Nigella's Chocolate Banana Muffins

I am notorius for buying a bunch of bananas and then forgetting they exist. I like to tell myself it's my subconscious requesting banana bread. I just happened to be flipping through my new Nigella Lawson book Kitchen which just so happens has a recipe for "Chocolate banana muffins".

The batter ends up looking like pudding. It's thick and sticky and VERY promising. 

Now I have to admit, I should have been tipped off by the fact that they're "muffins" and not "cupcakes" but I was expecting something slightly more decadent. These are light and taste only slightly of chocolate.The consistency is very nice and they're very moist. I'm definitely going to give these another go, but I think I'll add something to the batter like chocolate chips or dried cherries or both! For now I'm sprucing them up with a little mascarpone and sour cherry spread generously slathered on.

Merry Christmas to my tummy

A chocolate/chocolate cupcake from Quebrada

Tonight's Dinner Brought to You Courtesy of...

...a long ass day of work. Oddly enough, after a long day of chasing down cheese vendors and cutting big pieces of cheese into smaller pieces of cheese all I wanted for dinner was some crusty bread and a good piece of cheese. Maybe it was to remind myself of why I go through all the crap.

 Rogue River Blue is a raw milk blue cheese that uses the same strain of blue as Roquefort. But they wrap it in grape leaves and soak it in pear brandy. The outside is so sweet but there's this peppery thing from the grape leaves. It's also 38.99/lb so I can only buy it in tiny increments. But totally worth the splurge.

I've been wanting to try Pretty Things since we visited their brewery. Baby Tree is brewed with dried plums, I thought that would be an interesting pairing with the pear in the rogue river. It's not a super fruity flavor, which is good. I didn't want anything too sweet.

Playing with my new camera

 I got my new digital camera today. It actually has a "food" setting. So I decided to test it out while I made my dinner; Sloppy Joes and sweet potato fries.

 The recipe for the sloppy joes came from Everyday Food by Martha Stewart. It was yummy but could have used a bit more spice. I think my next batch might include a little chili powder.

The Baked brownie bribe

We're having a little turf war with the boys in beer/wine. So I thought I'd pacify them with chocolate.

Rainy Day Cooking

Penne with Gruyere cream sauce, bacon and caramelized onions.

Cranberry Ginger French Toast with Honey Marscapone

 It's a bit chilly out today so I wanted something hearty and maybe just a bit sweet. I start with a loaf of cranberry ginger bread (I get mine at Whole Foods) and then I mix equal parts egg and milk. It's better the more fat in the milk, actually half and half or even heavy cream work best, but I've used 2% and it turns out pretty damn good. I sprinkle in some cinamon and a little agave nectar for good measure.

 

Then I fry it up (in Kerrygold salted butter. I'm sure it's no better than any other salted butter but it has nostalgic appeal for me.)

 Then I bake it off in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes depending on how thick the bread slices are.

I'm not always in the mood for syrup, so a slightly sweetened marscapone is an awesome alternative. It's halfway between the sweetness of the syrup and the richness of butter. I just mixed about a tablespoon of honey into a quarter cup of marscapone.

I cannnot wait for christmas time. Panettone french toast is possibly my favorite breakfast item ever in the history of breakfast.