Not a good sign

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I noticed that I wore a hole in the butt of my favorite pair of jeans. One would think that this is a bad omen-- getting a hole in your jeans the same day you start a baking blog...is someone trying to tell me something?


Well, it obviously didn't affect me that much because today I had a baking EXTRAVAGANZA, if you will.  


I found a delicious recipe for Soft Gingersnap Cookies with white chocolate chunks on tastespotting (one of my favorite websites ever...most other students I see surfing the net during class are on facebook, but I prefer to peruse pictures of recipes from fellow bloggers.  I guess that is part of what inspired me to start my very own blog).  You might wanna make these for a crowd, or freeze some after you are done, because I got 80 cookies out of this recipe.  They were on the smaller side, but that just means you can have 3 cookies instead of just 1, right?  Anyway, I am planning on taking them to a St. Patrick's Day dinner tonight. I know what you're thinking-- ginger in March? And, I don't really have a good answer to that question, but they are yummy.  Try 'em!

The second recipe is one for Coconut Banana Muffins with chocolate chips, which I found on epicurious but tweaked a bit.  I sent these in a care package and they were well-received.  I finally tried one of them that came out of this batch and they were, indeed, delicious.  I might try mixing the chocolate chips into the batter next time....


Here is my version of the recipe:


Ingredients


1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe bananas
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut, plus 1/4 cup coconut for the top of the muffins
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin cups with liners.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, cinnamon and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened.

Divide batter among lined muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup coconut and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to a rack and cool slightly.

Made with love, as always.