Posts tagged ‘banana’

Aug 2

Banana Bread With Honeyed Ricotta

When I think about entertaining guests, there is one occasion that pops into my head every time. I really am not sure why, but it is a memory that has really stuck with me. It must have been 1997, soon after I had graduated high school, so I was 17 at this particular time. My mom had invited some of her work friends over for dinner, and I wasn’t looking forward to it – I was your average unsociable teen who would rather be listening to music in her room, surrounded by posters of Nirvana, Green Day, Dr Spock, Superman, etc. When my mom’s friends arrived, I excused myself to wander about outside, waiting to be called in when dinner was ready, when I’d have to put on a happy face.

While outside, I wandered about and ended up standing outside of our neighbor’s house. Our neighbor, who was a lovely, generous lady, had passed away some time earlier and her son was then living there on his own. Every other weekend or so, his 3 sons would come to stay with him. His sons were there on this particular day, and as I hadn’t seen them in a while (we used to play together all the time as children), I thought I’d just quickly stop in to say hi.

The visit with these guys didn’t end up being so quick… we played some Nintendo (I believe it might have been Nintendo 64) – Super Mario Kart – and chatted a bit about what we were up to these days. They had planned on going to see the movie In & Out that night and invited me to come with them. I called my mom from their house and she said it was fine if I wanted to go with them. I was relieved I wouldn’t have to pretend to be all cheerful and polite with my mom’s friends!

Jun 17

10 Comments

Banana Coconut Cupcakes With Creme Fraiche Frosting And Coconut Caramel Sauce

A big thank you goes out to Cupcakes Take The Cake, where Rachel linked to my latest cupcake creation on Flickr, banana coconut cupcakes with creme fraiche frosting and coconut caramel sauce. I thought I’d better get the recipe for these awesome cupcakes on my blog so that all the visitors from CTTC can make these for themselves.

First of all, let me say that I’ve been planning these cupcakes for weeks. It all started when I made the coconut pancakes with bananas, creme fraiche and caramel sauce last month, which was a recipe from Valli Little in delicious. magazine. I loved those pancakes. The combination of those flavors was like nothing else my tastebuds have ever experienced (probably mostly because I had never eaten creme fraiche!). I started thinking that this flavor combination would taste great as a cupcake as well, and I haven’t made cupcakes in ages!

Over the past week I finally made up my mind as to how I would make these cupcakes. I would use a banana cupcake recipe and stir sweetened shredded coconut into the batter. The frosting would be something of my own creation, which turned out fabulous – creme fraiche whipped with confectioners’ sugar. I made the same caramel sauce for these cupcakes as I made for the pancakes, except I replaced the thickened cream with coconut milk (I would have used coconut cream if I had had any). This turned out fabulous as well, such a great flavor.

May 29

6 Comments

2 Awesome Quick Breads

I really love quick breads. I have a collection of many different kinds, but my favorite is always banana bread. We’ll start out this post with a banana bread recipe, but this particular one has two interesting twists, one of which may be new to you.

I’m not sure how I found this recipe, it may have been FoodGawker or TasteSpotting, but as soon as I found it, I bookmarked it. The photos from Food o’ del Mundo look fantastic, like the perfect banana bread.

The bread is spotted with chocolate chips, which isn’t much of a surprise, but it also includes the addition of crystallized ginger, which definitely surprised me! I had never had crystallized ginger before so I made this recipe a high-priority.

Feb 5

6 Comments

World Nutella Day!

When was the first time you heard of Nutella and tasted it for yourself? For me, it was 1995. My foreign language class was planning a “field trip” to Spain and France for spring break of that year. I was one of the lucky few whose parents allowed me to go. A friend of mine told me that I just had to buy some Nutella while I was overseas. I had to ask her what it was and she explained it was a sort of sandwich spread that was made with chocolate and hazelnuts. I told her it sounded great and I would buy some.

While in France I did find some, and purchased it to bring home. The funny thing is, after I tasted it, I didn’t like it! I also thought it was strange to put chocolate on bread. So I don’t think I even finished the small jar of it that I had brought home.

Years later, and I do mean years later, after I moved to Australia, I noticed that Nutella was plentiful in all the grocery stores. I decided to try it again, because it sure did look nice, so maybe my tastes had changed over the years. Luckily for my tastebuds, I loved it! Unlucky for my waistline, however! Nutella has nearly been a staple in our household since then.

I’ve tried plenty of my own Nutella creations in the past, including my popular peanut butter and Nutella swirl cookies, and Nutella-coffee frosting.

This is my second year submitting to World Nutella Day; this year I made a variation of the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich.

