Banana Cookies

Thanks to Tiny's rather erratic craving for bananas we have had quite a few overripe bananas in our house lately and I have been baking like there's no tomorrow (and my waistline has appreciated that greatly).
Today I googled banana cookies as it sounded like a fun idea and came upon this.

They came out as little cakes, but are yummy!

I replaced 1/4 of flour with coconut flour (which I love), added ½ tsp of cardamom (which I love) and replaced suggested nuts with sunflower seeds.

Absolute yumminess.

I am afraid that there may not be any left when my mom comes on Thursday even I thought it would be nice to have something sweet with coffee...

Let Them Eat Cake! aka. Things You Can Do When You Have More Leftovers Than Money

Part of my Living Cheap program is trying to use everything in the fridge/ pantry without having to throw stuff away because it has gotten bad... I realized the other day I have overripe kiwi fruits in fruit bowl and wondered what to do with them (as I don't eat them as is because I am slightly allergic).

I googled "kiwi cake" (I know kiwi is a bird! *grin* In here the fruit just happens to be called just kiwi - as is the bird, slightly confusing sometimes) and found a recipe for this kiwi cake.

Perfect recipe actually as I thought I didn't have any margarine for baking.

I was wrong, so I ended using it, replaced brown sugar with 2/3 regular sugar and 1/3 molasses (altogether 2/3 of sugar in the recipe) then added some ages old frozen slices of apple in the kiwi fruit jam and processed it to somewhat coarse mix and I also added pinch of ginger into it.
This recipe produces dense, but yummy cake, which goes down a bit too well.... *ahem*

I think that next time I'll mix baking soda to flour, mix the sugar with eggs, maybe just process the fruit with blender.... some cinnamon and cardamom would go well with this too, I think.

Try it, your hips will regret it! *grin* And now I'm going to get some tea and cake as Tiny's napping....

Mochies (i.e. Mokkapalat)

I would like to call them brownies, but really they are not (similar, but not quite) so Mochies sounds like a good English name for them (and yes, I am aware of the slang definition of mochies).

When I was little I remember our mom making these quite often, though it may be just my imagination, evn though our mom bake a lot when we were kids.
And when I was in my teens I had a phase when I made these all the time. Though today I changed the recipe quite a bit, but still... yummy!

Mochies, aka. Mokkapalat

• 3 eggs
• 3 dl of sugar
• 200g of melted butter
• 2 dl of natural yoghurt
• 5 dl of flour
• 2 tsp of baking soda
• 3 tsp of vanilla sugar (with real vanilla)
• 3 tbps of dark cocoa powder (sieved)
• 100g of dark chocolate, grated

Frosting

• 3,5 dl of icing sugar (just sugar, not those things with corn starch or something like that) (sieved)
• 5 tbsp of melted butter
• 5 tbsp of strong coffee
• 2 tbsp of dark cocoa powder (sieved)
• 2 tsp of vanilla sugar
• nonpareil/ coconut flakes/ crushed hard candy for decoration

Heat up your oven to 200°C, cover oven pan with baking paper.

Mix dry goods and grated chocolate in a bowl. Whisk sugar and eggs until they form a light coloured foam. Mix egg foam and yoghurt into dry goods, then add butter. Mix carefully, but throughly.

Pour the dough on the covered pan and bake approximately 15-20 minutes.

After the "cake" has cooled make the frosting by mixing all the ingredients, except nonpareils, in a pot on hot stove, until smooth. Pour on the cake and decorate with nonpareils. Let the frosting harden.

Cut, enjoy with a good cup of coffee/ tea.

