So I've been watching masterchef junior (a little behind, I know), but I just watched the episode where they make the cream pies. I've been baking for a LONG time and I came to the realization, that I have only made a cream pie once before. I have made a key lime pie, but I've never made a chocolate or fruit cream pie. So I did a little digging in my recipe books and I found a really good coconut cream pie.
Crust
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2-3 tbsp heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
pinch of salt
Filling
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large egg yolks, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup shredded coconut
Topping
Whipped cream
Toasted shredded coconut
So first of all, the base, the crust. Whisk the flour and 1/2 tsp salt together in a bowl. Then, using the back of a fork or a pastry blender, mix in the butter (cut the butter into pieces first). Add the heavy cream and mix until the dough stays together when you squeeze it (I added a little extra heavy cream, my dough was a little dry). Dump the dough into a 9-inch pie pan and using your hands, press the dough up the side. Pack the dough firmly until it forms a crust. Prick the dough carefully, this type of crust has a tendency to flake and break. Bake the dough at 400 degrees F, for 20 minutes. Then combine the egg yolk and the pinch of salt. Brush the inside of the dough with the egg wash and bake it for 1-2 minutes.
To make the filling, combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. In a different bowl combine the egg yolks, milk and cream. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Cook over a low heat until the filling is thick. It'll take about 15 minutes and it will become almost like a custard. Take the filling off the heat. Add the vanilla and the coconut.
Top the cooled pie with the whipped cream and toasted coconut. To be honest, I wouldn't put the cream over the pie unless you're planning to eat the whole thing in one sitting. The cream will fall flat and it will make the pie mushy. So if you won't be eating the whole pie, then I would recommend putting the cream on the pieces individually.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
So as some of you may know, I brought back a ton of produce from my friend's house, including pears. This recipe has a great kick to it and the scones were gone with in a day (and I made a double recipe). This recipe makes 8 scones and they're great for breakfast.
6.75 oz all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
2.4 oz whole wheat flour (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cardamom (if you're feeling ambitious, add a touch more)
3 tbsp cold butter
10 tbsp buttermilk
1 tsp lemon rind
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup chopped pear
2 tsp all-purpose flour
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine 6.75 oz all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and the cardamom in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter in, breaking it into small pieces first. Keep working the butter in until the mix looks like coarse meal. Combine the buttermilk, lemon rind, vanilla extract, and egg in a medium bowl. Stir in the pear. Add the buttermilk mix to the flour mixture stirring until just moist (don't overmix). Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Dust the top with the remaining 2 tsp of flour. Pat the dough into an 8-inch circle onto a greased baking sheet. Cut the dough into 8 wedges, not all the way, but about 2/3 of the way into the dough. Brush the egg white over the dough. Bake it for about 25 minutes and it's ready to eat almost immediately!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
We were up at our friend's house and they live in the best climate for apples, grapes, cherries, and many other fruits. We returned 3 days later with bags of apples and peaches as well as a box of plums, some pears, carrots, and 150 tomatoes. This recipe is a great way to use peaches and it is absolutely delicious!
Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp ice water
Filling
2 1/2 lbs peaches; peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup plus 2 tsp sugar, divided
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
1/8 tsp salt
2 to 3 tbsp butter
Milk or cream
OK! So start off by making the dough. This dough recipe will make just enough dough for one covered pie, so it's perfect! First, you'll wanna stir the flour, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt together in a large bowl. Then, using a pastry blender, and in the shortening, breaking it into chunks as you go.. Cut in the shortening until the mixture looks like cornmeal or bread crumbs. Drizzle the water over the mix and stir it together until it starts to come together. If the dough will not come together and an extra 1 or 2 tbsp of ice water. When your dough is starting to come together, divide the dough in half, press each portion into a circle, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes before rolling
After it's chilled (preferably for a couple hours) roll out your dough. One portion should be rolled out to about a 13-inch diameter, the other half should be rolled out to about a 12-inch diameter. Place the 13-inch circle into a 9-inch pie tin. Refrigerate the dough while you make the filling.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Measure out 5 cups of the peaches and combine with 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, almond extract (is using), and 1/8 tsp salt. Let the filling stand for 15 minutes. Remove the pie crust from the fridge. Pour the filling into the bottom crust and dot the top with the butter. Cover the top of the pie (if you'd like, you can make a lattice). If you're completely covering the pie, cut steam vents in the top. Light brush the top of the pie with the milk or cream and sprinkle the remaining 2 tsp of sugar on the top. Bake the pie for 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degree Fahrenheit and cook it for 25 to 35 minutes more. Let the pie cool then you can slice the pie and enjoy!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
Week 74:
I really need to make this blogging thing more consistent. I've been at cooking camp for this last week. Cooking camp ended yesterday so I am back to cook on my own. I made these chicken thighs and they were amazing. I had to take the skin off and the bone out because the boneless ones came in packs of 6 and the bone in ones came in packs of 4. I needed 8, so I got the thighs with the bone in. The spice mix was really good. Garlic powder, chili powder, salt, cumin, paprika, and pepper.I brushed honey and vinegar during the cooking process.They kind of reminded me of the chicken wings. It was not as spicy as I though it was gonna be but it was delicious. The quinoa salad was nice, but I preferred the chicken.
The cake was really nice. The filling was whipped cream and a cherry filling. The filling wasn't too sweet, that cake was chocolatey, and the overall cake was amazing. Both dishes got 9.6/10. I think I'll make both dishes again.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
I haven't done one of these in a while! It's kind of a shame since I really like baking and it's something I enjoy doing. Anyway, these cupcakes were really delicious and they have a cool take on a traditional topping!
Cupcake
1 1/2 cups (225 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp apple cinnamon tea (or any other tea you like, the original recipe called for chai)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup (125 g) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (100 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
Meringue
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup sugar
Alright! Starting off with the cupcake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners (I used silicone, paper works just the same). So for the tea I simply cut open some tea bags and sifted the tea because there were some large chunks that would have been unpleasant to eat. I used 3 tea bags, it might be different for you. Get creative, try different teas! Combine the flour, baking powder, tea, and salt in a small bowl. Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together in a medium bowl until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. With your mixer on low and half of your flour mix, then half the milk, then the remaining flour, and the rest of the milk. Put the batter into the liners, pop the pan in the oven and cook it for 20-25 min (if they aren't fully cooked don't worry, we'll put it back in the oven at a higher heat, they should be mostly done though). When the cupcakes come out, boost up the oven temp to 450 degrees F.
For the meringue, beat your egg whites and cream of tartar together until you get soft peaks. Then add in the sugar and beat like crazy until you get stiff peaks. Using a star tip, pipe your meringue onto your cupcakes and bake them for 5 minutes at 450 degrees F. Then... they're done! Experiment, enjoy!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
Note: My meringue didn't get quite as stiff as I had hoped and that's why its all over the place. The burning on the top was almost instant, that was not from overcooking.
Week 55:
Today I made 2 kinds of salad. Firstly, I made a shrimp salad and then to top it off, I made a fruit salad (well, made with fruit). The shrimp salad was the main component though and it tasted pretty good. The only problem was that my local grocery store doesn't sell canned chiles, so I just used chile powder instead of an actual chipotle chile. The problem was mainly with the complementary salad. I think I've mentioned this before, but I genuinely believe I have a talent for picking the greenest fruit possible and then convincing myself that it's super ripe. The mango was soooooooo sour, I was actually kind of tough to eat. Despite my fruit issues my parents gave the dish a 7.5/10.
