King Arthur Flour Muffin Mixes {Giveaway}

I love trying new recipes and products. A couple weeks ago I tried 3 delicioso King Arthur Flour muffin mixes: Country Blueberry, Apple Cinnamon and Double Chocolate.

Mixes come in handy when you're pinched for time. They also make great gifts! They do? Yes, they do! When my kids were in pre-school, we used to give a set of mixing bowls and a mix (usually pancakes) as a birthday gift to kids we knew enjoyed cooking. Pancakes are simple, but so are cakes and muffins. What is it about that age that almost all kids have a love of food prep and baking?

Sometimes I make my own “mix” the night before, and by that I mean I prep the dry ingredients for whatever I am baking the next morning. It was kinda fun to have King Arthur do all the prep for me. These muffins mix up in minutes. My summer intern, Madeline, followed the directions exactly, used oil instead of butter, and all 3 mixes baked up perfectly. Our favorite flavor was the Double Chocolate, which, truthfully, tasted like a delicious, moist cupcake.


My husband took one look at the Double Chocolates and said that we should scoop the top and fill them with ice cream for dessert. We used to love chocolate muffins this way when we were newly married. Ahem! My metabolism was more cooperative then. I “filled” one of the muffins with some strange ice cream my kids left in the freezer (I’m sure they bought it with Dad because I prefer basic flavors). All I can tell you is that it contained Oreos and sprinkles… If I remember correctly, it’s a Breyer’s flavor called Birthday Blast! 

If you choose to use a mix, for whatever reason, use a GOOD one! You certainly cannot go wrong with these. 

Muffins galore!

Thank you to King Arthur for sending me the mixes to try and for agreeing to send one lucky person the 3 mixes mentioned in this post plus a coupon for a 5lb bag of KA flour from your local grocer. Really cool! Leave a comment below telling me when you think it's a good idea to use a mix and why and you will be entered to win. U.S. residents only, please, and one comment per person. Winner will be selected using random.org on Friday, August 3rd at 5PM. Prize will be shipped directly from King Arthur Flour.

Chocolate Prune Cake

This cake has lots of dried plums – better known as prunes – and it’s moist, tender and delicious.  Prunes are so tasty and, well, underrated. When you mention prunes, invariably someone laughs and/or makes a face and/or says, “Ewwwww.”  This was true last Friday when I gave my son and his good friend, Jamie, a loaf of the cake for their sleep over and Jamie made a face and couldn’t stop laughing about the prunes. *sigh …Gotta love boys!

I’m a fan of incorporating dried fruit wherever I can – cookies, cakes, granola. There are 5 Sweet & Simple oatmeal cookie flavors with dried fruit: Raisin, Cherry, Date, Cranberry White Chocolate and Apricot. Oatmeal Date is my favorite and the toughest to sell. Prunes are a tough sell as well, but I promise you will not regret making this cake.

And what to call this cake? Prune Spice Cake? Chocolate Prune Spice Cake? I decided on Chocolate Prune Cake figuring I would get a few more takers if I mentioned chocolate from the get go. Also, it’s not a super duper spice cake – just a teaspoon of cinnamon and a touch of ginger.

As far as the chocolate in this recipe, treat yourself to a great bar of semi-sweet chocolate and chop up the 4 ounces. If you choose to use chocolate morsels, make sure you chop ‘em, too! Basically, you don’t want big chocolate chunks/morsels, you want well chopped chocolate distributed evenly in the cakes.  The only chunks should be the chopped prunes.

This recipe is another from my grandma’s recipe box (with some minor adjustments) and really my kind of “thing”: simple ingredients and simple methods that result in a great cake. My kids like it, too! Jamie? Not so much. But he loves my cookies and that’s good enough for me!

Chocolate Prune Cake

Makes 2 cakes/loaves (about 1.9 lbs each)

Preheat oven to 350°

Butter and line with parchment, two 9” x 4” loaf pans.

(If you want to use a veg oil cooking spray, I won’t tell)

Have all ingredients at room temperature.

2 1/2 cups/313 grams/11 ounces cake flour (preferably King Arthur unbleached cake flour)

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup/225 grams/8 ounces (2 sticks) butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cup/219 grams/8 ounces prunes coarsely chopped

1/2 cup/113 grams/4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped

1 cup/227 grams/8 ounces low fat plain yogurt

2 tsp vanilla

Sugar for sprinkling on top of loaves (optional)

Combine with a whisk then sift together all dry ingredients and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and beat until light and fluffy again.

Scrape down sides of bowl.

Add prunes and chopped chocolate and beat well.

Scrape down sides of bowl.

Combine yogurt and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Add flour alternately with yogurt mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans, sprinkle the top of each loaf lightly with sugar (optional), and bake at 350° for one hour or until a cake tester comes out with a few crumbs attached. 

