Apple Streusel Muffins

Did you guys know that it's September already? The middle of September? That means that summer is practically over, and fall is just around the corner. Man, where does the time go? I feel like I just barely got used to wearing skirts and shorts outside, yet my tan is already fading and I have to start pulling out my jeans and sweaters from the back of the closet. Bummer.

Sad as I am about the end of summer, though, I can freely admit that fall isn't all bad. Fall foliage is pretty nice...my allergies aren't as bad this time of year...and there aren't as many bugs around.  And, lets not forget all the delicious fruits/vegetables that are in season in the fall. Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cranberries, pears, apples...mmm!

Funny story about apples: when I first came to America, I thought apples were something that students were supposed to give to their teachers every day, because that's what everyone on TV did. My first grade teacher got a lot of apples from me before I figured out that (1) she never actually ate them, and (2) no one else gave her apples. As I got older, I ate apples every day because they were delicious, kept the doctor away, and were great for my girlish figure. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started associating apples with fall -- hot apple cider, warm apple pie, etc. I still eat an apple a day, year round, but -- call me crazy -- I feel like they're extra delicious in the fall. Maybe it's something in the air.

Anyway, when Dan finally finished the last of the blueberry muffins this week, I asked him how he felt about the next batch being chocolate-peanut butter flavored. Shockingly, he was not enthused. Chocolate peanut butter muffins are apparently delicious right before bed, but too heavy for breakfast. What the heck kind of logic is that? There is never a bad time for chocolate and peanut butter. Still, the muffins were for Dan, so I had to give the man what he wanted, which was either more blueberries or some other fruit. 

Given the changing seasons, apples were an obvious choice. They're are almost as tasty in baked goods as chocolate/peanut butter, and definitely a little healthier. But, I couldn't resist making these muffins at least a little bit decadent, so I decided to throw some streusel topping into the mix as well. Delicious! The muffins were light and cinnamon-y, with soft chunks of apples in each bite; and the crunchy sweet topping was the icing on top of the cake (or, you know...the muffin). Best of all, there was enough batter/streusel leftover from Dan's muffins to make a small apple streusel cake just for me!

Apple Streusel Muffins (Adapted from Our Life in the Kitchen's recipe)

Ingredients:

(Muffin)

- 2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced

- 2 cups flour

- 2/3 cup white sugar

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp salt

- 2 large eggs

- 3/4 cup milk

- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 tsp cinnamon

(Streusel Topping)

- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup butter, melted

- 1/3 cup brown sugar

- Cinnamon for sprinkling

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 400. Line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers.
(2) In a large bowl, mix together wet and dry ingredients for the muffins until well combined.
(3) Gently stir in chopped apple.

(4) Scoop about 1/4 cup batter into each cupcake liner -- the cups should be 2/3 full. Set aside
(5) In a medium bowl, mix together ingredients for streusel topping.
** The original recipe called for 1/4 cup flour to be used for the streusel, but I found that the mixture was way too runny with just that amount. I kept adding more flour a little at a time until the topping became crumbly and was recognizable as streusel. 1/2 cup is my best guess at the total amount used.

(6) Spoon streusel topping on top of the batter in each muffin cup. Use as much as you want -- I sprinkled enough to cover the entire top.

(7) Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of the streusel.
(8) Bake for 20-25 minutes.
(9) Enjoy warm with a glass of milk.

For other great recipe ideas, click here.

Chinese Bakery-Style Birthday Cake with Strawberry Mousse Filling

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I made my dad a Chinese bakery-style cake for his birthday. It was just like the one I made for my mom last year, except instead of using vanilla custard and peaches/kiwis, I filled this one with strawberry mousse and fresh strawberries. I know. I'm on a strawberry kick. What can I say, I'm not ready to let go of summer yet.

Now, everyone knows that I love cake. Chocolate cake, cheesecake, cakes filled with shredded vegetables, loaf cake, cake covered in sugary sweet glaze...I've never met a slice a cake I didn't like. But of all the cakes I've consumed in the last 25 years, I love Chinese bakery-style birthday cakes the most.  Trust me when I say that they are vastly superior to every other cake out there.

