B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!

Dear Sugar Diary,
    Good Morning. It is 6:48am Sunday and the house is so quiet. I am sitting here brainstorming and enjoying some coffee. As I walk into my kitchen every morning I see all the sketches I have of upcoming cakes on my fridge...yeah they are just there hanging on with a magnet.....no high tech system here...lol. I am anxious to work on them but they aren't due yet so I have to wait and sometimes waiting is the worst part! This weekend was an easy weekend....thank goodness....I have time for laundry and sleeping. =)
     I learned 2 things this weekend....I would love to share this with whoever has taken time to read this blog....
     1) When your baking a chocolate cake you can dust your pan with cocoa powder instead of flour! Maybe this is learned in Basic Baking 101 BUT please remember I am self taught and little things like this excite me! ;)
     2) Please keep in mind that every time you bake a recipe you get a little better at it....BUT sometimes something as simple as a basic banana nut recipe may turn out like garbage...don't let that frustrate you....let it be a learning experience...I had a dozen cupcakes (FOR AN ORDER!!=\)come out looking like they went on a diet....they never rose ...looking like hockey pucks! I still don't know what happened because the second batch came out perfect. (Maybe I forgot to add the baking soda ) The recipe I make is Tyler Florence's(Food Network) Recipe for Banana Nut Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.
Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

   
I hope you try this recipe and if you do ...let me know how it worked out for you.=)
I picked this recipe for two reasons....It uses everything I already had in my pantry and I LOVE overripe bananas. They are sweeter and "mushier" so I add less sugar to my batter and it is a lot easier to mash them.=) This recipe calls for 1 cup of brown sugar...I use 1/2 a cup. But you can make it however you prefer.=) I also use walnuts instead of pecans. I ate too many pecans growing up in Texas....lol....me and my dad would go down to the river when I was little and pick them up off the ground and bring home bags and bags of them! I like walnuts better with bananas anyways.

The time now is 7:19am and I MUST get to some chores before the morning slips away! I will be back soon with some more recipes. =) Thanks for stopping by and reading....=) Happy Baking!