banana coffee cake

Why are baked goods so expensive? A small piece of coffee cake at Starbucks is like $2. It probably cost me just around $5 to make a whole pan of my own. When sliced up gives me about 16 pieces. So. I saved $27? I’M RICH!

made some orange yogurt cake for my mom to take to church. using a bigger loaf pan = flatter loaves. whoops.

I had three on-the-brink-of-going-bad-almost-black bananas. And a bag of walnuts.

Has anyone noticed I only use walnuts in all my baked goods? Rarely pecans. Never macadamia nuts, pistachios, or anything else. Always walnuts. I don’t really know how or why that came to be.

I would usually make banana bread. But how many times has that been done. I love coffee cake. I love banana bread. Banana bread coffee cake?????? Money!!!!!

ready for the oven :)

This baked a lot faster than I thought it would. The original recipe said 45 minutes but mine was done in 30.

I can never resist the edge piece of anything fresh out of the oven. That dark burned looking stuff is caramelized brown sugar. Oh, herro. Mmmmmmmmmm…….

There’s something about that half-smile swirl inside coffee cake that makes me giddy inside. I don’t believe in coffee cake without a streusel swirl. Which might be another reason why I don’t buy Starbucks’ coffee cake.

Now, I have unlimited coffee cake. This may or may not be a bad thing.

Banana Coffee Cake
adapted from epicurious

2/3 cup golden brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
a little less than 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large)
3 tablespoons plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan. Stir brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in small bowl until well blended; set streusel aside. Sift all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, room temperature butter, and egg in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Spread half of batter (about 2 cups) in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel. Bake coffee cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes (mine was done in 30 minutes). Cool coffee cake in pan on rack.

pull-apart cheesy onion bread

If you live in SoCal, you are probably being driven crazy by the rain. I’m sick of having cold ankles. And a cold back. The two worse places to be cold in my opinion. I haven’t had a breath of fresh air in 48 hours. I LOATHE getting wet, so I even did all my Christmas shopping online. Nothing can get me to go out in the rain right now. And to go shopping and rub up against a bunch of smelly, wet people who are pushing and shoving to buy stuff before Christmas this Saturday?

No thank you.

I think I’ll stay inside and watch my movies. And catch up on all my shows that I missed the entire semester.

And bake some cheesy onion bread. :)

My mom made soup because it’s all rainy and nonsense outside (according to the news, we’ve gotten a third of our annual rainfall in the past week only.), so I made some thick, buttery bread to go along with it last night. It’s basically biscuit dough layered with sauteed onions and a mix of Mozarella and Parmesan cheese. When it came out of the oven last night, the Mozarella was oozing. Mmmmmmm.

Perfect comfort food for a miserable day like today. Although, I have a coffee date with a friend in a couple of hours which means I’m going to have to go outside very soon. Blargh.

Pull-Apart Cheesy Onion Bread
adapted from Food&Wine Annual Recipe Book

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, 1 stick cubed
1 large onion, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozarella cheese
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (I made my own with some vinegar and regular milk.)

*The original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds to mix into the onion mixture but I didn’t have any on hand.
**As for the cheeses, you can choose any type of cheese that you like: Gruyere, Gouda, Jarlsberg, etc.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Butter a 9X5 metal loaf pan.

In a large skillet, melt the 1/2 stick of uncubed butter; pour 2 tablespoons of melted butter into a small bowl and set aside. Add the chopped onion to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until it is softened, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape onion mixture into  abowl and refrigerate for 5 minutes until cooled slightly, then stir in the cheeses.

In a food processor, pulse the 2 cups of flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the stick of cubed butter and pulse until the butter cubes are the size of small peas. Add the buttermilk and pulse 5 or 6 times, just until a soft dough forms.

Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times. I found the dough to be really soft and sticky, so much that my hands were a mess, so I added a couple tablespoons of flour to make the kneading easier.

Pat or roll the dough into a  2 by 24 inch rectangle. Spread the onion meixture on top of the bread. Cut the dough crosswise into 10 pieces. Stack 9 pieces onion side up and then top with the final piece onion side down. Carefully lay the stack in the prpeapred loaf pan and brush the top with the reserved melted butter.

Bake the loaf in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes, until it is golden and risen. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before unmolding and serving.

white chocolate and cranberry cookies

Absolute boredom and unwillingness to study = cleaning the kitchen.

