Dylan & Erica’s Place…

Banana Bread!

I had some leftover bananas oh wait, Dylan’s office had some left over bananas and the admin was giving them away.  Every week they get fresh bananas and cereal bars and all of these yummy goodies at the office.  Nice huh? Anyways he had some left over bananas and I had this Martha Stewart Recipe Book and BAM! We are in business.
Banana - Walnut Bread, Adapted from Martha Stewart

* 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 3 cups mashed medium very ripe bananas (about 6)
* 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch (2-quart) loaf pan; set aside.  Also you can use mini loaf muffins.  I used mini bunt muffin pans.  I really enjoy baking things that don’t require cutting if you haven’t noticed.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of banana; mix until just combined. Stir in walnuts, if desired, by hand.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 60 to 70 minutes. If you are using small or mini muffin pans decrease time to 40-50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out of pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

When wrapped well in plastic, the loaf will keep in the freezer for several months.

Let me tell you a story about when my husband and I started dating. Dylan worked at a big public accounting firm and had to go out of town a lot. I was quite upset and sad whenever he left and always needed something to do to take my mind off of it. I just missed him a lot. Everyone say together.. Awwwwww. Well one of these times he had to leave to go to I believe it was to Chicago. I decided I would go to build a bear (I know real grown-up of me, I should have went to a wine bar instead), with a friend and build a monkey. I have no idea why. Monkeys are so interesting to me and they always look so happy. They are amazing creatures.

I stuffed this piece of cloth shaped like a monkey and created our friend, Roger. Yes I even named this stuffed monkey. Roger is his name and he sits on my dresser. I’m sure he loves it. He gets to sit there every day and watch TV. Yes, I am acting like a child with a huge imagination but at least I still have one. Ahhhh what it was like to be a child again.

Now to talk about Monkey Bread, also known at our house as Roger Bread (hence the reason why I told the story above). My older brother Garry came down to visit one day and he was talking about this bread he had at a house party that someone made. He said it had cinnamon, brown sugar, and maple syrup in it and it was ooey and gooey. Hmmm what was this boy talking about? We googled it and found it to be Monkey Bread. We found a recipe online at all recipes and the boys went to the store and bought all the ingredients and made it. Within 2 hours it was devoured. There was nothing left.

Recently Dylan and I were watching the Food Network and ran across a show, Sugar Rush, and they were making Roger Bread!! But with a slight difference. They added cream cheese. NO WAY. My favorite. Cream cheese.. inside this Monkey Bread. I have to make it. Well I made a few changes and my new “Roger Bread” was created. Enjoy this with some vanilla ice cream and I won‘t tell you how many calories is in it. You can just imagine it is fat free. Enjoy our Roger Bread!

Roger Bread, adapted from Vita Shanley 2005

Flour or spray for coating the bundt pan
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup of maple syrup
20 buttermilk canned refrigerator biscuits
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into 20 cubes
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups walnuts — I omitted co-workers with allergies. I don’t want to kill anyone!

Lightly grease a bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Separate biscuits and flatten each slightly with your hand. Coat each biscuit with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. (There will be some sugar mixture left over)
Place one cube of cream cheese in center of biscuit and fold in half to resemble a half moon.

Melt the 1 stick of butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar, maple syrup and bring to a boil; remove from the heat.

Place 1/2 cup nuts on the bottom of the bundt pan (if applicable) and then line the pan with a row of cream cheese filled biscuits.
Sprinkle with half of the leftover cinnamon and sugar mixture. Drizzle half of the butter mixture on top and then repeat steps, beginning with nuts (if applicable)

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Remove from the pan when it’s still hot to avoid sticking. Place three scoops of ice cream in the center hole and enjoy!

This Friday at work we had a bakeoff. First was the breakfast entry. It had to be something unique something yummy and something that plated well. I decided to go Paula Deen style, “Ya’ll”. It came out VERY well. However I guess alot of people didn’t think it was unique enough. Hmmmm my husband did. His response to what I was making, “Who eats chicken fried steak for breakfast?” My answer, “People in the South and Paula Deen”. Overall my item came in third in taste. That’s all that matters right? Just how it tastes? For the chicken fried steak I used the typical batter recipe. I used my father’s. He taught me everything to know about chicken fried steak. Gosh I love his steaks!! Hmmm I’m hungry now.

