Bananas Foster

If you like bananas and rum and caramelized sugar, you will LOVE this! Here is my version of Bananas Foster...enjoy! The plated presentation was a little messy, but boy, was it delicious and - alert - will send you on a sugar high. Next time I will add some pecans during the sugar-melting/caramelizing part to offset so much of the sweetness and also to add some contrasting texture.

a messy presentation, but oh, so yummy!

Ingredients
3 T. unsalted butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. apple pie spice (or scant 1/2 t. cinnamon, pinch ginger, pinch freshly grated nutmeg)
1 T. orange liquor (Cointreau or similar)
3 bananas, sliced lengthwise, then sliced in half
1/4 c. rum
vanilla ice cream (or pancakes, waffles, or crepes)

Method
In a large pan, melt the butter, brown sugar, and apple pie spice over low heat until the sugar completely dissolves and begins to caramelize.

Carefully add the banana slices; spoon the sauce over the bananas. Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes, until softened, continue spooning the sauce over the bananas as they cook.

When the bananas are softened, remove pan from heat and add the rum. Return to heat and tilt the pan (or use a long match) to ignite the rum; cook for another 1-2 minutes until the liquor flame is extinguished. Or, if you are nervous about setting the pan on fire, just cook for 1-2 minutes after adding the rum without igniting the alcohol.

Gently spoon the bananas and some delicious sauce over ice cream (or pancakes, etc.); serve immediately.

ingredients for the Bananas Foster

the bananas go into the pan and sauce is spooned over

then the bananas are flipped, cooked a bit more and the rum is added

serve over ice cream

so delicious!

Bye for now...

Avid Baker's Challenge: Supermoist Banana-Nut Muffins

Here is one more from my Avid Baker's Challenge group's 2012 book, The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge. These Supermoist Banana-Nut Muffins were very easy to pull together (and I feel like I always have overripe bananas around!) and were very good. You could easily adjust the spices, but even by the recipe, they was delicious - moist with a great banana flavor.

I've already made this recipe - in a loaf pan - at least twice since the first time (July 2012) and have some overripe bananas sitting on the counter right now so will probably be making another loaf tomorrow. I think I prefer this recipe as a loaf. As cupcakes - unless you plan to eat them all the day they are made - they tend to dry out a little. But, as a loaf, it's much more moist and remains moist for several days. Day (or two) old, toasted and served with butter and a drizzle of butter...the best!

mise en place - this cake is very easy to make

dry ingredients are added to the wet

to avoid over-mixing, add the nuts before the flour is fully incorporated

one last stir and...done!

I use a scoop so all the cupcakes are the same size

done - they would be delicious with a smear of creamcheese frosting

a close up

are they cool enough to eat yet??

yummy - very light and tender

Bye for now...

Avid Baker's Challenge: Nut-Crusted Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake

My Avid Baker's Challenge club is beginning a new book for 2012, The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge. And (exciting!), the author herself is getting us started with our first recipe, Nut-Crusted Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake on page 288.

The new book is really interesting because it details the recipes in stages so you can get started one day and finish everything a day or two later. I can see this coming in very handy around the holidays! It's not something I've done much of before, but I'm looking forward to experimenting with baking in stages.

The Nut-Crusted Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake (half of which is sitting patiently on my counter-top, waiting for me to eat it) is delicious! The finished cake has a dense crumb but isn't heavy and the bananas keep the cake really moist. Plus, bananas equals healthy, right? Right! The banana flavor is really only obvious in the vanilla swirls of the cake while the chocolate swirls taste pretty much like pure chocolate so it's a nice combination of the two flavors. And even my husband - who doesn't like banana bread - declared this cake to be fantastic and has already polished of several slices.

The only bundt pan I have is this Nordic Ware Heritage bundt pan and I was a little concerned with trying to press my ground nuts into all the small crevices, so I chose instead to make 2 loaf cakes instead of 1 bundt cake. It was easy peasy to butter and nut the plain pans and I think the loaf shape - wrapped in some clear cellophane and a pretty ribbon - would be great for gifting. With the change in pan shape, I had to bake the cakes for an additional 15 minutes (until an inserted toothpick came out with a few crumbs).

The other change I made was to follow our ABC leader Hanaâ's suggestion of creaming the butter and sugar before adding the banana (I also squished up the banana first). I got a little nervous when adding the banana - as the batter seemed to separate - but all was well in the end. Overall I was very pleased with our first Weekend Baker cake and I can't wait for next month's Glazed Cinnamon Rolls! I'm curious to see how they'll compare to my Overnight Cinnamon Buns (which I loved) from last year's ABC book, Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker.

mise en place

my two loaf pans, generously buttered and "nutted"

hmmm...getting nervous here as the batter separated
when the bananas were added

half the finished batter is separated and the melted chocolate is mixed in

spoonfuls of the vanilla/banana and chocolate batters are marbled together

the finished loaves...the whole house smelled delightful

I couldn't wait for it to cool...

moist, tender...and delicious!

Bye for now...