I created these cookies on a whim this weekend. I wanted to make something a little different using banana. My in-laws were visiting and my father-in-law is a big banana fan so I whipped up these Banana, Coconut, White Chocolate Chip cookies for everyone to munch on.

They were interestingly good! They were even better after the dough had a chill overnight in the fridge. I used a banana as well as a banana cream pudding mix to give these their banana flavor. They definitely were reminiscent of banana bread…but in cookie form! I loved how the bottom of the cookie almost caramelized so these were super sweet and chewy. The coconut and white chocolate chips were great additions too.

I made most of these as regular drop cookies with my cookie scoop but then I decided to pull out my trusty muffin top pan to finish them off. Have you ever used a muffin top pan to make cookies? It’s fun! It makes the cookies a little bigger and gives them a nice round shape. They kind of remind me of little frisbees. Which apparently I find entertaining. Enjoy!

adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

It’s Friday. I love Friday. It means that the weekend is here (well, almost). It means spending some much-needed quality time with the husband. It means, dare I say it, there could be a nap in my near future. Which will be entirely welcome after managing my sick, and somewhat cranky, offspring all week. It means Peanut Butter Cup Cream Pie. Whoa, what?

Peanut Butter Cup Cream Pie? Yes, my friends, welcome to my dreams. Where I have visions of sugar, cream, and mini peanut butter cups floating in my head. Oh, and oreos. Not that I like oreos or anything. Put them all together and experience the magic that is Peanut Butter Cup Cream Pie. Come on. You know you want to.

 

 

lovingly adapted from Just Putzing Around the Kitchen

This bread is a revelation. Is it the very best banana bread I have ever eaten? Probably not. Is it a really good, catch myself eating a third slice, kind of banana bread? Absolutely! I have made variations of this bread three times in the last two weeks. It’s the bakers version of pinching myself. Seriously, finding a tasty recipe for gluten-free banana bread is a challenge in itself. Adapting it to exclude eggs and dairy (butter!) too, well, I honestly wasn’t sure I’d ever get results like this.

Feel free to tweak to your tastes. We have made this with and without chocolate chips and I think shredded coconut would be a great addition as well. I hope you’ll enjoy this bread as much as we’ve been enjoying it!

 

adapted from Alisa Cooks

 

 

 

Coconut Chocolate Chunk Cookies. {sigh} I love cookies. They love me. It’s really just a match made in heaven. This is take two for these cookies on Becky Bakes. They are so good that they deserve a little extra attention. And I was craving them, yet again. You can find the original, sans coconut, version here. Now, in no particular order, here are the things I love about this cookie recipe:

• They are super soft and chewy.
• You can use your kitchen scale to measure the ingredients. I wish every recipe could be measured by weight. It’s so quick and easy!
• They have coconut…and chocolate. I love chocolate. I may have mentioned…
• They are super soft and chewy (this one bears repeating).
• I find it impossible to restrain myself around them.

Original recipe found here and here

I love chocolate. Deeply. I’ll admit it. I’m not ashamed. But every now and then, particularly in the spring, I start craving lemons. They are light, refreshing, and mouth-puckeringly delicious. Lemon curd (on anything!). Lemon pie. Lemon poppyseed muffins. Lemon brownies?

When you think of brownies, it’s usually all about the chocolate right? Well, why not mix it up a little?!  These lemon brownies will make you happy. You’ll dig ‘em…pinky swear. They are moist and dense but have a light, sunny flavor. They’re what happens when you have a hankering for sweetened condensed milk. Yes, that can totally happen.

Lemon brownies are a little hard to describe so you’ll just have to make these and see for yourself! Trust me. You won’t regret it.

 

adapted from Sweet Anna’s

If you’ve hung around Becky Bakes for long you know that I LOVE breakfast. Well, chocolate might come first, but breakfast foods are right up there. Of course, there is always chocolate for breakfast! But if I really want to get back to basics I whip up some pancakes. Easy, comforting…and an excuse to break out the maple syrup:-) I think maple syrup might be at the root of my love affair with breakfast. And I’m talking the real stuff…no offense Aunt Jemima.

These Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes were delish! Light and fluffy, which is unusual for whole wheat. The trick is using part all-purpose flour along with the whole wheat. That way, you still get that nice nutty whole-wheat flavor but the texture doesn’t get too dense. The whole wheat also adds a nutritional boost. Throw in some blueberries for a dose of antioxidants and we’re practically talkin’ health food here people!

