I bought the Wilton Cupcake decorating kit about a month ago. And I’ve been anxious to try it, but I have not had an opportunity between Christmas cookies and candies, work, and other projects… Until today. I’ve had it in my mind that I wanted chocolate filled with marshmallow. So that’s what I made:
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And I’m back. Finally. After Monterey for the weekend, I flew to Santa Monica for work. It was only for 2 days, but I was already missing home before I went so when I got back, I was ready to be home. I missed my kitchen. And I missed my kitties:
 Cookie |  Raven (doesn’t like the flash) |
Cute, right? What’s not to miss?
Anyway, I woke up this morning with a burning desire… to bake something…anything. So instead of 20 minutes of yoga (which I started doing in the mornings about 2 weeks ago), I baked. And it was the right decision. Although I’ve found the yoga to be relaxing and invigorating all at the same time, baking filled a void and calmed my restless spirit. I need to make things. When I don’t, I go a little stir crazy.
But I digress. I am here to tell you about what I baked. Two bananas on the counter cried out with their last breath to be used, so I did what any humane person would do. I searched for a banana cake recipe. What I found was not just banana cake. It turned out to be amazing and delicious banana cake. I found this recipe for Banana Mini Cakes from Dorie Greenspan on Serious Eats. I’m a Dorie newbie. I recently stumbled upon Tuesdays with Dorie which is a loyal group of bakers who every Tuesday post the creation of the week (chosen in advance from Dorie’s Baking from My Home to Yours, so every one bakes the same thing). I have not joined this group yet. I’m not sure I’m up for a weekly commitment. But I am very tempted to press “Proceed to Checkout” on my Amazon cart (where this book is waiting).
It was an easy recipe to make. I made it while I made oatmeal for breakfast. It took longer than the oatmeal, but not by too much. I used milk chocolate chips from Trader Joe’s because I already had some open. I think these would be equally as good with semi-sweet or dark chocolate.
The hardest part was prying the first piping hot cake from the muffin tin without burning my fingers. D. and I split the first one. Then I sent some to work with him. I’ve eaten 3 myself and am tempted to have one more before bed. This has not been a day of eating light but I am satisfied. And I’m home.
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Homemade marshmallows drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with toasted almonds and toffee bits. Yum.
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D. helped me save the round 1. He suggested dipping them in chocolate. I was skeptical, but melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips and dipped the slightly bitter, slightly burnt caramels in it. I also sprinkled them with some of the chocolate salt I made earlier. Wow. The result is great. 
The second round of caramels are SOOOO good. so good. And when I followed through with my original plan of topping the caramels with just the chocolate salt… yum. For this batch, I skipped the cinnamon entirely and I added a mulling spices tea-bag to the apple juice as it was reducing. The only problem with this batch is that it is a little on the soft side… I know caramels usually are, but it makes it difficult for me to determine the best method of packaging.
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That is the last M&M. Bought 2 days ago, the bag is empty. After a month of very little in the way of sweets, the peanut butter with the chocolate inside of the little candy shells… yummy-I-couldn’t-resist-can-I-have-another? I thought I could be good and only eat a few each day and the bag would last for a long time (according to the bag, it holds 8 servings). I tried rationing them out into a small dish — portion control, right? But then I’d grab a handful each time I’d pass by that seductive red bag. And I enjoyed every last satisfying candy-crunch followed by that peanut buttery goodness inside. What is it about peanut butter? And even more so… peanut butter and chocolate? YUM!
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