Easy Apple Braid

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I was going to make more of my Easy Apple Pie Turnovers last night to have for breakfast this morning, but by the time the kids were in bed, the dishes done, the toys picked up, and the elf on the shelf set up, I had no ambition left.  Unfortunately, I had half a can of apple pie filling left over that I refuse to waste, so I decided to do one large apple braid, using the same exact ingredients, just a different form of the turnovers.

This was quick, easy, and I think even tastier than the turnovers (which is saying something!).  I think it was the addition of the turbinado sugar over the top.  It added that lovely sugar crunch that you get with store bought ones sometimes, and it was incredible.

Before diving in to it.

Ooey gooey apple filling goodness.

EASY APPLE BRAID

Makes 1 braided pastry, about 6 generous portions when sliced

Ingredients:

• 1/2 recipe  Easy Puff Pastry (Scroll down towards the bottom of the post for this link), (Thaw it in the fridge for several hours to overnight if frozen, or if refrigerated, leave it out for 15 minutes to soften slightly)
• 1/2 can apple pie filling
• 1 egg, beaten, with 1 tablespoon water
• Turbinado (raw sugar) sugar for sprinkling on top
• 1 recipe for Vanilla Glaze (See below) 

 VANILLA GLAZE   
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Simple Cookie Glaze)

• 1-1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons apple juice, for desired consistency
• 1 tablespoons light corn syrup  

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Lightly dust with flour.  Place the puff pastry dough on the baking sheet.  Using a rolling pin, roll out in to a rectangle approximately 10 x 15 inches (it will be maybe 1/8 inch thick or thinner).  
2. Using a pastry wheel, knife, or pizza cutter, trim the edges to form a nice rectangle, and then cut 3/4 inch wide strips that are about 3 inches long into the long sides of the pastry, cutting in towards the center, and on the short ends, cut 2, 2 inch long strips towards the center on each side.
3. Using a knife, I chop the apple pieces in the pie filling into smaller pieces, right in the can. Spoon the filling down the uncut portion of the dough in the center.
4. Starting at one end, fold in the ends over the filling and cross them over each other.  Then start folding the strips on the side in towards the center, alternating sides, making sure to cross them over each other slightly.  Repeat until you reach the other end, and then fold the two end pieces back towards the center, crossing each other.
5. Using the beaten egg, brush the entire pastry with the egg wash.  Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the top of the pastry liberally.
6. Place the tray in the freezer for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
8. After 30 minutes, place the tray into the oven for 45-55 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy.
9. Make the glaze:  In a bowl mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and corn syrup.  Add the apple juice one tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached for the glaze.  
10. After the braid comes out of the oven and has cooled slightly, drizzle with glaze, and enjoy warm.
11. Store remaining pastry (if there is any left) in the fridge. 

Easy Apple Pie Turnovers

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My son spent all of yesterday asking for pop tarts.  He has never had a store pop tart, and I wasn't going to go buy him one.  I decided I would try a homemade pop tart with some puff pastry I had leftover in my freezer from the last time I made puff pastry.  I know he likes apple, so I made it easy on myself and used the can of apple pie filling I had in my cupboard (I know, I know, you can make it from scratch, but hey, I made the pastry part, and they are called "easy," so something has to give).  I searched for homemade pop tart recipes and came across Smitten Kitchen's recipe.  I used it as a guide and inspiration more than anything, but it is always nice to have a plan.   Once I made them, I decided that no matter how I worded it, I just could not legitimately call these pop tarts.  The crust was just too puffy and flaky and buttery.  So, I opted for the more likely accurate description of turnover.

So, after all the work I put into making these , I presented my son with one this morning, very excited for him to exclaim that this is the best thing he ever had, and instead he turned his nose down at it and proclaimed his dislike for pop tarts.  Crushed me, totally crushed me! And then later my husband tried one, said they were amazing, and the world was right again.  I had one, and yes, they are pretty fantastic.

I made this with my easy puff pastry recipe from a previous post, but of course, if you have frozen store bought dough, then use what you've got of course. 

Before being drizzled in sugary glaze goodness

EASY APPLE PIE TURNOVERS
(Inspired by Smitten Kitchen's Homemade Pop Tarts)

Makes 12 turnovers if the whole batch of puff pastry is used.

