Banana Cookies

Moms Old Recipe Banana Cookies 

It's a couple of weeks into January and I've finally got all of the Christmas decorations taken down and put away. Not bad considering last year we didn't get the second Christmas tree down until the middle of April. 

So with nothing to do and a snowy day perfect for staying inside I thought I might spend some time in the kitchen. Decided to organize my mothers recipe box and came across a recipe that sounded yummy, Banana Cookies and I just happened to have a very ripe nanner to put in it. Funny I don't ever remember my mom baking these but then again I don't think that she fixed even half the recipes in that box. That's OK because I'm going to try a few of them. We found a potato pancake recipe that Mark made for dinner that I'll post another time so stay tuned for that in the near future. 

Moms old recipe box.

Banana Cookies

1 cup Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/8 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 6" Banana (ripe & brown)

1/3 cup Butter (recipe calls for margarine but I refuse to use it, it is after all 1 molecule away from being plastic)

1/2 cup Sugar

1 large Egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla (this wasn't on the original ingredients list, but upon seeing vanilla in the directions I guessed and used 1 tsp, it worked out fine) 

Cinnamon Sugar topping

1 Tablespoon Sugar 

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

Mix them together, sprinkle on the top of cookies before baking.

Sift together flour, baking powder & baking soda. Set aside. Beat Banana with a mixer on high until pureed. Add butter,sugar, egg and vanilla (see I told you the recipe said vanilla even if ingredient list didn't) mix at medium speed until blended.  Add flour mixture, beat at low speed until blended. Drop by level Tablespoons a few inches apart, onto greased cookie sheets ( I used dark cookie sheets with silicone baking mats). Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake at 400* for 12 minutes or until lightly browned ( I only baked mine for 8 minutes since I was using dark baking sheets). Let rest on pan for a minute and then remove to cooling racks to cool. 

Sliced up nanners.

Beating the little suckers up. 

 Pureed nanners.

 Pureed nanners with butter, sugar, eggs & vanilla added.

 Above ingredients mixed together.

Now add sifted flour, baking powder & baking soda.

All of the ingredients combined.

 Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.

 Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.

 Bake at 400* 8 minutes if on brown cookie sheet, recipe says 12 minutes but these would have burned on these dark pans had I baked them that long. 12 minutes might work on a silver cookie sheet. 

Oh so Soft & Yummy they taste just like banana bread.

We loved these cookies and there was only 1 left by the next morning but the recipe did only give us 18 cookies. These would be even better with a White Chocolate genache on top or White Chocolate Chips in the recipe or Mark suggested frosted, in either case I would omit the cinnamon sugar on top.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

                                Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

So we end the busy holiday season with my birthday and I am so lucky that Mark is always willing to make me a cake of my choice, well with a few exceptions anyway. He wouldn't make me the the Six Layer Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Filling & Malted Chocolate Frosting, he said since he doesn't like malt that it wouldn't be a food of love thing and therefore wouldn't come out good. Well I can't deny that so it was on to a different choice. I passed on Chocolate Pound Cake with Bacon Bourbon Frosting and a Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake (maybe in the next few years) and settled on a Chocolate Hazelnut Cake. I adore Hazelnut so this would do well.

I found these recipes just by doing a Google search of best cake recipes and a Huffington post article came up and voila. Life Love & Sugar Blog by Lindsay had this luscious looking Nutella Chocolate Cake recipe that sounded like a must try.  http://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/2014/11/12/nutella-chocolate-cake/  Lindsay had so many wonderful looking cakes I'm sure we will be trying several of them out in the future. For not being a professional baker her cakes are gorgeous. 

We decided to stick with our favorite chocolate cake recipe of all time Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate cake recipe since it uses coffee instead of water.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe.html 

We used Hazelnut coffee in place of regular coffee to give it that little extra Hazelnut flavor though we really couldn't tell a difference.  Mark started by making the cakes we chose to stick with just a two layer instead of four layers. We knew we wanted to frost the outside of the cake to help keep it fresh since it would take several days to finish it and we didn't want it to get stale. So our thinking was frosting on the sides would help with freshness and we didn't know if there would be enough frosting for four layers plus the outside. In the future we will do the four layers as there was more then enough frosting. 

Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipe 

Ingredients

Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee (we used Hazelnut flavored coffee in this cake)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

We then made up Lindsays Nutella Icing Recipe. 

Nutella Icing

1 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening (we substituted butter for the shortening)

1 cup Nutella hazelnut spread

4-5 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tbsp milk or water 

 Make icing while cakes cool. Beat together butter and shortening until smooth.

