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Peanut Butter Banana Bread

5 May


I used to think I couldn’t bake. I could not make a good cookie for the life of me. Now I work as a pastry cook. Funny how that happens.

I used to think I did not like peanut butter. My parents claimed they didn’t like peanut butter, so I just followed their lead. All of those childhood years where I could have brought a pb&j sandwich to school for lunch, I was packin’ rye bread with cream cheese and cucumber. Now pb is one of my favorite foods–crunchy, creamy, flavored, skippy, or all-natural, on toast, in a shake, with some ice cream, or right off the spoon–I love it every way.

This peanut butter banana bread was one of the first baked goods that I had made successfully when I was a novice baker. The banana, yogurt, and peanut butter combo help keep the bread/cake very moist. Easy to throw together, hard to mess up, tasty to the tongue.


Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Choco Chips

Ingredients

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (I have used regular whole wheat flour and all purpose flour before, and both work fine)

3/4 cup light brown sugar or raw sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 medium bananas, mashed

1/3 cup unsweetened crunchy peanut butter (Skippy brand is a winner for me here)

1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt

1 large egg

2 Tbs. canola oil

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat standard loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

Whisk together mashed bananas, peanut butter, yogurt, egg and oil. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool on rack 15 minutes before unmolding. Cool completely, then slice and serve.

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Coconut Lime Rice and Tropical Fruit Salsa

5 May


2 huge fish fillets, and I mean huge. Like, 3.5 feet long each. While this may seem small to some fish experts, 3.5 feet of fish definitely hits a record for me.

Today was a big day. It was my last day cooking for the entire co-op. To send everyone off on a good note, I made a happy, summery dinner. Ginger glazed n’ grilled mahi mahi (I did a tofu version of the mahi mahi for my veggie friends) with fresh squeezed lime and chopped cilantro over a bed of coconut rice and a tropical salsa, all accompanied by sauteed snap peas and daikon radishes.


So I held my breath and crossed my fingers that this fish would turn out ok. The marinade is simple yet strong and I had to use some arm muscle to slice my fish into nice angled pieces (the scaly skin was tough to cut through). My co-cook, David, got a nice grilling lesson. I made him stand over the smoky grill and be “the fish man”. He did a great job–the fish looked and tasted great with its nice grill marks.

I have definitely learned a lot from cooking in the co-ops and I feel thankful for that experience: seasonal food gets delivered to me, I have the power to feed a lot of people, I can get really creative and try out new ideas…

Next year I am living in an apartment with two friends, and I am excited for the change! I can’t wait to have a smaller community where I can cook a relaxing and intimate dinner in my clean house. I can’t wait to peruse the markets and I can’t wait to host my friends and family for small get-togethers. I can’t wait to spend more time with my candy-apple-red Kitchen Aid Mixer and my mortar and pestle and my nice tart pans and my cute measuring spoons.

So here’s to good times had and good times to come! Go try something new. It will probably be scary, it may turn out to be a horrible mess, but at least you tried and maybe you might try again.

Ginger Glazed n’ Grilled Mahi Mahi
adapted from AllRecipes

serves 4

3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets
salt and pepper, to taste

cilantro and lime, for serving

1. Stir together honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic, and olive oil.
2. Place the fish in the marinade and let sit for about 20-30 minutes.
3. Heat your grill (or oil a grill pan) and grill your fish (start skin side down) once each side until easily flaked with a fork. Flip only once.
4. To serve, place your fish on a plate and squeeze fresh lime over the top. Garnish with freshly minced cilantro and top with a fresh fruit salsa (see recipe below).

Fresh (Tropical) Fruit Salsa

recipe from FoodNetwork

1 ripe mango (and/or papaya), peeled, seeded, and diced
1 ripe avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
3 kiwis, peeled and diced
1/4 cup minced red onions
1/4 cup minced red bell peppers
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons minced jalapeno
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Pinch salt

Combine the mango, avocado, pineapple, kiwi, onions, bell peppers, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno, garlic, and salt in a bowl and gently fold to combine. Adjust seasoning to taste. Let sit for 30 minutes before serving for the flavors to blend.