They're light and fluffy, not too sweet, filled with fresh fruit, and coated with a light and delicate whipped cream frosting. And, if you sandwich thick strawberry mousse and sliced strawberries between the layers of fluffy cake...heaven. Each bite just melts in your mouth, and you can eat more than one piece without feel queasy or jittery from sugar overload. It's fantastic. Try it!

This recipe is inspired by a recent post from my friend Lucy.

- For directions on how to make the cake base and whipped cream frosting, click here or here.

- For directions on how to make the strawberry mousse, click here.
** I didn't have time to macerate strawberries for the mousse, so I just blended a lot of fresh strawberries with 3/4 cups sugar. That seemed to work just fine.


For other great recipe ideas, click here or here.

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BY THE WAY...my friend Melissa started a food blog recently, and she just made a post about Chinese birthday longevity noodles. How appropriate! Show some support for a new member of the food blogging community, and check out her site.

Strawberry Cake

You know what blows? Unemployment. Rain. Crappy day time television. Job applications. Extreme boredom. Put those things together, let it marinate for two weeks, and you'll have yourself a big mess of complete and utter, "get-me-out-of-this-house-before-I-kill-the-cats" stir craziness.

You know what doesn't suck, though? Light, fluffy vanilla cake stuffed with fat, juicy strawberries. A perfectly moist cake made with simple ingredients that are sure to be sitting in your pantry/fridge right now. A sweet treat that can be mixed, baked, cooled, and devoured in less than an hour. 

This cake is the only thing keeping me sane today. There's something about cracking eggs and stirring batter and slicing strawberries that's really soothing. It's familiar, it's easy, and I'm guaranteed to get something great at the end of my labors. I'm still a little stir crazy, but after a few slices of this stuff I'm starting to feel like maybe life isn't so bad when there's strawberry cake to eat.

Recipe can be here, courtesy of the Gourmand Recipes blog.
** I didn't have milk in the house, so I used 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream instead. Worked just fine, and I think probably added some extra sweetness/richness to the cake.

Blueberry Muffins

I woke up this morning with the most intense craving for a gigantic blueberry muffin. You know, one of those sugar-crusted monstrosities from Costco that's packed to bursting with fat blueberries. Those things are so bad for you, but they're so delicious! They're really just dessert masquerading as breakfast. (Which is fine by me -- my parents used to let me eat cake and pie and ice cream for breakfast all the time.)

These days, my metabolism really can't handle actual desserts or an entire Costco muffin for breakfast anymore, but I can certainly put away a whole bunch of these equally yummy, normal-sized muffins. There is less than a cup of sugar in the whole batch, and two cups of fresh, juicy berries go into the batter. I'm pretty sure one of these muffins satisfies at least one daily recommended serving of fruit...maybe.

Blueberry Muffins (Adapted from the Mochi Thoughts recipe)

Ingredients: (Makes exactly 1 dozen muffins)
- 1-1/2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

- 1 large egg

- A little over 1/3 cup milk

- 2 cups fresh blueberries

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 400, and fill a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
(2) In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients until well combined.
(3) Slowly stir in the oil and egg. Batter should be very thick.
(4) Add milk. If 1/3 cup is not enough to thin out the batter, add more slowly.
** I used between 1/3 and 1/2 cup total. Batter should be a little thicker than pancake batter.
(5) Gently mix in blueberries.
(6) Scoop about 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup.

(7) Gently press 3-4 blueberries onto the top of the batter in each muffin cup. The batter should be thick enough that the blueberries won't sink in.
(8) Bake for 20 minutes.
(9) Best eaten warm, but delicious any time.

For other great food ideas, click here or here.

Japanese-Style Strawberry Shortcake

Is it just me, or do desserts in Japanese anime/manga always look amazing? Whether it's cake, pie or ice cream, everything is always so sparkly and elaborate, surprisingly realistic-looking, and just positively oozing with goodness. My stomach pretty much growls constantly when I'm reading food/dessert-themed manga. I'm a nerd, I know.

