Best Banana Bread Ever

Hey guys! I'm sorry I've neglected you, it's been forever since I've written a food post. I've been suuuupppper busy with work and school stuff and there's more stress to come so don't be alarmed if we go another few months without speaking, just know that I miss you and am anxious to get back to a regular posting schedule :)

Aaaanyways, this is a recipe that I've been meaning to post for a while now (at least a year) and haven't gotten around to it, but the day has finally come! It's my favorite banana bread recipe ever, and I've definitely tried my hand at quite a few. It's from (pretty much my favorite) cookbook, Flour. Everything I've made from that book has been awesome, I'd absolutely recommend adding it to your bookshelf if you haven't already. One piece of advice on this recipe - don't omit the walnuts. I usually detest nuts in my banana bread but for some reason they go so well with this version.

Banana Bread

from Flour by Joanne Chang

1 1/2 cups (210 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (230 g) sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

3 1/2 very ripe, medium bananas, peeled and mashed (1 1/3 cups mashed/about 340 g)

2 tbsp creme fraiche or sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup (75 g) walnut halves, toasted and chopped

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. On low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil. (Do not pour in all at once! Adding the oil should take about 1 minute.) Add the bananas, creme fraiche/sour cream, and vanilla and continue mixing on low speed just until combined.
4. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture and nuts just until thoroughly combined. (No flour streaks should be visible and nuts should be evenly distributed.) Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours, or until golden brown on top and the center springs back when you press it. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes, then remove it from the pan to finish cooling.

The banana bread can be stored tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 weeks; thaw overnight at room temperature.

Versatile Blogger Award

I'm so excited right now, Sara from Redhead Cuisine has honored me with the Versatile Blogger award! I feel so humbled that people even read my blog, and to be given an award for it is just beyond anything I ever expected when I started. Thank you Sara!

The official rules for accepting this award are as follows:

1. Add the award to your blog
2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you
3. Mention 7 random things about yourself
4. List the rules
5. Award to 15 bloggers
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blogs or on Facebook.

Sooooo....7 random things about me? Here we go:

1. I'm left handed.
2. A lot of people know I'm from hawaii but not many know that I was actually born in Ohio.
3. When I'm not baking I like to knit.
4. My two favorite foods are salmon sashimi and braised pork belly.
5. I'm returning to school in the fall to get a degree in Dietetics.
6. I baked my first cake when I was 3...with the help of my mom of course :)
7. I own over 200 bottles of nail polish :/

Selecting just 15 bloggers to pass this award on to was tough, I read so many amazing blogs these days, it's hard to keep up!

1. Grubography
2. The Pastry Affair
3. Culinary Couture
4. Canella Vita
5. Adventures in Cooking, Eating and Being
6. Berry Lovely
7. Soup Addict
8. The Delicious Life
9. What The Fruitcake?!
10. Piggy's Cooking Journal
11. Baker In Disguise
12. Heather's Bytes
13. Oven Chaos
14. Lisa Is Cooking
15. Lemon Drop

I guess that's it, thanks again Sara! :)

Hazelnut Biscotti [TWD]

I'm so bad about posting these challenge posts on time lately! Ah well. I thought these were just okay as far as flavor and texture goes, but I really liked how fast and easy they were to make. I doubt I'll ever make them again, there are definitely better biscotti recipes out there... I did like the cool little trick I learned for removing the skins from hazelnuts - all you do is add some baking soda to boiling water and boil the nuts until the water turns black. You just keep taking a nut out and testing if the skin rubs off easily, once it does they're all ready to be de-skinned (is that a word?).

As always, the recipe for these can be found on this week's hosts' blogs, here and here, as well as in the Baking With Julia cookbook.

Malted Waffles [club: BAKED]

This is my first club:Baked post in a while. I missed a couple months while I was away from home and I was back in time to participate in the Chocolate Coffee Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache recipe but that's, in my opinion, the most luxurious recipe in the whole book, and I have no need for such an exquisite cake right now. I think I'll come back to that one a little later when I have some sort of occasion for which that cake would be appropriate rather than wasting an extraordinary recipe on an ordinary day!

This is actually the second time I've made these waffles. The first time I made them was about a year ago, before club:Baked was even born. It was a total fail. No matter how long I cooked them in my waffle iron, they remained undercooked in the center (even after I'd completely burned the outside to the point of no return). I'm pretty sure I eventually gave up and tossed the whole batch in the garbage.

