Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Thanks to Harold, who sent us a picture of a double chocolate banana bread one day,
I could not get double chocolate banana bread out of my mind.

Double chocolate banana bread.

Double chocolate banana bread.

I tried other things, I went to 7-11 and bought dreyers triple chocolate ice cream.



Double chocolate banana bread.

I ate a packet of Indomie,

Double chocolate banana bread.

I watched endless cute kittens and cute Kpop idols on youtube...

Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread.Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread.Double chocolate banana bread.Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread. Double chocolate banana bread.

ARGGHHHHH!
This must be how it feels like being in Stephen King's movies.
Luckily, this obsession is easy to solve.

I just had to google recipes for double chocolate banana bread and make the first one I encounter.
It's Smitten Kitchen's Double Chocolate Banana Bread.

Recipe
My slight adaptation:
I reduced the sugar from 3/4 to 1/2 and I used the sugar I have at home (caster sugar).
I tried to follow the baking time 'til the end but my toothpick came out clean after only about 30 minutes of baking - so I had to take it out way earlier than 55-65 minutes. I recommend frequent testing after 30 minutes.

- 3 very ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter pan. Mash bananas, Whisk in melter butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla. Mix baking soda, salt, flour and cocoa (I didn't sift as instructed by original recipe - sorry, too lazy) in another mixing bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined (actually OB helped me mixing the batter, so I am sure it was overmixed), add chocolate chips. Pour into pan and bake until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack.

The cooling process was very hard for me as SC and OB's grabby hands could not stay away from the cake. Warning: very very chocolatey.
WE LOVE IT, and I can finally stop obsessing with DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD... well, until my next craving, or whenever Harold posted another picture of double chocolata banana bread :)

Please check out the original recipe here.

Caramelized Grilled Banana with Condensed Milk

A simple yet decadent treat for a sloth x glutton crossover like me.


Preheat oven to 200C. Get some super ripe bananas (I like using mini or emperor bananas as they are not mushy), peel the skin and halve them length-wise, place them flat side down on a lightly greased pan, on top of each one, add a tiny bit of butter (about 0.5cm dollop). Put the pan on the top rack of the oven, grill until gloriously golden. Remove from oven, drizzle some condensed milk over them (I used both original and chocolate condensed milk) and devour.

If only I had some cheddar to shave on top, it would've made the whole combo even more deliciously unreal. If you wanna improve the presentation (aka, not making them look like a pile of crap, like mine T_T), you can dust some powdered sugar, or serve it with ice cream, add a dainty piece of mint leaf etc.

As you can see, I didn't bother T_T

Ugly Delicious - Banana Chocolate Pie

Another ugly delicious thing for you guys :)
Seriously, how ugly does this thing look?
But I can assure you that buttery pastry + banana + chocolate...no matter how ugly it looks, it must be delish!


I used the crust recipe here, simply removed the teaspoon of salt and dry herbs, and used salted butter instead (I love a touch of savory in my sweets), or you can use frozen pastry too, I have nothing against that ^_^. I filled the pastry with chunks of banana and semi sweet chocolate chunks, egg-washed it and baked it in a preheated oven until golden brown.

If you can't get over the ugliness, eat this with your eyes closed or lights off heheheh.

Perfect with a cup of tea.

Ugly Delicious - Banana Chocolate Spring Rolls 醜陋的朱古力蕉春卷

These spring rolls may look super ugly.
But, there were abso-bloody-lutely delicious, freakin' yummy! Trust me.
我很醜, 但是我很温柔 (好味)..

They look so ugly because some chocolate bits were sipping out of the spring roll sheets. Hmmm, actually, to me, the chocolate specks kinda made them appear extra appealing, ugliness in the best way possible.
醜的原因有好多, 就好似爆醬朱古力咁....落重手左...但咁啱得咁蹺就係咁先好食..


