Dairy-Free Banana Bread

That moment when you took too long to eat those bananas, your grocery budget is just too tight, and you feel compelled to make something of those over-ripe browning bananas in your fruit bowl. Enter banana bread! How does one make banana bread without butter? Well, I found out. It came out deliciously moist, not too sweet, and a perfectly crusty crust.

 Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oil (I used canola)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg (lets be honest, I prefer local farm eggs!)
• 1 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 mashed bananas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In mixer, add oils, sugar, and egg. Blend until mixed.
3. Meanwhile, mix dry ingredients in small bowl and mash bananas.
4. Add dry ingredients to mixer bowl and blend until mixed.
5. Add bananas, blend until mixed.
6. Pour in greased* baking loaf and bake for 1hr 10 min or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Enjoy warm!

*I found a dairy/soy free cooking spray at Whole Foods that I now use to grease my cooking pans: Spectrum brand "Butter It Up!" Natural flavor spray oil. Ingredients: canola oil, sunflower oil, natural non-dairy flavor, annatto extract for color.

Cupcakes: His and Hers

This winter, my lovely friends Patrick and Marie tied the knot. They have been fans of my cupcakes over the years and I was thrilled to create some treats for their rehearsal dinner that truly reflected the tastes of the bride and groom.

For the groom: Diet Coke Cupcakes

For the Bride: Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

The funny story is that I had to create my own Diet Coke Cupcake recipe as none exist that I could find. There was also a temporary shortage of strawberries the week I made them, and I think I obtained the last strawberries in Charlottesville that night. Never a dull moment in the baking world! It was a treat to get some creative juices flowing and I think they came out great!
A match made in heaven!




Here's a look at the process:

Blast From Past: Watermelon Chiffon Pie

We had half a watermelon left over in the fridge. Wasted produce really irks me. This is where I get half my motivation to make delicious pie! Waste not, want not ;)

I came across a picture of this amazing pie and it was too gorgeous, too intriguing not to try. Warning: it is not for the faint of heart. It takes time, many bowls, and mad whipping skills! I found the recipe here, and it is pretty identical to the one in my amazing pie book too. This pic is from the source website:

Ingredients:

* 1 graham cracker crumb crust (Store bought or homemade)

Filling

* 6 cups watermelon (seeds are fine)
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin (aka, two envelopes)
* 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice or 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
* 1 cup cold heavy cream or 1 cup whipping cream
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Garnish

* confectioners' sugar, to dust
* whipped cream (homemade or store bought)

Directions:

1. Place a medium sized bowl and a set of beaters in the refrigerator to chill.
2. Bake pie crust according to directions and let cool; Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Combine the watermelon and granulated sugar in a very large bowl; using a potato masher, mash until the mixture is quite liquid; set aside for 15 minutes.

4. After 15 minutes, drain the mixture through a strainer, reserving almost 2 ¾ cups of the watermelon juice and then discard pulp and seeds.

5. Put ¼ cup of the juice in a medium size bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it; set aside for 3 to 4 minutes to dissolve.
6. Heat ½ cup of the juice in a small saucepan over medium heat (or in the microwave) to a near boil; whisk the hot juice into the dissolved gelatin.
7. Pour the remaining 2 cups watermelon juice into a large bowl an stir in the gelatin-watermelon juice mixture; stir in the lime juice; place in refrigerator.
8. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites in a medium size bowl until stiff peaks form; set aside; clean and dry beaters;
9. Using the chilled medium-size bowl and chilled beaters, beat the heavy cream with the mixer until it holds soft peaks; add the confectioners? sugar and beat until smooth and stiff but not grainy; refrigerate.
10. When the watermelon juice mixture starts to firm up, add about one-quarter of the whipped cream and beat with the electric mixer until smooth.

11. Add the beaten egg whites and remaining whipped cream and gently fold them in with a large rubber spatula; if necessary, use a whisk-very briefly-to smooth the mixture and break up any large globs of whites or whipped cream.
12. Pour the filling into the cooled pie shell; shake to settle; cover with loosely tented aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
13. To serve, garnish each slice with a dusting of confectioners sugar, and then add a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.

Back In the Saddle: Dairy/Soy-Free

I kind of fell off the face of the earth for awhile there! Mothering a toddler can do that to you. Since I last wrote, we added another bundle to our family: Eloise Anne! She is cute as can be with chubby cheeks made for endless kisses. She has also put me through the ringer with her dairy and soy allergies and subsequent reflux. Being a nursing mother, it means I am now too dairy and soy-free. What is a baker to do when she kisses goodbye her precious butter and cream? 6 months later, I am finally through the mourning stages and here we are at acceptance. Time to change my game. And permanently change it I will, as some of my very own GI issues have  been healed with my new diet. My eyes have been opened to a whole  new culture of nutritional wellness and food alternatives. Dare I say I've made friends with the Vegans as their baked goods are the only ones to be found without dairy?! There is little out there on my particular diet, as I still love me some eggs and meat, so I've decided to share my adventures here in hopes of helping others with dairy allergies and sweet nursing babies with intolerances. Hope you enjoy this adventure with me!

Photo credit: Lucy O Photo

Here are a few tidbits I've learned:

Most babies will outgrow their dairy allergy, but this can take up to 3 years.
A strong percentage of babies allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy.
There are very few formula options for babies such as mine, and they all taste horrible.
Breastfeeding these babies is the best option, but means mom also too embraces a dairy and soy-free diet.
Babies are actually sensitive to the protein in milk, as opposed to lactose, and this can take 1-3 weeks to clear from mom and baby's system once consumed.

