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Molasses Raisin Bran Muffins

I am definitely that mom that worries about my kids getting enough fiber in their diet, how about you? Or for that matter, making sure we all get enough fiber, am I right?

Enter these delightful Molasses Raisin Bran Muffins that not only pack a TON of fiber in each bite but are sweet and perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

The Goodness of Bran

I'm a fan of too many yummy, yet sugary cereals I'll be the first to admit. But I always have a box of plain old Bran Flakes lurking around my pantry. They are such a wonderful component to making muffins, like these or even using as breadcrumbs or sprinkling onto yogurt. Some amazing benefits to bran flakes include:

  • 6 grams of fiber for every cup
  • High in folic acid
  • promotes healthy digestive health
  • helps to keep heart healthy
  • source of whole grains

Kid Friendly

I'm not sure how many kids are going to eat a big old bowl of Bran Flakes, but I know plenty of kids that will eat a muffin any time. These muffins are slightly sweet mostly by molasses and honey and super moist and fluffy from the coconut oil, milk and mushy bran cereal. When baked, you can't even tell these were made with a whole grain cereal. Brushing the warm muffins with honey after they come out of the oven takes these to a whole other level. The hint of sweetness and shine really make these stand out.

Ingredients

A quick roundup of ingredients include:

  • flour
  • baking soda
  • cinnamon
  • salt
  • ground flax seeds (additional fiber)
  • raisins
  • molasses
  • eggs
  • coconut oil
  • brown sugar
  • bran flakes
  • honey

One of my favorite parts of this recipe is the use of only a bowl and a spatula, no mixer required! These are the types of recipes I'll whip up the night before and have them ready the next morning. It truly saves time and I can ensure my kiddos are eating something that will fill them up and pack some nutrition.

Check out the full recipe below! As always, I love seeing your creations. Please leave a review or share your dish with me on social media. You can find me on Facebook,  Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. For more delicious recipes to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter!

xoxo,
Cosette

Other recipes you may like:

Pear Skillet Cake
Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
Print Recipe
 Molasses Bran Muffins
Molasses Raisin Bran Muffins
Course Baked Good, Breakfast
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
muffins
Ingredients
Course Baked Good, Breakfast
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
muffins
Ingredients
Molasses Raisin Bran Muffins
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray muffin tins with non-stick spray, set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine your wet ingredients (except for coconut oil) + brown sugar, whisk to combine.
  3. Add your bran flake cereal to the wet ingredients and allow to sit for 5 minutes to soften.
  4. Slowly mix your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and mix until just combined using a spatula. Your batter will be a bit runny (it's okay, it should be). Finally add your coconut oil and raisins.
  5. Fill your sprayed muffin tins full, leaving just a small space to the rim of the top. Be sure to scoop up raisins in each scoop. The muffins will rise but won't spill over, they will pillow up.
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and cake tester comes out clean.
  7. Remove from oven and while still hot, brush tops with honey.
  8. Remove from muffin tins, allow to cool on cooling rack and enjoy!
Recipe Notes

If you are using canola or vegetable oil in place of coconut oil, it is ok to combine with wet ingredients.

Recipe adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/47146/molasses-bran-muffins/

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Lebanese Sfouf Cake

cake, breakfast, lebanese, sfouf

Sfouf, Lebanese semolina cake with a yellow hue.

There is something about the smell of Lebanese desserts that just whisk me away to my childhood. Rose water, orange blossom water, anise, mahlab, those are the most intoxicating smells. So much so, that the second my son walked in the door from school today, he asked if I made batlawa (Lebanese baklava), it's that aroma, even HE knows and loves. 

This cake is however not like batlawa, it is a cake that is served with coffee or tea. A simple breakfast cake similar to cornbread or biscotti and just sweet enough. When I was growing up I remember my mom having coffee dates with her friends. They would come by the house, a pot of Turkish coffee steamed on the stove and my mom would have some cookies or cake, like this sfouf to enjoy. I was lucky enough to get my own coffee cup and dunk cookies or cake into it. I got all the coffee goodness soaked in through my sweet treat. This cake is perfect for that, and brings back so many memories. 

cake, semolina, sfouf, lebanese, breakfast

Plates of Sfouf cake shared with friends over coffee.

What is semolina? 