Super easy to make.
Roughly mash some ripe bananas, prepare some chocolate (I use jimmies), wrap some banana and chocolate in spring roll wrappers and deep fry until golden brown.
超易整的說.
攪溶的香蕉, 預備D朱古力 (我用開jimmies牌), 將D朱蕉醬搽落春卷皮度, 柞到金黃

Crispy on the outside, sweet and creamy with chocolatey bits on the inside.
Ugly? Who cares, right?
外脆內軟, 正!

Weekend Breakfast - Banana Cinnamon Toast

There's nothing better than waking up on a Sunday morning to a beautiful, sunny, 21C weather.
Wait.
There is.
Waking up on a Sunday morning to a beautiful, sunny, 21C weather and a good breakfast ;)

Today's menu, nothing fancy, just a good 'ol banana cinnamon toast and a cup of coffee.

Place banana slices on a piece of bread slathered with butter, top with a bit of sugar, sprinkle with cinnamon, grill in a preheated 200C oven until the toast is crisp. Blow torching would be nice, but who'd bother whipping out a blow torch at 8.30am Sunday morning?
Not me.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Creamy Spiced Pumpkin & Banana Dessert

It's almost Halloween, and I'm obligated to put up something cheesy and clichéd, such as...a pumpkin post.

Plus, I received half a small pumpkin from SC's mom, and I didn't feel like stir frying it as much as she'd like me to...so I whipped up this weird version of Indonesian kolak.

Weird? Why?
It does have coconut milk in it, but instead of palm sugar, I used normal caster sugar, and instead of pandan leaves for fragrance, I used nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves.

Weird it is.

Recipe
- half a small pumpkin, cut into bite size chunks
- one large (super duper ripe, the skin should be all black) emperor banana, cut into a few sections
- 200 ml coconut milk
- hot water, a pinch of salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves

Cook pumpkin chunks in hot water, some sugar (adjust the amount of sugar to suit your taste) and spices until tender, add coconut milk, a pinch of salt, adjust the amount of sugar and spices in necessary, add banana chunks, consume hot or cold.

...preferably in a slutty (or not ^_*) Halloween outfit.

Banana, Chocolate, Cheese & Condensed Milk Pratha Pizza - Pizza PisCoKe

There's one Indonesian flavor combo that I haven't seen in Hong Kong so far.
It's PisCoKe, aka. Pisang (Banana), Coklat (Chocolate), Keju (Cheese).
That's right.
Banana, Chocolate and Cheese, all in one.
This combo is typically used as a filling for buns or spring rolls; on top of toasts; or as a dessert on its own (grilled banana topped with chocolate and cheese).

Since I can't make no buns...I thought, why not make a sweet pizza?
However, the last time I checked, I can't make my own pizza crust too.
So let's cheat again and use frozen roti pratha as a base.

Recipe
- 1 x frozen roti pratha
- 1/2 super ripe emperor banana or 1 mini banana, sliced and caramelize in a pan with a bit of butter and lots of sugar
- chocolate jimmies
- grated cheddar cheese
- sweet condensed milk
- butter, sugar

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Place frozen roti pratha in a lightly buttered pan, bake for a few minutes until fluffy, take it out, butter the top, add chocolate jimmies, caramelized bananas, drizzle with condensed milk, bake again for a few minutes until the chocolate jimmies get softened (they won't fully melt). Take it out, add generous amount of grated cheddar cheese, drizzle with condensed milk, serve hot.


Fold it, cut it, bite it, have it the way you want it.
You can top this with some ice cream, peanut butter, crushed toasted peanuts/almonds etc, but trust me, it is already very sinful as it is :)

BBQ Dark Chocolate Stuffed Bananas - It's Complicated

So, what's new from last BBQ?
These barbecued dark chocolate stuffed bananas.

Actually this is nothing new to us, but we haven't done this for quite a while....because...

It's complicated.
Don't we loveee making things complicated.
You'll see.