Let cakes rest in pans for 10 minutes then remove them to finish cooling on a rack.

Remember to remove the parchment before slicing and serving!

Maple Walnut Crumble Bread

I'm on a quick bread kick (say that 10 times fast).  Thank you to King Arthur Flour ("KAF") for sending me their Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor to try – I'm in love! - and for kindly sponsoring a giveaway on my blog.*  (Refer to my Banana Rum Bread post for an explanation of my informal baking relationship with KA.)


As I've said before, like many home bakers, I'm a big fan of KAF and believe they've done so much to keep American home baking traditions alive, relevant and fun. If you are a novice or the most advanced baker, they have something for you - including a wealth of free recipes on their site. 

Crumble topping. It's pretty darn good!

Can hardly tell you how much I love working with this maple flavor. Number one, it's super strong and I started with less than I thought I might need. I teaspoon was plenty and I then added 1/2 teaspoon to the crumble.  Number two, I rarely skip vanilla in any sweet recipe, but I wanted to taste pure maple goodness. Number three, as much as I'm head-over-heels for this new recipe (a take-off on my Banana Rum Bread), I'm already thinking about a maple walnut shortbread and a maple walnut icebox cookie. A baker can dream, right?


I bake so much with vanilla and lemon extract, and occasionally almond extract, that homey, sweet maple felt like it was giving my baking a real pop this week. And it's always cool to try a new product.
For picture taking today, I got carried away and used a great big 1.5 lb loaf pan - which resulted in an obnoxious sized loaf.  At the very least, it's HUGE and I'm freezing half of it. I have a variety of loaf pans, you're not surprised, and I prefer 2 medium pans for this recipe. Making a note for next time!  And definitely go with the bake-and-serve for gift giving. 


*King Arthur Giveaway:

King Arthur is generously sending one lucky baker a set of bake-and-serve quick bread loaf pans, a bottle of Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor and a coupon for a bag of King Arthur flour (redeemable at your local grocer).

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below telling me if you use maple syrup or flavor in your baking, or if your don't!  And if you have a maple walnut cookie recipe, I would be very curious to know more. 

A winner will be chosen by random using random.org on Sunday, May 13th and announced here on the blog. I will name the winner in the comments section below and he/she will have until Wednesday, May 16th at 5pm EST to contact me at info@sweetandsimple.com with a *U.S.* mailing address. As in the past, if you don’t contact me, I will pick a second winner using random.org.

A piece of Maple Walnut Crumble Bread. Yes, please!

Maple Walnut Crumble Bread

Four  3/4lb/12 oz Loaves, 2 medium loaves or 1 great big loaf

(if not using bake-and-serve-pans, be sure to grease/flour your pans)
Have all ingredients at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350° 

Recipe note: A crumble filling/topping is an extra indulgence but makes this loaf special. If you wish, omit the crumble but add the 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the bread batter.

Set aside on a sheet pan, 4 bake-and-serve quick bread loaf pans or greased/floured loaf pans

For the bread:

2-3/4 cups/370 grams/13 ounces unbleached all-purpose white flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

11 tablespoons/5-1/2 ounces/155 grams unsalted butter

1-1/3 cups/266 grams/9 oz sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

2-1/2 cups/500 grams/1 lb 2 ounces unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor 

1 TBSP Grade B Maple Syrup

Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, then sift mixture and set aside.

Combine applesauce, maple flavor and maple syrup with a whisk and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, starting on low speed, beat the butter and sugar until combined. Switch the mixer to medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

Scrape down sides of work bowl. With mixture set to low, add eggs in a slow, steady stream and beat until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl, then turn mixer to medium-high and beat until well combined, light and fluffy again.

Add the flour mixture all at once and beat until just combined. Mixture will look dry for a batter.

Add applesauce mixture all at once and beat for a few seconds. Remove work bowl from and finish folding in the bananas with a spatula. If skipping crumble and adding just walnuts to batter, do so now.

For the crumble:

8 tablespoons/112 grams/4 ounces unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp Boyajian Natural Maple Flavor

1/2 cup/100 grams/3.5 ounces sugar

pinch sea salt

1 1/4 cups/170 grams/6 ounces unbleached, all purpose flour

1/2 cup/65 grams/2 1/4 ounces walnuts, toasted

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt and set aside.

Whiz up toasted walnuts in a food processor until finely ground

Combine dry ingredients with butter and walnuts using the back of a wooden spoon or your impeccably clean hands.

Evenly divide 1/2 the batter between the bake-and-serve loaf pans* (keep them on the sheet pan for baking). Evenly divide 1/2 the crumble among the loaves (middle layer).

Evenly divide the remaining batter between the loaves, smoothing it with a table knife or small offset spatula, then evenly divide the remaining crumble between the loaves (topping).

Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes using bake-and-serve loaf pans, approximately 45-55 minutes for a large loaf.  Remove breads to a wire rack and let breads cool completely before wrapping, freezing or refrigerating.