In Arabic, Sfouf literally translates to "lines" so to me, the most important part of this cake is the nuts all lined up perfectly in rows. Definitely not important to the taste but just helps with the appearance of the cake to its intended look. Like many Arabic desserts, Sfouf contains semolina. Semolina is coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat and is typically used in pasta (that's why pasta has a yellow hue). The semolina gives the cake a distinct nutty and flavorful texture. Semolina cakes comes in a few different forms in Lebanese cuisine: sfouf the simplest cake, numoora which is similar in color and taste but is soaked in a sweet attayr sauce that turns it from simple to addictive and finally sfouf bi dibis, a cake using date molasses. 

But what about it's yellow color? 

Sfouf doesn't get it's bright yellow color from the sweet aromatic spices, but rather from an extremely beneficial spice, turmeric. Turmeric is thought to have many health properties including:

  • natural anti-inflammatory
  • decreased cancer risk
  • cardiovascular benefits
  • improves digestive issues

But let's be honest, the small amount in this cake won't necessarily cure all the above ailments, but it does look pretty and taste good! To benefit from the full benefits of turmeric you'd need to consume a lot or take supplements. 

I want cake!!!

So if you're craving a luscious chocolate gooey slice of cake, sorry to disappoint. This cake is definitely not going to hit that sweet spot for you. It is however tasty, warm and amazing, especially on those cold fall and winter mornings. It's a one bowl mix (my fav), no eggs and can easily be made vegan by swapping the milk. I hope you give it a try and share your thoughts on this Lebanese classic. 

As always, I love seeing your creations! Be sure to tag me if you give this a try, Instagram @CosettesKitchen or post on my Facebook Page.

XOXO
Cosette

 

sfouf, lebanese, cake, breakfast, semolina

A blend of dry ingredients, the turmeric yields the signature yellow color.

 

sfouf, lebanese, cake, breakfast, semolina

Wet ingredients turn the batter golden in color.

 

sfouf, lebanese, cake, breakfast, semolina

Tahini is used to grease the pan, which not only helps the cake from sticking but also gives the cake a nutty flavor.

 

breakfast, sfouf, lebanese, semolina, turmeric

Rows of nuts line the top, the batter is thick so the nuts don't sink.

 

breakfast, sfouf, lebanese, semolina, turmeric

Coming out of the oven the smell is intoxicating. Don't worry if it cracked a bit. This cake is meant to be simple, rustic and full of flavor.

 


Print Recipe


Lebanese Sfouf Cake

A delicious and simple cake combining semolina flour, turmeric and anise flavors.

cake, breakfast, lebanese, semolina, taste

Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword breakfast, cake

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Servings


Ingredients

Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword breakfast, cake

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Servings


Ingredients

cake, breakfast, lebanese, semolina, taste


Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

  2. Prepare your 9x7 baking dish by coating with tahini. This will prevent the cake from sticking.

  3. Combine all your dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

  4. Add in your milk, oil and orange blossom water and mix with a spatula until no dry streaks remain.

  5. Pour your batter into prepared baking dish.

  6. Top your batter with your blanched almonds or pine nuts into straight rows across and vertically.

  7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

  8. Cool, slice and enjoy warm. Best to warm after the first day. Can be stored in a sealed container for several days to enjoy.


Recipe Notes

*If using a larger baking dish, adjust your baking time, a 9x11 should be closer to 35-40 minutes. 

*Best to enjoy the day of baking, after day of, warm slightly. 


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Chocolate Cupcakes ~ Orr's Box

chocolate cupcakes

Home for the Holidays

Currently sitting at my parent's house, back in my childhood home that is oddly the same but also different. The holidays are DEFINITELY my favorite time of year, my whole family flies back east to visit our extended family. Now some folks may think we are completely nuts, absurd and out of our mind to want to spend 3 weeks with our families, but we truly LOVE IT! Our kids love every second of it and it is all they have known since they have been little babies. We spend Christmas in Pennsylvania, DONE DEAL! It's 3 weeks of uninterrupted time with my parents, my in-laws, my siblings and their kids, it's pretty perfect. Now, don't get me wrong, we have surely had our Griswold family drama over the years: fights, drama, tears...you name it! But in the end, those are the moments we remember. Those are the moments that make us stronger and closer to one another, I wouldn't trade them for the world. 