 Add Nutella and mix until smooth.

 Slowly add 4 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

 Add 2-3 tbsp of milk or water and mix until smooth (we're going to try Hazelnut coffee next time)

 Add fifth cup of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

 Add more water or milk until the right consistency.

                                          Butter and Nutella

                                          Adding the powdered sugar

 Great consistency next time we want to try using Hazelnut coffee instead of the milk for the flavor.

                                      We chose to frost the sides of the cake to keep it fresh.

For only my second piping job it didn't look to bad. We created an edge of piping to hold the Ganache on the top of the cake. Note to self take one of those Wilton decorating classes at Micheals. 

Chocolate Ganache

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

We doubled this recipe and saved the remainder to use as an ice cream topping. 

This was the first time I've used Ganache on a cake but it won't be the last

OH MY Happy Birthday to me

This cake was so delicious, moist and rich we will definitely make it again. I would love even more of a Hazelnut flavor and next time I would apply some crushed Hazelnuts either in between layers on the top or the sides of the cake. Though Mark enjoyed his without ice cream I really needed it to mellow out the richness of this cake. 

Bon Appetite 

Happy 2016

With New Years eve approaching and my birthday shortly after Mark and I decided we would splurge and go out for New Years Eve. Something unusual as we normally stay home and make something we've been wanting to test out for a while. We first chose The Loft restaurant and made reservations. We then happened upon Chef Oakleys N.Y.E. menu and changed those reservations to Oakleys Bistro. 

We have been to Oakleys twice before for special occasions and have always enjoyed it. Chef Steven Oakley seems to always have unusual flavor combinations that are not found on most typical restaurant menus. See Oakleys NYE menu below to see what I mean. Take note of the upcharge cost for the shaved truffels and the foie gras as they ended up being more then the online menu prices. 

Oakleys Bistro New Years Eve Menu per their website

3 Course Price Fix Menu $75 per/person

Add Italian white shaved truffle to any dish $15.00 

First course

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Butternut Squash Soup zucchini & yellow squash relish, green apples, truffle whipped crème fraiche

Lobster Champagne Bisque lobster fried rice, meyer lemon cream, chive oil

Baby Iceberg smoked caesar dressing, cucumbers, tomato bacon relish, mozzarella, avocado, radish, pickled jalapeños

Bibb & Endive warm brie dressing, honey croissant croutons, raisins, butternut, chestnuts, red wine gastrique

Lobster Dumplings cornbread streusel, lobster aioli, andouille sausage vinaigrette, spinach, micro arugula

Ahi Tuna chilled, peppercorn crusted, apricot pickled ginger relish, wontons, avocado mousse, napa cabbage sprout slaw

Suckling Pig 6 hour braised, rosemary crepe, spinach, leeks, poached pears, moroccan bbq glaze, grilled scallions

Crab Cake sundried tomato cheddar arancini, pickled red onion, lemon cream, spicy old bay bread crumbs

Pork Belly shrimp & grits, pickled grapes, maple caramel glaze, toasted pecans

Foie Gras orange ginger waffle, espelette pepper jelly, foie gras gravy, braised kale, 8 $ supplement

Second course

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Chicken & Lobster

roasted butternut squash purée, smoked fingerling potatoes, braised kale, baby carrots, brown butter vanilla vinaigrette, living watercress

Scallops & Pork Cheeks

roasted tomato & goat cheese pearl pasta ragout, toasted hazelnuts, crispy leeks, saffron aioli, red radish & arugula salad

Mesquite Smoked Filet Mignon

roasted garlic potato purée, broccolini, portobello mushroom artichoke relish, black truffle jus, mustard crème fraiche, potato hay

Sea Bass & Short Rib

olive oil poached, short rib potato hash, baby bok choy, pickled mustard seeds, tomato relish, date chipotle coulis

Duck Breast & Duck Confit

cauliflower thyme purée, acorn squash quinoa, smoked pineapple, duck fat almond relish, mango gel, polenta crisp, leek ash, chive oil

Seven Vegetable Wellington

ratatouille vegetables, butternut squash risotto, pickled cauliflower, roasted golden & red beets, house

Third course

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“A Study of Chocolate, Citrus, and other stuff”

“Boston Cream Pie”

cocoa cheesecake

white chocolate tuile

vanilla cake

*

Carrot Cake “S’more”

graham cracker streusel

carrot ginger coulis

*

Lemon Lime Bar

spiced krispies

raspberry pudding

pink peppercorn meringue

*

Double Chocolate Brownie

cookie crumbs

cracker jacks

peanut butter fudge

We arrived on time for our 7pm reservation as did about 4-5 other tables. Strangely all these tables were seated pretty much next to each other instead of being spread out around the room that had empty tables. Not certain why they wouldn't seat tables slightly away from each other for a little bit more privacy. 

