Going Bananas for Banana! (Banana Bread)

I love banana bread for many reasons! If you know me, you're probably thinking I love banana bread because I love bananas! While that is true, it's only partly true. Side note: I have been obsessed with bananas for the past two year and haven't gone more than two days without eating a banana. I eat one for breakfast everyday and if I don't eat it for breakfast, I find some other time in the day to get my daily banana intake. It's a horrible obsession but at least it's a healthy one! Continuing on my banana rant, I only eat bananas at a particular ripeness. The idea banana is a vibrant yellow that is slightly green towards the end (see Oatmeal Banana Streusel Muffins). I don't pick bananas that are all bruised on the bottom. When I go to the grocery store, I only buy enough bananas so I can eat them at their ideal state which meant I bought bananas every three days. I am that picky!

Last summer, I was talking to my friend and she was telling me how she puts bananas in her smoothies and how it is tastier when they are riper. I started trying it out in my own smoothies I made for breakfast and she was right! I slowly became okay with eating riper bananas (deep yellow with speckles) in my peanut butter banana sandwiches, smoothies, and of course...banana bread! I am proud to say that I can buy a week's worth of bananas (one a day) and be okay with eater riper bananas by the end of the week!

Anyways, back to the focus on this blog entry: banana bread! The key to tasty banana is using really ripe bananas. I'm talking mushy and practically brown. I know, it's strange to hear me say this but it is true! This is my favorite banana bread recipe because it is full of banana flavor and it's not too sweet nor too heavy. Also, you can create your own variation of banana bread from this recipe. I have added chocolate chips to make chocolate chip banana bread and I have made whole wheat banana bread where I used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. Don't worry, the bread did not turn out dry, it was still moist and I felt better about myself after ingesting it!

2010 To-Bake List (Revisited)

I was just thinking about how 2010 is almost half over. I remember when 2010 seemed so far away. I have always envisioned what 2010 would be like and not that it is hear, I feel like it is almost over. It will always be remembered the year I graduated college and officially became an adult. Granted, I graduated college in 2009 instead of 2010 but I will always view it as the last year of my undergraduate career! It has been a great year but I was sifting through my old blog entries and I came across my 2010 To-Bake List. Take a look:

1. sponge cake
2. crusty bread
3. Danish pastry
4. homemade oreo cookies
5. seven layer bars
6. Dutch crunch bread
7. cinnamon rolls
8. millionaire's shortbread
9. pita bread
10. chocolate brownie pudding cakes
11. English muffins
12. cinnamon raisin swirl bread
13. black and white cookies
14. New York cheesecake
15. molten chocolate cake
16. flourless chocolate cake
17. coconut cake

Guess how many of these items I have made? You guessed correctly if you said ZERO! As an excuse, if I can have one, I have been living a residential hall for this entire year and while I do go home on the occasional weekend, I usually bake something quick and yummy like cookies or cupcakes. It's not that I have not been baking, I just having been baking the things on my list. The funny part about looking at this list is that I want to add more things to it. I had many delicious desserts on the European cruise I went on a few weeks ago but my list will stand for now.

Now that I have done my mid-year review, I give myself an F. Let's see if I can redeem myself in the second half!

WAIT! Looking over the list again, I have made one thing: sponge cake. I do not have any pictures to show you as proof so I guess that does not count, does it? Ehh, I will give myself .5/17. That is still embarrassing though...

To make everyone feel better, including myself, here are pictures of things I have made. Everybody likes pictures, right?

My 22nd birthday cake. Yes, I made my own birthday cake. Don't judge me!

Made my own spinach dip. It was delicious, tasted similar to TGIF's!

Smoked salmon with cream cheese on a cracker with a sprinkle of parsely on top. I am well aware of the fact that this takes two seconds to make but don't you think it's a pretty picture?

My sister's 23rd birthday cake. I do not remember how long it took me to make this cake but I made it in record time, no joke. Red velvet cake with strawberry ice cream. It's always a winner.

It's All About the Cute Cupcake!

When I first started baking, I really enjoyed making cookies. Actually, I was obsessed with making cookies that I did not make anything but cookies. I preferred perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe than trying something new like pastry, cake, or bread. Well, after my little obsession, I was hungry to try something new. That is when I moved into the cake and bread realm and became a more well-rounded baker.

Anyways, my latest obsession has been cupcakes and frankly, I think it is an obsession that will stay. Not to the extent where I only make cupcakes but I think it is something I will never ever get tired of making. It started about a year ago when I decided to make cupcakes for my co-workers as a recognition event. Every month, I would make a dessert and bring it to my meeting of 48 people. I always made something in the lounge but I had to be strategic with what I made because I was in a residential hall with limited equipment and supplies without breaking my piggy bank. I had to make shortbread, brownies, cupcakes - things that were individualized, easy to make, and required little ingredients/equipment. Now, these bake goods can get plain and boring so I began thinking of ways I can jazz up these desserts, particularly the cupcake. That is when I began exploring at different ideas online and came across books such as Hello Cupcake and What's New Cupcake.