Daddy Kaspar’s Chicken Fried Steak

• 2 cups of flour (seasoned with 1 tablespoon of fresh ground pepper)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 tenderized beef round steak (about 2 lbs)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of Tony’s
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 black pepper
• oil for frying

Preheat oil in Fry Daddy (or fryer as seen here). Heat oil up to 350-400. Combine the garlic powder, salt , Tony’s black pepper in small bowl. Season the steak with seasoning just made on both sides of meat. Dip the steaks in the buttermilk. Transfer the milk coated steaks to the flour and coat until nice and white.

Add 2 -3 of the battered steaks to the hot oil (fryer) and fry until browned, about 5-6 minutes per side. Remove steaks to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Paula Deen’s Basic Biscuits

• 1 package yeast
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 5 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 cup Crisco shortening
• 2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve yeast in warm water; set aside. Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening. Add yeast and buttermilk and mix well. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and roll out to desired thickness. Cut with small biscuit cutter and place on greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Split biscuits in half and top with country fried steak and drizzle with gravy.

Yield 3 dozen, Adapted from Mrs. Paula Deen

Blueberry-Walnut Cream Cheese Muffins, adapted from Foodie Bride

2 sticks unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, cold
3 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cup cake flour (can use half cake and half AP flour)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 Tbsp AP 8 oz fresh blueberries, rinsed

Preheat oven to 375. On a baking sheet, toast walnuts for 5-7 minutes until golden and fragrant. Remove from oven and let the walnuts cool while preparing the batter.

Cream softened butter and cream cheese on medium-high for 1 minute. Add sugar in three batches, creaming on medium-high for 1 minute and scraping down the bowl before each new addition. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated. Add vanilla, lemon juice, and almond extract.

Combine the flours, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour to the batter in two batches, mixing on low until just incorporated. Toss blueberries with remaining 1 Tbsp flour to coat. Fold blueberries and walnuts into the batter until mixed. Scoop batter into a well-greased or paper-lined muffin tin (if you use paper liners, be sure to still grease the top of the tin).. Fill each cup 3/4 full. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with 1/4-1/2 tsp sugar and top with 3 un-floured cranberries, lightly pressed into the batter.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer tests done in the center of the muffin.

King Cake Dough (or Cinnamon rolls)

* 6 - 6 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
* ½ cup sugar
* 2 tsp. Salt (teaspoon)
* 2 pkgs. Yeast or 2 Tablespoons of Yeast
* 1 stick margarine or butter
* 1 egg
* 2 Cups Hot Tap water

In large bowl melt butter in microwave. Add 2 ¼ cups flour, ½ cup sugar, salt, and yeast. With mixer at low speed, gradually pour 2 cups hot tap water
(110 - 120 degrees) into dry ingredients. Add egg and beat well. Gradually add remaining flour until thickened. Turn onto floured surface and knead
until most flour is gone. Pour a little oil in a large bowl. Place dough down into oil to coat top and turn over. Let it sit and rise until double
it’s size. Punch down and knead for about 5 more minutes.

Divide the dough into three. Roll dough on a floured surface. Spread with melted butter/margarine. For a Cream Cheese King Cake, sprinkle with
powdered sugar and spread cream cheese filling. Recipe below. ( I also add cinnamon and sugar to the cake on top of the filling).

For a Cinnamon / Sugar King Cake, omit the powdered sugar and sprinkle Cinnamon / Sugar mixture over the buttered dough.
Starting from one edge, roll the dough in a Jelly Roll fashion.
For a King Cake, twist the roll and place on a greased cookie sheet (make it form acircle). You can also let the dough rise about 20-30 more minutes during this time.
Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned. About 30-45 minutes The baby can be inserted after it has cooled.

Icing for King Cake or Cinnamon Rolls

* ½ cup powdered sugar
* 1-2 teaspoons water
* Pinch of vanilla

Mix together all ingredients until icing is thick

Cream Cheese Filling

* 2 packages of cream cheese (soften)
* 2 egg yolks
* ¾ cup of sugar
* 1 teaspoon of vanilla
Cream together all ingredients until light and creamy like peanut butter consistency.

~ Adapted from Mom Trivette, 2007

Snickerdoodle Muffins!!!! Yummy =). I found this recipe in the good ole collection of Foodie Bride’s blogs. Needless to say this recipe is awesome. I’m just going to give you the link to the recipe and show you some photos. Please everyone try this. Read why it is called the Refund Muffin and get a good laugh. Needless to say, I don’t need my refund

Refund Muffins

Rolling in the dough!!

Ready for the oven!!

Time to eat!!