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Friday, March 29, 2013





Hello Friends

Happy Easter! I am so excited for this weekend, it's going to be so nice with the weather and events coming up. When the days get cold, people tend to hide and just slip away from the earth but when the sun comes up, everyone comes out to play; I love company.

I don't know if you know this but I am a Starbucks kind of person. If I could choose between coffee shops to just sit with a book and a coffee; I would choose Starbucks. Every time I go, I always order a banana loaf with pike roast. But then, it started to get expensive and what better way to save money than to make it yourself?

So here we are, Banana loaf by M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger. I had no idea how to bake banana bread and frankly it was my first time. But with my head held up high and my confidence going way off the roof. I headed into this adventure head first not knowing what the outcome may be.




Here's what you need:
1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. 

Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. 

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. 

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears. 

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.



Pretty easy to follow and now I am itching to create my own version. I gave some to the old man and he said that I should try to introduce some poppy seeds, nutmeg and more baking soda to it. Of course, there are always room for improvement and I am open to whatever suggestions people give me.

The bread itself was soft but maybe I should add another egg and a bit more baking powder to make it more fluffy. But definitely I will try this again.

Overall I am super happy with the result, I can't wait till I share this with friends and family! Till next time.

Cheers!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013



Hello!

Did you miss me? I have been living life up to the fullest during my little break away from the blogging community. Don't get me wrong, I still have been baking and cooking but I just haven't been able to post as much as I want to. You know what they say, "You have to live life first, everything else is secondary."

Anyways, here is the "welcome back" post for you guys. It was my cousin's 20th birthday and I wanted to show some love by giving him a birthday cake of his choice.  He wanted strawberry shortcake. The only problem was that I never baked strawberry shortcake before.

Not knowing what to expect, I dove into this recipe I found online. It was by Mary Nolan and it was super simple. The only thing I had trouble understanding was the cake part. There were no eggs or oil involved and I was wondering how the cake part is going to be soft.

And to no surprise the cake was pretty hard but everything else made up for it very nicely. I actually didn't mind the cake, it reminded me of chinese egg tarts. The ones I oh so loved when I was a kid. Next time when I do strawberry shortcake, I am going to use my own sponge cake recipe and let you know how it goes.

Cheers. =D