*Whatever pans you are using, 1 or 4, spoon half the batter in the pan, smooth, add crumble, add rest of batter, smooth and top with remaining crumble.

Banana Rum Bread

Thank you to King Arthur Flour ("KAF") for sending me their Boyajian Natural Rum Flavor to try – it’s delicious! - and for kindly sponsoring a giveaway on my blog.*  Like many home bakers, I'm a big fan of KAF and believe they've done so much to keep American home baking traditions alive, relevant and fun. If you are a novice or the most advanced baker, they have something for you - including a wealth of free recipes on their site. And, personally, I find it hard to resist all the cool specialty ingredients and tools for my home kitchen.

This Banana Rum Bread started with a recipe from Joy of Cooking that I’ve been making for my family forever. I had to go back to the original recipe to see how much I changed it over the years – significantly! I’ve made many versions of it, some of which I will post at a later date, and this one is the most sophisticated. Funny to use banana bread and sophisticated in the same sentence, because it is such a simple, baking repertoire staple. But, the natural rum flavor takes it to a new level.

I encourage you to follow the directions. I try and not be too bossy, but this is a dry batter (pre-bananas). You need ALL the bananas called for and you need to sift the flour mixture. You just do. You can go with the lesser or greater amount of rum flavor. I used 3 teaspoons - that's a lot, but I like how the rum stands up to the banana.

I use these bake-and-serve loaf pans quite a bit for home and work. Makes it so easy to slip a loaf in a cello bag or wrap one in waxed paper and tie with a pretty ribbon or twine for gift giving. Also, you can freeze and rewarm in these (a nice thing to note on a gift card as well). I like to double or triple a recipe, keep a bread or two for home, freeze some and/or give away to friends and neighbors. Why? Because part of the fun of baking is sharing!


King Arthur Giveaway:

King Arthur is generously sending one lucky baker a set of bake-and-serve quick bread loaf pans, a bottle of Boyajian Natural Rum Flavor and a coupon for a bag of King Arthur flour (redeemable at your local grocer).


To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below telling me all about YOUR banana bread recipe or one you especially enjoy. You know how much I love hearing about your recipes and what you like! 


A winner will be chosen by random using random.org on Sunday, April 22nd and announced here on the blog. I will name the winner in the comments section below and he/she will have until Wednesday, April 25^th at 5pm EST to contact me at info@sweetandsimple.com with a *U.S.* mailing address. As in the past, if you don’t contact me, I will pick a second winner using random.org.

Warm Banana Rum Bread. Yum.

*Note about this post:

Recently, KAF contacted me about using their products in my home baking recipes which I talk about on my blog. As many of you know, I use KAF commercial flours exclusively for Sweet & Simple. KAF and I agreed on a few recipes for me to try with their products. For this recipe, KAF sent me a bottle of Boyajian Natural Rum Flavor as well as a set of bake-and-give quick bread loaf pans. I was not compensated monetarily, told what to write or asked to give a specific product review. Of course, as an overzealous home baker, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to use new products at home for fun! So, I've definitely been compensated in the happy department.

Banana Rum Bread 

4 - 3/4lb/12 oz Loaves

Preheat oven to 350° 

Set aside on a sheet pan, 4 bake-and-give quick bread loaf pans

Have all ingredients at room temperature

2-3/4 cups/370 grams/13 ounces King Arthur unbleached all-purpose white flour

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

11 tablespoons/5-1/2 ounces/155 grams unsalted butter

1-1/3 cups/266 grams/9 oz sugar

1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2-3 teaspoons Boyajian Natural Rum Flavor

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

2-1/2 cups/500 grams/1 lb 2 ounces very ripe bananas (mashed)

4-5 small bananas

4 teaspoons sugar for sprinkling on breads (optional but very pretty)

Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, then sift mixture and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, starting on low speed, beat the butter and sugar until combined. Switch the mixer to medium-high speed and beat until light and fluffy.

Scrape down sides of work bowl. With mixer set to low, add eggs in a slow, steady stream and beat until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl, then turn mixer to medium-high and beat until well combined and light and fluffy again.

Add extracts and beat to combine.

Add the flour mixture all at once and beat on low speed until just combined. Mixture will look dry for a batter. Do not over mix.

Add mashed bananas all at once and beat for a few seconds only. Remove work bowl from mixer and finish folding in the bananas with a spatula.

Evenly divide the batter between the bake-and-serve loaf pans (keep them on the sheet pan for baking). If desired, sprinkle one teaspoon of granulated sugar over the top of each loaf pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes using bake-and-serve loaf pans.  Remove breads to a wire rack and let breads cool completely before wrapping or freezing. If you like, serve Banana Rum Bread warm - you won't be sorry!

A sprinkle of sugar... a simple finish for a simple bread.