Ingredients: 

• 1 recipe Easy Puff Pastry (Scroll down towards the bottom of the post for this link), (Thaw it in the fridge for several hours to overnight if frozen, or if refrigerated, leave it out for 15 minutes to soften slightly)
• 1 can apple pie filling
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 recipe for Vanilla Glaze (See below)  

VANILLA GLAZE  
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Simple Cookie Glaze)

• 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons apple juice, for desired consistency
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup  

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Lightly dust with flour.  Place half of the puff pastry dough on the baking sheet.  Using a rolling pin, roll out in to a rectangle approximately 10 x 15 inches (it will be maybe 1/8 inch thick or thinner).  
2. Using a pastry wheel, knife, or pizza cutter, trim the edges to form a nice rectangle, and then cut into four strips width wise, and three strips length wise, to form 12 squares.  
3. Using the beaten egg, brush all the squares with the egg wash.
4. Using a knife, I chop the apple pieces in the pie filling into smaller pieces, right in the can.  Using a tablespoon, start with a half tablespoon's worth of filling, and place it in to the center of 6 of the squares.  If it looks like it can hold a little bit more, than go ahead and add it.
5. Place an unfilled pastry piece, egg wash side down, onto a filled piece.  Repeat for all pieces.
6. Spread the pastries apart as necessary, and then using a fork, crimp all the way around the edges to seal.
7. Using a toothpick or fork, poke several holes in the top of the pastry for the steam to escape.
8. Repeat steps 1-7 for the second half of the puff pastry dough and place the finished turnovers all one one baking sheet, or keep on two separate ones.  
9. Brush all the turnovers with more egg wash and place the tray in the freezer for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
11. After 30 minutes, place the tray(s) into the oven for 22-27 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy.
12. Make the glaze:  In a bowl mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and corn syrup.  Add the apple juice one tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached for the glaze.  
13. After the turnovers come out of the oven and have cooled slightly, drizzle with glaze, and enjoy warm.
14. Store remaining pastries (if there are any left) in the fridge. 

Sunday's Sweet Confessions Link Party #12 with a side of Wake Up Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake!

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Sweet Confessions Sunday Link Party #12

Welcome everyone to this weeks link party!  This week I have the featured links in their very own post that you can check out here.  Make to to check out the fabulous posts!  In place of the featured links I am bringing you all a scrumptious breakfast recipe (even if it is dinner time where you are, who doesn't want coffee cake for dinner?): Wake up Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake.  Yep, coffee cake with actual coffee.  And what the heck, some chocolate for good measure!  What a great way to wake up, or stay awake.  Most, chocolatey, with a hint of coffee goodness.  A guaranteed pick me up!

Wake Up Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

(Adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen's Coffee Lover's Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake)

 Ingredients:

Topping and Filling:

•  1/3 cup brown sugar
•  4 ½ teaspoons instant coffee granules
•  1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cake:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips       

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside.
2. Filling/Topping: In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, coffee granules and cinnamon; set aside.   
3. Coffee Cake: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture alternately with Greek yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. (The batter will be thick)
5. Spread half of the batter evenly into prepared baking pan (I sprayed my finger tips with non-stick spray and pressed it out, it was easier) and sprinkle with half the cinnamon-sugar topping and half the chocolate chips. Spoon the remaining batter in 8 dollops over the batter in the pan and spread gently. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-sugar and chocolate chips.
6. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (I used a glass pan and it took closer to 37 minutes, so just keep checking, it will depend on your pan and your oven).
     

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze

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My next foray into pumpkin deliciousness--Pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  I am a die hard cinnamon roll fan, it is no joke, I love me some cinnamon rolls.  When I saw everyone posting pumpkin cinnamon rolls, I knew I wanted to make them eventually.  When I read my husband off a list of pumpkin goodies from my fellow bloggers, the one he was actually interested in (other than the ice cream) was these cinnamon rolls.  Go figure, this coming from my savory loving husband. 

Since I had made King Arthur Flour's cinnamon rolls before and knew that I really liked them, I decided to give their pumpkin cinnamon rolls a try as my first pumpkin yeast bread endeavor.  Made some adjustments to the dough, filling, and glaze recipes, but it is adapted from their Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls.  As usual, they did not dissapoint!  I like these even better than my KAF standby cinnamon roll recipe.  I am currently fighting the urge to go indulge in another one, and my three year old son has already eaten like two (well, he "shared" two and a half with his grandma, but I think he got more than his fair share), and my newly turned one year old is diligently working on his half of a cinnamon roll, and he is acting like it is the greatest thing he has ever eaten...which it vary well may be.  All in all, rave reviews! 

I tweaked KAF's glaze recipe a bit to make it a maple glaze, and the only negative I have to say about that was that I needed to double the recipe.  So, if you want truly ooey, gooey cinnamon rolls, double the glaze.  A few modifications were made to the dough as well, because it was what I had on hand.