We were greeted in a timely manner by our waitress and asked about drinks. I asked if they had any wine pairings with the dinner and the answer was no, but she would be willing to offer any suggestions based upon our choices. Mark ordered a bottle of ST. Fancis Cabernet from Sonama Ca. that was on their clearance menu. It was OK but nothing to rave about. 

While waiting for the wine to arrive they brought out an Amuse Bouche that was a sweet fritter that could have used a little spicy heat to offset the sweetness IMO. Also it was not very warm which would be a common theme of the evening.

Our bottle of wine arrived and we placed our orders. Our server really did not have much personality and just seemed like she was there to do a job, very little small talk or smiles. She also was unfamiliar with how to pore wine as each time she pored it she would end up dribbling it on the table, why she didn't just keep the towel rapped around it is beyond me. Guess it didn't matter as there were no tablecloth's on the table. Speaking of which reminds me that they didn't have any fresh flowers on the table the only decorations on the table was 6 corks strategically glued together with a slit cut out on the top and a bay leaf in said slit. Ours was so old and dried that there was only about 1/3 of a bay leaf in it. I hear myself saying this and think how irrelevant it is, however, when you are paying over $75 person these are the little things that add up in the guest overall opinion of their experience.  

Mark chose Lobster Bisque for his first course and I chose the Foie Gras for an upcharge of 10$ not the 8$ listed on the online menu My Foie Gras was delicious but was a little cool and the Orange Ginger waffle was also delicious even if you couldn't taste the Orange or Ginger, I also really liked the pepper jelly. Marks bisque had the warm spicy flavor that you associate with a bisque but lacked much lobster. My tasting of his bisque was mainly that of white rice. Rice Really?

Our plates were removed and our entree's brought out shortly after. That was one positive, we didn't have to wait long for anything. My entree choice was the Sea Bass & Short Ribs. This dish had so many different flavors on it with most of them not working to enhance each other rather they seemed to be competing against each other. The Sea Bass and the date chipotle coulis on the bottom of the dish were great and paired wonderfully together but that is where it stopped. It was served on top a potato hash which did nothing for the fish but overpower it. The short ribs were succulent but with the richness of the fat of the meat it just did not pair well with the Sea Bass. Not saying there was fat on the Short Ribs that wasn't the case it's just that short ribs have a high fat content to begin with. If this dish had been all Sea Bass and no Short Ribs I would have enjoyed it more. 

Mark had the Mesquite Filet med rare with the white shaved truffles for an extra 18$, not the 15$ listed on the online menu. It came out cooked perfectly but was very small maybe 4 oz and you couldn't even see the steak with all the fried shoestring potatoes on top of it. He was mystified to have 2 different types of potatoes on the plate. The garlic mashed potatoes had been placed into a round mold prior to being put on the plate and were cold. He enjoyed the taste of the steak but he was very disheartened with how little of the shaved truffles he got for the extra $. Not certain how they achieved the mesquite flavor but I don't believe it was grilled over mesquite. When I tasted the steak I felt it had too much mesquite flavoring and was glad that I had not chosen it for my entree as I had considered it. I could not get a drink of wine fast enough to get the flavor out of my mouth. Yes I have had Mesquite steaks in the past but nothing as strong as this was. 

  

When we were finished with our entrees we decided against coffee with desert as at this point we weren't very confidant the extra cost would be worth it.  With the deserts you didn't choose just one you received a sampling of all 4. The deserts were the final disappointment. It was obvious that they had been placed on the plate quite sometime prior to us receiving them as they were dry. 

So there were things we did enjoy but our overall opinion was very low. We felt the value of what we received was not there. From the prices for the supplements/up-charge of foie gras and truffles being several dollars more then the online menu, to thinking our waitress could have cared more and barren tables (lack of fresh flowers at the minimum bouquet of herbs on the table).  We left hungry and walked away feeling like we were taken advantage of because of how much money we spent. I laugh when I think about the stories I've heard about people talking about getting a fancy dinner that just ended up being 2 green beans artfully arranged. We have never felt that away anywhere before this dinner. 

We are willing to pay $$$ for a great dining experience especially for special occasions, however, after last nights experience I don't believe we will be returning. It was such a poor value for our dollar. 

I wish I could have posted a more positive review but am just unable to. So disappointing. Even today upon reflecting on the experience we are full of regret for our choice of Oakleys Bistro.