First, stick a large banana with BBQ fork.
BBQ it until the banana skin turns black and the flesh gets mushy.

WARNING: Not for the impatient!

Such as sous chef.
He kept flipping and fiddling the banana, impatiently, it slipped away from his fork, right onto open flame.
Two tongs came to the rescue.


Banana was saved! Thank God! All rejoice!
Our BBQ banana master said that the banana wasn't done yet, but sc was having none of it.
He couldn't wait any longer.


Annie si-fu (Cantonese for master) started "processing" the banana.
She "operated on" the banana, in one swift movement, she sliced the banana open.


See that gap? We need that surgical-perfection gap.
We had people wiping sweat off Annie si-fu's forehead during the "surgery". Kidding!


Now, break some dark chocolate into chunks that will fit the banana.
We used Lindt's 70% Dark Chocolate. Rich, chocolatey and thin.
Thin pieces are better for the impatient. They melt faster.


Over to sc, back to the grill.
See how the chocolate pieces were starting to melt?
We see a promise.

Whatever you do.
Don't drop the banana now, or the sacrifice of your sore arms would be totally worthless.


Most of the chocolate pieces have melted into gooey chocolate goodness now.


Lay it gently on a plate...light your incense sticks and worship it.
It is worthy of praise!


The banana grilling prodigy wanted to pose with his master.

The scenes after this were too barbaric to post.
Think 8 spoons fighting for a piece of that gooey melted dark chocolate and banana goodness.
It was brutal to say the least.

On second thought, do you think we can achieve the same by nuking banana flesh and dark chocolate together in a microwave?
Don't tell si-fu and sc I said so.

Banana, Rum and Raisins Cake - Help! Cake Storage Tips Wanted

If a cake could kill, I would've been killed by this loaf of cake. Why? Was it just too damn delicious?
I wish.

OK, it was delicious when it was freshly baked, cos let's face it. Banana + Rum + Raisins? It'd take a lot to ruin such a winning combo.

The disaster happened the day after. I baked this large loaf for my daily breakfast at the office. Two thick slices each morning with my hot coffee. Yum. At least, that was the plan.

Previously, I never stored any cake in the fridge, cos based on my experiences so far, nothing good came out of that. But in this summer heat, I thought I had to rescue the cake from getting ruined too quickly. The next day, I happily took out the cake out of the fridge, transferred two slices into a bento box, and carried it to work. Hopefully, all the initial deliciousness would be restored by the time I reach my office.

Unfortunately, they didn't recover.
They dried out and hardened. I mean ROCK HARD. I could kill being hit on the head by that loaf. Hmmm, maybe not exactly subdural hematoma lethal, but at least it could inflict some serious bruising and swelling.

I tried microwaving cakes before, and again, it could never recover anywhere close to when they were freshly baked. Is it just mission impossible, or am I doing it wrong?

When I got home, I took out the rest of the loaf, placed it on my kitchen table and wait for it to return to room temperature, as advised by some online resources. It did return to room temperature, but the texture never recovered. It stayed persistently hard.


The recipe is the same as my previous soft and moist banana cake, I just added 2 tsp of rum and a couple handful of raisins.

Guys, helppppp! I desperately need some true and tested cake storage and reheating tips T_T
Whatever it takes, I'll try it.
Hmm...as long as it doesn't involve storing the cake in my underwear drawer.

Soft and Moist Banana Cake - Banana Baking Addiction Relapsed!

Baking. I was a phobic turned a junkie. A discriminative junkie, though. I have this thing about banana baked goods, I am an addict and I think I know why. Banana baked goods are very forgiving for an novice idiotic baker like me. There was a period of time when all I baked were bananas, bananas and more bananas, I pretty much turned myself and my readers into glorified, highly educated, computer using, banana baked goods chomping monkeys.


