Naughty (or Healthy) Chocolate-Banana Cupcakes

Everyone loves cupcakes. Some of us even love them a little too much. But whether you want the occasional indulgence or the guilt free version, this is the recipe for you. These easy and delicious cupcakes can be made as healthy or as naughty as you want.



For the healthy version, make the low fat milk and whole wheat flour substitutions and keep the rest of the recipe as is. Eat as is (without icing)…more like a decadent muffin than a cupcake. (I have also tried substituting the butter for 2 tbsp oil and 2 extra tbsp low fat milk... it worked very well!)



For the naughty version? Use the full fat milk, the white flour and stir in some semi-sweet chocolate chips or poke in a few pieces of dark chocolate into each cupcake before sticking in the oven. And of course, top with some dark chocolate ganache (see chocolate cake blog for ganache recipe). What could be better? Oh, I forgot. Then head to the gym… for balance of course.



Or, for those of us that want decadence but want to skip the gym... make the healthy substitutions, poke with pieces of dark chocolate, and skip the icing. Now that is what I call compromise!

Chocolate-Banana Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1/4 cup Butter, room temp
1/2 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Milk (or substitute 1% or 2% milk)
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
3 Bananas, ripe and mashed
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 cups White Flour (or substitute whole wheat flour)
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add milk, vanilla, bananas and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing only until incorporated. Do not overmix, otherwise the cupcakes will be tough.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until about 3/4 full. Bake for 13-15 minutes until cupcakes are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Move to a wire rack to cool.

(If you would like to ice the cupcakes, make sure they are cooled completely first. Then make some Dark Chocolate Ganache to spread on top!)

Chunky Veggie Soup with Cornbread Style Dumplings

There is nothing like a little soup to warm you up on a chilly autumn day!

I love this soup because it's a great way to use up whatever vegetables you have kicking around in the fridge or in the garden. And if you don't have any veggies, not to worry. Just pick up whatever is in season to make this soup!

The cornbread style dumplings are hearty and have a great texture. They are a wonderful alternative to regular flour based dumplings. Of course, if you don't have cornmeal, you can make the recipe using 2 cups of white flour instead.

Chunky Veggie Soup with Cornbread Style Dumplings
Serves 6-8

The Soup

3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 ½ cups Onions, medium dice (about 0.5cm)
4 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
5 cups Mixed Veggies, medium dice (I used carrot, zucchini, aubergine, red peppers)
2 tbsp Dried Herbs (eg. Oregano, Thyme, Parsley, Chervil, or a mix)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
4 tbsp Tomato Paste
2 Liters Vegetable Stock (or chicken or beef stock if you like)

In a pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Sweat onions, garlic, all the veggies, and the dried herbs for 4-5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and tomato paste and stir. Then add the stock. Bring up to a boil, then cover, lower the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, go ahead and make the dumplings (if you want to omit the dumplings, just let the soup simmer covered for about 45 minutes total and enjoy!).



The Cornbread Style Dumplings
Makes about 20-1 inch dumplings

2 tbsp Freshly Chopped Parsley
1 1/2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1 cup Cornmeal
1 cup White Flour
3/4 cup Water

In a large bowl, combine parsley, mustard, baking powder, salt and pepper. Add cornmeal and flour and stir until all ingredients are well mixed.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Slowly pour the water into the well, using a fork to incorporate the flour mixture into the water. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix or the dumplings will be tough. Using your hands, roll into 1 inch balls.

Once the soup has simmered for 15 minutes, drop the dumplings into the soup, cover and let simmer for another 30 minutes. You will know when the dumplings are ready because they will float to the top of the soup.

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

I wanted to bake cookies today, but I wanted try something a little different. My “go to” cookie recipe in times of need is always my delicious and sought after Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe; however, today my heart was set on oatmeal. This left me with so many decisions to make. Plain Oatmeal? Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip? Oatmeal Raisin? Peanut Butter Oatmeal?

