Nov 2009

Cookin’ with Coolio: Strawberry Hills Banana Muffins Forever

STRAWBERRY HILLS BANANA MUFFINS FOREVER

After reading Eat Me Daily’s Fall 2009 Cookbook preview, I felt compelled to Tweet my excitement. “Magazines may be dead, but thank goodness cookbooks are alive and well. Fall line up looks tasty. I want Momo & Ad Hoc.” My first 140 character statement was immediately followed by, “I want this one too. Cookin’ with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price. AMAZING. PURE GENIUS.”

Somewhere in the Twitterverse, Betty Hallock of the The Los Angeles Times saw my Tweets and decided to make my “Ghetto Gourmet” dreams come true. Thus, I became the proud owner of Cookin’ with Coolio. It turned out that the newspaper had received an advanced copy of the book and, much to my surprise, no one on staff was remotely interested in it. How could that be? Anyway, thank you, Betty!

COOKIN' WITH COOLIO

For my first culinary adventure with Coolio, I made Strawberry Hills Banana Muffins Forever from the chapter, “Sweet Treats for That Sweet Ass.” The recipe was accompanied by a hilarious anecdote from Coolio:

You might think that muffins are for women, but you listen to me, motherfucker, muffins are for everybody! I ain’t never walked into a studio holding a tray of muffins and not had everybody grab one. From a hardcore rapper to a hardened criminal (like Martha Stewart), everybody needs a muffin, either in the morning or at night. This muffin’ll treat you right.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. The Strawberry Hills Banana Muffins Forever turned out terrific—fragrant, moist, and a pleasure to eat. Coolio has surpassed Dorie Greenspan as my favorite recipe writer. You gotta get up to get down.

  • A few drops of olive oil
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup chopped strawberries (fresh or frozen)
  • 1 banana, thinly sliced

BANANAS

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a few drops of olive oil to grease up a 12-cup muffin tin. Jarez Sez: “You can also use those little paper liners in your muffin tin, but I’ve seen people eat the muffin without removin’ the liner, so I just suggest you leave that shit out and go with olive oil.”

DRY INGREDIENTS

Combine the butter, milk, and egg in a small bowl and beat it lightly. In a larger bowl, pour in your flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar and gently mix it. Toss in the chopped strawberries and sliced banana, then stir to coat with the flour mixture. Pour in your milk mixture and stir it all up together.

BATTER UP

Fill up the muffin cups with your batter, then place in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

COOLING

Let them cool down for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and serve these bad boys up.

Cookin’ with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price will be released this Tuesday, November 17.

[For Printable Recipe Click Here]

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23 thoughts on “Cookin’ with Coolio: Strawberry Hills Banana Muffins Forever

  1. Delicious and hilarious – well done. Those look really good. And I’m loving his comment about “hardened criminals.”

  2. Thanks so much for this story, I smiled from the beginning all the way through. Starting w/your commentary to cooking w/Coolio, seriously? Coolio Cooks? “As I walk through the valley in the shadow of muffins!” I need a motherf*cking muffin.
    Cheers!

  3. oh my god, this is genius. i love coolio. i saw him perform gangsta’s paradise at a club when i studied abroad in england a few years ago, and it was magical. at the end of the performance, he picked some trashy girl up from the audience, threw her over his shoulder, and walked off stage. the girls in england always thought they were skinner than they actually were, so most of them had serious muffin tops. it sounds like he likes muffins of all kinds!

  4. I’ma need me some o them. Plus that damn book. Please tell me that’s not your last cooking adventure with Coolio.

  5. So after speaking to you today at the airport in Washington, I came home..logged on real quick to chk out some of your recipes…so I did this one up…good call….i think the have become my kids favorite muffin now….bless….

  6. Wow… I can’t believe coolio has a cookbook!! I love the anecdote, hilarious & it looks like the muffins turned out well too!

  7. Those look wonderful! I may have to make them for my friend’s birthday this Friday. With that note from Coolio attached, of course. Happy Birthday MoFo!

  8. umm…I tried this first batch. I substituted 3/4 cup of agave nectar and 6 ounce of low fat vanilla yogurt for sugar and used 1 cup of all purpose flour and 3/4 cup of wheat pastry flour. I poured the batter into a loaf pan instead of muffin cups. It did not turn what I expected. It was kinda mushy/soggy. What did I do wrong?

  9. I suspected that the glass loaf pan takes forever to cook through? don’t you think so? or eliminate egg for yogurt? your help is greatly appreciated. could be there another reason?

  10. Thanks for the recipe! My muffins are in the oven right now. I sub’d part of the white flour with whole wheat and added cinnamon (b/c I’m cinnamon obsessed!!), other than that I stuck to the recipe as posted. I hope they taste as great as they look 🙂

  11. Pingback: AND WHATNOT: Sofia Vergara Puts Foot In Mouth; Also, Punchy Professors, Prince Charles, and the First Glimpse of Levi Johnston – B-Side Blog

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