Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Scones with Brown Sugar Glaze

Yes, banana bread put into scone form, now, one word is coming to the forefront of my mind- YUM! but I seem to use that word a lot don't !? So, I shall go to a trusty thesaurus! I hope it counts "yum" as a word...

Under yummy, the thesaurus says: ambrosial, appetizing, choice, delectable,delightful, divine, enticing, fit for a king, good,heavenly, juicy, luscious, mouthwatering,nectarous, out of this world, palatable, piquant,pleasant, rich, sapid, savory, scrumptious,spicy, succulent, super, sweet, tasteful, tasty,tempting, toothsome

I don't know about nectarous, since these certainly do not taste like nectar, I would not be giving it a rave review if it did. Nor is it spicy, last time I checked, that's not a synonym for "yummy" what if you had a really good sourdough bread, and you taste it, and then look at whoever made it and said, "That's spicy!" I think I would be quite concerned if my bread was spicy... The same for sweet. And I'm not quite sure what toothsome is supposed to mean... I guess it means yummy, but toothsome? Some tooth? Hm.. maybe something that pleases your tooth? I don't know, it's the English language!


Anyways, I kind of got distracted- These. Scones. Are. Amazing. And there's only about 4 tablespoons of sugar in them, so they're practically healthy! But don't worry, they aren't bland and like weird un-sweet bitter banana scones, no, no, the scones themselves taste good, but they also have a DELICIOUS brown sugar glaze made of butter, milk, and vanilla extract, you know, the ushe (usual, but you know when people just shorten  it to like you-sh, just like the sound the "us" makes of it, and I'm spending a lot more time explaining this than necessary, but you know what I mean hopefully!)  and then-more than all of those combined- brown sugar and powdered sugar! So I kind of just wanted to like drink that but I think then I would puke, and I'm getting one of those sweet sores- so no more sugar for me, because I'm going on vacation soon, and I want it to be gone by then for maximum vacation enjoyment!


My family has also sampled some and their thoughts are-

Mommy- FANTASTIC! Even better than banana bread!

Daddy- Warm, moist, and delicious!
Ethan- 6 out of 10.
Me- (see above)
If you want a tough critic with no experience to back his judging with, then you should look at Ethan's comments, but otherwise I suggest you don't take the bad ones to heart, and the good ones as a sign of the food being amazing. I think he secretly likes these.

So basically, to sum this post up into three words- YUM! MAKE THEM!


Although, if you would like that grammatically correct and embellished to sound more fancy, it would be more like thirteen words-These are really quite delicious, you should make them whenever you next can!

Marshmallow Monster Cookies

One cup of chocolate chips. One cup of peanut butter chips. One cup of white chocolate chips. One cup of marshmallows.  Probably four cups of peanut butter cookie dough. now, if my math is correct (which I'd say the chances are pretty likely of) there about as much added goodness as there is yummy dough. Now, hm, let's see... carry the one... add the four... add the fifty... carry the five... AHA! It's delicious!

These were quite amazing and my taste buds were definitely not mad at me when I ate them, to put it into poetic form! I made them with a friend, and we made a giant cookie that was about bigger than both of our faces, and that was better than the normal cookies because it turned out softer, and therefore were optimum for maximum enjoyment! The regular ones turned out crunchy for some reason, but they were still really good!

I got the recipe from a magical little website called foodgawker.com where you gawk at food, it's not that complicated. Just search for Marshmallow Monster Cookies and you'll be led right there, and perhaps to other scrumdiddlyumptious recipes!

Non-Cookie Baking Endeavors

This post is sort of just to post, and mark everything I bake between now and New Years.... 
Well, this isn't really anything new, but I'm just putting this in here, showing that I baked now. This is my family's DELICIOUS, AMAZING, TOTALLY FANTABULOUS, SECRETIVE, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread! Adored by many, including Carie, our strange old babysitter who got us into two car crashes. (Insdide joke) Aaaaaaaanyways, I can't really put the recipe up, because then it wouldn't really be a secret, would it? But I can tell you that it is DA BOMB DIGEDY! (I hope that's how you spell it...)

We (being my sister and me) also made a scrum-diddly-UMPtious pumpkin cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting- to put in two words, a yum ball. Or a ball of yum. The essence of yum. Yum in a package. Yum in disguise (as something yummy-looking.) Yum made easy, etc. (Or ect?) (etc, right?) It was moist. It was cream-cheesy. It was fall-y (or if you like it better, autumn-y.) It was... delicious. And made for an ESPECIALLY important occasion- my Dad's birthday!

Strawberry Shortbread bars! (Not to be confused with Strawberry Shortcake, because that is a doll/ action figure.) THESE THINGS ARE RICH! But amazing. A layer of crust, then jelly, then a layer of filling, and then a glaze. YUM! (I really need to think of other adjectives...) They can be cut into small pieces. The important ingredients are: butter, almond extract, sugar, and flour. I hope those give you an idea of the flavor and consistency. And it may not sound like it, but almond extract and strawberry jelly go together surprisingly well! So well that it is deeeeeeel-IIIIIIIIII-scious. (the "IIIIII" should be in a higher voice, for the full effect of writing it that way.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter WHOOPEEEEEE Pies!

