Banoffee Pie

So here I go from posting about pizza made with local strawberries to a dessert made with biscuits from over 4000 miles away. I made this pie two weeks ago for Easter and for some reason have been struggling to write about it ever since. Was it gross? No, quite the opposite! Was it complicated to make? No way! Do I want to keep it all to myself? Well, it’s not like I made it up…

Basically, I wanted to address my Anglophilia along with this pie since it’s partly my preoccupation with the British that led me to the recipe. It’s just that I have so much to say about the subject (Doctor Who! castles! moors! Jane Austen! Radiohead! Benedict Cumberbatch! tea! Hot Fuzz! the BBC! Harry Potter! accents! humo(u)r! Irn Bru! Monty Python! etc.), but not in a very coherent way. Indecision and procrastination, I shake my fist at you!

Ironically, I’ve never been to the UK even though I have a small handful of friends scattered throughout, from London to Glasgow. Whenever I do go, I’m making a beeline to the Royal Albert Hall for a photo op. It’s a name thing that makes me feel like we’re related.

Nutella-filled Banana Pancake Muffins

So apparently it’s Pancake Week.

I love pancakes, but never make them.

Honestly, I think they stink up the house.  Why is that?

Ever since Jill made banana cupcakes with nutella frosting for my birthday though, I’ve had pancakes on the brain.  But then I wanted to put them in a muffin pan.  And you know what?  They were the very opposite of stinky.

I know, my weirdo nose is weird.

Kale Smoothie Madness!

What’s all this fuss about astrology lately?  I’ve never really been into it, but will admit that when I found out my sign would change, it made me sad for some reason.  Of course then I read that it only affects those who aren’t out of diapers yet, so hooray.  (poor babies.)

This post can be an example of why I’m a total Aquarius.  You’ve probably seen some kale smoothie recipes floating around on the blogosphere, right?  Being a somewhat recent kale fanatic who loves smoothies, I was instantly on board.  I decided to try out a few of these recipes and make my own, then report to you.  Consider it my contribution to making the world a better place.

Annnd I had to be weird and make faces out of food again.  I can’t help it.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Stollen!

Merry (belated) Christmas, you guys!  I meant to post this yesterday, but better late than never.  Despite the lack of posts, there was a lot of holiday baking and dish washing going on over here, as I’m sure was the case for everyone else.

The end of the month brings another Daring Bakers Challenge, and for December it was appropriately something Christmas-related: Stollen!  If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a German treat that is pretty much like fruit cake in yeast bread form.  Even though I’m half German, I had never had it, so it was yet another adventure for me.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking.  She chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make Stollen.  She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book………and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

“Banana Balls!”

Hello.  My name is Jessica and I am a Conchordoholic.

That’s my confession for those of you who don’t know me.  For most of you who do, you’re probably surprised that I haven’t mentioned Flight of the Conchords until now.  They’re two guys from New Zealand (I have become embarrassingly predictable) who sing funny things while playing guitars and such.  Of course there is much more to them than that, but that’s the Cliff’s Notes version.

On Sunday night, they were special guests on the 22nd premiere of The Simpsons, which is a pretty big deal.  In honor of that, I’m writing about an idea that crept into my mind a few weeks ago.

Elvis Smoothie!

Who likes peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwiches??  If you’re ever forced to be on a liquid diet (wisdom teeth?), you’re in luck!   Well, you’re also in luck if you like smoothies.

Legend has it that peanut butter banana smoothies are pretty epic, so I finally made one this morning.  Mm-mmm, gooood!   It was super creamy, and not overly sweet.  The hardest part is cleaning the blender.

Mini Banana Cream Pies

…or Glorified Banana Pudding Cups.

Oh, hey, neglected blog. HEY. (sorry…!)

We’ve got another family birthday, which means another perfect excuse for me to bake!   (or rather, a reason to bake when I haven’t had much time to do so for fun.)  This time, it’s my mom’s birthday, but I didn’t ask her what she wanted since she’s usually pretty vocal about what she likes.   One of her favorite desserts is key lime pie, so I almost made mini key lime tarts (specifically these…omg). However, it seems like I’ve made a lot of key lime things for her in the past, so I decided that mini banana cream pies would be a good idea since she loves banana desserts, too.

I LOVE BANANA PUDDING, so for me this was a win/win situation.  (Growing up, I would always get either those star pops or banana pudding blizzards whenever we went to Dairy Queen.)  That said, I had never tried making banana pudding from scratch.  When I started searching for recipes, I kept finding some for vanilla pudding layered with bananas and Nilla Wafers.  While I do appreciate vanilla pudding, I wanted banana pudding.  That’s when I thought to check Homesick Texan, and bingo!  With roasting a banana as the first step, I had found my recipe.

Raspbanana Muffins

These might as well be called Lazy Muffins.  You see, I bought some bananas a few days ago, but didn’t eat them fast enough.  I’ve never really thought of myself as a picky banana eater, but evidently I am.  Green is no good, but neither are brown spots.  I like my bananas perfectly yellow, apparently.

Anyway, when life gives you overripe bananas, make carbs, right?  So that’s what I decided to do.  But then the two eggs I had were past the expiration date and I was too lazy to go buy some more.   You may assume that I decided to add raspberries simply because I had some.