Blueberry Banana Bread

I love living in a town with fresh produce.  I recently scored some fresh blueberries and wanted to make something yummy with it.  

I decided to try blueberries with banana.  Why not?  I make banana bread all the time.  Why not add some blueberries.

This bread came out super tasty.  The blueberries added a really nice flavor and it was a nice change to the traditional banana bread.

I love making mini loaves.  It allows me to get my bake on, try some creation, and then share with the ones I love.  What could be better?

Blueberry Banana Bread

Ingredients:
4 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a mini loaf pan with cookies spray.
2)  Mash bananas with a fork.
3)  In a mixer, mix butter and mashed bananas
4)  Mix in the sugars, egg, and vanilla extract.
5)  Mix in the baking soda and salt
6)  Add the flour and mix to combine.
7)  Fold in the blueberries by hand.
8)  Pour mixture into pan and bake for about 23-25 minutes.
9)  Cool completely before removing from pan.

This bread is super easy to make and only uses one bowl.  I think it's pretty fool proof.  The hardest part is finding enough ripe bananas since it does call for 4.  

Eat local produce!

XOXO

Reese's Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is just something about candy in chocolate chip cookies that is just so yummy.  I can never resist to add some sort of candy in my chocolate chip cookies.  

Chocolate chips ... Reese's pieces ... what a good combination!

Reese's Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• Reese's Pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a deep dish cookie pan or whoopie pie pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt, and set aside. In a electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy, about a minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla to combine.
3. Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Once dough has come together, stir the chocolate chips in by hand with a spoon.
4. Drop 2 tablespoonfuls of dough into the bottom of each cavity. Gently press it to cover the bottom of each cavity.  Top with Reese's pieces candy.
5. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until the centers are set and the edges are golden and lightly crisped. Allow the cookies to cool in the pan about 5 minutes before gently removing to wire racks to cool completely. You can loosen them from the pan very carefully with a butter knife or dump them over

El Husbee brought these cookies to work on Monday to share with his co-workers.  I need a kid to bad for.  

Enjoy the summer!

XOXO

Chocolate Chip Salt Caramel Ghirardelli Squares Cookies

Homemade cookies are always so good.  I guess when I mean homemade I mean freshly baked.  This cookie snob is not a fan of store bought cookies.

El Husby and I took a trip to World Market over the weekend to look at some outdoor furniture and home decor.  Our trip was not a complete fail as we came home with a bag of Ghirardelli squares.

Sometimes I feel it is hard being the husband of a baker.  First there is a lot of baked goods and if you are not a daily runner it can be hard on your waistline.  Second there is the constant wait for pictures before you can eat anything.  Than last not forget the constant questions on the finish product.  Is it good?  How good?  Would you eat it again?  Is it better than the last batch like it?  Can you eat all of them or should we give some away?

My poor Husbee was told not to eat these candy because I wanted to put them in cookies.  His face was torn between wanting the cookies and wanting to eat the candy in case I got lazy and did not make the cookies.  (I am guilty of this)

Since I yelled at him for letting the d-o-g lick my face/ear I felt bad and decided to make the cookies.

Chocolate Chip Ghiradelli Squares Cookies

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• Ghiradelli Salted Caramel squares, unwrapped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a deep dish cookie pan or whoopie pie pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt, and set aside. In a electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy, about a minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla to combine.
3. Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Once dough has come together, stir the chocolate chips in by hand with a spoon.
4. Drop a tablespoonful of dough into the bottom of each cavity. Gently press it to cover the bottom of each cavity. Top with an unwrapped square. Top the candy with an additional tablespoonful of dough and gently press the top dough ball to cover and enclose the candy.
5. Bake the cookies for about 12-15 minutes or until the centers are set and the edges are golden and lightly crisped. Allow the cookies to cool in the pan about 5 minutes before gently removing to wire racks to cool completely. You can loosen them from the pan very carefully with a butter knife or dump them over 

These cookies were super easy to make.  I probably whipped them out in about 1 hour including baking time.  Please please please take the time to let the cookies cool inside the pan.  I know it's tempting to dig right in but the cooling processing is essential to keeping the cookies together.  

The cookies were very tasty.  However, you could not really taste the salted caramel.  I would say maybe night time I would sprinkle some sea salt on top of the cookie before baking.  With that said ... THESE COOKIES ARE DA BOMB!  So thick ... so chocolatey ... so good!  

Make these cookies!

XOXO