Banana Chocolate Chip Scones

These banana chocolate chip scones are incredibly moist, easy to make
and are perfect on the go!

I had some friends over a few weeks ago and every time one of them went into my freezer to grab ice they would comment on the number of bananas that I had stashed away in my freezer. While I love bananas, they have to be the perfect shade of yellow for me to eat them. I knew that my stash of over ripe bananas was starting to get out of hand, which of course meant it was time to bake something! After baking two loafs of banana bread, I still had a bunch of bananas left over. I love making scones because they come together quickly and you don’t have to wait for your butter to soften - in fact you want nice cold butter straight from the fridge so you get nice and flaky scones.

Banana and chocolate is one of my favourite flavour combinations. The bananas add sweetness and moisture to the scones and you can’t go wrong with extra chocolate - just saying. They are light and flaky, moist and of course delicious! So grab those over ripe bananas hiding in your freezer and whip up a batch of these scones today!

Banana Chocolate Chip Scones

Makes: 16 scones

Ingredients:

1- 2 ripe bananas (1/2 c mashed)
1 egg
¼ c heavy cream
2 c flour
½ c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ c butter, cold & cut in cubes
½ c mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a food processor or blender puree banana, egg, and heavy cream, set aside. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into flour mixture, until mixture resembles wet sand. Mix wet ingredients into dry until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and kneed dough into a ball. Divide dough into two. Flatten dough into a large round disk and cut into 8 even wedges. You should have 16 scones total.

Evenly place scones onto prepared baking sheets and brush with heavy cream. Bake scones for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow scones to cool completely on a wire rack.

Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit

This sugar cookie decorating kit is the perfect gift for anyone on your list. Give the gift of cozy Christmas cheer!

Um how is Christmas already just a week away!! Time is flying! I thought I would share a fun, last minute gift today. If you area already making cookies why not package a few undecorated ones up to share. I love the idea of a sugar cookie decorating kit. Its such a fun way to gift cookies to friends and family. Let them have the fun of decorating the cookies any way they please! This would be a great afternoon activity for kids or its a fun activity to do while watching your favourite Christmas movie. Its perfect to get into the festive spirit.

To Make the Kit

I used a wire basket lined with a Christmas tea towel as the base of my kit. In the kit, for the cookie decorating I included: some fresh baked cookies, royal icing in a squeeze bottle, and some fun festive sprinkles. Of course I had to include some fun extras too. Homemade hot chocolate mix (recipe below), a holiday mug and a cute spoon round out my cookie decorating kit. I cellophane the entire kit and added a cookie cutter - just incase they want to make more cookies themselves! You could also include some homemade marshmallows, a fun ornament, pipping bags and tips, a fun spatula… the possibilities are endless!

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Ingredients

1 c cocoa powder

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c mini chocolate chips

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, powdered sugar and mini chocolate chips. Use a funnel to transfer mix into a small mason jar.

For One Hot Chocolate: Heat one cup of milk with 1 tbsp of pre-made hot chocolate mix. Stir until all of the mix has dissolved.

Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit with Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Candy Cane Bark Cake

This candy cane bark cake is a show stopper!
Perfect for any Christmas get together!

One of my favourite Christmas treats is Candy Cane Bark. It is quick and simple to make and oh so delicious! When trying to decide what kind of layered cake I was going to make for the holidays I had a vision of a Candy Cane Bark on top of a cake. I knew it would make for a stunning cake! I also seem to have a thing for 2 in 1 desserts - so this seems fitting. Ha.

The cake itself is a chocolate cake and let me tell you - its really really good. Super chocolate-y and incredibly moist! You’ll love it! I am already dreaming up other frostings and fillings to complement this cake. The frosting is a delicious white chocolate buttercream. It’s smooth and creamy with a hint of white chocolate flavour. You will be eating it by the spoon full!

Assembling this cake can be a bit tricky. The moist chocolate cake paired with a light coloured frosting can lead to lots of crumbs if you aren’t careful. I would recommend making sure your cake is well chilled - I like to freeze mine before frosting. A crumb coat will also help to keep those pesky crumbs at bay.

Candy Cane Bark Layered Cake

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cake
1c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 c hot coffee
2 ½ c all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking power
2 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ c milk
½ c sour cream

For the Frosting
1 c butter, at room temperature
3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c white chocolate chips, melted

For the Candy Cane Bark
1 cup white chocolate chips, melted
1/2 c crushed candy canes

To Assemble:
1/2 c crushed candy canes
3/4 c red candy melts
2 tbsp whipping cream

Directions

For the Cake: Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease three 8 inch round cake pans and dust with cocoa powder. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together coffee & cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, over medium to high speed, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, milk and sour cream. Whisk until combined. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Slowly whisk in flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix.

Bake for 35-40 minute or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and white chocolate until combined.

For the Candy Cane Bark: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together white chocolate chips and crushed candy canes. Pour and spread chocolate mixture onto parchment paper. Chill into firm and break into pieces.

To Assemble: Place one layer of cake on your cake board or serving dish. Top with frosting and crushed candy canes. Top with next layer of cake and repeat. Place the last layer of cake on top and crumb coat. Let cake set up in fridge for 15-30 minutes. Frost cake with remaining frosting. Place crush candy canes along bottom edge of cake and chill cake.

In a heat proof bowl, in 20 second intervals, melt together candy melts and whipping cream. You can either pour over the top of the cake and let the excess drip over the sides, or using a spoon drip chocolate over the sides first then fill in the middle.

Top cake with Candy Cane Bark.