Banana Bread with Buttercream Frosting

February 23, 2020December 14, 2019 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This banana bread uses an interesting ingredient to make it super moist. Not one you would expect, but with a little explanation it makes sense. Mayonnaise. Yes it sounds weird, but mayonnaise is made up of oil and eggs, two ingredients that make this banana bread super moist.

Make sure to use super ripe bananas because they are sweeter and have a better texture. Some grocery stores sell their over-ripe bananas at a great deal so look out of them- I got a massive bag of bananas for 99 cents.

Ingredients:

For the Banana Bread:

6 Medium Bananas
1 cup mayonnaise
2 egg
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

For the Icing:

1 cup butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk (depending how thick you want the icing)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line and spray a 9×13 pan.

Mash bananas in a large bowl (or mixmaster). Add mayo and egg and mix well.

Add flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix until combined.

Add chocolate chips and mix briefly.

Pour batter into prepared 9×13 pan.

Bake for 40-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool. Remove from pan.

While cooling prepare icing. Cream butter on medium speed for 3-4 minutes.

Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time, alternating with milk. Add vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

Ice the banana bread and cut into individual slices. I piped the icing on for the pattern here. These can be wrapped individually in Saran Wrap. Store in an airtight container.

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

February 9, 2020October 8, 2019 ~ Marvin ~ Leave a comment

Because I believe that you can’t have too many blueberry muffin recipes…this one shines because of the high volume of blueberries. This batter makes the perfect dome because of the high heat at the start of the baking process. Light and fluffy and they freeze well.

Ingredients:

For the muffins:
1 cup grapeseed oil
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup almond/soy/coconut milk
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. kosher salt
5 cups blueberries, divided
For the streusel:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted pareve margarine, cold

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F and line 18 muffin cups with liners.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, process the oil, eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine 3 cups all-purpose and the whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the food processor and pulse until just combined.

Toss 4 cups of blueberries with remaining 1/3 cup all-purpose flour. Reserve 1 cup of blueberries. Fold in the blueberries that have been tossed in flour.

Using a large ice cream scoop, transfer the batter to the muffin tins. Top each of the muffins with the remaining 1 cup of blueberries, gently pressing them into the batter.

In a cleaned food processor bowl fitted with the steel blade, pulse together the streusel ingredients until small pieces of margarine remain.

Sprinkle the streusel topping over each of the muffins.

Bake for 8 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375F and bake for 25 minutes more, rotating the pans halfway through.

Crispy French Bread

January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This recipe came from life as a strawberry and was an immediate hit. Next time I’ll make it with 1/2 multigrain flour and see how that turns out.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 warm water (about 100˚F)
1 1/5 tsp kosher salt
2 1/5 cups bread flour

Directions:

Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a mixer bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.

Add kosher salt.

Add flour a little at a time and mix with a dough hook until combined.

Lightly flour all sides and turn it over inside the mixing bowl to cover. Cover and let rise for 1 hour until dough has doubled in size.

When dough has risen, lightly flour a large cutting board. Pour dough (carefully) onto cutting board and shape into a round loaf by pulling in the edges and flipping over.

Flour a mixing bowl and place the loaf seam side (folding side) down. Allow bread to rise for 30 minutes.

While bread is rising place an empty Dutch Oven with lid on into the oven and heat to 460˚F.

When oven is hot, take the Dutch Oven out and carefully put a trimmed piece of parchment in. Place the dough seam side up in the Dutch Oven carefully. Place the Dutch Oven back in the hot oven (using oven mitts) and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until crust has browned.

When done use a spatula to lift the bread out and allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Krispie Peanut Butter Brownies

January 12, 2020October 8, 2019 ~ Marvin ~ Leave a comment

This recipe from Diane Morrisey uses a cake mix “hack.” I almost never use cake mixes but here is a great reason to make an exception…

Ingredients:

2 packages of Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge premium brownie mix
1 ½ cups chunky peanut butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups Rice Krispies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray. Prepare the brownie mix according to directions on the box (add ½ cup water, ½ cup grapeseed oil and 2 eggs) and bake for 32 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately spread 1 ½ cups chunky peanut butter over the warm brownie.

In a double boiler, melt together the chocolate chips and creamy peanut butter until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the Rice Krispies.

Spread over the chunky peanut butter layer and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Apple Pear Crumble

December 29, 2019October 8, 2019 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This recipe is similar to the previous apple pear crisp, but we’ve adapted it to add a crust and turn it into a crumble. You can also swap out the fruit in the summer for the peach blueberry crisp filling to make a delicious summer crumble.

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter (or margarine if non-dairy), melted

For the Filling:

3 Apples (Granny Smith), chopped
2 pears (Bosc), chopped
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 ground cinnamon

For the Topping:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cold and cut into small pieces
1/8-1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚. In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add butter or margarine and mix until combined.

Press into a circular pie dish or fluted tart pan. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned.

While baking, make the filling and topping.

Mix all ingredients for filling in a plastic bag and shake.

Mix all ingredients for topping in a bowl. Combine with fork or pastry blender.

Put filling on top of baked crust, and add toping on top. Bake for 30 minutes and brush with melted butter or margarine and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Best Raisin Bran Muffins

December 15, 2019October 8, 2019 ~ Marvin ~ Leave a comment

This raisin bran muffin gets its intense flavour from “cooked raisins.” This recipe makes approximately 18 muffins.

Ingredients:

4 cups wheat bran
3 cups raisins, divided
3 cups water divided
1 cup almond/coconut milk
Zest of one orange
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup grapeseed oil
2 large eggs and 2 large egg whites
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F and line muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium sized saucepan, combine 2 cups of the raisins and 2 cups of water.

Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Transfer the plumped raisins to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth.

Add the wheat bran, milk, the remaining 1 cup water, zest, sugar, oil, eggs, and egg whites. Process until well combined.

Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, and transfer the mixture to the food processor. Pulse until just combined.

Fold in remaining 1 cup of raisins.

Scoop batter into the muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes.

Blueberry Lemon Loaf

November 17, 2019November 17, 2019 ~ Marvin ~ Leave a comment

This recipe adapted from Baker Bettie combines blueberries, lemon and a tart glaze.

Ingredients:

For the loaf:

1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup Tofutti sour cream
¼ cup grapeseed/coconut/olive oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 tsp. lemon zest
2 cups fresh blueberries, divided

For the glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp. lemon zest
2-4 tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, process the sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest.

Add the flour mixture and pulse until just combined. The batter will be thick.

Fold in 1 ½ cups blueberries and transfer to the loaf pan.

Scatter the remaining ½ cup blueberries over the top of the loaf.

Bake for 65 minutes.

Once the cake has cooled, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon zest in a bowl. Add lemon juice until the consistency is thick but pourable.

Pour glaze on top of cake.

The Momofuku Milk Bar Cake

November 3, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This post isn’t an original or modified recipe, but instead an experience with a recipe. I’ve included a link to the recipe I followed from Bon Appétit. I didn’t make any changes, but altered the proportions to make the cake larger. I made three times the cake batter from the proportions in the recipe and double the crumb and frosting. In hindsight I would have made triple the frosting as well (I ran a little short when assembling the cake).

I’ve included pictures of the process and a photo of the final product however you can follow the instructions and ingredients in the Bon Appétit recipe.

As for equipment, I bought a 10 inch cake pan for assembly at Michaels, and some sheets of acetate paper.

Mixed Dry Ingredients.