Banana Bread, Cream Cheese and Strawberry Open Face Sammies

We're in the middle of summer and I've been slacking as far as the blog posts go. My apologies, but I have a lame excuse, I do. There are too many delicious recipes to try and too much time to spend outdoors. Well this long over do post is one that is delish and truly not my own creation. It's a compilation of a few great bloggers out there and let's give credit where credit is due. The sour cream banana bread comes from Courtney at Neighborfoodblog.com and the strawberry sauce/compote comes from Christine who got the recipe from Aunt Missy's Kitchen.

I love a creamy banana bread and Courney hit the nail on the head with this one. Here's her recipe (with one minor change from me):

Sour Cream Banana Bread
8 slices

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened (Courtney melted her butter)

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

½ cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large very ripe bananas

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon. baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

Grease an 8 inch bread pan with butter or cooking spray.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. I used my hand mixer for this stage and mixed ingredients together until smooth and no brown sugar lumps remained. Put your mixer away and whisk in the sour cream, add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

 

In a separate bowl, mash the bananas then whisk them into the sour cream/egg mixture.

 

Sprinkle the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon on top then stir it together until flour is incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Check the pan after about 30 minutes. If the top is getting too browned, cover with foil for the remaining baking time. I didn't have to do that the two times I made this bread.  Allow the bread to cool before removing from the pan. Wrap leftovers in saran wrap. Bread will keep for up to a week. (Mine is gobbled up in a matter of days)

 

 

Now how about some strawberries to top this moist, delicious bread? Sounds good to me!

Homemade Strawberry Sauce

12 oz fresh strawberries rinsed and hulled
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp butter
Pinch of salt
Juice of 1 lemon (Missy uses 1/2 a lemon)
2 level teaspoons cornstarch
1 T cool water

In medium saucepan combine half the berries, sugar, butter, lemon juice and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium low heat for about 7 minutes, stirring a few times to make sure the sugar is dissolved and the mixture doesn't stick to the pan. (If you forget the butter, as I did the first time I made this, the mixture WILL stick to the pan, but the easy solution is to add the butter as soon as you realize you forgot it and you should be all right). In a separate small bowl, combine cornstarch and water and stir until smooth. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the strawberry mixture and stir. Allow berries to bubble and simmer for another minute or two and remove from heat. Add the remainder of the strawberries. Cool and refrigerate for later.

As Missy says, "this makes a great sauce for cheesecake, ice cream, pancakes, French Toast etc". I took the etcetera route and made a decadent breakfast/brunch entrée or side. Open Faced Banana Bread, Cream Cheese and Strawberry Sandwiches. Yummy delish, that's all I can say. Thanks fellow bloggers for all your inspiration!

 

 

And a few days later, I came up with this idea for easy portability. Three layer banana bread with all the fixings.

 



Twice Baked and Loaded

I've been craving that ever-so-famous, ooey, gooey spinach artichoke dip lately and decided to combine it with some lovely looking Russet potatoes I have also been craving. This was an experiment because I wasn't sure the two would work well together, and (confession here) I've never made a twice baked potato. So join me while I take you on my Sunday afternoon cooking adventure.

Roasted Garlic, Spinach, and Artichoke Twice Baked Potatoes
serves 4 (1/2 stuffed potato per person)

2 medium to large Russet potatoes scrubbed
3 T butter
2-3 T half and half
pinch or two of kosher salt

Roasted Garlic
1 small head of garlic
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper


The Dip
4 oz neufchatel cheese (lower fat cream cheese) softened to room temp
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup lite sour cream
1/4 cup lite mayonnaise
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach thawed or defrosted in the microwave, then squeezed dry to remove any liquid
4 whole artichoke hearts (from a can), drained and chopped
1 head of roasted garlic
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp hot sauce

To roast the garlic: Pre heat oven to 400 degrees. Place a baking sheet in the oven as it pre heats. Remove some of the outer layers of the garlic skin if they are plentiful. Cut the top off the head of the garlic and place on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Seal the foil and place on pre-heated baking sheet. Roast 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and squeeze the roasted pulp into your mixing bowl (discard the skin).

