“Extreme” Walnut Banana Bread with Streusel Topping

My freshman year of college, I used to live for coming home to my mom’s banana bread.

I would force her to make it and I think she loved making it for me just as much as I loved eating it.

Sometimes, I would come home and it would already be baking in the oven and the smell was like… rich waves of heaven.. haha!

But really, I thought she was a baking genius.  When she showed me the recipe she uses, I decided to try it myself and add some streusel.  It of course wasn’t as good as my moms, but it’s still a really awesome recipe.

 

 “Extreme” Walnut Banana Bread with Streusel Topping

Adapted from:  All Recipes and Buns in My Oven

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup butter 
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 large overripe bananas, mashed
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup walnuts

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 8 tbsp butter, cubed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9×5 inch loaf pans.
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until smooth.
4. Stir in the bananas, eggs, and walnuts until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture, and stir just until blended. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.
5. Make the streusel: mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and brown sugar.
6. Cut in the butter and mix until crumbly.
7. Evenly crumble the streusel over the banana bread mixture.
8. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean.
9. Let the loaves cool in the pans for at least 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack, and cool completely.

*Tip- Wrap in aluminum foil to keep in the moisture.

Strawberry/Blueberry Cheesecake Popsicles from Pops: Icy Treats for Everyone!

Every once in a while, I score a really cool cookbook.  This is one of those times.

Pops: Icy Treats for Everyone has so many refreshing popsicle ideas, plus a bunch of decadent popsicles and even ice cream sandwich recipes.

You’d never believe how easy they are to make because they all look so intricate.  The best part is when you’re able to make yours look just as good.  And they even taste good, too.

Even if you don’t feel like making anything from the book, you can just check out all of the awesome pictures and drool, but that’s up to you.  Ha!

For the recipe, you can buy Pops: Icy Treats for Everyone on Amazon.

PS:  I’ll be having a giveaway on Monday, so check back! 

Overnight Fluffy and Moist Coffee Cake

I love Instagram…. love in the obsessive kind of way.

I’m constantly uploading pictures.  I could live without Facebook or Twitter, but Instagram is a different story.

I used to get on Facebook just to look at pictures people would post.  And I can hardly motivate myself to post a Twitter status.  But Instagram is just pictures, which is why I love it.  Plus, the filters are really cool.

Also, it makes my life look cooler than it actually probably is.  For example, I just posted a picture of the lake recently like I’m there every day… when, really, I was only there for a couple of days.  But hey, whateva.

I’m constantly posting pictures of food while I’m making it, so if you want to see what I’m baking before I post the recipe (like this one…lots of coffee cake pics on my Instagram), check it out on my Instagram.  My username is, you’ll never guess, whatkatiesbaking. Check it out!

Do you like Instagram?

 

Overnight Fluffy and Moist Coffee Cake
From: All Recipes

I’m sure you could make this without refrigerating overnight.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, nutmeg and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Pour into a foiled and greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.
4. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon; sprinkle over coffee cake. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
6. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Combine confectioners’ sugar and milk; drizzle over warm coffee cake.

The BEST Coffee Cake and My First Vlog

I’ve got a couple of other recipes I’ve been wanting to post for you, but I’m not going to do that today.

I’m going to completely put myself out there with my very first ridiculous and corny vlog and hope that you stay tuned in in the future as I (hopefully) get better.

Let me tell you about my first video.

I’m taking a Digital Media class and two of our assignments were to make a podcast and a video.  I didn’t do so hot on the video, but I thought I did pretty well on the podcast, so I decided I wanted to make podcasts for What Katie’s Baking.

When I headed to Wal-Mart to get an audio recorder, I noticed that there was a Flip camcorder for only 30 dollars more than an audio recorder. I couldn’t pass up that deal so I decided to get it.  Well, it turned out that they were out.

By this point, I was set on getting a camcorder, and I remembered that Wal-Mart does price matching.  I checked out the other camcorders and found one that was 160 dollars.  I found it for 77 dollars online. Wal-Mart doesn’t do online price matching, but by this point, I’d already been at Wal-Mart forever and it was their last one, so the manager let me and dad have it for 77 dollars.

Awesome, huh?  So now I have a brand new Kodak Play Touch and my very first vlog.

Let’s talk about the coffee cake before I show you.  I’m not stalling or anything.  This is the moistest… most moist?… cake I think I’ve ever made.  I changed up the topping and switched out nuts with oats.  The topping is very crunchy on top, but once you cut into it, you get the gooeyness underneath.  Good stuff.

Okay, guys, I guess you can click here to check it out.  Don’t make fun of me! Or the cheesy music choice. Or my beginner video editing skills.  I’m workin’ on it.

The Best Coffee Cake
Adapted from: The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1-1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour, sifted
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cup whole milk (I used 2%)
• 3 whole egg whites, beaten until stiff

Topping:

• 1-1/2 stick butter, softened
• 3/4 cups flour
• 1-1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 cup oats

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat egg whites and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined. Don’t overbeat. Fold in beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula. Spread in a well-greased 9 x 13 baking pan. A cake pan with higher sides would be best.
3. In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle all over the top.
4. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. Serve warm.

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Facts:
(pumpkin patch)

1. A pumpkin is really a squash.
2. Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.
3. Pumpkin flowers are edible.
4. The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.
5. In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
6. Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.
7. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.
8. The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin.
9. Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
10. Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October.
11. Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
12. Native Americans called pumpkins “isqoutm squash.” (Don’t ask me how to pronounce this.)
13. Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine.
14. It tastes really, really good in muffin form!!

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkins
Adapted from:  Smitten Kitchen and Annie’s Eats


Muffins:  
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (not the whole can!)
1/3 cup vegetable oil*
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Filling:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Streusel:

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 cup and 1 tsp. flour

2 tbsp. butter, cubed

3/4  tsp. cinnamon

Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth.  Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan.  Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. (I only left mine in for 20 minutes.  I recommend waiting just for the presentation of the muffin.  Taste-wise, it’s not affected.) 

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups. (I ran out 😦 )

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth.

 

Then whisk in flour and baking powder until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

 
Fill each muffin well halfway with batter. 

Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 12 equal slices.  Place a slice in each muffin well.  (Or plop, if you didn’t freeze it all the way) Also, I added some butterscotch chips into some of mine, instead of using cream cheese for all of them.  It was also very delicious!

Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese.  Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter.   

 
Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool completely before serving.

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Facts:
(pumpkin patch)

1. A pumpkin is really a squash.
2. Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.
3. Pumpkin flowers are edible.
4. The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.
5. In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
6. Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.
7. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.
8. The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin.
9. Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
10. Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October.
11. Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
12. Native Americans called pumpkins “isqoutm squash.” (Don’t ask me how to pronounce this.)
13. Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine.
14. It tastes really, really good in muffin form!!

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkins
Adapted from:  Smitten Kitchen and Annie’s Eats


Muffins:  
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (not the whole can!)
1/3 cup vegetable oil*
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Filling:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Streusel:

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 cup and 1 tsp. flour

2 tbsp. butter, cubed

3/4  tsp. cinnamon

Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth.  Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan.  Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. (I only left mine in for 20 minutes.  I recommend waiting just for the presentation of the muffin.  Taste-wise, it’s not affected.) 

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups. (I ran out 😦 )

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth.

 

Then whisk in flour and baking powder until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

 
Fill each muffin well halfway with batter. 

Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 12 equal slices.  Place a slice in each muffin well.  (Or plop, if you didn’t freeze it all the way) Also, I added some butterscotch chips into some of mine, instead of using cream cheese for all of them.  It was also very delicious!

Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese.  Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter.   

 
Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool completely before serving.