January Recipe: Pick One of Three!

I've decided to post three of the recipes I made during the month of December and let you each pick which one you want to make. They are three varying degrees of time intensiveness and I will put them in order from easy to difficult. So your three options are wicked fast: Pistachio Cake; on the quick: Low Fat Banana Bread; Worth the wait: Peanutbutter Munchies.

Pistachio Cake

(From Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups water
1 container sour cream
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
7 drops green food coloring

Frosting (Optional)

1 tub of whipped topping

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix

7 drops green food coloring

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a bundt pan.

In a large bowl stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, water, sour cream, almond extract and green food coloring. Blend ingredients, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Frosting:

Mix whipped topping, pudding mix, and food coloring.

Lower Fat Banana Bread
(From Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup applesauce
1/3 cup nonfat milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional, although I've always used them!)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a bread pan with non-stick cooking spray, and lightly dust with flour. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about five minutes. Beat in bananas, applesauce, milk, oil and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture, mixing just until blended. Fold in walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated pan until golden and a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Turn bread out onto a wire rack and let cool.

Peanutbutter Munchies
(From Better Homes and Gardens)

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat together butter, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the 1/4 cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. My own advice here: Do not make the 32 balls all at once for either the chocolate or peanutbutter - I'd make them as you go. Form chocolate dough into 32 balls about 1-1/4 inches in diameter. Set aside.

3. For peanut butter filling, in a medium mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into 32 (3/4-inch) balls.

4. On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling balls.

5. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

6. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8 minutes or until they're just set and surface is slightly cracked. Let cookies stand for 1 minute. Do not over cook these tasty treats - you want them to be chewy not crunchy! Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool. Makes 32 cookies.

To Store: Place in layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to three days or freeze for up to three months.

Happy Baking Everyone!

Oh - and yes, I made the spritz cookies, but forgot to take photos, then my family ate them all during Christmastime :) I will have to try them again. They are a very buttery cookie, but it does make a large volume of cookies (because they are fairly small). I had a lot of trouble getting the cookiepress to make a uniform sized cookie, and also had trouble getting the dough to stick to the cookie sheet. This is likely because my cookie sheets are non-stick already and that is NOT what you want to use when using a cookie press. I tried using aluminum foil, but that didn't seem to work either. Even if they were a little funny looking, they still tasted good and there were no complaints from my family members! I ended up using the Spritz recipe out of my Pillsbury cook book. I think I'll try the recipe Jess posted next time, maybe I'll have better luck with the consistency.

~mrs. curlyhairedmegan