Feeling rather bad, I went into banana baked goods rehab and tried my very best not to do any banana baked goods for a while. I've been quite a good girl, experimenting with other baked goods (namely chocolate), but you and I knew that this addiction is bound to relapse. So, 4 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days (not that I am counting or anything) after I swore off banana baked goods, here I am again....posting about another banana baked goods. HAHAHA! My monkeys (you know who you are), let's go!

Soft and Moist Banana Cake

Recipe
(modified from Homemade Dessert Recipes)
- 1/2 cup butter (softened)
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups flour (sifted)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 beaten egg
- 1/2 cup yoghurt
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350C. Cream 1/2 cup softened butter, add sugar, beat until fluffy (I used hand mixer), add beaten egg, add mashed bananas, mix well. Add flour by batch, I divided into 3 batches, add yoghurt and vanilla, mix well. Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan and bake for around 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Ohhhhh, it feels sooo good to be badddd....

Extra Moist Banana Raisin Cake

Sometimes I describe my stuff like they are people. Because that's how I think of them. It's creepy, but I feel it. I swear.

...and I am not even the type of person who can talk (out loud) to the thin air/the sun/the rain/myself/pets/babies/plants/stuff around me. I noticed that many people can, and I truly envy them.

I would normally end up sitting at a corner with frustration...watching others playing and "talking" to babies or pets. The "chi goo chi goo" and the "you like that, dontcha? you adorable lil' angel. yes you are, yes you are!" seem to charm the heck outta the concerned babies/pets. It's not that I didn't try...I did! but it just won't come outta me. The maximum I could do is..."hey...ehm...errr...cute? ehm...err...cute." Appalled by my desperate attempts, the babies/pets in question would just cry or go away. Sigh.

It must be a great release just to say everything out, even if it is to someone/something who can't really respond. We just wanna be "heard", right?
- I've witnessed friends who talk to their stuff. Some friends talk to their plants, ranging from authoritative commands to desperate pleas, begging them to flower, or asking them not to die..
- or some who scream out "Faster! Faster! FASTER!!!" in their room (sounds familiar? LOL!) to their..........computers...hoping they will download, well, faster (hehe)
- Not to mention those who love heart-to-teddy bear talks about everything...including financial matters (during economic crisis just like this) or love/heart breaks (he/she loves me/loves me not kinda thing)

All are great! and I am so jealous for not being able to do it...cos I know it helps. Things/babies/pets hear us out. My most recent experience was with my sis' car. It's old, and I was suggesting to replace it with a new one. We were discussing which potential cars she might like...and there and then, right in front of my sis' apartment, the car stopped cold. I think he's (yes, it is a he) pissed.

Same thing goes for my kitchen appliances. Although I don't talk to them, I feel them. I feel my oven's jealousy when I kept using the stove, and vice versa. I think the blender absolutely hates me now, as I almost never use it...and the hand mixer probably feels like a VIP, as I only pulls it out during special occasions when I need to bake fancy schmancy baked goods.

First thing's first, let me fix my relationship with my loaf pan. It doesn't look very happy being used as a storage of spice mixes. Let me utilise it before it gets completely pissed and decides to go rusty on me or something ^_^

Extra Moist Banana Raisin Cake

Recipe
- 1 cup all purpose flour (sifted)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- a dash of vanilla essence
- 5 small ripe bananas or 3 regular bananas (mashed)
- a couple handfuls of raisins

Preheat oven to 175C. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt. Make a well in the middle. In another bowl, mix eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla essence. Pour liquid into the well in the middle of the flour, mix well, fold in bananas and raisins, pour into a greased loaf pan or muffin/cupcake mold or lined with paper liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

The cake was super moist, and it's perfect with a cup of earl grey.

Now I'll need to do something about that blender. Damage control. Maybe some goo-chi goo-chi you're so cute will do?

