bounty chocolate: banana

Showing posts with label banana. Show all posts

Showing posts with label banana. Show all posts

Maple banana cake with caramel drizzle + an amazing movie trailer

Weeks ago the trailer for Foxcatcher was released and my interest in the movie skyrocketed – I’d read about it and seen a couple of photos (in which both Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell look unrecognizable) and the trailer just made me even more curious (oh, the joy of a perfectly put together movie trailer!).

I find it remarkable when an actor chooses a project that is completely different

Banana poppy seed muffins with almond streusel topping

Last week I had a sudden urge to eat banana cake, but it was a busy Sunday and I would not have enough time to make the cake and then wait for it to cool. Stephanie Alexander's muffins, topped with Thomas Keller's streusel, turned out to be a delicious and very fast alternative to my cake cravings, and they turned out so tender I had to be super careful removing them from the pan, even with the

Banana and blueberry muffins

Every time I have a surplus of ripe bananas at home and I can't find a way of using them immediately I place them in the freezer - they last long there and can be used in most baking recipes after being thawed. However, when there is only one frozen banana to be used things get a bit more complicated, since most recipes call for 2-3 bananas, or even more (that was when I had to drop the idea of

Coconut and cherry banana bread and meeting Nigella

Something I never imagined possible happened a couple of days ago: I met Nigella Lawson! :) No, I wasn’t dreaming – she actually came to Brazil to promote her book "Nigella Kitchen" and I went to the book signing held in Sao Paulo. I had to stand in line for four hours – my legs hurt like hell up to this moment – but it was all worth it: the woman is a goddess. Beautiful beyond words, she

Banana cake with rum glaze

“Artificial Intelligence: A.I.” was on cable last night and I after watching half an hour of the movie my opinion about it did not change after all these years: it is not Kubrick. I know that Kubrick worked on the project for many, many years and reading the movie trivia again I remembered that several details were chosen/decided by him, but I think it was just not enough; I find Spielberg to

Banana streusel muffins + "Skyfall"

I must admit that I’m not a fan of the 007 movies – it’s not my thing. I tried watching several of them, many, many times, but 20 minutes into it and I was either changing the channel or had fallen asleep. :S
The first Bond movie I watched from beginning to end was “Die Another Day”, and well... let’s just say that by the end of it I wished I’d spent those hours baking a cake or something. :)

Banana blondies

I don’t bake blondies very often, but so far the recipes I’ve made turned out delicious – Martha’s gingerbread blondies I made back in 2010 were just irresistible. When I saw Dan Lepard’s banana blondies I had to make them: not only because a blondie made of banana made me curious but also because I’d be able to use up some of my banana overload; oh, and before I forget to mention, there’s

Butterscotch banana cake

And just when I thought that Flo Braker’s banana cake would hold the title of “best banana cake ever baked in my kitchen” forever Mr. Dan Lepard showed up with the idea of caramelizing the bananas before adding them to the cake batter – how great is that? The cake turned out absolutely tender, with a deep, beautiful golden hue and a delicious, strong banana flavor.

Inspired by one of my

Banana and coconut cake with lime icing

I used to love pink as a kid – as I told you a while ago – and I love Lisa Yockelson’s “Baking by Flavor”; therefore, the minute I saw this book I knew I had to have it. Oh, I’m really shallow sometimes, I’ll admit it. :)

This delicious and super moist banana cake comes from Lisa’s very pink and girlish book – if the book was a director it would certainly be Baz Luhrmann. :D

Banana and

Banana, caramel and raisin galette

A couple of days after watching Four Weddings And A Funeral I bought Wet Wet Wet’s "End of Part One: Their Greatest Hits" just because of one song: “Love is All Around” (it was a version of the CD released after the movie, with the theme song included). I had never heard of the band before and not only did I find the CD cover really cool – for the record, I was in my teens – but I ended up

Banana, hazelnut and cinnamon cakes and the book I am currently reading

I thought I should tell you what book I’m reading right now – after all, you helped me choose it. I decided to go for a modern classic: "In Cold Blood" – I hadn’t read anything by Truman Capote and even though I’m still in the beginning of the book I’m enjoying his narrative very much.

And since I am reading a modern classic, I’ll give you today a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks:

Banana crumble

I was watching “Law & Order” the other day and felt like eating something sweet (like that’s something unusual). :) But the episode was really interesting – no Linus, which is bad, but Benjamin, which is good – and I wanted something fast to get back to the couch as soon as possible. The result was this crumble, ridiculously simple and oh, so delicious – and that smells and tastes like banana

Banana sheet cake with fudgy chocolate frosting and a forgotten book

When I was a kid all my friends were tall and strong, unlike me – I had a sort of development delay, so to speak (due to my mom’s death) and I was very tiny. Can you imagine how much I loved P.E. classes? #not
I was always picked last for everything and I don’t blame my colleagues: I could barely hold a basketball, let alone play with it.
I’ve had this book for years and had only baked from it

Banana, chocolate and coconut muffins

Since you are not tired of my banana recipes, here comes another one, with a special help from good friends coconut and chocolate. :)

Quick to put together and delicious, these muffins are perfect for the rainy day/couch/TV combo – but I can assure you they taste great on a summer day, too. ;)

Banana, chocolate and coconut muffins
slightly adapted from here

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2

Spiced banana breakfast loaf

Sometimes when I’m going through my cookbooks I say things out loud: things like “I am so making this”, or “I’ll make this next weekend”, and so on; just so you know it, the hubby doesn't find it weird. :)

A couple of weeks ago I was “talking” to my books again when I said I was going to make a banana cake. “Another one?” Joao asked. I smiled back at him and said nothing, but thought “hey,