Red Velvet Cookies for Mother’s Day!

This post is dedicated to my wonderful mother, Debbie. My mom loves all things red velvet – especially the cake – and I thought these cookies were a fun spin-off of one of her favorite desserts.

I’ve always known how fortunate I am to have such an amazing mother. She’s the most caring, generous, and loving person I’ve ever known and I was lucky to realize this at a young age. While others were embarrassed to be seen with their moms in their preteen or teenage years, I always loved to spend time with her and would gladly accompany her to the grocery store or other errands. During my college years and now that I’ve moved away from home, I don’t get to see her as much as I’d like, but I make sure to visit home every few weeks to hang out with her.

Isn’t she so cute?!

My mother has given me and taught me so much. She has always been 100% supportive of my hobbies and interests and has always encouraged me to pursue my dreams. She’s been especially supportive of my interest in cooking and blogging and even came up with the name for this blog! She is my best friend in many ways and I can only hope that someday I’ll be half the mother she is. I am so thankful to have the relationship that we do and I couldn’t ask for a better mom. Love you mom!

Anyway, onto the cookies. This recipe were inspired by these Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies on Cooking Classy. I found this recipe through foodgawker last year and saved it because it looked like something my mom would like. In fact, I have a whole folder of recipes to make for her someday. I decided to stick with my go-to cookie recipe, because I like that it uses just one stick of butter and the large proportion of brown sugar makes them extra chewy. These cookies are incredibly rich with a nice vanilla flavor, a hint of cocoa, and sweet white chocolate chips. They would also be perfect for Valentine’s Day or Christmas!

I read that you can adapt any cookie recipe to make red velvet cookies, so long as you remember to take away as much flour as cocoa powder that you add. For example, if you’re adding 3 Tbsp of cocoa powder, subtract 3 Tbsp of flour from the recipe. It’s also a good idea to cut back on the amount of sugar a bit because these cookies are very decadent.

Red Velvet Cookies
makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, whisked
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp red food coloring
• 1 3/4 cup minus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (also equivalent to 1 1/2 cups + 1 Tbsp)
• 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2/3 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar together. Stir in egg, vanilla extract, and red food coloring until uniform.
2. In a separate medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and optional cinnamon. Whisk together and combine with butter/sugar mixture. Stir just until incorporated and fold in white chocolate chips.
3. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or up to 24.* Once your dough is cool, preheat your oven to 300ºF.
4. Roll the dough into roughly 1 inch balls (or a heaping tablespoon) and place on a very lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until center looks firm. I found that mine were perfect after 12 minutes. Serve with a glass of milk and enjoy

*Refrigerating the dough isn’t necessary to the recipe, but I like to do this because baking dough that’s been firmed in the fridge yields thicker, chewier cookies.

♥

Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

The other day I was browsing foodgawker and noticed how many carrot cake recipes were popping up. I’ve personally never associated carrot cake with Easter, but apparently many others do. All of a sudden I found myself craving carrot cake and began saving any recipes that looked good to me.

Of course I wanted my carrot cake to be lighter than your average slice, which can contain anywhere from 500 to 1000 calories – eek. I also decided I wanted them to be in the form of cupcakes or muffins. I found this Carrot Cake Cupcakes recipe on Baked by Rachel and thought it looked perfect. Since I slightly cut back on the amount of sugar and eliminated the frosting, I chose to call my version muffins rather than cupcakes.

These muffins have all of the flavor of traditional carrot cake, but at a fraction of the calories. I swapped out white flour for whole wheat flour and used honey instead of granulated sugar. They use applesauce and canola oil to keep them moist, rather than butter. One muffin has just 132 calories, 3.2 grams of fat, and 24.3 g carbs.  This recipe makes just 6 muffins, but you can easily double it. They make a perfect afternoon snack or even breakfast!

Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
adapted from Carrot Cake Cupcakes on Baked by Rachel

Ingredients:
makes 6 muffins

• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup finely grated carrots (about 2 carrots)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together applesauce, oil, honey, vanilla extract, and your egg. Stir in grated carrots.
2. In a separate small mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon listed above). Whisk together to make sure all is well-incorporated, and stir into wet ingredients just until combined.
3. Carefully spoon batter into your greased muffin tin. Fill each about 3/4 of the way full, almost to the top. Bake for 19-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool slightly before serving and enjoy

Start by grating your carrots if you haven’t already done so.