Anyway. I'd always assumed that the cakes in my mangas were completely made up and too elaborate to replicate in real life. Imagine my excitement when I saw a picture of Japanese-style strawberry shortcake on TasteSpotting last month that looked exactly like one of the cakes that always appears in food-themed mangas. Spoiler alert: I was super excited.

And, since it's just a shortcake, this cake was actually really easy to make. As far as I can tell, the only real difference between this type of cake and regular American shortcake is that the cake itself is spongier, and the whipped cream is stabilized with gelatin to create a more frosting-like consistency. No real difference in taste -- just the same ol' delicious, berry/cream goodness. Doesn't it look pretty, though?

Japanese-Style Strawberry Shortcake (Adapted from the Flour on Her Nose recipe)

Ingredients:
(Sponge cake)
- 3 large eggs, separate + 1 whole egg
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt

(Whipped topping)
- 1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2-1/2 tsp gelatin (1 packet)
- 1 tbsp cold water
- 1/2 cup sugar

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 300.
(2) In a large bowl, beat egg whites + sugar until stiff peaks are formed. Set aside
(3) In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks, whole egg, salt, flour, oil, and vanilla until well-combined. Batter will be very thick and yellow.
(4) Gently fold egg white mixture into the batter until the two are completely combined. The mixture should be smooth and uniform in color.
(5) Pour batter into a greased 8x8 square cake pan. Bake for 25 minutes, until the top is golden brown. While cake cools, get to work on the whipped topping.
(6) In a small bowl, combine gelatin and cold water. When gelatin powder is completely dissolved, microwave the bowl for about 15 seconds, until the mixture is liquid. Set aside to cool.
(7) In a medium bowl, beat cream and sugar until you see stiff peaks. With the mixer still going, add the liquid gelatin mix and keep whipping until the whipped cream will become noticeably stiffer and more frosting-like. (This happens quickly!)
(8) To assemble, level and split the cake into two equal layers. Spread a thin coat of whipped frosting on top of one of the cake layers.
(9) Make a ring around the edge of the cake with halved strawberries, cut-side out. Fill in the middle with whole strawberries, pointing up.
(10) Cover the strawberries completely with most of the remaining cream, so that there is about a centimeter of cream between the tops of the strawberries and the next layer of cake.
(11) Place the top layer of cake on top of the strawberries/cream. Spread with the remaining whipped cream topping.
(12) Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, then slice into rectangles and serve.

For other great dessert ideas, click here.

Twisted Strawberry Lemonade

Last week, David Leibovitz's blog had a delicious-looking guest post on strawberry vodka. Soon after that, TasteSpotting and FoodGawker exploded with entries showcasing different fruit-infused vodkas. Since everyone else was doing it...

Yeah, I hopped on the infused vodka train. 

Ripe strawberries smell so good! And after three days in a tightly sealed jar with said berries, the vodka smelled pretty good too. One whiff and I had visions of delicious strawberry-flavored cocktails dancing before my eyes. 

Some people say summer is all about the beach and weekend cook-outs...I say it's about the drinks. Gotta stay hydrated in the heat, you know! And what's better for the body and soul on a hot summer day than lemonade? Strawberry Lemonade. With vodka.

Twisted Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

- 2 cartons ripe strawberries, quartered

- 1 750-ml bottle of vodka

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup water + 4 more cups for diluting

- 1 cup lemon juice

- Ice

Steps:

(1) In a large jar or other seal-able container, combine strawberries and vodka. Soak for 3 days, swirling jar every day.

(2) Strain vodka into a large pitcher filled with ice. Set aside.

(3) In a pot, heat 1 cup water and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Turn off heat, and let syrup cool. Then, add syrup to the pitcher.

(4) Pour remaining 4 cups water and lemon juice into the pitcher. Stir until well combined.

(5) Serve with more ice. The colder the better! 