***NOTE: feel free to add/subtract whatever produce you wish (jicama might also be nice to add!)

Coconut Rice

recipe from FoodNetwork

***NOTE: The coconut makes the rice really rich (feel free to use less coconut milk/more water if your not into the “richness”)

1 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 cup long grain white rice

fresh chopped cilantro and fresh squeezed lime, for serving

In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk, water, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Add the rice, stir well, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer undisturbed until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is fluffy, about 20 to 24 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit without stirring for 10 minutes.

Alternately, you can put everything into a rice cooker and BAM! Done.

Fluff with a fork and add the cilantro and lime. Adjust seasoning, to taste. Serve hot.

Apple Walnut Flax Seed Bread

26 Apr


Quick breads. Dense, moist, quick(er) than yeasted breads (no need to wait for the bread to rise because baking powder/soda are used as leavening agents rather than yeast). This quick bread is just PACKED with ingredients; your taste buds will not get bored.

Flax Seed. Healthy protein, fiber, and omega-3-fatty acids woot woot! A little goes a long way.

Apples and walnuts. You just can’t go wrong. Same goes for buttermilk.

Next time I make this bread/cake, I want to try browning the butter to just kick it up a notch.

Apple walnut flax seed bread. Made with buttermilk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and love. Kinda healthy, kinda indulgent, kinda really extremely delicious.


Apple Walnut Flax Seed Bread

from JoytheBaker

makes one 9×5-inch loaf

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

generous pinch freshly ground nutmeg

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup grated apples

1/2 cup coarsely chopped apples

1 tablespoon flax seeds (I used flax meal instead…)

3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, divided

cinnamon and sugar (turbinado sugar might be nice, but granulated works great, too), for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add the grated apples, chopped apples flax seeds and half of the chopped walnuts. Fold to incorporate thoroughly.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and top with granulated sugar, cinnamon and the rest of the walnuts.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack to cool before wrapping.

Joy says to serve the bread slightly toasted with butter (I thought it was mighty good all on its own. Some hot (or iced) coffee is also a splendid accompaniment to the bread.).

>Big Crumb Coffeecake with RHUBARB

12 Apr

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Let’s catch up, shall we?

In the last week or so…

-One of my housemates compared my matzo balls to ones that his grandmother used to make (people, this is the ULTIMATE compliment)

-At the beginning of this week I got food poisoning and spent a day and a half bouncing from my bed to the toilet to the couch and back and forth and back and forth. blech.

-I’ve been house hunting for next year…ideally I would love a quaint house with a beautiful kitchen (or at least a kitchen that could accommodate my KitchenAid standing mixer, my mortar and pestle, and my soon-to-have ice cream machine!!)

-I spent almost 5 hours at a park: mimosas, Frisbee, daisy chains, sunshine…followed by a lovely yet kind of creepy night hike through some Berkeley trails

-I’ve been waiting a year to attend the annual dachshund derby, a day at the race track with little wiener dogs racing about 15 feet. Way too cute! Unfortunately this year the rain washed all the wieners away and the race was canceled.



some photos from last year’s derby…cute or cute?

Well, after a bout of craziness this week, today was finally the day that I was able to wake up, bake, snap some photos, and, well, eat.


Rhubarb has finally arrived. Rhubarb looks kind of like red celery. While the leaves are poisonous, the red stalk delivers a tart, zingy flavor that is usually incorporated into sweet baked goods. Just please, do not eat RAW rhubarb. No good. No no. Just don’t. Come eat my cake instead.

At work, we are currently serving rhubarb jam with toast in the morning and panna cotta with wine-poached rhubarb as one of our evening desserts.

