriously dying for the next 24 hours, waiting for my plane ride home. When I finally did come home, I had an hour left of my birthday and spent it with my boyfriend. That’s when he gave me this not so little brown bag. I sat myself down on his stairs and just held it. You guys might call be crazy, but I may or may not have cried a little bit from happiness. I untied the ribbon, pulled off the tape, and opened the box. What did I find? This!

The Monogram Speedy 30!!! I still cannot believe this just happened. This. Just. Happened. Apparently he went shopping by himself to the Louis store on Rodeo, only to see that they were sold out of all their Speedys. If you know him, you’d know that this was well out of his comfort zone. Since they didn’t have it at the store on Rodeo, he went to another store and picked up the last Speedy 30 they had there. He wanted to get me the Damier Azur Canvas one (He knew that that was the print I sold my old Speedy to buy), but since they were sold out, he took this one so he had something to give me in time for my bday. My bf told me I could exchange it for the Damier one if I wanted, it’d just take two weeks for me to get it. But of course, how could I give up something that my boyfriend picked up himself for me? I don’t have the heart to exchange it— I love it SO much.
So basically, I’ve just been dying in heaven ever since and in shock of how lucky I am to have such an amazing boyfriend. Seriously. Oh, and apparently there’s a Speedy shortage on all of the West coast, if you were curious. They sold all of their winter supply already and won’t be getting more til Christmas.
Well, that’s my little story. Sorry if I bored you, I just had to share! This beautiful bread is adapted from My Man’s Belly. Haha I just laughed out loud reading that sentence. Nothing comes from my man’s belly, everything just goes in it. So maybe it’s a little too late and I’m cracking myself up; it happens sometimes. Somehow, I have a list of three banana breads I turn to, and this one is one of them! Simplicity at its finest. No chocolate, no add-ins, just bread. I even made it three times in one week once; it’s that good!

Banana Bread Recipe

  • 2 2/3 Cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 12 Tablespoons (1 and a half sticks) Unsalted Butter
  • 2/3 Cup Sugar
  • 2/3 Cup Honey
  • 3 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 2 Cup Bananas – Mashed (6 bananas)

Streusel Recipe

  • 1/2 Cup All purpose Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts
  • 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (packed)
  • 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

Banana Bread Recipe

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
  2. Butter and flour two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pans.
  3. In a medium bowl, blend together the first four ingredients.
  4. In a large bowl, beat on high speed, the butter; sugar; vanilla; and honey. Beat for 2 – 3 minutes or until light yellow in color and lighter in texture.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients in thirds. Blend until combined (the texture will be grainy, like sand).
  6. Slowly add in the eggs and beat to combine.
  7. Fold in the bananas.
  8. Once thoroughly combined, pour into the buttered and floured loaf pans. Spread the batter evenly.

Streusel Recipe

  1. In a small bowl, add all ingredients.
  2. Blend with the back of a fork until a coarse crumb forms.
  3. Sprinkle the streusel topping on top of the banana bread.
  4. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  5. Let cool for 10 – 15 minutes before removing from the pan to further cool.

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