Banana Bread, Or Why I Threw a Tantrum
You know that scene in Julie & Julia when Julie has a meltdown because of aspic? Ha, that was me yesterday, and it wasn’t pretty.
“Why am I baking banana bread right now?” I cried, throwing things at the sink. I knocked over salad dressing instead. “I hate this recipe! I hate this kitchen! I hate the summer!”
“Stop, just stop,” said Chris. He circled me cautiously like an animal trainer. And I was the beast that had gone berserk, leaving a trail of flour and melted butter and ooey gooey banana in my wake. Balsamic vinegar’s pungent odor wafted through the kitchen.
I actually love banana bread, and I was eager to try the Cook’s Illustrated version for which I’d saved four withered bananas in the freezer. In hindsight, I should’ve left them there until September.
I’m also actually okay with our kitchen. Although have I ever complained to you about it before? No? Okay well, it’s very typical as far as New York kitchens go, except smaller. Tinier. More diminutive. It’s about 6 by 8 feet, with no window, no fan. And it’s warm, always warm, like the inside of a locker room. And when the oven’s on, it boils. But other than that, it’s cozy and it’s functional and I like what’s come out of it.
And summer? Well, I can’t say I love it. Of course, remembering what I left behind, I’m thankful that I get to experience it at all. San Francisco summers are lessons in delayed gratification and they’re very bad for morale. My morale improved considerably when I left them behind. Although my morale became very confused when I spent my entire winter south of the hemisphere—in essence, I’ve been living summer for the last year.
I really shouldn’t have turned on the oven.
But, I did. Silly, inexperienced me. I figured I could leave the front door open to let some of the cool air in (did I tell you that the front door opens right into the kitchen? And directly opposite is the bathroom? Yeah, awkward layout). Nope, that just sets off the hallway smoke detectors, which are hypersensitive. That’s a good thing in most cases. Not in this one.
In the end, tiny kitchens and summer heat can’t stop the most committed of bakers from baking. I don’t count myself as one of them. By the time I stuck the loaf in the oven, I’d disavowed baking. Forever. It was only going to be tiramisus and cheesecakes from now on.
45 minutes later, and considerably calmer, I took the banana bread out of the oven and let it cool. I sliced off the end piece and bit into it.
I think America’s Test Kitchen must be my Julia Child.
BANANA BREAD
Makes 1 9-inch loaf
From The New Best Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, coarsely chopped
10 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and walnuts together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. Note: Lightly means lightly—the flour starts forming glutens when it’s mixed with water. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Note: I used a longer, narrower loaf pan, so mine was slightly overdone after 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Make sure to wrap it tightly when storing.
Better Than S’Mores Mini Cupcakes
I have been wanting to try Biscoff cupcakes for that past week. But I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to turn them into s’mores. The Biscoff is a bit sweeter than a graham cracker, but I though if I used a dark chocolate ganache to fill them, it might balance out the sweetness. What?? Me, make something less sweet?? Ask anyone who knows me and they would think something was wrong. But have no fear, sometimes it’s all worth it in the end. And these absolutely were. Topped with a marshmallow fluff frosting, these puppies came out better than expected, better than a s’mores!
Don’t mind my upside down flour bag. It had a hole in the bottom, so I had put it that way, otherwise that kitchen would look like a snowstorm had passed through.
| For the ganache filling |
filled cupcakes
At this point feel free to take any defect cupcake and pop it into your mouth. It is for quality control purposes only. Since it was late at night when I made the frosting, I forgot to take any pictures.
Of course before I went to bed I had to try one and gave one to my husband to try so I wouldn’t feel so guilty. Oh god, they were delicious. I am glad I made them bite size, the blend of tastes it just perfect. Unfortunately, that just means I will eat more.
Better Than S’Mores Mini Cupcakes
by The Sweet Chick
Prep Time: 20-30 minutes
Cook Time: 10-15 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert biscoff marshmallow fluff chocolate ganache cupcake
Ingredients (24 mini cupcakes)
For the Biscoff Cupcakes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup Biscoff spread
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 12 ounces chocolate, chopped into small pieces (I used a 3.5oz bar of Lindt dark chocolate and about 3/4 of a 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- 1 cup heavy cream
For the Marshmallow Fluff Frosting
- 1/2 stick butter, softened
- 2 cups marshmallow fluff
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon Wilton meringue powder
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
For the Biscoff Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350º F and fill muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Place flour, sugar, salt and baking soda into a large bowl, mix to combine. Set aside.
In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, place oil, sour cream, Biscoff spread, eggs and vanilla into the bowl and mix on medium speed until well incorporated. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly, about 30 seconds. Spoon batter into prepared mini cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake for 10-15 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out dry. Remove and let cool completely.
(For regular sized cupcakes, bake 18-22 minutes).
Recipe by healthyfoodforliving.com/recipes
For the Chocolate Ganache Filling
Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl.
Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy.
Allow ganache to cool. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set. You can place it in the fridge to cool faster. The ganache needs to be completely cooled before piping it in the cupcakes.
While the ganache is cooling cut a hole in the middle of each cupcake and scoop out the center (not all the way to the bottom). I used a vegetable peeler, but you can also try a apple corer.
With a frosting piping bag or a plastic freezer bag with tip cut off, pipe the ganache filling into each cupcake and place back in the fridge.
Recipe by https://www.healthyfoodforliving.com/recipes/
For the Marshmallow Fluff Frosting
In a stand up mixer or using a hand mixer, blend butter and marshmallow fluff until smooth.
Sift in confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder and beat on low speed.
Add vanilla and milk and increase speed to high. Beat for 1 minute.
Using a frosting piping bag and your favorite tip, frost each cupcake and place back in fridge to set.
Recipe by The Sweet Chick