Banana Baby Cakes

Anyone who has ever had a baby knows that bananas are the best baby food ever! I'm always catching my 6-year-old son sneaking bites of the baby's bananas so I couldn't resist experimenting with it in cupcakes. The results were amazing! I hope you enjoy!

Baby Food Banana Mini-Cupcakes 

w/ Banana Buttercream 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, softened)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup banana baby food 
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup whole milk (room temperature)

Banana Buttercream Frosting:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, softened)
• 1/4 cup banana baby food
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt (about 1/4 tsp)

• Banana Chips (optional)

Recipe:

1. Start with the frosting. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together butter, banana baby food, salt, and powdered sugar until completely smooth (about 2-3 minutes). Set aside someplace cool. 

      **Note: It is ok to put your frosting in the refrigerator, just be sure to bring it back to room temperature     

          before icing the cupcakes.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line mini-cupcake tray with mini-cupcake liners.

3. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and banana baby food. Mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

4. Slowly add flour mixture in to wet ingredients, mixing in a little at a time and adding a little bit of milk in between each addition. (In other words: a little flour, a little milk, a little flour...and so on until all ingredients are incorporated). Be careful not to over-mix.

5. Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full and bake for 10-12 minutes (until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean).

6. Let cool completely, and then frost. Add a banana chip to each one for garnish.

Crispy Ricey Freedom Treats

Did anyone else wake up this morning and realize they forgot to plan on something to bring to a 4th of July bbq, potluck, picnic, etc.??? I knew the 4th was coming...but being the procrastinator (not to mention super busy mom) that I am, I totally spaced on something to bring.

I knew that the grocery store would be ridiculously crowded so I went straight to the pantry to see if I could pull something together. I knew I had all the fixings for cupcakes because I like to keep them on hand; but I made patriotic cupcakes last year and I'd hate to be redundant. Still looking in the pantry, I spotted the rice krispies. Immediately, I began to chant to myself, "please have marshmallows, please have marshmallows..." and what do a see but a big bag of unopened marshmallows! Rice Krispy Treats it is!!! I was happy with just that, but I was also delighted to find that I had some food coloring and sprinkles to make them more patriotic. 15 minutes later, they were cooling in the pan!

Here's what I did:

4th of July Rice Krispy Treats

Ingredients:

• 8 cups Crispy Rice Cereal
• 12 cups Mini-Marshmallows
• 7 tbs Unsalted Butter
• Red and Blue Food Coloring
• Red Sugar (optional)
• Red, White, and Blue Candy Sprinkles (optional)

1. Use wax paper to line a 15" x 10" pan, then butter wax paper and sides of pan. Set aside.

2. In a medium sized pot, melt 3 cups of marshmallows and 2 tbs of butter over medium heat, constantly stirring with a rubber spatula. 

Once smooth, reduce heat to lowest setting and add 6 drops of blue food coloring and continue to stir until color is uniform. Next, fold in 2 cups of crispy rice cereal until cereal is completely covered with marshmallow mixture. Pour in to 1/3 of pan, add sprinkles and use and additional piece of wax paper to pat smooth.

3. Repeat step 2 using red food coloring instead of blue. (Tip: Adding too much red food coloring can cause treats to taste bitter, so instead of 6 drops, I used 4 and added red colored sugar until I achieved my desired color.)

4. In a larger pot, melt 5 cups of marshmallows and 3 tbs of butter, stirring constantly until smooth just as before. Remove from heat and add in 4 cups of cereal and 1 additional cup of marshmallows (because there is no white food coloring, the un-melted marshmallows help add to the "white" part of  "red, white, and blue"). Add to remaining part of pan, add sprinkles, and pat smooth with wax paper.

5. Let cool completely and cut in to small squares. Best if served the same day.