Blueberry-Limoncello Cooler

Maybe it's just my imagination, but I'm pretty sure the limoncello is getting stronger. It's only been two days, but when I poured myself a glass yesterday, the lemony-boozy fumes about knocked me out on the first sip. It was still very sweet and lemony and all, but...whew. I can see why people say the stuff is lethal. This is definitely a leisurely-post-meal-sipping kind of beverage. 

Mixed with tonic water and blueberries though, the limoncello lost its intense boozy kick. In fact, the cocktail tasted almost exactly like Sprite! Don't be fooled though, the alcohol is definitely still there -- it's just diluted enough by the fizz to not be quite so in-your-face. Proceed with caution, folks. 

Blueberry-Limoncello Cooler (Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis's recipe)

Ingredients:
- 1 500ml bottle of limoncello

- 1 cup sparkling water (or tonic water), chilled
- 1 cup fresh blueberries

- Mint sprigs for garnish

- Crushed ice

Steps:
(1) In a large pitcher, combined the limoncello, sparkling water, and blueberries, and give it all a good stir.
(2) Fill a highball or other drinking glass with ice, then fill to the brim with the limoncello mixture.
(3) Garnish with a mint sprig and enjoy immediately.

Limoncello

OK, so the thing about summer is that it's so frickin' hot that I never really have any motivation to cook anything. Who wants to stand in front of a hot stove/oven when it's 95 and humid? I mean, yes, I have A/C, but just knowing that the air outside is thick enough to swim through really takes away a person's appetite. So lately all I really want to do after work is sit on my couch, in my air conditioned apartment, and suck down an endless stream of cold beverages. Frozen margaritas, rum punch, lemonade, daiquiris, agua frescas...etc etc. 

After a string of recent posts on summer beverages, my friend Karen accused me of getting lazy with my blog. How rude! I obviously did that one post about stuffed burgers two weeks ago, and then there was the mille feuille post last weekend...and before that there was the...uh...Ok fine. I've been making a lot of drinks lately. Like I said, it's hot, and all I want to do is drink stuff. Whatever.

And this limoncello recipe wasn't a total walk in the park. I had to peel eight lemons. Eight! By hand. Without a vegetable peeler. Have you ever tried peeling a lemon with a butcher knife? Not easy, especially when you have to manually remove the pith from the peel too. Phew. Talk about cramped hands.

But aside from the lemon-peeling, this limoncello really wasn't too hard to make. It was more a matter of patience, since the peels have to be soaked in vodka for four whole days, and then once simple syrup is added the mixture needs to sit overnight before it's strained. After that, the stuff still has to chill for a couple hours before it's served. I am not a patient person, so I skipped the last two steps. I let the lemon-infused vodka and syrup marinate for about an hour and a half before I decided I just had to have a taste. 

Whew, this stuff is much stronger than I expected. I don't know why I thought it would be less strong -- it's just vodka and sugar water, after all. Very tasty though -- sweet and lemony and refreshing. But, probably would be better served chilled, as intended.

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of the Food Network's Giada De Laurentiis.

Strawberry Mille Feuille

As soon as I said I was going sit on my ass all day and do nothing, I got the urge to bake. And, of course, the more I thought about baking, the stronger the urge got, until it could no longer be resisted. Sigh. What can you do, right? Lets just chalk it up to me being totally dedicated to this blog.

So, why mille feuille? Because I saw Anthony Bourdain eating it on "No Reservations" last night, and it looked pretty tasty. Plus, he spent at least 15 minutes waxing eloquent about the virtues of this quintessential French dessert, so I knew it had to be good. Now, I wanted to try it for myself, but I wasn't feeling up to making my own puff pastry. So, I dragged Dan to the store to buy the pre-made stuff. Great decision. Instead of waiting a couple hours for the dessert to come together, we were able to sit down and enjoy this deliciously flaky, light and creamy treat in less than 30 minutes. Take that, Rachel Ray!

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of food.com.

Pomegranate-Champagne Rum Punch

"Today I don't feel like doing anything,

I just wanna lay in bed.

Don't feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone,

'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything."

