The Clumsy Cook

Bananas ✅ Chocolate chips ✅ Magic ✅ These muffins have been my best friend and favorite breakfast since college. They are deliciously magical, keep me full all morning, make a fantastic snack, and make you lots of friends if you share them. They are my go-to recipe when I forgot about the bananas I bought during last week's grocery trip, and I will even buy bananas to let them go brown sometimes just so I can make these babies! I got the recipe from "The Healthy College Cookbook: Quick. Cheap. Easy." (which is a great name, by the way) I've used and overused this recipe through the years and it has never disappointed. Prep Time: ~10m Bake Time: 25m Makes about 12 muffins Ingredients 1c sugar 1/2c vegetable shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco. I know, so healthy, right? ) 2c all-purpose flour 2 eggs 3 large (or 5 small) overly ripe bananas, mashed 1tsp baking soda 1tsp baking powder 1/2tsp salt 2/3c mini chocolate chips Directions 1.  Cre...

I love chicken tikka masala. For awhile, I loved going to a restaurant and ordering it. Simple, easy, no effort. But I've gotten more adventurous with my cooking and baking over the past few years, and I started making chicken tikka masala at home. And I love it. But I hate using store bought naan, or driving to the Indian food restaurant to buy just  naan and nothing else. So I decided I would make some of my own! I used Budget Bytes Homemade Naan Bread recipe and it turned out amazing! Garlic Naan with Cilantro All my ingredients ready to roll! Dough baby Naan Bubbles! Ingredients:  2 tsp dry active yeast 1 tsp sugar 1/2 c water 2 1/2 - 3 c flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 c olive oil 1/3 c plain yogurt (I used plain Greek yogurt) 1 large egg Instructions: Preparing the Dough 1. Combine the yeast, sugar, and water in a small bowl and stir it to dissolve the sugar. Let it sit until it becomes frothy, usually just a few minutes. 2. Whisk in the oil, yogurt,...

Disclaimer: This is a semi-related continuation of yesterday's post . But not really. You can still keep reading even if you have no idea what I'm talking about. I mentioned in the post yesterday that it was my second attempt at the crusty Italian bread, a no-knead loaf that should have been easy as pie. Anything no-knead should be low effort, right? (tip: if you follow directions, it totally is) When I made it for my family I knew it wasn't perfect, but I didn't realize just how  imperfect it was until I looked at my first and second attempt at this recipe side by side. Whoah! Talk about an improvement. That first loaf looks 1. overdone 2. really  rough. literally. and 3. just....ugly Slice it up, and there's even MORE of a difference! Check out the difference in rise! Texture! Color! Everything! So you can see a few differences from these pictures, I'm sure. The rise, the coloring, the texture, it's all so different between the first and second...

Hello and welcome! I'm Kaitlin and this is my first exploration into food blogging. I love  all things cooking and baking, exploring new recipes, and trying new things, and I'm pretty sure my typical Facebook and Instagram followers are going to die if I keep posting food pictures. So here is my new outlet, and I hope you enjoy! A few weeks ago, I decided I would take on the daunting task of bre ad baking. Now I've spent years--YEARS--making banana breads, pumpkin breads, and other yeast-less loaves, but recently I felt the urge to challenge myself and take the plunge into baking "real" bread. I've been trying out different types of breads for the last few weeks and they've all turned out surprisingly well, except for this one. We're giving it a second try today. I've made brioche with buttery success. I've made 6-strand braided challah bread with giant, perfectly risen perfection. I've created a delicious albeit overly salty focacc...