Butter-less Banana Cake

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic Holiday, and are looking forward to the New Year. I am looking forward to a lighter 2010, it's ridiculous what I did to myself over the holidays. Ridiculous I say. So here is a little treat that I still can enjoy, that is a little on the healthier side.
..
I have been experimenting with butter-less cakes and cookies for a while now. It's not that I don't like butter, but there is a difference between the occasional teaspoon on a piece of toast and a cup of it in a cake. My butter-less banana bread, is a regular in our house. Mostly because there are always 2 or 3 over ripened bananas lying around, and also because it's so quick and easy. You can pour the batter into a muffin pan and have a healthy morning or afternoon snack when you are on the go too. Enjoy!
..

Butter-less Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 Large Eggs, 3 if smaller

4 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups of unbleached flour ( sometimes I blend with whole wheat )

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 /2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of fat free sour cream ( or the regular stuff, or plain or vanilla yogurt)

2 or 3 mashed bananas ( about a cup mashed more or less)

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

extras:

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

(NOTE: it seems when I don't add the chocolate chips, I get complaints)

.

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350. Make sure baking rack is set in middle of oven.

In a small bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs and oil, until light and fluffy, gradually add sugar until well blended. Gradually add flour mixture until well blended. Add sour cream, vanilla and mashed bananas. Remove from mixer . Stir in extras, walnuts and/or chocolate chips, by hand.

Generously coat 9" cake pan or muffin tray with no stick cooking spray. Bake in oven for 50 - 60 minutes cake, 20-25 minutes, muffins. You can insert a toothpick into center of cake to ensure it's fully baked.

Enjoy !

Photo Credit: Vitania Liscio

2009 B.Y.O.A. - Pizzelle Edition

Traditional Italian Pizzelle

Vitania and Anna, and the Peacock..:-)

.Since the holiday season is quickly approaching Vitania and I thought it would be a great time to hold our Annual Christmas Cookie Bake. (a.k.a. BYOA - Bring your own apron). We thought this day could be fun for all the ladies to get together, laugh and help each other bake in company. Plus a great opportunity for us to watch our mothers and learn the family recipes that have been part of the holidays for years.

Our Mom's Rita and Lidia

Our mothers are sisters, and boy are they ever. They both rule the kitchen when it comes to any baking or cooking going on. Days before the event took place, our mothers were shopping, roasting nuts, grating chocolate, preparing filling and barking orders at us. My mother, the head chef, masterfully over saw the many recipes while Vitania's mother ensured quality control on all the recipes being made by the newbies.

Teenagers, aka Cheap Labour.

They giggle alot, complain about everything and listen to loud music while working. They also quit early!

.... Anna and I are pleased to announce, that this year we were promoted to dough rollers! We thought we were safe from the scorched fingers of the Pizzelle Iron, only to learn dough rolling has another set of aches and pains . (more on this next post)

So without further ado, we introduce you to Pizzelle. A classic in our family as well as many Italian families. These thin waffle type cookies are great to snack on, sandwich Nutella between them, or even shape into cones or bowls and serve with ice cream. Such a versatile cookie you can almost eat them with anything.

Pizzelle

12 eggs
3 cups sugar
4 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 cups sifted flour
2 cups of oil
rind from a whole lemon
1/3 cup of Sambuca or Anisette

Beat eggs and sugar well
Add lemon rind and continue to mix
Add oil and continue to beat.
Mix baking powder with flour and add mix a little at a time to the egg mixture
When completely mixed, chill dough for 2 hours or overnight to enrich flavor

Spoon batter onto a Pizzelle maker
(a note on the Pizzelle maker - You can use a traditional stove top Pizzelle maker but even our mothers have traded theirs in for an electric Pizzelle maker. Much easier and faster to use)

Use a fork or a knife to carefully lift the Pizzelle off the iron - they should be a nice golden colour but NOT brown.

Pizzelle cooling

Place on a flat table covered with a table cloth and let cool to harden flat or if desired you may shape into cones or bowls and then let cool. Only stack them once they've cooled otherwise they will stick to one another. Also, placing them in an airtight container, can make them soft. Which some people really like, but we prefer them crispy, so we keep them out where they can remain crisp.

Happy Holiday Baking !
Anna and Vitania

What Ever Happened to Home Birthday Parties?

Over the years something has happened to the Kid's Birthday industry.

