Banoffee Pie - Student Edition

When I was naught but a poor student, back in the day, with ideas above my station, there came a time for the grown up dinner parties to occur. There were a group of us who would get together and throw a little party for each other. When my time came, the hit of the evening was my Banoffee Pie. It was such a hit that the girls who lived next door demanded, often, that I make this for them and bring it round in exchange for alcoholic favours. Of course.. I obliged.. The fact that I had a thing about one of the girls at the time didn't make this a difficult decision either, so the alcohol was a bonus!

It's an extremely simple recipe that I got from a Student Recipe Book, "Peckish but Poor" by Cas Clarke (now out of print). I actually remade this late last year for a friend, when I rediscovered the book, and it's still a winner, though this time I added whipped cream on top.. well.. I have a job now! :)

Ingredients

• 10oz (250g) butter, melted
• 8oz (200g) ginger biscuits, crumbled
• 16oz (400g) can condensed milk
• 2 bananas, sliced

Method

• Mix 4oz (100g) butter and biscuits together, line a 7" (17cm) flan tin with foil and then press biscuit mixture into base of tin.
• Put rest of butter and condensed milk into a pan, bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes, leave to cool.
• Put half of bananas in flan case.
• When toffee mixture has cooled, beat well and spread over banana.
• Place remaining banana on top and chill.
• Serve with cream.

Banana Rum Brownies

A simple twist on the standard brownie recipe, so you can make brownies using whatever recipe you have saved up, or even use pre-packaged brownie mix and add the banana rum mix to complete it. A lot of fun can be had by trying different combination of Brownie mixtures to find the one you like best..

I actually chose this from a myriad of boozy options for an Experimental Alcohol party, where all the guests needed to bring some food containing alcohol. There were some fantastic foods on the day.. the Vodka Key Lime Pie was lovely!

Banana Rum Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 box (about 1 lb 5 oz) brownie mix
• 1/4 cup chocolate or regular milk - I used Almond Milk :)
• 1 Tbsp rum or vanilla extract - *cough* I added a lot more Rum than this, but still couldn't taste it ;)
• 3 Bananas, cubed
• 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

Method

• Prepare brownie mix as directed on package in large bowl; set aside.
• Heat milk and extract in medium saucepan, until hot. Add bananas and stir for 1 minute to heat through.
• Pour banana mixture and nuts into brownie mix and stir. Pour into lightly greased 9-inch square pan.
• Bake at 350°F/180°C, 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Cut into bars.

Healthier Banana Pancakes

After my previous post about what is my second favourite banana pancake recipe (my first being whatever that pancake restaurant in Amsterdam made for me), a fitness fiend I've talked to on twitter gave me a couple of options that I ended up trying today (yesterday now, really). If you want to see what he's up to - he's a freerunner and fitness fella who is properly into his protein cooking.. and from what I can tell - Pancakes! Introducing, with thanks: Mitch Lee

The second one I tried, is this one.. and of the two, it's the one I did best with:

Paleo Coconut Flour Banana Pancakes

I made these after a trip to the cinema and they weren't bad at all. They still missed a little something, and were drier than my hairy bikers recipe. Still.. they were a lot better than the ones earlier in the day, so I take that as a positive step in the right direction. I'll come back to these and try again when I'm happy with my next attempt at a Banana Protein Powder recipe.. One last thing to add - Coconut Flour is brilliant, but I'm still learning how to use it properly, hence things aren't quite right, just yet..

Paleo Coconut Flour Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Mashed Banana
• 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons Honey
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut Flour
• Coconut Oil
• Optional: Dried Blueberries, Walnuts or Coconut Flakes

Method

• Heat pan or griddle with coconut oil to Medium/High Heat
• Begin by whisking 3 eggs in a large bowl.
• Mix in mashed banana (Some small pieces are desired), Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Honey
• Add in Coconut Flour Whisk together
• Let sit for about 5 minutes. The allows the coconut flour to thicken the batter.
• Pour batter onto pan or griddle (silver dollar size)
• Let cook on the first side for about 4-6 minutes depending on the heat level. They will begin to bubble at about 2 minutes
• Okay, they should start to look as if the top side is nearly done cooking. You can tell it is the right time when the top takes on more of a matte look and no longer looks like raw batter. At this point they are ready to be flipped.
• Top with Maple Syrup, Honey, Butter, Fruit, or whatever you like.

The first type of pancakes I tried today, didn't go so well for me.. It suffered from the same problem that my previous protein banana pancakes suffered from - lack of moisture, they were dry.. in other words.. they could do with more bananas to make them work.. which is something I can definitely get going with :)

Coconut Banana Pancakes

Coconut Banana Pancakes

Some time ago I gave into the fact that I would have to cook some recipes in cup sizes, or forever be looking up how much I should measure/weigh out for each ingredient in a meal. I found some colourful measuring containers in cup sizes. This opened up a wealth of American based websites to me for recipes.. now if only they would put temperatures in Centigrade, instead of Fahrenheit, I'd be properly happy.

