Eggless Lemon Bars

A few weeks ago, my cousin L and I had a friend over for dinner. I also had a single overripe banana sitting around waiting to be either used or dumped. Since I am no fan of dumping food, I looked for a way to use it up.

Banana bread requires at least 3 bananas, and so did my banana brownies. I then recalled a recipe I had stumbled upon for an eggless version of lemon bars, from Heart of a Baker. Not that I had ever tasted any classic lemon bars, I opted to give it a try.

First, I lined a small pan with my usual pâte brisée (shortcrust pastry), which I baked for about 10 minutes. Then I filled it with the lemon filling, and baked it some more. The result was a zingy, fresh bar that smelled like banana but tasted 100% lemon.

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LEMON BAR RECIPE

  Ingredients

• 1/4 recipe pâte brisée (shortcrust pastry)
• 1 ripe banana
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup sugar
• vanilla
• 1 tbs cornstarch
• 1 tbs flour
• icing sugar, for dusting

  Procedure

1. Prepare the crust in an 8 in. x 8 in. pan as per the shortcrust pastry recipe. Precook 10 mins.
2. In a bowl, mash the banana.
3. Add in the rest of the ingredients.
4. Pour into the crust.
5. Bake for 30 mins at 180˚C or until set.
6. Cool then refrigerate min. 1 hour.
7. Cut into squares or bars.
8. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Chocolate-Encased Mint Truffles

I made a batch of mint truffles at home to give to some family friends, and also to share with my family. My 5-year-old niece got involved, helping me break apart chocolate, and mixing in the cream.

For the family friends, I did not have time to coat them. In fact, I only barely managed to roll them in cocoa powder, they were so soft. My niece didn't like them coated, as the cocoa powder is pretty bitter, so she just ate the filling.

With the 2nd half of the batch, I tried to make them last a little longer, so I tried to temper chocolate for the first time. By the time my chocolate was tempered, the filling was no longer holding shape. By then, I was too tired to start over, so I just scooped portions of filling and dropped it into the chocolate. The whole thing was then laid on a sheet of baking paper. When all the filling was covered, I rolled them in cocoa powder.

Caramelized Apple Bread Pudding

I went home after my trip to the US, and my mom told me to do something with a bag of sliced bread that was sitting around. She feared that it would start molding in the near future. My dad then chipped in, saying a bunch of apples were sitting around. When there is dried bread or a lot of bread to use up, my only thought is something along the lines of a bread pudding.

Therefore, I made a thin custard with soy milk, sugar, some vanilla, and corn starch. Since the bread wasn't dried, I cut it up and dried it in a toaster oven. After that, I poured the custard on top of the bread and let it sit. In the meantime, I started working on a basic caramel.

From past experiments with caramel, I feared it would not turn out so well. I generally have a hard time with caramel. Yet for once, this one turned out beautifully. I did burn my finger when I accidentally touched it while it was in the pan (be careful, caramel is extremely hot!) After taking care of my burn, I poured it all into the bottom of a greased loaf pan. Then I cut some thin apple wedges and laid them on top of the hardened caramel.

I then poured about 1/3 of the bread mix, sprinkled some diced apples, and repeated until I reached the top. There was a bit of custard liquid and a end slice of bread left, so I layered that on the very top. The whole thing was baked until browned.

My parents didn't get home until late, so I left the whole bread pudding in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I plated it onto the biggest, long plate I could find, and still it could barely fit! I think overall it was a bit soft. Next time, I probably would add less custard to the bread. It most probably also would benefit from even more apples throughout the middle.

Mint Chocolate Truffles

I like watching cooking videos on Youtube, and I once went on a Gordon Ramsay spree. In a two-part video, he made mint chocolate truffles with his children. Those are what I tried to make for my friends and to give to the staff of a tea house where my friend works.

The video doesn't give the proportions of ingredients, so I got them off Good to Know. I did change a few proportions myself, but more on that in the recipe below. For a few ingredients (butter, sweeteners), I simply eyeballed the amount. I also used as much chocolate as I had, and scaled down the rest of the ingredients based on that.

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RECIPE

  Ingredients

• 500 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 500 mL heavy cream
• 1 small bunch fresh mint
• 100 g butter, softened
• honey/brown sugar, to taste
• unsweetened cocoa powder

  Procedure

1. Lightly bruise the bunch of mint to release its fragrance. Put it in a pot with the cream.
2. Heat over medium-low heat until bubbling.
3. In a heat-proof bowl, put chocolate and butter.
4. When the cream bubbles, mix in sweetener.
5. Strain hot cream into the chocolate. Mix until chocolate is melted and smooth.
6. Pour in a wide, dish. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate at least 1 hour.
7. When cold, take teaspoonfuls out, roll into balls, and drop in a plate of cocoa powder. Roll around to coat.
8. Eat within 3-4 days.

Banana Bread Muffins

More baking for friends! Decided to turn my usual banana bread into muffins this time! I poured each muffin tin about 3/4 full, then pushed a slice of banana on top, and sprinkled some brown sugar on top to caramelize. After baking them, I let them cool before they got eaten up.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I wanted to bake cookies for my friends. I found a load of oatmeal so I went for chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies (because I didn't have any cranberries on hand).

Recipe yonder this way~ Just sub chocolate chips instead of cranberries.

Chocolate Mudcake

My friend's birthday was last month, so when I moved in temporarily into the apartment she shares with a couple other friends, I brought a chocolate cake with me. I didn't have any cocoa powder on me, however, so I used a white chocolate mudcake recipe and subbed dark chocolate for the white chocolate.

Without my usual tools, I had to eyeball the cutting of the cake in half to put whipped cream between both halves.

Random decoration with chocolate chips and shaved choc chips.

Recipe similar to the white chocolate mudcake in this cake~

Brownie

For lunch with friends, I got a request for brownie. I made a huge pan, and topped it with a quick ganache of microwaved chocolate and cream. I originally wanted to pipe designs on the top of it with the ganache, but got lazy and ended up just wiping it back and forth as it poured out of the spoon.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

A meal between friends with a lot of different appetizers. I made this small dish of spinach artichoke dip to eat with chips or crackers.

I kind of eyeballed the quantities. Basically, it's just a package of cream cheese, strained pack of thawed frozen spinach, chopped up jar of artichoke hearts, some extra cream, and seasoning. Then I topped it with cheese and broiled it just to melt the cheese.

Vegan Strawberry and Chocolate Cake

For yet another hallway dinner, I opted to go through a really quick cake recipe. One of my hallway mates had recently decided to try veganism, so I went for this basic cake recipe I've been using. I added in some frozen strawberries I stewed and cooled into the batter,

I actually wanted to top it with a light ganache, but the only chocolate I had on hand contained milk. So I tried making some kind of vegan frosting by mixing random quantities of cocoa powder, icing sugar, and hot water until reaching a frosting consistency.

Unfortunately, I didn't think what would happen to the frosting after it cooled... it became pretty sticky but apparently people still liked it. Also unintended, the chocolate flavor came out so much stronger than the strawberry...