Kitchen
Cloud Nine Cheesecake is so rich, smooth, and decadent that one bite will put you into a state of pure happiness. This cheesecake recipe is THE cheesecake recipe to beat. It will send your taste-buds straight to cloud nine. So dreamy, it’s Pure Perfection.
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Whenever I'm dying for some banana bread, we never have any over-ripe bananas. And whenever I have overripe bananas, life is unexpectedly busy and they end up getting thrown out to the compost bin. So when I make an actual loaf of banana bread, or a batch of banana muffins, its a beautiful thing. It means my kitchen stars have aligned, so to speak, and I have managed to have over-ripe bananas and banana bread desires simultaneously. Scratch that,"desires" is a poor word choice. I always have those. What it mean is—if I bake banana bread, then I have managed to have rotten bananas and baking ambitions simultaneously.
Here is my go-to banana bread recipe. It is super simple to make, and can be embellished however you like. Keep it plain, dress it up in crumb topping, or toss in some nuts, chips, or blueberries. Or, do all of the above! As with all banana bread, it's always better and more banana-y if you let it sit at least overnight. This recipe makes one loaf, but can easily be doubled to make two. If I was you, I would make two! Eat the first within a week, and wrap the second up tightly in plastic & foil and freeze for later. You can also be nice and bring your neighbor a loaf, but if you do that, then you won't get to enjoy it’s banana-bread-deliciousness. Your call, though!
And if you aren’t into making loaves, make muffins. In fact, we almost always makes cupcake-sized muffins with this recipe. One batch will make around 18 small muffins. Or 10-12 of the larger muffins.
3-4 over-ripe bananas (about 2 cups mashed banana)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
¼ cup salted butter, melted
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon + ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
⅓ cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt
Optional Add-ins:
1-1 ½ cups of chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or berries
Optional Crumb Topping:
¼ cup salted butter, melted
⅓ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
⅔ cup flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Make the Batter: Peel and mash over-ripe bananas. If you have an electric mixer, it will mash the bananas for you. To mashed bananas, add in sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Once combined, mix in melted butter. Then add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until thoroughly combined, then add in sour cream or plain yogurt. (Milk will even work, just not as good.)
Optional Add-Ins: Once your batter is ready, you can add in whatever extra goodies you’d like. Berries may suspend better if you dust them with a little flour before folding them in. We like doing 1 ½ cups of milk chocolate chips.
To make the Crumb Topping: If you would like, you can make a crumb topping by melting butter, then adding in brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix until combined, then add in flour. I like mixing with a fork and it creates a good crumb texture. Top your batter with crumb mixture, then bake.
Bake: Bake in 350 degree oven, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and edges are golden brown. Loaves will take 50-60 minutes, depending on your oven. Cupcake-sized muffins will take 12-15 minutes. Large muffins will take 20-25 minutes. Cook times for other cake pans will vary according to size.
Use overripe, freckled bananas for best results. If you have bananas that are getting ripe, but don't have time to make banana bread right away, peel them and freeze them until you do have time. When you are ready to make banana bread, thaw and proceed with mashing to make this bread.
Vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg add some flavor dimension to this bread batter, but can easily be omitted if you wish.
Baking time varies with different ovens and different baking vessels. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, it’s done. If it comes out with batter on it, let the bread bake for a few more minutes before checking again in this same manner. The edges will be slightly browned when the bread is finished.
For optimum crumb topping distribution, remove your bread after it has baked for a few minutes and is just starting to rise, and quickly add some more crumbs. This will prevent gaps in the crumb topping.
A couple years ago, I had one of those shiny glass cook top, electric stoves. I loved it because it was so incredibly easy to clean. Don't get me wrong, it looked awful when it was covered in food splatter, but in 30 seconds flat, I could have it wiped glistening clean. It was for that sole reason that I came to love that stove. No annoying scrubbing of drip pans or covering with foil. No bulky black, dirty grates to clean. No liquid dripping under the cooktop, haunting my kitchen with burnt smells for 2 weeks. Just black polished glass, that could easily be scrubbed clean and polished in less than a minute.
I miss that glass cook top. I have a gas stove now, and its a pain in the butt to clean. Maybe one of the most neglected areas of my kitchen. But I suppose it has a few redeeming qualities. Like getting screaming hot or better accommodating old, less-than-level pans. And the open flame is my favorite part--it is perfect for roasting peppers. Simply stab them with a fork, and toast them like a marshmallow over the open flame. Let them get nice and black, turning them on your makeshift spit. And then run them under cool water while peeling off the charred skin. Viola! Roasted red peppers, without having to turn on the hot broiler or fire up the grill. Once you have your roasted red peppers, make this dinner. It is flavorful and delicious and, most importantly, easy to make!
