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Friday, May 30, 2014

Banana coconut upside down cake

I kind of tweaked the recipe a bit... Lol

Copied & Tweaked This Recipe from a Facebook post:

Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake


Ingredients
·        1 yellow cake mix
·        3 whole eggs
·        1/4 cup oil
·        1/2 cup sour cream
·        1/2 cup water
·        4-6 bananas sliced 1/4 inch thick
·        1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
·        1 cup packed brown sugar
·        1/2 cup butter
·        2 Tablespoons lemon juice
·        2 Tbsp. EACH Malibu (coconut rum), Rum, and Banana Liqueur


Directions
1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 (8 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
2.    With an electric mixer, beat cake mix, eggs, oil, water, and sour cream on low until combined. Beat on high for 2 minutes.
3.    Place banana slices evenly on the bottom of the two cake pans.
4.    In a small saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar and lemon juice and heat until dissolved. Pour half of the brown sugar mixture into each of the 2 round cake pans over the bananas. Sprinkle coconut over brown sugar sauce.
5.    Pour cake batter on top of the coconut into the two pans, dividing equally.
6.    Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. 
7.    Sprinkle or brush on 1 tbsp each Malibu, Rum, Banana Liqueur. Allow to soak in.
8.    Invert onto serving dishes. Slice to serve. Sprinkle on 1 tbsp. each liqueur. Allow to soak in. Serve. 

Banana coconut upside down cake

I kind of tweaked the recipe a bit... Lol 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Apples to Oranges

I got two large bags of apples and oranges today. What can I do with those? Apples are easy! Pie, apple sauce, baked apples, apple tart, tart tatin, dried apples. Those are just from the top of my head, but THE ORANGES?!?

After searching the internet, I decided Des Oranges Givrées, Orange Marmalade, and Candied Orange Zest were good places to start. 

Des Oranges Givrées (Frozen Oranges)




I used the recipe from this YouTube video bycommentfais ton







I doubled the recipe to make 4. Well, because I told you I had an entire sack of oranges to use up! I recommend you watch the video even if you don't understand French to see the technique.

This is an easy, light and refreshing dessert, but it takes time. It's also budget friendly and is guaranteed to impress! 

Des Oranges Givrées
Makes 4 servings

You will need: 
5 oranges, 4 need to be pretty! 
200 mL water (a little more than 3/4 c.)
130 g sugar(a little more than 1/2 c.)
2 egg whites**

Step one: Wash all your oranges. Cut the tops off of the 4 best looking oranges with a serrated knife. Save those tops! With a small spoon remove the pulp and juice from the oranges and place into a bowl. (I used a serrated grapefruit spoon to make it easier.) Be careful not to damage the exterior. A little pulp may remain inside the skin, but that's OK. If your oranges do not sit properly, you can carefully cut off part of the bottom. Be careful not to make a hole or your filling will leak out later. Place your oranges and tops in fridge for later. 














Step TwoRemove the zest from the 5th orange with a vegetable peeler if you want big pieces that can easily be removed, or use a zester if you want to leave it in the final product. Basically, the zest is only being used to give your syrup a more pronounced flavor. 

Place the water, orange zest, and sugar in sauce pan on medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Allow to cool completely. About 15 to 20 minutes. 







Step Three: Meanwhile, we need to strain the orange pulp/juice. Using a sieve or a chinois, strain the mixture into a bowl. Use the back of a wooden spoon to press all of the juice out of the pulp. Let the pulp continue to drain while you wait for the syrup to cool. The pulp you discard should be rather dry.
After the sugar syrup
 has cooled, remove the zest, and whisk in your orange juice. Place this mixture in a flat container and place in your freezer for 30 minutes to an hour and a half.  You don't want it completely frozen into a block, but icy like a slushy.

Step Four: When your orange mixture is ready. Whip your egg whites to stiff peaks. Careful! Don't over whip it. Gently fold egg whites into orange mixture. Start with a little to lighten up the mixture. (Think of it as the sacrifice... lol.) Do not over mix. Work QUICKLY.

In the video, he suggests wetting the outside of the orange (with a little water) to give it a more frosty appearance. Fill the oranges with the mixture, and return immediately to the freezer for a minimum of 4 hours. Before serving. Place the orange tops on little mountain of filling you've created.

You will have some left over filling. This can be served on the side. 

Bon Appetit! 
This one looks a little sad and deflated doesn't it? 

I also made apple sauce and orange marmalade! I will post those recipes later.
*I found this a little sweet. I think next time I will back off on the sugar a bit. You might taste your oranges to see how sweet they are first.

**These egg whites are not cooked. Do not consume if you are pregnant, have a compromised immune system, are very young or old. blah, blah, blah you know the risks I hope. If not read this: http://empoweredsustenance.com/raw-eggs-safe/ or this http://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellaeggs/ or look up information for yourself. :) 
If you are really too scared to try it, I've seen recipes that substitute whipped cream or whipped creme fraiche. I've never tried those recipes, but with all that fat how can it be bad? 

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Goodies

For my brother and sister-in-law's graduation party tonight!
Caramel delite bars, brownies and lemon bars 

Best Brownies....No recipe!



There's no recipe here. Just a cool trick I learned from a lady at church. 

Make a brownie batter, even one from a box if you must. Place half of your batter in your pan. Top the batter with a chocolate bar. Here I've used Hershey's with almond because I got a great deal on them. Symphony bars are even better. 


Top off with your remaining brownie batter. Make sure to cover all the chocolate. Bake as usual. BEST BROWNIES EVER!  

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Banana Nut Waffles


I love, love, love my new waffle maker. The Presto FlipSide Belgian Waffle Maker. It was less than $40 and it's really turned out to be a great little machine. If you are making regular waffles, it cleans up pretty easily. 



The only time I've had trouble cleaning it, was when I got the hair brained idea to make Garlic Parmesan Waffles. (Basically take a can of croissant dough. Slather on some room temp butter, sprinkle in parm, garlic and Italian seasoning. Fold up and cut into pieces that fit in waffle maker. The  I don't know if I'll ever make those again... IT WAS A ROYAL PAIN TO CLEAN UP!)


If you are after a plain easy, from scratch waffle recipe, I would recommend the Waffle I recipe on Allrecipes.com for American waffles. Or, if it's a European style (like you would get in France or Belgium) the Belgian waffle recipe. I think it's my favorite so far! It is worth the extra waiting time.


Today, I had some very ripe bananas sitting on the counter, so I made banana nut waffles.


Banana Nut Waffles

You will need: 
2 c. all-purpose flour (or 1 1/2 c. APF + 1/2 c. whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt (or 1/4 tsp. fine table salt)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
3 ripe banana, crushed
1 c. milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 c. canola oil or melted butter
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 tsp. banana flavoring (optional)
2 tbsp. dark rum or banana liqueur (optional)
1/2 c. chopped nuts (I used almonds... use what you like, or leave it out)



Whisk together dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour in wet ingredients. Stir together just until incorporated. You can stir the nuts in now, but I prefer to add to the waffle maker. This way if you have a family member who doesn't like nuts, they can have a nut free one! Let batter sit for 10 min.


Scoop an appropriate amount into your waffle maker. Mine held a heaping 1/2 cup. Sprinkle on the nuts if you didn't mix them in.

Close waffle maker and wait about 3-4 min. or until all the steam has dissipated. Yield: 5 large waffles