Banana Roll w/Cinnamon Cream Cheese

It’s even better than it sounds and it sounds pretty darn good, doesn’t it?!  :) 

I stumbled across this recipe while looking for another recipe.  (Wanna hear something  funny? I don’t remember what recipe I was originally looking for.   Must not have been a good one. )  The blog I found this on is called Pinch My Salt and the title for the blog post was, “Tired of Banana Bread?  Try this recipe!”  And so I ask you the same thing?  Tired of banana bread?  Make banana roll with cinnamon cream cheese frosting! :)

I followed the recipe exactly.  My only change was to spice up the filling by adding some cinnamon.  I did have a problem flipping the cake out onto my powdered sugar towel and later trying to roll it up.  It was very tender.  I probably should have cooked it for a minute more. 

Banana Roll, from Pinch My Salt

Cake:
Powdered sugar
3/4 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3 eggs
1 C sugar
2/3 C. mashed banana (2 medium bananas)

Filling:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 C. powdered sugar, sifted
6 T. butter, softened
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 C. powdered sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 15×10 inch jelly-roll pan (also known as half sheet pan); line with parchment or waxed paper. Grease and flour paper; set aside. Spread out a clean, thin dish towel on the counter (make sure the towel is larger than your jelly roll pan); sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar (this can be done using a mesh strainer).

2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda.

3. In a large bowl combine eggs and sugar; beat until thickened. Add banana; beat until well mixed.

4. Stir in flour mixture into egg mixture. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, easing it carefully to the corners with a spatula.

5. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 13 to 15 minutes or until center springs back when lightly touched.

6. Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan; invert cake onto the prepared towel. Remove pan; carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake in towel while hot, starting with 10-inch side. Cool completely on wire rack (will take at least an hour).

7. When the cake is almost completely cooled, make the filling: beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. (Add some cinnamon to taste to kick it up!)

8. When cake has cooled completely, unroll and spread with filling (or your favorite cream cheese frosting) then re-roll cake. Wrap rolled cake in plastic wrap then refrigerate at least one hour (overnight is best).

9. When ready to serve, unwrap cake and place on a platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired (sift the sugar through a small mesh strainer for a nice presentation). Cut into slices.

Cinnamon Chip Banana Coffee Cake

This baby got gobbled up the very night I made it.  It didn’t even get a chance to come to room temperature before the kiddos and several of their friends came running to the kitchen to see if it was done.  I did manage to save a piece to photograph the next day so you could see its lovely inside.  I barely managed. I had to boxed it up, tape a note to the top, and hide it. :)

I have Monica to thank for emailing  me the recipe along with a request that I make it and send her some.  At my house in order to get a piece of anything you have to be there when it’s being served or run the risk of losing out.  Sorry, Monica.  The piece I saved was eaten with breakfast by Devon who called “dibs” on it the night before.

Cinnamon Chip Banana Coffee Cake, adapted from Lovin’ From the Oven

• 1 cup cinnamon (or butterscotch or chocolate) chips
• 2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, I left out as I used cinnamon chips

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg
• about 4 mashed bananas, I used 3 but would have used a 4th if I had it.
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Butter and flour 8x8x2-inch baking pan. Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in small bowl until well blended; set streusel aside.
3. Mix the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Set aside.
4. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, room temperature butter, and egg in a separate bowl until fluffy. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk.
5. Add dry ingredients and blend well.
6. Spread half of batter in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel.
7. Bake coffee cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool coffee cake in pan on rack.

Printable Recipe

Devon topped his warm cake with vanilla ice cream.  I like how he thinks. :) 

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Thanks for all your kind words on my new “look” and a special thank you to Monica who made my new header!

Calling All Banana Lovers!

Oh, my goodness have I got a banana recipe for you!  Banana beignets.  Ever heard of them?  I hadn’t until  Maranda at Jolts & Jollies made them and then I couldn’t stop thinking about them.  I never blog about a recipe the same day I make  it but these, oh, I couldn’t keep these from you a moment longer. I also wanna apologize for the less than stellar photos but I had the kids gathered around me wanting to eat them hot and I’m still trying to figure out my camera’s manual setting.

