Tag: bananas

Coconut and cheese and banana

 

OK so not all of those ingredients together but I’ll bet that recipe exists somewhere, because internet. Instead:

  1. I have lots of milk that needs to be used (long story). I shall find a dessert! … looking, looking… eventually, in a book on pies that I’ve rarely used, I come across Impossible Pie. What makes it ‘impossible’ is that the layers separate – it gets a bottom, a custardy middle, and a crusty top courtesy of the coconut. Basically this one, except that mine didn’t have nutmeg and that is a GOLD idea. It was very tasty! I added sour cherries because I could. Um, I made it in a cake tin because I don’t have a deep pie tin. I only got a glass pie tin last year because pie? Australians don’t really DO pie.
  2. IMG_1324.JPGCheese scones. I’ve struggled with scones, it’s fair to say. Then I found this recipe and I decided to try it… because one GREAT BIG scone o’ cheese (250g cheese to 450g flour!!) sounds awesome. It was as I was making the breadcrumb effect of flour and butter that I realised you don’t have to make all the butter disappear, and I think this might be the turning point for me and scones. Because this scone was awesome. I did have to cook it for longer… but that’s because I didn’t knead it enough and it was a bit bigger – that is, higher, rather than being spread out – than it probably should have been. But it was a lovely texture and a wonderful taste and I will SO be making these again. Note to self: probably don’t try to double it next time; it was a bit hard to mix. Although the fact that I now have a giant cheese scone to eat and seven small scones in the freezer is pretty darn appealing.
  3. Bananas. I don’t eat them fast enough, and I already have some in the freezer… and I don’t love banana cake. Enter banana AND CARAMEL cake. Make caramel; pour into tin that’s lined with paper, because that’s just smart. Put banana onto caramel. Make cake batter, pour on top, TA DAH. … I’ll admit I didn’t actually eat any of this one. I took it to church and by the time I got around to going to the morning tea spot, it was all gone. I was told it was very tasty though. Certainly the batter was…

Taste

Two recipes from Taste

Banana, date and apricot oat bars:

Yeh nah. I liked the theory – and hey, healthy! But… they’re just a bit bland. I even added a bit of extra cinnamon, and replaced some oats with coconut as one of the commenters suggested. I’ll eat the ones I made, but I won’t be making this again.

Ricotta fritters:

Oh yes. These were excellent and I will be making these again – and I’ll be making variations too. This one calls for sun-dried tomatoes and chives, and calls to be served with bacon. This was excellent. However, these would also be excellent as sweet fritters – cinnamon and dehydrated apple maybe? Chocolate chips would be amazing…. And next time, I would be more sensible in the cooking: I made them way too thick this first time, trying to use my crumpet rings. The width was good, the depth too great, so they got a little browner than was best

 

Sweet treats

IMG_1241.JPG1. A friend came home from France with a madeleine pan for me. I had never had the urge to make madeleines before, but now I have a madeleine pan.

From France.

So I’ve made madeleines. I followed Stephanie Alexander’s honey madeleines recipe, and… they’re ok. They’re definitely not as crispy as they should be, although the second batch was a bit better (her mixture is for 24, and my pan is for 12, although it only made 18 I think) – I’d put a bit more butter in the pans I think. So that’s something to experiment with. I’m also not sure whether madeleines come in different flavours, so I guess I’ll do some hunting around to find out.

2. Our fruit n veg box this week came with a large number of bananas, so my mother IMG_1242.JPGreminded me that caramelised bananas are excellent. These are not as she suggested, though, because she was reminiscing about making them with rum or brandy ‘or whatever you’ve got handy’ – and I had nothing like that handy (not using Frangelico, or Pimms). I did use some of the cardamom-pistachio sugar mix I have from Gewurzhaus, which I think added a little to the experience, as well as a whack of butter and some additional brown sugar. Very tasty with ice cream.