Banana Walnut Bread

What do you do with over ripped bananas? Of course, turn it into bread so we don't waste it. Good thing I love banana bread. :)

Here's my recipe for a banana bread.

 2 cups all purpose flour

 1 tsp baking soda

 1/4 tsp salt

 2/3 cups brown sugar

 1/2 cup butter

 2 eggs, beaten

 1 tsp vanilla extract

 2 1/2 cups mashed bananas

 1 cup chopped walnuts

- Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a large loaf pan or 2 smaller loaf pan, grease lightly.

- Stir together all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

- In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.

- Stir in vanilla extract, eggs and mashed bananas until fully incorporated.

- Stir in flour mixture enough to get it wet. Do not over mix.

- Mix in the walnuts.

- Pour batter in prepared loaf pan.

- Bake for 40 to 60 mins.

- Enjoy!

Note: Walnuts you can substitute to any nuts you want or you can eliminate it all together.

P.S. Picture above, I split the batter in two large loaf pan to cut the baking time.. yes I was in a hurry. ;)

Buko Pie.... Coconut Pie

One of my favorite dessert or snack from home is Buko Pie (Coconut Pie).  When I was back home we usually get this when we go to Laguna province. It's been years since I've eaten this and I am so craving for it. So being the baker in me, I had to experiment and to my delight I was able to improvise and bake my favorite pie ever! :)

For the benefit of my friends and others out there who wants to try to make buko pie, especially those who are overseas, I am sharing the recipe.

 Here's what you need:
2 cups of young coconut, shredded
1/2 cup of young coconut juice
1/2 cup condensed milk
2/3 cup evaporated milk
4 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 deep dish pie shells
grated cheese

I got the young coconut from the Oriental store in our area. They do have the fresh coconut but I am too lazy to peel, open, and shred it so I opted for the frozen ones. 2 packages of the frozen shredded young coconut will do.











As for the pie shells, you can make your own from scratch if you have a very good recipe (and would care to share with me) but for easy and less work I bought the frozen pie shells from the grocery store. It comes in two shells per package.

Now how do we do this?  It's very easy!

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch to 1/2 cup of evaporated milk. Set aside.

 In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine young coconut, coconut juice, condensed milk, evaporated milk, sugar, and vanilla extract.

Make sure to not burn it so you need to watch it and stir occasionally.

Bring to a boil.  Let it boil for about 2 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Pour in the cornstarch/evaporated milk.

The mixture will thicken quickly so constant stirring is a must to avoid burning.

 Remove from heat when mixture is thick and has formed together.

Pour coconut mixture into one of the pie shells.

Even the coconut mixture out to the edges. (Oopps, I overfilled this one!)

Remove the edge of the other pie shell.

Then flip it over to the one that has the filling to cover the pie.

Flatten the top crust and make sure to cover and seal the edges. 

Then put this in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle cheese on top.
I say sprinkle but as you can see I almost covered it entirely. It's up to your liking. :)

Put it back in the oven and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Once cheese is melted according to your liking remove from oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.

You can serve the pie warm or chill it for a few hours before serving.   I like it chilled while my husband likes it warm. :)

 I hope you try this recipe and hope that it satisfies your craving for buko pie also.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Fries with Cinnamon Sugar Sauce

I had to post this even though it's not related to any kind of baking at all. But it's still cooking and it still involves sugar so I think that's enough to be on this blog. :)

My son had a school project where they needed to show how to make something. He said to his teacher that he will do "How to make French Fries".  It was a right timing because I planned on making some sweet potato fries. I told my son that it was close enough and just tell his teacher that it his own twist on "french fries".

So below are the pictures I took while he "demonstrated" how to make sweet potato fries with cinnamon sugar dipping sauce.  You can follow the direction on each photo below and try it yourself. It was pretty good!

PS.  For the dipping sauce, we used 2/3 cups of granulated sugar, 1/3 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder.

Perfect American Buttercream Icing?

Made some chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache and buttercream icing for our office food day a few days back. I think I have finally found the perfect buttercream icing for me. It tasted better than the "quick" buttercream I used to make and also I can adjust the consistency of the icing depending on how I need it.

What you need:
2 lbs. sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup or 1 stick butter, softened
1-1/2 cups solid vegetable shortening (I use the butter flavor)
2 tbsp. clear vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/3 cup water for icing cake -OR- 1/4 cup for stiff consistency.


How to:
On medium speed for hand mixers or low speed for stand mixers, cream butter, shortening and extracts until creamy and smooth.
Gradually add powdered sugar and water.


Notes:
1. Do not overmix or mix on high speed.
2. For whiter icing, use butter without dye.
3. For stiffer icing, use 1/4 cup of water instead of 1/3 cup.
4. If you live where it is humid, you can add 1-2 tbsp. of meringue powder.
5. Let set for 15 minutes before smoothing the icing.
6. Icing can be refrigerated for 2 weeks in an airtight container. Or it can be left at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

Decorated with some fondant accents.

Recipe source: Cake Central

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Another easy cookie to make and my very favorite! I made these and also the oatmeal cookies for our road trip the past weekend. Something to munch on while on the road. :)


1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

   
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. 
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract. 
4. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl then gradually stir into the creamed mixture. 
5. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. 
6. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. 


Note: I baked this 3 minutes longer as I made the cookie a little bigger than usual.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

Here's a simple and very easy to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. I originally planned on putting in some raisins but didn't find some in my pantry so the chocolate chip went it. :)

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. 
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. 
4. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. 
5. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. 
6. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.  
7. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. 
8. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 


Note: I let it baked for an additional 3 minutes because I made the cookies a little bigger than usual.