Clean kitchen = clutter-free countertops and dish-free sink.

Dish-free sink = no guilt about creating a pile of batter-stained cookie sheets and measuring cups.

Clutter-free countertops = space to bake cookies.

Mmmm. Cookies. I feel like the only things I can bake these days with the ingredients I have are cookies. I need to stock up on some more interesting ingredients so I can actually make something not so boring.

Typical Christmas cookie. Red&white. :)

I love white chocolate and dried cranberries. I need to find a recipe for the Starbucks white chocolate cranberry bliss bar.

And…

The kitchen is now dirty again with dishes to do.

Fail.

Back to studying.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen

adapted from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and brandy. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. For best results, take them out while they are still doughy. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

(Note. I should’ve let these sit in the fridge overnight so they would be more chewy. But some people like soft cookies I guess. I, on the other hand, like crispy and chewy. I’d probably do it over with melted butter.)

birthdays & cupcakes

Sad that Thanksgiving is over. Mostly because whenever Thanksgiving is over, it means that final exams are around the corner.

Regardless.

GIVE.THANKS.NOW.OR.DIE.

A few things I’m grateful for in my life:
- JC
- my amazing family
- the friends who always support me throughout the good and bad
- after hearing about all these blizzards elsewhere, LA weather!
- my 4000-calorie Thanksgiving dinner (but really, aren’t we so blessed to be have a day of harvest and feasting when so many families are starving all around the world?)
- you. I’m lucky people read this blog. One of my daily perks is seeing how many visitors I had today, and having people who bump into me tell me they read my blog

Yeah, yeah, Jean, stop talking. Okay, here you go: sweet potato cupcakes. :)

For my lovely mother’s birthday! Happy birthday, Mommy. I love you very, very much. You are always a strong pillar in my life to lean on and cherish and love, and you are an amazing woman. Everyday, I feel grateful for having such an amazing Mom who is always warm, caring, and sincere. I’m so lucky to have a Mom, more specifically a mom like you. I know sometimes we argue, we bicker, you nag at me, I tend to be a brat, but all that aside, you are one of my best friends.

I miss sitting around on Saturday mornings and watching Korean dramas with you.
I miss going to the bakery and buying bread and snacks for the week and eating them all in one sitting with you.
I miss hearing you fuss around in the kitchen at 6 a.m. while you make baguettes or cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
I miss having a bottle of wine after dinner and just talking. . talking.. talking. about nothing but everything.

:)

Best. Mom. Ever.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
Yield: 24 cupcakes

2 cups  all-purpose flour
2 tsp.  baking powder
1 tsp.  ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp.  baking soda
1/4 tsp.  salt
1 cup  butter, softened
1 cup  sugar
3 eggs
1 15 oz. can  vacuum-packed sweet potatoes (unsweetened), mashed
1/2 tsp.  vanilla
Finely shredded orange peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line twenty four 2-1/2-inch muffin cups with paper bake cups; set cups aside.

In medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition until combined. Add sweet potatoes and vanilla, beating until combined. Add flour mixture; beat until combined (batter will be thick).

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake about 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on wire rack for 1 minute. Remove from pan and cool completely.

decorated with some orange peel and cinnamon :)

I frosted them with a Honey Ginger Buttercream Frosting from Straight from the Farm, but I can’t say I was much of a fan. Personally, I thought the cupcakes tasted better plain, or I wish I had used Cream Cheese Frosting instead because the honey and ginger flavors were overpowering, and it covered up the taste of the sweet potato. It was too runny and oily for my taste.

But if you want, here’s the recipe for it.

Honey Ginger Buttercream Frosting
A Straight from the Farm Original

3/4 C. butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1 C. confectioner’s sugar
1/2 C. wildflower honey
2-3 t. freshly grated ginger
1/2 t. vanilla extract

Beat the butter in an electric mixer until creamy.  Add the sugar and beat on high until smooth.  Add the honey and ginger.  Beat for another minute before adding the vanilla.  Leave mixer run for 3-4 minutes on high.

I ended up scraping all of the frosting off in the end.

Note to self: taste frosting before actually frosting and ruining birthday cupcakes.

** Edit: They tasted better the day after. I left them in the fridge overnight. Maybe the frosting just needed to be set longer?? I’m not sure. I still don’t think I would use this frosting again. But the oiliness wasn’t as bad the second time around.