Secondly, I made a cobbler. Blackberries aren't exactly in season so they were a little on the expensive side. However, when blackberries start coming in by the truckload, this will be a very common dessert at home. This dish gave me the opportunity to test out my new mini food possessor, which was recently given to me as a gift. I ground up some almonds for the dough and it turned out pretty well. The dessert was great. I hadn't done a lattice top in a while so I kind of cheaped out. Instead on doing the traditional, over, under, over, under, I just did the vertical strips first and then placed the horizontal ones on top. It was very good and the only thing lacking was some ice cream. My parents gave it a 9/10 and I have to say, I agree. 
See you nest time internet! Love, Alexa :)
Week 54:
Today I made cheesecake. It was meant to be a couple mini cheesecakes but I didn't have the molds I needed. So I just doubled the recipe and made a 9-inch cake. Next problem: My local grocery store doesn't sell figs or sheep's milk yogurt. The figs weren't essential so that's ok but I just used regular yogurt instead of the sheep's milk stuff. When I was making the cheesecake I realized I had no lemons. I decided to improvise by using 50% grapefruit juice, 50% water and then I added some sugar and I guess it worked out well.... In the end the result was pretty good, bland, but the consistency was very yogurty. I might attempt it again but I doubt it.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
Week 45:
WOW!I haven't blogged in ages. I can't believe how much I let that slide. But now summer vacation has begun and I will be cooking and blogging a whole lot more.
Yesterday was father's day, so I wanted to make something really comforting and tasty. So I made roasted chicken breasts. The recipe asked for cutlets which pretty much mean that the chicken breasts have been tenderized. Now, the butchers at my local grocery store were nice enough to use the machine to do it for me. However, everything was falling apart and the breasts were very variant in size. Because some were so big, I ran out of the crust and so, some had more of a drizzle of walnut and rosemary. Either way it ended up being good and my family gave it a 7.5/10.
Now for the ice cream sandwiches. I was really worried because there were only four ingredients in the cookies. Powdered sugar, flour, vanilla, and an egg. I didn't even have vanilla so I used almond extract instead. The cookies ended up being these really thin crunchy wafer-like things which were really good. In the middle I put vanilla ice cream but I added mashed bananas and crushed peanuts and it gave the ice cream more flavor and texture. I rolled the sandwiches in some peanuts and topped them off with a cherry, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. They were really and my family gave them an 8.5/10.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
For my birthday I got a springform pan, so I decided to test it out by making cheesecake. But not just any cheesecake, banana cheesecake. I found this recipe in a cookbook I got for my birthday and if all the recipes in this cookbook are this good, this is my new paradise. Here are the ingredients:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
16 oz. (500g) cream cheese
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Sliced banana, for garnish
Combine the rolled oats, pecans, brown sugar, and butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9" springform pan. Bake at 350 F for 18 minutes, or until golden brown. In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, bananas, 1/2 cup sugar, and lemon juice. Then, beat in the eggs one at a time. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 35 minutes. Combine sour cream, 3 tbsp sugar, and vanilla. Spread over the hot filling, and put the cake back in the oven for 10 min. Cool. Chill until ready to serve. When serving, decorated with sliced banana. And, Enjoy!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
Week 24:
I finally got my stitches out!!!!!!!!!! Okay, back to the recipes... The stew called for parsnips and turnips and I had never even seen a turnip or a parsnip let alone cooked with them. If you guys are like me, a parsnip looks like a white carrot and a turnip looks like a white beet. The recipe also called for 5 cups of onion. 5 CUPS!!! I successfully chopped 3 cups and then I couldn't stand it anymore. My dad had to do the last to cups because I was tearing up so much. Another strange thing the stew called for is raisins. Nobody ate one so I think they may have disintegrated... The stew took a total of 2 1/2 hours to cook and I burned the bottom of the pot soooo badly but it came off. My family gave the stew a 8/10.
The brownies turned out great they were double layered. The "tan" layer was like a basic cake batter but with brown sugar and pecans. The "black" layer was like a basic brownie mix but with guinness. The recipes seem to be following a trend... My parents gave the brownies a 8.75/10. It was a really good brownie recipe.
