Whatt??? There isn't any butter or oil in this Avocado Chocolate Banana Bread?!?

I think I'm on to something - a total money saver and a nutrition increaser.

Or maybe not...

Maybe I'll eat more of it because it is justifiable, but I'm actually decreasing my health with the sugar intake...

Whatever.

Let me just tell you about what I think is totally amazing: Avocados.

Yes, avocados are amazing.

I'm probably the last person to realize it, but I didn't really enjoy eating them so I didn't eat them, and plus I'm not a trendy hipster who will eat avocados like they just might go out of style tomorrow.

So, you must be wondering how I'm eating them if even I could enjoy them.

I bake them... into yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmy treats!!!

Instead of using oil or butter in this banana bread, I added puréed/blended avocados.

And it's cheaper than butter!

Avocado Chocolate Banana Bread

Just so you know, I made the same cake last week and used olive oil (1/3 cup), instead of avocados.

I also used blueberries, rather than chocolate chips.

Wicked cool, huh?

Blueberry Banana Crumble Bread

Banana Meatballs.

The other day, I went to buy bananas in Chinatown.

There was a giant sign warning me not to take apart the banana bundles so I didn't.

As a result of that experience, I usually buy the whole bundle, regardless of where I go grocery shopping.

I can only eat so many bananas until the inevitable  "bruising and browning" start.

Usually I default to frozen bananas or banana bread, but I wanted to do something different.

So I made meatballs.

Yes, BANANANANANANANANA MEATBALLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

You are probably thinking that the idea of adding a banana into meatballs is really wild, but.. it's not.

To me, bananas have a tropical flavour... just like pineapples, and people add pineapples to tons of stuff:

smoothies, pizza, sweet and sour pork, and....... even meatballs!

It was a little risky, not because I made up the recipe, BUT because I had never made meatballs before and I was still getting use to the oven in my place.

The meatballs turned out well!

They were tasty and the banana flavour was subtle.

I had some extra meat, so I'll let you know what I did with it another time.

What to do with eleven yolks?

This was from a while ago and I just forgot to post it up.

My friend made an angel cake and had 11 egg yolks left over.

I had a feeling that he didn't have enough time to make something neat and didn't want to eat a giant high in cholesterol omelette, so he gave the yolks to me.

I didn't know what to do 11 yolks, but thank goodness for Google.

I found this site, which lists recipes by the number of yolks in the recipe.

One yolk, two yolk, three yolk..... four. Very Dr. Seuss.

Unfortunately, nine and eleven yolk recipes are are harder to find.

I just improvised and used a twelve yolk recipe.

Lower in cholesterol than the normal 12 yolk recipe. A very good selling point.

There were two recipes that used 12 yolks: a Gold Cake and a Daffodil Cake.

I used the Gold Cake Recipe, but modified it by adding lavender. Still a flowery cake.

Chewy Chocolate Lavender Cookies

I recently moved to a new city and I just realized that I haven't blogged in over a month. .

I have been baking or trying to at least, but every time that I decided to make something, I realized that I was missing something. Mildly frustrating.

For instance, I tried to make Pineapple Muffins... but half way through making a mess in the kitchen, I realized that I didn't have butter or oil. I compromised and used yogurt... because that was the only potential substitute.

It wasn't a total success.. or a failure... The muffins just had a weird gummy texture... like the texture that you get from adding too much protein powder to muffins... yeah, I'm sure everyone can relate with that example.

Today, I was set on sticking to a recipe and I tried not to go "off the grid". I wanted to test out a cookie recipe that included corn starch...

For me to follow this recipe, I had to pick up the baking essentials: butter, brown sugar, apparently corn starch, and a baking tray.

Yes!!! A NEW TRAY!!!  I was very excited to test out a new tray. Ah, I love buying new bake ware. It's like buying a new pair of shoes. Just amazing.

Chewy Chocolate Lavender Cookies

The cookies turned out well, but of course, I had to get creative. I added lavender... I wonder if anyone will notice that the cookies taste like SUMMER!!

Oh, I also baked the cookies for 9 minutes (vs 11 minutes) because I'm still getting use to the oven, which runs a little hotter than my previous oven... I think.

High Rising Muffins: The Banana Chocolate Version

SURPRISE... I made muffins again...

It seems that all I do is make cupcakes and muffins. I guess the muffin liners appeal to me. Less clean up.

I wanted to make some of those nice high rise muffins. You know, like the ones at Starbucks and Second Cup?

Maybe it's because I've been looking at some new housing situations. I'm really digging those high rise apartments.

Nice view. Who wouldn't want that?

