day 36 = banana bread (#2)

i still had two bananas left from day 30 (banana cream pie) and this time charley let them rot on my counter (unlike day 10 when he tossed them in the trash). i was so excited to make a new banana bread recipe, but i realized i only had one egg and did not feel like leaving the house to go to the store. so i searched my cookbook collection and every recipe had 3 eggs in it. ok, now what. i went online and entered in the words "banana bread with one egg" and came up with this recipe. the problem is, i didn't have 1 full cup of sugar or 3 bananas. oy, i am going to need to improvise. here's what i did:

step 1: gather your ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 extremely ripe bananas, mashed*

8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

5 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

cinnamon

*if you don't have ripe bananas, don't fret, read the comment in day 8 from nancy (my inspiration)

step 2: grease and flour a loaf pan

step 3: sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt

step 4: lightly beat egg

step 5: cream the butter and sugar

step 6: add the flour mixture, then egg, then vanilla

step 7: mix in bananas, pineapple, and milk by hand

step 8: pour into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with cinnamon

sarah:

i made this for us, but we didn't get a chance to eat it the first night. so i left for work and told charley to have some of it. when i called him in the evening to let him know we were going over to friends for dinner. here's our conversation:

me: "we need to be there in about an hour"

charley: "what are we going to bring?"

me: "we'll take the banana bread"

charley: "what's left of it..."

what's left of it?! it's only been a few hours how much could he have eaten! when i go home, there was only 1/2 the loaf left!! luckily, it's pretty dense so after a terrific meal we had with friends you only needed a little bit. i hope they enjoyed!

the bread is extremely moist and doughy. if you like a less doughy (more cake like) banana bread, see day 8. i highly recommend either this one or the recipe in my cookbook.

charley:

second time around on the banana bread and i didn't throw out the aged ingredient which did in fact make this dish that much better! i didn't realize that banana's become more flavorful as they brown and these must have been perfect because i couldn't help but eat half of it in two sittings.  Great stuff!

enjoy!

day 32 = light and fluffy pancakes

sarah:
i have tried and tried, but never been able to make a good pancake. they always come out as little bricks and i could never understand why. i even let the batter sit for 10 mins (to make them light and fluffy), but without fail they became hockey pucks. so this morning, i decided to try making it two ways:

1) with the kitchenaid
2) by hand

then, i experimented with the temp of my griddle. in the end, they came out great! here's what i did:

step 1: gather all the ingredients

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

cooking spray

step 2: in a bowl, first put vinegar and then milk and let the mixture sit for 5 mins to "sour"

(if you have a recipe that calls for buttermilk, use 1 tbsp vinegar per 1 cup milk and do the same)

step 3: combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk in a separate bowl. (see first picture). pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk only until lumps are gone (see second picture). let sit for 10 minutes for the batter to settle.

there is a large difference between mixing by hand and by machine

(see third picture - bowl on left is by hand).

step 4: heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

the first few pancakes never come out right. they still taste good, but aren't very attractive.

this is also where you see the two different batters make very different pancakes (see the first picture). 

the ones on the left where hand mixed, the ones on the right were machine mixed.

if you find your pancakes are browning too fast, turn the heat down a little so they come out looking like pancakes we can all recognize (see second picture). 

 step 5: eat!

in the end, i highly recommend mixing by hand. those pancakes were light and fluffy and very good. you also really need to pay attention to the heat of your pan and keep lowering as necessary. i had some leftover bananas from day 30 so, along with some maple syrup, they made a nice addition to the meal.

charley:

all i can say is hand-mixing makes things better.  these were light and fluffy and after eating 5 of them i can say it didn't make me feel like i had a brick in my stomach.  very tasty!

enjoy!

day 30 = banana cream pie

sarah:
this was my first attempt (at least that i remember) at making a pie crust. i really liked it, but it reminded me more of the wonton chips you get at a chinese restaurant then pie crust. i liked it though. there are quite a bit of steps, so have fun watching them!