This experience was a lot more pleasant. I'm not sure what I did differently this time but whatever it was, it worked - the waffles weren't raw in the middle! While I still found the waffles a little softer than I'd prefer, they were edible and pretty tasty - I'm calling it a success. I used kefir instead of buttermilk and it worked perfectly.

The recipe for these waffles can be found on this week's host's blog, as well as in the Baked Explorations cookbook.

Some News

Hey guys! Sorry, no new foodporn today, I just wanted to share some exciting news with you: My Red Velvet Whoopie Pies post was included in The Huffington Post's Whoopie Pies article! Mine is one of 13 different whoopie pie flavors they included in the article, so head over there to check out the other 12 amazing variations.

French Strawberry Cake [TWD]

It's been a while since I've done a Tuesdays With Dorie post. I went back home to Hawaii in April for two months and didn't bring my Baking With Julia book or my camera (which I later kicked myself repeatedly for) so I wasn't able to make and photograph the new challenges. (Not that I would've had time to anyway since I was at the beach just about every day!)

I got back about 2 weeks ago and have just been settling back in and getting used to being away from my family again. I couldn't wait to check the TWD website and see what recipes I'd missed and which were chosen for this month. I'm so glad this was the recipe selected for this week, it was the perfect one to kick off my return to Tuesdays With Dorie! A lot of people described this cake as bland but I'd have to disagree, I thought it was delicious. I love strawberries and cream so this cake was right up my alley.

I was pretty nervous about it at first since I'd never made genoise before (I guess maybe I've still never made one as there's a dispute over whether or not this would even be considered a genoise since the eggs aren't heated) and the book has nearly an entire page dedicated to explaining "the whys and hows of genoise." I even considered skipping this week too, but I found the sweetest strawberries at the farmers market for only $5 for 3 pints and took it as a sign. (A sign that they're in season?) It was definitely not as difficult as all the hype made it out to be, as long as you're paying attention and use a gentle hand. I even forgot to preheat the oven before making the batter and had to let it sit there, deflating, while the oven got up to temperature! It still turned out fine :)

The recipe says to bake the cake in an 8-inch round cake pan but I only have a 9-inch round cake pan so I just used that figuring I'd cut the cake into two layers instead of three. However, after reading some people's comments about the cake being dry and bland I thought I should definitely do three layers to lighten it up and maximize the amount of berries and cream inside the cake itself. It was tedious and I'd be lying if I said each layer didn't have areas that went from paper thin to nearly half the width of the original cake itself, but it was worth the extra effort because my finished cake came out perfectly light and not dry whatsoever. (To sum this up, 3 layers = essential. That is all.)

This recipe is definitely a keeper, I may even have to make it again for my birthday ;) The recipe for this cake (in case you want to try it, which you definitely should) can be found on this week's hosts' blogs, here and here, as well as in the Baking With Julia book.

French Toast w/Blueberry Sauce

Hey y'all! Sorry I've been m.i.a. for so long, I was having a situation and had to go home for a few months to be with my family but I'm back, refreshed, and ready to share my recipes and kitchen anecdotes with you again, yay!

I first made this french toast while I was at home last month and thought it was too good not to share with you guys. I made it again as my own welcome-home breakfast the morning after I got back and managed (barely) to snap a few shots before I stuffed it into my mouth. You can skip the blueberry sauce if you want and just use plain old maple syrup, but where's the fun in that?

French Toast

adapted from Alton Brown

1 cup half-and-half (I prefer to actually mix the 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup milk myself, I think it tastes better that way, but I'll leave that decision up to you)

3 large eggs

2 tbsp honey, warmed in the microwave for 20 seconds

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

8-10 (1/2-inch) slices French bread

4 tbsp butter

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey (temper in), salt, cinnamon and vanilla. (You can mix this the night before and refrigerate.) When ready to cook, pour custard mixture into a pie pan or other wide, shallow dish and set aside.
2. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Dip each slice of bread into the custard mixture and allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side. Remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan and allow to sit for 1-2 minutes.
3. Over medium low heat, melt 1 tbsp butter in a 10-inch cast iron or other heavy skillet. Arrange 2-4 slices of bread in the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all slices and serve immediately with maple syrup or blueberry sauce (recipe below).

Blueberry Sauce

from BackToTheCuttingBoard

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw if frozen)

1/2 cup Grade A or B maple syrup

1 tbsp lemon juice

1. In a small saucepan over medim heat, combine all ingredients and cook until blueberries are soft (and thawed if frozen) and the mixture is heated through. Turn heat down to low and keep warm until ready to serve.