Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

The name of this post is "Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes" but really it should be called "An Unexpectedly Good Treat."
If you are like me then this combination of fruit, flour and chips all molded into one miniature cake sounds off-putting. Cupcakes should not contain bananas. Or chips for that matter. At least that's what I had always believed until I stumbled upon this recipe. In it I found an odd assortment of ingredients that I didn't believe could work well together in one paper lined muffin tin. But there it was, in black and white, topped with a chocolate cream cheese frosting. I found this recipe in my favorite cookbook, The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook that I keep referring to on this blog. I highly recommend it. Trust me, it's worth the splurge. Each recipe I've tried has been a success and these strange little cupcakes are no exception.
This unexpected recipe with unexpected ingredients actually produced an unexpectadly tasty result. The crumb of the cupcakes was just right thanks to the nontraditional method of preparing the batter with oil and whipped egg whites as opposed to good ol' butter. And the frosting made almost entirely of cream cheese was the perfect balance to the sweet banana of the light and airy cupcake below.
For reasons I can't explain, when baked at 350 degrees for twenty-two minutes, these strange bedfellows of ingredients came together to make perfectly round, perfectly moist cupcakes. I didn't see the success of these cupcakes coming but I am pleased to report that they were not at all an utter disaster - as I had expected.

While delivering these unique cupcakes to my dessert loving loved ones the lesson of the unexpected cupcake dawned on me...
There are sets of life circumstances that I often assume will be bad. I expect sickness, heartache, loneliness and trials to produce negativity in my life. I look at my life's road blocks and detours as things to just get through and survive.
But sometimes all of those circumstances can produce something unexpectedly good.
Joseph is a prime example of horrid circumstances working together for his ultimate good. He was sold into slavery and thrown in prison even though he had done nothing wrong. Most would say that his situation was rotten and unjust. Yet, God has something glorious in mind for Joseph. He took those undesirable circumstances and did something unexpectedly amazing with them and with Joseph.
God used Joseph to prepare Egypt for a coming famine. Through Joseph's interpretation of dreams, God was able to sustain the people of Egypt through years without a harvest. Even Joseph's brothers were spared thanks to the storehouse of food Joseph had set aside.
When Joseph's brothers came to Egypt in search of food they must have been shocked to find their brother, who they sold into slavery years ago, second in command and overseer of the lands of Egypt. Unexpected? You bet!
But Joseph said to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20).
God took a life that looked as good as dead and did something totally unexpected with it, He used it to save an entire nation. Joseph had been a slave and an inmate, not exactly the pedigree for second in command over a country. But that's how God works, He takes the unexpected and uses it to glorify His name and further His Kingdom.
That's exactly what He did with Joseph and that's exactly what He can still do today in the unexpected circumstances of my life and yours.
Multiple Sclerosis has thrown me a curve ball with the word, "unexpected" written all over it. But I believe in the ability and will of God to do extraordinary things with the unexpected. He can use my MS to bring praise to His name and further His Gospel. I don't know precisely how He plans to do that with my unexpected life just yet but I trust that the plan He has for me is being worked out even now, in the trials and difficulties of my illness.
Unexpected, yes. But good? Most certainly, yes. Even the most unlikely of life's ingredients can come together to make something beautiful. Just like Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.

Romans 15:13 Ministry: Week #2

I looked up the word joy in the dictionary and found a terrible definition. According to Webster's it is a "feeling of great happiness."
This definition left me feeling joyless so I decided to go back to the root of the word, before the days of Webster, and find what joy is really all about.
Sure enough, there it was, the true meaning of joy: rejoice. It comes from the Latin "gaudere" which means "rejoice." The French turned that into "joie" and the English turned that into joy.
Irma Rombauer turned that into the "Joy of Cooking" but more on that in a minute.

Let's just stick to the simple word joy for just a moment.
There are two ways to look at joy. One, you can look at joy as a thing that happens to you. Or you can look at joy as something you make happen. If you simply look in the library dictionary for guidance on joy you will be hard pressed to have it in abundance in your own life because the joy that is taught by Webster's isn't the kind of joy you can choose, it is the kind of joy that just "happens" to you.
But that isn't true joy.
True joy is rejoicing and rejoicing is a choice. No one has rejoicing happen to them. Rejoicing is a verb. Rejoicing is a decision. Rejoicing is a definitive action taken by a person.
And so is joy.
Joy isn't just a feeling of elation because of good circumstances. That would make joy a response, not a decision. But joy is so much more than a conditional response. It is an unconditional action taken by someone who makes a conscious decision.