make the pie dough:

start by getting a bowl of ice water ready

whisk together: 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

cut in cubes of: 5 tbsp chilled butter and 2 tbsp chilled vegetable shortening

using 2 knives: cut butter and shortening into flour mixture just until form large, pea size crumbs 

  

drizzle 1/4 cup ice water over mixture until forms moist clumps. add a little more water if dough seems too crumbly (i used a bit more). wrap in plastic wrap and let dough refrigerate 30 mins or up to 2 hrs. can also freeze wrapped in aluminum foil for 1 month. 

 meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375. roll out the dough when ready to 12 inches in diameter. place in a pie tin, cover with aluminum foil, and use pie weights to hold it down.

bake for 12-15 mins, until slightly golden. remove foil and weights and bake another 12-15 mins.

put on wire rack to cool completely.

make the filling:

set aside another large bowl of ice water. in a heatproof bowl, mix 4 egg yolks.

 

in a small bowl, whisk 1/2 cup milk and 1/3 cup cornstarch. gradually whisk milk mixture into yolks.

in a saucepan, combine 2 1/2 cups milk, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 1/8 tsp salt. place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture and return to saucepan. heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, whisking constantly. it will start getting very thick. reduce heat to low and let bubble for 30 seconds. remove from heat and whisk in 2 tbsp butter. put in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, poke with holes to let the air escape, and put in prepared bowl of ice water.

very thinly slice 2 bananas, and place in cooled pie crust. spread filling on top. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

make the whipped cream:

in a chilled bowl, combine 1 cup heavy cream, 2 tbsp sugar, and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

beat at med-high speed until soft peaks form. use immediately or cover and refrigerate up to

2 hours before serving.

make the chocolate shavings:

use a vegetable peeler to make chocolate shavings out of a 1oz square of semisweet chocolate. refrigerate for 10 mins to firm up.

that's it!

charley:

well we may have found a first that i wasn't completely in love with.  the bananas were great and the cream was wonderful, but i didn't like the crust.  it had something about it that just didn't go with the rest of the pie.  all in all it was great, but i will not be eating the crust (i will just leave that for sarah as she liked it!)

enjoy!

day 8 = 1952 banana chocolate chip bread

tonight's banana bread is special. my grandmother received the "Antoinette Pope School" (Macmillan)cookbook after she was married. she had a 1952 edition and gave it to me a few years ago when she stopped cooking. flipping through it today, i found a handwritten "Triple Recipe Chop Suey" note in the book. how fun!

sarah:

this smelled amazing when i was making it. the dough was so fluffy i really couldn't wait to bake it. my bananas were not ripe enough yet (but i was eager to make this) so i think that's the one downfall in how it came out. otherwise, i highly recommend this if you want a traditional banana bread. click on the picture of the recipe above and you should be able to read it.  if you want a really moist and vibrant banana bread, check out the recipe in my cookbook. that has to be the best banana bread i've ever had.

i did a few things to this recipe that were new tricks. if you are in a pinch, try these:

1) buttermilk substitute = put 1 tsp lemon juice in a 1/3 cup measuring cup.   pour enough milk to get to the top and let sit 5 mins. (use 1 tbsp for 1 cup).

2) salted butter substitute = substitue unsalted butter and add 1/4 tsp salt per 1 stick of butter to your flour mixture. sift the flour mixture with other dry ingredients before using.

3) for a moist bread = the recipe calls for putting another pan on top of the the one you are using for a moist bread. i've never heard that before, but tried it and the bread is super moist!

4) who needs nuts when you can add chocolate chips!

charley:

i see we are on day eight and I am doing all that i can to keep from putting on weight.  to be honest i have put on about 1.5 lbs since the start of this and that is with a normal work-out regiment.  the food is just too good and i am loving it all.  i will just need to work out harder because i am so happy with what she makes.  i knew i found a keeper!!!!!  anyway for this evening's treat i was a little surprised as it was not as strong of a banana flavor as i would have expected.  it was good as it was not dry, but the strongest flavor to it was the  chocolate chips.  i am not sure if i would recommend removing the chocolate, but i think i would prefer more banana.  the cake itself was moist and tasty and i hope it has more banana taste the next day!

enjoy!