Banana Chocolate Bread

I really enjoy reading the book BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher and there are tons of recipes that I want to try out. Most of the ones that I have tried out so far have been incredible so I was exited to try the banana bread recipe. As always I used coconut sugar instead of white sugar and I added 1 cup of chocolate chips because. The original recipe uses baking powder as well as baking soda, so I substituted the baking powder with more baking soda (not one to one as baking soda is 4 times more powerful).

1 3/4 cups of flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups coconut sugar
1/2 cups canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 cups)
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup whipping cream
Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and sugar.
In a second bowl, mix together canola oil, vanilla extract, eggs, buttermilk and bananas until well combined. Then add chocolate chips and roasted nuts.
Make a mold in the dry ingredients and add the banana mix.
In a third bowl whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Then fold the cream into the batter.
Bake in a 8 x 4.5 x 2.5 inch (20 x 11 x 6 cm) loaf pan at 375F / 190C for about 35 minutes until the center springs back when touched and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

As I didn't have a loaf pan I used an 8 x 8 inches square baking pan. The result was disastrous. After 35 minutes the batter was still very liquid and after another 30 hour the outside began to burn while a knife inserted in the center still came out smeared with uncooked batter.
So I took it out of the oven, cut it in half and tried saving it by frying it on the stove. The result looked very sad.
On the plus side it did taste quite good and was happily received as a sweet breakfast addition on our camping trip.

Next time I would still use my square baking pan but only make half of the batter. I don't know how all this batter can fit in a loaf pan and not overflow when it rises during baking!

Cookie Butter Mug Cake

10 seconds after I saw this video I was already mixing together butter, cookie butter, sugar and so on. Every since I heard of microwave cakes I was intrigued! My first attempts to make brownies in the microwave were all quite disappointing as they were all quite spongy, even when the recipes claimed they wouldn't be.
This cake was a pleasant surprise and I call it a success! It still can't compete with a real cake, but for 3 minutes of work it is a worthy little snack.
I added chocolate chips :)

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cookie butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
pinch of salt
In a 2 cup Pyrex dish, melt the butter in the microwave. Add the remaining ingredients and combine well.
"Bake" in the microwave for 90 seconds.
Serve hot with whipped cream on top.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

This recipe is another one that I have learned at the community kitchen. The recipe we made at the community kitchen was adapted from this chocolate cake recipe. We used less garbanzo beans and less sugar.
The result was a very light and fluffy chocolate cake that had a little, not altogether unpleasant, garbanzo bean taste.
So I changed the recipe yet again. Instead of garbanzo beans I used lima beans (thanks to Sarah for this idea!) and instead of white sugar I used ...coconut sugar! As coconut sugar has a more distinct taste than white sugar, I hoped it would help mask the taste of beans even more.

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
15 oz cooked baby lima beans
4 eggs
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
powdered sugar for dusting
Meld chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave.
Combine beans and eggs in a blender until smooth. Add sugar, baking powder and blend again. Then add melted chocolate.
Make for 40-45 minutes at 350F / 180C until knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Dust with powdered sugar after cooling.

Banana Chocolate Smoothie

I tried something new with the Banana Chocolate Smoothies and I really like the result: I added nuts, maple syrup and a few pieces from a chocolate bar (70%). I've also been adding almond coconut milk to those smoothies and it tastes fantastic!

Banana Chocolate Smoothie:
2 bananas
1/3 - 1/5 cup of nuts (e.g. cashews, pecans)
1tbsp cocoa powder
1tbsp maple syrup
1tsp vanilla extract
4 pieces from a 70% chocolate bar
1/2 cup of almond coconut milk (or just almond milk, or rice milk)
Blend well. Add more almond coconut milk to get the desired consistency.

Smoothie (banana, chocolate, almond milk)

Today was a busy day full of Christmas activities and friends. So I only had time to prepare a quick smoothie in the morning:

Banana-Chocolate-Almond-Milk Smoothie
1 1/2 banans
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Blend all the ingredients. The banana makes it sufficiently sweet so no sugar is needed. Nomnom!