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I think I may have a bit of a sugar addiction right now. I allowed myself any and all indulgences (especially Christmas baking) during the holiday season. It was great, but I kind of forgot just how crappy too much sugar can make you feel. I found myself getting cranky and moody. So I'm weaning myself off the baked goods - but not completely. This 'light' recipe is filling the void as I detox. I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I added some chocolate chips!
Lighter Banana Bread
recipe adapted from Cooking Light Magazine
makes 12 servings
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 4)
3 tbsp skim milk
3 tbsp light sour cream or vanilla yogurt
2 large egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
cooking spray
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine sugar and butter in a bowl; beat at medium speed until well blended. Add banana, milk, sour cream, egg whites and vanilla. Beat well and set aside.
3. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir well. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, beating until blended.
4. Pour batter into pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan and let cool completely on wire racks. For best flavour, wrap in tin foil and let sit overnight.
I didn't think I was going to do any holiday baking this year since I'd need to have the treats done from start to finish in an hour. Fat chance since I have a habit of always choosing some of the most challenging or expensive recipes when baking. But this year I've resolved to have it both ways by cutting out the time consuming and difficult part to make cookies that my mom used to make around the holidays. The reason I've chosen these cookies is because my sister and I always turned our nose up at 'real' Christmas cookies like shortbread and jam thumbprint cookies for simple and quick treats. Luckily for my mom, these candy-like cookies were no bake and usually involved melted marshmallows and adding cereal.
I grabbed this recipe for "Christmas Hopscotch" from my mom's recipe box.
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 6 oz package butterscotch chips
Microwave 30 seconds at a time and stir until well blended.
Add
2 cups mini marshmallows
3 oz chow mien noodles
I don't think anyone in my family has made these cookies in 15 to 20 years! When making these I had my doubts that these would be any good, I mean, just reading the ingredients doesn't sound very appetizing. But after making them yesterday I had one taste and it was total nostalgia. They are so addictive!
Here is my first attempt at baking a chiffon cake. I didn't really put much thought into the cake before baking it, other than making sure I had the ingredients. Pretty silly of me. For starters I didn't have the right pan. I really wanted to use the angel food cake pan Nuno's aunt gave me. It's not your typical angel food cake pan since it has fluted edges, no feet and doesn't have a removable bottom. And therein lies the problem with my finished cake. I guess you need to cool your chiffon upside down (hence the cake pans with feet), so I improvised and sat it on a bottle with boxes and containers to support the bottle.
Actually, this worked really well. The real problem was that you don't grease an angel food/chiffon cake so it can climb the sides of the pan as it bakes. So to use a pan with scalloped edges instead of smooth makes the cake all the more difficult to remove! So the cake looks quite shabby, but a lesson is learned. One the bright side, I'm quite lucky to have had the cake itself turn out. I read online how so chiffons many overflow while baking, never rise... the problems seem endless.
My parent's wedding anniversary fell on this past weekend. I will give them a framed photo of them from our wedding. It looks so beautiful, I'm sure they will love it.
I also baked a summer fruit pie for them. I went to the fruit stand and bought fresh peaches and nectarines - they are so delicious right now. But there's this difficult issue of baking in the summer - it's tough to want to turn on your oven in this hot and muggy weather. But midday today it became overcast and rained, so it was perfect baking weather.
The long weekend has found me starting a new blog. I'm really excited to get back into the swing of writing.
Nuno and I stopped around Olson's bakery for lunch today. They make an amazing sandwich of prosciutto, pears, grainy mustard and melty gooey brie on a fresh baguette. At the table next to us was a couple who frequents the bakery - so much so I recognized them from their appearance on Anna's show 'Fresh'. They had the most adorable bull terrier! They let me give the little guy a cookie from the bakery and he nearly took off my thumb and forefinger. I actually jumped back because I was so startled. And his bite really did smart. Of course I didn't let on.
I just baked a fresh batch of rocky road brownies to bring over to my parents for dinner tonight.
My mom's making her first attempt and copying the Keg's spinach salad which includes mandarin oranges, dried cranberries and almonds. Sounds like a dessert more than a salad.
The sun just came out and there is loads of action along the canal and on the bird feeder. So I think I'll sit on the porch with Hot Tot and enjoy these few moments of sunshine.
I found a copy of The Cake Bible discounted at the Book Depot a couple weeks ago. I've been wanting a copy of this book for years now and the timing was perfect because I had already decided I was going to bake the only recipe I had from the book, the Cordon Rose Banana Cake. I became aware of this book through my brother-in-law who was really into baking wedding cakes several years ago. I happened to be visiting the weekend he baked his tester of the Cordon Rose Banana Cake and all I can remember is that it was the most delicious cake I'd ever eaten!
This weekend was my first attempt baking a cake from the book. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing this cake come together. The author of The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, seems like a baking chemist and gives explicit detail to the importance of things like temperature, sifting and timing to make the cakes turn out bakery quality. I love how detail oriented she is and it's because of all the explanation that this cake came out with the most wonderful texture imaginable! I wish this cake was more of a looker, but to taste, this cake is out of this world!!! 
It is so moist, rich and velvety in texture. Now that I know I'm capable of baking something this fantastic, I'm looking forward to finding an occasion where I can bake several layers, fill them with a pastry cream and frost with chocolate icing.