A Taste of Failure: Baked Banana Cinnamon & Banana Chocolate Rolls

First of all, my apologies on another banana related post. I guess I can't go too long without bananas eh? Heck, who doesn't love bananas...I DO! LOVE. BANANAS. SMALL ones! (Somehow, this sounds SO wrong! LOL). Anyway, the above picture didn't look so much like a major failure, eh? Wait 'till you see the one below....

It all started when I made my first spring rolls. A food blogger pal, Michelle of Greedy Gourmet, pointed out that the amount of oil needed to fry spring rolls scared her, and I totally agree. What if we could bake those rolls, or steam 'em? Wouldn't that be nice? So I did my lil' experiment...

Baked Banana Cinnamon & Banana Chocolate Rolls

- half pack of spring roll wrappers (you can make some savoury and some sweet rolls with the whole pack)
- 4 small bananas or 2 big ones, cut into small pieces, sprinkle half generously with sugar and cinnamon
- sugar, cinnamon, chocolate meisjes (looks like rice, or you can use semi sweet chocolate chips/chunks)
- vegetable oil

I used 150C oven, I wrapped bananas as I would savoury spring rolls, lay them on a greased oven tray, brush with a bit more oil, bake until browned.

Actually it would've been not too bad if I didn't get impatient and increased the heat to 200C. But I did, and the melted sugar and chocolate started to ooze out of the rolls...and the skin started to burn...sob sob...so these were the results:

EEEECCCKKK!! OH YEAH! That's a failure alright! But we ate them anyway, and after peeling the super burnt parts, they actually tasted pretty fantastic! LOL~! My failures never tasted THIS good! I'll try again next time with lower heat ^_^ Never surrender!

If you heard someone screaming "OH NO!" on the background, that's sous chef, who emerged as a hero, not in shiny armour nor on a white horse, but with a cup of oil and a frying pan. Sous chef deep fried the rest of the rolls...and eventually we still got to feast on sweet banana rolls...^_^

Who would've thought one could still go wrong with banana, sugar, cinnamon & chocolates, eh?

Banana Choco Chip Oatmeal Muffins - The Wake Up Call

Do you sleep like a log? Are you a light sleeper? Do you snore? Do you sleep walk?...and what does it take to wake you up?

I am a light sleeper, I don't generally sleep a lot, I hate the feeling when I woke up from an afternoon nap (feverish and even more tired instead of refreshed), and it is super easy to wake me up.

Ironically, people around me seem to love sleeping very much. Some of them could sleep their way through a weekend...and believe me, it is really challenging to wake them up:

- There's a friend who wouldn't wake up even when I went to his room, dragged his blanket off him in a cold winter morning, and kicked him off his bed. He finally woke up when I pour icy cold water over his head
- Another friend needs to set at least 4 super loud alarm clocks, all placed out of her reach. The alarm clocks woke up her whole family, but her
- A friend's boyfriend won't wake up until my friend promised a morning "activity" or "service", if you know what I mean ;)
- Another friend's boyfriend won't wake up until my friend yapped, nagged, screamed and shouted for at least an hour
- Another friend needs to snooze her alarm clock repeatedly every five minutes for at least half an hour

Now tell me your stories :) ...and look at what's waiting on the breakfast table!
A basket of...
Banana Choco Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Recipe
- 3/4 cup of self raising flour
- 1/2 cup of instant oatmeal
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 small ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1/4 cup peanut oil
- 1/4 cup milk
- a handful of semi sweet choco chip

Preheat oven to 175C. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, oatmeal, sugar, salt. In a separate bowl, mix egg, oil, milk, and vanilla essence. Make a well in the middle of flour mixture, pour the egg mixture and mix well. Add mashed bananas and choco chip, pour the mixture into greased muffin tray (or you can use muffin paper cup lining), and bake until the top is crisp and toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

To wake my sous chef up, you just need one word...
"Breakfast"