Whisk together the applesauce, canola oil, egg, vanilla extract, and gently stir in shredded carrots.

Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until combined.

Spoon the batter into a greased muffin tin, filling each about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for 19-21 minutes.

The muffins are done when a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

Vanilla Honey Caramel Popcorn

Today we were hit with another big snowstorm in New England, though luckily not as severe as the previous one. Days like today make me crave comfort food and I’ve really been enjoying popcorn lately.

Until recently, I had never tried popping my own corn kernels over a stove but now that I have, I don’t think I’ll go back to the bags. Popping kernels over a stove is a great way to make popcorn because you can control exactly what goes into it and not have to wonder what’s in that strange buttery substance in pre-packaged bags of popcorn kernels. My two favorite ways to make popcorn are spicy (with hot sauce and red pepper flakes), or a sweet version, such as caramel corn.

My roommate Emily has made this recipe for us on a few occasions now and we always devour it each time. Many recipes for caramel corn call for corn syrup as the base, which I don’t necessarily mind every once in a while, but using honey instead of corn syrup makes for healthier and tastier caramel. To make this popcorn slightly lighter, we also halved the caramel sauce cut the popcorn measurements down by a third. Each piece of popcorn still had a nice, crispy sweetness to it. We also eliminated the salt because while I agree that salted caramel things are good, I like plain caramel even better.

Vanilla Honey Caramel Popcorn
adapted from Vanilla Honey Salted Caramel Popcorn on Pineapple and Coconut

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels, or 1 bag of microwave popcorn (roughly 4 quarts popped)
• 3 Tbsp canola oil (if popping kernels yourself)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250ºF. To cook the popcorn kernels, heat 3 Tbsp canola oil in a 4-quart cooking pot. Add kernels and cover with a tight-fitting lid. When kernels begin popping, carefully shake pot every few seconds to make sure the heat is evenly distributed. The popcorn is done when the time between “popping” noises is 5 seconds or more. (If using microwaved popcorn, simply cook the popcorn according to box directions).
2. In a medium sauce pan, combine butter, brown sugar, and honey over medium heat. Stir until melted and then bring to a boil. Let the mixture boil for just 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning, and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract, baking soda, and cinnamon until dissolved. The mixture will bubble up a bit so be cautious.
3. Pour caramel over popcorn and stir to coat all pieces. Spread the popcorn out in an even layer on a lightly greased large cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring at 15 minute intervals. Let cool slightly before eating.

This popcorn was nearly impossible not to eat while photographing it. This stuff is seriously addictive, guys. You are warned.

Caramel Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I know I was just saying a couple of posts ago that I wanted to shift the focus of this blog back towards healthy eating BUT since today is Valentine’s Day, I figured an innocent cookie recipe wouldn’t hurt… Whether you’re single or in a relationship, I think everybody deserves something sweet on Valentine’s Day, right?!

For these cookies, I used my favorite cookie recipe, but changed a few things. First, I added 2 tsp of cornstarch to the flour. I’ve been reading about this a lot on various food blogs, and decided to try it out. Cornstarch is a thickening agent and helps to make cookie dough extra thick and fluffy. I also added caramel chips and toffee bits for some extra sweetness – so delicious!

The other thing I tried out was instead of using a whole stick of butter, I used half butter and half coconut oil. I am fairly obsessed with anything coconut and recently used coconut oil for the first time. It behaves like butter, as it’s solid at room temperature, but does have a mellow, coconut-y flavor. Coconut oil does contain saturated fat, but it also is a great source of lauric acid. Lauric acid is a monoglyceride that has antifungal, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties and can actually help to prevent you from getting illnesses or infections. Read more about it here!

