Posted on by Opie

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

OK I don’t remember where I saw this recipe originally. I assume it’s called Mexican chocholate because of the spice. It is delicous and I have modified it a bit. Now keep in mind that you can adjust the spice. I usually put in more than what is listed below but you can also put in less it you don’t want as much “kick”. Enjoy!

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Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

  • 1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup almond flour
  • 2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp espresso powder
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp cayenne
  • 1 tsp ancho chili powder
  • ½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (or grated chocolate)
  • Flake sea salt for dusting

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and brown sugar at medium speed until smooth. Add vanilla and almond extract and beat for another 1-2 minutes.

Whisk the flours together in a medium bowl with the cocoa, cinnamon, espresso, salt, cayenne and ancho. Add to the butter mixture and mix until smooth. Add chocolate chips and mix until just combined.

Dump the dough onto a piece of saran wrap and shape into a long log about 2 1/2” wide & high. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Cut the cookie log into about ¼” slices and space evenly on the cookie sheet. They do not spread much, only a little so leave about 1/2 inch between. . Sprinkle the flake sea salt on top and bake for 20-25 minutes.

 

Posted on by Opie

Stop! Cranberry Pomegranate Tart

I started this blog to document my experiences in cooking. Sometimes things don’t work, this is one of those. The flavor was spot on! Exactly what I wanted. Everything else, not so much. Crust to tough, filling too runny, etc., so don’t make this one but I am working on it as I’m sure it can work!

So recently a recipe for a cranberry tart with a hazelnut crust popped up in my Facebook feed. I thought it looked intriguing but I wasn’t super thrilled with the hazelnut crust part. So I went ahead and made the cranberry curd, thinking I would use a regular tart crust instead. But when it was done I wasn’t super thrilled with the curd either. I thought it was kind of bland. Funny, another Facebook friend made the same tart (I’m assuming) and his comment was the curd was bland and he had to modify it to make it work. So I gave it some thought and decided to try making this version, which I made from combining components from a couple of other recipes. You can make this gluten free if you make the crust hazelnut, which was the original recipe. If people are interested I’ll put the crust recipe in the comments. Enjoy!

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Cranberry Pomegranate Tart

  • 12 ounces fresh cranberries
  • 2 1/2 cups sugar, divided ( 1 cup, 1 cup, and 1/2 cup)
  • 1 orange
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1  1/2 sticks of butter, divided (1 stick and 1/2 stick)
  • 5 eggs (2 you only need the yolks)
  • 4 cups pomegranate juice (I use POM)
  • 1 8 oz container mascarpone cheese
  • pinch of salt, kosher

Directions

Crust first and you’ll need a tart pan for this. In a food processor, I use my Cuisinart Food Processor, combine 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, the zest of the lemon and a pinch of salt. And a pinch of salt is literally that, you take as much as you can pinch between your thumb and forefinger. Pulse until well mixed. Cut up the butter into small chunks and add to the flour mixture. combined until the flour starts to look like it’s the size of peas. Add 1 egg and mix until it’s just combined. Now press the dough mixture into the tart pan, pushing it up the sided. Bake in a 350 degree for 20-25 minutes or until lightly brown. Let it cool.

Now for the cranberry curd, which is the 1st part of the filling. In a medium pan, over medium heat, add the cranberries and sugar. Take a vegetable peeler and peel the orange, try to get as little of the white as possible with the peal. Now juice the orange and add that as well. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until the cranberries are soft and have mostly popped. Transfer to a strainer and press out all the juice. Whisk in the butter until combined and then cool before refrigerating.

Now for the pomegranate. Basically we’re going to make pomegranate molasses, similar to what can be found in my rack of lamb recipe. This will make more than you need but more is never bad. Take 4 cups of pomegranate juice and add 1 cup of sugar. Bring to a simmer, turn the head down to medium-low, and let it reduce until you have about 1 1/2 cups left. This can take a couple of hours. Make sure to keep an eye on it, you don’t want it to be too hot or it’ll scorch and taste awful. Or reduce too much and ruin your pot! Once it’s reduced let it cool before putting into a container and refrigerating.