It’s a fried Nutella and banana sandwich with a cinnamon-sugar crust. This has already had mixed reactions. Some love the idea, some hate the idea and think it’s disgusting. Someone even suggested that instead of frying the bread, to toast it in the toaster.

If I’m going to eat a banana with Nutella, I usually just spread a layer of Nutella on a naked banana, slice it into rounds, then eat it. I’ve even eaten a plain un-fried Nutella and banana sandwich. But, as I thought with the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, the extra step of frying it brings a new depth to the taste.

Now, I wouldn’t go and make one of these sandwiches every day, but it does make a nice treat once in a while!

The recipe is below, but please note that I just estimated the amounts of what I used. This is a recipe where you can use however much (or less) of anything that you like!

Nutella & Banana Sandwich With Cinnamon-Sugar Crust
serves 1

Ingredients
2 slices wholemeal bread, or bread of your choice
Approximately 1/2 teaspoon butter
Cinnamon-sugar, you can buy this at the store or make it yourself
1 ripe banana
Approximately 1 tablespoon Nutella, or similar

Directions
Heat a skillet over low-medium heat. Meanwhile, spread a thin layer of butter on one side of each slice of bread. Sprinkle a good amount of cinnamon-sugar on the buttered side of each slice.

Slice the banana into enough rounds so that you can layer the unbuttered side of one slice of bread with the rounds. Spread Nutella on the unbuttered side of the other slice of bread.

Carefully place the bread with the bananas, buttered side down, into the skillet. Immediately place the other slice of bread, Nutella side down, right on top of the bananas.

Fry until golden brown, then flip the sandwich over and fry until golden brown. Keep your eye on it, it can burn easily!

Let cool, slice diagonally if you like, and enjoy!

So what are you waiting for? Go celebrate World Nutella Day!

See Ms Adventures In Italy, Bleeding Espresso and World Nutella Day for more information.

Jan 20

3 Comments

Review: Bangerang Bake Shop

I have long been eyeing Bangerang Bake Shop‘s cupcakes-in-a-jar. They always looked so appealing – a large cupcake filled and frosted with creamy frosting and smooshed into a cute little jar with a ribbon! I made a goal that one of the things I had to try before I left the US was a Bangerang Bake Shop cupcake.

I placed my order in October for a Chocolate Chip Off The Ol’ Block, and a Banana Butterscotch Bad Boy. I was so excited to try them, but unfortunately there was a problem with the shipment and I did not receive it in the specified time frame of 2-3 days. I emailed customer service, and also phoned the post office. Apparently the shipment had not been scanned from the sender’s post office, so tracking was telling me that it wasn’t even in transit yet.

Bangerang Bake Shop was so kind and reshipped my order about a week later, but surprise, my first order arrived before the second did! I was a little wary about their freshness, as it had been a week since these cupcakes were shipped. I put them in the refrigerator and hoped for the best. A couple of days later, my second order arrived in the specified time frame. Now I had four Bangerang cupcakes-in-a-jar!

Aug 16

5 Comments

Banana Walnut Muffins

I just love banana breads and muffins and have a collection of many different recipes for these. Earlier this week I chose to use a recipe from my Taste of Home cookbook, called Special Banana Nut Bread. As the name would imply, it is a recipe for banana bread, but I went out and bought a jumbo muffin tin to turn the bread into muffins.

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The original recipe asked for pecans, but I used walnuts instead. What I really did like about this recipe is that it uses cream cheese. It is creamed along with the butter and sugar, so it is thoroughly incorporated through the batter.

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The texture is absolutely perfect and so moist! It almost mimics the taste of those yummy Otis Spunkmeyer muffins that I love.

These muffins were fantastic for breakfast and were so filling that I told my mom that this might be my only banana bread recipe!

Special Banana Nut Bread
Adapted from Taste of Home
Makes 1 loaf, 6 jumbo muffins or 12 regular muffins

Ingredients
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts, divided

Method
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating well. Beat in bananas and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture. Fold in 1/2 cup walnuts.

Transfer to a greased 8x4x2-inch loaf pan or greased muffin tin. Sprinkle with remaining walnuts. Bake at 350F for 1 to 1 1/4 hours for a loaf, 30 minutes for jumbo muffins or 20-22 minutes for regular muffins, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Apr 7

8 Comments

Elvis Presley's Fried Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich

I hadn’t planned on making this sandwich, but when I was browsing through Nigella Lawson‘s newly designed website, I found the recipe for Elvis Presley’s fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. It reminded me that it was always something I wanted to try but hadn’t gotten around to yet.

