This Bread is B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Hazelnut-Chocolate Banana Bread

There was a little speech. After a disastrous take on Stephanie O’Dea’s five-layer crock pot brownies that nearly made me retire my apron and my slow cooker, I rallied to try something new.

Don't ask.

My family stood there, waiting to see the baked goodies under the cake pan cover. The tension was mounting, and I could see they were in no mood for longwinded explanations of how I had almost packed it in. They smelled banana bread, and I was about to get shoved to the floor if I didn’t hurry things along.

So I did it anyway, pontificated about the joys of baking and how important it is to pick yourself up and try, try again. These were impressionable young minds, completely ignoring everything I said the moment it came out of my mouth. It was as if in one of those cartoons where you can literally see images of food in people’s pupils.

The wait was worth it, they said, even the boring talk. They got to dig into hazelnut chocolate banana bread, and they didn’t care one ounce that it was technically a light recipe. It was decadent, in all the right ways.

There something about slowly rotting bananas that inspires me to bake. The hardest part is narrowing it down to which recipe to transform the bananas into. For my son’s first birthday earlier in October, I made the Best Banana Cake Ever recipe from Food.com (http://dessert.food.com/recipe/best-ever-banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-67256), and I can testify that it was absolutely the best banana cake ever.

I often make a scrumptious chocolate-banana bread that is also a Cooking Light recipe from a few years back. But when I started browsing through the new issue of Cooking Light and saw this little rascal, I had to go for it, even though I don’t care for Nutella much. The kids do.

Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Bread

5 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread (I used Jif’s new one instead of Nutella)

3 tbsp plus 1 tbsp canola oil, divided

3 tbsp butter, softened

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 medium ripe bananas, sliced

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2/3 cup buttermilk (I used low-fat)

baking spray with flour (I used Pam)

¼ cup hazelnuts, chopped

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

To get things going, I put on some Gwen Stefani. Nothing like a little “Hollaback Girl” to get you moving in the kitchen.

Did you know that song was written in response to Courtney Love calling Stefani a “cheerleader” in an interview with Seventeen magazine? Now you do. In Love’s defense, Stefani did dress in a cheerleader uniform during early concerts, one of which I saw at Cal State Fullerton.

Hot. 

So anyway, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine chocolate-hazelnut spread and 1 tsp. oil in a small microwave-safe dish. Heat for 30 seconds at a time. Stir until melted. 

Combine 3 tbsp. of oil, butter, brown sugar and bananas in a large bowl. I do this directly in the bowl of my stand-mixer. Mix on medium-high speed until well blended.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each is added.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. I always do this in a separate bowl and whisk. It’s important to mix the dry ingredients first in a separate bowl because it prevents clumping.

While the mixer is on low speed, alternately add some of the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, then the dry, then the buttermilk, you get the picture… until you end with the dry ingredients.

Spray the 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with the nonstick spray. Pour half the mixture into the pan. Spread the hazelnut chocolate melty goodness over it. Then pour the rest of the mix on top.

Use a wooden skewer stick and swirl the batter. This is easier than it sounds. Do not overswirl. Just go back and forth a couple of times. Sprinkle the top with the hazelnuts.

Not yet!

Put it in the oven and wait patiently for about 55 minutes. It’s done when you insert another wooden skewer stick and it comes out clean. Put on a baking rack while the loaf is still in the pan and wait for 10 or 12 minutes.  

Use baking mitts and flip it over to get it out, then flip it again to put it on the baking rack where it will mock you as it cools. Do not put the glaze on it until the bread is completely cool, like Gwen Stefani cool.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate in a microwave-safe dish for 30 seconds on high. Drizzle onto the bread. Let stand to set. E-A-T. 

OK. Now. 

Couscous Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash
From the cookbook Pumpkins & Squashes
Makes six servings as a side dish

2 tbsp. honey
4 tbsp. olive oil
1 butternut squash (I used half a large butternut squash), peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
Couscous
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

Butternut squash is one of those vegetables that always looks like so much work. Which it is.


The trick to cutting a butternut squash is to start with the ends. Slice the top and the bottom off of the squash. This makes it stable and safer to cut. Then use a peeler (the same kind you use for carrots) to take off all the skin. Cut it in half from top to bottom. Use a large spoon to remove the seeds, like you would a cantaloupe. Then lay each side on its flat side and keep cutting at it in ways that make sense until you get to 3/4-inch squares.

