Mary Lou's Famous Pancakes

I challenge you to find a better pancake recipe ANYWHERE. These are it. The cream of the crop. The best. Numero uno. My mom's pancakes are a widely requested treat in our family and if you make them, you'll quickly see why. The secret to these little buggers is to fry them using bacon fat. If you don't save up your leftover bacon grease, these probably won't be anything special. It gives them perfectly crispy edges with a taste reminiscent of bacon. I like these as silver dollar or just small pancakes (more edges!)

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup milk

1/4 cup of of butter/oil mix (1/8 cup melted butter and 1/8 cup oil mixed together)

Mix together the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Then mix the dry into the wet. Heat up a cast iron skillet with some bacon grease over a medium heat. Pour the batter into little blobs and when most of the bubbles pop on top, flip them. Now go enjoy the best pancakes ever!



Banana "Ice Cream"

We've all seen the Pinterest post that says that you can make ice cream out of one ingredient: bananas.  I have to admit that I was intrigued...partially because of my love of ice cream, and partially because of my hatred of bananas.  Could a food that I loathe turn into a food that I adore?  Is this true, or is this another case of false advertising on Pinterest?  I had to find out.

I have made this twice now.  I will say that no self-respecting ice cream lover could be fooled into thinking that this is actual ice cream.  That being said, it's actually kind of good.  I added a few ingredients in there to jazz it up a bit...and to cover up the taste banana, of course.

You Will Need:
4 very very ripe bananas
1.5 tablespoons natural peanut butter (optional)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder (optional)
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Slice up the bananas into little discs and throw them in a food processor.  Pulse until smooth.  Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl, and add peanut butter and cocoa powder.  Pulse again.  Scrape down sides and add chocolate chips.  Pulse one more time (or you can stir them in, either way).  Put into a freezer safe container, and freeze overnight.  I used a very shallow one so that they would freeze a bit better.

I actually eat it for breakfast (because I'm a baby and I hate eating fruit, so this is a good way for me to get some fruit and protein in with the peanut butter).   Just wait until it thaws a bit so that you can use an ice cream scoop or spoon.  It's surprisingly rich and creamy.

Go forth and eat your bananas!

Pumpkin Applesauce Cake Bars

A few disclaimers before I really dig into this post (and probably one of these yummy bars):

#1.  I am in no way a food photographer.  I know next to nothing about food styling (as you'll see in the pictures below) - this is my first haphazard attempt at the "step by step" recipe picture thing and let me tell you...it was chaotic at best.  So bear with me!

#2.  You know how most people are either a good cook or a good baker, but very rarely will you find a person who is good at both?  I am not a baker.  You do the math.

#3.  This was an experiment - I'm sure there are a million ways to improve upon this, and I hope you let me know how you fared in your comments if you try this recipe!

You will need:
1 13x9 baking pan
1 box of spice cake mix
3 little cups of applesauce (see picture)
1 can pumpkin
pumpkin pie spice
nonstick spray
water

Spray the baking pan with the nonstick spray so that it is nicely coated - there is no fat (oil, butter, etc) in the cake, so you want to make sure this bad boy doesn't stick.  Next, combine the can of pumpkin and the applesauce in a bowl and mix well.  I used 3 of the little cups of applesauce, but you could probably just use 2 of them.  I chose cinnamon applesauce because I wanted this to bring some spice along with it.  Next, add 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the pumpkin/applesauce and mix well so that it's combined throughout.  After that, gradually add a bit of the cake mix at a time, making sure that everything is mixed in well before you add more.  You may need to add a bit of water to the batter at this point as it will be thick - I didn't add more than 1/4 cup of water when making this.

*Sidenote - this was my first time using a Kitchenaid mixer and I have two words:  life changing!

Next, pour the batter (it will be on the thick side) into your baking pan.

Bake at 350 for 33-35 minutes.

The cake is going to come out looking cracky and not very pretty, mostly because of the density I'm sure.  Don't judge a book by it's cover here, folks!  There is a lot of goodness in this not so cute little cake!

Okay, so here is what I learned - while the temptation to immediately dig in is immense, let the cake sit and cool.  This was SO MUCH BETTER on the second day.  The flavors really combine together, and the bottom of the bar becomes even more dense, so that it's cakey on top, but incredibly moist on the bottom (almost like the texture of a really rich brownie.  Except, you know, it's pumpkin).

Let me know if you guys find any other delightful variations, or something that works better...
PS - if you put some butter on top and stick it in the microwave for a few seconds, it makes a really delectable breakfast.  :)

Pumpkin Loaf

Labor Day. The glorious segue from summer into fall. In honor of the most fantastic season being right around the corner, I'm going to give you all a fabulous recipe to get your warm and fuzzy fix. I had a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbuck's this morning, and this recipe would have been a perfect match. This pumpkin bread is to die for. I personally think it's better than Starbuck's pumpkin loaf and it's easy to make. It's rainy and chilly here in Pittsburgh (which I happen to love) and I'm planning on snuggling up to a movie tonight and waiting for the incredible scent of pumpkin spice to fill my house while this bakes. What are you waiting for? You do it too!

 

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and in a big bowl, mix these together:

1  (15 oz) can pumpkin puree (or 2 cups if you have a bigger can)

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup lukewarm water

3 cups sugar

Now in a separate bowl, whisk together:

3 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

and all the fragrant lovely spices: 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground nutmeg, 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. I love it with lots of spice, but if you want a milder flavor, feel free to cut back on them.

 

Stir all the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients just until combined. Don't over-blend. Pour into (2) 9x5" loaf pans that have been greased and floured. My oven takes about 55-60 minutes.

Ready for this? Sit down, because this is going to knock your socks off. As if this wasn't delicious enough already, we're going to push it right over the top. After you take the loaves out of the oven, while they are still hot, poke several small holes in the tops.  Melt some butter, cinnamon, and sugar in a bowl and  drizzle over the loaves. No specific amounts, just add enough til you think it's awesome. You can thank me later.

While it may feel like torture to have these incredible delights tempting you on the counter, do yourself a favor and let them sit overnight. If they rest for about a day, all those spices get to know eachother and become friends. While the loaves are still warm, wrap them up in saran wrap, and they'll become even more delicious and moist and fabulous.

Raisin Bran Muffins

I'm craving carbs like crazy today, and I was digging through recipes to post...these sounded delicious.  I forget where my mom and sister actually got this recipe (maybe a newspaper), but I DO remember the dozens of muffins that this recipe made.  The recipe is for 6 dozen muffins (yes, you read that correctly), but obviously you can split it if you want less.  The great thing is that because this recipe uses buttermilk, it can keep in your fridge for up to 6 WEEKS.  Now, that sounds a bit weird to me, but that's what the recipe says.   Here's what you'll need:

 

4 eggs, beaten

1 quart buttermilk

5 teaspoons baking soda

3 cups sugar

5 cups unsifted flour

1 cup cooking oil

15 ounce box of raisin bran flakes

 

Combine all ingredients well and refrigerate the batter at least overnight.  Batter will keep up to six weeks (see, I told you.  You can make the entire batch or make just enough for the week or even make some each morning if you want).  Spoon the desired amount of batter into greased muffin tins (or you can use those cute little cupcake liners).  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.