While garlic is cooling, bake your scrubbed potatoes in the already preheated 400 degree oven for 1 hour. Before baking, I poke my potatoes with a fork to allow steam to escape, although I'm not sure if that is necessary. While potatoes are cooking, make the dip, and that's a pretty simple task. Combine all ingredients with a flexible spatula, taste and see if you need more hot sauce. I stuck with the 1 teaspoon, but was debating whether or not I wanted to add some chopped water chestnuts to the mix for a nice crunch, but opted against that as well.

Remove potatoes from oven and when they are cool enough to handle, slice them in half and carefully hollow out the pulp and place in small mixing bowl. I wasn't as careful as I should have been and ripped one. Lesson here: Next time I will make at least one extra potato. Also, leave about 1/4 inch of potato clinging to the skin. It makes for a sturdier package. Oh, now is a good time to set your oven to 350 degrees, getting ready for the second bake.

In mixing bowl add 3 T softened butter and 2 or 3 T half and half to the potato pulp. I added a pinch of salt as well, just because potatoes love to be salted.

I tried to get my mixture as smooth and silky as possible. Now take your artichoke dip and add it to the luxurious potatoes.

Combine well and fill your potato canoes. Top with a little extra mozzarella cheese and bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Don't you just want to dig into this little bit of decadence? I went right for the middle one with the slightly browned cheese on top.

Cream-Filled Oatmeal Walnut Raisin Cookies with a Twist

The twist. Ahh the twist is the addition of Maple Extract. I don't bake with it often enough, and it's the perfect addition to so many fall and winter dishes (both sweet and savory).

I know some people are not fond of maple anything, and then some go wild over maple everything. Both my parents were fanatics about maple walnut ice cream and maple walnut coffee cake. So that was my inspiration when I decided to put this experiment together last night. There are a few steps to making these little darlings, but the results are so worth it. And as usual, I've tried to cut some calories and sugar. There might be some future tweaking, but for now...this is a yummy cookie your maple lovers will adore.

Cream-Filled Oatmeal Walnut Raisin Cookies
makes approximately 20-22 sandwich cookies

Filling
8 oz Neufchatel cheese softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (1 stick)
1/2-3/4 cups confectioners sugar
1 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (or 2 T regular brown sugar)
1 tsp natural maple extract
1/3 cup finely chopped or ground walnuts

Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter softened (2 sticks)
1 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (same amount if you're using granulated sugar)
1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (or 1 cup regular brown sugar)
2 large eggs at room temp
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp natural maple extract
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1cup rolled oats
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup finely chopped or ground walnuts

I like to make my filling first. In medium size bowl, combine your butter and Neufchatel. I use a hand mixer. Now add your sugars and maple extract.

And fold in your ground nuts.

Wrap filling in plastic wrap and set aside in your refrigerator to set up and let the flavors meld.

Let's make the cookies. Pre heat your oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment. In medium size bowl, combine salt, flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk with a fork or spoon to incorporate. No need for any sifting. Set aside.

On to the batter. Place butter and sugars in a large bowl. With hand mixer combine sugars and butter until smooth. Add eggs and both extracts and incorporate.

 
Now add the flour mixture in two batches to the wet ingredients and combine. And fold in the oats, raisins and chopped walnuts.

I usually just plop my oatmeal dough by teaspoonfuls onto the parchment paper, but since I was filling these little beauties, I decided to make them into 1 inch to 1-1/2 inch balls, so they would all be pretty uniform in size.

Bake each cookie sheet 9 minutes. Let cool on cooling rack and remove cookies to paper towels to finish setting up. And amazingly enough, the cookies are all pretty much the same size. I lucked out on that one.

While cookies are cooling, remove the filling from the fridge, let it come to almost room temp so filling the cookies will be a snap. Lovingly pile a teaspoon to a tablespoon of the maple infused filling on to the bottom (flat side) of one cookie and top with a second. Keep going, and be sure to sample at least one (or two). They really are yummy.

Grilled Pineapple and Creamy Blue Cheese Bruschetta

Grilling season is upon us. And if you're like me and don't have an outdoor grill, use your indoor grill pan and whip up this tasty appetizer in your kitchen. It's so easy and it's gonna wake up every little taste bud in your mouth.