I chose to do these ones first as, of the two recipes, they attracted me the most. I can't see anything in the ingredients list that would cause me a problem.. in fact.. I usually have all of this in the kitchen ready, so it's good to find a recipe to make use of them. As it happens, yesterday I'd just run out of Almond Milk and Egg Whites, but that's just an anomoly and it'll happen from time to time, so no biggy..

You can see from the piccy above that they look a bit dry.. You cannot see the bananas in between layers with the honey - this helped with the dryness, but not enough, unfortuantely.

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 large ripe banana, mashed
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour

Method

• Preheat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium heat and coat with cooking spray (I used a frying pan and coconut oil)
• Whisk egg whites until frothy.
• Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
• Spoon batter onto skillet surface, forming 4 medium-sized pancakes, and allow to cook 5-6 minutes per side before flipping.
• Plate and layer with other half of banana, toasted coconut, and a drizzle of coconut butter (or in my case, I used bananas and honey)

Banana Pancakes

Banana Pancakes (Hairy Biker Style)

As it's coming up to Pancake day (tomorrow, in fact) we obviously need to do banana pancakes - goes without saying really, doesn't it!? :)

I still haven't quite mastered Protein Banana Pancakes, but may try out a recipe or two tomorrow.. in the meantime, this is my go to Banana Pancake recipe of choice. An ex-girlfriend made this for me originally and I loved it (with a few extra added bananas of course). It's a Hairy Bikers recipe that she got from the BBC Food Website. The original recipe included bacon, which I'm not interested in, so I did without..

I think that my major difference to the recipe below, excluding the bacon, is that I use skimmed milk and will be using coconut oil and I normally put extra bananas in there - eg. I'll blend one or two large bananas into the mixture and have an extra banana roughly chopped up, so that I get banana pieces in my finished pancake.

I'll take, and add, a photo tomorrow - just be assured, these are lovely!

Ingredients

• 55g/2oz butter, cubed
• 275g/9¾oz self–raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 free-range eggs
• 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 300ml/½ pint whole milk
• 1 large banana, roughly chopped
• 1-2 tbsp sunflower oil
• maple or golden syrup, to serve

Method

• Preheat the oven to 110C/225F/Gas ¼.
• Melt 25g/1oz of the butter in a small pan over a low heat and leave to cool for five minutes.
• Put the melted butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar and milk in a food processor and blend until smooth.
• Pour into a large bowl and mash the banana into the batter with a potato masher.
• Melt a little of the oil with a cube of butter in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Wipe around the base of the pan with a thick wad of kitchen paper.
• Drop four large serving spoonfuls of the banana pancake mixture into the frying pan, spacing well apart. Cook for three minutes, or until the pancakes rise, bubbles appear and the surface appears dry.
• Flip over with a palette knife and cook on the other side for a further 2-3 minutes, or until pale golden-brown.
• Transfer to a heatproof plate and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remaining eight pancakes in exactly the same way.
• Return the frying pan to the heat and add the streaky bacon. Cook for about three minutes on each side until golden and crisp, turning once. Add a splash of oil if the rashers begin to stick.
• Pile the pancakes onto four warmed plates and top with the fried bacon. Drizzle with a little maple syrup (or golden syrup) and serve the rest separately.

The International Banana Museum

I stumbled over this today and just had to share - this guy REALLY loves Bananas!

Fred "Banana Mon" Garbutt is bananas. He's the curator of the International Banana Museum in Mecca, Calif. Not sure it's worth the trip to Mecca? Included in the museum's loot: banana nail polish, banana handbags and banana phones. Garbutt bought the original collection from another banana collector on eBay and converted his bar into this paean to his favorite fruit. He claims to have 17,000 banana-themed objects, enough to land him in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest collection devoted to any single fruit. So keep your eyes peeled, this isn't just a bunch of yellow junk!

and further details on another link (I'm assuming that this is the same place?): The International Banana Museum

I originally found this on msn, here : MSN Link

some little things..

I've had a week off work recently, so have had some nice down time and a chance to kick back. Several Banana type treats have been consumed over the period, so here's a little breakdown..

Ma Baker Giant Banana Bars

Ma Baker Giant Banana Bar

 I'm starting this blog post with my ultimate nemesis over recent weeks. Had I not been cycling to work and back daily, this bar would have completely destroyed my diet. As it happens, at 391 calories of what it nearly my perfect banana and oats bar, I still had to do a bit of extra exercise most days, as I was eating more than one a night after randomly buying a box of 20 through Amazon. Without a doubt, to date, this is my favourite banana snack bar of all time. It has the banana and oat combination taste which works incredibly well and at 90g is a decent size and quite filling.

Do try one of these if you find it anywhere, they're just lovely!

