Lovin' From the Oven

Janet’s Rich Banana Bread

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Life has been busy this month, for me and my DB. I just finished a four day trip and my DB is currently going through EIW (early interview week). What does that even mean? It means he has 21 interviews in five days. How intense is that? They go room to room in a hotel and go on twenty minute interviews with different firms. I don’t know how they do it.

As you can tell, my blog hasn’t been a top priority in life recently. I’m focusing on work (both jobs) and supporting my DB to help him make it through this stressful week. Don’t get me wrong, I still love baking… I just haven’t had the time to do much of it or update.

Meanwhile, here’s a recipe to hold you up until the next one. More banana bread! This one was just okay. I may have over baked it, causing the crust to be thicker than I would have liked. The inside was moist, but the top was a bit crumbly. Recipe from AllRecipes.

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Janet’s Rich Banana Bread

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 2 medium bananas, sliced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Mix together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
  3. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt.
  4. Fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
  5. Bake for an hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Wait 5 minutes before removing from pan and cooling completely.
https://lovintheoven.com/janets-rich-banana-bread/

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

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Now that I’ve baked a couple of times in my new kitchen, I can’t decide if my oven is off or if my baking is off. My last couple of desserts that came out have been alright, but not great. The cookies get flat so I adjust my method by baking things a little bit longer, but that just makes my bars comes out slightly dry. I can’t figure it out. Is the temperature off? Do I need to adjust the baking time? Or maybe I’ve just lost it?

It’s frustrating, but I’m not giving up. I’ll keep fine tuning until I get the hang of this oven (or my baking bug back).

This bundt cake was made at my old apartment, so it turned out fine. It’s a dense cake and the mini chocolate chips add a nice change to your normal sized chocolate chips. It would be great served alongside morning coffee or tea! Recipe from Bake or Break.

TOPPING

  • 2/3 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 12 cup bundt pan. Mix together the pecans, butter, and sugar with a fork. Evenly distribute the mixture in the bottom of the pan.

CAKE

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 12 ounces semisweet chocolate mini chips
  1. Cream butter, both sugars, and vanilla until fluffy. Slowly add in the eggs, one at a time.
  2. Mix in your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt), alternating with the buttermilk.
  3. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  4. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Cool in pan for ten minutes before inverting it onto a cooling rack.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Biscotti

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I love that watermelon season is about to reach its prime in the year. Instead of drinking water, I eat half a watermelon a day. Seriously. Did you know it’s 92% water (The other 8% may be sugar, but who’s counting)?

Too bad you can’t buy watermelon year round like you can with pumpkin. You can celebrate fall anytime you want with a can of pumpkin. It may not be fresh, but it’ll do. With the many cans of pumpkin in my shelf, I pondered on what I could make. I’ve done plenty of breads and bars so I opted for something that looked a little different than what I normally make or eat: Biscotti.

I’ve never been a fan of biscotti, but this one was right up my alley. My DB ate them dipped in his coffee, but I just nibbled on mine plain. I could have dipped the whole thing in white chocolate and ate them all in a day if I desired, but that’s just crazy talk.

This recipe comes from The Comfort of Cooking.

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Pumpkin Gingerbread Biscotti

Yield: 10-12 pieces

Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 4 ounces real white chocolate, chopped, or white candy melts
  • 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350.
  2. Whisk together the egg, sugar and baking powder on medium-high speed until the mixture falls in ribbons when you life out the whisk. Next, add in the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt and vanilla and whisk.
  3. Carefully fold in the flour.
  4. Shape the dough into a flat log about 3″ wide by 8″ long.
  5. Bake the flat log for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 300 degrees.
  6. Let the dough cool down for 15 minutes before cutting into 1/2 inch slices. Put the slices on the baking sheet and bake for another 30 minutes, turning them over half way through.
  7. Let cool completely.
  8. Melt the white chocolate and dip half of the biscotti into it. Sprinkle the walnuts on top. Lay them on wax paper until the white chocolate hardens and then serve.
https://lovintheoven.com/pumpkin-gingerbread-biscotti/

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