Cuisine: Banana Chocolate Brownie Bread

It's been rainy and dreary here in San Francisco, and I love it. Nothing makes my heart melt quite like the damp winter we get here. It is far better than the below zero temperatures of my Minnesota upbringing, especially the temperatures of this past winter. I love reading books, plotting with comrades and baking warm sweet treats in winter.

This past Tuesday was a particularly dreary day, so I set out on a little adventure: find rotten bananas. I just had to make banana bread.

I found some and brought them home. I was all ready to make a traditional banana bread when suddenly, I got an urge to throw in cocoa powder. Then, I ransacked my cupboards and found half a bag of mini chocolate chips. In they went, and then this banana chocolate brownie bread was baked.

It was enjoyed that evening with a lovely cup of chai tea.

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You will need:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
5 ripe bananas
1/4 cup milk
2 1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 extra large eggs
1 cup mini chocolate chips

What to do:
Heat over to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch by 9 inch baking dish.

In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder together until thoroughly combined. In another bowl, mash bananas, milk and vanilla together. There should still be large chunks of banana remaining. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar over medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time until mixture is airy.

Add 1/2 the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Stir to blend. Add 1/2 the banana mixture. Stir to blend. Add 1/2 the flour mixture. Stir to blend. Add 1/2 the banana mixture and the chocolate chips. Stir to blend. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.

Bake for about 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Enjoy either warm or let cool overnight. Excellent with coffee and/or tea.

Cuisine: Sweet Cheese Pound Cake

You Will Need:
1 – 15 oz. container of Ricotta Cheese
1.2 cup Sour Cream
½ cup Milk
3 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
½ cup Sugar
1 cup Corn Flour
1 cup Cake Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
2 sticks Butter, melted
Toasted Sesame Seeds

What To Do:
Strain ricotta cheese through a cheese cloth for 2 hours (or more. Mix honey, sour cream, milk, ricotta cheese, eggs, butter, sugar and vanilla together. Triple Sift (YES, you read correctly…Triple) the corn flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt together. Pour milky cheese-egg mixture into the flour mixture. Pour batter into two prepared bread pans and bake at 350degrees for about 55 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick into the middle, and pull the toothpick out clean.

Cuisine: Salvadoran Quesadilla RECIPE

I have decided to become a baker. I used to hate it. It was messy, time-consuming, and too precise for my ADHD. I love innovating and throwing things in at the last minute to boost flavor, and that is something you cannot do with baking.

But then I got The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook, and everything changed. Their recipes are not my favorite. What I love, love, love about them is that they teach you why you need to do things certain ways. It is the technique that has always gotten in the way of my baking; not my need for innovation. With this cookbook in hand, I dare to try new recipes including baking!

One of my all-time favorite treats is Salvadoran Quesadilla. It's sweet cake-like taste is just sweet enough without being too sweet. It's slightly crumbly texture is a little moister than cornbread, but not quite a tea-bread. It is the perfect thing for breakfast, coffee or a late-night snack.

I set out for a recipe online because I just had to make it. However, all the recipes online only called for regular flour. I knew this to be a mistake! I have tasted corn meal in all of the quesdillas I've had across this fine land of San Francisco, and trust me I have had plenty of quesadillas. So...I found one with ingredients that seemed to match almost perfectly, perused my America's Test Kitchen Cook Book, and created this incredibly tasty morsel. It tastes almost exactly like the quesadilla's I buy from this bakery in The Excelsior. I say almost because I always have to make this differently. Always.

Hope you enjoy. It is bound to be a hit at any brunch or dinner party.

***

Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup corn meal, finely ground

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup grated queso fresco

1 cup sugar

4 eggs, beaten

3/4 cups Salvadoran Crema

1/4 cup half and half

2 sticks butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

sesame seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, cornmeal, and baking powder together into a bowl.

In another bowl, mix together queso fresco, sugar, eggs, crema, half and half, melted butter, and vanilla until well combined. Pour mixture into the bowl with the flour. Stir until well combined.

Grease two bread loaf pans. Pour half the batter into each. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top until the entire top is coated in sesame seeds.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Cuisine: Brown Bread

This recipe was created for The S. Kitchen presents...A Very Mary Queer Year. Fruitcake is definitely a New Year's tradition. Depending on the recipe it is "enjoyable" to varying degrees. Instead of making a "traditional" fruitcake, I decided to tweak a recipe for Brown Bread also known as Boston Bread. This is moist, dense, and filled with dried cherries and golden raisings. Mmm...mouth watering

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Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup rum
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried cherries

Directions:In a small jar add raisins and cherries and fill with enough rum to cover. Let soak overnight.

In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until incorporated. The batter will be really wet.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease bread pan and pour batter into it. Let set for about 5 minutes. Put bread into oven and bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Cuisine: Carrot Pear Gingerbread

I bought some pears today that smelled amazing and were incredibly ripe. I was eager to have them tomorrow as a snack or part of my lunch. They were in the bag with other vegetables for dinner and ended up getting crushed. I, too, was crushed. So I ended up making up this tasty dessert instead.

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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground clove

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup molasses, dark

3/4 c boiling water

1 stick butter, softened and sliced

3/4 cup brown sugar, dark

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 carrots, shredded

2 pears, pealed, cored and sliced

1 tablespoon ginger, crushed

***

Directions

Heat oven to 350.

In a bowl sift together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, whisk together molasses, water, and butter. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add flour mixture to molasses mixture and combine. Slowly fold in carrots, pears, and ginger until fully mixed together.

Pour batter into a 9X9 buttered pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes.

Cuisine: Sweet Potato, Pear, and Ginger Biscuits

So...since I have been un(der)employed, I have been trying my hand at new things and slowing down. One of those things is baking. This weekend, I experimented with biscuits and surprised myself. These are fantastic! It may sound like an odd combination of ingredients, but the end result is a delicious, moist, and succulently sweet biscuit. In fact, we ate them all in two days. Not that we should have, but we did.

As many of you may know, my cooking always entails a lot of steps and takes a wee bit of time. I am also lousy at writing recipes down. Well! Here is a recipe that is fairly simple and written down exactly as my memory recalled. And as I age, my memory fails me more and more.

So...Let me know how these turn out for you. I'd love to hear the stories they inspire.

Xo,
Jason

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Ingredients

• 3 small sweet potatoes, peeld and cut into 2 inch sections
• 2 pears, peel, quartered, and cored
• 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup oats
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups Bisquick, plus additional 1/3 cup
• 1/3 cup butter, soft
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, plus additional 1/2 cup
• Real maple syrup (optional)
  

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add ground ginger and let seep for 5 minutes. Then add cut sweet potatoes and boil for 10 minutes. Next, add pears and boil until sweet potatoes are soft, about 3-5 more minutes. Drain and mash the ginger, sweet potatoes, and pears with the clove and cinnamon. Set aside to cool.

In a small mixing bowl, combine oats and milk. Soak for 5 plus minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups Bisquick, 1/3 cup butter, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Mix together lightly. Add sweet potato mixture and oat mixture. Gently stir together ingredients. If mixture sticks to the side of the bowls, add additional Bisquick one tablespoon at a time. Stop when mixture is still slightly lumpy and pulls away from the edges of the bowl.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease a cast iron skillet or a heavy glass pan with butter (or spray with Pam). Using a 1/3 cup, scoop the biscuit mixture into a large ball and place on skillet or pan. Pan should hold 5 to 6 biscuits. Then sprinkle about 1 tablespoon brown sugar and drizzle a little maple syrup over each biscuit.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Check at 12 minutes. Biscuits are done when toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy with butter. Mmm...Tasty!