Banana Bread

Honestly, our favorite banana bread is the super simple and easy Chiquita banana bread mix, but you can't always find it, so I wanted to have a backup bread recipe that the boys enjoyed. So far, this recipe is the winner!

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3 mashed bananas
• 1/3 cup (80g) plain Greek yogurt or full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/3-1/2 a bag of mini chocolate chips, optional
• chopped nuts, optional

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 325°F. Lowering the oven rack prevents the top of your bread from browning too much, too soon. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
• I used my metal pans the first time I made this and decided that my glass pan offers better insulation and a more even cooking experience without the edges getting burnt.
• Make sure to bake at 325, not 350.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the mashed bananas, yogurt/sour cream, and vanilla until combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not over-mix. Fold in the nuts/chocolate chips, if using. The batter should be thick.
5. Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60 minutes (in my oven 55 min. was not enough), making sure to loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil halfway through, to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. Cool the bread in the pan set on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Remove the bread from the pan and place it directly on the rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
6. Store wrapped tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. 

Marsha's Notes:

The batter in this picture was REALLY thick, but would be slightly less so depending on the size and number of bananas you are using.

This is the banana bread mix that we really like.

I also had a friend recommend this recipe, which I might also try: https://tasty.co/recipe/one-bowl-chocolate-chip-banana-bread

Cream Cheese-Stuffed Overnight Creme Brulee French Toast

This was my Mother's Day breakfast this year, and it was fantastic! I LOVED how the toast got crispy on top, and then, when we served it, we flipped the slices over, putting the sticky "brulee" topping on the top and the crunchy bread as a crust on the bottom. Topped with mixed fresh berries, a dusting of powdered sugar, a drizzle of syrup and a dollop of whipped cream... this was exactly how I imagined it would be! You can see the sticky, caramelly goodness in the picture below.

From this angle, you can see the cream cheese layer in the middle.

Cream Cheese-Stuffed Overnight Creme Brulee French Toast

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter
• ¾ cup (159 g) packed light or dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, corn syrup or pancake syrup
• 1 loaf French bread, cut into 18 slices
• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Sweetened whipped cream + fresh strawberries/raspberries, for serving

Directions:

1. Add butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup to a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave for 1-2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Stir to combine. (This step can be done in a pan on the stove.)
2. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan with cooking spray.
3. Spread the brown sugar mixture in the bottom of the pan.
4. In a bowl, beat together your cream cheese with your corn syrup until smooth.
5. Take 9 pieces of the French bread and spread each slices with an equal amount of the cream cheese mixture. Then place the remaining 9 slices on top, making a sort of cream cheese sandwich.
6. Arrange all 9 sandwiches on top of the brown sugar mixture in your 9x13 pan.
7. In a bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, and salt.
8. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread.
9. Cover the pan and refrigerate overnight (8 to 10 hours).
10. Remove the pan from the refrigerator, uncover, and place in the cold oven.
11. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once the oven reaches temperature, bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the bread is golden and the caramelly syrup is bubbling (alternately, if you want the golden syrupy goodness on top, the French toast can be baked for 15-20 minutes, then using a large, flat spatula, flip the bread pieces and bake for another 5-10 minutes).
12. Serve warm with sweetened whipped cream and fresh raspberries or strawberries.

Marsha's Notes:

• Depending on the size of my French bread slices, I might use a 9x13, or I might use my bigger rectangle pan. Just use what size pan will keep the pieces close together without completely smashing everything.
• For the bread I can get at my local grocery store, typically we get 9 good pieces of French toast (or 9 sandwiches), but if you have a longer, skinnier baguette, you might want to make 12-16 sandwiches. Basically, you just want your servings of French toast to be about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick each, in a number that nicely fills up your baking dish.
• You can also make this recipe non-stuffed and leave the cream cheese mixture out. Then, instead of 18 slices of bread, you would just need 9 thicker slices. You can also not do slices at all, and instead skip the cream cheese mixture and just cube up your bread and spread the cubes evenly over the brown sugar layer, then top with the egg mixture.
• If I use a larger pan, then I will up my brown sugar mixture by using 8 Tbl of butter, a cup of brown sugar, and a little extra maple syrup, or whatever amount I think I need to get a nice layer to cover the bottom of my pan.