Ebony & Ivory Banana Baked Goodies

Q&A SESSION

Q: Why two different kinds of banana baked goods?
Bullshit A: There are two sides on every coin, there's good and there's evil, there are plusses and there are minuses...yada yada yada...blablabla...(absolute rubbish LOL)
Real A: My oven capacity only allows me 1 batch of 6 servings at a time, and I have 10 small emperor bananas (1 batch requires 5) *_^

Q: Why Ebony and Ivory?
A: Because I was being a smart ass, thinking that combining all my favorite ingredients, peanut butter, nutella, chocolate chips and bananas, which resulted in the Ebony version would be pure genius, and...nope! All the additional ingredients overpowered the poor banana. We still kinda like 'em, though. Loved the touch of peanut butter and they were still moist, just don't bite into any choco chips, or that would be all you can taste.

The "less is more" version turned to be this perfect pale shade of Ivory, soft, moist, and very banana-ey. I am not taking sides here, but the crowd (i.e: a handful of people) loved the Ivory more

Q: Why "Baked Goodies"?
A: The last time I tried calling something "muffins", they turned out to be a "cake". I was contemplating calling the ebony ones "bread" but I am not even sure what "bread" or "cake" is, and for once I didn't feel like looking it up. So, guys, tell me know what they are from the recipe....I was THIS close to calling them banana thingy

Recipes

Ebony
- 1 cup self raising flour, sifted
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp peanut butter, melted, 1 tbsp nutella
- 1 tbsp oil (mine is olive & canola mix)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 handful of semi sweet chocolate chips
- 5 small emperor bananas, roughly mashed

Preheat oven 175C. Mix flour, sugar and salt in 1 bowl, mix the rest of ingredients in another bowl, make a well in the middle of flour, add the liquid ingredients, mix well. Brush cake mold with oil (I was using rectangular aluminium disposable mold, this was before I got my muffin tray), pour mixture into mold (3/4 full), bake for 25-30 minutes of until toothpick inserted into the "thingy" comes out clean.

Baking Blooper #1
I missed out 1 MAJOR ingredient here, guess what was it and win a little something?...^_^


Ivory
- 1 cup self raising flour, sifted
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup tbsp oil (mine is olive & canola mix)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- 5 small emperor bananas, roughly mashed

I made these the same way as the ebony version, just using different mold (I finally bought me a little muffin tray! YAYYYY!!!) with muffin paper cups

Baking Blooper #2
Those who watches "Top Chef Season 1" might remember that in one of the challenges, Miguel confused salt for sugar...I watched that episode NOT thinking "This could happen to the best of us" but bitchily thought "How could THAT happen?!! I bet that won't happen to me". Yeah yeah, I should've kept my arrogant little mouth shut, cos doing this Ivory version, I too pulled a Miguel and had to throw a batch of flour. LOL! Luckily I realized it before mixing all the ingredients or going ahead baking it....or my sous chef's family would have to nod and smile their way pretending that the super salty banana thingy was tasty! LOL

I am submitting this for the Banana Bread Bake Off at Not Quite Nigella

Grilled Choco Bananas

Bananas are good for us. Full of vitamins and a good source of potassium (that's until I am done with them and turned them bad. LOL)

I miss the bananas generally found in Indonesia, especially the big ones (pisang raja), perfect for banana fritters/other sweet snacks. Since I couldn't find those here in Hong Kong, I had to settle for these small ones (just about 10-12 cm long), they have the most similar texture and taste to the ones I wanted. Perfect. They just need my magical touch to make 'em sinfully yummy in no time.

Preheat oven to 200C. Simply peel the skin off, slice 'em in half, lay them on oven tray, slather them with butter, and sprinkle some chocolate (chips, powder or rice bits) generously. You can also add a mountain of grated cheese (this is how we normally do them in Indonesia), bake until golden brown. I dusted some chocolate powder onto them. Perfect for afternoon tea time. :)

Submitting this for Weekend Herb Blogging, which is hosted by The Houndstooth Gourmet this week. Enjoy! :)