Sarah Hearts

While I’ve been house bound recovering from foot surgery, I am (slightly) ashamed to say I consumed an entire jar of Nutella and a few packages of delicious, Florida strawberries. While I’ve been on this Nutella kick, I searched for other ways to enjoy the chocolate hazelnut goodness. I  stumbled upon this Nutella banana muffin recipe on Sweet Pea’s Kitchen and thought I should give it a try. It’s easy to make and absolutely delicious!

If you’re planning on making your love breakfast this Valentine’s Day, you should make these. Your significant other will love you forever (or at least until the last muffin is consumed). The recipe is below and you can even print out the cute little “you are sweet,” tags to put on them. Or use the tags on a box of chocolates or tried around a gorgeous bouquet.

I baked the muffins in little paper baking molds. If you live in central Florida, I purchased them at D & G Occasions, a great local bakery supply store. For every one else, you can find them online at Mignon Kitchen Co.

Valentine’s “You are Sweet” Gift Tags
Download the tags here!

Nutella Banana Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed well (mine were a little green and thats ok too)
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs, beaten lightly
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped, optional (If you’re cheap, like me, and have walnuts in your pantry, use them)
• 1/4 cup Nutella (one teaspoon per muffin… or tablespoon if you must)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. If you are using the paper baking molds, just place them on a baking sheet. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. If you are using an electric upright mixer, you can mix this in a bowl.
2. In another large bowl, combine the mash bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla.
3. Slowly add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix to combine.
4. Fold in the nuts if you chose to add the. If the batter is really thick, add a little bit of milk.
5.  Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full. Spoon one teaspoon (or more) of Nutella on top of each muffin. Then use a toothpick to swirl the Nutella with the batter. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a rack.
6. Print out sweet tag template on white card stock and cut out each tag. If you have a circle punch, you that, it works perfectly. Use your favorite ribbon or baker’s twine and wrap it around the muffins. Punch a hold on the tag and thread it though the ribbon or twine and tie a bow. Now give some sweets to your sweetie (and save a few for yourself, of course).

{Recipe via Sweet Pea’s Kitchen, printable tags and photos by me}

I love fall. The leaves change color and the air gets cooler… ok… maybe not in Florida. A girl can dream right? One thing I do love about fall is the season foods. You know, things with lots of spices and pumpkin (one of my favorites!). My friend Jaclyn is sharing one of her favorite fall-inspired recipes.

Happy September, friends!

It’s hard to believe that fall is upon us already…hasn’t this year just flown by? Perhaps here in Florida it doesn’t quite feel like autumn, but I think the weather might be starting to come around just a little. It’s not quite as humid, the afternoons have been lovely and windy, and dare I say that the evening air has the slightest hint of a chill.

Even if fall isn’t quite in full-swing, I’m going to do my best to will the weather to cool down even more. Baking autumn-inspired desserts is my way of getting into the spirit of the season, even if it’s still pretty warm outside!

When I think of the onset of autumn, the first thing that comes to mind is apple cider. What could be a more perfect beverage for this time of year? From September right on through the end of November, there’s nothing better than apple cider in my book.

Right now, we love enjoying it ice cold, preferably in a frosty mug. When the weather finally decides to cool down, I love setting a pot of cider on the stove and letting it mull with spices for hours.

Know what else I love doing with apple cider? Baking with it!

This apple cider crumb cake is everything I could ever want in a fall dessert. The cake is deeply flavored throughout with the crisp tartness of apple cider, and the crumb layer on top is, in a word, gigantic. I’ve always felt that the crumb topping is the best part of a crumb cake, but most recipes leave you with a disappointing crumb to cake ratio. Well, I decided to remedy that by making a crumb layer that’s the exact thickness of the cake layer. Trust me, you’ll find that there’s plenty of crumb topping in this cake!

I topped this crumb cake off with a simple apple cider glaze, and kicked it up a bit by adding some applejack to the glaze. The resulting dessert is simple, rustic and incredibly satisfying!

It goes without saying that this apple cider crumb cake is best enjoyed with a tall glass of–what else? apple cider!

I hope you have a lovely September, friends!

