peanut butter-banana oat snack cake

I love when I get emails from my readers saying they love this recipe or asking me if they can swap out something and add in something else.
Love those. It's tells me you're being creative!
But the other day I got a wonderful question/comment from a reader stating they, like me, have no kitchen aid mixer and no hand mixer either. And that they are so glad that my recipes can be done without a mixer; just a strong arm is needed!
Well now I don't feel so all alone!
I honestly thought it was just me doing all this baking and cooking "little house on the prairie" style--
aka by hand.
One of the reasons I started the whole "quick & easy" category on the blog, and why I put the phrase
"one bowl easy" in my posts and recipes.
I know most people are drawn to one bowl easy PLUS tasty. I am too!
So for those of you that do not know, I do NOT have a mixer.
Do I want one?
Yes, I do, financially times are tough and the money goes to the house or the abundant student loans we have in our house.
I truly think we will be paying our student loans until age 80.....

With all that said, here is another very easy recipe, that can "almost" be classified as one bowl easy.
This snack cake is quick to make, but more importantly it isn't heavy, or too sweet.
How should I classify it?
Lightened up blondie with oats, peanut butter and bananas?!?
Yeah, that's definitely it.
My husband, who hates oatmeal, health food, and bananas loved these--so go figure.
If I had to make these again, I would add in some peanuts, pecans or walnuts.
It just needs a bit of texture/crunch.


One bowl easy and one pan easy too.

peanut butter-banana oat snack cake

print recipe

2 cups flour

½ ts baking soda

½ ts baking powder

½  ts sea salt

1 cup old fashioned oats

12 TB (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled

8 ounces cream cheese room temp.

1 and ¼ cup peanut butter (not oily peanut butter)

2 ripe bananas

1 cup light brown sugar, not packed (loose)

½  cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray with non-stick spray or generously butter a 9 x 13 pan.

In small bowl, whisk all dry ingredients and the oats together; set aside.

With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and cream cheese together until smooth.

Add in sugars and beat until thoroughly combined.

Add in eggs and mix, then add in the bananas and mix till all combined.

Then by hand add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  

Pour batter into well-greased 9 x 13 pan.

Bake about 25-30 minutes; mine was done at the 25-minute mark.

You’ll know it’s done by the light golden edges.

Definitely check the cake at the 20-minute mark.

Let this cool at least 15-20 minutes before slicing.

friday links + GIVEAWAY

Krusteaz recently sent me some of their new Molten Deep Dish Cookies mixes to try.

Krusteaz Molten Deep Dish Cookies are unique treats that combine the best of chewy cookie texture AND a creamy center in one DELISH cookie!

These are really good AND they are one bowl easy.

But the best part?

That molten packet that you use to fill the cookies with?  Krusteaz gives you plenty of it.  Most companies do not.

I think you're going to like these new Molten Deep Dish cookies; they are one bowl easy too with only three easy steps!

Krusteaz is giving away one set (1 box of each) to one lucky winner.

All you have to do to enter is tell us what other molten cookie flavors should Krusteaz come up with?

ONE COMMENT per person please.

Please have a valid email address in your comment.

ALL anonymous comments will be deleted.
Drawing ends 9/20/13

Sugar cookie with a molten chocolate filling

Chocolate cookie with molten caramel filling

Classic cookie with molten chocolate filling

Want to try these now?  Find a store near you that sells Krusteaz products click here. 

I tried the chocolate cookie with molten caramel filling.

So easy to make; literally 3-step easy.

They were really good!

I sprinkled a little bit of sea salt over the caramel middles before baking.  Try it!

Don't forget to enter!  Tell me and Krusteaz, what should their next molten cookie flavor be?

Around the web:

The sandwiches from Starbucks are actually quite good.  I love the turkey & havarti.




When you live on cape cod, this happens--a lot. Need a caption for this one.


We had a lot of great white's on the cape this summer. First sign I've seen posted in years.

Photo courtesy of Atlantic White Shark 

I will miss summer.