Gone are the days when gathering 10 kids in the backyard with a Banana slide and some birthday cake did the trick.

The latest birthday parties include some form of entertainment which usually means going to an indoor playground type place with pizza, lootbags, cake and having it all wrapped up in 2hrs flat. Not even enough time to open gifts!

Wasn't that the best part of your birthday party???

This year, to my amazement when I asked my 6 year old what she wanted to do for her birthday, she rejected the swimming party at the community center and the skating party at the local rink that I suggested. Instead she wanted a home party with her closest friends.

It was a little tight in our tiny basement but I managed to give her the best of both worlds. I hired a Hannah Montana look alike ordered some pizza and made her an awesome Hannah Montana Cake.



She watched me as I carefully decorated her cake, making it extra special for her. And I watched her as she ate every last crumb of cake on her plate, savoring every bite as she ate it proudly, knowing the care I put into making her special cake.

Next time you have a child's birthday party to plan, think about taking a little time and making something special for your little ones from your heart. It'll be memories they'll hold onto forever.

I'll bet Michelangelo never sculpted a cake.

Some of you may know I’ve been taking classes with Bonnie Gordon. Saturday I took another class "The Art of Sculpted Cakes" where I chose to sculpt a Nike running shoe.



I showed up for my class with a 9” by 3 1/2 “ square filled cake and a few ideas of what to make. I decided on a running shoe since my cake wasn’t quite big enough for a large purse and I thought a shoe would be a somewhat easy but challenging first project.

My class introduced me to some other great aspiring and practicing cake decorators. I met Carolyn who also has a blog It’s a sweet thing. She created a fabulous hamburger cake.


Some other cakes included a bulldog (I wasn’t quite that brave) a Chanel purse, a piggy bank and a high heel shoe.


After spending about 8 hours carving, covering, and decorating my shoe I was pretty happy with the result.

My next cake, the statue of David... kidding.

Cookie Cutter Creations

I’ve been sick since last Friday so I haven’t been able to post my most recent creations.

I wanted to share this with you before Halloween but regardless, cookies are great creations for any birthday, thanksgiving, Christmas or special occasion.

Our baked cookies ready to be decorated.

I owe half the credit to my 6 yr old daughter who together with me helped bake and decorate some Halloween/fall sugar cookies. What a great way to spend a little time with the kids and let them express their creativity.

I just love the cute faces kids make when they're busy creating.

It turned into a practice session for my flooding technique and I ended up decorating cookies till 1 am, but that’s besides the point.

Have a look at some of the fun we had and some of the creations we made.

The Green swirly spider was one of my favorites.

A Giveaway over at Verdgris Vie

I am hosting a very special Giveaway over at that other blog I obsess over, Verdigris Vie. It just wouldn't be right if I didn't share it with you guys. A Beautiful Handmade Sophie Dahy Silk floral arrangement. You get to pick your fave. (a $300.00 prize) Pop over to enter for a chance to win.
.

Good Luck !

I Heart Macaron

On a recent business trip to New York City I checked out a little café just off Broadway called Macaron Café macaroncafe.com for a sandwich and discovered these little French pastries for the first time. I bought one raspberry Macaron and watched as the woman behind the counter packaged and affix a cute little pink bow around the single perfectly colored raspberry dessert.

Image from La tartine gourmande's photostream

Since then, I have spent countless hours researching, downloading pictures and recipes of these perfect little sweets. More so, I have attempted to bake them myself.

Now… I’m no skilled baker and these things are no easy task even if you are. The eggs must be aged; the batter consistency must be perfect and piped onto a cookie sheet in perfect circular shapes. And I haven’t even really explored the fillings yet.

Nonetheless, after 4 attempts of runny, undercooked, overcooked, oddly shaped, flat Macaron, I have almost created the perfect Macaron.

Almost, because I think I overcooked or let them sit too long before baking. They were a little too crunchy.

Through my research I came accross a blog Mélange :: to mix.

It has quickly become one of my favorite blogs so I wanted to share it with all of you. Julia, a baking enthusiast has a fabulous blog. On her blog she shares many recipes, among some of them... the famous Macaron.

She also features Chocolate Eclairs, Salted Butter Caramel Ice cream, Scones and Fruit Buns to name a few. Please join me in indulging in this wonderful blog.

I'm just dying to try out some of her fabulous Macaron Recipes. Stay tuned for the follow up.

a.