Hot out of the oven.

Chocolate Banana Bread

One of Chris's favorite things is banana bread, so when I saw this chocolate version, I had to give it a try. Everyone felt like it was very much "dessert-like". Also, great for breakfast.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-3 medium mashed very ripe bananas, (see note)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips of choice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the two longer sides.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and butter. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until combined. Then stir in the mashed bananas and sour cream.
3. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir together until just incorporated and smooth. Don’t over-mix.
4. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in chocolate chips.
5. Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan and spread evenly. Top with a few more chocolate chips, if desired.
6. Place in oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes (but start checking after 55 minutes! All ovens run differently.)
• Mine was done in 60 minutes.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cook completely. Slice and enjoy!

One Giant Cinnamon Roll

Did you know that you can take canned cinnamon roll dough, and instead of making individual rolls, you can combine the dough together and get one giant cinnamon roll?!!! I had to try it out. My only regret is that I thought it needed more frosting, which could be easily remedied with some canned frosting if you don't want to make your own.

This gives me ideas to resurrect the JB's 3-center cinnamon roll from my youth!!!

There are really no special instructions for this, other than take the smaller rolls apart to form one big roll, and then bake until done. I think it was like 350 for 20-25 minutes or so.

Before the oven.

Protein Pancake Bowl- Single Serving

 I have a couple of protein/healthy breakfast pancake options on the blog. This one is similar and yet slightly different, so I wanted to include it as well. You can see some of my other options here:

Protein Pancake Bowl: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2025/08/protein-pancake-bowl.html

Baked Oats Breakfast Square: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2025/05/baked-oats-breakfast-square.html

Protein Deep Dish Cookie Pie (Single-Serving Breakfast Muffins): https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2024/09/protein-deep-dish-cookie-pie-single.html

Protein Pancake Bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 50 g Greek yogurt
• 70 ml milk
• 35 g plain flour
• 25 g protein powder
• small drizzle of maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• berries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a small, single-serving oven-safe dish with non-stick spray.
3. Combine all your ingredients together (except the berries) and pour into your prepared dish.
• You can also leave the maple syrup out and drizzle it on top after everything has baked, if desired... or you can add syrup to the batter and then top with more after baking anyway.
4. Top with berries and bake for 25 minutes, or until everything is starting to brown and batter is cooked through in the center.
• Bake times can vary depending on how tall and narrow your baking dish is, making the pancake thicker or thinner. It can also depend on if you use fresh or frozen berries.

Marsha's Notes:

I found that if you mix the berries into the batter, then they can all sink to the bottom and disappear, so it is good to sprinkle them on top. I also found that whole raspberries can make kind of wet pocket of juice in your pancake, so I preferred to take frozen raspberries and smash them into little pieces so they spread out more evenly in the pancake and never got over wet.

Here is the first one I did where my berries sunk.

Overnight Oats

Overnight oats have been around for a long time, and the first time I tried them, I didn't like them. The texture wasn't good. The flavor was lacking. So, I sort of gave up on them and decided they just weren't for me. However, I love most other oat things, so the thought kept nagging in the back of my mind that if I could just find the right recipe that used the right kind of oats, that maybe I actually WOULD like them... and then I found this recipe!!! I have eaten these oats four times now, and I really enjoy them... like... a lot. (I've had them many more times since writing this intro...)

So, if you were ever hesitant about overnight oats, or maybe you tried some and didn't think they were that great, I would encourage you to give this recipe a try. It calls for a very specific kind of oats that I found at Costco, which may be what made a huge difference for me. It also calls for add-ins, which I think also helps a ton.

