Chocolate banana bread

It’s Sunday night and what is your plan?

My plan is to bake chocolate banana bread tonight.  Take it to work tomorrow.  Receive accolades from co-workers for the remainder of the week.  Yeh! 

This chocolate banana bread is dark, moist, rich and tender…..just the way I like ‘em!!!

Chocolate banana bread

3 large ripe bananas mashed, about 310g

75g (1/3 cup) melted butter

150g (¾ cup) light brown sugar

1 large egg, approximately 50g, beaten

112g (½ cup) crème fraiche or sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

155g (1 ¼ cup) all purpose flour

23g (¼ cup cup) natural unsweetened cocoa powder*

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional

¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

85g (½ cup) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven 175C/350F. 

Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl add the mashed bananas and stir in the melted butter.  Add the sugar and mix well.  Stir in the beaten egg, crème fraiche and vanilla extract.  

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, espresso powder, salt and baking soda. 

Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and gently combine.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Do not over mix.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until the bread springs back to touch.

Remove from the oven and allow bread to rest in the loaf pan for 10 minutes.  Invert the loaf pan onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

*Do not use Dutch processed cocoa.  Believe me it will not work in this recipe!

One Chocolate Chip Cookie

I love the idea of a single serving cookie because I have SNEB (snarf-down-the entire-batch) tendencies.  This is the perfect chocolate chip cookie for my daily cookie craving.  It’s easy, yummy and…. worth every calorie!

One Chocolate Chip Cookie

14 g butter, softened

12 g brown sugar

4 g white sugar

1/8 teaspoon vanilla essence (extract)

16 g all purpose flour

25 g chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven 180 C/350 F.

In a small bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla extract with a fork or spoon.  Add the flour and mix.  Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Bake for 13 -15 minutes, until lightly brown. 

You can make one cookie or two. 

Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala is my idea of food heaven.  I can eat it anytime, anywhere…spicy, comforting and delicious.  It is my  go to recipe and leftovers taste awesome!

Chicken Tikka Masala has an interesting history. Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty in South Asia, ordered his cooks to remove the bones from the meat before cooking in the tandoor.   Tikkas, the small bite sized meat pieces marinated in yogurt and spice, became the rage of the age!  Fast forward to Scotland in the 1970’s and food lore has it, a Bangladeshi chef created Chicken Tikka Masala to placate an irate customer.   

Chicken Tikka Masala

This recipe appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 2002 and is very spicy.  You have been warned!  I have slightly altered the recipe.

1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into cubes

Marinade

½ cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

½ tablespoon piece ginger, minced

Sauce

2 tablespoon oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garam masala

½ teaspoon salt

12 ounce tomato sauce

¼ cup cream or yogurt

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger and salt.  Add the chicken cubes to the marinade.  Refrigerate the chicken for up to 24 hours.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil on medium heat in a large saucepan.  Add the garlic and jalapeno and cook for about a minute.  Stir in the coriander, cumin, paprika, garam masala and salt.  Add the tomato sauce and simmer about 15 minutes.  Stir in the garam masala.  Add cream and gently simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat broiler.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack inside the sheet.  Arrange the chicken cubes in a single layer.  Broil until the chicken is cooked and blackened in spots. 

Add the chicken to the sauce and heat.  If the sauce is too thick add water to achieve your preferred consistency.   Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with basmati rice or naan.

DO AHEAD: Chicken can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; chill. Reheat before serving

                                                                                                                                          

Plout Jam

The end of summer is coming soon and I wanted to save the season in a few jars.  So, the last few days I have been making small batch jams.

Four reasons why I love making small batch jams.

1.  No fancy equipment required.  All you need is a copper jam pot, a thermometer, canning jars, 4^th burner pot, canning jar tongs and a funnel.
2.  Small-batch canning is less stressful.
3.  Small-batch canning is totally doable in an afternoon or evening.
4. The ritual of making jam is so relaxing; watching summer fruit and sugar doing their thing and then enjoying the fruits of labor in winter!  Heavenly!

Pluot (Ploo-ot) is a hybrid of a plum and apricot.   So if you are a plum/apricot lover, a jam lover or simply a food lover, you have got to try this delicious sweet tart jam. 

                                                                   












Pluot Jam

Makes Four 4oz jars

680 g (1 ½ lbs) seeded and chopped plouts
400 g (14 oz) white sugar
25 g (1 ½ tablespoon) lemon juice
1 vanilla bean

Day 1

Mix the chopped pluots, sugar, lemon juice and I vanilla bean in a preserving jam pot.  Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Empty the mixture into a ceramic or glass bowl, cover with parchment paper and macerate it in the refrigerator overnight.

Day 2

Put the pluot mixture in the preserving jam pot and bring slowly to a boil over medium high heat.  Cook rapidly to jellying point (220 degrees F).  Stir constantly to prevent sticking or burning.  Remove the vanilla bean.  Pour the hot jam into hot, sterilized jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace.  Wipe rims of jars with dampened clean paper towel; adjust the canning lids.   Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Day 3 – 365

Sunshine in a jar!