Sponsor Spotlight: Kayle from The Cooking Actress

October 16, 2012 By 25 Comments

Do y’all know Kayle? Well, you’re about to. She’s the creative genius behind The Cooking Actress, and she happens to be one of my favorite foodie friends. I’ve known Kayle since I started this blog last December, and she welcomed me with open arms. Not only is she a food blogger, but she’s an actress. That’s right, I know a celebrity! How cool is that?

This girl sure knows how to rock a whisk, and she loves her some cookies. I counted 25 recipes with the word “cookie” in it. Twenty five! In honor of Kayle’s love of cookies, I decided to make and feature her Browned Butter Dark Chocolate & Marshmallow cookies. Can you say yum balls!

Kayle resides in New York, where she lives with her boyfriend (lucky guy), running a very delicious cooking blog and pursuing her acting career. I plan on visiting New York after graduation, and you bet I’ll be meeting up with Kayle to gallivant around New York and eat everything in sight.

I had a very difficult time trying to decide what recipe of Kayle’s I wanted to feature. Everything the girl makes had me drooling. How could a girl choose between whole wheat cinnamon swirl bread, brown butter macaroni and cheese (this one is on my to-make list), chocolate chip cookie dough balls (drool), and s’mores creme brûlée (OMG)!

It was hard!

The dough for these cookies is indescribably delicious, and I almost didn’t have any left in order to bake these cookies. The brown butter is the star of this delicious dough, and it’s what makes it irresistible. I sat there with a spoon and shoveled it into my mouth. Heck with the threat of salmonella poisoning; I didn’t care, because this dough was too good to resist, and at that point, contracting salmonella poisoning didn’t scare me.

The baked cookie was just as good as the dough. They were soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside (a perfect cookie, in my opinion) and studded with dark chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. The best part about these cookies, besides the fact that they’re made with brown butter, is the way the mallows caramelize and toast up in the oven, creating a gooey cookie center. Yum!

Kayle knew what she was doing when she created this irresistible cookie.

Want the recipe? You know you do. Visit Kayle over at The Cooking Actress to get this recipe, along with all her other delicious and creative recipes.

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#MuffinMonday~Nutella Swirl Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins

October 8, 2012 By 20 Comments

Happy #MuffinMonday!

Why should you make muffins? Um, they’re delicious! Need more convincing? Oh, alright.

  1. They’re individual, which means there’s no need to share and, as you all know, I don’t respond well to sharing. I’m like Joey on Friends… Jennie doesn’t share her food. Sorry!
  2. They only take a few minutes to whip up, and I’m a huge fan of instant gratification. When this girl wants something, she doesn’t like to wait for it.
  3. They’re extremely versatile. Like bananas? Throw some in. Chocolate fan? Add those, too. The list goes on.
  4. Did I mention that they’re delicious? Well, they are.

Convinced?

This week’s muffin recipe happened to be something I already have on the blog, a chocolate banana muffin. So, I decided to shake things up a bit and make a Nutella swirl pumpkin chocolate muffin, and it’s damn good!

I know I’m going a bit overboard with pumpkin, but, in my defense, it’s fall.

The chocolate really shines in this recipe. There’s a touch of cocoa powder in the batter, a generous amount of chocolate chips studded throughout, and a dollop of Nutella swirled in the center. Chocolate fans… You’re welcome.

The pumpkin is there to aid in the moist, cake-like texture of this cupcake. This may be the moistest muffin I’ve ever had.

Enjoy!

#MuffinMonday~Nutella Swirl Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins
 
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Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 16

Ingredients
  • Dry
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. cinnamon
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • Wet
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
  • ⅓ cup Nutella

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 16 muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree and melted butter. Whisk in eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients until just combined, then gently fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Fill each of the tins half way. Using a ½ teaspoon, add a dollop of Nutella, then top with batter. Swirl with a knife. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

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Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Banana Bread

September 21, 2012 By 29 Comments

Stress is real life, and I happen to be an active participant in this dreadful reality on a daily basis… No choice of my own, of course.

Here’s how stress works: 1.) It arrives at the most inconvenient time. 2.) It makes itself comfortable, then proceeds to drag you around by your feet for a few hours. 3.) And, if that weren’t enough, it leaves you tattered with your hair astray, feeling like you’ve just been run over by a Hummer (which is the worst, and dumbest, vehicle ever made).

Stress blows!

Here’s a list of things I like to do when stress rears its ugly head:

  • Take a jog around the neighborhood- pounding the pavement calms my nerves a bit, and the pretty sights distract me from my thoughts.
  • Paint my nails- the pretty colors put me in a better mood.
  • Beat some chicken or beef- I get out my meat mallet and take out my frustration on the meat.
  • Bake- I bust out my whisk and whip up a sweet treat, then proceed to eat it. This is by far my favorite way to relieve some stress.

I decided to bake you bread, today.  It’s a win-win situation. You get bread, and I get to say sayonara to stress. Everybody’s happy!

This bread is good plain, but it’s really good slathered with butter.

Got pumpkin butter? If so, smear a healthy dollop on top. Or, you could do what  Sarah from Baking Serendipity did, and make Pumpkin Bread French Toast with it. Um, yum! I choose the french toast.

Stress? What stress?

I found this bread recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it. My family and I loved it so much that I’ve already made it twice.

See that gorgeous dark line running through the center? That’s the cinnamon swirl center, and it happens to be the best part of this bread. The cinnamon sugar mixture caramelizes in the center, creating a sweet, moist center. It’s so good.

I added some pecans for crunch and pumpkin pie spice for a rich boost of warm pumpkin flavor. You need this bread in your life…Trust me!

I hope you like pumpkin, because this is just first of many pumpkin recipes on the blog. Happy Fall!

 

Cinnamon-Swirl Pumpkin Banana Bread

Dry:

2 cups white whole wheat flour (or 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat)
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Wet:

3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 ripe bananas
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup plain or vanilla greek yogurt
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Cinnamon Swirl:

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, add pumpkin puree and bananas, mash together with a fork or, my favorite, a potato masher. Add brown sugar, melted butter, and yogurt, whisk to combine. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk.

Fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in chopped pecans.

For cinnamon swirl: Stir together sugar and cinnamon

Add half of the batter to the bread pan and top with cinnamon swirl mixture. Top with the remaining batter and place in the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

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