The Coconut Fish Soup

Let me represent you:

The Coconut Fish Soup (Servings: a whole lot)

300 grams of (frozen) cod, diced
~400 grams of sweet potato, diced
~300 grams of cauliflower (and its leaves), diced
200 grams of broccoli, diced
4-5 desilitres of lamb broth
1- 1½ litres of water
2 desilitres of coconut cream
4 dried chilis
3 tablespoons of curry powder
1 teaspoon of garam masala
Handful of seasalt (more of a grabful, you get the drift)
10 - 15 freshly grinded black peppers
1 spring onion, sliced

1. Strain the broth to a (big) kettle, add water, add the chilies, let it warm.
2. Take some of the liquid to a separate bowl and mix it with the curry powder. Put the curried broth back into the kettle.
3. Add the sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli, spring onion and the pepper. Let simmer slowly under a lid until the veggies are al dente.
4. Add the fish and the cauliflower leaves. Take some broth into a bowl and mix it with garam masala. Pour it back to the kettle.
5. Add coconut cream and lower the heat (in 1-6 scale make it 2). Let it simmer gently until the fish is ready.
6. Taste, adjust the spices if necessary. Eat!

R(ecipe)-I(n)-P(rogress): Rice flour chocolate chip cookies

I go, oh so, American; 12 cookies

• 2 eggs
• 1 dl sugar (probably needs 1½ - 2 dls)
• 4 dl rice flour
• 2 dl dark chocolate chips (needs some more)
• pinch of salt
• 150 grams butter

Preheat oven to 200 °C. Mix chocolate chips with 1 dl of rice flour. Whisk butter and sugar, add eggs, rest of the rice flour, salt and chocolate chips mixed with rice flour. Divide to 12 separate piles of dough on the cookie sheet (covered with baking paper).
Bake about 18- 20 minutes.

The recipe also could use some vanilla extract and maybe mixed chocolate chips (white, milk and dark).

Ginger's Bell Pepper in Coconut Cream

Sounds flashy, this is what I cooked yesterday (and this is from my head).

2 dl coconut cream
1 bell pepper (I used red, but colour mix would look great too), sliced
~2,5 cm (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
½ tsp salt
2 tsp chili oil

Heat the oil, add the (grated) ginger and the bell pepper (sliced) and fry until the bell pepper softens a bit (this shouldn't take longer than three minutes). Add the coconut cream, mix well and let it simmer for few minutes (at this point you can actually turn the heat off). Add salt, check the taste.
This goes with rice, rice noodles, fish, vegetables, poultry... (Coconut goes very well with lamb.)

Finnish cuisine goes allergy friendly

It has to be spring... I haven't been cooking this much (during 24 hours) since... stone age, probably (or since my separation at least *grin*).
Anyway, let me introduce you my version of Finnish pancake (Finnish pancake is baked in oven. In this part of the world fried ones are crepes):

Rice flour pancake á la snowprincipessa

4 dl sour milk
3 eggs
4 dl rice flour
1 dl sugar
½ tsp bicarbonate
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 225 °C.
Mix bicarbonate with flour. Mix sour milk, eggs, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add flour mix. Whisk until smooth.
Pour on baking plate (preferably with decent edges) covered with greaseproof paper. Put in the oven (surprising turn, eh?) for about fifteen minutes or until your pancake is golden brown.

Eat with (strawberry) jam (and, if you want to be really bold, with some whipped cream).

ETA: This is also liked by higher powers... Seiichi caught one piece of pancake while I was not watching and eats it (while I am writing this).

Animal testing: tomato-coconut sauce

Testing my tolerance for mushrooms with a hearty midnight snack. (But fact is that I have eaten mostly white carbs today and my blood sugar levels are having a joyride in a blood sugar rollercoaster - and I need to eat well before getting to bed, otherwise I can't sleep.)

Tomato- coconut sauce with beef slices and rice á la snowprincipessa (Easily adaptable as vegetarian dish if you ask from me...)