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I’ve had peanut butter and banana together before, and in a regular unfried sandwich as well. But it tasted quite different fried and warm. I can’t say it’ll be a regularly made sandwich in our house, but at least I’ve finally tried it!

Apr 2

3 Comments

Strawberry-Blueberry-Banana Smoothie

We recently purchased a popsicle mold and have been drowning in frozen smoothie pops ever since. The following recipe has been my favorite so far, which is adapted from a bag of frozen strawberries.

Personally, I prefer unfrozen smoothies, but my daughter prefers them in frozen form, which is just as well. I’m glad she likes this healthy treat – she can barely even wait for them to freeze!

Strawberry-Blueberry-Banana Smoothies
Can be frozen or simply drank fresh from the blender!
Makes approximately 3-4 cups

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole, fresh or frozen strawberries, mostly thawed
1 banana, sliced
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, mostly thawed
1 1/2 cups low fat milk
1 cup low fat yogurt, any flavor (I used vanilla)
3 teaspoons sugar

Method
Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Immediately enjoy, or pour into popsicle molds to freeze for a cold treat.

With three different fruits, plus milk and yogurt, this frozen smoothie pop makes a great healthy treat for the kids.

If you prefer, you can strain the smoothie through a fine sieve to remove the strawberry seeds and tiny pieces of blueberry skin.

Feb 24

1 Comment

Banana Cupcakes With Caramel Buttercream

The first cupcakes I decided to try from February 2009′s issue of Martha Stewart Living were the banana cupcakes with caramel buttercream.

And they are really yummy! The cupcakes: they ended up more muffin-like in texture than I expected; they are soft and moist; they did not rise much while baking; they have an extreme banana taste; they don’t need frosting on them, they taste amazing. The frosting: was a little bit daunting, seeing as how there are so many steps, but was actually quite easy as I went along; is actually a caramel Swiss meringue buttercream; is best prepared with a stand mixer; tastes beautiful.

Just a tip for the buttercream… the directions say to make the caramel first. I had read on the comments section of the recipe that the caramel becomes hard by the time you add it to the buttercream, which is the very last step. Of course you want the caramel to be cool, but you also don’t want to hard bits of caramel in your frosting. What I did was stir the caramel occasionally as I went through the steps and kept it near, but not on, the burner I had cooked it on, to keep it a little bit runnier. It was quite cool by the time I added it to the buttercream, but chunks of caramel still formed in the buttercream. This was basically solved by just beating with the mixer at a speed higher and beating for a little bit longer, although there were still a few caramel chunks. Personally, I don’t mind them, however – this caramel is simply dreamy!

And one other tip – the more caramel buttercream you put on the cupcakes, the better! The banana and caramel combination is a lovely taste.

Recipes at marthastewart.com – banana cupcakes and caramel buttercream.

Sep 30

6 Comments

Mini Banana Whoopie Pies

I’ve been in a whoopie pie mood lately. I’ve never made them before though. I chose mini banana whoopie pies for my first time (recipe here).

Now, I didn’t have any sour cream so I substituted with organic vanilla yogurt. I don’t know if this was my problem, but all of my “pies” turned out flat.

I couldn’t figure out why, so I came up with the idea of putting the batter into my cupcake pan. I piped the batter in the bottom of each of the cups in the pan, just enough batter to completely cover the bottom but of course in a thin layer and baked them this way. I found that I needed to bake them for less time in the cupcake pans.

But, they came out exactly how I wanted them to look!

They’re very nice, they’re moist and banana-y. I’m not a huge cream cheese fan, so that put me off slightly, but I do think that these whoopie pies are a nice treat. I’m interested now in making the original whoopie pies, pumpkin whoopie pies, and my own idea of cherry whoopie pies (chocolate pies with cherry filling).

I didn’t use all of my flat pies, just the one pictured above to show you what I meant by “flat pies”. I have leftover filling so I think I might try to use that as a filling in chocolate cupcakes later this week.

Aug 24

1 Comment

Banana Muffins

I wasn’t planning on baking today, but we had two seriously over-ripe bananas sitting around that I knew would end up not getting eaten. I couldn’t waste them, not when the temptation for banana muffins was too strong!

I searched BakeSpace for a banana muffin recipe and found this one, called Snow Day Muffins (blog post here). The photo displayed a nice moist-looking muffin, so I chose this recipe. This recipe was supposed to make 18 muffins, so I halved it and still ended up with 18 muffins! I think I underfilled the cupcake liners, however. Instead of adding walnuts, which I had none of, I added a handful of sweetened shredded coconut and about 1/4 (give or take) cup of chocolate chips.