Overnight Oats

Ingredients: (Makes 3 Servings... Additional Single Serving Recipe Below)

• 1 cup (105 g) old-fashioned rolled oats or sprouted rolled oats
• ¼ cup (45 g) chia seeds (optional)
• Pinch salt (a bit less than 1/8 teaspoon)
• 2 to 2 ¼ cups (500 to 525 g) milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• 1 tablespoon (22 g) pure maple syrup (I used low/no sugar syrup)

Optional Add-Ins: (I put these in every time, so for me, they are not optional.)

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, more or less, to taste
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• frozen berries, if not using fresh

Optional Mix-ins for Serving:

• Greek yogurt
• Fresh berries, like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc.
• Chopped nuts, like almonds, pecans or walnuts (I like sugared/candied nuts)
• Brown sugar (I use a zero-calorie brown sugar)

Directions:

1. In a container with a lid, toss together the oats, chia/basil seeds, and salt. Add additional add-ins, if using, like cinnamon and/or protein powder.
2. Add the milk and maple syrup. Mix well, scraping up seeds from the bottom.
• Add frozen berries here, so they can thaw in the oats overnight.
3. Cover the container and refrigerate for 12 to 18 hours.
4. Scoop out desired portion. Serve with Greek yogurt, fresh berries, chopped nuts, and additional milk, if desired.

Marsha's Notes:

If the oats are not sweet enough for you, I like to sprinkle in candied/sugared nuts for sweetness and crunch, and/or a sprinkling of brown sugar. Because I try to keep this breakfast as low-calorie as I can, I often us zero-calorie brown sugar, low calorie maple syrup, and almond milk, but you can totally use the full fat, full sugar versions of these items.

I also feel like the chia seeds are optional, but they add bulk, fiber and keep you fuller longer. They don't bother me at all, but some people might prefer to leave them out.

The original recipe is marked as 216 calories per serving if you use almond milk and chia seeds. Adding in the optional protein powder and toppings/mix-ins will of course change your calories.

Mixed in the container.

A serving without toppings.

A serving with added fresh berries and sugared nuts.

These are the oats I used: One Degree sprouted rolled oats from Costco. I have also seen them listed for sale at Walmart and Thrive Market.

Single Serving Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 2 tsp chia seeds
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• spoonful of yogurt of choice
• 1 Tbl zero-calorie sweetener of choice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup almond milk
• fresh fruit of choice

Directions:

1. In a single-serving container with a lid, mix together all of the above ingredients.
2. Add the fruit now, or when serving. (Add frozen fruit now to give it time to thaw.)
3. Store in fridge overnight. Stir and enjoy.

Marsha's Notes:

I also like to add sugared nuts or granola to mine for crunch. Each serving is about 300 calories, more with the fruit.

Quiche

This recipe is really versatile because you can put any meats, cheeses, or veggies in it that you like. The one pictured below includes carrots, broccoli, ham, Parmesan and cheese blend. Enjoy!

This recipe is really very easy, but I think some people think of quiche as being difficult or finicky, so I included lots of pictures and tips under Marsha's Notes.

Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 premade frozen pie crust
• 6 eggs
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• two pinches of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of Everything But the Bagel seasoning
• 1/4 cup finely chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup finely chopped broccoli
• 1/4 cup diced ham
• generous handful of shredded cheese (approximately a cup)
• 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet (for easy clean up if your quiche overflows and easy transfer to the oven) with either tinfoil, silicone mat, parchment paper, etc.
2. Mix all of your ingredients together (I used a hand-mixer).
3. Place your empty pie crust in the center of your prepared baking sheet and pour all of the filling into the pie crust. Gently stir to evenly distribute your filling ingredients.
4. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and the quiche has just a slight jiggle in the center but the majority of the edge is completely set (nothing should really still look wet or slimy and a knife inserted near the center should come out mostly clean). If the crust or top is browning too much before the center is set, cover with a loose piece of foil (lightly sprayed with non-stick spray because it can stick to the top of the quiche) for the rest of the baking process (I covered mine approximately 10 minutes before the quiche was done cooking).
5. Let cool for 5 minutes or more before slicing. We enjoyed ours served with salsa or hot sauce.

