by sweetenuf | Oct 27, 2018 | Loaf Cakes and Breads
Banana Bread – sweetenufblog.ca
Banana Bread, such a simple and easy recipe, with variations abounding.
Sarah Kieffer’s recipes never disappoint and her Banana Bread recipe is no exception. The light texture, not to sweet flavour, dark flecks of ripe banana and the moistness of this bread are sure to make it’s way into your heart and belly. It is now my ‘Go To’ recipe and after you give it a whirl I bet it will be your ‘Go To’ as well.
Sarah’s recipe calls for 1/2 cup of toasted and chopped pecan halves but I subbed in 1/2 cup butterscotch chips plus 1/2 cup of walnuts. If you prefer chocolate chips go ahead and add them in or leave out any additions. Make sure your bananas are nice and ripe and have your butter and eggs at room temperature for best results.
This delicious recipe is from Sarah’s The Vanilla Bean Baking Book.
Banana Bread
Grease an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan and line with overhanging parchment paper for easy removal. Preheat oven to 350F.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup pecans, chopped and toasted
1 cup ripe bananas, mashed (approximately 3)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
Method:
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and pecans.
In a medium bowl combine bananas, sour cream and vanilla.
In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium until creamy. Add the sugars and beat on medium until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl. Add the eggs and mix on medium until combined. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until almost incorporated. Add the banana mixture and mix on low until combined.
Scrape down sides of bowl and finish mixing with spatula until completely combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 45 to 55 minutes until the top is dark brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool 20 minutes and remove from pan to cool completely.
Banana Bread – sweetenufblog.ca
by sweetenuf | Oct 20, 2018 | Bars & Squares, Holiday Baking
Black Cocoa Brownies
The Rolling Stones sing about it, companies make billions of dollars off it, and advertisers convince us daily of it. What is it? Satisfaction!
Without even realizing it we are constantly being brainwashed to be dissatisfied with ourselves. Business is booming because we are convinced we cannot possibly reach our potential without more stuff.
The newest running shoe will make us jump higher and despite the fact we have no athletic ability we can become a super star. The big brush mascara will make our eyes so incredible we will mesmerize everyone we meet and be hired for some incredible job somewhere. Don’t have the latest colour palate on your walls, in your shoe selection or your clothes, why how lame are you? Not having the right colour jacket may impact your ability to secure an apartment rental. Everyday someone, who will make money and benefit from making us feel less than perfect, will convince us we are not enough. Not enough for ourselves and not enough for others and if we happen to be content and satisfied we must not be enlightened enough to know we are lacking. Wow, how sad, I probably don’t even realize how bad off I must be because I’ve been feeling pretty happy lately. Does this mean I’m really lacking in more areas of my life than the average Joe. OMG, maybe I should have bought those plaid pants. Plaid is in this year, right? If I have new pants I’ll be more interesting, right?
My therapy for problems of the world (first world) such as this, why chocolate or caramel or peanutbutter or butter or, any combination resulting in a dessert! Whip yourself up some sweet satisfaction in the form of Black Cocoa Brownies and when enjoying one or three make a mental list of all the things you’re content with. Number 1 should be the fact you made such amazing brownies.
Improving ourselves is never a negative but not enjoying or embracing what we are in the quest for the unattainable seems sad and a waste of precious time. Time that, perhaps, might be spent in the kitchen baking up today’s recipe from the July/August 2018 Bake from Scratch magazine.
Black Cocoa Brownies – Ingredients
Folding in Dark Chocolate
Black Cocoa Brownies with a little Hallowe’en Sprinkle (Photo Credit @wavesdigitalca.com)
Black Cocoa Brownies
(Black Cocoa is Ultra-Dutch process black cocoa which means the cocoa beans have been rinsed in an alkaline solution, eliminating its natural acidity, darkening the colour and making the flavour more concentrated. Black cocoa has been processed to the most extreme.)
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 13×9-inch pan and line with parchment paper. Have an overhang on the sides to easily lift brownies out of pan.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups dark chocolate morsels, divided
1 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup black cocoa powder
2 tsp kosher salt
5 eggs, large
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Method:
In top of a double boiler, melt 1 1/3 cups chocolate with the butter until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir occasionally while melting. Turn off heat and whisk in sugars. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, and salt.
