Banana Cake

I will get the name right today:) I almost posted this yesterday and then decided to wait for today.

I made this Banana Crunch Cake. Very good. I halved the recipe and made it in an 8x4 pan. I don't think I baked it quite long enough because even though the toothpick came out clean, it was mushy in the center. But still very good. Jeff and Logan loved it.

Banana Crunch Cake
Ingredients
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (I eliminated)

1/2 cup shortening (I substituted cinnamon applesauce)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 cup mashed banana (I used 2 small for a 1/2 batch
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup oat flour (I used old fashioned oats, did not grind)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I eliminated and added some chocolate chips)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x8 inch pan. Make the oat crunch topping: In a small bowl, combine the rolled oats, brown sugar, melted butter and 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts. Mix well and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream shortening and white sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Combine the oat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Beat into creamed mixture. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the oat crunch topping.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Banana Cake

We tried quite a few recipes this weekend with great success. The first was cajan shrimp roll ups. The recipe was fairly easy. I halved the recipe.

Cajun Shrimp Lasagna Rollups
Ingredients
1-1/4 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped (used only one and added green pepper)
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese (used velveeta)
1 cup diced fully cooked andouille sausage (eliminated)
12 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained (used whole wheat)
4 ounces pepper Jack cheese, shredded (eliminated)
1 teaspoon paprika
Directions
In a large skillet, saute shrimp and onion in oil until shrimp turn pink. Stir in tomatoes and Cajun seasoning; set aside.
In a large saucepan, saute garlic in butter for 1 minute. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in cheddar cheese until smooth. Add sausage; set aside.
Spread 1/3 cup shrimp mixture over each noodle. Carefully roll up; place seam side down in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with cheese sauce. Sprinkle with pepper Jack cheese and paprika.
Cover and bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Yield: 6 servings.

Secondly, I made hawaiian sliders on pretzel rolls. The pretzel rolls were ok, but I'm not sure better then the other recipe I've tried. My one complaint is that boiling them always ruins the texture. However, they were still good. The jalapenos made this HOT! Almost too hot so you couldn't taste the pineapple in the burgers. I also halved this recipe.

Hawaiian Sliders
1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef (90% lean)
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
18 minature whole wheat buns
Baby spinach leaves
3 center-cut bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
Sliced jalapeno peppers, optional
Directions
Drain pineapple, reserving juice and 1-1/2 cups pineapple (save remaining pineapple for another use). In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup reserved crushed pineapple, pepper and salt. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 18 patties; place in two 11-in. x 7-in. dishes.
In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, garlic, pepper flakes and reserved pineapple juice. Pour half of marinade into each dish; cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, turning once.
Drain and discard marinade. Using long-handled tongs, moisten a paper towel with cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack.
Grill patties, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 160° and juices run clear.
Grill buns, uncovered, for 1-2 minutes or until toasted. Serve burgers on buns with spinach, remaining pineapple, bacon and jalapeno peppers if desired. Yield: 6 servings.

More Cookies

Wow, I've learned from my mistakes. The first being, remember that you substitute 1/2 crisco butter flavored for butter in the cookies. The second, don't roll out the cookies on a REALLY humid day. Both of these factors, went into my cutout cookies that I just got done making. They came out fine, and taste great, but were a pain. And I had to work really, really quickly!

I went back to the cutout cookie recipe I used two times ago. I still think I prefer the one I usually use, but I just can't get over all of the waste of the eggs in the recipe. I should try to figure out if I can just use 1 whole egg in place of 2 egg whites... I guess I'll have to look into it!

Birthday Cakes

I had a busy weekend of baking cakes. I had to do two Elmo birthday cakes.. They were so fun. I used the frozen buttercream transfer method and was very happy with the results. My only problem I had was that the cake recipes I used were for bundt pans and they sunk in the middle more then I would have liked. The taste was excellent though. Very moist! I will have to try to research it a bit further. I also, used a different buttercream and I had pros and cons to it. I'd maybe use it again with some changes. But you never know until you try, and I really liked not having to use meraigne powder.

So, here it is!

Buttercream

Well, I'm on a baking marathon the next month or so. I've got three orders, so it will definetely keep me busy. I made all of the buttercream for the cakes for this weekend. I tried a new recipe that is a crusting buttercream but elliminates the meraigne powder and uses dream whip instead. I didn't really see much difference, however, I haven't tried to do anything with it yet. I also made a batch of "buttery buttercream" to do the frozen buttercream transfer with. That I will start tonight along with baking the cakes.. So much to do, so little time. Of course, I'll post the finished product.

Back to Banana

Tomorrow Jeff and I have a wedding to go to so I thought I'd make some cookies for the babysitters. Since I have bananas in the freezer, I"m going to make chocolate chip banana cookies. These have to be one of my favorites. I do make the frosting for the top, but these are wonderfully soft, and almost like a cake! I'm going to eliminate the walnuts since my father in law can't have nuts and may add a few extra chocolate chips. I've been making these for years, and they are always a hit!

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes.aspx/chunky-banana-chocolate-chip-cookies

Catching Up

Well, I'm just catching up a bit. Seems like with the new house, I'm still baking, but just not getting my pictures uploaded. Here are some pictures of cookies I decorated for a graduation party. These were not my favorite of all I've ever made, but there were so many of them, I didn't have the time to focus on the detail. The chocolate cake is the darn good chocolate cake from the cake mix dr. Came out wonderful, it is such a good cake, I froze some to use to make ice cream blizzards. I forgot to take a picture of the cake out of the pan unfortuantely. The other picture is of a blueberry custard pie. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. The pie was good. The custard part was good, but I think I'd have prefered a little more of a traditional custard then a sour cream based one. There was a hint of sour cream taste rather then sweetness. But the crumb topping and blueberry part were great. I also made a cream cheese pie crust to go with it. I noticed that these crusts brown so much better then store bought ones. I think I'm hooked on making my own pie crusts. Mmmm Pie! Enjoy!