Now to combine it all together and make a tart! In a stand mixer, I use my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, whip the mascarpone cheese until light and fluffy. Add in the cranberry curd and whip again until smooth. Add 1 cup of the pomegranate molasses. Whip again until smooth. Pour the mixture into the tart crust and chill for at least an hour.

What to do with some of that leftover molasses? I like to drizzle it on top of the tart as in the picture above.

Posted on by Opie · 2 Comments

Gingerbread Cake

As we get into the holiday season some of my favorite recipes are going to come out. This is one of them. I love gingerbread cake! There’s just something about it that is warm and comforting. Enjoy!

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Gingerbread Cake

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup blackstrap unsulphured molasses
  • 1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger
  • 2 large eggs at room temp, slightly beaten
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp ground ginger
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tbsp baking soda
  • 1/4 cup ginger vodka
  • non-stick cooking spray
  • parchment paper

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×13″ cake pan and line it with parchment paper. A trick here, once you have the parchment in the pan spray it again, this really helps when you need to remove it.

In a mixer, I use my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, beat the oil, sugar, molasses and ginger together. Add the eggs and beat until smooth.

In another large bowl; shift together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt and clove. Slowly add this to the molasses mixture with the mixer on low.

Bring the water to a boil, I microwave it for 2 minutes, and add the baking soda to it. Whisk to combine. Add this to the molasses/flour mixture and stir until well combined. Add the ginger vodka and still that in as well. Pour into the cake pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I like to service it with home-made whipped cream with a splash of the ginger vodka in it as well. Reinforces the ginger flavor.

Posted on by Opie · 1 Comment

Limoncello Tiramisu

So the inspiration for this came from an episode of Lidia Bastianich’s cooking show. She was making this tiramisu, which looked delicious! But there were a couple of things she did with hers that I was like, “why would you do that???” Needless to say I’ve modified it extensively. It is really good, especially in the summer, when you want something light and refreshing. You could, I suppose, make it without the Limoncello but why bother? It’s also a little more complicated than most of the recipes I like to make as it requires several different components. So heads up, each one has it’s own list of ingredients; so you’ll want to compile them all together before you go grocery shopping. Enjoy!

Limoncello Tiramisu

Lemon Sponge

  • 5 large eggs yokes
  • ¼ cup of sugar
  • ½ cup Limoncello

Directions

Using a double boiler (aka in my house a glass bowl on top of a medium pot of simmering water) whisk the egg yokes, sugar, and Limoncello until well blended. Bring the water to a simmer and whisk constantly, frequently scraping the whisk around the sides and bottom of the bowl. Do this for about 5 minutes until it thickens, it will kind of start to look like mayonnaise.

Let the mixture cool.

Lemon Simple Syrup

  • 2 to 3 lemons
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 cup Limoncello

Directions

Take 2 to 3 lemons and using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off (try to get as little of the white as possible). Juice the lemons after zesting until you have about 1/2 cup of juice (more doesn’t hurt but you definitely don’t want less).

In a small pan bring the lemon peel, the lemon juice, water and sugar to a boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Turn it down to a simmer and let it gently steep for about 30 minutes. Add the limoncello and allow it to cool slightly. It works better if it’s still warm when you soak the ladyfingers in it but it can be completely cool as well.

Lemon Curd:

  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup lemon juice
  • Zest of 2 lemons (or 3 if it takes that many to get ¾ a cup of juice)
  • 6 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

Directions

Whisk together the sugar & eggs in a sauce pan. Add juice, lemon zest & melted butter. Cook on Med Hi heat. Stir until thick, mixture should coat the back of a metal spoon. What does this mean? When you can dip a spoon in, run your finger down the back, turn it sideways, and it doesn’t run back down the spoon erasing your swipe. Cool on counter, whisking occasionally, for about an hour. Finish cooling in fridge.

Custard

  • 1 lbs (2 cups) Mascarpone at room temp
  • Lemon Sponge
  • Lemon Curd
  • ¼ cup Limoncello

Directions

In a large bowl, again I like my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, beat the mascarpone until soft and smooth. Add lemon sponge and lemon curd and beat until smooth. Add a ¼ cup of limoncello and beat again until smooth.