Well. I have decided, with certain suggestions from certain people, to blog on any baked goods I make from now until New Years. So, to welcome home my Dad and my sister, I baked PEANUT BUTTER CHCOLATE WHOOPIE PIES! I *ahem* might have *cough* sampled some of the batter in the process of it being made. And I can tell you that it was one of the richest chocolate batters I have ever tasted. YUM!
So, it was a pretty easy make, but I think that if I baked them again, I might make the size of the cookies a tad smaller, because these things could be called “Peanut Butter Chocolate WHOPPER pies!” They’re practically the size of my face (or half my face, if you want to be literal.) THESE THINGS ARE RICH! And yummy! The thickness I made them, they were about a total of three inches tall when finished. So, if you make them smaller, you can use the allotted frosting, but if you make the huge-o-mong-o, then you should use a leeeeeetle bit more frosting, so the ratio between frosting and cookie is equal. Because these cookies are THICK and RICH and CHOCOLATE. I recommend following the size suggestions in the recipe. I, being only 12 and not having a fully developed sense of size (Or something like that) used about double that. Or more. But they were still YUMMY!
I have to say, there isn't much I didn't like or would change in this recipe. I think it is a very good recipe. Hm... I don't know... maybe a bit more *ahem* sugar to sweeten the unsweetened chocolate in the cookie dough. But oooooootherwise, They are veeeeerrrryyyyyy good.

So, if you would like to lay your eyes upon these little beauties, here are some pictures: (Hopefully, over the course of the year my food photographing skills get better over the year...)

And the recipe I got from another blog called Kitchen Simplicity, (If you wan to go there, click on that) and if you don’t want to bother actually going to that website, here is the recipe:

For Cookies:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups organic cane sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For Filling:

• 1 1/3 cup natural organic creamy peanut butter
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 400. Make cookies: Line three rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, sift together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. On low speed, slowly add dry ingredients; mix until combined.

Drop 1 ½ tablespoons of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2-inches apart. Bake until set, about 8 minutes, rotating halfway through. When the top of cookie is gently touched, it should feel soft but not wet. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Make filling: With an electric mixer, beat peanut butter and butter on high speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low. Add confectioners’ sugar; mix until combined. Raise speed to high, and mix until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes.

To assemble cookies: Spread 1 to 2 heaping tablespoons of filling on the flat side of 1 cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Cookies can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight container up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Update on my Dormant Blogging-ness!

As you can tell, I have not posted for several months now. that is dues to the fact that I have moved back to AMERICA! And am now settled in. But, while we didn't have a large kitchen, were on vacation, or moving, I was unable to bake. Soooooooo, I have decided to move "Bake a batch of cookies per week and blog about it" resolution to next year. I know, I am not doing a New Year's resolution- but honestly, I never specified that. And next year we will not be moving and travelling as much, so hopefully I can bake 52 different types of cookies. (You know, when you say it like that, it doesn't sound like much.) And they will probably be baked on Weekends, so expect the posts to come every Saturday or Sunday. If something comes up or I do go on vacation, I will try and make it up during the week, but it might turn our to be something like 45 cookies recipes.I also  will try to take and upload picture every week if my computer will allow it... I will also try to find a link to the cookbooks, because I don't want to get bored of typing recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe, after recipe! Whew!So, I will blog next year! PINKIE PROMISE!

Lemon Poppyseed... Muffins...

Just this once, I had to bake muffins instead of cookies because we are leaving on Tuesday and even my family, (who eats cookies at maximum speed) cannot eat a whole batch of cookies that fast. So, I made Lemon Poppyseed muffins from this special little recipe.
Either I did this wrong, or the glaze for this is TERRIBLE! It is basically sticky lemon juice dumped onto of a muffin. It is plain, white, granulated sugar and lemon juice. The sugar dissolves, and then you are left with really sweet lemon juice.
Have you ever poured lemon juice on top of a muffin? Well, I don't suggest it, because muffins have round tops, and so then the lemon juice will slide right off it into the muffin tin. That is what happens in this recipe. I don't know if the person  who wrote it meant powdered sugar or not, but that's what I should have used. When I added powdered sugar, it was too late.
Anyways, some glaze stuck and hardened into a sticky glaze, but I got a lot in the tin.
Aside from the complete glaze debacle, the muffins were okay. They didn't jump out at my taste buds and say "YUM YUM MORE!" they said something more like, "Yummy, this muffin's pretty good, but I would rather have chocolate." Although, the reason for this speaking might be because I used healthy sugar. (By healthy sugar, I mean non-sugar sugar, like Splenda.)

Here are other opinions from my family:
My mom says: They tasted just like poppy seed muffins with sugar, but they needed perhaps a bit more lemon.
Ethan: Good. (Why do I even bother putting in his comments?)

Okay, I will confess, the reason why they don't have enough lemon in them MIGHT be because I had to add a handful of water to the bater to make it have enough moisture. I don't know enough to be able to say if that would dilute the lemon taste. If you make this recipe you must follow the directions EXACTLY! when it says "Do not over-mix!" I now interpret that to mean, put the dry ingredients in and mix ONCE! (I mixed two or three times because I was taught to not put two cups of flour in at once.)
Overall, I think this recipe is okay, and I would give it 3 stars. (I took away one star just for the glaze.)

(Pictures will come momentarily...)

Craving Cookies

Today's post is a little different because, since my mom is out of town, and we need to use up our old bananas, I looked up a cookie recipe on www.allrecipes.com. (this recipe is courtesy of GODGIFU) They are called Craving cookies, and they include a blend of Peanut Butter, Mashed Bananas, and Chocolate. I thought it would be an interesting mix: so I gave it a try!

They turned out well, except for here's the thing: I burned one batch, but one batch was good, and they tasted great! They're good, but they aren't cookies I would want to have as much as, say, Reeses cookies. my family who was here liked them, but there are still left overs after two weeks, so, maybe they aren't the best.

So, to sum it up: They're good, and if you like peanut butter, and bananas together, then make them. But, if you're lukewarm on the idea, I don't suggest them as a must make!