Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

You know how much I hate to waste. Lately I've been buying those 5lb. bags of bananas when I go grocery shopping. Usually my kids polish them off pretty quickly, but sometimes a few get left untouched. I hate to toss them, so I've been searching for banana recipes that don't require me to run out and purchase things I don't normally keep on hand (like buttermilk - a staple for most banana recipes).

I found this recipe and decided to try it with a few minor alterations. The recipe I'm posting is the one I followed (hehehe...I'm bad at following directions, so this really IS my recipe at this point). It turned out super moist, not overly sweet and the kids LOVED it!!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup ripened mashed bananas (try not to use much more than this...otherwise the cake will be gummy)
1 egg
1/2 cup (or 1 stick) margarine (melted)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 semisweet chocolate chips

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Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8x8 (or 9x9) baking pan. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and ground cloves. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted margarine, milk and vanilla. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until well blended. Be sure not to over mix. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. It will have some melted chocolate, but not cake crumbs.

Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!! Mmm Mmm good...I forgot to take a picture of it. By the time I remembered, it was all gone...

Enjoy!

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Funnel Cake

When I was in the later stages of my pregnancy, I was craving funnel cake like you wouldn't believe! I was so disappointed when my middle son's school fair didn't have funnel cake this year. I had to settle for strawberry shortcake. And you know how pregnancy cravings can really work you over if you don't get what you REALLY want!!

I was way too lazy to hit the local Farmer's Market on the weekends, because that's the only place I know that has them YEAR ROUND! I don't have to wait for the county fair or the school fairs at the end of the school year.

To satisfy my cravings, I had to hunt down an easy enough recipe for me to follow that didn't require TOO much work. I may be SUPER MOM and wife, but being pregnant in the middle of summer was no joke and I didn't have the patience for anything complicated. So here goes...

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups sifted flour
1 teas. baking powder
1 teas. salt
2 cups vegetable oil
Cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar


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Directions:

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the eggs and the milk. Add flour mixture to the egg mixture. Beat with a mixer until smooth; the consistency should be thin enough to run through a small kitchen funnel. Test it and if it is too thick beat in a little more milk; if too thin, beat in a bit more flour, In an eight inch skillet, heat the oil to 360 degrees.

Put your finger over the bottom opening of the funnel, and fill the funnel with a generous 1/2 cup of the batter. Hold the funnel close to the surface of the oil, and release the batter into the oil while making a circular motion. Fry until golden brown, use tongs and wide spatula to turn the cake over carefully. Fry the second side 1 minute. Drain on paper towels, and sprinkle with powdered sugar or
cinnamon sugar.

For a sweeter treat, top with strawberries and whipped cream!!



Enjoy!

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Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cherry Cake

Everytime there's a function that requires me to bring a dessert, this is one of the two cakes that everyone raves about. It's easy to make and sure to please ANY chocolate lover...

Ingredients:

1 box of your favorite chocolate cake mix (the one with pudding)
3/4 cups of oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 can of cherry pie filling
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips

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Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325. Prepare your bundt pan by lightly greasing (cooking spray is fine) the inside. Combine cake mix, oil, eggs and cinnamon in a large bowl. Fold in the chocolate chips then pour in the cherry filling. Make sure that you don't over mix the cherries otherwise they'll get squished!

Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes then invert and transfer to a plate to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar or frost with cream cheese frosting and garnish with fresh berries. Serves well with vanilla ice cream! Store in the fridge and ENJOY!!

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Sponge Toffee

Sweet Treats! Just in time for Halloween...

This recipe was passed along to me from a Canadian friend of mine! Thanks K!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar (625 ml)
2/3 cup light corn syrup (150 ml)
6 tbsp water (90 ml)
2 tbsp baking soda (30 ml)
2 tsp vanilla (10 ml)

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Directions:

Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan with vegetable oil.

Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper, making sure the parchment sides are at least 2 inches above the sides of the pan. Grease the parchment paper with a little more oil.

Add sugar, corn syrup and water to a deep, heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, without stirring and cook until hard crack stage: when the temperature on a candy thermometer reads 300 degrees F. This should take about 10 minutes. During the cooking process, if there are any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan, brush the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush dipped in water.

Remove from heat and working quickly, add the baking soda, whisking to incorporate. The mixture will bubble up quite a bit when you add the baking soda so be very careful not to touch the hot toffee. Immediately pour into the prepared pan. Let cool and set completely before touching. Break into pieces and serve. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

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