Whipped Cream

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ cup Limoncello

Directions

Chill a metal bowl and beaters in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.  Really this does make a difference. Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks start to form. Slowly add in powdered sugar and beat until peaks form. Add ¼ cup of limoncello and beat until stiff peaks form.

Assemble the tiramisu

  • 40 Ladyfinger cookies
  • Custard
  • Lemon simple syrup
  • Whipped Cream

Directions

Using a 9 x 13 inch pan, dip the ladyfingers into the lemon simple syrup. Don’t let them become soggy or they’ll fall apart but you want them to be somewhat moistened. Arrange them in the pan, should take about 20.

Cover the ladyfingers with ½ of the finished custard. Dip the remaining ladyfingers in the simple syrup and arrange them in a layer on top of the custard. Cover with the remaining custard. Smooth the whipped cream on the top and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Posted on by Opie

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

This is a pretty simple recipe and so much better than anything you can buy in the store, believe me. I bought a simple Cuisinart 2-Qt Ice Cream Maker at Costco about 10 years ago and it’s more than paid for itself with the delicious ice cream I’ve made with it. Salted Caramel, Chocolate, Limoncello, and of course Vanilla Bean. Enjoy!

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Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

  • 4 2/3 cups half and half*
  • 1 whole vanilla bean
  • 7 eggs divided (3 whole and 4 yolks)
  • 1 1/8 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp of vanilla extract (use the real stuff, not that fake crap)

Directions

In a medium pot combine the half and half and vanilla bean, which you want to split in 1/2 (but not all the way, leave on end whole to keep it together). Use the blunt side to the knife to scrape the seeds and add them in too. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl combine the eggs, yoke and sugar. Use a hand mixer on medium speed until it’s thick and smooth. It will start to look like yellow mayonnaise. This takes about 2-3 minutes.

Take the vanilla bean out of the half and half. Slowly pour a ladle of the mixture into the eggs stirring constantly. Repeat this until you have 4 ladles fully incorporated. Now slowly add the egg mixture back into the half and half, stiring constantly. Why do you do this? If you add the eggs in directly they’ll scramble and you’ll have a mess. This way you’re slowly bring them up to temp without over cooking them.

Cook on medium-low heat until it starts to thicken. You’ll know when it’s done when you can dip a spoon in, run your finger down the back, turn it sideways, and it doesn’t run back down the spoon erasing your swipe.

Take it off the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Then pour it through a strainer into a medium bowl. This will make sure you don’t have any lumps. Let it cool on the counter for about 20 minutes, then put plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture. This will prevent a “skin” from forming on the top. Refridgerate for a couple of hour (or more). Then run it through your ice-cream maker.

*if you don’t have half and half then do 2 1/3 cups heavy cream and 2 and 1/3 cups whole milk.

Posted on by Opie

Butterscotch Rolls

So the basis of this recipe is from that cookbook my mother gave to me when I got my first place. I changed it a little, added my own version of the butterscotch as I didn’t like they way it turned out in the original recipe. That recipe also called for chopped pecan’s, which I really don’t care for, so I left those out. But feel free to add them back in, they go in the bottom of the pan with the butterscotch. Enjoy!

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Butterscotch Rolls

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (2 packets)
  • 1/2 cup water (110 to 115 degrees)
  • 4 to 5 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • pumpkin pie spice
  • butterscotch sauce (recipe below)

Directions

In a small pan scald the milk. What does this mean? Bring it to almost a boil, when you see little bubble start to form around the edges it’s done! Careful, you don’t want to scorch the milk. Remove from the heat and stir in the shortening and sugar until both are melted. While it’s cooling, heat up the 1/2 cup of water until it measures between 110 and 115 degrees. This is important also as that’s the perfect temp for the yeast to get going. Below that and it’s too cold and above that you’re cook it. Either way your rolls won’t rise. I also add a pinch of sugar to the water, this helps the yeast get started as well. If you haven’t figures it out yet, add the yeast to the warm water and stir it until it desolves.