Grilled Pineapple and Creamy Blue Cheese Bruschetta
Inspired by Lauren "The Pie Maker"

1-1/2 cans (8 oz each) pineapple slices in 100% pineapple juice (6 slices)
1/2 baguette sliced 3/8"-1/2" on the diagonal
8 oz neufchatel cheese softened
5 oz blue cheese crumbled and at room temp
1/3 cup raisins
2 stalks celery finely chopped
3 tsp scallions finely chopped
2 tsp pineapple juice from the can of sliced pineapple
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Parsley or mint for garnish

Heat your grill pan on high and toast/grill your bread slices a few minutes on each side.

Set the bread aside and do the same thing with the pineapple slices until they become caramalized and light brown.

Set the pineapple slices aside to cool and let's make the cheese topping. Combine the neufchatel and blue cheese. I use a flexible spatuala. Now add the raisins, celery, scallions, Worcestershire, and pineapple juice.

Take four of the grilled pineapple slices and finely chop. Add these to the mixture and combine.

We're just about ready to plate. Take a heaping tablespoon of cheese mixture and place on grilled bread. With the two remaining slices of grilled pineapple cut them into 4 pieces (so they look like little fans) and place one atop each bruschetta. Now garnish with parsley or mint. Isn't that simple? And the combo of creamy and crispy is just what I'm always looking for.

There are many ways to re-mix this cheese spread- use dried cranberries or dried cherries instead of the raisins, pistachio nuts in place of the celery (we want crunch and this is a great option), and I've thought about some hot Fresno chilis but have not tested this idea yet. And then the addition of bacon came into the picture. I haven't tried that yet either, but bacon seems to go with everything and how could that fail? 

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Here's an update on what I did this past weekend with this creamy, fruity spread. I over-stuffed some extra large mushrooms. Super quick and delish. Sprinkle tops with some paprika for color and bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Garnish with parsley and gobble them up.

Pina Colada Cream Filled Cookies

 

Every year I celebrate my friend Jonathan's birthday with a new cookie. This year I did a take off on my Raspberry Cloud Cakes that I made at the 2013 World Food Championships in Las Vegas. Since Jon will be spending some time soon in the Caribbean I thought a coconut and pineapple combo would be appropriate. I didn't take any pictures to guide us through the baking process, but it's simple and I think when you make these you'll be as pleased as I was.

 

Pina Colada Cream Filled Cookies

 

Filling

8 oz neufchatel cheese at room temp

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp

1/4 cup sweetened coconut ground in spice grinder or food processor

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp coconut extract

 

Dough

3/4 cup butter softened

3/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend- if you choose to use regular brown sugar double the amount

2 large eggs at room temp

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup candied/dried pineapple rings chopped

Confectioners sugar for dusting

 

Garnish

Chopped candied/dried pineapple rings

Cream cheese coconut mixture

 

I always make the filling first: In medium size bowl combine your neufchatel cheese and butter. Now add your ground coconut, confectioners sugar and coconut extract. I cover this with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge while I'm making the cookie dough.

 

To make the cookies: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In medium size bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir with a whisk or fork to combine and set aside.

 

In large bowl, with hand or stand mixer combine butter and brown sugar and mix until smooth and airy (about 3 minutes). Add eggs and vanilla and continue to mix. Add half the dry ingredients into the wet and mix on low. Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Fold in the candied/dried pineapple pieces. Cover with plastic wrap, and let cool in your refrigerator 20-30 minutes.

 

When dough is chilled, form into small balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place on baking sheets and cook 11 minutes. Cool slightly on cooling rack, then remove to kitchen or paper towels to cool completely.

 

Remove coconut filling from fridge and take a tablespoon (or maybe a little more) and place this creamy mixture on the flat side of the cooled cookie. Cover with a second cookie to make a sandwich. Keep going until you've matched up all the mates.

 

Sprinkle the top of all cookies with confectioners sugar, add a dab of coconut cream cheese on top and plunk in a piece or two of chopped pineapple. Nice presentation and a very sweet cookie.

 

I refrigerate these cookies and take them out about 30 minutes to one hour before serving. Happy Birthday Jonathan! Oh my, what am I going to make you next year?    