I'm loving this new Bruno Mars song today! It really captures the way I feel about how my Saturday is going to be. Today, I'm not going to do anything but lay on the couch, relax (maybe nap), and drink a ton of this super delicious, refreshing, and delightfully boozy pomegranate-champagne punch. Happy long weekend, everyone!

Pomegranate-Champagne Rum Punch (Adapted from Ezra Pound Cake's recipe)

** Tastes kind of like sangria, but sweeter. Yum!

Ingredients:

- 1-1/2 cups pomegranate juice

- 1 cup lemonade 

- 1/4 cup white rum

- 1 bottle champagne or Prosecco (I couldn't find either at the liquor store, so I used Brut)

Steps:

(1) In a large pitcher, combine juice, lemonade, and rum.
(2) Slowly add champagne/Prosecco/Brut
(3) Stir, and then serve over crushed ice.

Classic Lemonade

Man, it was hot today! The weatherman predicted thunderstorms all week, but there was nary a raindrop or storm cloud in sight. By the time I got home it was 88 and sunny. And just a little muggy, 'cuz you know, it's summer in Virginia. Basically, it was the perfect day for an icy cold pitcher of fresh, homemade lemonade. 

Times like these, I really wish we had furniture on our balcony. Can you imagine how amazing it would be to recline in a lounge chair on the balcony after work, sipping from a frosty glass of lemonade, enjoying life and basking in the warmth of the fading sun? That's like, poetry, almost.

But, without the aforementioned lounge chair on my balcony, I had to settle for enjoying this tasty lemonade on the couch while watching back to back episodes of Bones on TBS. Not such a terrible way to spend the evening.

Lemonade (From Simply Recipes)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup water, plus 3-5 more cups for dilution
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup lemon juice

Steps:
(1) Make simple syrup by boiling sugar and 1 cup water until sugar is completely dissolved.
(2) Pour syrup and lemon juice into a pitcher, along with 3-5 cups of water, depending on how much you want to dilute the sweetness of the lemonade. (I went with 5 cups, and the lemonade was plenty sweet.)
(3) Refrigerate until you're ready to serve, or load the pitcher up with ice cubes.
(4) Stir and enjoy cold. Preferably on a balcony on a nice warm day.

Watermelon-Lime Agua Fresca

Remember when we were younger and watermelons could only be bought in the summer? A cold slice of the juicy red melon was always something to be looked forward to at picnics and bbq's when the weather was nice. And the seeds! Kind of a pain to eat around, but fun to spit at your friends and try to see who could spit them the farthest. Just don't accidentally swallow any of the slimy little buggers though -- a watermelon will grow in your stomach! 

Nowadays you can walk into any grocery store pretty much any time of year and pick up a juicy, sweet melon with no seeds. Isn't that mind-blowing? I can't decide how I feel about it -- on the one hand, it's convenient when I'm craving watermelon in the colder seasons, but on the other hand...watermelon is a summer fruit, damnit!

My dad is a champion watermelon selector. He can always tell just by lightly thumping the side of a melon which one is going to be the reddest and sweetest. I, on the other hand, am not so talented. I make a big show of thumping and listening, but all the melons sound exactly the same to me. So, the watermelons I bring home are usually pretty hit or miss. My most recent purchase was kind of a miss. The flesh was more pink than red, and not very sweet. Still refreshing, but not as delicious to eat. 

So, what to do with not-so-delicious watermelon? Blend that sucker up and turn it into a light and refreshing summer beverage! Like agua frescas, for example, which are fruit drinks made with blended fruit/water infused with various herbs. Generally non-alcoholic, but if you want to add some tequila, I certainly won't judge you... 

Watermelon-Lime Agua Fresca (From The Kitchn)

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs seedless watermelon

- 1 cup cold water

- 2 tsp lime juice

- 1 tbsp simple syrup (See below for recipe)

- 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

Steps:
(Simple syrup)

(1) Mix 1/4 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar. Bring to bowl over medium-low heat and simmer, without stirring, until all sugar is dissolved.

(2) Remove from heat, then add 1 tbsp chopped mint. Let steep for 15 minutes, and set aside.