Nākd Nibble Banana Bread

Nākd Nibble Banana Bread

I'm quite into a bit of healthyish baking, so on a shopping trip I found myself in the Gluten Free section of Sainsbury's. There was a box of these nākd nibble banana bread bars, so in the interests of banana lovers everywhere I took it upon myself to experiment with this new find.The bars are quite small (nibble sized), but are absolutely completely bananaery and delicious! At only 92 calories for each 30g bar, they're not a diet killer either.. though unfortunately, they're also very moorish so you have to be careful not to overindulge :)

These are highly recommended and delicious!

Cioccolato Di Modica Alla Banana

Cioccolato Di Modica Alla Banana

Walking around Rome in the middle of the night, I stumbled (almost literally) into a small artisan pasta shop with this lovely expressive Italian lady shop owner. Thankfully her English was considerably better than my Italian (non-existent), so she showed me her pastas, sauces, etc. explaining the origin and history of each of the products I showed an interest in.. then in the corner of my eye I caught the unmistakeable image of a banana.. of course, I just had to add a couple of these (rather expensive) chocolate bars to my list of purchases. She didn't recommend this to me at all, but the lure of the Banana was too strong and I had to have some. I didn't get a hint of Banana in the flavour of this, which was somewhat disappointing, but the ingredients list certainly did have banana in it. Perhaps the bitterness of the dark chocolate was too strong to support the 'subtle' taste of the Banana? I probably won't buy it again (at the same price), but I'd be interested in trying it again in other circumstances. I'm betting, however, that the pasta and sauces I bought (at her recommendation) will be wonderful!

Chef Bernie's Banana Ketchup

Chef Bernie's Banana Ketchup

I went to the West Dean Chilli Fiesta in August this year with a couple of friends and took great delight in trying samples of many of the different Chilli Flavoured sauces on offer. I was giving it a bit of bravado after being a joint winner of a local Chilli eating competition not too long before this. Admittedly, in between events I hadn't had an awful lot of chilli in my food, having had more than enough in the short time sitting on the stage destroying my taste buds with millions of scoville units of raw chilli.

Quite early on at the Chilli Fiesta I was trying some Chilli sauces near the entrance and there was a small bowl of Chef Bernie's Banana Ketchup on display. Of course.. I had to try it, and try it again, and try it again! (In fact I spent most of the Chilli Fiesta trying numerous Chilli/Banana combo's - some more of which will be mentioned in a later post). WOW! It was fantastic.. It was so good that I bought the entire range of Chef Bernie's sauces, which I am still working my way through and enjoying every moment of it.. Hands up.. the Banana Ketchup is finished and I need more, and soon! You can check out the full range of Chef Bernie's products by following this link.

Soreen Banana Malt Loaf

I was recently reminded of the Soreen Banana Malt Loaf, something that I recall trying not long after it was first released in the UK. I seem to remember that I enjoyed it at the time, so was pretty happy when I was given the reminder via a facebook post. What could possibly go wrong? It's made by Soreen who make the delicious staple that is the Malt Loaf, that I have enjoyed for years, with the added bonus of Bananas! What a great combination.. or so I thought..

I got myself one on a recent shopping trip and eagerly tore open the wrapper when I got home. The first sign of disappointment was immediate.. instead of a beautiful Load of Banana Malty yumminess, I was greeted with a sunken & burnt facsimilie. Clearly something had gone badly wrong in the bake somehow and the Soreen Quality Control had failed badly. The taste was alright (well, I had to try some), but it looked completely unappetising, so much so that I actually made an email complaint to Soreen. I should point out that I have never gone this far before, but I really was that disappointed.

After a short email exchange, it was explained to me that the likelyhood was that there had been a problem on the production line and it was possible that the loaf that I had purchased was probably stuck in the oven when the line was stopped, leading to the burnt appearance (I'm not sure how this led to the cake sinking like a bad soufflé, but I'm no chef). This explanation and a couple of vouchers recompense and I thought I all would be well with my next purchase.

As it happens, my housemate, on a shopping trip, picked me up two more as he felt sorry for me after the problems with the first one. These ones were much better in appearance compared to the first one, they weren't sunken for a start and although the top was darker than I would have expected I was anticipating some gooey loveliness.. again, disappointment reigned.. both of these loaves weren't so much gooey as dry. I tried them with both peanut butter and almond butter, but it wasn't enough to save them, so I'm afraid I will, for now, consign them to the nice idea box and perhaps give them another go when my luck turns. That said, I am rather more enamoured with the results of my own Banana Loaves, which have been delicious.. perhaps it was unfair to try these so soon after baking my best ever home made Banana Loaf? ;-)

To balance this out a little, other people have found the Soreen Banana Malt Loaf to be really nice - here's an alternative viewpoint : Porridge & Parsnips Blog (scroll down a bit for Lucy's positive opinion).