See you next time internet! Love Alexa :)
Week 22:
Instead of doing this entry recipe entry by entry, I'm going to do it in the order I did the dishes. So I started with the caper salsa verde. It was a very simple salsa. Mostly basil with other elements such as the capers and some mustard. Once I finished that I moved on to the cookies. I didn't follow the recipe and I didn't put parchment paper on my pan I greased it instead and when the cookies came out of the oven the caramel had exploded all over the baking sheet and hardened. So I started scrubbing the pan to try and get the caramel off and there was this chunk of caramel that wouldn't come off so I did the stupidest thing imaginable. I took the sharpest knife in the kitchen and tried cutting the caramel off. Of course, the knife slipped and I cut myself. I ended spending two hours in the hospital so that I could get stitches in my finger. Yeah... I'm just glad our sharpest knife if very dull and that I cut my left hand instead of my right. When I got home of course I couldn't cook so I got to boss my dad around and I got him to finish the dishes for me. except I did get to do the bellinis because there wasn't any chopping involved. I didn't get to taste the bellinis but I tasted the apricot syrup before we added wine to it. The halibut dish ended up being a red snapper dish because there was no good halibut available and there wasn't any asiago cheese so I used Gruyere. The bellinis got a 9.5/10, the cookies got 7/10, and the halibut and fennel dish got an 8/10.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
Week 19:
Do you ever feel like life screws you up in something you love just to test if you'll keep doing it after you messed up so badly? I do. I really feel like life was taking notes to see how I'd react to these barnyard disasters of dishes. The pizza was almost perfect in my opinion, except for one minor detail... I was supposed to top the pizza with baby arugula and I went to the store, completely missed the baby arugula and bought dandelion greens instead. What was I thinking? Those greens were so bitter and nobody ate them. We ended up throwing them all out. This very minor flaw sunk the dish's rating to an 8. Don't even get me started on the cake... I pulled it out the oven and it looked great. Then it sunk, it died, whatever you want to call what happened to it. It sunk, revealing completely uncooked batter and ever after another 15 minutes of baking it was just as raw and we had to eat around the center. The cake itself was pretty good though. The compote... I couldn't eat it because I hate grapefruit and that and oranges were the main ingredients. Great, the fruit I hate and the fruit I'm slightly allergic to. I really do feel like life is laughing at me at times. The cake and compote got a 7.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
Week 13:
It's unbelievable how behind I am! It's been over a month since i actually cooked this! Anyway, my mom's friend was having a housewarming party and it was a b-b-q and you were supposed to bring your own meat which was perfect because I didn't even plan it like that. We ended up making like 20 sliders and bringing them to the party and having them as an appetizer for everyone. The patties were pretty simple, just lamb salt and pepper but it went beautifully with the blue cheese and caramelized onions and they were a big hit. My parents gave the sliders a 9/10. I also made chocolate-cherry cookies which were okay. They weren't as good as I expected but still... I can't remember the rating since it was a while back... oops!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
You guys probably already guessed this, but this cake does not actually have daffodils in it. It's a way to use up those 12 egg yolks you'd have left over if you did my angel cake recipe. It's a good cake but kind of dry since there aren't any egg whites. Don't eat the two cakes together since the daffodil cake will taste soooooo dry. Anyway, here's the recipe:
12 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon flavor
Beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon colored. Make almost a yolk meringue by adding the sugar a little bit at a time. It won't puff up like normal meringue but it's almost the same technique. Add the boiling water and beat for 30 seconds. Gradually sift in the dry ingredients, then add the flavorings. For the lemon flavor I just used lemon juice and it seemed to work fine. Beat it all together for about 5 minutes. Bake in an ungreased 10-inch bunt pan in a 350 oven. The recipe says for an hour but I checked on the cake with 10 minutes left and it was almost burned. I would recommend starting with 40 minutes then adding time as needed. See the angel cake for cooling. Serve with fresh fruit.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