They all sound good, but today’s winner is… Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies.



There is nothing like an oatmeal cookie with that beautiful cinnamon aroma and those sweet little apple morsels embedded in it. And what makes this cookie so special is that it’s not hard and heavy. It’s soft and chewy, thanks to the combination of baking soda and baking powder. Goes great with a cup of tea, or sandwiched around a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert. Oh so satisfying (and not that bad for you either)!



Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
Makes approx 20 cookies

Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup White Flour (you could use Whole Wheat if you like)
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Quick Cooking Rolled Oats

Wet Ingredients
1/4 cup Butter, room temp
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Honey
1 Egg, room temp
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Other
1 /2 cup Fresh Apple, peeled and cut into small dice (If you prefer, you could substitute raisins or nuts. If you want to substitute chocolate chips, omit the cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F.

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the honey, egg, and vanilla and beat well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Gently stir in the fresh apple (or substitutions).

Drop by heaping tablespoon onto the cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve alone or with some Vanilla Ice Cream!

Chocolate & Star Anise Soufflé

Soufflé...

It's funny how those seven letters strung together in that order inspire so many feelings. Fear. Challenge. Determination. Perseverence. Hunger. And the one feeling that usually wins this battle is fear. The fear of failure. After all, it's so delicate. It might not rise. And if it does rise, it will surely fall. And if it doesn't fall, it might not taste good anyways. So, why bother?

I'll tell you why.

Not only are soufflés easier than they are perceived, but they are light, versatile and tasty, and if you just try one, I am sure you will find ways to do it again and again and again.

So, don't be afraid. Just go for it! And to inspire a little confidence while you are following this recipe, I'll tell you a little about my experience.

I almost gave up. Yep, almost threw in the towel. Why? Because there were so many times during this recipe when I looked at what I had made so far and thought that surely, I must have messed up! But, I kept going, and the end result was fab! I will admit, there is not much to look at during this recipe, and that's mostly because it's a recipe for two. But I promise you, once you add the egg yolks, the batter will loosen up and you will feel more confident in your efforts. So, don't be alarmed with what you see and most of all, don't give up!!

And just to help you along, I did this recipe with pictures, so you can see what it really looks like step by step.

So, before you start, you need to choose your bakeware. Usually, soufflés are baked in about 5-6 ounce ramekins. For this recipe, I used small bowls (because to be honest, that is all I had in this hotel room... see previous blogs for an explanation of why I am stuck in a hotel room kitchen...) but you can use whatever small dish you like. Just remember, whatever you choose to bake in is what you will serve the soufflés in, so choose something that you would like to see on the table. Whatever you choose, the batter should fill the vessel about 3/4 of the way up.

Oh, and one more thing. A soufflé is the kind of dessert that needs to be put in the oven immediately and then eaten right after coming out of the oven. So, does this mean it's not a good entertaining dessert? Nope, because you can prepare about 3/4 of this recipe in advance. You can grease and sugar the baking dishes and make the soufflé base all the way up to the adding of the egg yolks. Then, when you are almost ready to eat the souffles, preheat the oven, whip the egg whites, fold them into the chocolate base, spoon into the prepared dishes, and bake for 15 minutes! Easy as pie! Or is it?? Why don't you try for yourself...

I chose to make this chocolate soufflé with subtle hints of anise because it adds another layer of flavor to this dessert. And because I had some star anise kicking around...

If you want the souffle to be light and fluffy with a mild taste, make the recipe as is, without the chocolately addition. If you want the souffle to be rich with pockets of dark chocolate molten goodness, make the recipe and be sure to poke in the chocolate bits before baking. Yum yum!

Chocolate & Star Anise Soufflé
Serves 2

1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp Sugar plus enough to line the ramekins
4 whole star anise
1 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Flour
1 ½ tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 Large Eggs, Separated
Optional: Dark Chocolate Pieces
Optional: Icing Sugar for Dusting

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Grease ramekins and dust the insides with white sugar

Place milk, sugar, and star anise in a saucepan and heat on med-high heat until it just starts to bubble. Turn off heat and let sit while you continue to the next step.


