Roasted Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a long time since I have made any cookies and wanted to get in the kitchen to try out a new recipe and use my new baking corner of the kitchen. I searched for recipes, then narrowed it down to an oatmeal cookie but had no idea there were so many varieties! I love oatmeal cookies but hate them the classic way as I am not a huge fan of raisins. I finally chose one and thought... hmm how can I change this a little bit? I've been wanting to try roasting bananas ever since I saw it on my friend Sam's blog. I thought it was a bit weird roasting them in the peel but the bananas come out of the peel smelling so sweet and the banana flavour is lot stronger. I can't wait to try out other recipes using a roasted banana. I think they worked really well with this recipe. These cookies were very easy to make and turned out great having a cake like texture, very moist and yummy. Try this recipe out or let me know if you think of any other roasted banana recipes or even other oatmeal cookie recipes.

Recipe
courtesy of AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 medium bananas, roasted & mashed
2 cups oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Roast the bananas first by following the instructions over at ehow.com, a couple hours before making these cookies.
2. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
3. In a large bowl, cream sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. 
4. Combine flour, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture. 
5. Stir in bananas, oats and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Immediately remove cookies to wirerack to cool. Makes about 48 cookies.

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Shane's Vegan Pancakes

This past Tuesday was Pancake Day in the UK and I was excited to make a vegan version with Shane. It wasn't until later in the day that I realized I had made plans with friends that night to go for a meal and catch a movie. I asked Shane if we could make them later in the week and the answer I got was "Nope, it's pancake day!". So, I missed out on trying these on actual pancake day but Shane made them again tonight with special toppings, one had peanut butter and bananas, and the other one had lots of berries. These pancakes are fluffy like the American ones and very yummy! I tried them on their own, just to make sure it wasn't the toppings that were making them so good but even with vegan butter these pancakes were tasty.  Try out the recipe below to make 4 large pancakes.

Recipe: courtesy of VeganPancakes Ingredients: 1 cup flour 2 tbsp baking powder 1 1/2 tbsp sugar 1/8 tsp salt 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 cup soy milk 1 tsp ground cinnamon, optional

Steps: Take a medium bowl and combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in the ground cinnamon if desired. Mix together well. Now add soy milk and oil to the above mixture. Mix well until the liquids are fully incorporated and the batter becomes smooth. Heat a large non-stick pan medium heat. Use a ladle and drop about 1/4 cup of batter at a time in the pan to form a pancake. When you see bubbles in the middle of the pancake, turn the pancake over with a spatula. Cook for a further minute or two and it should be done.

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Strawberry Lime Mojito Loaf Cake

I recently did a product review and I wanted to make a recipe that could use the product I was testing out.  Last month, I made a Clementine Basil Mojito Loaf Cake and wanted to try it  out with different flavours. I decided that I wanted to use strawberries and thought it would pair well with the mojito flavours. It tasted great!! I loved it and the smells whilst making it were really nice. I preferred this one to the citrus one I made last time, you could really taste all the flavours separately yet mixing altogether in your mouth. I can't wait for summer and mojito drinks in the sun, ready for warm weather now!

Recipe
Inspired by Barefoot Kitchen Witch
Ingredients:
Finely grated zest of 2 limes
10 mint leaves, finely chopped
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp strawberry juice concentrate
1 cup strawberries, chopped
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
For syrup:
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup rum
1 Tbsp strawberry juice concentrate
5 mint leaves, finely chopped

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Butter a 8" x 4" loaf pan and set aside. 
2. Combine lime zest, mint, and sugar in a bowl and rub with a back of a spoon to release oils in the lime zest and mint and set aside.
3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. 
4. Mix the butter into the sugar mixture on high speed until light and fluffy. 
5. Add 1/4 cup lime juice and 1tsp strawberry juice concentrate, followed by eggs. Beat until smooth. 
6. Alternating between the flour mixture and the milk, blend these into the mixture in the bowl. 
7. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan, place on middle rack in the oven and bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
8. While the loaf is baking, combine the syrup ingredients until sugar is completely dissolved. 
9. When the loaf comes out of the oven, pour the syrup evenly over the top. Let the loaf cool in the pan for an hour before removing.

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Joseph Joseph Compact Herb Chopper [Product Review]

I couldn't wait to try out this product. I first saw it a few years ago and always thought about buying it but never did for some reason. I wish I would have just bought it back then, I loved it! Joseph Joseph design quality products and this is another one of their great ideas. Here are the reasons why I loved it:

1. It has great design practicality, the chopper blades are stored in the chopping pod.

2. The shape of the chopping pod  ensures that whatever you are chopping stays on top of the pod. 

3. The blades are sharp and it feels comfortable in the hand whilst chopping away.

4. There are 4 non slip little rubber feet that keep the pod firmly in place even when chopping. 

5. I love the look of it, modern and easy to store.

I used the chopper for my latest recipe and it worked great for it. Can you guess what I made from the 2 ingredients above? Check back later in the week to find out. If you would like to buy one of these choppers for yourself or a gift for someone, head on over to www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk. They have a great range of Joseph Joseph products and lots of other goodies.

