Bump n Grind - South Granville Grand Opening!

I was invited to the opening party of Bump n Grind Cafe grand opening. The South Granville location is their second location. The original location on Commercial Drive is well-loved by the neigbourhood. Owners Cheryl and Kyle Wright wanted to open their new location in a community-oriented neighbourhood, and found the perfect space on Granville Street and West 15th Avenue.

Bump n Grind is a multi-roaster cafe, where the owners search high and low across Canada for the best coffee. Coffees are rotated weekly to keep the menu fresh, and exciting.

A Silpat Baking Dish!! OMG

If you've read some of my baking posts, you'll know that I swear by silpat liners. These are non-stick silicone liners that are easy to clean, and reusable. They are oven-safe (obviously) and microwave safe. These are honestly one of my baking must-have's.

Source

I was scrolling through my geek blogs today, and found a silpat baking dish!!! OMG!

Now I can bake my cookies without having to worry about them falling over the edge!

You can buy them at Amazon for $55.00. It's pretty expensive for a baking pan, but based on my experience with Silpats, I wouldn't hesitate buying this.

What's your favourite baking must-have?

Pinterest Strikes Again!!...Peanut Butter Banana Drop Cookies

When I went to the grocery store a few days ago, I had a few things I wanted to make. One of them was the Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies:

(Source - via Pinterest)

I didn't make too many tweaks to this recipe, but as usual, I substituted what I had in the pantry instead of buying more product.

Peanut Butter Banana Drop Cookies

Inspired By lux hippie

3 ripe bananas

1 tablespoon vanilla extract (you could substitute any other extract you think might go well with bananas)

1/2 - 1 cup of peanut butter (I had natural smooth PB, use whatever is in your pantry)

2 1/2 tablespoons of blue agave syrup (could substitute honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup etc...)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I love dark chocolate, so I used dark chips. You could use white chocolate, semi-sweet, you get the idea)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine bananas, vanilla, peanut butter, and blue agave syrup. I bought mine from Home Sense, you can also buy it at health food stores, and also Costco!!

Once the banana mixture is a smooth consistency:

Add the dry ingredients. I didn't combine the dry ingredients in another bowl because I didn't want to wash another bowl. But you can if you wanted to, of course.

Once all the ingredients are combine, add in chocolate chips, and I also added 3 tablespoons of chia seeds since I had some in the house. 

The batter will be sticky, I recommend using two tablespoons to help you drop them on the cookie sheet instead of trying to wrangle the batter off with your fingers.

Bake for 15 minutes. I used a silpat mat (the best investment EVER!! You can also find these at Home Sense once in a while). If you don't have a silpat, use grease the cookie sheet, or use parchment paper. The cookies don't spread, so you can put them pretty close together.

Here's the finished product!

Let me know what you think!

xoxo

~meesh

Pinterest and Nutella

I've been addicted to Pinterest (FOLLOW ME!!!) for a while now. I use it to browse wedding ideas, and also for food ideas. I noticed an influx of pins about nutella the last little while (turns out it was National Nutella Day on Feb. 5), so of course, I had to go and buy myself some nutella. My original inspiration/push to buy nutella was this:

(Source)

While that looks mighty delicious, I was also in the mood for some cookies. So pin searching I went for a good nutella cookie recipe. There were some "serious" cookie recipes with butter, sugar and eggs. But there were also some super simple 3 - 4 ingredient recipes. I ended up googling for a recipe and came across this:

(Source)

I liked this recipe because there was no added sugar. I'm pretty sure nutella was sweet enough as it is. Plus, this recipe was super simple. I had all the ingredients, so why not?

I decided to "health" it up a little, and added a cup of oats to the recipe too. I also added baking powder and soda, and vanilla cuz those seem to be in all cookie recipes I've made before.

Nutella Oatmeal Cookies

Inspired by Kirbie Cravings

1 cup flour

1 cup nutella

1 cup oats

1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Throw everything together in the mixer with the paddle attachment, and mix until it looks well mixed. The batter comes out crumbly, but it will come together when you roll the it together to form small balls. I made my batter into about 1" balls, and flattened them a little on the cookie sheet. I used a silpat, if you don't have one, I recommend using parchment paper, or grease the cookie sheet with some butter or canola oil.

Bake for 8 minutes.

Here's what they look like!

They are chewy, and dense, and fudgey! Nutella heaven!! They are definitely sweet enough without any added sugar, and the oats help give it a little bit of texture.

Try it out and let me know how it works out for you!!

xoxo
~meesh