World Food Championships 2013, Part 3

 

The night before I was leaving for the WFC, packing clothes, emptying out my kitchen, getting my ingredients in order, and stressing to the max, I got an email from Lori- my sous chef extraordinaire and fabulous daughter (living 3,000 miles away from me) who reminded me she had some suprises in store. I usually don't worry about Lori because she is very down to earth. But her email included this picture.One is me and of one is her. And this was going to be part of our banner for the competitor's parade and the competition booth. I love the way she thinks. Just seeing her email made me giddy and I couldn't wait to see what she was planning, I was game for anything. Just to fill you in, this is a picture of each of us, one taken in 1959 and one in 1986. Yes, we were about the same age posing as Miss America. Well, when you're in a cooking competition as stressfull as the WFC, it sure is like a beauty contest except the best food wins. And when your favorite Miss America is cooking with you, it's home cooking at its' best!

 

On to the event: The two former pretend beauty queens got down to cooking Thursday afternoon and made Raspberry Cloud Cakes, our signature dish. To me it's everything that a dessert should be- creamy, rich, white chocolatey and fruity. This is one of my favorite recipes that I created over a year ago and just prior to the competition, I made them once a week for about 4-6 weeks. I made them in my sleep too. Here's the recipe, I think you'll enjoy.

 

White Chocolate Raspberry Cloud Cakes

makes about 36 filled cakes

 

Filling

8 oz neufchatel cheese softened to room temp

1/2 cup butter softened

3 T confectioner's sugar

1 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend for Baking

1/3 cup Polaner All Fruit Raspberry Preserves

 

Dough

3/4 cup butter softened

3/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

2 large eggs room temp

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup white chocolate chips finely chopped

Confectioners sugar for dusting

 

Garnish

Fresh raspberries

mint leaves

 

Let's put this beautiful dessert together.

 

To make the filling: In medium size bowl combine all ingredients with hand mixer. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare and make the dough.

 

To make the (dough): Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In medium size bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir with a whisk to combine and set aside.

 

In large bowl, with hand or stand mixer combine butter and brown sugar and mix until smooth and airy (2-3 minutes). We used a hand mixer at the show. Add eggs and vanilla and continue to mix. Add half the dry ingredients into the wet and mix on low. Add the rest of the dry ingredients until dough is smooth. Now add the crushed white chocolate and stir to combine. Use your clean hands if it's easier. The white chocolate is a fabulous addition to these little darlings. Who doesn't like a little white chocolate crunch with a cakey cookie?

  

Your dough will be very sticky so you'll want to refrigerate it for about 15-20 minutes. Up tp 30-40 minutes if you have the time. Form dough into small balls about 3/4 inch in diameter. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes and place on cooling rack to cool. After a few minutes you can place them on paper or kitchen towels to cool completely.

When mini cakes are cooled, the fun begins. Take a tablespoon of prepared raspberry cream and place on top of flat side of cake.

We're getting there. Now cover the filling with a second cookie cake to make a sandwich.

Keep going, you've got a lot more to make. When you cake sammies are assembled, sprinkle both sides of the cake with confectioner's sugar through a sieve. Add a dollop of the leftover raspberry cream to the top of these and garnish with a raspberry. Here is a picture that I took in my house before the contest. I was thrilled to be able to make these for the judges, with red wrappers, white plates and a sprinkling here and there of fresh mint (sorry no picture at the competition).

 

For those of you that want to give these a try, I have to warn you, they are growing raspberries bigger than you can imagine. Each garnish ended up being 1/3 of a raspberry. I cut the tops off, blotted them with paper towels to prevent bleeding and added them to the top raspberry swirl. Wish I had a picture of my final-hand in dish, but time was wasting and we were lucky to get these little cuties in on time.

 

 

And in case you were wondering, here is one of the two surprise signs Lori made. From what I could tell, we had the best "home cook" signs in the competition.

 

So the cook off is over and it's been over a week since I've been home. Will we do it next year? I'd like to think so and just hope we're invited back. To be able to do this for 2 years in a row and compete in a fierce competition like the WFC, I think our third time might be the charm. Fingers crossed!  