That brings us to cooking and baking and the joy in those actions. Just ask Irma, there is joy in cooking. Even in the midst of the Great Depression, on the heels of her husbands suicide, Irma found joy in the kitchen and in the formulating and preparing of a meal. She wrote a cookbook on the subject matter, titled it "JOY of Cooking" and 75 years later it is the best selling cookbook of all time.
She found joy in the kitchen because she decided to cook not because it just happened to her. The joy was a product of a decision to go and grab it off the shelf, mix it in a bowl and bake it in an oven. Her joy was roasted, sauteed and broiled along with her meats and potatoes. Her joy wasn't born out of a happiness of life circumstances but out of a decision to make joy happen.

That joy is available to everyone whether or not they choose to cook or bake or order carry out. Joy is as easy to attain as making a decision. If you find decision making hard then I suppose joy is hard to capture and sustain. But if you can make up your mind to be joyful, to live in a state of rejoicing, the joy will flow abundantly without need for a particular mood or "happiness" to overtake you.

And if you do decide to express your joy in the kitchen then I encourage you to share that joy with others through the blessing of your baking and cooking bounty. When joy is shared it is multiplied. I do believe Irma would have agreed that the more joy - the more cooking, the more baking, the more sharing - the better.



For a treat worthy of sharing I suggest these Glazed Pumpkin Muffins (recipe below). My recipe is adapted from AllRecipes. I read countless pumpkin muffin recipes before tweaking this one to make it the perfect muffin recipe (in my humble opinion). I shared these muffins with the women's Bible study I have started to bake for as an outreach of my Romans 15:13 Ministry. These muffins along with thumbprint cookies (recipe can be found recipe here) were my treats of the week. They were a hit with my tasters and a joy to bake!

Pumpkin Muffins
1 cup pumpkin (canned "or" fresh) 
2 eggs, slightly beaten 
1/2 cup water 
1/2 cup veg. oil 
1 3/4 cups flour 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar  
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger 
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and spray 16 muffin tins with cooking spray. 
2. Blend pumpkin, eggs, water and oil in large bowl.
3. Stir together all dry ingredients and then pour and mix into wet.
4. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for about 25 or until a toothpick comes out clean.
   
   

Maple Cream Cheese Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 TB heavy cream
1 TSP vanilla extract
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 TB maple syrup

Whisk sugar, heavy cream and vanilla together until blended. On low to medium speed add cream cheese and syrup (amount may vary depending on personal taste). If the glaze is too thick add some more heavy cream. Blend until the desired consistency is reached. Drizzle on cooled muffins.

Yellow cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting {Welcome Home Cake}

Have you noticed that I sort of just disappeared? I have a good excuse, I promise. 

Today brings to an end a sixteen day journey up and down the eastern side of the United States. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? The excursion began by heading down through the hills of West Virginia, the southern megapolis of Charlotte, North Carolina and into the hot and humid South Carolina. For one week my parents and I spent our yearly week vacation in Hilton Head Island. I'll spare you the details but the week didn't go quite as planned. The heat was brutal and took a toll on my muscles, sending me into a state of fritz. 

As the hottest week of the year in Hilton Head drew to a close so did our beach vacation. Next stop: Annapolis, Maryland. Mom and I spent three days wandering the harbor and taking in the historic charm Annapolis has to offer. Then it was on to our next and final stop, Brewster, New York. 

This last stop was for a surprise seventy fifth birthday party for my Aunt Joyce. The party went off without a hitch and the surprise was a success! 

After spending an extra day in New York visiting with family, Mom and I packed our bags and pointed our car in the direction of home. We both eagerly stuffed the car to the brim and pushed the gas pedal with a bit more force. More than anything we both just wanted to get home. 

So you see this is why my baking adventures have come to a screeching halt. Besides a large pan of apple crisp my baking has been nonexistent, something I write with sadness, not relief. I've missed the habit of baking and being in the kitchen. I've missed getting my hands dirty and smelling the sweet scent of accomplishment rising in the oven. I'm beyond relieved to be home not just for the comfort of my own bed but the familiarity and convenience of my own oven and cupboards stocked full of baking necessities. 

Being away for over two weeks reminded me that there truly is no place like home. It is so easy to look at dots on the map and pictures of beautiful places and think, "Oh, if only I were there! Life would be so much better, easier and happier if only I were there!" (wherever there might be.) But then you get there and realize that "there" wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The traffic is chaotic. The kitchen is lacking the most basic of cutting utensils. The humidity is unbearable. The store aisles are confusing. The bed pillows are awkward, with lumps in all the wrong places. 