That is what I have been doing, jazzing up the cupcake. This is what I have made so far and there will be many more cute cupcakes to come!

Fortune cookie cupcakes

Fried rice cupcakes

Take Out Cupcakes - Would you like some takeout?

Hamburger cupcakes - There's nothing like a good burger! Too bad it came out a little blurry.

Bears on the Beach - Teddy bears having a good time at the beach!

Apple cupcakes - You're the apple of my eye!

Dirt 'n Worms cupcakes - It is just as dirty and gritty as it is delicious!

 Sushi cupcakes - Where's the soy sauce?

Sashimi cupcake - poor fishy

The Good Ole Cupcake!

I am going to be completely honest, I love boxed cake. I think it is delicious and very convenient but as much as I like it, there is a part of me that gets the satisfaction of making it from scratch. Usually when I make cupcakes, I want them to look cute which is why I often use boxed cake mix. I was contemplating what to make last night when my brother told me he wanted simple yellow cupcakes. I thought "how boring" but sometimes the simplest things are the most satisfying. So, I whipped out my Better Homes and Garden cookbook and found the recipe for yellow cake. Instead of making the cake, I put the cake batter in muffin tins and voila, cupcakes!

I decorated the cupcakes very simply, chocolate fudge frosting and my favorite kind of sprinkles! I even scooped out some batter, mixed in cocoa powder and make marble cupcakes too for some variation. They were indeed satisfying, just how simple things can be!

Oatmeal Banana Streusel Muffins

I know, the title is a mouthful! You're probably thinking, "does this actually work?" Yes, it does! I like to think of this as a perfect grab and go breakfast. Usually breakfast muffins are full of bran and bland but this muffin is tasty and satisfying. The bananas keeps the muffins moist and the oatmeal gives it nice texture. To make this healthier than it already is, you can switch the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. I made a streusel to put on top of the muffins but of course you can omit the streusel if you want a truly healthy muffin. However, the streusel adds more texture and sweetness to the muffin and is still a fairly healthy muffin with the streusel on top. If you want to mix it up, you can make half with the streusel and half without. I did this because I like the healthier version with no streusel but the rest of my family thinks like the extra calories.

Store bought muffins tend to be overly sweet, moist, and delicious that we often neglect the fact that they are high in fat and calories. Muffins have gained the reputation of being cakes in a muffin tin but these muffins have the taste of cake but just not the fat or the calories.

Brown Sugar Shortbread

Quick! What do you think of when you hear shortbread? Yummy, tasty, light, high in fat. Shortbread is actually a quite simple cookie to make yet the flavor can be as complex as any other cookie. These are delectable shortbread cookies. I have personally never been a fan of the shortbread. My earliest memories of shortbread came from eating te packaged Walker shortbread. While it was tasty because of the buttery flavor, it was not fulfilling as a packaged chocolate chip cookie. If I had good shortbread, I always felt guilty eating such a rich and fattening cookie. As I was flipping through my Mrs. Field Cookbook, I felt so inclined to make shortbread. Perhaps the pictures made them simply irresistible! I was particularly intrigued by this recipe that uses brown sugar instead of white sugar and was dipped in chocolate and pecans. I allowed myself to make these cookies because I was making them for a party and knew that it would be a crowd pleaser. And it gave me an excuse to eat one but only one of course!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Another Version)

Chocolate chip cookies are probably one of the greatest inventions ever. I don't know what can be better than a delectable cookie with the pop of sweetness from the chocolate chips. What is great about the chocolate chip cookie is that it is very versatile. You can have different add accessories to your chocolate chip cookies like nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal, etc.

For this chocolate chip cookie, I decided to take the healthy route. When you throw in whole wheat flour, oatmeal, and small amount of butter, you just feel better when you eat the cookie. Okay, the difference may not be that significant but there is a difference.

I do volunteer work with underprivileged children and I helped compile a book of healthy recipes the children can make at home with their families. I didn't have many on top of my head so I did some research online and came across EatingWell and found a gold mine of tasty and healthy recipes. It was here that I found this recipe which are titled Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies. I don't know Bev but she made some great cookies. Take a look at the nutritional information:


Per cookie: 99 calories; 5 g fat ( 2 g sat , 2 g mono ); 11 mg cholesterol; 12 g carbohydrates; 1 g protein; 1 g fiber; 64 mg sodium; 55 mg potassium

From a calories perspectives, you cannot get much lower than 99 calories for a cookie. The fat is relatively high for the calorie of the cookie but you can experiment with the amount of butter and substituting applesauce or buttermilk to reduce the fat.  Even with 5 grams of fat, it is not as bad as other cookies...just sayin'!