In a mixer, I love my KitchenAid 6 Qt. Stand Mixer, add 1 1/2 cups of flour and the milk mixture. Stir on low for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, still on low speed. Once those are combined add the yeast. Now start adding the rest of the flour a 1/2 cup at a time. Keep adding until the dough starts to pull away from the edge of the sides.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead until it’s not longer sticky, about 5 to 10 minutes. Place it in a bow, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled  (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours). Here’s a neat trick, spray your bowl with non-stick cooking spray and then spray the top of the dough as well. This will prevent it from sticking to the bowl and keep it moist as it’s rising.

Roll the dough out until it’s about 16″ x 8″. Take the stick of butter and smear it evenly on the rolled dough. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar. Now roll it up and cut into 1″ slices (or thicker if you want tall rolls). Take your baking pan, I use a 14″ x 10″, and pour the butterscotch sauce in the bottom so it’s evenly coated. You won’t use all of the sauce, which is great! You’ll have some extra to pour on top of the rolls when you eat them.Place your rolls, cut side down, in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Don’t worry if it seems like you have more pan and rolls, they will expand A LOT when baking. After 30 minutes put them in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees. Back for 30 minutes or until nice a golden brown on top. Let cool and then invert onto a tray or plate.

Butterscotch Sauce

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 ounces Scotch whiskey
  • A pinch of sea salt

Directions

In a large pan over medium heat bring butter, sugars and corn syrup to a boil. Let them boil for about 4 minutes, stirring so it doesn’t burn or boil over. Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the cream and Scotch – it will hiss and steam like crazy! This is why you’re using a large pot. Whisk in the pinch of sea salt and let it cool.

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Fruit Crisp

This is one of the simplest dessert recipes I know. And it’s fast! You can make it using whatever fruit you have on hand; frozen, canned or fresh. I almost always have frozen blueberries or canned pears on hand as we have 4 blueberry bushes and a prolific pear tree. But I’ve done this one with apple or peaches. It’s on my todo list to do apple-cranberry or apple-cherry. I’m not a big fan of cherries but I was watching Lidia Bastianich’s cooking show and she was doing a crisp with dried cherries soaked in brandy, yum!

Now I think my crisp is slightly better than hers, just saying. She doesn’t have as much of the topping as I do. You, however, can modify this to the way you like it. Also, depending on the fruit, you can enhance the flavor (and cut out the sugar) but adding a little fruit liqueur. This can enhance the flavor of the fruit. A couple of tablespoons should do it and the alcohol will cook off.

Now I haven’t tried this yet, but I think it’s totally doable, to make this gluten free. Substitute the wheat flour with gluten free flour, I’m going to try this with almond flour because I think it would lend itself better to this recipe. Enjoy!

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Fruit Crisp

  • 3 to 4 cups fruit
  • 2 to 4 tbsp of sugar (depending on the fruit and how sweet it is)
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour (divided)
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin spice
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:

In a medium bowl; combine the fruit, sugar and 1/4 cup of flour. In another bowl combine the oats, brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, pumpkin spice and butter. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse crumbs.

Put the fruit in a baking dish and sprinkle the topping over it evenly. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until it’s bubbly and the topping is golden brown.

PS I like to use the pumpkin spice mix, which I make myself, but you can mix it up however you want. Cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, etc.

Posted on by Opie · 1 Comment

Banana Cream Pie update

Ok so last week I posted my recipe for banana cream pie, which of course I made. I took the left overs to work and it was a huge hit! Well a coworker was retiring this week and she loves bananas. So I offerred to surprise her with another banana cream pie. As I was getting ready to make it I thought to myself, what would be better than a banana cream pie? A chocolate banana cream pie!

So I thought about what I could do to change my original recipe and make a chocolate version. So some of this is repeat, like the pie crust and whip cream topping. On a side note, another coworker suggested a graham cracker crust instead, so I will probably try that next! Here it is.

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

  • 1 pie crust, baked (recipe below)
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 3⁄4 cup white sugar
  • 1⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 or 2 bananas
  • 1/2 cup of Dutch processed cocoa

Directions :

In a medium bowl lightly beat the 3 egg yolks and set aside.

