Banana Bundt Cake

After a big shopping trip to Costco we always seem to end up with a few extra bananas that don't get eaten quickly enough before they start to become overripe, so tonight I decided to try a new recipe for banana cake. I got the original recipe from allrecipes.com and then tweaked it to suit our tastes and ingredients we had on-hand. This cake is lighter and less dense than a traditional banana bread, and it is delicious finished with powdered sugar or vanilla frosting. The recipe is sized perfectly for bundt pans and Nordicware pans. The cake is moist and delicious, especially sliced while it's still warm!


BANANA BUNDT CAKE

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 c. butter
1 c. granulated sugar
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
4 mashed ripe bananas
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 c. vanilla yogurt
¾ c. chopped walnuts (optional)
confectioners’ sugar or frosting for topping


DIRECTIONS:

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. Add bananas and mix well.

In a second bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with vanilla yogurt, stirring just until combined. Stir in walnuts if desired.

Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar or drizzle with vanilla or cream cheese frosting before serving. Yum!



This little guy snuck out of bed at 9:30 because he knew Mommy would be frosting the cake, and he just had to help (taste test the frosting, that is!)



I bet this cake would be fantastic with only a light sprinkling of powdered sugar...but since my 3-year-old was helping me with ours, it was served under a delicious lake of vanilla frosting. :)

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Best. Cookies. Ever.

I've been making chocolate chip cookies for most of my life, but I can never seem to master the perfect cookie, especially according to my all-too-picky-about-his-cookies husband. I want my cookies crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle, and packed with chocolatey goodness. Awhile back I stumbled on a recipe on Yahoo claiming to be an "All-Star Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe," so on Sunday, after some whining encouragement from my band of loyal cookie testers, I set about to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies. According to the hubby, I finally succeeded (yay!) in creating a cookie that is both super tasty and the perfect texture. So, I thought I'd share the love and pass on the recipe. It has a couple of unique steps, but I followed the recipe to the letter, and it passed the perfect cookie inspection so I'd recommend doing it anyway, even if it seems strange :)


THICK & CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients:
2 1/8 c. all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 c. brown sugar (light or dark - I used light)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks


1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions.

2. Melt butter and cool slightly. I melted it in a small microwave bowl and then stuck it back into the freezer for a few minutes until it was opaque and creamy again, but still melty.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer (I opted for hand mixing), mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, egg yolk and vanilla.

4. In a second bowl, thoroughly mix together all the dry ingredients. Stir into the wet ingredients until just combined, and then stir in the chocolate chips.

5. "Form 1/4 c. dough into a ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough's uneven surface." That's what the original recipe says. Basically, I ripped the giant dough ball in half and then smushed the sides back together so that the two torn halves made up the top of the new dough ball. Not sure if that's exactly what it meant, but it worked for me!

6. Place formed dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet, about 9 dough balls per sheet (btw, these cookies are HUGE). Makes about 18-20 cookies.

7. Bake, reversing the cookie sheet's position halfway through baking, for 15-18 minutes until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden, yet centers are still soft and puffy. (Mine actually took 18-20 minutes, just keep a close eye on them).

8. IMPORTANT: Cool cookies on the cookie sheet to make sure they end up with the perfect texture! Dough can be frozen up to 1 month or refrigerated for up to 2 days, shaped or not.

ENJOY!

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