In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and cocoa powder and stir while cooking for about 1 minute. Remove star anise from the milk mixture and pour the milk mixture into the butter/flour/cocoa mixture. Stir quickly until combined. Remove from heat. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.


Once cool, beat in the egg yolks. This should loosen up the batter.


In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Don’t worry if you see white speckles in the batter.


Spoon the batter carefully into the ramekins.

(For an extra rich and chocolately option: Poke a few dark chocolate pieces into the soufflé batter right before you put it in the oven. They will melt into little chocolate pockets in the middle of your soufflé!). Bake at 190 degrees for 15 minutes.


You will know when it’s done when it has risen sufficiently and the batter is set. You can also tell that it's done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean of batter. I say almost because you do not want the souffle to be too dry.

Dust with icing sugar. Serve immediately.

Tender Oat Crusted Chicken "Schnitzel"

So, for those of you who have been following my blog, I am in Damascus, living in a hotel, shopping at the local street markets and using what I find to cook with. I am basically relying on simple, no fuss ingredients, which I guess is the way cooking should be.

But that doesn't mean you need to live on pasta, bread and rice (not that there is anything wrong with that). If fact, you would be surprised what you can cook up with a few basics. I already cooked up the Tomato & Egg Skillet, recreated my mom's Soy Sauce Chicken, and made a healthy, gourment Tuna Salad from stuff bought off the street.

Today, I cooked up a Chicken "Schnitzel." I use the term schnitzel very lightly to mean a thin, pounded piece of meat which is coated (usually with a mixture of flour and breadcrumbs), then browned in a pan (like the Beef Schnitzel I made earlier). In this case, however, I used chicken breasts and since I didn't find any commercial breadcrumbs in the street market and I don't have a blender to make breadcrumbs, I coated these chicken breasts with a mixture of quick cooking oats and flour.



The results were fabulous! It was a quick and satisfying meal, and quite healthy because they were coated with oats, used very little oil, and were finished off in the oven. The pounded chicken breasts were so tender, I didn't even need a knife to eat them! The best part, the leftovers! Straight out of the fridge, you can enjoy these leftovers as part of a sandwich, sliced over a salad, or just as is dipped in a little honey mustard! Now that's what I call easy cooking!



Tender Oat Crusted Chicken "Schnitzel"

Serves 2

(but double or triple the recipe so you can have "leftovers" for meals to come!!)

2 large Chicken Breasts, bonless & skinless
Vegetable Oil for cooking

Dry Mixture
1/2 cup Quick Oats
1/4 cup Flour
1 tbsp Dried Herbs (Herbs de Provence, Oregano, Thyme.. whatever you like)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Wet Mixture
1 Egg, beaten
1/4 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Butterfly the chicken breasts, by using a knife to gently cut the breast from the curved side inwards, being sure not to cut all the way through. Open up the chicken breast to create a "butterfly" shape.

Place the chicken breasts, one by one, in a plastic bag or between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using a heavy bottomed pot or a rolling pin, pound until they are about 1/2cm thick.

In a large dish, combine the wet ingredients, mixing well. In another large dish, combine the dry ingredients, mixing well.

Dip each chicken breast into the wet mixture, and then in the dry mixture, ensuring that the breast is completely coated.

Heat a large pan over high heat. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Place both chicken breasts flat into the pan. Let cook for about 3 minutes per side or until each side is crisp and golden brown. (If your pan is not large enough for both, cook the first one, then add another coating of oil to the pan and cook the second one.

Place the browned chicken breasts on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees for about 8 minutes (when cut in the middle, the chicken breasts should no longer be pink).

Serve with a selection of mustards. Goes great with mashed potatoes!