OMG!!!! I'm back! It's been such a long time! For mother's day I decided to make a coconut angel cake using my new bunt pan. A bit of it came off while I was taking the cake out of the pan and it was really good. What I'm going to do is give you guys the basic angel cake recipe then tell you how you can add stuff to the cake. Also, you've been warned, if you don't like sifting, don't do this cake. Here's the angel cake recipe:
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups cold egg whites (about 12 large egg whites)
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
Sift the flour, 3/4 cup sugar, and salt into a bowl 3 times. Set aside. In a large bowl beat together the egg, water, lemon juice, cream of tartar, and extracts on low speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the mix increases in volume 4 1/2 to 5 times and looks like foam. This takes between 1 1/2 and 3 minutes. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar one tablespoon at a time, taking 2 to 3 minutes. When all the sugar has been added keep beating until the mix is glossy white a has soft peaks when the beaters are lifted. Sift about one eight of the flour mix on top of the egg mix then fold in until the flour is almost incorporated. Repeat with the other 7 eighths of the flour mix. Keep on folding the last addition of flour until no traces of flour remain. Bake in an ungreased 9 or 10 inch bunt pan at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool for 1 1/2 hours.
How to cool an angel cake
Now for the variations:
Spiced angel cake: add 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp ground cloves into the flour mix. Sift in with the sugar and salt. Frost with a coffee frosting.
Coffee flecked or flavored angel cake: Crush 3 tbsp of freeze-dried coffee with a rolling pin. sprinkle on top of angel cake once all the flour has been mixed in. Fold in gently. If you want a more consistent replace the water for 3 tbsp of cold extra-strong coffee. Frost with chocolate icing.
Candy angel cake: Crush with a rolling pin enough candy to make 1/3 cup. Fold into the batter with the last addition of flour. Frost with a vanilla frosting to which you can add more crushed candy.
Coconut angel cake: Fold 1/2 cup of shredded sweetened dried coconut to the batter with the last addition of flour. Frost with whipped cream and sprinkle on more shredded coconut.
Lemon or orange angel cake: Take out the almond extract and add in 1 tsp of lemon or orange extract. Stir 1 tsp of lemon zest or 2 tbsp of orange zest into the flour mix. Frost with lemon or orange frosting.
Cocoa angel cake: Take out 1/2 of cake flour and put in 1/2 cup of coca powder. Don't frost.
Nutty angel cake: Fold 3/4 cup of finely ground nuts into the regular or cocoa angel cake.
Extra-chocolate angel cake: Finely chop 1 to 2 oz of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate and fold into the batter of either the regular or cocoa angel cake. Serve with whipped cream.
Marble angel cake: Prepare the regular AND cocoa angel cake alternate the batters in the end. Note: this makes 2 cakes.
WOW! That was a long entry. Happy mother's day guys!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
A week or so ago, I made this cake and today I made it again. This is a really good, moist cake and if any of you are vegan you can eat this too. It's super easy and quick. Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Combine the two mixes and stir until smooth. Pour the batter into a greased 8x8 inch pan and put into a 350 oven for 25-30 minutes. From experience, I would lean more towards the 30 minutes. And that's it! It's really that easy. Once the cake has cooled dust it with powdered sugar or frost with a vanilla or chocolate butter-cream.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
I decided to make these cupcakes because we had bananas and almost expired sour cream at home so I made banana sour cream cupcakes. I had a horrible experience with bananas in the banana brown betty and I was determined to redeem myself. Sorry to say, I did not. I think there's something wrong with me. I can't tell if fresh food is ripe or not. I'll pick the greenest fruit and vegetables imaginable. It's unreal. Anyway, enough about my banana drama, here's the recipe:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup self rising or 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar or 1/2 cup white sugar and 1 1/2 tbsp molasses
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
2 medium OVERRIPE bananas, peeled and mashed plus 12 thin slices of banana
WOW! Some long ingredient descriptions! Combine the flours (or flour and baking powder), baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until creamy (if using the white sugar and molasses, beat them together first then add the butter). Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg. Alternate adding the flour mix and sour cream, beating after each addition. Stir in the mashed banana by hand. Fill your muffin tin cups about 3/4 full and top each cupcake with a slice of banana. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool and eat!
Super simple and super delicious(?). I can't really say because of those dang green bananas! I would normally avoid fresh food for a while after this but My 2 year adventure tomorrow recipe is FULL of fresh produce. *sigh*. lol
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
My mom had a friend over and she asked me to make a dessert and I decided to make a banana brown betty. Super simple and easy.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
4 firm ripe bananas (make sure they are ripe and NOT green)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and the butter. Peel and cut the bananas into 1/2 inch slices and set them aside. Bring the milk and the vanilla bean, if using, to a simmer (if using extract, just wait). While the milk heats, beat the remaining sugar, egg, flour, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl until thick and pale yellow. Remove the vanilla bean if using. Gradually whisk half the milk into the egg mix, then whisk the new egg mix into the remaining milk. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until the center bubbles and the mixture had thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk to cool for 1 minute (add vanilla extract if using). Fold the bananas into the hot custard. Gently press half the crumb mix into an 8 by 8 inch pan, 9 inch pie pan or 10 by 6 inch oblong glass baking dish. Then spoon the custard on top and cover the custard evenly with the remaining crumbs. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream. I had a bit of a disaster because one banana was green so you were eating this great dessert and all of a sudden you'd get this dry, green banana and it was pretty awful. But like I said, great easy dish.
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
I made a white cake as the base for my St. Patrick's day mint chocolate-chip cake but this is a great white cake recipe for any cake. The recipe is originally for five 8 inch layers but I made three 9 inch and it was perfect. Here's the recipe:
28 tbsp of butter (3 1/2 sticks)
6 1/2 cups of cake flour
3 tbsp baking powder
Salt
2 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup sugar
10 large egg whites
Preheat oven to 350. Line your pan(s) with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder, and 1/2 tsp of salt into a large bowl. Combine milk and vanilla. Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar to the butter. Beat until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Reduce speed to low and add the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just combined, do not over mix. If you are putting in any add-ins then do that now. Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl on medium speed until stiff (but not dry) peaks form (about 3 minutes). Gently fold the egg-white mixture into the batter in 3 additions. Divide the layers and bake for 18-20 or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let it cool completely, then using a offset spatula or a knife loosen the edges and turn the cake out onto a plate, wire rack or even a baking sheet. Trim the domes that have formed on the cakes to make the cake even. Spread with whatever icing you like!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
For St.Patrick's day I decided to make a mint chocolate-chip cake. I really liked the images on the website I found the cake on because when the cake isn't cut, I looks like a chocolate dream. But the inside... Is a bright and vibrant green. Here's the recipe:
1 recipe white layer cake (use whatever you want)
2 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp mint extract
Green food coloring
20 tbsp (2 1/2 sticks) butter, cut into pieces and sofened
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups icing sugar
Everything after the food coloring is for the chocolate icing. You can use whatever icing you want but this chocolate icing was amazing! Anyway, this is how you make it. Make your white cake batter then add in 1 cup of chocolate chips, the mint extract, and the food coloring. Mix it up and bake it in three 8 or 9 inch pans at 350 for 20-25 minutes. I used 9 inch. Cool the cake completely (about one hour). For the icing beat all the ingredients other than the icing sugar on medium-high speed until the ingredients are combined. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the icing sugar. Beat the icing on high speed until it's light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Ice the cake with about 3/4 of a cup of icing between each layer. Use the remaining chocolate-chips to press onto the cake. And you're done!
See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)