Caramel Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp butter + 4 Tbsp coconut oil, melted*
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, whisked
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup Caramel Bits (can be found at Target in the baking aisle)
• 1/3 cup toffee bits

*If you don’t have coconut oil or dislike the taste of coconut, feel free to use regular butter instead.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300ºF (unless chilling the dough first – see # 4). In a large mixing bowl, combine melted butter and coconut oil with brown sugar and white sugar. Whisk in egg and vanilla extract and stir until combined.
2. In a separate medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until well-incorporated, about 30 seconds.
3. Stir dry ingredients into wet, just until uniform. Fold in chocolate chips, caramel bits, and toffee bits.
4. Optional: refrigerate dough for 2 or up to 24 hours. Chilling the dough helps to intensify the flavors and also prevents the cookies from spreading out in the oven and becoming too thin. Once you’re finished chilling the dough, preheat your oven.
5. Roll the cookie dough into one-inch balls and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Normally I wouldn’t grease a cookie sheet for cookie dough with butter already in it, but the caramel bits can get pretty sticky otherwise. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until edges of cookies begin to turn a light golden color.
6. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk

Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Before I get into this recipe, I’d like to make a little announcement. I recently made a Facebook page for this blog, so if you’d like, follow this link to “like” Hungry Hannah on Facebook!

Anyway, back to the muffins. I must say, I have always loved a good muffin. As a child, I would love to get cinnamon or chocolate chip muffins from the local grocery store’s bakery and munch on them all morning. I remember some of my favorite muffins were the super chocolaty Weight Watchers ones that my mom kept in the freezer – I thought they were a treat but didn’t realize at the time they were secretly healthy. Over the years I learned that muffins are loaded with sugar and not exactly the most substantial breakfast, but in addition to that, eating a sugary, carb-packed breakfast has always left me feeling hypoglycemic.

I still love muffins, but lately I’ve been focusing on healthy muffins that can be eaten for breakfast and not leave me feeling weak and shaky. When I saw this recipe for Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins, I knew I had found the one. Instead of white refined flour, these muffins use whole grain flour made from… oats! The oats are simply ground up in a food processor until they resemble the consistency of flour. Oat flour is chewy and slightly sweeter than white or whole wheat flour, and healthy, too. Oats definitely belong on the super foods list – they are low in fat, full of fiber, can help lower cholesterol levels, and can even aid in weight loss.

I admit I am still on my quest to make myself eat oatmeal more regularly and enjoy it, but I think these muffins are a good step in the right direction. These muffins truly taste like a cross between banana bread and oatmeal – or perhaps baked banana oatmeal. Best of all, they have no added butter, oil, or white sugar – just some honey and Greek yogurt. What I am trying to say is, these are some breakfast muffins you don’t have to feel guilty about eating

I stayed true to the recipe for the most part, but I added cinnamon, used vanilla-flavored yogurt, and probably only ended up using about 2 Tablespoons of honey but thought they could have used a little more like 1/4 cup. If you want sweeter muffins, then stick to the 1/2 cup listed.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins (adapted from Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins on Fit and Healthy with Debbie)
makes 12 regular or 6 large muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup honey (or 1/2 cup if using unsweetened yogurt)
• optional: if desired, add some nuts, chocolate chips, or coconut flakes to the batter. yum!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. In a food processor, add oats and pulse until a smooth, flour-like consistency is formed. Add to a medium mixing bowl along with baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and whisk to combine. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mash the two bananas until no large chunks remain. Whisk in eggs, yogurt, vanilla extract, and honey. Stir until well-combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until a thick batter in formed. Spoon batter into a greased muffin tin, filling each section about 3/4 of the way. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly before eating.

Add your oats to your food processor and pulse until they’ve reached a smooth, flour-like consistency. My food processor is older and the blades are dull, so odds are that your oat flour will be much smoother than mine.

Mash up your nanners.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients as listed in the directions, and in another bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet, making sure no lumps remain.

Spoon the batter into your greased muffin tin and bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

The muffins are done once a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

Moisty, chewy, and delicious!

I found these muffins to have a very similar consistency to oatmeal, so if you like oatmeal and you like bananas, you will probably like these muffins. They are extra tasty when warmed slightly and served with a small pat of butter or drizzle of honey

And for my fellow New Englanders, stay safe and dry in the snowstorm!