Flour's Banana Bread

In the past two weeks, my life has gone from zero to sixty to about 100 million! So again I am very sorry that I am not yet able to post on a regular basis, hopefully I will come fall! Also I have had these pictures on my computer for a while, I just have not been able to get around to writing the posting. Finally, here I am writing this...so here goes!
Today I have a delicious banana (I credit Gwen Stefani with teaching me how to spell banana :D, but I ain't  no hollback girl!) bread from my favorite Flour Cookbook. The version I made for the photos below was not my best, I think my bananas were WAY overripe, they were like liquid it was disgusting! Anyways when used with slightly overripe bananas, this is the best banana bread I have had...EVER! Of course Joanne's version is fab, but I felt it necessary to add a smidgen of my sugar n' spice and by that I mean more vanilla and cinnamon!

Flour's Famous Banana Bread 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plus 2 TBS sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 1/3 cup mashed bananas (about 3 1/2 ripe bananas)
• 2 TBS sour cream
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup of toasted walnuts (optional) 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and butter a loaf pan (9 by 5). 
2. Sift and set aside the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes on medium). 
4. While on low speed, slowly add in the oil (if done too fast you will lose all the air in the batter). Add the bananas, sour cream and vanilla, mix until just combined. 
5. Fold the flour mixture and nuts into the wet ingredients. Make sure there are no flour streaks, then pour batter into prepared pan. 
6. Bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. It should be golden brow and bounce back when poked. Let the bread cool for thirty minutes in the pan before popping it out. 

Enjoy!
Molly

So...its been a while...err here is some Swedish Visiting Cake

Okay, okay I am so sorry, but that is no excuse for the fact that this past month has gone by like snap of the fingers (cue actual snap)! It has been a crazy busy month for me, in general it has been a weird summer. Anyone agree? It has just flown by and I am so not ready for it to end, well to help cope with our end of summer sadness-sniffle,sniffle- here is a delightfully delicate Swedish visiting cake. It has hints of lemon, almond and vanilla! This cake is the perfect accompaniment to breakfast or just to eat anytime, I chose the latter. 

Enjoy,

Molly

Swedish Visiting Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter- melted and cooled, additional butter needed for pan
• 1 cup of sugar, plus additional to sprinkle on top
• zest of one lemon 
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sliced almonds (whichever you prefer)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F, then butter a 9in round pan (you may use a seasoned cast iron skillet if you have one). 
2. Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl, mix with your fingers until fragrant and the lemon zest is evenly distributed.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking until just combined after each addition. 
4. Stir in the flour, then fold in the melted butter. 
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth the top then sprinkle with almonds and sugar.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, cake is done when the edges are golden brown and beginning to pull away from the pan. 

Original Recipe from Bella Eats

Delicious and Rich Chocolate Birthday Cake

I jump at any opportunity to bake, so realizing my Dad's birthday was approaching I knew I had to find a great recipe to celebrate. Once again I found myself looking through the Flour Cookbook (I highly recommend it!) for a chocolatey recipe per my father's request! So I decided on the "Midnight Chocolate Cake", in the book it was paired with a milk chocolate buttercream frosting, but that recipe alone called for six sticks of butter!!! I couldn't bring myself to use that much butter for the icing on the cake if you will! Instead I paired the cake with Hershey's Perfectly Dark Chocolate Frosting! My own spin on the cake was fabulous and regarded as "one of the best birthday cakes EVER!"
When it came time to frost I was running a little short so I decided to not frost the sides of the cakes, which added a welcome casual feel to the cake! Find any opportunity you can so that you can make this cake, it so moist and delicious...even days later (yes I am still enjoying it!).

(the lighting was prettier in reality than through the camera lens, it was natural light through a lacy curtain) 

Because of copyright...I am going to put up the recipes for the Hershey's Cake and Frosting, I am still trying to figure out if I am able to post recipes from a cookbook, do any of you know the answer? The Hershey's one is excellent I have made it before- and the recipes are very similar, the only real difference seems to be that Flour uses butter, while Hershey's uses oil!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake 

"

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
   
2. 2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
   
3. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
   
   VARIATIONS:
   ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
   
   
   "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
   
   1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
   2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
   3 cups powdered sugar
   1/3 cup milk
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
   
   Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
   Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting."- Copied from http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=184

Cornmeal Lime Zinger Cookies

When looking through my Flour cookbook for like the millionth time, no kidding I sometimes even read it while taking a bubble bath, these cookies finally caught my attention. At first I skipped over them because the combination of cornmeal and lime did not sound appealing to me. For some reason I found myself reading Johanne's into and background of the cookie, and I suddenly found myself wanting to make these cookies as soon as possible! She described this "addicting" lime glaze, and I was hooked. So finally the other day I went on a baking binge and got around to making these cookies!
These cookies are addicting as Ms. Chang said, there is the cake-like cookie topped with a zingy lime glaze! I will be adding these to my regular roundup of recipes! The recipe can be found below in the links, I am afraid of copyright if I were to post it.
Enjoy!

That glaze....nom, nom, nom (I may or may not have eaten the glaze straight from the bowl :) )

Recipe from The Flour Bakery Cookbook  and also found here Flour Cornmeal Lime Cookies

S'mores Brownie Bites

I AM SO SORRY that this post has taken me so long, in the middle of preparing to post something my power went out because of lightning! So that kind of threw off my mojo, but now I am back with a slew of recipes to post! First up is S'mores Brownie Bites

Seeing as it is summer, I have become obsessed with S’mores!  I have gaped, and gawked at completely homemade s’mores, s’mores bars, s’mores cookies and even s’mores cupcakes. I decided to combine all of these fabulous s’mores ideas into one delicious treat. So, I made S’mores brownies in muffin tins as an ode to s’mores cupcakes.  While I did not try it, I am sure you could make this recipe as traditional bar brownies.

These are supreme brownies. I used a slightly adapted form of the Nestle Toll House Double Chocolate brownies (found on the back of the Semi-Sweet chocolate chip bag) and added a bit of MollyCakes Magic in the form of fluff and ground up graham crackers!

For the first batch, I plopped one large cookie scooper of brownie mix into the muffin pan and then put a teaspoon of fluff on top sprinkled with graham crackers. While the first batch tasted good, they caved in, so for the second batch I used a mini cookie scooper and put two scoops of brownie into each muffin cup, then I put the teaspoon of fluff and a sprinkle of graham cracker. Finally, I put one more plop of brownie batter on top. The second batch turned out way more visually appealing!

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did and my parents (again they got to them before I could photograph a large batch in fact before I was able to photograph any)! So hopefully the ingredients will be enough to entice you!

Ingredients: 

2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter 

3 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/4 tsp baking soda 

4 graham crackers crushed until powdery

Marshmallow Fluff 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Then melt one cup of the chocolate chips and butter (either in microwave or on stovetop), until smooth and creamy. Away from heat, mix the eggs in the chocolate mixture, then mix in the flour, sugar, vanilla extract and baking soda. Stir in the other cup of chocolate chips. Scoop about two teaspoons of brownie batter into each muffin cup, then plop one teaspoon of fluff on top and sprinkle with graham crack powder. Finally then put on more teaspoon of brownie batter on top. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until brownies don't indent when poked or a skewer comes out clean. 

Recipe originally found on back of the Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip Bag

Hope you enjoy!!

Molly