Dairy can come under many other names: Go Dairy Free has a great reference page for this.
Dr. Sears has a great description on infant dairy allergy.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Let's take a trip back in time to early summer strawberry season. Nothing I love more than picking my own berries. This year I was spoiled and 2 sets of friends brought home some hand-picked strawberries for me. We had also received some rhubarb in our farm share and I looked into making the only thing I knew how with these two amazing ingredients: PIE! They are both in season at the same time and a match made in heaven!


I have a book simply named "Pie" by Ken Haedrich. He had a great recipe for this pie, and little adaptation was needed! I use the steps to be as time efficient as possible. I refuse to let parenting come in the way of delicious fresh baked treats!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie

Crust: Mom's of babies have to cheat so I used Harris Teeter brand crusts--just soften, unroll, and go. Or you can make homemade crust and freeze until ready for use to save time too.

Prepare in advance, or while fruit portion is baking:

Cornmeal Crumb Topping:

3/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

Combine dry ingredients in food processor to mix.


Then add butter and pulse until it resembles fine crumbs. You can then use fingers to make them into larger, buttery crumbs. Refrigerate until ready for use.

Filling:

3 cups rhubarb sliced 1/2 inch thick
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
grated zest of that lemon
4 cups strawberries sliced as appropriate to size
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare your rhubarb, lemon.


Combine rhubarb, sugar, lemon juice, and zest in large bowl. Toss well then set aside 10 min.

This is when I cut my strawberries and prepared my pie shell (my timing is usually limited to my 8 month old's nap...must be efficient!)

After 10 min add the strawberries and tapioca to the bowl and toss well.


Scrape the filling into pie shell. Place pie in center of oven and heat for 30 min.


Remove from oven, decrease temperature to 375 degrees, and add crumb topping. I recommend covering the crust with something like this to prevent burning. You may also want to put a pan under the pie for bubbling. I used a little ceramic bird shared vent to help with this too.

Bake until juices bubble thickly around edge, about 30 to 40 min. Cool before serving.

Delicious.

Enjoy!

4th of July Cupcakes

The 4th of July makes me crave blueberries, strawberries, and cherries each year. We were invited to a celebratory potluck, which gave me a great excuse to get creative in the kitchen. My husband was going out to the local farmer's market and I instructed him to bring me home some fresh fruit! He came back with these:

PERFECT.

I had just come across an amazing cupcake blog and loved these cherry topped cupcakes. I decided that rather than as a topping, I wanted to make a fresh creamy cherry filling. But how? The only recipes I could find involved turning the cherries into more of a jam, but for some reason that idea was grossing me out. I had just made a decadent chocolate Bavarian creme filling for some mint cupcakes and wanted to do my own cherry take on it. Here goes...

Cherry-Cream Cupcake Filling

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
handful of cherries, pitted

1. Place water and sugar in a saucepan on med heat and stir until dissolved.
2. Once dissolved remove from heat and pour into another bowl. Place that bowl in a larger bowl full of ice and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Using food processor, puree the cherries then strain. Keep the pulp!
4. Using a mixer and the whip attachment, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form (do not over beat until they get stiff! I did this the first time and had to start over, le sigh)
5. Place mixer on med speed and add the water mixture. Beat on high until firm peaks form.
6. Fold in the cherry puree.
7. Refrigerate until ready for use!

Cherry Puree

Then I made the cupcakes, Devil's Food Duncan Hines out of the box to be easy. You can't find a better chocolate cake even from scratch...but I am on the hunt to eventually outdo it!

When you are a mother, especially to a 9 mo old, you have to use your time wisely. When my cupcakes bake, that is when I make my icing. It's become a local favorite, but as it turns out it is also the recipe that Magnolia's Bakery in NYC uses. No wonder it is so good!

Buttercream Icing

2 sticks butter room temp
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla (I use bourbon vanilla bean paste)
1 bag of powdered sugar (6-8 cups)

Whip the butter then add milk, vanilla, and half the powdered sugar. Scrape the bowl. Slowly add the remaining sugar until you reach desired consistency. Periodically mix on high to get it nice and icing like! I use all the sugar b/c I like my icing to hold up its shape as I prefer the star tip for decorating.

Next you have to let the cupcakes cool. A great time to fill your icing bags and prep for decoration. Did I mention I made my fondant icing stars the night before? I keep a block of white fondant in my fridge and mix bits of it to the color I desire. (Using gel color, even though it makes the fondant a little soft the color can't be beat!)


Once the cupcakes are nice and cool you can fill them with the cream! Just puncture the middle and squeeze the desired amount. I use a pastry filling tip like this. I only filled half of them, because I was unsure how the cream would hold up but it did quite well! (Refrigerate the cupcakes until ready for consumption)

After filling you can ice! I added patriotic stars and white sparkling sugar as decorations. Happy 4th!!!

Cupcake Demo

My good friends Chris and Clare are getting married this fall! They might possibly be one of the cutest couples in the world. So cute in fact that I agreed to make the cupcakes for their wedding. After discussing design, colors, and flavors, I came up with many different options for them to choose from. My apologies for the image quality, all I had was my cell phone! Can you guess which one they chose? (You will have to wait until the wedding to see!) What is your favorite?



The icing is vanilla bean butter cream. I dyed some of it apple green and dark turquoise using gel dye. The decorations are gum paste roses and rolled and dyed fondant, cutout and stamped with an "S" for Short! Dusting glitter powder was the final touch!

And luckily for my coworkers, I had extra icing and cakes, so I made some cupcakes to celebrate summer: