Banana Walnut "Muffin" Cookies

Banana, walnuts, and chocolate chips
all in one cookie!

So ran into a little dilemma with this recipe? Well many actually but the most important was…What the heck did I just bake?! 

It started off as a cookie but after coworkers gave them a try it became a muffin top. It's got the shape and all the normal baking ingredients and steps of a cookie. But it's got a soft and airy texture that you can't help compare  to that first bite of a perfect morning banana nut muffin. Without the crumbly mess. That muffin and coffee was my idea of a perfect breakfast. Well that and Bill-Miller tacos. Just ask my roommate. Better yet any of my past classmates who saw me run in past ten with a Starbucks or Bill Miller cup in my hand all thru college.

Now back to the matter at hand. Could it possibly be a little of both with a hint of "pretty damn delicious"? I blame the ripe bananas for that soft texture and sweet smell.  Haven't figured it out just yet but glad about whatever screw up I did when I bit into these cookies…muffins…uh I let you decide.

Banana Bread

What's soft, sweet and absolutely delicious when thrown in with bread? 

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Biscotti! One cookie that one can never go wrong with dipping in a nice cup of dark coffee. Well actually it would be a biscuit I believe or maybe a coffee bread. A twice baked one at that. Well whatever they call it, its delicious and I needed one asap.  

I usually stick to simple almond biscotti which I'm sure will come up in future recipes not about chocolate. Future just seemed so far away and so I went ahead and threw some nice dark chocolate in that mix to enjoy that crunchy goodness in the present. 

So start brewing that coffee and enjoy!

Prep: 30 - 35 minutes

Bake: 35 to 45 minutes

Cool: 10 minutes

Yield: 24 cookies

Almond Joy Double Chocolate Cookies

Whoever came up with the idea that Almond Joy and coffee are a perfect match is a genius. It so delicious that next cake I’m throwing an Almond Joy in there. Maybe three.

Following day I packed my ingredients and headed over to mom’s kitchen ready to take my family’s taste buds on a little island vacation. With the recent birthday I had just celebrated, cake and I were on a much needed break. Cookies felt like the way to go for a nice little tropical snack.

Prep: 20 to 25 mins

Bake: 12 to 15 minutes

Yield: 40 cookies

Cool: 10 minutes

Chocolate Swirl Pound Cake

I recently had a birthday and made a deal with a friend for a simple exchange. “I give you cake, you sing me happy birthday”. If memory serves me right the birthday song was usually a given but leave it to me to have one of those rare occasions where I buy my song with cake.

Good thing is he is a simple guy whose palate appreciates a simple pound cake. Figured I was getting a pretty good deal here. I get to do what I enjoy most and out of it I finally get to hear those vocals I’ve heard for months now how amazing they are.

Lately I’ve been all about adding chocolate to my recipes. Which I think it’s safe to say chocolate is great in any dessert combo. Well at least according to my palate it is.

Try out this Chocolate Swirl Pound Cake and let me know if your's agrees!

Yield: 24 servings, 2 loaves

Prep: 1 hour
Bake: 300°F 1 hour 15 mins to 1 hour 30 mins (no preheating)
Cool: 1 hour and 10 mins

Chocoflan

Not So Impossible Chocoflan

So I know I'm about two months late with this recipe. I had a good excuse for like the first two weeks of it with my new job. As for after that…I got nothing. But I promise this cake is awesome and hopefully it'll make up for my little disappearance.

Months back I was told about a cake called Chocoflan which I'm sure you already guessed is a combination of chocolate cake and flan. The combo sounded delicious and I immediately started looking up recipes and a lot of them were titled the Impossible Cake. So I put that recipe somewhere in the back of my mind hoping it got lost somewhere and moved on to another cake combo.

Well it wasn't long till the recipe came up again as a birthday request and this time I couldn't yield to the intimidation. So I was back on recipe research and found two versions of this cake. The first version used the classic flan recipe and the other added cream cheese to the mix. I've actually never had flan so wasn't sure which to choose. I personally love the creamy texture and flavor that cream cheese creates so went with that. Thankfully it worked out and that first bite was pure bliss. Also you'll be happy to know it wasn't that impossible.

Now it's you turn to give it a shot.

Yield: 12 to 16 servings

Prep: 1 hour

Bake: °350F, 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes

Cool: 1 hour, refrigerate overnight (unless you want to serve warm)

Peach Butter Cake

Butter Cake
with Sunken Peach

Turns out that third time's a fail in my case. The recipe was for a simple butter cake with some peach pieces tossed in. I managed to make it very complicated and ended up with three different cakes. None of course being what I had planned for. Without a doubt Sweet Flukes will be the bulk of this post.

In my family we are all avid coffee drinkers. In the mornings we're on our own to get that coffee fix but as for the evenings, its a family ritual to always have a cup after dinner. Sweets are a must for these evening gatherings. Recently, my family in Guatemala shipped us some cake that I definitely plan to get the recipe for. The crumbly textured cake had this light buttery flavor that paired up perfectly with a dark cup of coffee. We loved this cake so much that in order to keep the peace my dad was literally rationing out the hidden stash. I decided to try and solve our shortage issue by giving the cake a shot. With a little added ingredient of peaches of course. 

I'm posting the third recipe which ended up being a very moist buttered flavored cake with peaches that had sunk to the bottom. Still tasted great with a cup coffee but will definitely be doing a round four of this cursedly delicious butter cake.

Yield: 12 to 16 servings

Prep: 1 hour

Bake: °335F, 45 minutes

Cool: 1 hour