Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

The heat wave passed, thank the weather goddess! Mum has been raving over this marbled-chocolate banana bread she's made some 57,000 times. I know I just recently made banana bread, but it didn't involve chocolate, and me and chocolate are like this *making symbolic best friend gesture of crossed fingers. This was easy to prepare, but took a hell of a long time to bake - just about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The great thing about this loaf is it's on the healthier end of... whatever spectrometer you conjure for yourself. It's not overloaded with butter, and low-fat yogurt is substituted for oil. Though, it's not quite guilt-free. I suppose all good things come with small consequences. So, if you eat half a loaf in a sitting, your butt won't exactly shrink. But what the hell, enjoy this chocolaty-banana pleasure. It can only make you smile, god willing.

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, found by way of My Recipes

Makes 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf, 16 slices

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas) (I used 4 smaller bananas)

1/2 cup egg substitute (I used 3 large eggs)

1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I used plain non-fat yogurt)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk

3.  Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter at medium speed until well blended. Add banana, egg, and yogurt; beat till blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

4.  In a microwave safe bowl melt chocolate at Medium for 1 minute; repeat once and stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into loaf pan coated with cooking spray and dusted with cocoa powder (optional). Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

No-bake lemon cloud pie

It topped off at a horrendous 97 degrees today. Me and sweat - not a pretty sight. And along with sweat comes the dirt that sticks right to it! My lips looked like I glossed them up with grit particles, and after taking my helmet off, my bangs looked painted on my forehead. If there are to be any days in which to leave the scooter at home, 97 degree temp days would in fact be those days! I needed a swim in the pool and a slice of refreshing pie. And dammit, I didn't want to turn that oven on to make the pie. Tragically, my apartment accumulates all the heat the city generates. That's what it feels like at least. Oven-free it was going to be! And no trips to the market. The thought of much more bodily movement made my feet swell. I was gonna manage with what I had in my fridge and pantry.

Sensational! The Very Best Baking knew I was hunting this recipe down and made sure to post it just in time for my search. I enhanced the recipe some. You can find my notes on the recipe highlighted in pink. And instead of using a prepared 9-inch shortbread crumb crust, I made my own toasted coconut graham crust. This requires 10 minutes of oven use, but you can also find prepared graham crusts at the market.

Knock yourself out with this one. It's a recipe keeper for scorching days like this!

No-Bake Lemon Cloud Pie

Adapted from Very Best Baking

Makes 9-inch pie (8-10) servings

1 prepared 9-inch (6 oz) shortbread crumb crust - (I made my own toasted coconut graham crust. *See below for recipe)

1 can (14 oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (I used 2/3 cups)

1 teaspoon lemon zest (I used 1 tablespoon)

2 cups frozen whipped cream, thawed (I whipped an 8 oz carton of heavy whipping cream which makes about 2 1/2 cups whipped cream)

Grated lemon peel or lemon slices (optional)

1. Beat sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and zest in small mixing bowl until combined. Fold in whipped cream; pour into crust. Cover; refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. Garnish with lemon peel. Yup! That's it!

Toasted Coconut Graham Crust

9-inch pie dish

12-14 graham crackers (the kind perforated into quarters)

1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut (this gives only a hint of coconut flavor, add more to taste)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a food processor or blender, pulse graham crackers and coconut to a fine crumb.

2. In a large bowl, combine crumbs and melted butter. Mix with a fork or your hands till well combined and moist, but not too wet.

3. Press crumbs into an even thickness along the sides of the pie dish, then the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow dish to cool completely before adding cold filling.

Flaky blood orange tart & a love note

I had a bag full of blood oranges and a nagging urge to bake something gourmet-ish with 'em. The Smitten Kitchen was my first and last stop in the hunt for a blood orange recipe. The gorgeous photos of the oranges won me over and I got crackin' on the prep work, but I didn't stop to think that I was actually going to be baking and then consuming these oranges, and what that might actually taste like. Well, dare I tell you my thoughts on the matter or just let you try the recipe for yourself? Let us enjoy for just a moment a collage of pretty purple oranges!



It's super pretty, I'll say that. And I'm sure if I had let the tart cool and drizzled the suggested Salted Carmel sauce on the tart prior to ingestion, I may have had a different critique, but since I chomped on the tart semi-warm, it was, well, funky to say the very very least. Cooked/baked oranges don't equal "Yum" for me. It's not like apples or peaches warm. Ok, so that's my thought on the matter of the blood orange tart. I'm sure you can work the recipe out better than I did. The full original recipe is at Food & Wine via Smitten Kitchen.

On a more inspiring note

what he said...

thank you m.

Shortcut Carrot Cake

A trip to the grandparents just moments away, I was eager to show up with something freshly baked in hand. Look, in an instance like this, where you wanna bring something worthy of grandparent approval but haven't the time to concoct from scratch, a box of Betty C.'s carrot cake mix is the best solution just short of buying a pre-made cake and calling it your own. And I'd never do that! Sheesh. I did my best to doll-up this carrot cake without making it tooth-achingly sweet. I thought a Bundt cake pan would pretty things up a bit, and a nice cream cheese glaze drizzled atop would suit the cake's Bundt-ish aesthetics. I added freshly grated carrots, shredded coconut, and golden raisins to the mix. And of course, I couldn't resist stealing from the batter to make my own mini Bundt cake. Heavenly!

Grandmother was certainly pleased with me and my very moist carrot cake. I think I was her favorite grandchild, well, for the day. I have to do what I can to pay my loving respect to the woman who helped raise me to be the little lady I am today. A little bit of Bundt goes a long way!

