Blueberry Banana Bread

Blueberry Banana Bread - from cooks.com

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. mashed ripe bananas
1 c. frozen blueberries
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. oats

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add mashed bananas.

Measure flour, reserving 2 tablespoons of flour to coat blueberries.

Stir baking soda and salt into flour, mixing well.

Stir in oats.

Fold in banana mixture.

Stir in vanilla.

Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons flour over blueberries, then fold into batter.

Transfer batter to greased loaf pan (the original recipe says 2 but unless they are very small, there is no way you'll get two loaves). Bake about 50 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool and wrap overnight before slicing. It is delicious spread with maple butter.

Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt

Attempt #2 with the ice cream maker: success!

Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt
3 cups fruit: peaches and strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup sugar

1. Puree peaches and strawberries.

2. Mix milk, yogurt and sugar in mixer.

3. Mix on low speed until sugar is dissolved.

4. Add fruit and continue mixing until well combined.


5. Remove freezer bowl from freezer and place on base of ice cream maker. Press start and turn on.

6. Pour half of yogurt into maker and make for 25-30 minutes, until thickened. Put the remaining yogurt in the fridge until the first batch is done and then repeat. (This actually made way too much, so I had to do it in two rounds).

7. Eat right away or freeze in serving size portions for future use. Thaw 30-40 minutes before eating.

Baked Plums with Honey

I got a yummy dessert cookbook for my birthday from M&L and I was looking through it the other night and found a recipe that I decided to try. The original recipe was for apricots but I still have loads of plums to use up so I switched it up.

Baked Plums with Honey - modified from Perfect Desserts
8-10 plums, halved and pitted
1.5 T ground almonds
2-3 T honey
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Vanilla ice cream, optional
Granola, optional

1. Arrange plum halves in a single layer in a greased 8x8 baking pan, cut side up.

2. Sprinkle with almonds, honey and nutmeg. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes until the plums are tender and brown. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with ice cream and/or granola.

This was a really tasty and simple dessert. I don't think I would have liked it without the ice cream though, because it wouldn't have been sweet enough. The original recipe called for slivered almonds and I didn't have any so I used up some ground almonds. I don't think that they did anything for the taste. Next time, I think I'll skip the almonds all together and sprinkle the plums with some brown sugar.

Cherry Pie

When the fabulous dude and I were dating in a semi-long distance relationship, I made him a pie almost every time I saw him. Somewhere along the line, the pies stopped coming so often (bad for his taste buds, good for his waistline). However, since so many people knew how much I love to bake pies and how much he loves to eat them, it seemed somewhat odd that it's taken me this long to post a pie recipe. It's also somewhat odd that the first one I post turns out to be Cherry, seeing as that's his very least favourite. Oh well, cherry pie is better than no pie, right dear?

I make pie the way my mom taught me to do it. I don't think I'll get in trouble for sharing the secret family recipe, because I think you might also be able to find it on the back of the Crisco box. This recipe makes enough for 2-3 double crust pies. I often cut it in half to just make one pie and it works fine.

Pie Crust - Crisco
6 cups cake and pastry flour (or 5 1/2 all purpose - which is what I always use)
2 tsp salt
1 lb lard (you can use shortening if you want but I really don't think it gives the same results)
1 tbsp vinegar
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cold water

Makes 3 double crust pies. If you don't want to make three pies, you can cut the recipe in half or wrap and leftover pastry in waxed paper, place it in an air tight container and freeze for up to three months.

1. Mix flour and salt.

2. Cut in lard until it resembles coarse oatmeal.

3. In a one cup measure, mix vinegar and egg. Bring up to one cup with water. Add to make moist dough. It really depends on the day whether I use the entire amount or not. I think it has to do with the temperature of the room, the dampness of the flour and so on. Just use your judgment. You want your dough to hold together but not be sticky. It's okay if there are clumps of flour in the bowl that don't hold together.

4. At this point, I usually put the pastry in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to firm it up, especially if it's a hot day.

5. Divide dough in six equal portions. Place one portion on a clean, floured surface. Sprinkle dough and rolling pin with flour. Roll dough into a flat circle, turning often.

6. Roll dough onto rolling pin and into pie plate.

7. Add filling and cover with another crust. Seal edges and cut away extra pastry (make sure to make pie crust cookies with the leftovers). Poke holes for air to vent. Bake according to directions for the pie you're making. The directions for how I do cherry pie are below.

Cherry Pie
4 cups pitted sour cherries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup plus some white sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
Water

1. Add cherries and sugar into a saucepan. Heat over medium until sugar dissolves.

2. Dissolve cornstarch in water.

3. Bring cherries to a boil and add cornstarch/water mixture, stirring until desired thickness is reached.

4. Remove from heat and cool 10 minutes.

5. Pour into pie crust. Cover with top crust. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes, until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Enjoy!

In our family, you always got a dollar if you found a pit in your cherry pie! This time the fabulous dude found one in his slice.