My Crazy Family

Some of my favorite holiday moments from growing up are with my parents, brother, sister and our surrogate extended family. My godmother, my sister's godmother and her daughter. They are the ones that we grew up with, we saw them as our aunts/grandparents. They gave us a glimmer of shine each holiday season. When they walked through the door on Christmas morning, THEY were the Santas, THEY did all the work, THEY made our days a little brighter. My parents worked extremely hard, but times were tough growing up and they did EVERYTHING for us, everything they could including putting food on the table. When the holidays came around, Lottie, Rosa and Marie took care of us while my parents took care of them. I think it was something that was just done and figured out, no one talked about it, no one asked, it just was the way it was. They were our Fairy Godmothers, literally! It was what family did. I treasure the memories with them, growing up by our sides.

The Orr's Box

My godmother, Marie, passed away about 15 years ago. It was the first time someone close to me died. Each Christmas, in her honor, we have a secret Orr's box that is passed to a new family member. See, Orr's was a department store that she shopped at regularly over the years when we were kids. One day Orr's closed the doors. But Marie was frugal, she saved lots of things: wrapping paper, stamps, tissue paper, ketchup packets, straws, you name it and she had it! So one Christmas (or Birthday), someone opened a gift and it happened to be in an Orr's box (Orr's by this point had been closed for many, many years). Of course we all found it amusing. Honestly, I'm not sure how it all began but now this Orr's box is our precious passed family heirloom, yes, a box is our family heirloom because we are that crazy! These are things that make the holidays special and fun, sharing old memories, building new ones and bringing in new family members to celebrate all that is wonderful. 

A photo of my brother, the 2016 recipient of the Orr's Box. Note, this photo also is evidence of who has the box this year, AND this photo was taken on New Year's Day because we had a box scare...but all is well and I have full hope that my brother will gift the box along. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes and such...

So now that you know a little about my crazy family, how about some holiday cupcakes??? You might need some after my story or if you're spending time with YOUR family! I am hoping to make these with my nieces this coming weekend or at least have some made to decorate! I LOVE this recipe for cupcakes or a chocolate cake (that doesn't need to be layered). It is so fluffy, moist and a perfect balance of chocolate. I hope you enjoy them as much as me! As always, I love seeing your creations, tag me on Instagram @CosettesKitchen or post on my Facebook Page.

Warmly,
Cosette

Print Recipe
 Chocolate Cupcakes
Cake recipe adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17981/one-bowl-chocolate-cake-iii
Course Dessert
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Course Dessert
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
  2. In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder (sifted), baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  3. With paddle attachment, blend ingredients until combined.
  4. Slowly add in eggs and oil and mix for 2 minutes.
  5. Next, add in your milk and mix for another minute. Be sure to scrape down the sides of your mixer bowl.
  6. Finally, add in your hot coffee and vanilla until combined. Batter will be thin.
  7. Begin filling your cupcake tin with batter about ¾ of the way full.
  8. Bake on the same rack, upper ⅓ of oven and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
  9. Frost with your favorite icing!
Recipe Notes

*Cupcakes above were frosted using a swiss meringue buttercream, I like using this one from Pioneer Woman
*You can certainly use a whipped cream frosting or whatever you like.
*For a 9x13 cake, grease and flour cake pan. Pour batter and bake for 30-35 minutes. Makes a delicious cake! 
*The snowflakes are made of chocolate. I printed a pattern I liked, melted candy melts, filled a piping bag and piped onto a wax paper with pattern underneath. Topped cupcakes when they hardened. 

 

 

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Cream of Broccoli Soup

Soup season! It's officially acceptable to have soup anytime. My middle child is more than happy with that, considering she asks for cream of broccoli soup about 3 times a month...even when it's 80+ degrees outside. I definitely tend to make more broth based soups: chicken noodle, Italian wedding, lentil but sometimes a lovely cream based soup is just what you need to get you through those cold days. 

With days growing shorter and shorter and the holiday season upon us,  I feel like I have been running around like crazy day in and day out. Trying to get kids to where they need to be, manage school events, try to keep our house in some kind of working/neat order and of course get dinner on the table. Frankly, the days I aim for a blog post and make dinner in the morning, I give myself a nice big pat on the back.  After completely cleaning out my fridges yesterday I realized that I needed a big ol' grocery shopping trip and perhaps get a meal plan together this week? Maybe? Anyone else in that boat? A few stores later + unloading the cooking began. 

Alessia, my middle child, sweet as pie has a ridiculous obsession with cream of broccoli soup. Someway, somehow it became her all-time favorite soup. It's nothing fancy, pretty inexpensive to make and definitely fills you up. The best thing about this soup is that it takes only a few minutes to prepare and can be only one pot! Doesn't that sound incredible? I don't know about you, but a homemade delicious meal on a budget sounds pretty good to me. Between the normal holiday bustle + birthdays, December is a doozy! I know there are many variations to cream of broccoli but I hope you'll give this one a try, simple roux base, milk, broth + broccoli is all you need for an amazing dinner tonight. As always, I love seeing your creations, be sure to tag me on Instagram @CosettesKitchen or post on my Facebook Page.

