Something New

Alright, so it's been three months since I've posted anything. What are you gonna do? Work has been all-consuming, and I haven't been doing anything remotely interesting. I saw a community theatre production of Les Mis this past weekend, but I couldn't write a whole lot of positive things about it, so I decided to abstain from a review.

I have barely been cooking and haven't even thought about baking, let alone try a new recipe. Well, this afternoon I woke up (hey, don't judge, I'm on night shift tonight) and saw these three sad brown bananas on my counter. This happens fairly regularly... I buy a bunch of bananas, eat two or three, and forget about them until they're far too mushy for my liking. Today, instead of throwing them away, I decided to turn them into bread.

I started leafing through cookbooks, looking for a recipe. Turns out, I don't have any walnuts or pecans, so Banana Nut Bread was out. I was decided on plain old Banana Bread when I came across a recipe for Banana Bundt Cake. Ooh! Something new and different! I got excited about trying something new, so I pulled out every cookbook and just started looking for the word "banana". There was a recipe for Chocolate Chip-Banana Bars that was intriguing, but a little plain. Let's improvise!

So I took bits and pieces from a couple of different recipes and threw in a few of my own ideas, and we have "Chocolate-Covered Banana" Bars.

"Chocolate-Covered Banana" Bars

Ingredients

3/4 C. unsalted butter, softened

2/3 C. white sugar

2/3 C. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 ripe bananas

1 C. all-purpose flour

1 C. whole wheat flour

1/4 C. cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

12 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

powdered sugar to serve

Method

- In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add in the vanilla. Beat in the bananas until well-incorporated, and no chunks remain.

- Add in the flours, cocoa, baking powder, and salt all at once, and stir until well mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips.

- Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

- Remove from the oven and let cool. Dust with powdered sugar to serve.

They're very thick, cake-y bars. Plates and forks might be called for. They're also delicious!

Hopefully this is the start of a new wave of baking in my life. Let's hope you hear from me more often!



Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

I made my dad a birthday cake! His birthday is tomorrow, and instead of buying some random present that he doesn't need, I got him a card, some lottery tickets, and made him a delicious cake.



It's a basic Devil's Food Cake recipe, with some amazing peanut butter frosting, decorated with dark chocolate, peanut butter cups, and Reese's Pieces. I'm not the greatest at decorating with frosting, so this was a better-looking and easier alternative. It helps that Dad loves peanut butter and chocolate, so this was a perfect fit!



Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Ingredients
Cake:
6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
scant 1/2 C. milk
2 Tbsp. baking cocoa
2/3 C. butter
2/3 C. brown sugar
3 eggs, separated
4 Tbsp. sour cream
1 3/4 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda

P.B. Frosting:
1 1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 1/2 C. creamy peanut butter
7 1/2 Tbsp. butter - softened
1 1/8 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. heavy cream

Decorations:
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, cut in half
Reese's Pieces
Melted Chocolate

Method
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray two 8" round cake pans with nonstick spray. Cut out circles of parchment paper to line the bottoms of the pans. Press paper down, then spray paper with nonstick spray.

- Place chocolate chips, milk, and cocoa in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.

- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, then the sour cream and the slightly cooled chocolate mixture. Sift in the flour and baking soda. Fold all together with a spatula until just combined. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff enough to hold a peak. Lightly fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture evenly.

- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Make sure it spreads out evenly, then bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.



- For the frosting, mix all ingredients but the cream with an electric mixer until smooth. Add cream and beat until light and smooth. Add more cream or powdered sugar, if needed, to obtain a spreadable consistency.



- Frost the top of the first layer, and place the second layer on top. Frost top and sides of cake.

You can decorate any way you want, but I placed halved peanut butter cups around the base and the top edge, and dotted with some Reese's Pieces. For the "Happy Birthday!", I melted some dark chocolate and wrote it out on wax paper, let it cool and harden completely, peeled off and placed it on the cake.



I'm pretty horrible at writing with icing, so I knew this would look much better.

I am totally proud if this cake, and it should be delicious! Go forth, make your own, and send me pictures if you come up with new and different decorating ideas!



Enjoy!