My friend Heather, over at Chocolate Bytes, shared her recipe for double chocolate nut muffins last spring. With very few changes (I use super-dark cocoa and chocolate), I’ve been making them ever since. I thought I already had a good chocolate muffin recipe, but Heather has made a convert out of me.
Visit Heather, not just for the great muffins, but for all her wisdom and recipes surrounding everything chocolate!
Image: Cyndi Lavin

Guest author: Carol O’Dell
Website: Carol O’Dell
Monkey Toes Recipe
2 cans of fluffy biscuit dough (Serves 4 people)
One cup of sugar
2-3 heaping spoons of cinnamon
(during this time of year, I do one spoon of cinnamon and one spoon of pumpkin spice mix)
½ stick of butter
Optional: nuts (walnuts or pecans are my family’s favorite) raisins and/or cranberries
Red gel icing
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
In a large mixing bowl, mix the spices and sugar together
Pop open the biscuit dough, and sprinkle a little of the sugar on the counter or a baking matt
Pinch off the dough and roll it on the sugar mix to …read more

Guest author: Ellen Delap
Website: Professional Organizer
This is the BEST banana bread going! Super easy, freezes well, very moist! A total winner for all!
Delap’s Banana Bread
½ c oil
1 ½ c sugar
1 t salt
1t baking soda
4 T milk
2 beaten eggs
3 ripe bananas mashed
2 c flour
Mix oil, sugar, salt, soda, milk and eggs. Add mashed bananas and then flour. Bake in 2 medium loaf pans sprayed with PAM. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Yum!

Guest author: Bonnie Friedman
Websites:
Grapevine Productions Hawai’i
Tour da Food Maui
My mother was an exceptional home baker. It is undoubtedly from her that I inherited my passion for baking. I think she’d be proud to know that I earned a professional Pastry Cook’s certificate in 2007. I have vivid childhood memories of baking at my mother’s side when I was as young as four or five years old (more than 50 years ago!). When I left home to make my way in the world, I copied down my favorites of her recipes in long hand on loose leaf paper using a medium-point …read more

Guest author: Mark Tafoya
Website: The Culinary Media Network

This comforting Autumn soup satisfies the seasonal yearning for earthy comforts with a hint of the sweet playfulness of the harvest. The dried apples give the soup an interesting textural quality, and intensify the flavor, adding sweet notes to the bright earthiness of the humble turnip.
Makes eight (8) 1½ cup servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups chopped leek
¾ cup chopped shallots
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 cups turnips, peeled and diced (about 1 ½ pounds)
½ cup dried apples, chopped
3 cups apple juice, fresh pressed with pulp
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
½ cup cream (optional)
Crème fraîche, …read more

My goodness, I love these things! And for once, the food that I crave is super-easy peasy to make and takes only FOUR ingredients. Make them to supplement dinner, or stuff their empty puffy centers with tuna, chicken, or vegetable salad for a quick and easy finger meal.
Popovers
4 eggs
2 c milk
1 t salt
2 c flour
Whisk eggs until light yellow. Whisk in the milk and salt. Dump in the flour and stir with a wooden spoon just to moisten. Don’t try to work out all the lumps…they won’t hurt anything. Pour the batter into well-greased large muffin tins, filling almost to …read more

These are best if you can make them with fresh raspberries, bursting with summer flavor, but frozen berries can be used if necessary! You can have these mixed, baked, and ready to eat in thirty minutes easily. They are hearty enough to enjoy with dinner, sweet enough to have for dessert…your choice! This recipe makes 12 delicious muffins.
Raspberry Corn Muffins
2 eggs
1 c milk
1 t vanilla
4 T melted butter or canola oil
1-1/2 c flour
3/4 c cornmeal
3/4 c sugar (less if you’d like)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1-1/2 c fresh raspberries
Blend the eggs through butter in a small bowl. Mix the …read more

This coffee cake is the perfect make-ahead or OAMC treat! It freezes very well, and can be served either at room temperature or warm. Wrapped in foil, it goes from freezer to oven to table in about 30 minutes.
Berry Coffee Cake
1 c unbleached white flour
2 T sugar
1-1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c butter
1 egg
1/3 c milk
1/2 c sliced berries (strawberries, raspberries, etc)
1/4 c orange marmalade
1/4 c sugar
3 T flour
1/4 c butter
Stir together well the flour through the salt. Cut in the butter until the mix is crumbly. Mix egg and milk and …read more

Mix up some Master Mix for baking during your once a week food prep time or during OAMC sessions. You’ll never reach for Bisquick again
Regular Master Mix for Baking (13 cups)
9 c unbleached white flour
1/3 c baking powder
1 T salt
1 t cream of tartar
1/4 c sugar
2 c canola oil
Healthier Master Mix (15 cups)
6 c unbleached white flour
3 c whole wheat flour
3/4 cup wheat germ
1/3 c oat bran
1-1/2 c nonfat dry milk powder
3 T salt
1 c canola oil
For either recipe, mix the dry ingredients in a food processor (in batches if necessary), and pour the oil in …read more

Gluten-free Italian cornmeal cake

What a great idea! Adding the ricotta cheese and orange juice makes this cake heavier, moister, and sweeter…perfect for dessert! Thanks to Whole Foods.
Gluten-Free Italian Cornmeal Cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup full fat ricotta cheese, preferably hand-dipped
1 cup ground almonds or almond meal/flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Zest of 1 organic orange
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil or butter a 9-inch spring-form baking pan. In a large bowl, beat butter until light and creamy. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. …read more