Banana Blueberry Muffins for #MuffinMonday

I’m always on the lookout for ways to use the last two bananas in a bunch that have turned brown and are therefore disdained by my family. Banana muffins answer this need beautifully. Add another fruit, like blueberries to jazz them up a bit.

Yesterday was my mother’s 76th birthday. Of course, we celebrated with food. It was Mexican for lunch at a new (to us) restaurant she discovered hidden away in a neighborhood not far from my house in Houston. It is appropriately called La Hacienda Escondida and is part of a family group of Houston restaurants, all called La Hacienda but ours is the only one that is escondida or hidden in a residential neighborhood.

For dinner, we prepared one of my mom’s favorite meals. Smothered pork chops, creamed potatoes, sweet potatoes and fancy salad with tres leches cake to finish. I brought these muffins with me and left them for my brother-in-law and nephews who would not eat a brown banana to save a dying puppy but have a devoted love of banana bread. The boys are in their final week of school and suffering through final exams so I figured they deserved a treat. Also, now no one has to make them breakfast. I got to use my old bananas. Win-win-win!

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
2 ripe bananas
6 oz or 170g fresh blueberries

Optional for decorating: pearl sugar

Method
Preheat your oven to 350F° or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing or lining with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl mix together your flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

In a smaller bowl, add your milk, canola, vanilla and eggs, along with the two ripe bananas. Mash the bananas with a fork and then whisk all the ingredients together with that fork.

Set aside 12 blueberries for the tops of the muffins.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and stir until just combined. There should still be flour showing.

Now fold in the big pile of blueberries.

Evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups.

Top with one reserved blueberry each.  Sprinkle with a little pearl sugar– optional, but look how pretty!

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and finish cooling on a rack.

Enjoy! How do you use up old bananas? Please leave me a link in the comments to your favorite recipes. Thanks!

Jayne's Ultimate Iced Coffee

Making coffee with a long steep in lukewarm water creates a smooth, strong brew that is perfect for mixing with chilled milk or more water for a wonderfully refreshing glass of iced coffee. 

A month or two ago I received an email from my friend Jayne who is living in Saudi Arabia right now. She said, and I quote: “I've been on a mission to make the ultimate iced coffee- it's warming up nicely here! - and I think I've done it. Ok if I share?”

I am a huge fan of iced coffee during the hot months so you know I said yes. Jayne’s ultimate coffee is everything that she promised. Not that I doubted her. Jayne and I have been friends since way back in 2002 when we both got sucked into the International School of Kuala Lumpur PTA executive committee as newbies to KL. She is the type of person who always goes that extra mile for any job, paid or volunteer, and treats everyone with utmost generosity and kindness. It has been an honor to call her friend for all these years.

With my friend Jayne at our Christmas in July celebration 2006.

Ingredients
8oz (by weight) or 225g your fave ground coffee
36oz or about 1L tepid water (60-100°F or 16-38°C)

Method
Mix your water and coffee together in a big jug or cafetière and leave to steep for 12 hours.

Pour through cheesecloth to get rid of the grounds. I scooped all of grounds out of my jug into the cheesecloth at the end and squeezed all of the steeped coffee liquid out, to get every last good drop.

Chill, covered in the fridge. (I put mine in a clean juice bottle.)

Says Jayne: Serve one part coffee to two parts water or milk, over ice cubes. You can make it stronger if you like, equal parts coffee and water/milk, but I love the flavour, it's so intense. Sweeten with homemade simple syrup, if desired, and enjoy!

I didn't want to mess with making simple syrup so I add one teaspoon of sugar to my glass and just a little warm water to dissolve it.

After it's dissolved, add the ice cubes and the coffee.

Top up with milk for iced latte or more water for iced coffee.

So delicious. Enjoy!

No-Churn Coffee Amaretto Ice Cream with Almond Marshmallows #IceCreamTuesday #MallowMadness

Creamy ice cream is so easy, even without an ice cream machine. This version uses whipping cream and dulce de leche, flavored with espresso powder and Amaretto. 

So here you have it, my first Ice Cream Tuesday post! At the instigation of the great Jenni Field of Pastry Chef Online, we are making ice cream that includes marshmallows in some form. You can find my own almond marshmallow recipe and instructions here.  

Make sure you scroll on down past the recipe to see all of the Ice Cream Tuesday Mallow Madness links! We are all posting today at different times so if a link isn’t live right now, please try back later in the day. 

The ice cream base recipe was adapted from one of Nigella Lawson’s on the BBC website. She makes it look so easy and it really is!  (You may need a VPN set to United Kingdom to watch.) But you can also find instructions here on Nigella.com.  

Ingredients

For the ice cream:

1 2/3 cups or 400ml whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2/3 cup or 200g dulce de leche or sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

2 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur

3 1/2 oz or 100g homemade almond marshmallows from this recipe. 

For the candied almonds:

2 2/3 oz or 75g almonds

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon butter

Method

In a small heavy saucepan, toast the almonds over a medium low flame until they start turn golden and smell toasted and lovely. Toss frequently to prevent scorching. Turn the fire off and sprinkle the sugar over the nuts.

Stir them around as the sugar melts to make sure they are all coated with the syrup that results. Add in the butter and stir again.

Pour the nuts out onto a greased baking pan, separate them and leave to cool. 

In your stand mixer or with electric beaters, whisk the cream, espresso powder and cream of tartar until the cream thickens.

Add the dulce de leche and whisk until stiff peaks form.

Add the liqueur and whisk again.

Reserve a few marshmallows and almonds to add on top of the ice cream.  Ever so gently, fold in the candied almonds and the marshmallows.

Put in airtight container.

Top with the reserved marshmallows and almonds and freeze for several hours or overnight.

Enjoy! 

Check out all the wonderful creamy, marshmallowy frozen treats we have for you today!

• Traverse City Cherry Cordial Frozen Yogurt from Kirsten of Comfortably Domestic
• Strawberry Marshmallow Ice Cream from Donna of Cookistry
• Horchata Ice Cream with Mocha Mallow Swirl from Allison of Decadent Philistines Save the World
• Kahlua Marshmallows and Marshmallow Sauce from Betsy of Desserts Required
• No-Churn Coffee Amaretto Ice Cream with Almond Marshmallows from Stacy of Food Lust People Love
• Blackberry Cheesecake Swirl Ice Cream from Jeanne of Inside Nana Bread’s Head
• Princess Badass Ice Cream from Sophia of NY Foodgasm
• Strawberry Cheesecake Key Lime Marshmallow Ice Cream from Jenni of Pastry Chef Online
• Frozen Coconut S’mores Bars from Karyn of Pint Sized Baker
• Fudge-Topped Marshmallow Ice Cream from Liz of That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Strawberry Ice Cream with Marshmallow Swirl and Toasted Walnuts from Dionne of Try Anything Once

And for you visual folks, thanks to Karyn at Pint-sized Baker, we've got clickable photos!

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