Banana Chocolate Muffins

I found out that there are three things that may help to make a muffin to rise higher:

1. A super hot oven temperature. 
I'm talking like 400-425, maybe even 450 degrees F.

I baked my muffins for 8 min at 425F, then I dropped the temperature down to 350F for another 8 or so, until done.

2. A scoopable batter.
Yeah, I know scoopable isn't a word, but it's my blog. All I mean is that the batter shouldn't be runny or pourable.

It must be thick-ish. I used my normal Banana Muffin Recipe, but I added some coco powder (~1/2 cup) to thicken up the batter.

I've used this so many times... but I can't seem to remember if the batter actually needed the coco powder... I think it was borderline pourable and that is why I added it.

3. Fill the muffin pan almost to the top.
None of this 3/4 full business. Half or 2/3 fullness is for cupcakes and we are making muffins.

Overall, I think it turned out pretty well. In fact, I will probably do these three things every time I make muffins.

The only down side would be that it may take a little bit longer for the oven to preheat. Yeah, bummer.

I also found that I made fewer muffins... which wasn't a surprise since I filled them higher. Not a bad thing, but just something to keep in mind if you decide to do these three things... do it...

Strawberry Muffins.

I made some strawberry muffins.

It turned out fine, considering the recipe was titled Whole Wheat Apple Oat Muffins and I didn't use any apples.

Strawberry Muffins

If I would make it again, I would pat the strawberries dry before adding them into the recipe.

Actually, if I would make it again, I would just follow the recipe and use apples, instead of strawberries.

Dulce de Leche Stuffed Cupcakes.

I made some cupcakes again. Seems to be the story of my life lately.

Hey, I'm not complaining. I like doing it.

These ones were stuffed with Dulce de Leche.

What is that, you might ask? Well, it sort of tastes like caramel.

I used a Crockpot and made some from condensed milk, not evaporated milk.

Confusing, yes, I know. They both end in "milk" and come in small little cans.

I wouldn't know what would happen if I used evaporated milk... I suppose it wouldn't taste as good.

Dulce de Leche Stuffed Cupcakes

Each cupcake was bursting with that ooey gooey dulce goodness.

Roast them nuts.

If you didn't know that I'm crazy for nuts, I guess I'm hiding it well. I'm talking about the culinary kind...

Anyways... I eat them everyday and I will probably continue to. I mix them into my oatmeal, add them into my trail mixes, or cover them with chocolate... I could go on.

In grad school, I had a jar of peanut butter by my desk and I practically spread that butter on everything so it's not surprising that if it came down to it, I would eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich everyday to satisfy my craving.

Maybe that is a little extreme. I would probably stop after the first year or so, but to avoid that weird situation from happening, I roasted some almonds and pecans.

I dry roasted some, made some salty, and also made some sweet.

Salted Almonds

Honey Cinnamon Candied Pecans

Oh, did you know that nuts are actually fruit? Apparently walnuts are fruit, but almonds, cashews, and peanuts are seeds.

I know I reference Wiki a lot, but I suppose that it's fine since they give a shout out to epidemiological studies in the Nutritional Benefit section. Isn't epi soo cool? ;)

Chocolate cupcakes with the best frosting ever.

People like looking at food pictures, especially instagram-ish, filtered-added photos.

So here you go... feast your eyes on some cupcakes that I made.

Chocolate cupcakes with a flour frosting

Yup... I added flour to the frosting and it is the best frosting ever.

The flour stabilizes the frosting without adding a ton of sugar... in fact, I usually lower the sugar content so I'm not abusing my little Islets of Langerhans. Yes, sometimes I'm health conscious.

Since you have to beat the crap out of it, it takes a little more time and effort than your average Joe buttercream frosting.

It is super light and fluffy... like whipped cream and it's totally worth the extra effort.

This just might be my go-to-frosting-recipe. Trust me.... it's awesome.

Dried plum and banana muffins.

Well, hello there. It seems that I've been on a little hiatus from this blog.

Don't worry, I have still been baking away ;) .... I just haven't been taking pictures of these adventures. Who wants to read a blog post with only text? Not this girl, at least... and that is why I haven't been blogging.

I should take more pictures. My brother takes a ton of pictures and documents practically everything in photo form. He has a cool fisheye lens that he uses to make cool-looking pictures. Maybe I should get one too... but then I would have to carry it around and I already carry enough things... like lip balm. So maybe I won't get one.

Anyways... I made some muffins and took some pictures today. Yay...

Dried plum and banana ones.

Dried plum? yeah. Totally out of this world.

Never tried one? Well, I'm sure you have if I told you they are prunes... haha..

By the way, I read that the "European Food Safety Agency has ruled that prunes are not a laxative and can't be sold as such". Well.. that is good to hear I guess, but I'll think twice about reaching for that second muffin... even if it isn't a laxative...