Before too long I'm longing for home.

Now don't get me wrong, my home and the town I live in is far from perfect. But it's home. Even with all of its flaws, drawbacks and imperfections I would choose it over any other place in the world. I would pick my house even though the dishwasher doesn't work, the doors never shut properly, the shopping centers have seen better days and the neighbors' yards are far from pristinely manicured. I love my hometown despite the fact that it is deemed "the mistake on the lake" and desperately lacking in the area of nightlife and "excitement".

What I learned in these past two weeks is that what I have right at home, my little simple life, is just right. Sometimes I lament the status of my life and wish it would change. I want different health, a group of friends, a purposeful job and a social life. Instead of soaking in the goodness of my life just the way it is I start looking around at what other people have and I immediately start to covet, lust and desire a life different then my own. 

But the truth is that desiring someone else's life is a lot like desiring another town or an exotic location. It may sound appealing but the reality is that there is no place like home. No matter how great someone else's life may look from afar it has its flaws. It may look perfect on the surface but live in it for a while and the allure will likely wear off. Before you know it you'll be longing for your life back.

My life isn't perfect. My health isn't perfect. I don't have friends or any social circle to call my own. I don't have a date on Friday night or a Bible study group on Thursday morning. 

But I love my life and I wouldn't trade it for any other. I wouldn't wish away my illness or trade my solitary life for all the popularity in the world. If God sees it fit to heal me then hallelujah! And if He gives me friends then thank you God! But I'm not wishing away the time I have now and the life I have now. I am going to embrace it, love it and soak in all its goodness because that's what it is, good. Life is good. My life, the way it is right now in this moment, in this town, is good and I don't want to miss a minute of it by wishing it were different.

Today I am celebrating just that, the good life I have, by baking a cake that to me says, "welcome home." A yellow sheet cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. When I was away at college before I would come home for the weekend I was known to call my Mom and request a yellow cake with chocolate frosting to be warm and ready upon my arrival. Mom never disappointed. She would have that cake timed perfectly so that the inviting, comforting scent of cake baking in the oven would fill the house as I pulled in the driveway. That cake was my welcome home banner, the perfect way to say hello, a warm embrace with every bite. 

So in honor of coming home to the place where I belong, to the place where I have been planted and where I have been given a good, full and beautiful life I am baking my welcome home cake. I'm back and I couldn't be happier. 

The recipe for the yellow sheet cake can be found at Baking Bites (http://bakingbites.com/2005/10/happy-birthday-to-me/). 

This is a must repeat recipe! At first I was skeptical that the cake had turned out. It looked dense - not what I expected. But my taste testers assured me the cake had a delicious flavor and wasn't dense at all. I topped the cake with a chocolate frost. I didn't use a recipe, just the directive of my Mom as she guided me in the art of eyeballing chocolate frosting with a touch of cream cheese. My measurements were something along the lines of half a stick of butter, half a cup semi-sweet chips, a couple of squares of dark baking chocolate, a few tablespoons of hot water, about 2-3 cups of confectioners sugar and 2 tablespoons of cream cheese. I melted the butter and chocolate first then beat in the sugar, adding water as needed. Finally I added the cream cheese and beat on high for a few seconds to make sure everything was fully combined. The result was perfect! The consistency was thick yet spread well and most importantly was a delight for the taste buds!

If you have something coming home or you just want to celebrate the blessing of being in your own home sweet home I suggest baking this cake. Home is always a place worth celebrating, so go ahead and bake a cake. 

Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars (or a cheesecake fit for two)

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade…or get really creative, pick some raspberries, soften some cream cheese and make Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars.

Multiple Sclerosis and all of its challenges have given me an abundance of opportunities to make lemonade, metaphorically speaking. With MS there are so many unknowns and unpredictable circumstances. Life can be going along one way and then in the blink of an eye a nerve can flare, a muscle can spasm and life can be thrown into a state of complete fritz. For the sake of sticking with our fruity metaphor I'll call those all-to frequent instances "lemons".
The question then becomes what will the fritzy, ailing body do with their lemons?