*This product review is brought to you by www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk, all opinions stated in this post are my own.*

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Cookie Dough Bites [vegan]

I love cookie dough and when I came across this one I couldn't wait to make it as my other half has recently become a vegan. You would never know these were vegan though unless I told you. I think people get hung up on the word vegan and think you are on some weird diet. No weird ingredients in this recipe. I already had all the ingredients for these simple to make bite size treats. So even though I am not a vegan, I am going to try out more vegan recipes. These were a good one to start out with and if you don't have vegan margarine use whatever margarine or butter you have and your favorite chocolate. It was very hard not to just eat this dough straight from the bowl. My brain is now thinking about different ways I could use the cookie dough... Cookie Dough Brownies? 


Recipe
Courtesy of Chef Chloe
Ingredients:
½ cup Vegan Margarine
¾ cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

¼ tsp Salt
1 tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp Water
1 ¼ cups Plain Flour
½ cup Mini Dark Chocolate Chips
340g (12oz) Dark Chocolate


Steps:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or tin foil.

2. Using a mixer, beat margarine, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, and water until combined. Add flour and beat until incorporated. Fold in mini chocolate chips. Cover dough and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls with the palms of your hands. Place on prepared baking sheets. Freeze for 15 minutes.
4. Melt the remaining chocolate in a double boiler or microwave. Let cool to room temperature. Remove one tray of cookie dough balls from the freezer. Dip each ball into the melted chocolate and remove using two forks. Place the coated balls back onto the baking sheet and transfer to the refrigerator. Repeat with the second tray of cookie dough balls. 
5. Chill until the chocolate is set, about 20 minutes. Store in refrigerator until serving. 
6. Enjoy!

The chocolate had a bit of frost on it in the pictures as I left them in the freezer overnight... once the chocolate thawed it looked darker like in the last picture. They were very yummy!

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Chocolate BlogHop: Red Velvet Brownies

I've been experimenting with brownies lately and couldn't wait to try making Red Velvet Brownies. My last attempt at making brownies didn't go so well and I really didn't want to mess with my original recipe this time around. This is my first attempt at making something "red velvet" and I wanted it to be similar to a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. My only problem was I had no idea how much red food coloring gel to use. I looked up tons of recipes but they were all different to mine and all used different amounts of color. I could have followed a different recipe but I wanted these to be based on my quick easy brownies. I feel I used enough red coloring gel but it didn't show though on the pictures unless I used the flash, see the picture after the jump to see the true redness of these red velvet brownies! These really did turn out great, I loved the cream cheese frosting on top of the brownies. These would make a great Valentine's Day treat.

February is #chocolatelove month!

Please join in on the #chocolatelove fun by linking up any chocolate recipe from the month of February 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #chocolatelove event! The twitter hashtag is #chocolatelove :). Make sure to check out all the co-hosts below.

Recipe 
Ingredients: 
Brownies:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp red food coloring gel
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Frosting:
inspired by the pink whisk
70g butter
200g cream cheese
400g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. 
3. In a small bowl, mix together cocoa powder, vanilla, and red food coloring gel. Press the gel into the cocoa until you can no longer see it and there are no big lumps. Mix thoroughly into the egg mixture.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.
6. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese until it is well combined. 
7. Add in the vanilla and 100g of icing sugar until fully mixed in. Keep adding 100g at a time until it is all added in. 
8. Place the frosting in the fridge until the brownies are completely cooled and ready to decorate. 

Co-hosts:

A Little Bit of Everything, Astig Vegan, Badger Girl Learns to Cook, Baker Street, Baking and Cooking A Tale of Two Loves, Baking Extravaganza, BigFatBaker, Bon a Croquer, CafeTerraBlog, Cake Duchess, Cakeballs Cookies and More, Cooking with Books, Creative Cooking Corner, Easily Good Eats, Elephant Eats, Georgie Cakes, Hobby and More, Java Cupcake, Kitchen Belleicious, Mike's Baking, Mis Pensamientos, No One Likes Crumbley Cookies, Oh Cake, Preheat the Oven, Rico sin Azucar, Savoring Every Bite, Simply Reem, Smart Food and Fit, Soni's Food for Thought, Sprint 2 the Table, Teaspoon of Spice, That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!, The Dusty Baker, The More than Occasional Baker, The Spicy RD, The Wimpy Vegetarian, Vegan Yak Attack!, Vegetarian Mamma, You Made That?

In this picture you can see the redness of these brownies. In person, they looked red and with the flash on it really showed, just wished it showed in the pictures above.

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