Banana Poppy Seed Muffins

I finally did it! I took the plunge and completely reworked my little blog; a new host, a new domain, a whole new look, and I LOVE it!! Welcome to the very first post on delectablymine.com! No more blogspot for me, it's feeling great! It all happened so fast. I hope you all enjoy the new look and the new site. It's nothing fancy, but I usually like to keep things simple so it's perfect for me. There may be a few wrinkles to iron out yet, just bear with me, I'll get to them as quickly as I can! 

For my very first post on this new adventure I have a delicious breakfast muffin to share. I would guess that of all the types of recipes I've posted over the years, I have the most muffins so what better way to start out than with another muffin recipe. Everyone know the classic lemon poppy seed muffin (check out a good one here), but I had never before thought about doing a banana poppy seed muffin. Why not? I love pretty much anything with banana, and with the addition of poppy seeds - amazing! 

These muffins baked up just beautifully, rising nice and tall, crowning perfectly and tasting delicious. The banana flavor certainly shines through. If you're expecting lemon flavor when you first bite into these you will be sorely disappointed, but have no fear, the banana is a fabulous alternative. Not quite as bright and tangy as the lemon obviously, but wonderful in a different way. 

I made a few minor changes in the recipe; first I halved it because it's just me and so it takes me a while to eat through a dozen muffins. Thankfully muffin recipes generally halve very well. I also cut down on the sugar by just a tablespoon and didn't seem to notice, they were plenty sweet for me with the banana in there as well. Finally, I pulled these out of the oven about 5 minutes earlier than the recipe called for and they definitely did not need to go longer. I dislike dry and over cooked muffins so I'm really happy that I pulled them when I did. They were nice and light and plenty moist. Another winner to add to the muffin arsenal. 

Banana Poppy Seed Muffins
Adapted from Macheesmo
Ingredients

• 1/2 c all purpose flour
• 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) brown sugar
• 1 banana (4 ounces), mashed; about 1/2 cup
• 1 egg, lightly beaten, room temperature
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) milk or liquid whey
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with butter, or line with paper liners.  In a medium sized bowl combine the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, set aside. 

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and banana. Add the egg, milk, butter, vanilla and poppy seeds and mix until well combined. 

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared muffin pan, dividing the mixture evenly. Bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Yields: 6 muffins

Banana Poppy Seed Cake

Simple cakes such as this banana poppy seed cake are good recipes to have in your back pocket just in case you need to whip together a quick dessert sometime. What I like about this cake is that it is a little different than the typical everyday cake. Bananas and poppy seeds are not ingredients I often use in my desserts. Although I do bake with bananas a lot, I usually don't use them in my cakes such as this one which is what initially intrigued me about this recipe. The combination of tender banana scented cake paired with the slightly bitter crunch from the poppy seeds came together in a perfect pairing making this cake a winner. Although this time I opted to pass on the cream cheese frosting that the original recipe called for, I'm sure it would be wonderful atop this cake, making it just that much more special. 

The bananas as well as a nice half cup of sour cream keep this cake moist and tender. A touch of butter is added for flavor and a little more richness and then finish it off with those cute and crunchy poppy seeds. It is a simple combination that works wonderfully to turn out this simple cake that is just unique enough to make things interesting.

Banana Poppy Seed Cake
Adapted from The View From Great Island
Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup poppy seeds
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. Cream the butter, 2/3 cup sugar and sour cream together. Beat in the egg, bananas and vanilla until smooth. 

Sift the flour mixture and poppy seeds into the wet mixture. Mix together just until just combined. Spread the batter into a greased 8-inch round cake pan and sprinkle the top with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. 

Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick just comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Cool on a wire rack. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

I baked this lemon poppyseed cake on a whim one afternoon a few weeks ago, I knew it would be good, but I didn't know just how good. It turned into one of the best things that I have baked this year without a doubt. I'd had the recipe pinned for quite a while now, but it was one of those things that I never did anything about, just looked at the pretty picture and thought, "that looks good." Then, a few weeks ago there was a ton of yogurt in my fridge for whatever reason, and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat it all before it started to go bad. That's when I started brainstorming ideas for using it up, ideas that consisted of mostly baked goods to be honest! This cake originally called for sour cream, not yogurt, but I decided to give it a try anyway. Besides, cutting a few calories sounded like a good idea.

Believe me, I didn't even notice the missing fat. There's plenty of butter in this cake to begin with, so no worries there! Anyway, this cake baked up beautifully and was absolutely delicious, light and moist, packed with poppy seeds and a hint of lemon. The perfect everyday cake to keep on your counter for snacking all week long. It took Lara and I a week to finish it off, and even on the 7th day it was still tasting pretty darn good, definitely not too difficult to force down. I'm still thinking of this cake weeks later, and waiting, not too patiently, for the next time I can find an excuse to make it. Maybe I need to head back to the store and "accidentally" buy a little too much yogurt....

Lemon Poppyseed Cake
Adapted from Gourmeted
Ingredients
For the Cake:

• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 3/4 cups and 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
• 1 ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups (250 grams) cake flour (or all purpose flour)
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2-3 teaspoons loosely packed lemon zest, finely grated (you can use up to 5 teaspoons if you want a stronger lemon flavor)
• 1/3 cup poppy seeds
• 1 ¾ sticks (14 tablespoons or 200 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature

For the Syrup:

• ¼ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Directions
Butter and flour a metal fluted tube pan and preheat the oven to 350°F 

Whisk together whole eggs, yolk, ¼ cup sour cream, and vanilla in a medium bowl until just combined.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and poppy seeds in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater, on low speed for 30 seconds. Add butter and remaining sour cream and continue to mix on low speed until just blended. Increase to medium speed and beat for another 1 ½ minutes. The batter will be light in color.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and re-start the mixer on low speed. Add half of the egg mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds, do the same for the remainder of the mixture. Transfer the batter into the prepared tube pan and level the surface with a small spatula.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the lowest of the tube comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly.

To make the syrup: While the cake is baking, combine sugar and water in a small microwavable bowl. Heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add in the almond extract and set aside. 

Once the cake is done, place the pan on a wire rack. Poke the cake all over using a thin skewer and brush it with a third of the syrup. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Brush the entire surface of the cake with the remaining syrup.