In my years with a chronic, ongoing, unpredictable illness I've had my share of opportunities to do some lemon experimentation. Sometimes I've gotten mad at my lemons. I've thrown my lemons, smashed my lemons and yelled at my lemons. I've come to find that this is a ridiculous response. First of all it is a waste of perfectly good lemons. Secondly they never, ever respond to my harassment. In the end this tactic only leaves me horse and frustrated.
I've also tried the ignorance is bliss response to my lemons. On the face of it this seems like a logical response. Just ignore the lemons. How can a person be upset about lemons if they aren't even acknowledging their existence? Well, lemon deniers let me tell you a little secret - lemons go bad. They get moldy spots. They rot. If you ignore your lemons you will pay. Trust me, I have.

Let me assure you it didn't happen over night (sadly it took far too long) but I have in time learned that there is a better way to deal with the lemons of life. Are you ready for my bombshell of a revelation? Make the lemons work for you. 

It's true that this isn't a revolutionary concept. Back in the early 1900's a man named Elbert Hubbard penned a famous obituary in which he gave voice to the lesson I've learned. He wrote of his friend who had passed away, "He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand."
Well, I don't believe in "fate." I believe in God. Never the less, the point that Elbert hit on back in the 1900's is still applicable to me today. When you find that you have been given a basket full of lemons you have a choice to make. You can start a fit or you can start a stand.

God doesn't always hand you and I the lemonade ready to drink and enjoy. It seems that more often than not He gives us the lemons (sometimes a lot of lemons) and instructs us to make something wonderful with them. God gives us hard, sour fruit with no odor until cut and once cut a vicious pain if met with a cut finger (for example), and wants us to trust Him that something beautiful can come from that abundant, cheap little fruit.

Just today I was handed another bucket full of lemons. This one came in the form of a flare up that left me indoors, off the beach and out of the pool as I vacation on an island. This isn't exactly what I had expected when I packed my bags.
Once again I've had to ask myself the question, what will you do with these lemons?
This time around the answer has come easily and simply: I'm going to bake with them.

The treat d'jour is a Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bar. The hot temperatures of Hilton Head Island have called out to my inner baker and asked to provide a dessert that is light and refreshing. With my bucket full of lemons in hand I have just the treat to satisfy the hot, humid and hungry! 

I found this recipe at Handle the Heat - quite an appropriate name given today's temperature of 92 degrees, don't you agree? 

The idea behind the recipe is to create cheesecake inspired bars with a raspberry swirl. With a lack of kitchen equipment on hand (no mixer, no food processor, very few baking dishes), my dessert ended up  in a round pan that created a cheesecake fit for two. This actually turned out to be an accidentally genius baking decision. I was only baking for two tonight and the presentation of a miniature cheesecake was more appealing than a few bars cut up on a plate. 

So you see, when you have lemons but no dish, don't fret. All you have to do is get creative, take a stand, and keep on baking. 

Recipe adapted from http://www.handletheheat.com/raspberry-lemonade-cheesecake-bars/

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Certain foods and the scents they produce can be real life time machines. Take, for example, white cake with chocolate frosting. When I smell a simple white cake baking in the oven coupled with the sweet aroma of whipped butter, cream cheese and chocolate I am taken back to my childhood grade school days.
Some days I would come home from school and, for no particular reason, my Mom would have a yellow cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting warm out of the oven (she never could wait for the cake to cool entirely before frosting). Mom didn't need a birthday or a big celebration to bake a cake.
Today in Northern Pennsylvania the air had a crisp chill and a breeze that seemed to whisper, "fall is coming." I could practically smell freshly sharpened pencils and hear school buses picking up loads of children weighed down with ridiculously heavy backpacks. The school year is about to come and the weather is preparing children and parents for the coming change in daily routine.
It only seemed fitting that I follow the lead of God's changing seasons and bake the treat that takes me back to my own school experience. I tweaked the memory just slightly. Instead of a two layer cake I baked cupcakes. Still the scent was just the same as I remember. When I opened the oven I was transported back to elementary school. I remembered how the best part of my days as a school girl was always walking back through my front door into the safety, security and comfort of home. Home truly has always been sweet. Sometimes it was extra sweet because of the cake in the oven but it didn't need dessert to be the place that warmed my heart. Home has always sweet because of the love shared within its walls.
So here's to home, freshly baked cake and sweet memories.
Childhood passes but the memories don't need to fade. All you have to do is bake up a cake or a cookie or whatever treat takes you back to days gone by. By simply stepping back into the kitchen, putting on an apron and baking up something sweet you, too, can go on a journey in your own personal time machine. Who knew so much could be experienced while simply baking a batch of basic vanilla cupcakes?

To try out a vanilla cupcake recipe with chocolate cream cheese frosting visit Glorious Treats at http://www.glorioustreats.com/2011/07/perfect-vanilla-cupcakes-recipe.html.