The Recipe Behind the Challenge

A few months ago I tried a super yummy banana bread recipe that I found on Pinterest.

It was so moist and did the hula in my mouth, I knew I wanted Lu to share in the deliciousness. You can find the recipe that inspired the banana bread challenge at The Baking Robot

I followed the directions, except instead of savind kiwi slices to decorate the top with I chopped it all up and added it to the batter. It turned out beautifully.

B-A-N-A-NN-A

Lu!

Your next challenge is to make a variation of banana bread. It can be boozy, filled with flavors like chocolate, caramel or peanut butter or use other fruits with the banana. You could even make cupcakes, bread pudding, muffins, or bars. The possibilites are endless!!

Valentine's Day The Coconut Way

Luisa offered me a choice of two recipes for Valentine's Day and I (uncharacteristically) chose the recipe  that did not include chocolate (as I gave up chocolate for 40 days to help me grow closer in my walk with the Lord).

I made this recipe: http://www.fifteenspatulas.com/coconut-lime-dulce-de-leche-bark/ for our monthy potluck luncheon at work.

It was delicious!

If you love coconut, which I do, then this is the pefect treat for you.

These four pieces are all thats left from the lunch:

 

Hey Lu! What's my next challenge?

Chocolate Filled Valentine's Day Challenge!

My most recent baking challenge was perfectly timed for Valentine's Day, which I very much appreciated because I needed an excuse to indulge! This was my first Valentine's Day without my close friends and special someone nearby to celebrate so I needed a lot of chocolate as a pick me up! I found a recipe for a delicious Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake made with Ghiardelli Chocolate. The recipe was very easy and VERY rich, and I would very much recommend it because of how simple and sweet it was. It involves milk, semi-sweet and white chocolate topped off with a chocolate ganache. Additionally, this recipe involves using a water bath, which is something I use when I make my Cheese Flan and other desserts that don't need direct heat and are more delicate, like cheesecake and other custards. Enjoy the pictures below! I also added one that includes some Birthday/Valentine's Day love, which I greatly appreciated! Can't wait to see Rachel's coconut challenge!

PB Butterscotch Chips Coconut Bars

I think these babies may be my new favorite dessert. I like them better than brownies.

Thats not entirely fair. I usually don't like plain chocolate brownies, they have to be s'more or peanut butter or some other tasty combination. But they do contain chocolate so that usually puts them one step ahead on the dessert ladder when it comes to bars.

The recipe is a tweak on a recipe I found on pinterest. You can find the orginal recipe here.

Here's what I did:

Cream 1/3 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of pb and 1 cup of sugar. (And it is possible to cream with out an electric mixer, just takes a bit of elbow grease.)

Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Mix in 1 cup flour until combined.

Stir in 2/3 cup coconut and 2/3 cup butterscotch chips.

Spread into a buttered 8X8 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Sprinkle (a heavy, even coat) with powdered sugar.

Mmmmmmm......

PB Empanadas

I hada Tupperware party a few weeks ago and made these yummy empandas with a recipe I found on Pillsbury's website. I made them with a Tupperware Empanada press (also caled a piergoi or pastie press, depending on your cuisine of choice)

The following is the recipe as I made them:

Ingredients:

1/2 roll refrigarator  pb cookie dough
4oz softened cream cheese
2 refrigarator pie crusts
1 egg, beaten
3/4 bag of pb chips
3/4 bag of semi sweet choc chips
3 tablespoons Crisco

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix together the cookie dough and cream cheese until smooth and set aside.
2. Unroll pie cruss and cut into circles with either the empanda press or round cookie cutter.
3. Place tablespoon cookie dough on circle and crimp cut.
4. Fold in half and crimp closed, brush with beaten egg.
5. Bake 12-16 minutes. Let cool in pan, 2 minutes and then transfer to wire rack for 15.
6. Melt pb chips and 1.5 tablespoons crisco in the microwave, stir well. Dip half of empananda in the pb mixture. Let harden and then repeat the process with the chocolate chips.

These got rave reviews. One girl said the soft cookie inside was almost like cake. These are definitely worth a shot!

PS: I'm still concocting a recipe for my "Rachel" cupcakes.

Dulce...just like me!

For the most recent baking challenge Rachel suggested that I produce a cupcake that I thought would be worth of being called "The Luisa". This took a great deal of thought, and I threw around a significant number of ingredients that I thought needed to be included into "The Luisa"...caramel, peanut butter, chocolate, coconut, strawberries...everything was game! It was difficult to come up with a way to incorporate all of these things into one cupcake. But then I stumbled upon this great Dulce de Leche Cupcakes recipe and I knew it was just perfect. If you've never had Dulce de Leche before, the taste is similar to caramel but thicker, with a creamy, milk like consistency. It's one of my favorite flavors, and it was just simple enough but with enough of a kick in the frosting to feel like something I could proudly feel like I could call my own. I added some sliced strawberries and honey on top to spruce it up a bit. The recipe was simple enough but I would recommend cutting the frosting recipe in half, there was more than enough left over. Also, I think it would have been fun to use some strawberries in the batter, or mini chocolate chips..maybe next time!