Holiday Baking: Banana Bread, Whole Foods 365 Brownies, and Skillet-Baked Cookie

Here are a few items that I baked for the good folks at work. The first couple turned out well, smashing success with the banana bread and rave reviews on the brownies. I just finished the Skillet-Baked Cookie. Things could have gone better.

Banana Bread

from Martha Stewart Living / August 2004

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
   
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.
   
3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.
   

Whole Foods 365 Brownies

Used to be on the bag of chocolate chips?

Ingredients
2/3 cup butter
1-1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
1-1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts

How to make it
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Combine butter, sugar, water in saucepan and just bring to a boil
3. Reduce heat and add chocolate chips and vanilla extract; stir constantly until chocolate melted
4. Place chocolate mixture in large bowl and beat in eggs one at a time
5. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in separate small bowl
6. Gradually add the dry mixture to the chocolate batter
7. Add nuts if desired
8. Spread into greased 13 X 9 baking pan
9. Bake 50 minutes

Skillet-Baked Cookie

Martha Stewart Living, July 2002

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (about 9 ounces) mixed milk- and semisweet-chocolate chips
• 2 pints vanilla ice cream
• Caramel Sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; mix until they are fully incorporated. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Transfer dough to a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, and press to flatten, covering bottom of pan. Bake until edges are brown and top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Don't overbake; it will continue to cook a few minutes out of the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges. Serve warm; top each wedge with a scoop of ice cream and some caramel sauce.

a bad start

I pre-heated the oven, but when I put it in and set the timer, I must have inadvertently turned off the heat! This poor thing sat there for 30 minutes kind of cooking. It was a mess, had to sit there for another 30-40 minutes through pre-heat and cooking again. Also, I doubled the recipe, but I'm thinking that I shouldn't have doubled the vanilla extract. Too strong!

A Day of Great Food

Yesterday was a great day for food. Now, I'm not talking about food that Angela and I cooked, but food that we found and gobbled up in the French Quarter. Our first stop was the 3rd annual Road Food Festival. The Road Food Fest occupies a stretch of Royal Street in the Quarter, and consists of several local and visiting vendors. We chose to sample the flavors of the visiting Tuscon Tamale Company. Owner Sherry Martin served up a delicious plantain tamale with salsa verde. Check them out - tucsontamalecompany.com.

plantain tamale with salsa verde

The tamale was our pre-lunch snack. For the main event, we walked down Decatur Street to Central Grocery for a muffuletta. In Marie Lupo Tusa's cookbook Marie's Melting Pot, she discusses the origins of the muffeletta sandwich:

One of the most interesting aspects of my father's grocery is his unique creation, the muffuletta sandwich. the mufuletta was created in the early 1900's when the Farmers' Market was in the same area as the grocery. Most of the farmers who sold their produce there were Sicilian. Every day they used to come of my father's grocery for lunch.

They would order some salami, some ham, a piece of cheese, a little olive salad, and either long braided Italian bread or round muffuletta bread. In typical Sicilian fashion they ate everything separately. The farmers used to sit on crates or barrels and try to eat while precariously balancing their small trays covered with food on their knees. My father suggested that it would be easier for the farmers if he cut the bread and put everything on it like a sandwich; even if it was not typical Sicilian fashion. He experimented and found that the ticker, braided Italian bread was too hard to bite but the softer round muffuletta was ideal for his sandwich. In very little time, the farmers came to merely ask for a "muffuletta" for their lunch.

Central Grocery on Decatur Street in New Orleans

enjoying our muffuletta by the river

Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce from Cook's Illustrated: The Best International Recipe. 

 

Ingredients

• 3ounces dried rice vermicelli
• 2 1/2tablespoons juice from 1 lime
• 1 1/2tablespoons fish sauce
• 1teaspoon sugar
• 1large carrot , peeled and grated on the large holes of a box grater
• 1/3cup coarsely chopped roasted unsalted peanuts
• 2 fresh Thai chiles , serrano, or jalapeño chiles, seeds and ribs removed, chiles minced
• 1large cucumber , peeled, seeded, and sliced into 2-inch-long matchsticks
• 8 round rice paper wrappers (8 inches in diameter)
• 1/2cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves , large leaves torn into pieces
• 1/2cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
• 4large leaves red leaf lettuce or Boston lettuce, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
• 1/2pound cooked extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), chilled and sliced in half lengthwise

 

Instructions

1. 1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove the boiling water from the heat, add the rice noodles, and let stand, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the noodles and transfer them to a medium bowl.
2. 2. Whisk the lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar together in small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Toss 2 tablespoons of the lime juice mixture with the noodles. In a medium bowl, toss 1 more tablespoon of the lime juice mixture with the carrot, peanuts, and chiles. In small bowl, toss the remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice mixture with the cucumber.
3. 3. Spread a clean, damp kitchen towel on a work surface. Fill a 9-inch pie plate with 1 inch of room temperature water. Working with one rice paper wrapper at a time, immerse each wrapper in water until just pliable, about 2 minutes, then lay the softened wrapper on the towel.
4. 4. Scatter about 6 mint leaves and 6 cilantro leaves over the wrapper. Following the illustrations below, arrange 5 cucumber sticks horizontally on wrapper and top with 1 tablespoon of the carrot mixture, 2 tablespoons of the lettuce, 2 1⁄2 tablespoons of the noodles, and 2 shrimp halves.
5. 5. Wrap the spring roll following the illustrations below, then transfer to a serving platter and cover with a second damp kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining rice paper wrappers and filling ingredients. (The covered spring rolls can be refrigerated for up to 4 hours.) Serve with the peanut dipping sauce.
   
   Peanut Dipping Sauce
   

   Makes about 3/4 cup

   The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Serve at room temperature.

    

   Ingredients

6. 1/4cup smooth peanut butter
7. 1/4cup hoisin sauce
8. 1/4cup water
9. 2tablespoons tomato paste
10. 1teaspoon Asian chili sauce (optional)
11. 2teaspoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
12. 2medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press
13. 1teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions

Whisk peanut butter, hoisin sauce, water, tomato paste, and chili sauce, if using, in small bowl. Heat oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in small saucepan over medium heat until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in peanut butter mixture; bring to simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until flavors blend, about 3 minutes. (Sauce should have ketchup-like consistency; if too thick, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until proper consistency is reached.) Transfer to bowl; cool to room temperature.

Tuna Burgers

carrot / onion / 1 raw egg / 1 can drained tuna / half cup breadcrumbs / 2 tbsp mayo / 1 tsp olive oil

mix, mash, fry, eat.

mixin' it up

frying patties

yum.

Stuffed Pumpkins... oh yes!

Angela's after-dinner statement pretty much said it all, "I wish we had more pumpkins!"

In the fall, Angela and I heard an NPR piece talking about stuffed pumpkins. It seemed like a strange yet delicious idea - cheese, bacon, and other goodies baked inside a pumpkin? The idea sat on our culinary back burner, and our decorative pumpkins sat on the mantle. Looking quite strange during Christmas and then downright out of place in January, they were plucked from the mantle and carted off to the kitchen.

The process was simple and yields an astoundingly tasty dinner: Carve the tops off of a pumpkin, clean out the guts, pack with stuffing, and bake for 2 hours at 350 degrees. For the full recipe check out this NPR article  - Sweet or Savory: Stuff, Bake and Devour a Pumpkin.

from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table

Carve out top

remove innards

season inside and stuff with goodies

add mixture

bake

stare

devour!