Perfect with a cup of coffee, a news paper, and some wonderful fall weather.  Well, I guess here in SoCal I can get at least two out of three.

I made the dough last night, let the dough rise, rolled them out and made the cinnamon rolls, and then I put them in the pan I was going to bake them in and covered them and put them in the fridge to do their second rise.  When I pulled them out this morning I let them sit out for about an hour on the stove top before I baked them to finish their second rise, since my fridge is realllllly cold, they didn't rise much in the fridge.  They only needed to bake about 32 minutes, so not much more than the unrefrigerated dough.

PUMPKIN CINNAMON ROLLS WITH MAPLE GLAZE
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls)


Makes 12 rolls

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lukewarm water*
• 1/4 cup soft butter
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• *Adjust the amount of water by the time of year or your climate. For summer, or in a humid environment, use the lesser amount of water. In winter, or in a dry climate, use the greater amount. It's always best to start with the lesser amount; you can

Filling

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
• raisins, cranberries, or nuts (optional, I omitted)

Glaze

• 1 cup glazing or confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons real maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• enough milk, apple juice, water, or coffee creamer to reach desired consistency

Directions:

1) Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients together — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until you've made a soft, fairly smooth dough. 

2) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours, until it's almost doubled in bulk.

3) Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased surface. Roll it into a 14" x 22" rectangle; the dough will be thin. 

4) Sprinkle the dough evenly with the brown sugar, and then with the cinnamon, pressing in the filling to the dough slightly. Spread a thin layer over the dough, leaving one short edge free of filling. 

5) Sprinkle with nuts or dried fruit (or both), if desired. 

6) Starting with the long end, roll the dough into a log. 

7) Cut the log into 12 slices. 

8) Place the rolls into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan that's at least 2" deep. Set aside, covered, to rise for 1 hour, or until the rolls look puffy.

9) Bake the rolls in a preheated 375°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're lightly browned and feel set. (If they were refrigerated the night before, bake for closer to 30-35 minutes).  Remove them from the oven, and set them on a rack. Turn them out of the pan, and allow them to cool for about 15 minutes. Towards the end of the cooling time, make the glaze.

10) To make the glaze: Heat the butter and maple syrup together till the butter melts. Whisk in the sugar, salt, vanilla, and whatever amount of other liquid needed to get the desired consistency.

11) Drizzle the warm rolls with the warm glaze. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired.

 

Powdered Sugar Toast: Ode to My Childhood

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This is my child hood memories on a plate when it comes to special food.  Ok, this, and a special birthday cake that my mom has made me every year since I was like five, but that is another post.

Powdered. Sugar. Toast.  Yep, that is what I said.  It may be hard to conceived of putting powdered sugar on toast and feeding it to your kids (or eating it yourself), but believe me, it is one of the most wonderful, addictive, simple, special breakfasts you could make.  I have such fond memories of my mom making this for my siblings and I on our birthdays, or school days off, or holidays.  Waking up to the smell of cinnamon and sugar wafting through the house and up to my bedroom--fantastic way to wake up.  It was our "special day" breakfast. I remember that if she was making it when we were already up, I would stand at the oven staring at it just waiting impatiently for it to be done (it only bakes for like five minutes, but it seemed like forever!).  Who would have thought that sandwich bread, sugar, and cinnamon could be transformed into something so memorable and just screaming love.  Maybe it screams love because you really do have to love your kids to give them a piece of bread with a bunch of sugar on it for breakfast because you know your kids will be bouncing off the walls after and it is all your fault...I don't know, just saying. This is one of those foods where you give it to your kids and just watch them.  They will develop their own quarky way to eat it, and it will be something you will cherish, and they will cherish.  I know I do.

When I talked to my mom and told her I was going to do a post on this, she told me that I should credit her mom, my grandma, for the recipe, since she made it for my mom and her siblings when they grew up.  It is a family tradition, one that today, I am starting with my kids, and it is bringing me such joy!  So I would like to give thanks and credit to both my mom and my grandma for loving us enough to give us this blissfully delicious treat on those special days.

As I sit here and type this up, my 1 year old has already devoured his piece that I so painstakingly cut into tiny pieces, and my three year old (who is a pretty picky eater) has been carefully picking up the powdered sugar with his fingers and licking it off for the last 15 minutes.  He did however decide that the whole thing was tasty and has eaten the toast part as well.  He just finished his first piece, and came up begging for another.  As I am writing this I look over to see him licking the sugar right off his second piece of toast.  I think we have a winner.  Whatever I can do to get him to eat whole wheat toast, right? I will pay for this in an hour when he is running around like a mad man worse than usual. 

