De Baking Psychopath

This was one of the most popular gifts I made this holiday season, so to share the joy of the tart, not-too-sweet, deep antioxidant-packed power of this jam, here is the recipe below. I used all frozen berries for mine: 2/3 frozen blueberries (bought from Costco, wild blueberries from Maine), and 1/3 a mix of frozen berries from Trader Joe's (mix of regular blueberries, cherries, and raspberries). I'm sure fresh sweet berries would be fabulous as well. Enjoy! Mixed Berry Jam (adapted from The Art of Preserving ) Makes 6-8 half-pint jars (total volume of 48-64 ounces) Ingredients: 3 lbs (12 cups) of berries (can be raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, in any ratio you want; frozen berries work great and are cheaper during off-season months) 3 cups (1.5 lbs) sugar (cannot decrease) 3/4 cup lemon juice 1 package pectin (you can find this at the store usually near the JELL-O/gelatin) Instructions: If canning, sterilize jars and canning lids/sea...

I'm not a huge fan of banana bread. I'll eat bananas occasionally, but banana bread has been a slow and acquired tolerance. Any tolerance I have is actually due to this recipe, which comes from Food Network celebrity Claire Robinson. This is a very simple recipe, just 5 ingredients (or 7 if you have to make your own self-rising flour). The browning of the butter really elevates the flavor profile of the muffin, and the large amount of bananas in this recipe to flour makes this very moist and fresh tasting. If you don't like banana bread but are ok with bananas, give this recipe a try; it may become your go-to banana recipe as it has become for us. Browned Butter Banana Muffins (adapted from Food Network) Ingredients: 4 ripe bananas 1/3 cup agave nectar or honey 1 stick unsalted butter 1 large egg 1 & 3/4 cups self-rising flour (see note below) Note: You can make your own self-rising flour. Add 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt for EAC...

Happy New Year! I hope 2013 is a wonderful year for everyone.  To start the new year off on a healthy note, I bring you this veggie and fruit-packed wholesome breakfast cake. For those of you who may be familiar with Morning Glory muffins, this is the cake version of that hippie health food favorite.  Despite the health food origins, the cake is surprisingly light and flavorful and tasty. The cake itself is lightly sweetened and the fruit add just a touch more natural sweetness. It definitely is a breakfast or snack you can feel good about! Morning Glory Breakfast Cake (adapted from Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet, and Savory ) Ingredients: 1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans 2 large eggs 2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 1 & 1/2 cups low-fat plain yogurt or buttermilk (I used nonfat Greek yogurt) 3 tablespoons molasses 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour ...

Well, the pumpkin granola was only Part I. In reality, I had my eyes set out on using up that last can of pumpkin pie filling (not puree) waiting patiently in the pantry with a recipe I found on Libby's website, Pumpkin Granola Muffins. Since I had also needed to get rid of the extra puree leftover from the pumpkin cookies, the granola was a two-fer: it used up the puree and also produced the granola that I needed for the pumpkin muffins! While I was at it, I figured I would try to adapt the recipe to make those oh-so-popular Starbucks copycat-recipe cream cheese pumpkin muffins. So I found a filling recipe to use and then added a bit of espresso powder to the muffin batter to pay homage to the pumpkin spice latte muffin recipes I've also seen lately.  These muffins were moist and had good texture from the granola, and the creamy ribbon of cream cheese running through the muffin was a great complement. Although it's a lot of steps, the recipe makes a lot of muffins (...

Happy holidays! I am still trying to catch up on recipes from the last couple of months, sorry for the delays! Back in mid-Fall, I had half a can of pumpkin left over from making the pumpkin cookies, but I didn't want to make just any old pumpkin bread with it. I scanned though my Google Reader and found this gem of a recipe from Sugarcrafter and set out to make this as my next installment of my granola addiction. Because the pumpkin makes up a good portion of the wet ingredients, this granola is more on the chewy side, and not as crispy-crunchy as other recipes. It's very fragrant and deep flavored, great on yogurt, and it is a good recipe to use up some leftover canned pumpkin. Pumpkin Spice Granola (adapted from Sugarcrafter ) Ingredients: 4 cups old-fashioned oats 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 tsp cloves 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas) 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 1/4 cup honey Ins...