Tag Archives: Cooking

My favorite Banana Bread recipe

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This weekend I made the family Banana Bread (banana loaf), which is already gone – yes, in 36 hours (with 2 adults and one 5-year-old devouring it). It was perfect with a latte (or hot chocolate) on these colder days. This recipe easily doubles and you can make two loaves and store one in the freezer in a Ziploc bag.

 

Ingredients (from the Edmonds Cookery Book)

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
75 g butter (melted)
1 cup of mashed ripe banana (~2-3 banana’s)

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Mix in sugar. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Add milk, butter and banana into egg mixture with a spoon. Quickly add the dry ingredients stirring until just combined. Place mixture in a loaf tin (greased and lined if not using silicone). Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 50-55 minutes (until top is golden brown). Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out on a cooling rack.

NOTE: I use very ripe banana’s that I basically have to turn out of the skin for the really banana’ery taste.

NOTE: Once cool store in a Ziploc bag or air-tight container to retain freshness. I usually wait a few hours so you first get the bread with a slight crunch on top.

Serving suggestions:
1. I have eaten as is just as a slice with a cup of coffee or
2. You could try it as a dessert with a hot chocolate ganache and whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Both are great!!!

Sweet things: A pear tart

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One of my favorite german sweets is a pear tart. What a perfect time of year to make one with pears coming into season and needed to take something to a potluck dinner 🙂

My favorite recipe from “Das Buch vom Backen – Die Grosse Schule” is listed below – it is a pear and almond tart.

Ingredients

Pastry
155g flour
90g cold butter (diced)
60g sugar
2 egg yolks
1-2 Tbsp ice-cold water (optional – use only if dough does not form a ball)

  1. Combine the flour and the butter, by rubbing in the butter into the flour, until it appears crumbly.
  2. Mix in sugar.
  3. Make a well in center add in the egg yolks with a fork until pastry will stick slightly together to form a ball. If you think it is still too dry add 1 Tbsp of cold water
  4. Put the mixture in glad wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes
  5. After 30 minutes, place the dough between two plastic pieces of glad wrap and roll the dough out into a circle big enough to fit into a 24cm (~12 in. ) spring form cake tin.
  6. Place dough in the tin, with baking paper covering the dough and weighed down with a pie weight. Place in the oven at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).
  7. Bake blind (i.e. covered) for 10 minutes, then take off the paper and pie weight bake for 10 more minutes.
  8. Allow the pastry to cool.

Filling
165g softened butter
160g sugar
3 eggs
135g almond flour
1 1/2 Tbsp Flour
2 ripe pears (sliced)

  1. Cream the butter and the sugar in a bowl for approximately 30 seconds.
  2. Add one egg at a time and mix into the cream mixture until well blended
  3. With a metal spoon mix in the almond flour and flour
  4. Place the filling mixture into the pastry.
  5. In a cross formation, place the pears into the filling; largest slices (outside edge) to smallest slices (towards the center).
  6. Place the tart into the oven and bake at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F) for 50 minutes. You need to ensure that the center is cooked.
  7. Take of the spring form cake tin, and allow the tart to cool for two hours.
  8. To serve, sprinkle confectionary sugar (powdered sugar/icing sugar) on top; and serve. The tart goes great with a dollop of whip cream.

Linked up with Tuesday At the Table

Pumpkin Soup

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One of my son’s favorite book series is the “Pumpkin Soup”, “Delicious” and “A Pipkin of Pepper” by Helen Cooper. (images taken from google images – amazon.com)

  

These beautiful books and the time of year inspired us to make a couple of pumpkin soups. I usually make a base (pumpkin puree) that we can store by freezing it, and then we make soup from that base. This time I made the base in the slow cooker so I didn’t have to check on it all the time and it worked out great. The two soups we made were a Pumpkin Cream Soup and a Curried Pumpkin Soup.

Ingredients for Pumpkin puree (cooked in the slow cooker)

1/2 large pumpkin (chopped in ~2 inch pieces)
2 Granny Smith apples (grated ~1 cup)
1 cup carrot (grated)
1 onion (grated)
1 32 oz box of low-sodium vegetable stock

  

Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours. Use a hand blender to blend the softened vegetables (be careful of hot splashes). Use immediately or place into freezer suitable containers.

  

Pumpkin Cream Soup (Kid-friendly recipe)

Ingredients 

3 cups Pumpkin Puree (from the slow cooker)
1 cup of heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a sauce pan, heat. I use a whisk to stir in the pumpkin puree and the cream. Serve immediately, with a  dollop of sour cream and pinch of nutmeg.

Curried Pumpkin Soup (adult version of pumpkin soup)

Ingredients

3 cups of pumpkin puree (from above)
1/2 can of coconut milk (I use a light coconut milk)
2 tsp red curry paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 inch fresh ginger (finely grated)

Add all the ingredients into a sauce pan, stir using a whisk and heat through. Serve immediately. You can add a dollop of plain greek yoghurt, topped with fresh chopped coriander.