Best kind of dinner. From Chatham Fish & Lobster

Hard to let summer go.  I'm always dreaming of an endless summer.
Best part of the summer? Exploring the wonders of the sea.

peach caramels from love and olive oil (doesn't that sound good?)
like chicken & waffles?  how about chicken & waffle melts!
I'm loving these 7-layer magic cupcakes
a better take on the pop tart: chocolate fudge pop tarts
think you're low on magnesium? read this helpful article from natural society
the importance of probiotics in your life
I just love these baby onesies...so cute!
exercise more BUT sleep more first!
what a great idea for ice cream tacos: brown butter crepes!
how processed foods are killing you one bite at a time
a favorite salad of mine: grilled peach & arugula with gorgonzola & pancetta 
the peloton's power of food
soylent: what the heck is it?
paleo crush: sweet potato drop biscuits!
mini detox to rev up your metabolism
so cute! individual peach upside down cakes
best ways to detox your liver
Mmmm chocolate-fudge pops
the farmers almanac 2014 winter prediction is out (I'm moving to Hawaii!)
paleo crush: mexican rice bowls!
love this: everything you need to know about back pain (infochart)
can broccoli stop the onset of arthritis?
faux cronuts! (very quick & easy)
get your kleenex out: man, 96, enters song contest to pay tribute to his wife. (LOVE)
9 best foods for athletes
the best food tips I've ever seen
are you eating too little food on paleo?
how to take the perfect nap (you know you needed a chart for this!)


Have a wonderful weekend!

GF double chocolate brownies with GF oreo's

After making those insanely good double gluten free chocolate muffins, it was only a matter of time before I made brownies.

Pretty much the same recipe, but I added in a bit of gluten free firming texture (white rice flour) to help them be cake-like.  So this batch of GF brownies is cake-like and yes, the next batch of brownies I make will be fudge-like.

We have cake-like brownies, fudge-like, chewy, and what else?

Tell me and I will make them!  

I love a good gluten free challenge. 

After making my first batch of GF brownies I didn't even have time to snap photos, they were gone.

Hubby took them away.  

But this is good..... On Monday I had planned to make another batch for the blog. After stopping at Trader Joe's and finding the best present ever: gluten free JoJo's!

And I swear these JoJo's are waaaay better than the regular ones.  

I think they are tastier, and lighter, with still a nice crisp.

So naturally I had to add these tasty little JoJo's heaven to the brownies--I mean it's a no-brainer.

And I'm so glad I did.

These brownies are so good, so light, yet have such a deep chocolate flavor and the best part?

The JoJo's did not get soggy while baking!  So yes kids we have cake-like brownies with a nice hint of

crispy texture.  

Amen.

Who knew gluten free baking could be this good?

That topping tastes as good as it looks in this photo.

Even if you don't have a problem gluten you need to try this recipe!

gluten free double chocolate brownies with gluten free oreo's

print recipe

3 cups almond meal

6 oversized TB unsweetened good quality cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

2 ts  gluten free baking powder

4 TB white rice flour

1 ts of espresso powder (I used a Starbucks Via)

¾ ts sea salt

16 TB unsalted butter, room temp

4 large eggs + 2 egg yolks, room temp

1 and ½ ts pure vanilla extract

¾ cup heavy cream, not too cold

½ - ¾ cup high quality semisweet chocolate chips

a couple handfuls of high quality milk chocolate chips

1 box of Trader Joe’s Gluten Free JoJo’s (vanilla or chocolate)

cook notes:

make sure to use parchment paper as almond meal sticks to everything and is not forgiving.  I used gluten free oreo’s in this and they were great; held up great to baking.  You can use either the vanilla GF JoJo’s or the chocolate ones.

I used one sleeve of cookies for the middle and the other sleeve I crushed to sprinkle on the top of brownies.

With gluten free baking, for me, it’s hard to tell when they are done baking as the “clean toothpick” test does leave some wet crumbs on the stick, but this means they are done.  So your best bet is to look for non-jiggly middle.

I left the amount of chocolate chips iffy.  Up to you how much  you want to use.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper (I took two sheets, cut in half and lined up pan).

In a large bowl, combine almond meal, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, espresso powder, white rice flour, and baking powder. Stir and then add in the softened butter, and mix to well combined; lumps ok as long as they are small.

In a small bowl or large measuring cup, mix the eggs, vanilla extract, and heavy cream until well mixed.  Add this to the dry mixture and mix well; lumps ok. Then add in the chocolate chips and mix.

Pour little more than half the batter into prepared baking pan, smooth out batter making sure to get all the corners filled.  Then add in a layer of cookies, then pour on the remaining brownie batter over top.  Use a spatula to get it evenly coated.   Then sprinkle on the crushed JoJo’s all over the top.

These bake up fast!  Mine were done at the 25-minute mark. 

You’ll know they are done by a non-jiggly middle.  A cake tester in the middle will leave some crumbs.