Today I made this coffeecake with rhubarb:


My ideal Sunday starts off with a big breakfast baked with love. Whether it’s pancakes, waffles, eggs n’ toast, or some sweet treat (or all of the above !!) , I am always a happy camper. Really, though, the best is when I get to make breakfast for/with others, because those smiling faces and satisfied bellies are all I need in return.

Here is my pal, Rennie, modeling with the coffeecake:


Rennie did not actually get to taste my cake (he’s vegan), but I swear I almost saw him sneak a bite behind my back 😉

This coffeecake even survived the rain today. Now that’s sayin’ somethin’.


Now friends, I have often pondered this question myself: why do they call it coffeecake if there is no actual coffee in the recipe? Well, coffeecake falls under a class of cakes intended to be served with coffee or for similar breaks and snacks. So there you have it.


Oh, and on June 9th, look out because apparently it’s national Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day. Just thought I’d let you all know in advance.

‘Big Crumb’ Coffeecake with Rhubarb

Adapted from SmittenKitchen, originally from The New York Times 6/6/07


Butter for greasing pan

For the rhubarb filling:
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumbs:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, melted
1 3/4 cups cake flour (all-purpose works just fine)

For the cake:
1/3 cup sour cream (I used plain low-fat yogurt)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour (ditto on the all-purpose flour–works just fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream (or yogurt) mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Give the cake a nice lil’ dusting of powdered sugar, too. It makes makes it just that much better.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

>Kiss My Bundt Goodbye: An Ode To Apple Spice Cake Sans Bundt Pan

6 Feb

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So I live in a house. I live in a house with 60 college students. I live in a house with an industrial kitchen, with a seemingly endless amount of food. And with all of the fun and happy times comes dirt, smell, and disorganization. We’ve gone from soap hockey to sudsy and soaking wet dance party, from Mariah Carey sing-alongs to eating cereal with a fork out of an old dijon mustard jar.

My point is, I wanted to make a cake. I wanted to make this apple cake. I wanted to make this apple cake and bake it in a bundt pan. The only problem was finding a bundt pan amongst the calamity of pots and pans and lids and tops. I knew we used to have one somewhere, but who knows where it could be now? After searching and asking around the house, I finally stumbled across a bent and dented angle food cake pan. Or at least I think it was an angle food cake pan?

Anyway, the bent and dented cake pan actually worked perfectly for letting my batter nestle in its crevices and sit in a hot oven for 45 mintues or so.

Dense and Delicious. Fruity and spice-y. This apple cake is so moist and hearty, you can’t just have one piece, it is really just impossible. Almost as impossible as shoving 10 saltine crackers in your mouth in under 1 minute. Or eating a tablespoon of cinnamon.

I intended to make a nice caramel sauce to accompany the apple cake, but, well, I got lazy. So then I decided that I would dust it with some powdered sugar. Usually we have a huge bucket full of powdered sugar, but it was just my luck we ran out. Actually, I do not even know where the bucket is. I found the lid, but no bucket.

Ho-hum. At least the cake was good, right?

Apple Spice Cake
from the CookieShop, who got the recipe from MarthaStewart.com

serves 10

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 to 4 apples (I used Fugi), peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
  • 1 cup chopped assorted nuts, such as pecans and walnuts (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Caramel Sauce OR Powdered Sugar for drizzling or dusting

***maybe next time, I will add some freshly grated ginger into the batter, you know, just for kicks and giggles

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; set aside.
  2. Working over a large sheet of parchment paper, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; gather sifted ingredients into center of sheet; set aside.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or just mix by hand), combine vegetable oil, sugar, and eggs; mix on high speed until lemon yellow.
  4. Fold reserved parchment in half lengthwise; with mixer on medium speed, gradually shake in dry ingredients until just incorporated.
  5. Add apples and, if desired, nuts, to batter; mix to combine. Add vanilla, mixing until incorporated.
  6. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven, and cool slightly on a wire rack.
  8. Invert cake onto rack; turn cake right-side up to cool completely on rack, and serve drizzled with caramel sauce or dusted with powdered sugar.

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