Take that butternut squash. You're not so intimidating anymore.

Now that the dangerous cutting is done, I'm pouring myself a glass of wine. It's Cupcake Petite Syrah. I have no idea whether petite syrah pairs well with butternut squash. I am not that fancy, but I do like fancy wine. I am also listening to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds because it is fall and I am baking hardy food.

It's also because the new Divine Fits album came out (which has Britt Daniel from Spoon and Dan Boeckner from Handsome Furs and Wolf Parade, plus drummer Sam Brown from New Bomb Turks).

Divine Fits

The Divine Fits did a cover of "Shiver," which Nick Cave did a cover of in one of his early bands. So that got me thinking about the fact that Nick Cave is one of those singers that I say I like (and I do), but that I rarely go out of my way to listen to—like Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, and like butternut squash, sort of. I love butternut squash, but I rarely cook it because it's a pain. So you get the connection? Carry on.

I stirred the squash around halfway through, so at about 30 minutes. I also cooked it longer then the recipe called for to make it extra tender, about an hour.

Cook the couscous. Follow the directions on the package. I made mine with organic vegetable broth, added a little oil and salt.

Now it's time to start dicing the other vegetables. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the honey, olive oil, juice from half a lemon, and salt and pepper. Whisk. In a large bowl, combine the couscous, vegetables and honey-olive oil concoction.

Spoon it onto a plate or bowl, then put a big serving of the roasted butternut squash on top. Garnish with parsley. Serve warm.

Frankendoughnuts

We're nuts for our new doughnut pan. My daughter begs me for doughnuts constantly. It's like having a mini Homer Simpson around. 

The answer is usually no, because doughnuts are generally horrible for you. 

So we've been particularly intrigued by the doughnut pans popping up in the baking sections of stores. We gave in. I now have one more kitchen item to make my boyfriend miserable. But the sweet, sweet doughnuts ease the pain. 

For our first stab at making doughnuts, we chose this recipe: http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2011/11/baked-vanilla-donuts-with-vanilla-glaze.html

We made a different glaze, which can be found here: http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2010/08/vanilla-bean-baby-doughnuts.html

So here's the lowdown. I used a regular size doughnut pan, not a mini-doughnut pan. This recipe only made about nine doughnuts. 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray the doughnut pan with nonstick spray (I like the baking version with flour).

Ingredients:

2 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. white sugar (I used baking sugar, which is a smaller granule)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. buttermilk (seems to make everything a little better)

2 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract (non-alcohol version, tastes better)

2 tbsp. butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt).

In another bowl (I put it directly into my stand mixer bowl), combine the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter on the low speed setting. 

Add dry ingredients to the wet and continue to mix on low speed just until combined. 

Out of the oven

You can use a pastry bag to fill the doughnut pan, but I used a big zipper baggy with a corner cut off, which is admittedly much messier. You can also use a spoon, which might get even messier. 

Bake about 10 minutes. Doughnuts should spring back when given a little touch. 

Doughnuts should cool for about five minutes before you remove them from the pan. Then place on a cooling rack. 

For the glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar

1 tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

food coloring of your choice (we chose neon green for Halloween)

Sprinkles (we chose white ghosts, and orange and black pumpkins)

In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients except the food coloring and sprinkles. Once you get the right consistency, add a couple of drops of food coloring at a time until you get the color you're looking for. Don't leave any streakiness. Keep stirring if there are still dark streaks in it. 

Now glaze your doughnuts, and sprinkle. I put a layer of wax paper under the cooling rack and did the sprinkles and glaze on that, then after just threw away the wax paper. 

The family liked the Frankendoughnuts. They're not quite as indulgent as the fried kind, admittedly, but they're yummy. They're more like cupcake doughnuts, which, well is pretty tasty anyway. 

On your mark, get set, cook

My boyfriend always says his favorite restaurant is our house. We love to cook, and so we thought we would create a sort of memory book from some of our favorite home cooked meals and share the recipes while we are at it. It's not a revolutionary idea, we hear. But here it goes anyhoo...