(Agua fresca)

(1) Blend watermelon, lime juice, water, and simple syrup.
(2) Strain through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth.

(3) Serve over ice. Garnish with a mint to keep things classy.

Mango Daiquiris

I think it's pretty obvious by now that I'm a girly drink kind of gal. I mean, I could try to roll with the boys and throw back beers and booze on the rocks, but why suffer? I like sugar. I like fruit. I don't like the taste of alcohol.  It would just be silly to pretend otherwise. Sure, I suppose if I could acquire a taste for beer my bar tabs would be a lot lower, but...not worth it. I need to have fruity, blended drinks in my life, damnit.

Daiquiris are pretty high on my list of favorite blended drinks, not only because they are sweet and fruity and delicious, but also because I associate them with summer, hammocks, sandy beaches, and tropical vacations.  Seriously, there is nothing more relaxing than an icy cold daiquiri, especially after a long and productive day at work. And no fruit is more delicious this time of year than a juicy mango. What happens when you combine the two? Instant happiness, and the perfect cure for the mid-week blues. 

Mango Daiquiris

Ingredients:
- 2 fresh mangos, chopped into pieces
- 2 trays' worth of ice
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 4 oz rum (I used Parrot Bay Mango Rum for even more mango flavor)

- 1 tbsp sugar

Steps:
(1) Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth and frosty.
(2) Serve immediately, preferably with a heap of chips and guacamole.

For other great drinks ideas, click here.

Lemon Cakes

I've had a serious crush on Tom Colicchio since the first season of Top Chef. He's bald, but so sexy! I think it's his wry stoicism that really does it for me. Not to mention, he can cook. So, when I found out that he was also responsible for bringing food trucks serving a menu inspired by one of my favorite fantasy books to the streets of NY and LA, my cup of love for him runneth over. 

One of the items on the Game of Thrones-inspired food truck menu is a treat that is much loved by many of the book's characters: lemon cakes. I'd always pictured them to be like mini lemon bars, but Tom's creation is a little more elegant -- miniature cakes baked in ramekins set in a water bath, with the result being that the bottom of the cake is light and spongy, while the top of the cake stays dense and custard-y. I had trouble un-molding my cakes, so my end product was not nearly as pretty as Tom's cakes. But, the intended layers were all there, and each creamy morsel was packed with lemony good flavor. Yum!

Bananas Foster Trifle

I wanted to make trifles out of my strawberry rum pound cake a couple weeks ago, but my stemless wineglasses proved to be less than satisfactory vessels for putting it all together. Nothing layered properly, and my fingers kept smearing stuff. So, I ordered a set of mini trifle bowls, and they arrived a few days ago.

What is trifle, exactly? It's basically a cake-based parfait, with layers of cake (usually pound or sponge), custard, fruit, gelatin, and whipped cream. Yum, right? I didn't have pound cake or sponge cake lying around, but since there was still some banana bread left over, I decided to make a Bananas Foster trifle.

I originally wanted to make the characteristic Bananas Foster rum sauce for my trifle, but that was a total botch. While it was cooking, I took my eye off the skillet and the sugar burned. The sauce, which had been smelling pretty good up to then, turned black, started smoking, and was basically totally ruined. Ugh. So, I scrapped the sauce and made do with banana bread, cooked bananas, and whipped cream. And you know what? Totally delicious. Banana lovers everywhere would go nuts for this sweet and creamy, intensely banana-y treat. Dan, who had already eaten pizza, chips and salsa, and cheesy bread, and insisted that he was too stuffed to eat more than a few bites of trifle, ate the whole bowl. Mini-bowl, but still.

Bananas Foster Trifle

Ingredients: (Makes 2 mini-trifles)

- 4 pieces banana bread, chopped into squares.
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1 dash cinnamon
- 1 dash cloves
- 1 banana, cut in half length-wise
- 1 cup heavy cream, whipped and sweetened.

Steps:

(1) Layer the bottom of each mini-trifle bowl with some of the chopped banana bread, in one even layer. Set aside.

