banana

Bread, Cake & Cupcake Heaven, Chocolate, Fruit Inspired, Sweet

Breakfast Banana Muffins with Coffee-Chocolate Chunks, Hazelnuts and Oats

The last weekend has been a busy busy but fantastic one. It started with a day dedicated to cooking and baking and making everything look pretty and yet relaxed. My idea of entertainment involves very little effort once the guests arrive, I prefer everything to be laid out and let the guests have a little fun DIY-ing and playing around with different stuff, that may to may not work well together. But that’s all the fun! There was: mango feta crostini with red wine fleur de sel, paprika spiked hummus, valrhona cointreau cupcakes, layered lemon cake with lemon cream cheese topped with fresh cranberries and gaufres shards, as well as some mini-mosaic apple tarts. It was quite a day night! And, of course, when at 2am this and this (the British version, of course!) makes a debut, you know the entertainment has taken the best possible turn!

With a Friday like that, even the best of us couldn’t rise and shine from the wee hours into a domestic diva. The thing is, I love the idea of grabbing a weekend (or any day, really) breakfast/brunch/late lunch comprising of breakfast favourites. I love the concept of brinner too (breakfast for dinner, get with the lingo!). The only part which tends to evade this achievement is the fact that it’s usually in the morning, and mornings and me haven’t become quite that friendly yet. That’s kind of how I stumbled upon the idea of making Breakfast Banana Muffins with Coffee-Chocolate Chunks, Hazelnuts and Oats the previous day, so I wouldn’t have to rise and shine early (eek!) to made a hot breakfast treat, I’d just drizzle it with some homemade warm salted caramel, and breakfast is served!  Read more…

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Cake & Cupcake Heaven, Fruit Inspired, Sweet

Double Chocolate Banana Bread with Fleur de Sel

I often find myself hoarding (and loving to hoard) certain specific baking ingredients, without which a deep sense of insecurity prevails. To counter that unnecessary emotion, and to feed my retail-therapy hormone, I obsessively purchase vats of different qualities and variations of chocolate chips, cocoa powder and vanilla. In each of these hoarded products, there is a specific appeal that calls out to me.

Let me elucidate.

For chocolate chips, I enjoy trying varied versions of white, milk and dark chocolate chips, the variety ranges from small packets of supermarket quality chocolate chips to couverture. I find that with every brand, comes a different flavour and texture – some are too dry and don’t melt kindly into a ganache or truffle that may be the requirement of the day. Some on the other hand, are too rich to go into a frosting – and need instead to be added to a banana bread or chocolate chip muffin, allowing their flavour and texture to truly shine through. And yes, size does matter. Too big a chip (like melting discs) will overpower a cupcake or muffin, and too small, won’t be felt on the tongue at all.
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Bread, Cake & Cupcake Heaven, Chocolate, Sweet

Banana Coffee Bread

Sounds insanely comforting. And it is, with a steaming cappuccino, purely heavenly. I’ve never baked banana breads before, let alone any kind of bread. This is more of a cakey recipe, than bready. And the coffee just adds a tinge of maturity to the bread, hardly giving a whiff of the caffeine content (or maybe […] Read more…

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