A coupla notes about the recipe.  Besides being insanely delicious(the beignets)  the batter is super easy to make.  BUT I’m not gonna lie, I needed another pair of hands once I started frying. You could go it alone but I found things went smoother once I called in reinforcements.  Another thing, your first coupla beignets aren’t going to look like much but that’s okay ‘cause they’re gonna taste just as good as the pretty ones.  The pretty ones?  Those will be the last few batches you make as you get the hang of things.  The recipe called for rolling the beignets in cinnamon sugar but  I only did half of them and used powdered sugar on the other half.  (The kids were all over the powdered sugar ones.)  Almost done and I’ll let you can get to makin’ these for yourself.  The recipe calls for banana extract.  If you have it, use it and really kick up the banana goodness!  :)

Click here for a printable recipe.

Puff Pastry

It’s that time of the month when Michelle, Monica, and I share with you what our baking challenge was for the prior month.  If you hadn’t picked up on it.  We’ve been taking a little longer than a month to bake and blog about our experiences.  Last month’s challenge was chosen by yours truly and I’m certain you’ve figured out by my post’s title that it was puff pastry, homemade puff pastry:)

This is another example of how awesome our little CB group has been for me!  On my own I probably would have never given puff pastry a try but with the pushing encouragement of Monica & Michelle I can scratch if off my list .   I’m hoping through our post we are encouraging you to get out of your comfort zone and give these recipes a chance.  None of them have actually been difficult but for some reason they seem like it thus putting off a lot of bakers.  If I haven’t said it before or made it clear I’d be happy to answer any questions you have and I’d be willing to bet that Monica and Michelle would as well! 

I’m not sure I was 100% successful.  My puff pastry didn’t seem to puff as much as I thought it should or would.  Still, it tasted pretty good. 

The puff pastry recipe makes two 11x15 inch rectangles; with mine I made two mini-ish  banana tarts with salted caramel and palmiers.  Unfortunately, I goofed with the tarts.  The recipe called for bananas that were not overly ripe.  I guess mine weren’t ripe at all because they got harder after they were baked, not warm and gooey.  The salted caramel and some vanilla ice cream saved the tarts from being inedible but they were still a huge disappointment.   The second recipe I tried was, Ina’s palmiers.  These turned out more like I had hoped and were very good.  Before I forget, I want to make it clear that I messed up the banana tart.  It wasn’t the recipe and I will be making it again. I’ve given you the links to the recipes I used but please note I used Smitten Kitchen’s salted caramel recipe for the banana tart and I added a tablespoon of cinnamon to 1 cup of sugar for the palmiers.

Homemade Puff Pastry
from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet
4 1/2 sticks (18 oz) cold unsalted butter
3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 oz) very cold water
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Cut the butter into 3/4-inch cubes.  Transfer the cubes to the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add the flour and salt to the bowl also and use your hands to mix briefly, until the butter is coated with flour.  Put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.  Combine the water and vinegar in a measuring cup and chill this mixture in the fridge for 20 minutes as well.

After 20 minutes, remove the mixer bowl from the fridge and attach to a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.  You want the butter to break into smaller pieces of varying sizes (the largest about 1/2-inch square); be careful, however, not to over-mix - if the butter is too small, it will be unable to form flaky layers in your puff pastry.
With the mixer still on low speed, slowly add the water/vinegar mixture to the bowl, drizzling in different points around the bowl.  When the dough begins to come together in large chunks (within about 10 seconds), stop the mixer.  The dough will be slightly moist but it will not look smooth.  Turn the contents of the bowl onto a floured work surface.

Use your hands to shape the dough into a rough rectangle about 6 x 8 inches and 1 1/2 inches thick.  Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 14 x 16-inch rectangle.  You can flour the dough a bit if necessary, but brush the excess flour away once you've finished rolling the dough out.  Fold the dough into thirds like a letter.   Start with a narrower side facing you and begin by folding the bottom third up.  Next, fold the top third down to complete the "turn."

After you complete the first turn, roll your rolling pin across the top of the dough gently 1 or 2 times, just to fuse the dough.  Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  You'll want to repeat this process 2 more times - to create three turns total.  Continue to chill the dough for 30 minutes between turns.  Once you've completed all 3 turns, chill the dough (wrapped in plastic wrap) for at least 1 hour before using.

The dough can be refrigerated for 2 days or frozen (double-wrapped in plastic wrap) for 4-6 weeks.  Thaw frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator. 
Makes 2 1/4 pounds of dough

Don’t forget to check out Monica and Michelle’s puff pastries!