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    Entries in kitchen experiments (26)

    Tuesday
    Aug142012

    why are there still bananas in my freezer?

    I just made them into cookies!

     

    I've been looking for something to do with the bananas in my freezer for a while now. No, not banana bread. That's too obvious. And not muffins either. That's just banana bread in a different form. I wanted to make them into cookies. Plus, the spoiled kids at work have been tugging at my apron strings begging for cookies.

    Banana Cakies

    (because although they look like cookies, they're super soft and cakey)

    What you need:

    • 3/4 cup butter
    • 1 ½ cups sugar
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 4 bananas
    • 2 tsp baking soda
    • 2 cups of flour
    • 1 ½ cups almond flour
    • pinch of salt
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp allspice
    • 1/2 tsp cloves

    What you gotta do:

    Take the bananas out of the freezer. You can thaw them quickly in a bowl of warm water. In fact, you can even let them thaw while you do the next couple steps.

    Cream the butter and sugar (I totally suggest replacing some or all of the white sugar with brown, I just didn't have any), and beat in the eggs and the vanilla.

    In another bowl, mix together the flours, spices, salt and soda.

    In a third bowl, mash your previously frozen bananas.

    Taneasha and I have been discussing food that is not photogenic, and I'm thinking bananas need to go on the list. Her stuffed shells are winning at the moment though. I think they look awesome, like little brains. She thinks this is not a good thing. *shrug*

    So, I was winging it with this recipe, and realized I had three bowls of stuff: a creamed butter, a bunch of dry, and a bunch of wet. This is a pretty common set up when making a cake. What the hell, lets make these cookies as if they were cakes.

    Start by adding about 1/3 of the dry stuff to the creamed mixture. Stir it in completely.

    Now, add 1/2 of the wet stuff (the bananamash), and stir it in completley.

    Next third of the dry, the rest of the wet, then the last of the dry. Mix well after each.

    If you want to fold in some chocolate chips here, I won't call you crazy.

    You'll have a very soft and fluffy cookie dough. I do think it's mostly soft enough that you could spread this into a pan and make something cake-like; it's definitely thicker than your average cake batter, but it's also much softer than a typical cookie dough.

    And I really wanted to make this into cookies. So I put it in the fridge.

    An hour in the fridge can do wonders for cookie dough. It also gives your oven tons of time to heat up to 350.

    Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Leave lots of room between them!

    Bake them for about 14 minutes.

    The dough spreads a lot, but the cookies maintain a nice puffy shape.

     They'll be super soft when they first come out of the oven, so give them a minute on the pan to cool off. Let them cool completley on a rack, but don't try stacking them. They're too soft and the tops and bottoms will stick together.

    These things are perfect little mini cakes. Like the tops of cupcakes, just waiting to be frosted.

    They are quite tasty on their own though, with a good bite of spice that makes them perfect to go with a cup of dark roast coffee.

    The only problem is that tonight, as I was rooting through the freezer looking for dinner, I found more bananas. I think they're multiplying in there.

    What's taking over your freezer??

     

    Tuesday
    Aug072012

    Inspiration

    and a bit of nothing in the house for breakfast.

    I have long been a fan of spice cakes, and Taneasha's post (with lovely guest Elise Logan) totally reminded me of that. I also had no cereal or bread in the house this weekend. And grocery shopping on an empty (but caffeinated, always have coffee in the house) stomach is not a good idea. So, before I ventured forth to restock my pantry I needed some breakfast.

    Cake!

    What? If I'd made it in muffin tins, no one would even blink. But because I put it in a square pan and call it cake, it's no longer appropriate for breakfast?

    Breakfast Cake

    What you need:

    • 3 eggs
    • 1/2 c melted butter
    • 1 orange
    • 1/2 c sugar (or honey, totally doing it with honey next time)
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 1/2 c flour
    • 1 c almond flour (aka finely ground almonds)
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp cardamom
    • 1/4 tsp allspice

     

    What you gotta do:

    I suppose I should admit here that I was totally winging it with this one. Granted, I had recently bought some almond flour and had been researching recipes, but still, flying by the seat of my pyjamas on this one....

    I did remember to preheat the oven to 350.

    And to use some of the melted butter to butter an 8x8 square pan, and then also to butter the parchment that I lined the pan with. Didn't remember to take a pic to prove it though, so you'll just have to trust me. Trust me.

    In a medium bowl, beat all 3 eggs with a fork. (Oh, um, I hadn't washed dishes either, so I was working with the bare minimum of tools). Beat in the melted butter and the sugar. And then add the zest from your orange. Yes, the whole orange.

    In another bowl, combine the flours, spices, and salts (sodium bicarbonate is chemically a "salt").

    At the last minute add the vanilla that you forgot to put in the ingredients pic to the egg bowl. Yes, there is yogurt in the pic, and no, I didn't use it. Changed my mind.

    Now, dump the dry into the wet and mix with a fork.

    And then dump it all into the pan.

    I sprinkled mine liberally with cinnamon sugar. Perhaps a little too liberally...

    I'm not convinced that an excess of cinnamon sugar is a bad thing, mind you.

    Bake for 20 minutes.

    When I poked it with a toothpick after 20 minutes, it was definitely done. But then the middle fell...

    I'm not sure another 3-4 minutes would have made the difference in keeping the middle up though, because with only 1/2 cup of wheat flour, I was concerned about leavening anyway.

    The batter definitely rose (likely mostly thanks to the eggs), but the lack of gluten may have made the structure a little flimsy at the points where it needed the most help.

    Muffins might have been a better idea after all.

    Sure tasted damn good. Amazingly moist too. Definitely need to try this one again.

    Yay cake for breakfast!

    What's your favourite questionable breakfast?