In large saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa and salt. I recommend sifting it to make sure there are not lumps, especially with the cocoa.

In a medium saucepan, scald* the milk. Gradually stir in the scalded milk with the sugar/flour mixture. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened. Cook for another minute or two, you want to make sure to cook out the flour flavor.

Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks a little at a time. Do this until you have incorporated about 1 to ½ cups. Then stir yolk mixture into the milk/flour/sugar.

Cook for one minute longer, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and blend in the butter and vanilla.

Let sit until lukewarm, stirring occasionally. If you don’t stir it every once in a while a “skin” will form on the top.

When ready to pour, slice bananas and line the bottom in pie shell; pour all of the warm mixture over bananas.

Chill for at least 1 hour then top with whip cream (recipe below).

*So what does “scald” mean anyway? You heat the milk up until really hot but not boiling or even simmering. Be careful, you don’t want to scorch the milk either.

Pie Crust

  • 6 tbsp cutter cut into small cubes
  • 2 tbsp lard in small chunks
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup ice water
  • Approx 32 ounces of dried beans
  • Aluminum foil

Directions:

This is a basic pie crust recipe. You can use any recipe you want or go to the store and buy pre-made ones. This one is pretty much from Alton Brown but I don’t use his directions on combining the ingredients or putting the shell together. I tried it and it was a disaster.

Put the butter and lard in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before making the crust. I tend to cut it up into small cubes or chunks when cold and then chill again, it’s easier to cut that way.

In a food processor combine flour and salt, pulse 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse until combines, should look like chunky sand. Add lard and pulse until the lard is combined, should still look like chunky sand. Add water a tablespoon at a time and pulse 3 to 4 times. You want to add as little water as possible, only enough until the dough starts to come together and form a rough ball in the processor.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. While waiting put your pie pan and a cookie sheet in the freezer.

Roll the dough out to form a rough circle, try to do this quickly. The idea here is to not work it so much that the butter and lard in the dough melt into the flour. You want a circle that a couple of inches bigger than your pie pan, so if using a 9 inch pan a circle about 11 or 12 inches. Put it on the cold cookie sheet for a few minutes. This will suck out any heat from your rolling it out. Transfer it to the cold pie pan and cut the excess off the edges. You can shape it with those fancy curves first if you like.

Poke some hole in the bottom with a fork. Mold the foil to the crust and fill it with the beans, this will help prevent bubbles in your crust. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Remove the beans & foil and bake for another 10 or so minutes in lightly brown. Remove and cool.

Banana whip cream

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp banana liqueur
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Whatever bowl you’re going to use put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before hand. This really does help with the whipping process. I use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment but you can use a regular old beater. Whip the cream at medium-low speed for a couple of minutes and then slowly start to increase the speed until it starts to thicken. Once you get soft peaks then add the banana liqueur and beat some more until those soft peaks come back. Beat a little more until the peaks get firmer and then slowly add the powdered sugar. Beat until stiff.

Posted on by Opie

Banana Cream Pie

Ok I’m a big fan of banana cream pie. I had a coworker when I was in college who was sweet enough to make it for me for my birthday. Again this is one I modified from an existing recipe. I didn’t like the way the filling turned out as it was pretty much plain vanilla. I guess all the banana flavor was supposed to come from the slices of banana in the pie. Uh no. So I added a little banana liqueur and it made a huge difference. Enjoy!

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie:

  • 1 pie crust, baked (recipe below)
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 3⁄4 cup white sugar
  • 1⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 or 4 bananas
  • 2 tbsp banana liqueur

Directions :

In a medium bowl lightly beat the 3 egg yolks and set aside.

In large saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt.

In a medium saucepan, scald* the milk. Gradually stir in the scalded milk with the sugar/flour mixture. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened. Cook for another minute or two.

Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks a little at a time. Do this until you have incorporated about 1 to ½ cups. Then stir yolk mixture into the milk/flour/sugar. Add 2 tbsp of banana liqueur.

Cook for one minute longer, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and blend in the butter and vanilla.

Let sit until lukewarm.