2 small onions (red), sliced
1 tsp chili oil (home made, fiery stuff)
400 g beef, sliced (remember to give some to quality control units)
2 tbsp garlic- chili paste
15 whole black peppers, crushed
~100 g champignons (canned or fresh), sliced
3-4 dl tomato sauce with herbs
1 dl coconut cream
1 - 1½ tsp salt

1. Heat your frying pan up, add oil, garlic-chili paste and sliced beef. Fry until meat is brown. Turn the heat to medium.
2. Add crushed peppers and onion slices and braise until onions become somewhat transparent.
3. Add mushrooms. Braise two minutes and add tomato sauce.
4. Cover with lid and let simmer about five minutes.
5. Add coconut cream, cover with lid (again) and let simmer about three minutes.
6. Add salt, mix, turn off the heat and let simmer couple of minutes.
7. Consume with basmati or jasmine rice.

Champignons? I am still alive and I have had no need to take allergy meds.

Problem eater cooks: Crêpes

Rice flour crêpes a lá myself aka. Pamper your gluten intolerant friends and loved ones.

10-12 servings:

• 3 dl milk
• 1 dl natural yoghurt
• 2 dl rice flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 dl brown sugar
• ½- 1tsp salt
• 1 tbsp oil

Whisk, let the mixture set about 30 minutes and fry on pan.

Looks like a real thing and tastes ten times better than real thing.

It keeps vampires away...

Garlic- chili paste

• 12 chili peppers (without green tops)
• 2 whole garlics (as cloves, peeled etc.)
• ½-1 dl sunflower oil

This is easy: put the ingredients in food processor, or use blender with suitable blade, and let it run until the paste is smooth.
My first victims were broiler legs. I used about 1 tea spoon of the paste per leg and rubbed it well into the skin. The result was yummy - at least if you love garlic (and chili).

Gingerbread cookies without wheat

1½ dl dark syrup (molasses)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp powdered ginger
½ tsp orange peel
½ tsp cloves

Measure ingredients in to a kettle, boil. Let the mix cool for a while.

100 grams soft margarine or butter
100 g sugar

Whisk until you've pale mixture. Add one egg.
Add spice mix to margarine- sugar mix, and whisk well.

1 tsp bicarbonate
1 tsp water

Mix well, and add to previous.

300 g oat flour

Add to previous mix. Don't whisk, just mix it well.
Put the dough into a fridge to rest over night. Bake them as regular gingerbread cookies.
Bake in 200C ~7min. Let them cool, and enjoy.

Ngh

I woke up with a migraine. But...
I got a message from our mother and she's coming over some day and bringing me 1. gifts (O_O I thought she already gave me my Yule gift...) and 2. traditional Finnish Yule food!

Now, the cuisine of this season may sound very poor, as it originates from times when Finland was poor agricultural society, but Oh Mi Gosh it's so good! ...Freshly salted salmon, casseroles... it's a real pity I can't eat bread anymore, as that sweet bread is... ah, pure heaven.
What makes my mothers offering to bring some so great is that those casseroles are somewhat time consuming, and as I live alone I'd no interest to make them myself (and I can't eat ready made, due the wheat). So, in the end I'll eat myself silly around the winter solstice.

And talking of food... I should drag my hiney to the store...

Recipe Exchange

I almost forgot! How senile of me...

During my offline time I received a parcel from Natty who was my Recipe Exchange sender, and lookie what she sent!

   

She sent me the loveliest pillow with apple pie recipe and in addition to that cheery tea towel and recipe book. ^^

And as you are curious to know the recipe anyway, here it comes:

Apple Pie

3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. flour
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. cinnamon

Mix. Stir in 6 c. sliced apples. Turn into 9'' pie shell. Dot with 2 t. butter. Sprinkle with 1 t. grated lemon peel. Cover with top crust. Bake at 425 (editor's note:F) for 40- 50 min.

When it comes to doing my share I made two mug cozies for CatherineMichèle, but as I was already freaking out with sending after deadline I forgot to take picture of them! (But they looked good noticing that design for the cozies was all mine and it was first time I ever made such things.)