 


Print Recipe
 Cream of Broccoli Soup
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Begin by making your roux (butter + flour mixture). In a heavy-bottomed pot melt your butter. on medium-high heat. When butter begins to melt, add your flour and begin to whisk.
  2. Allow flour and butter to bubble slightly while continuing to whisk for 3-4 minutes. You want to create a thick mixture (a roux).
  3. Slowly add in about 1 cup of milk and continue to whisk allowing the roux to blend into the milk.
  4. Once the roux is no longer visible and has melded in with the liquid, add the remaining milk and broth.
  5. Continue whisking constantly until the soup begins to thicken and boil.
  6. Once the soup comes to a boil, lower the heat and add in your broccoli florets. You may roast your broccoli before placing into the soup but the heat from the soup will cook them perfectly, making it a one pot meal.
  7. Stir the soup and let the broccoli soften to al dente.
  8. Season with salt & pepper until the taste is just right.
  9. Enjoy with bread or toasted croutons.
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Lebanese Date Cookies

My wonderful, beautiful sister is getting married this month. I'm so elated to be in Pennsylvania for her special day and of course to help in the baking frenzy of 2017! My mom is the baking queen, well, only when it comes to Lebanese desserts! She has pages of recipes written in Arabic that have been tried, tested and changed over the years. There is also this amazing Lebanese cook book that is literally like a bible! Any Lebanese dessert I want to make, I check in with her first then the "bible". Whatever it is, it always comes out amazing. 

Dates are widely used in Lebanese desserts, especially in mammoul. Mammoul are a flaky cookie filled with either dates, walnuts or pistachio fillings. These cookies are a play on mammoul but a bit simpler and don't require the molds to shape. We make them super bite size because they are totally cute that way and give us an abundance of cookies. You can find baking dates at most Middle Eastern stores or online. 

The recipe for these cookies is in the above-mentioned "bible", after my mom translated the text for me, we got to work! The dough is so easy to work with and requires just minutes to put together. These 40+ dozen we made today (not lying about that) will make their debut at the wedding along with the other hundreds of desserts there! I hope you enjoy the recipe! I would love to see your creations! Tag me on Instagram @CosettesKitchen or post on my Facebook Page.

xoxo,
Cosette


A shot of the rolled date balls before stuffing them into the dough:

 

Before the cookies go into the oven, we used whatever tools we had in the kitchen to make the designs: spoon, knife, cake piping tip, dough wheel...whatever will make a good impression. 

 

Just a few of the many, many dozen that we made today! 

As featured on KATU Afternoon Live:

https://katu.com/afternoon-live/cooking-recipes/christmas-cookies-12-13-2018

Print Recipe
 Lebanese Date Cookies
This recipe will make A LOT of cookies, especially if you make the very small sized as pictured. You can surely increase the size of the cookies to yield fewer.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Lebanese
Prep Time 1 hr 30
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings
+people
Ingredients
Date Mixture
Cookie Dough
Course Dessert
Cuisine Lebanese
Prep Time 1 hr 30
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings
+people
Ingredients
Date Mixture
Cookie Dough
Instructions
Date Mixture
  1. Combine date paste and butter and work until smooth.
  2. Form into small balls, the size depends on how large of a cookie you'd like. Can be anywhere from ½-1 teaspoon in size.
Cookie Dough
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Set aside.
  2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine all the ingredients except the milk to form a cohesive dough.
  3. Add the milk slowly once dough forms. Add additional milk if the dough seems dry or crumbly.
Form Cookies
  1. Take a small scoop of your dough and flatten in your hand, place a date ball inside. Fold dough around the date and form into whatever shape you'd like. Round and long shapes are most common.
  2. Place on prepared cookie sheet and create an impression using a fork, knife, dough wheel, cake tip or anything you find that will work.
  3. Bake for 15-17 minutes on the middle rack. Bottoms should be slightly red and tops just beginning to brown.The cookies should not be too dark in color, they will remain fairly pale.
  4. Remove from tray and let cool on cooling rack. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes

These cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Pull out baked cookies as you need them. 

Baking dates can be found online. 

Recipe adapted from Anahid's Gourmet Cookbook

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