When ready to pour, slice bananas and line the bottom in pie shell; pour ½ of the warm mixture over bananas. Add another layer of bananas and pour the rest of the mixture into the shell.

Chill for at least 1 hour then enjoy. Optional: use the 3 egg whites to make a meringue or top with whip cream, this is what I do (recipe below).

*So what does “scald” mean anyway? You heat the milk up until really hot but not boiling or even simmering. Be careful, you don’t want to scorch the milk either.

Pie Crust

  • 6 tbsp cutter cut into small cubes
  • 2 tbsp lard in small chunks
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup ice water
  • Approx 32 ounces of dried beans
  • Aluminum foil

Directions:

This is a basic pie crust recipe. You can use any recipe you want or go to the store and buy pre-made ones. This one is pretty much from Alton Brown but I don’t use his directions on combining the ingredients or putting the shell together. I tried it and it was a disaster.

Put the butter and lard in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before making the crust. I tend to cut it up into small cubes or chunks when cold and then chill again, it’s easier to cut that way.

In a food processor combine flour and salt, pulse 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse until combines, should look like chunky sand. Add lard and pulse until the lard is combined, should still look like chunky sand. Add water a tablespoon at a time and pulse 3 to 4 times. You want to add as little water as possible, only enough until the dough starts to come together and form a rough ball in the processor.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. While waiting put your pie pan and a cookie sheet in the freezer.

Roll the dough out to form a rough circle, try to do this quickly. The idea here is to not work it so much that the butter and lard in the dough melt into the flour. You want a circle that a couple of inches bigger than your pie pan, so if using a 9 inch pan a circle about 11 or 12 inches. Put it on the cold cookie sheet for a few minutes. This will suck out any heat from your rolling it out. Transfer it to the cold pie pan and cut the excess off the edges. You can shape it with those fancy curves first if you like.

Poke some hole in the bottom with a fork. Mold the foil to the crust and fill it with the beans, this will help prevent bubbles in your crust. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Remove the beans & foil and bake for another 10 or so minutes in lightly brown. Remove and cool.

Banana whip cream

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp banana liqueur
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Whatever bowl you’re going to use put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before hand. This really does help with the whipping process. I use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment but you can use a regular old beater. Whip the cream at medium-low speed for a couple of minutes and then slowly start to increase the speed until it starts to thicken. Once you get soft peaks then add the banana liqueur and beat some more until those soft peaks come back. Beat a little more until the peaks get firmer and then slowly add the powdered sugar. Beat until stiff.

Posted on by Opie

Banana Bread Cake

I’m a big fan of desserts, which I make for friends more than I actually eat myself. This recipe is delicious, the cake comes out incredibly moist. The original recipe had a brown butter frosting which was just too much, way too sweet. So I modified it and added a cream cheese frosting instead. This is another recipe where I’ve kicked it up a notch by adding a little banana liqueur.

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Banana Bread Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 stick butter at room temp.
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 bananas mashed, the riper the better.
  • 2 tbsp banana liqueur*
  • 2 tsp vanilla (not that fake crap!)
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 cake pan with non-stick spray. In a large bowl beat together the sugar, sour cream, butter and eggs until creamy. Add in the bananas, banana liqueur and vanilla and beat some more. Now add in the flour, baking soda and salt; beat for about 1 more minute.

Spread evenly in the cake pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool before frosting (recipe below).

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 16 ounces (2 packs) cream cheese at room temp.
  • 1 stick butter at room temp.
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbsp banana liqueur

Directions:

In a bowl beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Scrap down the sides as needed. Add the vanilla and banana liqueur, beat until smooth again. Add in powdered sugar a 1/4 cup and a time, beating until smooth. If a little runny add a little more sugar. Refrigerate before adding to the cake or add it to the cake (if cool) and then refrigerate. Enjoy!

*OK the brand of banana liqueur you use can really make a difference. I used 99 bananas, which is a schnapps, the first time I made this as it’s what I had on hand for when I make bananas foster. Turns out it works really well for the foster, not so much for the frosting of this cake. A little too much harsh alcohol flavor. So I recommend using Dekuyper liqueur instead, it has less of the harsh alcohol taste.