(2) In a skillet, cook butter and brown sugar until simmering. Add spices.

(3) Place both halves of the banana into the skillet and spoon sauce over the top. Cook until a sugary crust forms on the outside of the fruit. Pull out and set aside.
** At this point you can keep cooking the sauce until it is thick and syrupy, then add it as one of your trifle components. Mine burned, so I left it out...
(4) Let bananas cool, then chop them into small pieces.
(5) Layer chopped bananas on top of the banana bread in the trifle bowls.
(6) Layer the remaining banana bread on top of the cooked bananas.
(7) Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.

One year ago: Chocolate Fudge

Caramel-Whiskey Banana Bread

I was going to make pate a choux last night, but on my way to the pantry to grab flour, I was stopped in my tracks by the scent of fermented fruit. Again? I just finished those frickin' strawberries! Have they come back to haunt me?

Further investigation led to the discovery of two very ripe bananas on top of the fridge. Crap. I had bought a huge bunch of them last week to eat for breakfast, ate a couple, skipped breakfast a few days in a row, and then completely forgot about the stragglers. And now they were reasserting their presence in a big way. 

I didn't want the sad bananas to go to waste, so I scrapped my plans for pate a choux and whipped up a batch of banana bread. To keep things interesting, I substituted  in 1/2 a cup of caramel sauce for brown sugar, and then added a healthy pour of whiskey. I tell you, that batter smelled good! 

Truthfully, this banana bread could have been improved with just one extra mashed banana, but was very tasty on the whole. Incredibly moist, with a light sweetness made richer by caramel, and rounded out by a pleasing whiff of whiskey. I asked Dan this morning if he wanted to take some to work to share with his co-workers, but he said he'd rather eat it all himself. 

Caramel-Whiskey Banana Bread (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Jacked Up Banana Bread recipe)

Ingredients:

- 2 ripe bananas, mashed

- 1/2 a stick butter/margarine, melted

- 1/2 cup caramel sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (optional -- I like my banana bread to be on the sweet side)
- 1-1/2 cups flour

- 1 egg

- 2 tbsp whiskey

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 tbsp cinnamon

- 1 dash of nutmeg

- 1 dash of cloves

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 350.

(2) Mix melted butter into the mashed bananas.

(3) Gradually incorporate the caramel, whiskey, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and spices. Mix well.

(4) Add flour and stir until well combined.

(5) Pour batter into a greased bread pan.

(6) Bake for 45 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes before serving.

One year ago: Spinach and Mushroom Fettucine Alfredo

Strawberry Margaritas

It's the weekend, the weather is 82 degrees and sunny, and I've just been treated to a delicious sushi buffet for lunch. Could my birthday get any better? Yes, but only if you throw in a pitcher of freshly blended strawberry margaritas (and a nap)!

Tequila and I never used to be friends. But, that's probably because my first experience with it was at a frat party where some guy poured lime juice into a solo cup full of Jose and said "here, have a margarita." I took one sip and immediately spat it back into the cup. Yuck.  Never again.

But, because I never wanted to drink tequila after that, I never got violently sick from it -- Jose and I never "broke up," so to speak. Vodka? That's another story...but I digress.  Anyway, the upshot is that when I decided to give tequila another chance years later, I could face it without having a visceral reaction (like my friend Brad). I still can't drink it straight, of course...I prefer my Jose to be mixed with sugar and fruit, and frozen if possible. Luckily, there's a big jug of The Cuervo on top of my fridge right now, as well as a fresh carton of strawberries waiting to be eaten/blended, so when I got a craving for a fruity beverage I knew just what to do. Strawberry margaritas!!! So delicious and refreshing on a hot day like today. If only I had furniture on my balcony...

Strawberry Margaritas

Ingredients:

- 5 oz tequila (5 shots)
- 2 ice-trays' worth of ice
- 1/2 a carton of strawberries, cut into halves
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup lemon juice

Steps:

(1) Throw all the ingredients into a blender. Blend until icy and frothy.
(2) Serve immediately, preferably with something salty, like chips and guacamole.

