How to make Banana Bread

Since I live alone, I get bored very quickly. Just procrastinating and being unproductive all day long. That's why I spent more time at my parents home and stayed there the last two weeks.
When I got back home, my kitchen had an intensive smell of bananas and after a sec I knew why. There were overripe bananas in my fruit bowl! Geez ... I rarely have fresh fruits at home, so I totally forgot them! -_- Fortunately it's still too cold for fruit flies! xD
I didn't want to throw them away because I hate wasting food and they also had this nice sweet smell. So what to do? Turn them into banana bread - what else! Banana bread has been on my TO-DO list for longer and now it was the perfect time to give it a try! Here we go:


Banana Bread (makes 1 loaf, approx. 12 servings)

adapted from allrecipes.de

• 250g all-purpose flour
• 100g almonds, chopped
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch of salt
• 115g butter, unsalted
• 85g brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 midsize bananas, overripe and mashed

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan or line with a baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, chopped almonds, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Gradually stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. 

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

You can clearly see and taste the chopped almonds in it. So good! If you don't like almonds, of course you can replace them with walnuts, hazelnuts or whatever you like. :)

I like to have my banana bread with strawberry jam. Nothing's better - not even with Nutella! Even my Minion cannot resist. :P

Hope you like this recipe as much as I do. Have fun baking - Good luck! :)

Valentine's Day: Hot Chocolate on Stick with Marshmallow Heart

My Hon and me, we've been together for more than 6 years now. Every year we have managed to ignore the hype about the Valentine's Day and all the lovey-dovey couples. Indeed we've always spent the day together but never made something special. For us it's a day like every other day - but not this year ...

Two weeks ago he moved to Munich for a new job and for the first time we will be spatially apart from each other on Valentine's Day. Suddenly that day becomes important to me. Ain't that silly?

This is why I ended up with these bunch of homemade Hot Chocolate on Stick. Oh boy, there will be one lucky guy on 14th February! ^_^

It was my very first time making treats for Valentine's Day and it was so much fun that I have to share with you guys - so let's get started!

Required kitchenware:

• cutting board
• sharp paring knife
• sharp kitchen knife
• microwave-safe bowl
• spatula
• big ice cube tray (cube size approx. 3x3cm. I got mine from ebay.de)
• skewer
• 15 lollipop sticks

What you need to garnish your Hot Chocolate Sticks:

• marshmallow hearts

I got mine from a local BUTLERS store for 1,99€ a bag. Don't they just look lovely? Almost too lovely to eat!

Hot Chocolate on Stick with Marshmallow Heart (makes 15 sticks)

• 450g chocolate of your choice; here I used milk, white and dark couverture chocolate, each bar 150g
• 1 vanilla bean
• 15 marshmallow hearts

Preparation:

1. On the cutting board cut the vanilla bean in halve, length wise with your sharp paring knife. Scrape out all of the oily seeds from the inside and put them into the bowl.

2. With your sharp kitchen knife chop the chocolate coarsely and add to the bowl with the vanilla seeds.

3. Put the bowl into the microwave and melt the chocolate on low power setting in short intervals (about 30sec.) and stir between each bout of heat until it is completely melted.

4. Pour melted chocolate into the silicone ice cube tray. Use the spatula for help.

5. Refrigerate 30min.

6. Meanwhile, use your skewers to carefully poke a hole through the marshmallow hearts. Then carefully insert a lollipop stick through each heart. Try not to squeeze them too much.

7. After 30min. poke the lollipop sticks into the center of each chocolate cube.

8. Refrigerate an hour then pop the chocolate cubes out of the mold.

9. Wrap stick in plastic wrap or small cellophane bags, tie a ribbon around and they are ready to give away.

10. Keep sticks refrigerated until ready to use.

How to use:

Heat up one cup of milk (approx. 200ml) and add a Hot Chocolate stick. Stir until chocolate has dissolved completely.

Enjoy your cup of Happiness!

How to make Pancakes

Not everybody likes pancakes with butter and maple syrup for breakfast, neither do I! But I bet you will love them with fruits and whipped cream!

To make these super fluffy pancakes you will need some preparation time, so maybe it's not an everyday breakfast. Anyway, they are still easy to make and it totally worth it!

What you need to garnish your Pancakes:

• fruits of your choice (fresh kiwis & strawberries)
• whipped cream
• chocolate sauce

Pre-Preparation:

1. In a large bowl beat the whipped cream until it forms soft peaks. Fill cream into a piping bag and store in the fridge until serving time.

2. Wash the strawberries, remove the leaves and cut the fruits into slices. Put them on one half of a small plate.

3. Peel the kiwi (watch here), cut it into small square pieces and put them on the other side of the plate with the strawberries. Wrap the plate with plastic wrap and store in the fridge.

After you have done all the pre-preparation you can get to your pancakes now. This is what you need:

American Pancakes (makes approx. 12 pancakes)

adapted from chefkoch.de

 

• 150g flour
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 packet baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 200g plain yoghurt
• 100ml milk
• small amount of melted butter

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl whisk togehter the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs. In another bowl whisk the yoghurt and milk.  

2. Add your yoghurt-milk mixture to the eggs and whisk together until well combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and then pour in the egg-yoghurt-milk mixture and stir just until combine. You should have a thick pancake batter now.

3. Heat a frying pan. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half twice, and moisten with melted butter. Carefully rub the pan with the oiled paper towel. Pour a small amount of batter onto the pan and cook until bubbles appear, then it is lightly browned on the bottom. Turn over and brown the other side. Repeat with remaining batter.

4. Garnish the pancakes with the fruits, whipped cream and chocolate sauce before serving.

 

Bon appétit!