Marsha's Notes:

I baked my quiche on convection for 45 minutes. The center should jiggle a tiny bit, but if it seems wet or sloshy, then it's not done yet. The quiche will set up SOME as it cools, but you want it 90-95% of the way there before removing it from the oven. Waiting for it to be COMPLETELY done in the oven could result in an overbaked final product.

I used a box of frozen finely chopped broccoli, which I microwaved from frozen for about 5 minutes just to get the broccoli apart so I could take the 1/4 cup I needed. The next day I made a second quiche using the second crust, which also used more of the broccoli, this time the broccoli came straight from the fridge. The rest I will use for something else. 

I also used pre-shredded matchstick carrots, which I then just ran a knife through to make the pieces shorter and finer, but I didn't chop them very much.

These are the pie crusts I bought for this recipe.

You could make this in an all-meat version with a couple handfuls of whatever breakfast meat you like. You could also do any veggies you would like in an omelet. I would just make sure that things are cut small enough to soften to your liking during the baking process.

Lastly, I know eggs can puff up when cooking, and when I poured my mixture into my crust, it filled it up to the top, so I baked the quiche on a lined baking tray just to catch any spills, but it actually didn't overflow at all. However, the crust still baked perfectly, so I think I will just keep putting it on a baking sheet for ease of moving the raw quiche to the oven and as a precaution.

Here is what it looks like with the eggs, veggies and seasonings (just so you can kind of see how much of each thing I used).

I have now added the ham and cheeses.

Finally the heavy cream.

After mixing with the hand-mixer, this is what it looks like poured out into the crust. I just made sure to try and gently stir it around to evenly distribute all of the filling ingredients once in the pie shell.

Here it is after 30 minutes, so it was time to cover with foil.

Covered and baked for another 10 minutes before removing from the oven.

Cheesy Amish Breakfast Casserole Burrito Filling

Cheesy Amish Breakfast Casserole Burrito Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 lb breakfast meat of choice (for a three-meat version, we did one lb. of maple breakfast sausage plus about another cup or so of diced ham and bacon bits in addition to the sausage)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 9 eggs
• 1 bag frozen hashbrowns (about 32 oz) (we prefer the cubed hashbrown potatoes to the shredded)
• 16 oz shredded cheese of choice (the original recipe called for cheddar and Swiss, but we liked using all cheddar better)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• tortillas
• Optional burrito toppings: sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, shredded cheese, etc.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. In a large skillet, brown and crumble your sausage (or other desired breakfast meat) and cook your onion until both ingredients are cooked through. Drain off any excess grease. Season with salt and pepper. Pull from heat. Add your frozen potatoes to the pan to help cool off your meat to keep the hot meat from prematurely cooking your beaten eggs in a later step. Set aside.
• If using precooked bacon bits and diced ham as well, add these items to your pan during the last few minutes of cooking just to heat through and crisp up.
3. In a large bowl, beat your eggs. Add your shredded cheese.
4. Add your meat and potatoes to your eggs and cheese and stir to combine. Pour everything into your prepared baking dish.
5. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 160 degrees in the center. For an extra cheesy finish, you can also top with additional shredded cheese during the last couple minutes of baking to make a melty-cheesy crust.
6. Allow casserole to cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares. Use each square as filling for a burrito. We liked to spread some sour cream on our tortillas, add the filling, top with salsa or other desired burrito toppings and then wrap everything up burrito-style.