Sweetly,

Jaclyn
food + words.

{Click the image above for the delicious recipe. Photos and recipe by Jaclyn}

My in-laws were in town last weekend from Baltimore. We had a great visit and I always enjoy hanging out with them. We got  My mother-in-law gave us a jar of her homemade blueberry jam. It’s made from blueberries she purchased are her local farmers market in Maryland. It’s not overly sweet and has the perfect tanginess of the berries. She suggested using it on toast of a warm, flaky biscuit (yum!). I’ve been wanting to get around to making muffins so I thought why not combine both of them? The result: super simple vanilla muffins filled with her homemade blueberry jam. It’s my muffin-but-tastes-like-a-cupcake recipe so it’s ok to eat them for breakfast. They would be equally yummy with a scoop of vanilla or berry gelato and severed warm as a dessert.

I based the recipe for the muffins on this one. I used 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of cake flour. I love how cake flour makes muffins fluffier. In this case, fluffy is good because it creates lots of “pockets” for the jam.

I used a cupcake filling tip (does anyone know the official name of this?) and placed the jam in a pastry bag.

I placed the metal tip in the center of the muffin and filled each one with about one generous tablespoon of jam.

I let the muffins cool on a wire rack for about 15-20 minutes before I started filling them.

For a pretty presentation, I recommend not piping much jam on the top of the muffin. It will run, much like ink runs on a wet paper.

And that’s it! Super easy and so yummy! You can whip 2 dozen of these up in less than 45 minutes.

{All photos above by me}

Salad for breakfast? Before you say to yourself, “that’s crazy,” and go on to the next post, take a minute to check out these yummy recipes I found. They all take the tastiest parts of salads (think cheese, nuts, roasted veggies) and add a twist, like a poached egg. Yes, a little crazy, but also delish.

1. Breakfast salad with avocado, prosciutto, egg and parmesan.
2. Squash and chickpea salad with orange, ginger and black pepper dressing.
3. Salad with goat cheese, red peppers, chick peas, and pear.

A few years ago my mom started to tradition of cooking a delicious stuffed French toast on Christmas morning. So this year I continued the tradition and made some for Kevin and I. It’s so easy and you don’t have to wait until the holidays to make it. It’s perfect for a weekend breakfast in bed or Sunday brunch.

Take one loaf of french bread and slice, at and angle, into eight pieces. Cut a slit along the length of each piece. Meanwhile, mix one 8 oz. “block” or softened cream cheese, with about 1/4 c. orange marmalade, and 1/4 chopped pecans (walnuts are great too). Fill each piece of bread with about 2 tbs. of the mixture. Then just coat with your favorite French Toast egg mixture. Ours is eggs, skim milk, and cinnamon. Fry up the bread in a skillet and serve once golden brown on all sides. Dust with powdered sugar. Makes 8 large slices.

I served ours with fresh pineapple and apple chicken sausage. Yum.

Last weekend I woke up a little early so I decided to whip up a homemade breakfast using ingredients on hand. After looking through the pantry and refrigerator, I decided to make waffles with a strawberry topping and whipped cream. I am a huge fan of Martha’s Everyday Food mag. So I used their iPhone app and found this waffle recipe. We had some strawberries that needed to be eaten so I simmered then on the stove with a little water, sugar, and lemon juice until they were soft and the syrup was a bright pink. I had a little whipping cream left from making fondue the week prior, so I whipped that up with a tiny bit of sugar. The results: decadent, delicious waffles and a very happy husband!

I wanted to share my favorite breakfast as of late, yogurt, granola, honey and fruit parfaits. Parfaits are so incredibly easy to make and so delicious!

Ingredients:
• Non-fat Plain Yogurt (I love Stoney Field Farms Organic Greek Yogurt)
• Granola (I made mine own, recipe coming soon, or use your favorite store bought brand
• Honey (I used Publix’s Organic Honey, it’s so yummy)
• Fruit, cut into bite size chunks (Use whatever is in season or in your kitchen, berries, peaches, and bananas are great)

Pour a tablespoon or so of honey in the bottom of your glass or bowl. In layers, add the yogurt, fruit, and granola. Enjoy!