And I sent her a recipe for:

Laskiaispulla

(Recipe from here. Also has few pictures of them... *grin*)

Makes: 16 buns
Time: about 90 minutes
Source: Based on recipe in The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Edition (note: recipe doubles well)

• 25g fresh compressed yeast
• 250ml warm whole milk (105-115F/40-46C)
• 3oz or 85g superfine granulated sugar
• 7,5g salt
• 1 tablespoon or 8g ground cardamom
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1lbs 5oz or 600g all-purpose or 'erikois' flour
• 7 tablespoons or 100g melted butter
• 1 egg white and a dash of milk (for egg wash)

Melt butter in the microwave. Set aside to cool. Weigh and measure out all ingredients and arrange near your workspace.Warm milk in a 2 cup measuring cup for about 1 minute in the microwave.Check the temperature with a thermometer and confirm that it is about40C/105F. Crumble yeast into the warm milk and stir until it has fully dissolved. Stir in the sugar, salt, cardamom, eggs and a few tablespoons of flour. Stir until the mixture is smooth and the flour completely incorporated. Set aside for a couple minutes until it begins to bubble.

Pour the yeast mixture into a larger, room temperature, bowl and begin adding flour a few tablespoons at a time. Stir with a whisk or dough whisk until it begins to thicken.From this point on, knead the dough with your hands. Continue adding flour a few tablespoons at a time until the dough is soft but still slightly sticky. You may have a bit of flour remaining, but resist the temptation to add it all if the dough has the right feel.The amount of flour you need to use to reach the point of soft, yet slightly sticky, dough will vary depending on the type of flour, the age and moisture content of the flour and the humidity in the air.

Knead in the butter(it is important that the butter does not come in contact with the yeast before the yeast has had a chance to start expanding.) until itis fully incorporated. Again, resist the urge to add more flour in lieu of kneading the dough until the butter has been absorbed. Sprinkle a wee bit of flour over the dough if it is a bit too soft and tacky once the butter has soaked in, but be conservative. You want a soft,slightly sticky dough. Knead dough for a couple of minutes and place into a bowl that has been lightly greased with vegetable oil or butter, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm spot for about 20 minutes to rest(Don't leave it for an hour thinking more is better since you don't want to over-proof the dough as this will make it tough). While the dough is resting,clean and prepare your workspace and baking sheets.

Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a silpat mat, counter top or other smooth surface. Do not flour your workspace or the dough. Knead dough lightly and divide dough into two parts. Roll each half into an 8-inch rope and cut into 8 1-inch pieces. Take each piece, place it on your workspace cupped in the palm of your hand and, with a reasonable amount of pressure, press down while moving your hand in a circular motion until the dough has formed a smooth, tight round ball. [see also diagram]If your dough isn't a little sticky or you are having trouble forming a smooth ball, rub your workspace with a wet (but not dripping) towel and try again. Arrange balls on baking sheet lined with baking paper leaving an inch or so between them.Lightly brush with egg wash (you can sprinkle the tops with pearl sugar or slivered almonds at this point, but personally I think that they don't complement the soft texture of the bun). Cover with a clean linen dishtowel or plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to rise for about30 minutes or so.

Heat oven to 200C/390F. Bake buns for 10-12 minutes until they are a light golden brown. Place on cooling rack and allow to cool.

Filling(s):

Creamy Almond Filling:
• 2-4 tablespoons (50-100g) pastry cream (see below)
• 150g-200g almond paste, room temperature

Grate almond paste into bowl. Beat until smooth. Add pastry cream and beat until smooth, thick and creamy.

Pastry Cream

Makes: about 600g
Time: about 20 minutes
Source: The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Edition (note: recipe doubles and halves well)

• 1 pint or 480ml whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ounce or 30g (about 1/2 dl) cornstarch
• 4 ounces or 115g granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 stick or 55g butter

In a bowl, whisk the cornstarch, sugar and salt together. Gradually whisk in the eggs and mix until smooth.

Place milk in a saucepan or double-boiler. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Slowly pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking rapidly. Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining milk.

Place saucepan on a medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Let it bubble for a few seconds and remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and butter until completely incorporated.

Pour pastry cream into a bowl and allow to cool a bit.When cool, use for filling or cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of the cream to avoid condensation and to keep it fresh. It will keep refrigerated for up to four days.