Marsha's Notes:

The original recipe was just a casserole that we found just a little underwhelming. However, after changing a few things to boost the flavors and then deciding to use the casserole as burrito filling, we actually really liked the end result. If I was going to try to make this as JUST a casserole, I think I need to do something to make it "saucier." I have considered adding a can of cheddar soup and/or sour cream to up the creaminess. The original recipe also had you add 1 and a 1/2 cups of cottage cheese, which really didn't seem to do much, so we opted to leave it out and try other substitutions. I worried that the original casserole might be dry and added about a 1/2 cup milk to the mix, but that didn't seem to be helpful, so now I omit the milk.

Here is a picture from the first time we made this. The picture at the top of the recipe is the updated version who's instructions are the ones listed above.

Bacon in the Oven

Some people might not know, but you can actually cook bacon in the oven. Instead of frying it in a pan on the stove, or trying to make it on a counter-top griddle, you can save yourself the mess, the babysitting and flipping, and just line a baking sheet with extra-long tinfoil, bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minute or until you achieve your preferred level of doneness, and that's it! Cleanup is a snap. Just ball up the foil, along with all the grease and throw it away.

This foil-lined baking sheet will hold 1 package of sought-bought bacon perfectly.

All done!

Here is the pan after, and I just balled up the tin foil and threw it away.

Marsha's Tips:

It is okay if your bacon pieces are touching or overlapping just slightly, but you don't want your bacon to overlap too much or it won't cook evenly.

I set a timer for 20 minutes, checked the bacon, and then just kept checking on it every few minutes until it looked the way I liked it.

If you are going to foil your pan for easy cleanup, you must use the extra-wide tin foil to cover a pan like this. Standard foil isn't wide enough and will require two overlapping pieces to cover the pan. In the place where the foil overlaps, the bacon grease will often leak through and make the pan dirty anyway, causing you additional cleanup.

Upgraded Canned Cinnamon Rolls

There is this hack going around right now where you can use canned cinnamon rolls and take them to the next level. I LOVE cinnamon rolls, so I just had to try it! While not as good as my homemade, these are still way better than just the canned ones by themselves, especially if you like an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll. Enjoy!

Upgraded Canned Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Pillsbury Grands cinnamon rolls, ~17 oz. each, 10 rolls total
• ~1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbl cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place your rolls into your baking dish in an evenly spaced, single layer. Reserve the frosting that comes with the rolls for later.
3. Pour your heavy cream around (not on top of) the rolls until it comes about halfway up the cinnamon rolls.
4. Mix together your melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pour this mixture evenly over the rolls.
5. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the cream is absorbed, your rolls have enlarged and are puffy and starting to brown.
6. Let cool, then top with the frosting from the cans.

Marsha's Notes:

You can also top these rolls with nuts, if desired.

Cake Mix Muffins (Diet-Friendly)

When you are looking to shave off a few calories and add a little bit of filling protein to your breakfast muffins, I found this recipe hack that is simple, yummy, and versatile. With only three ingredients, it doesn't get much easier than that! Enjoy! (You can also use higher calories/lower protein mixes, yogurts, and shakes, if dieting is not your concern and you just want some yummy, easy muffins.)

Cake Mix Muffins (Diet-Friendly)

Ingredients:

• 1 box cake mix, any flavor (preferably Zero Sugar)
• 1 cup yogurt, any flavor (Oikos Triple Zero tends to have the lowest calories for the highest protein)
• 1 protein shake (Core Power also tens to have the lowest calories for the highest protein)
• Optional Mix-ins

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare approximately 18 muffin cups (spraying your pan with non-stick spray or using silicone muffin liners).
2. In a large bowl, mix together your cake mix, yogurt and protein shake until just incorporated. Depending on the mix-ins you use, either add them now, or add them to each cup of muffin batter in the next step. 
• I found that mixing blueberries into my lemon muffin batter at this stage made it hard to control how many blueberries ended up in each muffin, so next time I will probably add them individually to each muffin in the next step.
3. Divide your batter evenly between your prepared muffin cups. Add any other mix-ins, like sugar crystals on top.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for a minute or two, then remove from muffin pan to prevent sweating.