In a small bowl whisk the eggs. Add half of beaten egg to cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Whisk in remaining egg and vanilla.
Fold in flour mixture until only a few streaks of flour remain. Fold in remaining chocolate pieces.
Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in centre has only a few crumbs. Cool competely in pan before removing to cut.
Store well wrapped on counter. These freeze well.
by sweetenuf | Oct 12, 2018 | Cookies and Biscotti
Pumpkin Biscotti
Pumpkin seems to be the flavour of Fall here in Canada. The combination of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove combine beautifully to flavour pies, cupcakes and, of course, the ever popular Pumpkin Spice Latte.
If you love PSL’s and biscotti then you will love this crisp, Fall flavoured treat which can be eaten as is or dipped in your PSL. And if you don’t bake maybe a little subtle hinting to your friends who do will result in you being their taste tester!
A couple of years ago I tested out several pumpkin biscotti recipes and after a little trial and error this has become my go-to recipe. This biscotti has pumpkin pie spice for the flavour and NO pumpkin puree. I found the spice gives the biscotti the flavour required but leaving out puree allows the cookie to crisp up nicely. I save the pumpkin puree for things like muffins and cakes (check out other pumpkin recipes on my blog).
Like all biscotti these will last in an airtight container for a couple of weeks and freeze well. Keep these in mind for holiday and Christmas gifts. They travel well and look pretty in festive cello bags.
No pumpkin pie spice in your cupboard? Just combine 4 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cloves and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg. Make sure your spices are fresh for the best flavour.
Pumpkin Biscotti
Preheat oven to 325F. Parchment line a large cookie sheet or 2 small cookie sheets.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
Method:
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon.
In a large bowl beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time beating after each until incorporated and beat in vanilla.
Stir in flour in 3 additions on low or by hand until mixed in. Add in nuts and mix well. You may find using your hands to combine the nuts into the batter works well.
Divide batter into 2 equal portions and shape each into a 2-inch by 3/4-inch log. Place on baking sheets. If using one sheet space about 3-inches apart to allow for spreading.
Bake for approximately 20-30 minutes until golden brown around edges (top will still look fairly light in colour). Remove from oven and let cool 15-20 minutes until cool and easy to handle.
TURN OVEN DOWN TO 275F WHILE BISCOTTI COOLS.
Use a serrated or bread knife and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Lay slices on cookie sheets and bake for approximately 8 minutes and then turn and lay on other side and bake for another 8 minutes until firm and golden brown. Remove and cool completely.
For an extra hit of sweet, melt a little white chocolate (over low heat, of course, so you don’t burn it!) and drizzle over cooled biscotti.
Whether you dip or not is up to you but I think you’ll have to agree store bought biscotti cannot compare with these!
by sweetenuf | Oct 8, 2018 | Loaf Cakes and Breads
Happy Thanksgiving Canada!
Once per year we have a statutory holiday to give thanks, spend time with family and/or friends and expand our waistlines. I do hope everyone reading this has an opportunity to hug or be hugged by someone they care about whether it’s a friend, co-worker, family member or a loved pet.
For me, baking is my hug to everyone. Hopefully you will pass on a hug by giving today’s recipe a try and sharing it!
Use real lemons not bottled lemon juice for this recipe for the freshest flavours. Room temperature lemons will provide more juice than those straight from the fridge. When zesting make sure to only grate the yellow not the bitter white (the pith) underneath. If you have lemons you won’t use up quickly, zest them and put the zest in a ziploc bag in the freezer and squeeze out the juice for future use.
Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
Preheat oven to 350F. Makes 2 9×5-inch loaf pans. Grease and flour loaf pans and set aside.
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
Zest of 2 lemons
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
Lemon Glaze:
Mix approximately 1/3 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice with 1 cup of icing sugar until pourable consistency. Add a bit more lemon juice or icing sugar until desired consistency reached. Drizzle over cooled loafs.
Method:
In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine buttermilk, lemon zest and lemon juice.
In medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each.
Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk mixture, using 3 flour additions and 2 buttermilk additions. Don’t overmix just beat on low until smooth and combined.
Divide batter evenly between pans and smooth tops. Bake for approximately 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted centre comes out clean. Cool cakes about 15 minutes and then remove from pans to cool completely on a rack.
If desired, when cool, drizzle with lemon glaze.
Recent Comments