Lil' Moma's Banana Nut Bread w/Chocolate Chips (VEGANIZED)

I TOOK MY MOM'S AMAZING BANANA NUT BREAD RECIPE AND VEGANIZED IT!!!

THEY TURNED OUT SO WONDERFUL AND MOIST!!!

Ingredients: 

2 Tbsp. of ground flaxseed (mixed with 6 Tbsp. of water let sit for 2 minutes)

1 cup of Organic Agave or you can use 1 1/2 cups of Sugar

1/2 cup of Oil (I am sure you can sub out no sugar added applesauce as well)

1/2 cup of filtered water

1 cup of mashed banana (about 2 large bananas)

1 3/4 cup of Organic Spelt Flour (or your own choice of flour)

1 tsp. of Baking Soda

3/4 tsp. of Salt

1 1/2 tsp. of Cinnamon

3/4 cup Chopped Walnuts

1/2 bag of Vegan Chocolate Chips (Optional! The ones from Whole Foods are incredible!)

1. Mix all ingredients together

2. Place in lined muffin tins or well greased loaf pans

3. Bake at 350 if using Sugar and 325 if using Agave

4. Insert toothpick to make sure they are done

For full size Loaf pan with Sugar: Bake for one hour

For regular size muffins with Sugar: 15-20 minutes

For Mini Loaves with Sugar: 20-25 minutes 

OR 

For full size Loaf pan with Agave: Bake for one hour +

For regular size muffin with Agave: 20-25 minutes 

For Mini Loaves with Agave: 25+ Minutes

NOTE: While baking with Agave be sure to keep checking on your baked goods. Agave items brown faster. Be sure to reduce the temp. by 25%
Made too many? Freeze them in an airtight container.

Nice and Brown!

I made Mini Loaves and Muffins

And wrapped them up with pretty bows (forgot to take a photo of the bows) and gave them away to my Vegan friends! PS. My Non-Vegan friends could not tell they were Vegan!

 After I gave some of these amazing treats away, a friend of mine hired me to bake some goodies for her colleagues! What fun!!! Making money for your joy is definitely a powerful feeling!!!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

I've never been much a pie kind of person, but I absolutely adore anything pumpkin! So pumpkin cupcakes really hits the spot for me! And the cream cheese frosting!?! Ohhhh, the frosting! It is absolutely AMAZING!! And yes, these are totally worth all of the exclamation marks!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I did not use this)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups pumpkin puree or cooked mashed pumpkin
• Cream cheese frosting (recipe below)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl; mix well. 
2. Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl.
3. Stir dry mixture into oil mixture, beat well. 
4. Stir in pumpkin puree. 
5. Pour/scoop batter into cupcake liners. 
6. Bake at 350° for 16-20 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean). 
7. Remove cupcakes from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

The BEST Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 stick of butter (softened)
• 12 ounce cream cheese (softened)
• 8 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine butter, vanilla, and cream cheese together in large mixing bowl and slowly add powdered sugar; beat well until smooth. Makes enough for 24 plus cupcakes depending on how much you use on each cupcake!

I added a little bit of frosting inside the cupcakes by using a long skinny piping tip.

 DELICIOUS Cupcakes perfect for your holiday potlucks!

Check out my tutorial on how to frost a cupcake using a piping bag on YOUTUBE. 

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Candy Jar Brownies!

Today I was looking around for a GREAT Brownie recipe to take to a party 

and low and behold I found it!!!

Check out this awesome blog for Candy Jar Brownies:

Here is the recipe!

I used white chocolate chunks, semi sweet chocolate chips and cut up a huge milk chocolate bar! The brownie mixture was VERY lumpy and full of chocolate goodness! I thought about putting Marshmallows on top or make my mama's AMAZING chocolate butter cream frosting... but I was running out of time and simply dusted them with powder sugar! They were a HUGE HIT!

The house smells AMAZING!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Bars

These are THE BEST chocolate treats I have EVER made! They are always a HUGE hit! 

 You can make these so many different ways!

Photos taken by Baking with Melissa

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25) package chocolate cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 (12 oz) package semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups peanut butter chips or chocolate chips or candies like M&M's (optional but HIGHLY recommended)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2) Combine cake mix, melted butter, peanut butter, and eggs in a large bowl using a mixer or spoon.  Stir in 1 cup of peanut butter chips. Press the mixture into a 9X13 pan (sprayed with non-stick spray or use non-stick foil) reserving 1 and 1/2 cup of the mixture to crumble on top.
3) In a small pot, melt chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
4) Spread chocolate mixture over the mixture pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 cups of reserved cake mixture on top evenly.
5) Add remaining peanut butter chips or candies to the top.
6) Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool COMPLETELY (about 4 hours) before cutting into bars. 

I was impatient and did not wait for the fudge center to completely cool!

Tip: Make the day before you want to serve them so the fudge center really sets! Or you can refrigerate them for a couple of hours! They taste good either way, but when the fudge was thick and completely set it made a WORLD of difference!

I found the inspiration for this recipe HERE!

NOTE: Instead of the peanut butter chips as a mix in....you can sub them out with Reese's Pieces or M&M's!!! See the photos below!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Bars....mmmmmmmm

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Look how pretty they are!!

YUMMY!

BROWNIE CRUNCH BARS

BROWNIE CRUNCH BARS

Photo taken by Baking with Melissa

Goody Brownie Bars by Betty Crocker

You can make this recipe from scratch OR use a brownie mix! Either way, these are really great bars! 

Ingredients: 

 

• 1 box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Brownie Mix (Follow directions on the box)  OR Make your own from scratch! Here is my favorite recipe!

• 1  cup Vanilla frosting (from 16 oz container)  or your own made from scratch (1 stick of butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2-4 Tbsp of Milk)

• 1/2 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

• 2 cups crisp rice cereal

• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

• 1-1/3 cups (8 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: 

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 9-inch square pan with cooking spray or shortening.       
2.  Make and bake brownies as directed on box or from your own recipe. Cool completely. Frost brownies with frosting.  Sprinkle with peanuts; refrigerate while making cereal mixture.    
3.  Measure cereal into medium bowl; set aside. In 1-quart saucepan, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. 
4.  Pour over cereal in bowl, stirring until evenly coated. Spread over frosted brownies. 
5.  Refrigerate 1 hour or until set before cutting. For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store tightly covered at room temperature or in refrigerator. 

Photo taken by Baking with Melissa

                                
                                 You may also like my: Chocolate and Peanut Butter Temptation Bars

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