Each muffin is roughly 100 calories depending on what ingredients you used. To make these lemon blueberry muffins a more protein filled meal, I added two string cheeses to my plate and called it breakfast.

Protein Pancake Bowl

Trying to find more diet-friendly options that include protein to keep me fuller for longer, I stumbled on this protein pancake that bakes in a bowl. Very customizable, so feel free to change up flavors, toppings and mix-ins. Mine (pictured below) uses the base ingredients listed below, and then I added cinnamon chips. Many of the base ingredients are measured by weight (for more accurate baking results) but I will try to remember the next time I make this and see if I can figure out the measurements in a way that you don't need a cooking scale for.

Protein Pancake Bowl

Base Ingredients:

• 25 g flour
• 1 scoop protein powder (25-30 g)
• 10 g zero calorie sweetener (Stevia, Monkfruit, etc.)
• 2 g cinnamon
• 2 g baking powder
• 1 egg
• 100 ml milk

Optional inclusions, frostings, and add-ins.

Directions:

1. Spray a small baking dish with non-stick spray. 
2. Add all of your base ingredients together until smooth. 
3. Add any additional inclusions (such as chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruits, or swirl in a cinnamon sugar/butter mixture). 
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until done.
5. Top with any desired frostings, syrups, toppings or whipped cream.

Marsha's Notes:

The original recipe I saw was for a cinnamon roll pancake bowl where she made a slurry of cinnamon, zero calorie sugar or brown sugar and some melted butter. Then she placed globs of it on top of her pancake batter and swirled it in with a knife. Then she made a simple white frosting to put on the top once it was baked and cooled. Probably from milk/water and zero calorie powdered sugar.

However, this would also be delicious with fresh fruit on top, candied nuts, chocolate chips, or any other mix-ins that you like combined with any flavor of protein powder that you want to use.

Chai Apple Crumb Cake

Made this cake yesterday and I thought it turned out pretty good but could use some tweaks. I might want to make it again some day, so I thought I would record the recipe here with my suggestions. Enjoy!

Chai Apple Crumb Cake

Ingredients:

Chai Apples

• 3 small apples peeled & thinly sliced (I used green Granny Smith)
• 40 g light brown sugar (3 tbsp.)
• 1 tbsp. chai spice (recipe below)

Chai Streusel

• 60 g unsalted butter (¼ c.)
• 90 g light brown sugar (⅓ c. + 1 tbsp.)
• 120 g all purpose flour (1 c.)
• 1 ½ tsp. chai spice

Butter Cake

• 210 g all purpose flour (1 ¾ c.)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 125 g unsalted butter (½ c. + 1 tbsp.) room temperature
• 175 g granulated sugar (¾ c. + 2 tbsp.)
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 135 g whole milk room temperature (½ c. + 2 tbsp.)
• 75 g sour cream room temperature (5 tbsp.)
• 180 g apple butter (⅔ c.) optional

Chai Glaze (optional)

• 90 g powdered sugar
• 1-2 tbsp. macerated chai apple juice

Chai Spice Blend

• 2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. each of the following: ground allspice, ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. 
• I found that it took too long for the cake to cook at this temperature in my convection oven so the bottom was getting overdone while the middle was still doughy. I would drop the temp to 325 next time and see if I get better results cooking it lower and slower.)
2. Generously butter a 9" cake pan. Crumple up some parchment paper, then un-crumple it and place it into the buttered cake pan, making sure it sticks to the bottom and sides. Set aside.
• Instead of using crumpled parchment, I had a 9" silicone mat that I put in the bottom of my 9" springform pan, and that worked perfectly.

