5 Second Banana Muffins for Baby (or whoever)

I started making a version of these muffins around the time baby started doing more snacking, and we’re still making them almost a year later. That’s saying a lot: baby is still finding them tasty, and I’m still finding the time to make them! Originally, it was just a way to use up his leftover baby cereal – which we had way too much of! 6 tubs of oat cereal had seemed reasonable at the time, but I hadn’t really thought about how little of the stuff they would actually eat! As I found out, not that much! Anyway, what is a mom to do with 5-1/2 tubs of leftover oat cereal? Turns out…make banana muffins!

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Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

A colleague of mine (also with an October birthday) approached me with the idea of a “super birthday” recently. In his family, everyone’s birthday is celebrated with one extravagant dinner (the person who gets to choose the establishment is picked by drawing names from a hat). I haven’t seen or gotten together with some of the staff at school for a few years, so I thought it was a great idea. The meal and the date have not been decided yet, but obviously we needed to start cake testing ASAP! Originally, I thought about making a cake that I had tested many many many times in my pre-selection for Canadian World Chocolate Masters, but instead decided I wanted to try something new. I ended up with what Megan is calling the “super chocolate cake for your super chocolate birthday”, inspired by a version of this that I saw on Instagram.

Gluten free chocolate sponge with crumble at the bottom and a layer of ganache on top.

This cake is pretty simple to make. First you start off by baking the crumble (gluten free) inside the ring, then layer on a gluten free chocolate sponge a la Heston, then finish with a layer of dark ganache on top (slight modification from the original recipe) to ensure it is sliceable. It’s simple, easy to make and perfect for chocolate lovers.

Supper Club (2022-06-16)

The last time that we did a supper club was last Fall, it’s been a while! Since I started daddy day care (edit: I’ve been told it’s “parenting” when the kid is your own), it has been increasingly difficult to devote a lot of time to food. Nicholas is really on the move now and keeps me busy, and since I’m on parental leave right now I don’t have teenagers to help me test recipes. Lately most of my time goes into steaming finger foods and making a variety of purees to ensure that the kiddo is getting everything he needs. In case your curious, the reviews have been good so far – in particular, Queenie, our dog, has definitely gained a few pounds from snacking on anything that hits the floor (except bananas, apparently).

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5 Minute “Choose your own adventure” Granola Bars

5 minute granola bars with oats, cheerios, raisins, dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds.

Anyone remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books? I hear they are making a comeback. Anyway, these granola bars are coming to you courtesy of some post-best (read: expired) tahini and a random not so good cookie recipe…I’ll spare you the details, but 5+ trials later here we are!

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Microplane

Tool of refinement: Microplane. A lot of people think that a microplane’s sole purpose is to zest or grate. What about cleaning the less than perfect edges of a pate sucree, as shown with the half pipes here?