One year ago: Spinach and Mushroom Fettucine Alfredo

Mini Lemon Curd Tarts

Remember when you were a kid and after you got a shot the doctor would give you a lollipop for being brave? The lollipops were always red, purple, or yellow, and were cherry, grape, or lemon flavored. I always picked the red lollipop, because red was my favorite color, and cherry tasted the best. Yellow-lemon? The worst! I mean, who wants to eat candy that makes your mouth pucker and your tongue recoil? Yuck.

I was pretty intensely anti-lemon until I started dating Dan, the lemon fiend. He actually enjoyed yellow Starbursts and lemon drop candies; he loved lemon meringue pie; and he could lay waste to a plate of lemon bars. Watching him eat, I was both repulsed and fascinated. After a while I became curious enough to try some of the lemony foods I had previously avoided, and I was shocked to discover that I actually liked them. A lot.

These days lemon curd is my dessert kryptonite. The cafeteria at work sells these amazing, gooey lemon tarts, and I can't let myself look at them. If I look, an intense internal battle immediately ensues:

    Good Tina: "You cannot eat one of those. There is so much fat in there!"

    Bad Tina: "Who cares, just go for a run tonight."
    GT: "If you eat one today, you're going to want one tomorrow. It's a slippery slope."
    BT: "Mo' tarts, mo' happiness."
    GT: "You are on a budget."
    BT: "You're getting paid on Friday. Budgets are for wimps."

More times than not, I'll cave and buy one, telling myself that it'll be fine if I just eat half and save the rest for the next day. But, once I get back to my desk and start eating, I don't stop until the whole thing is gone, and I'm left with nothing but a sticky sweet taste in my mouth, a slight stomach-ache and intense eater's guilt. This is why I have to pretend those things don't exist.

Baking with lemon curd would normally be a no-no as well, but it's my birthday this weekend, and I'm treating myself. Plus, these are miniature tarts with just a spoonful or two of lemon curd each, so...how bad could they be? 

Recipe for the sugar cookie tart crust can be found here, courtesy of the Baking Bites Blog.

** Since I was making mini tarts in a muffin pan, I only baked the crusts for 10 minutes.

Recipe for the lemon curd filling can be found here, courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa.

One year ago: Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Cake

Strawberry Rum Pound Cake

The problem with strawberries is that (1) my grocery store never has the the really fresh-looking ones, and (2) they go bad so quickly. I bought a big carton of promising-looking berries last weekend, and three days later they were dark in patches, simultaneously shriveled and mushy, and giving off faintly alcoholic fumes. Mmm, over-ripe strawberries.

I've been valiantly trying to eat my way through the entire carton of ripe berries all week, but it's pretty much a losing battle; I think the strawberries are actually multiplying in the fridge. As far as I'm concerned, the only way for me to avoid wasting the rest of the fruit is to chop it up and bake it into something delicious. 

A lot of the food bloggers I follow have been making pound cake lately, so I was kind of thinking I should hop on the bandwagon. The only reason I haven't made one yet is because I know how much delicious butter and fat is in pound cake, and if I make it I'm going to want to eat all of it by myself in one sitting, and then I'm going to suffer intense inner turmoil as my greed inevitably overcomes my good sense and health consciousness. 

But, you never know what will happen before you try, so...I threw caution to the wind and decided to go with a Paula Deen recipe. Two sticks of butter, 5 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, and sour cream. I couldn't bring myself to make her sweet glaze for drizzling, but the cake was incredibly delicious even without it. Sweet and buttery, with a pleasant tang from the pieces of strawberry studded throughout, and so moist. Yum. Let me tell you, I am in big trouble. I can only hope Dan eats the rest of the cake before it seriously derails my diet...

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of Paula Deen.

** Her recipe just uses strawberries -- I threw in a tbsp of rum-flavored extract because I thought the flavor would compliment the strawberry pretty well. In the end the rum flavor wasn't as strong as I would have liked...next time I think I'll use actual rum.

One year ago: Pad Thai