banana muffins with mascarpone cream cheese frosting

This is a recipe that my mom got from Ronalee, a friend that she works with who also makes super yummy stuff! The frosting is soooooo yummy!


Banana muffins with mascarpone cream cheese frosting

Muffins:
3 cups flour
1 TBsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I double it because I like lots of cinnamon)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
(I also added a tiny bit of cardamom because I love that stuff, but that's just me.)
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 TBsp vanilla
4 ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl. In another bowl, beat sugar, eggs, oil, bananas and vanilla.
Slowly combine both together.
Line 18 muffin cups or grease and flour pans.
Bake on middle rack until tops are golden brown. About 25 mins.
After cool frost and then sprinkle with nuts.

Frosting:
3 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese (softened)
3 TBsp honey (I added a little more)

1/2 cup toasted nuts (Toast them. Just do it. They are so much better that way!)

Oh nuts! I am nuts about nuts!
I combined mine with melted butter and a little brown sugar and cinnamon.
Then toasted them in the oven for about 15-20 mins.
I would recommend toasting more than 1/2 cup because if you're like me, you'll taste them and then kinda just keep eating them. Yummy!

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/8 cup canola oil (I have also substituted this with yogurt and it turned out great)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
2 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp butter flavoring
1 1/2 tsp almond flavoring


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. In another bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar and flavorings. Beat 2 minutes. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk until well combined. Add seeds.
Pour into greased and floured pans.
Bake 35-40 minutes for mini, 1 hour for regular.

Makes 5 mini or 2 regular size loaves.

After cool, pour glaze on and let it harden.

Glaze: 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp butter flavoring, 1/2 tsp almond flavoring

Note: This recipe is very forgiving. I have made it without eggs and it was great. Used butter instead of oil. I have also substituted yogurt instead of oil.
I also used chia seeds (I have a lot of them on hand) instead of poppy seeds.
I have also poured the glaze on when they were still in the pans and when they were out of the pans and either way worked fine. I love the way the glaze gets crunchy on top. Yum!

Marshmallow fondant

I like fondant cakes. I like that they can look so elegant and smooth or cute and funky depending on how you decorate them. However I don't particularly like the taste of fondant or how expensive it can be if you buy it at the store pre-made. Here's a fun cheap alternative and it actually tastes pretty good (especially if you use a yummy buttercream frosting underneath.)

Marshmallow fondant




16 ounces white mini marshmallows (USE A GOOD BRAND)
2-5 Tbsp water
2 lbs powdered sugar (Again, use a good brand like C&H cane)
1/2 cup crisco shortening (put this in an easily accessible place because you will be dipping into it often)

Note: the mini marshmallows don't come in a 16oz bag. I doubled the recipe and just used 2 bags and it was about perfect. I used the same batch for my daughter at the first of the month and my son at the end of the month. It was perfect still.


PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL BECAUSE IT CAN GET VERY HOT! ANY KIND OF HEATED SUGAR CAN GET VERY HOT!

Melt marshmallows and the 2-5 Tbsp of water in a microwave safe bowl or in a double boiler. (FYI: the microwave is fast and has just as great results.) If microwaving put bowl in microwave fro about 30 seconds and then stir. Put it back in for 30 second intervals and stir until melted. This usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on top of the marshmallows and mix in.

Now, GENEROUSLY, grease your hands (palms, backs, in between fingers... you get the picture, everything.) Your hands will feel like heaven when you are done, I promise. Baby soft. Then heavily grease your counter with the shortening that you have placed conveniently close to you for easy access.


Dump the marshmallow/sugar mixture right on top of your counter that you just greased.
Start kneading like you would bread dough.
Keep kneading. This stuff can be very sticky at this stage. Re-grease your hands and counter as neccessary.
If the mix is tearing easily then it is too dry. Add 1/2 Tbsp water in intervals as needed.
It usually takes 8-10 min of kneading to get it really smooth elastic ball.

You can use it right away if you have worked out all the lumps of powdered sugar or you can let it sit overnight in the fridge. To store it: Cover it in crisco and put in a zip-loc bag or sealed in some other plastic-type wrappy stuff. Make sure to squeeze out as much air as possible.

It will last for weeks in the refridgerator. When ready to use it, pull it out and heat in the microwave for a few seconds to make it more pliable.






I made the ghost flames on Logan's truck with food coloring and a watercolor brush.

This fondant is very soft and doesn't work very well for making flowers or other things to decorate cake.

Please do not try to make dogs like I did for Mikelle's birthday cake. They came out looking like sad little round lumpy balls. Although it was still cute.