Shortcut Carrot Cake

makes 10-inch Bundt cake

1 box of prepackaged carrot cake mix

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1 cup shredded carrots

*I substituted 1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt & 1/4 cup canola oil for the instructed 1/2 cup of oil

Glaze:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 teaspoon milk

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/8 teaspoon almond extract *optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.

2. In a large bowl, hand mix oil (*optional yogurt), eggs, and water with cake mix. Add raisin, coconut, and carrots. Mix till incorporated. Pour batter into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes.

3. While cake cools, prepare cream cheese glaze. Soften cream cheese in the microwave for 20 seconds. With an electric mixer, on medium-low, mix cream cheese and confectioners sugar till smooth. Add milk, vanilla and almond extracts, and mix till glaze is smoothed to a silky texture. If needed, add more milk to thin glaze. Remove cake from pan, place on a rack or over parchment paper, and drizzle glaze over the top of the cake. Use a utensil to spread the glaze evenly. Keep refrigerated.

Classic madeleines

When I was studying in Paris last year, I had the brilliant idea to take a course on French pastry and baking. How regretful that I didn't since I had long interludes between classes during the week. Granted I was bustling through Europe, taking blurred photographs of the Swiss countryside through the dirt-smudged window of my train car. Oh, and of course I enjoyed a boat load of cheeses and chocolates. But somehow I lacked fulfillment of French pâtisseries. I did buy bulk-sized bags of madeleines at the supermarché! That I certainly did! However, I had not the opportunity to try fresh madeleines and I'd imagine them to taste significantly different from the smashed, crumbled, and days or even weeks old bagged maddies. Strange how being handed down a madeleine pan from mother evokes swarms of emotions and memories of Paris. Why is it that you appreciate significant events in your life so much more during the days or years past, and so often fail to acknowledge the grandness of the moment in the moment? Madeleines bring me back there... I give full credit to David Lebovitz for amazing and amusing me with his " American in Paris" perspective on the French and French-inspired desserts. He's living my dream - baking in Paris, writing awesome cookbooks, and blogging about it all. Ooh how I'm green with envy. Green green green. Green with a cute little white bow on top!

So, this is my first time making madeleines and I could have stood to bake the madeleines for 6-7 minutes instead of the suggested 8-9 minutes. I did achieve those "humps", but man were they huge! Texan style humps! Next batch I'll omit the baking powder and see how different they turn out. All in all they tasted insanely scrumptious, but the true test is tasting them the day after. And instead of dipping the tiny french cakes in the lemon glaze as David suggested, I drizzled 'em with the glaze. Still wonderful and 110% enjoyable! No complaints. Love the recipe!

Classic Madeleines

Recipe straight from The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz via David's blog

Makes 24 cookies

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar

rounded 1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup (175g) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)

zest of one small lemon

9 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus additional melted butter for preparing the molds

Lemon glaze:

3/4 cup (150g) powdered sugar

1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

1. Brush the indentations of a madeleine mold with melted butter. Dust with flour, tap off any excess, and place in the fridge or freezer.

2. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, whip the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt for 5 minutes until frothy and thickened. Spoon flour and baking powder, if using, into a sifter or mesh strainer and use a spatula to fold in the flour as you sift it over the batter.

3. Add the lemon zest to the cooled butter, then dribble the butter into the batter, a few spoonfuls at a time, while simultaneously folding to incorporate the butter. Fold just until all the butter is incorporated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (Batter can be chilled for up to 12 hours.)

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Fill indentations 3/4th full with batter (you'll have to eyeball it). Do not spread it. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the cakes just feel set.

5. While the cakes are baking, make a glaze in a small mixing bowl by stirring together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water until smooth.

6. Remove from the oven and tilt the madeleines out onto a cooling rack. Once cool, dip each side of the cake in the glaze. Rest scalloped side up, until the cakes are cool and the glaze has firmed up.

Banana cranberry nut bread

So I had me some good an' ripe bananas. They were spotting up terribly with a wonderful shade of black, but I couldn't bring myself to donate them to my hungry garbage basket. I've never made banana bread and this was indeed the day for firsts! I searched and searched and came across a super simple recipe on All Recipes that required the very ingredients I had in my cupboard, and too, was basic enough for me to build upon. 
A trait I may have inherited from my mom, I have a tendency to add unnecessary amounts of ingredients to recipes. Sometimes the additions work, and sometimes they don't. The original recipe for this banana bread called for a simple seven ingredients. I used twelve. I so joyfully added slivered almonds, chopped dried cranberries, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pure vanilla extract. I like fancying things up a bit!
The recipe further called for one 9x5 inch bread pan. Screw that! I like my bread (and everything else) miniature. I divided the single batch among three pans - one 8x4 inch and two 5 3/4x3 inch pans, first spraying with canola oil spray and sprinkling with a cinnamon-sugar mix and then filling each pan to half full (the browned edges you're seeing are from the cinnamon-sugar mix and aren't burned). The breads, I knew, would bake short with less the batter, but it works out nice if you like a less dense banana bread. And of course there is more to share! I baked the three pans altogether for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Check your bread at 35 minutes, than at 40 minutes. You may not need to bake to 45 minutes. When checking for doneness, I made the folly of sticking my skewer straight into a banana which of course made the skewer come out gooey. With your skewer, check over several spots in the bread just in case this happens to you.
I sprinkled two of the loaves with chopped almonds and cranberries and left the other mini loaf naked in all its fabulous glory. 

I think the additions worked fancifully together. So much so, I ate the bigger loaf all up within the day. The other mini loaves I wrapped up and delivered to my dear friends. Aren't I so lovely?!

Recipe adapted from All Recipes

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