 

How about you? What’s your maple syrup preference? Are you with me on the good stuff? Or are you partial to Aunt Jemima like the rest of my family?

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not but I’ve been in a bit of a baking slump. Unfortunately, no baking means no posting, which probably isn’t the healthiest thing for this little old blog. Though it is arguably healthier for my waistline since I still have a few post-baby pounds to lose.

Since I have been feeling uninspired, I decided to get into the kitchen with the kids this week. I let each of my older two (5 and 6) pick something to help make. My daughter picked mud pie (sounds fun, right?). It was good…better than I expected it would be actually! We got the recipe out of one of her kid friendly cookbooks. It was easy, chocolatey, and fantastic piled with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. I’m sure I could be pursuaded to share the recipe;-)

My little guy wanted to make muffins…he’s having a healthy streak:-) We have been talking a little bit about nutrition lately and he’s really been taking it to heart. We’ve been cutting back on sugar and adding in some new healthy foods to our diets. Chia seeds anyone? I did manage to twist his arm a little,  and we put a handful (or two!) of mini chocolate chips into the muffins:-)

About these muffins. They are so, so good! It is really hard to bake without eggs, dairy, and wheat. Countless attempts never make it here to the blog. Often, Samuel will find them palatable, but his diet is the only way of eating he knows. To be deemed “blog-worthy” they have to be delicious to the rest of the family as well. I don’t know what exactly “worked” in this recipe because I tried a couple of new things. Chia seeds as an egg replacer for one. I also used a combination of King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Flour and, when I ran out of that, Bisquick Gluten Free Baking Mix. We threw in some shredded carrots for moisture and a little extra nutritional kick. Also, not a pinch of xanthan gum in sight! Like I said, not sure exactly why these turned out so well this time but I am NOT complaining! I’m so excited to have a base recipe to work with from now on.

And just like that, I’m inspired again…

 

I’ve been meaning to share this recipe with you for the last few days but it has been crazy around here! I have a couple of house projects going on right now and they, coupled with keeping up with the kiddos, have been keeping me hopping. This cheesecake is worth the wait though! It is creamy and amazingly decadent and delicious. The deeper flavor of the dark chocolate cheesecake pairs perfectly with the fluffy sweet white chocolate mousse. The ganache? Well, I’m a firm believer that ganache makes everything better and cheesecake is certainly no exception;-)

Mmmm…I want another piece right now. I have one last lonely slice sitting in my freezer as we speak. I promised I would save it for someone (you know who you are!) but I’m telling you, that little slice of heaven is in serious jeopardy of being devoured.

This thing of beauty takes a little preparation time but don’t be swayed. None of the steps are overly complicated, just start ahead of when you’d like to serve it. I made the cheesecake component one day and the mousse and ganache the next day.

cheesecake adapted from my Dark Chocolate Cheesecake 

white chocolate mousse from Food Network

Last Saturday I had the most blissful day. I spent my birthday galavanting with a dear friend. We went to IKEA, out to lunch, and then to a movie. So. much. fun. I won’t even tell you about the all the damage I did at IKEA. I will tell you about the yummy lemonade I had with lunch though! We went to Red Robin. Love this place. Great burgers, yummy steak fries (they tout an endless basket of fries, though I have yet to take them up on that offer! In fact, my friend and I split a lunch and we still didn’t need extra fries. Not that that had anything to do with the tower of onion rings we ordered, or the freckled lemonade we were guzzling.

The freckled lemonade. This is the best lemonade ever. Sweet, syrupy strawberries and tart lemonade served over a mountain of ice. Honestly, there was a part of me that thought that maybe this concoction tasted extra delicious because I was eating out.  I was euphoric to be out of the house for the day. They don’t let me out much generally;-) But after making my own version of this lemonade at home I decided that, nope, this stuff is pretty much magic anywhere.

It also could not be easier to make! I made this in single serve glasses, and let me tell you, my kids thought I was the best mom ever! You could totally adapt this to make a whole pitcher of it for a crowd though. I’m seeing Freckled Lemonade in my future…right along with tan legs and sunglasses.

 

Don’t forget to check out my menu planning post! Win a year-long subscription to Plan to Eat….giveaway ends tomorrow!