No-Bake Cream Cheese Pudding Cake

This is a re-mix of the ice box cake I made a few weeks ago. The concept is similar, but I made it smaller in an 8 x 8 inch glass dish. I didn't have enough graham crackers to make the big one and after visiting the market way too many times over the weekend I decided I'd make do with what was on hand. I also eliminated the peanut butter and cool whip and gave 8 ounces of low fat cream cheese star billing. Plus I used white chocolate instant pudding this time and had some filling left over which was great mixed with fresh fruit for breakfast or intermittent snacks. And of course I thickly slathered this decadent little cake with Diane's super rich chocolate frosting. Here's what you need to get started:

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Filled No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake

13 chocolate graham crakers
2 boxes (1 oz each) Jello sugar free/fat free white chocolate instant pudding
3-1/2 cups fat free milk
8 oz neufchatel cheese at room temp
3/4 cup mini chocolate semi sweet chips

Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1-1/2 cup powdered sugar
dash of salt

Get out your pudding. This is what I used:

In large bowl mix pudding with milk. I use a small hand mixer and whirl for about 2 minutes until the mixture thickens a bit, scraping down the sides to get every last bit of goodness combined. Now add the softened cream cheese and blend for another minute or two. Taste it, it's creamy and cream cheesy.

Time to add the mini chips.

And fold them into the cheese/pudding mixture.

Set this aside and let's get ready for assembly. In an 8x8 inch dish, spritz a little cooking spray around bottom and sides and place 4 and 1/3 chocolate graham crackers on the bottom, so they look like this:

Cover the top of the crackers with enough of your pudding mixture so all the crackers are covered. Layer another 4 and 1/3 crackers on top of the pudding mixture. We're building a masterpiece for sure.

Cover the second layer of crackers with enough pudding to make sure crackers are going to be soaking up the decadent pudding mixture and top with your last 4 and 1/3 graham crackers. We're ready to frost this baby. Most exciting part of the dish!

In medium size bowl combine all frosting ingredients and pull out that hand mixer one more time. Combine all ingredients until smooth.

Cover, no slather your cake liberally with this most heavenly frosting. Lick the spoon of course and cover your cake with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 12 hours, slice and enjoy with or without some whipped cream.

 So now you've got a little bit of pudding/cheese mixture left over, what're you gonna do? I made a fabulous fruit salad and used a dollop or two as a garnish. But this little mixture has legs and I discovered you can serve this creamy, white chocolate pudding with French Toast. I did that and it deserves a post of it's own. I will take some pics and post the French Toast next time I'm making cream cheese pudding again. Lovin' all the pudding possibilities!

Cream Cheese Banana Bread

I have a few favorite banana bread recipes and make them when I have ripe bananas and feel like treating myself. A few months ago I came across a recipe called "The Most Creamy Banana Bread" and obviously I was intrigued because it contained cream cheese, which I love in all my cookies, cakes and breads, and the ratings were A plus. So what's a gal to do on a snowy Saturday with 3 extra ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter? I got to work and made this simple, delicious bread. Easy prep and 45 minutes cooking time, I couldn't be happier. This recipe originated from Tracey Stephan, a blue ribbon winner at JAP. Tracey had a topping on her bread- nuts and brown sugar. I decided to eliminate the topping and just add my favorite add in-mini chocolate chips into the batter. This is a treat you don't want to miss. Let's put this baby together, with a few pictures to help you along.

Cream Cheese Banana Bread
use a 9 x 5 inch bread pan

Cooking spray
1/2 cup butter softened
8 oz cream cheese softened
1-1/4 cup sugar (I used Splenda no calorie)
2 eggs room temp if possible
3 bananas mashed (Tracey used 1 cup, I added a little more)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups AP flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and mist bread pan with cooking spray. I like to get all my ducks in order before I bake so first thing I did was combine my flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl.

In large bowl beat with hand mixer the cream cheese and butter. Now add the sugar and mix well.

Add your eggs one at a time and mix. Now add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract.

It's time to add the flour mixture. At this time I put my mixer away and stir the ingredients with my wooden spoon. The "Joy of Baking" claims that the less you mix your batter, the more tender your bread will be. So fold in the flour mixtue gently by hand. Add the chocolate chips and combine.

 

 

Pour or spoon batter into prepared baking pan.

 

 

Bake in pre heated oven for 45 minutes. At first I thought this wasn't enough time for this amount of bread, but I was wrong. Forty five minutes does the trick. Bake this little baby up and enjoy!