Chai Apples

1. Wash, peel, and thinly slice the apples. 
• I found that "sliced" apples made it difficult to get a cake-tester through the top layer to check and see if the batter was all cooked through beneath, so next time, I would dice my apples instead of slicing.
2. Mix the apples with the brown sugar and chai spice well, making sure the mixture is evenly dispersed throughout each apple slice. Set aside.

Chai Streusel

1. In a medium sized bowl, melt the butter. 
2. To the butter, add the sugar, flour, and chai spice. 
3. Use a fork to mix the ingredients together until you have formed clumps of dough. Set aside.

Butter Cake

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer, in a large bowl) beat together the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
3. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in both eggs and the vanilla. Beat until well combined (~1 min.)
4. Add in half of the flour mixture, and mix by hand just until the flour is incorporated. Add in all of the sour cream and milk and mix until combined. Add in the rest of the flour, and lightly fold the mixture together just until all of the flour is incorporated.
5. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth out the top. Place dollops of the apple butter on top of the cake, then carefully smooth it into an even layer.
• Instead of apple butter, this would also be delicious with a butter, brown sugar, cinnamon mixture, more like a cinnamon roll.
6. Pour the remaining cake batter into the pan and smooth it out into an even layer. 
7. Place the apples on top of the batter, making sure to leave out the juice from the apples. (Be sure to keep the leftover juice for the glaze!)
8. Top the apples with the streusel. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
• The first time I made this, even at 50 minutes at 350 degrees my cake tester was coming out with raw batter on it, but when I cooked it for more like 60-70 minutes, the cake was finally done but the bottom and sides were a touch overcooked and the streusel topping had gotten really crunchy and hard. Next time, I think I will drop the temperature to cook it lower and slower so the middle has a chance to get done before the outside is over cooked and see how it goes. You can also use "baking strips" that wrap around the outside of your pan to help insulate the sides from the heat to give the middle a better chance to cook evenly.
9. Let the cake cool in the pan until no longer too hot to touch, then use the parchment to lift the cake out of the pan.
• Because I used a springform and my silicone mat instead, and because my cake seemed a touch overdone on the edges, I removed it immediately from the springform to prevent further baking. First, I ran a small spatula around the edge of the pan to make sure the cake wasn't sticking to the sides before removing the collar of the springform. Then I used my biggest oversized pancake turner to get the cake off from the bottom of the pan, then off from the silicone mat.

Chai Glaze (optional)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and leftover juice from the apples. If the mixture is too thick, add some more juice, or milk if none is left. If the mixture is too thin, add more powdered sugar.
2. Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, drizzle the glaze over the top. Serve and enjoy! This is also delicious topped with whipped cream or caramel sauce.

Baked Oats Breakfast Square

Tried this recipe for healthy baked oats for breakfast today and really enjoyed it. This version uses vanilla protein powder, banana, and I added cinnamon chips to it, but I am sure you can change it up as much as you like. As is, it has about 32 grams of protein.

Baked Oats Breakfast Square

Ingredients:

• 55 g rolled oats (1/2 cup), processed in a blender into oat flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 30 g vanilla whey protein powder (1 scoop)
• 130 ml of milk (about 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbl.)
• 1 ripe banana (or 1/2 cup applesauce)
• inclusions of your choice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 4x4 baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Place your oats in a blender and process into a flour (if you haven't already done so).
3. Add the rest of your ingredients and blend just until combined.
4. Pour into greased baking dish, add any desired inclusions, and bake for around 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Marsha's Notes:

You could change up the flavors of this with different kinds of protein powder, different inclusions, and probably by using other things besides a banana, like pumpkin, applesauce, or peaches. Here is a chocolate looking one I saw on the Internet, plus I have seen ones with white chocolate and raspberries that looked really good.

I have used both a 2 cup 4x4 baking dish and one of my grandma's vintage Corelle baking dishes that was about 7x2 inches. The more shallow dish (obviously) cooked faster, more like 20-25 minutes. I just keep checking until the top starts to brown and a poker comes out clean when inserted in the middle.