Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (Cake)

After a brief hiatus, I'm back! Anyone notice how buying a house, moving, and getting settled in takes up a lot of time?

To kick off 2014 I bring you a very delicious, slightly pound cake-esqe banana bread. But let's back it up a minute because I need to warn you about something...

So last week we had freezing cold temperatures here in Maryland, which wreaked havoc on pipes all across the state. We unfortunately did not escape unscathed and had a lovely [not lovely] little [big, gushing water] flood in our basement. So how does any housewife deal with this type of drama? WINE.

So here I am slightly buzzed, looking at my VERY ripe bananas. Well now I must make banana bread. And so it begins...the dumping of random ingredients into bowls that I'll do my best to quantify below.

• 2 cups of AP flour spooned in so that it's not a packed 2 cups
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/2 cup or so of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl with a whisk until completely combined.

In a stand mixer add sugar and butter. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add your bananas, coconut oil, and yogurt until batter has formed. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until just moist.

On low speed mix in the chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto a baking rack to cool completely.

This little lovely loaf should come out golden and begging to be eaten when still warm. 

Happy New Year!

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If You Give a Lea a Cookie...

She will want a dozen more.

While I LOVE all desserts, I am a total cookie monster. When I first started baking in my teens, I had a few specialties. Hands down, my most popular was the chocolate chip cookies from The Joy of Cooking. My dad has a huge sweet tooth and still asks for them to this day.

This Mother's Day, I was in charge of the desserts. So I immediately thought...COOKIES! Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies and there are a trillion recipes out there, many claiming to be "the best." But who wants to keep making the same ones over and over and over? Not me. So instead, I made hazelnut toffee chocolate chip cookies.

Let's just say, the moment I ate the first one I turned blue and fuzzy. Thank goodness the recipe made about four dozen because no one wanted to stop eating these delicious morsels. My counter and kitchen table looked like a sea of cookies -- pre-scooped oven ready on sheets and freshly baked on cooling racks. Absolute heaven.

So here are my tips for this recipe:

• Since you need to put the oatmeal in a food processor, do the nuts in it too after you take the oatmeal out. Then do the toffee in there too. Make it easy on yourself -- no chopping by hand!
• Get a cookie scoop. It will be your best friend, just trust me. Plus each one will be the perfect size, making baking time easier.

General tips:

• Bring your ingredients to room temperature. You have probably heard this before, but it really is the number one rule for baking (with some exceptions). There is no way you can properly cream your butter and sugar without this step. If you are patient and do this, your cookies will be a lot softer and won't get stale as quickly.

C is for _____. Come on, go bake these already!

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Pepita Brittle

Need a brilliantly delicious dessert? Make this Chocolate Panna Cotta with Pepita Brittle from Food and Wine Magazine. I made this little gem for my mom's birthday last year and it was a hit!

The only change I made was to buy raw pepitas and roast them in butter...mmm butter!