Traditional Almond Filling:
• 200g almond paste
• 1,5 dl or 3/4 cup milk
• bits of bun scooped out for filling

Grate almond paste into bowl. Beat until smooth. Blend in milk. Add pulla and beat until smooth.

Whipped Cream:
• 3-5dl whipping cream, cold
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

Pour cream and sugar into a completely dry, cold bowl and whip to stiff peaks. Place cream in a pastry bag fitted with a #7/14-mm star tip.

Assembling:
1. Slice top off of buns. Take the tops of the buns and cut into heart, star or other shapes if you like.For the strictly traditional, use a pair of scissors held at a45-degree angle to make a triangular cut on top of the bun about 2cm or3/4-in deep. Trim excess bread from the underside of the triangular divot.
2. Spread almond mixture (or strawberry jam and/or plain pastry cream if you don't like almonds) onto the buns or into the triangular hole.
3. Pipe whipped cream generously over the tops.
4. Place top of bun over the whipped cream.
5. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

They are good, btw. Nothing with that much grease and sugar can be bad.

Talking of parcels, I'm really missing that other one from Silkweaver. *sighs*

I prefer my chocolate, coffee and men rich...

Just striking topic once again...

Devil's Cake

5 dl wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 dl sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 dl dark cocoa powder
2 eggs
2½ dl milk
1 dl oil

Mix dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk and oil. Mix until even.
Pour into creased and "floured" baking/ cake tin (~2 litres). Bake in 175 C about an hour.

My (allergy) version; substitute wheat flour with oat flour, add more cocoa powder. (Just because I prefer my chocolate, coffee and men rich (or dark, what ever sounds 'better'). )

Little something I came up with today (How so I'm vegetarian by mind still?). It needs some adjusting though, but not bad anyway (as a first version).

Thick Carrot Grate Sauce; 1st edition
3- 4 servings

• ½ - 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 3 big carrots
• 1 onion
• 4- 5 garlic cloves
• 1 -2 ts curry powder
• 1 ts salt
• 200 g Crème Fraìce
• 1 dl milk or vegetable stock

Grate (peeled) carrots, slice onion and garlic cloves. Braise in vegetable oil with curry powder until carrot grate and onions are soft.
Add crème fraice and milk. Mix well.
Let simmer few minutes, add salt.
Eat.

I consumed mine with rice noodles. (And I'm so full now.)
It's not even very rich in calories even it has that crème fraìce in it, if you think about it.

Note to self: Chicken Noodle One-Pot

Food is good thing, and as I spent time to write this to one forum I'll save one copy of it to here:

Serves: 4

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion; sliced
1 garlic clove; crushed
2.5 cm (1 inch) ginger root; peeled and grated
1 bunch spring onions (scallions); diagonally sliced
500 g (1 lb) chicken breast fillet; skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp mild curry paste
475 ml (16 fl oz/ 2 cups) coconut milk
300 ml (½ pint/ 1 1/4 cups) chicken stock
250 g (8 oz) Chinese egg noodles
2 tsp lime juice
salt and pepper
basil springs, to garnish

1. Heat the oil in large, heavy-based frying pan (skillet) or wok. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and spring onions (scallions) and stir-fry for 2 minutes until softened.

2. Add the chicken pieces and curry paste and stir-fry until vegetables and chicken are golden brown, about 4 minutes.

3. Stir in the coconut milk, stock and salt and pepper to taste, mixing until well blended.

4. Bring to the boil, break the noodles into large pieces, if necessary, add to the pan, cover and simmer for about 6-8 minutes until the noodles are just tender, stirring occasionally.

5. Add the lime juice, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary, then serve at once in deep soup bowls.

Complete Thai Cooking; ISBN 0-75215-214721-21

Notes:

I've done this once and I used soya "meat" instead of chicken, used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, and Indian curry paste instead of Thai. (And my victim liked it even he wasn't a vegetarian. )

Yes, I've figured out how to use lj-cut.