I know you may still be trying to wrap your head around dumping sugar on toast and calling it breakfast, so for clarity, and fun, I have included step by step pictures in this post.  There are no measurements, just to taste, and how ever many pieces you want to make.  I guarantee you, it will be more than you think.  I always had to be cut off, this stuff is like breakfast crack I tell you!  Without any more delays, here is the recipe for my beloved powdered sugar toast.

POWDERED SUGAR TOAST

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat sandwich bread (or white), seriously, just the plain old sliced sandwich bread, nothing fancy
• powdered sugar
• cinnamon
• butter spread (I used smart balance butter)

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Toast the bread in the toaster and lay toasted sliced on a foil lined sheet. 

 Butter the toasted slices.  If you butter it while it is hot (top slices) you will get more loose powdered sugar after baking then if you butter it when the toast cools (bottom slices), so pick whichever you prefer.  I like lots of loose powdered sugar after baking.  I used to dump the extra powdered sugar from all my slices onto one slice, save that for last, and have one happy powdered sugar pile on my last slice (I'm telling you, this is my childhood, children do funny things!)

After buttering, take about a dinner spoon size spoonful of powdered sugar and sprinkle it over the toast until it is all covered.  Do not smooth down or spread out.
 

  Sprinkle the toast with cinnamon, however much you like to taste.  I love cinnamon, so I give it a pretty good dose.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about five minutes.  The edges of the toast will get a bit more crispy, the powdered sugar will start to melt with the butter, and the rest of the powdered sugar will get a bit crystalized. 

The piece below is a slice that the butter was NOT melted when I put the powdered sugar on.  See how more of the powdered sugar has melted into sugary happiness?

This slice below was when the powdered sugar was put on when butter DID melt into the bread before adding the powdered sugar.  This yields a more messy toast slice, with lots of loose powdered sugar to lick, dump, just make a mess with in general.  This is my style choice for this toast, but it is all personal preference and they both taste the same.

And here is the finished product.  A slice of heaven, and it was so deceptively simple....

I hope you will take a morning (or afternoon or evening) and make this for your kids, make some memories, and have some fun.  Thanks for joining my journey through my childhood memories.

Homemade English Muffins

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Nothing screams breakfast food like an English muffin slathered in boysenberry jam and butter, at least in my house.   I used to by them by the two pack at Costco, and go through them in a week.  They are so incredibly versatile they worked for every meal.  English muffin sandwiches with eggs, cheese, and bacon for breakfast, or mini english muffin pizzas for lunch, or as a bun for a hamburger at dinner.  They are the perfect bread item.

Imagine my absolute astonishment when I found out that not only can you make these at home, but they are easy, and 100 times tastier!  I now refuse to by English muffins.  Every other week or so I make a double or triple batch.  We eat a bunch right then and there, I send some home with my mother-in-law, some to my parents, and stick the rest in the freezer.  A few seconds in the microwave and they are good as new.  Here is a care package I sent with my parents the morning of a road trip they were taking to Vegas.  Some English muffins hot out of the skillet, banana chocolate chip mookies, s'mores truffles, and some butter and black raspberry jam for the English muffins.

As I confessed in my first ever post, I am a King Arthur Flour recipe and product addict.  If I had to move somewhere in the country, away from my wonderful Southern California spot, it would be Vermont.  For the sole reason that this is where King Arthur Flour's bakery and shop is located.  This would be my dream job.  Anyways, enough daydreaming.  This recipe is their creation.  I do it by hand with no stand mixer, just a little elbow grease, but believe me, it is doable and worth it.  The recipe from KAF was written for a bread machine, but I have adapted it for no equipment necessary.  If you want to prep the dough in a bread machine, check out the link below. 

Just a note though: To get the traditional English muffin nooks and cranny's, make sure you use a fork to split them, because you wont get them if you cut it with a knife.  Or, you can just do it my husbands way and grab one warm out of the skillet and eat it plain, no waiting for splitting or toppings of any kind.

IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE, PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO PIN IT :)

English Muffins  
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's English Muffin Recipe)


Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) milk, warm (can sub soy milk)
• 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter (or shortening, or vegan butter like earth balance sticks)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 4 to 4 1/4 cups (17 to 18 ounces) Unbleached Bread Flour (if you don't have bread flour, all purpose will work, but the texture will be a bit different
•  2 teaspoons instant yeast (*if you don't have instant yeast, make sure to proof your yeast for 5 minutes with the milk and sugar first before incorporating the rest of the ingredients)
  
  **You will also need cornmeal for covering the surface of the pans.

Directions:

1. Place the ingredients in a large bowl and combine thoroughly.  Knead for 5-7 minutes by hand, until it is fairly smooth and when poked quickly, the dent starts to spring back.  If you want to do it in a stand mixer, place all ingredients in the bowl and after mixed, use a dough hook and let it go for 5 minutes on medium high.  If you want to let it rise in the fridge overnight for use the next morning, proceed to step 2.  Otherwise, let this rise for an hour or until it has doubled in volume.
2. To rise in fridge for next day use:  Stick this dough in the fridge until the next morning, without letting it do the first rising.  I like to make the dough the night before, do the kneading, then let it do its first rise in the fridge over night.  In the morning take the dough out, and proceed with step 3, just let the muffins rise a bit longer after they have been cut into the circles.
3. Transfer the dough to a cornmeal-sprinkled surface and roll it out until it's about 1/2-inch thick. Cut out circles with a floured 3-inch cutter. Re-roll and cut out the leftover dough. Cover the muffins with a damp cloth and let rest for about 20 minutes. 
4. Heat a frying pan or griddle to medium low heat. Do not grease, but sprinkle with cornmeal. Cook four to six muffins at a time (whatever fits), cornmeal side down first, for about 7 minutes, covering the skillet for the first 7 minutes. Flip and  lower the temp to low, cooking uncovered for another 7 minutes.  Repeat until all muffins are cooked.
5. Check after about 3 to 4 minutes to see that the muffins are browning gently and are neither too dark nor too light; if they seem to be cooking either too fast or too slowly, adjust the temperature of your pan or griddle. 



This is what step four looks like, after they have been flipped




6. When the muffins are brown on both sides, transfer them to a wire rack to cool, and proceed with the rest. If you have two frying pans (or a large griddle), you'll be better able to keep up with your rising muffins. 

Yield: 16 muffins.

Big pile of English muffin happiness!  They even look like the store bought, just better!

Nutrition information per serving, via King Arthur Flour (1 whole muffin, 2 halves, 59g): 140 cal, 3g fat, 4g protein, 23g complex carbohydrates, 1g sugar, 1g dietary fiber, 24mg cholesterol, 194mg sodium, 78mg potassium, 38RE vitamin A, 1mg iron, 77mg calcium, 55mg phosphorus.

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

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I love chocolate.  If I can make something and somehow make it chocolatey, all the better I say!  I love making banana muffins.  Inevitably, I always have some ripening bananas lying around begging to be used.  Unfortunately, after making plain banana muffins dozens of times, I am kind of bored with the same old same old.  Then I had a brilliant thought.  Add chocolate!  It makes everything better.  I took one of my current  favorite banana muffin recipes, King Arthur Flour's Banana Muffin recipe, and after a nice online chat with one of the bakers there, set out to turn them in to double chocolate banana muffins.  The lovely baker on the other end of the online chat box gave me some measurements for adding cocoa to their recipe, I took it one step further and guiltlessly dumped a whole package of chocolate chips into the batter (I made a double recipe since I had like ten overripe bananas to use, otherwise a half a bag of chocolate chips is called for).

I think these still qualify as a good breakfast food, right?  I mean it has oat bran and bananas, ergo, must be a healthy breakfast food.  Ok, at least a yummy breakfast food.

Enjoy these moist, chocolatey, banana-y muffins.  If you want a finer texture, throw the oat bran in the food processor to make it finer, otherwise it will have a heartier texture to the muffins.  

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe

Makes approximately 16-20 per batch, depending on how full the muffin cups are.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup yogurt (I used Fage 0% Greek yogurt)
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1/2 snack container natural applesauce (no sugar added) or 1/3 cup*
• 1 1/2 cups mashed banana; 2 to 3 large bananas
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup oat bran (If you don't have this, grind up rolled oats in a food processor)
• 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup dutch process cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips 

*If you double the recipe, I used 2 Tbs. vegetable oil, and a whole snack size container of applesauce, which is a little less than half a cup.  If you don't have or don't want to use applesauce, use 1/4 oil for a single recipe.  I like the applesauce to cut down on fat and calories, and I can never tell a difference.

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a standard muffin tin, or line with papers and grease the papers.
 2) Combine the yogurt, egg, oil, applesauce, mashed banana, sugar, and oat bran in a bowl. Whisk together and set aside for 10 minutes.
3) Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cocoa.
4) Whisk the banana mixture into the flour mixture.  Mix in chocolate chips. Scoop into the prepared muffin cups, filling them almost full; the muffins won't rise much.
5) Bake the muffins for 20 to 24 minutes, until the muffins are set and browned. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and enjoy warm.