Please let these cool at least an hour before slicing; they really do need to set up/firm up.

salted oatmeal cookies with peanut butter

I can't remember if I've done the combo of peanut butter with oatmeal?
It must be done.
And do you happen to have mini pb eggs laying around?
I know, NOT.
But this time of year you could easily use regular pb cups.
Doesn't the Reese's company have seasonal pb shapes now, like year round?
One for every season?
We have one for christmas, thanksgiving, spring...where is summer?
Where is the palm tree shaped pb cup?
With these cookies I took my old recipe the quarter pound oatmeal-raisin cookies as the base.
If you don't like pb cups, you could easily swap in plain milk or dark chocolate bars;
butterscotch chips and even cinnamon chips sounds tasty!
Of course you don't have to make these cookies a quarter pound, I just happen to have a small
obsession with quarter pound cookies.
Make them whatever size you wish and please experiment on what to stuff them with, BUT
make sure to sprinkle them with a tiny bit of sea salt on the tops before baking.  It makes all the difference taste-wise.

I used the mini peanut butter eggs from Reese's.

To me, this is the kind of cookie that begs to be stuffed with something; the cookie base is so tasty,
not overpowering, which means anything can be stuffed into the middle.

One could easily just eat them this way, and then we could call it "no bake" cookies, not to
mention save a lot of time.

No bake?  Yeah it's tempting.

Sealing the edges is important because we don't want the pb egg to escape!

salted oatmeal cookies with pb cups

print recipe

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

5 ounces cream cheese

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 ts vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

1 ¾ cup rolled oats

1/2 ts sea salt

1 and ¼ ts baking powder

1 ts baking soda

12-14 mini pb eggs or pb cups, (or whatever you wish to stuff them with)

sea salt for sprinkling the tops

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, cream cheese, and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat just until incorporated.

Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add in the oats and mix. Then add the dry to the wet batters and mix till just combined.

Please cover the dough and chill at least 3 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, divide dough into 12 to 14 big 4 oz lumps.

Slice each lump in half, fill with pb egg or cup, place other half back on and seal the edges, then roll into a ball.

If the dough gets too warm please place them back in the fridge to firm up again.

It’s important to keep this dough cold.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or use non-stick spray.

Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets, do not press flat!

And keep them about 2 inches apart

Sprinkle tops with a tiny bit of sea salt. 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes (mine were done at the 16 minute mark).

You’ll know they’re done by golden edges and bottom.

Do not try and remove them from the cookie sheet as they are fragile and need

to set up/cool to firm up.

Depending on size you make them, if you make them my size, about 12-14; I got exactly 13 cookies.

quite possibly the worlds best GF double chocolate muffins

That's a title you really have to be able to back up isn't it?
It's true though, these gluten free muffins are good.  So good in fact, on the few people I tested these on
no one even knew they were gluten free!
I asked them:
does it taste like there is a missing ingredient(s)?
no, it tastes like that "death by chocolate" cake!
Well, that's a good sign right?
Granted gluten free a couple years ago meant hard, dry, and tasteless.
Now it's come a long and more
flavorful way, thank goodness with the popular use of almond meal, coconut flour, rice flour, etc...
I get so many requests for more gluten free creations; I promise to try my best and do more this fall and
winter.

Now you can have your chocolate muffin for breakfast and no crash and burn a half hour later.

I was only to come up with 11 muffins, not 12, only 11.
You need to fill these pretty much to the top as they don't rise that much--just a little.

If you can, please use a high quality chocolate, as they have a higher cacao and give a deeper
and richer chocolate flavor.

Seriously these are really good.  Really moist and full of chocolate flavor.

Gluten free double chocolate muffins

from vanillasugarblog.com

print recipe

1 ½  cups almond meal

3 oversized TB unsweetened good quality cocoa powder

½ cup sugar

1 ts gluten free baking powder

½  ts of espresso powder (I also used a Starbucks Via)

giant pinch of salt

8 TB unsalted butter, room temp

2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, room temp

1 ts vanilla extract

½ cup heavy cream, not too cold

½ cup high quality semisweet chocolate chips

a couple handfuls of high quality milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line regular muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Make sure to spray the actual cupcake liners with non-stick spray as the almond meal sticks to everything when baked!

In a large bowl, combine almond meal, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, espresso powder and baking powder. Stir and then add in the softened butter, and mix to well combined; lumps ok as long as they are small.

In a small bowl or large measuring cup, mix the eggs, vanilla extract, and heavy cream until well mixed.  Add this to the dry mixture and mix well; lumps ok.

Spoon into 11 of the cupcake tins; I was only able to get 11 not 12.

These bake up fast, so bake them for 15 – 20 minutes.

Please check them at the 13 minute mark to see how far along they are.

Mine were done at the 15 minute mark.

You will know they are done by puffy tops and the jiggle in the middle is “almost” gone.