An Excess of Buttermilk, Bananas, and Chocolate Chips

I, like many other bakers, have a horrible habit of hoarding; whenever I walk past a grocery store, I feel the need to stock up on eggs, butter, flour, sugar, buttermilk, vanilla, etc. In fact, I just did it again yesterday, and upon doing a quick inventory check, I found that I have:

• 3 1/2 cartons of buttermilk
• 2 x 500g bags of all purpose flour
• 3 x 500g bags of self-raising flour
• 4 x 250g butter
• 3 x 8oz packets of cream cheese
• 2 x 1kg powdered sugar
• 3 x 500g caster sugar
• 6 x 30l bottles of vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cartons of 10 large eggs
• A drawer full of berries, oranges, lemons
• A hand of very freckly bananas
• 4 x 250g packets of raisins
• 3 x 11oz packets of butterscotch chips
• 2 x 11oz packets of bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3 x 500g tins of Van Houten cocoa powder
• and an assortment of leftovers... 

As you can imagine, along with the random baked goods and leftovers from dinners or lunches, I have very limited space in my fridge and pantry. My mum is threatening to throw my stuff out, and rightly so! Most of this stuff has a limited shelf-life, and quite a few of them are probably expiring by early next week. Though to be honest, the only thing I'm getting worked up over is the buttermilk as it's so bloody expensive here.

So this weekend, I'll be working on depleting my supply of goods. I'm thinking pancakes, bread, muffins, a chocolate cake, baked red snapper and tomato roasted cous cous!

Now, first up is yet another Banana Bread recipe! Except this time, I'm ditching the health and diet, and going for the good stuff. In an effort to whittle away at my pantry, I've whipped up a batch of Buttermilk Banana Chocolate Chip bread, recipe courtesy of Marc Matsumoto over at [No Recipe], with some teeny-tiny adjustments (think... brown... butter...).

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 113g butter, browned
• 2 large eggs, cold from the fridge
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 large freckly bananas
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, and butter and line a 9" loaf pan with parchment paper
2. Brown your butter, watch this poorly edited, yet incredibly soothing video on how to make positively voluptuous aromatic brown butter
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and chocolate chips
4. Pop the bananas and lemon juice in the food processor and whizz
5. Separate the eggs into small bowls then... 
6. Whisk the egg whites with the buttermilk and vanilla
7. Whisk the yolks with the brown butter
8. Then pour both egg mixtures into the banana mixture and whizz again
9. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just combined, then pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. When done, allow the bread to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack completely

You must resist the urge to dig into the completed product while it is still cooling in the pan. You must do this and remind yourself that completely cooled bread is always easier to get clean slices of. Also, you do not want a repeat of a previous brown butter banana strawberry bread incident where you had burnt your tongue. No, you do not.

If you try this recipe, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and isn't it just easy peasy lemon squeezy?

xx Nabs

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

On a very good day, it is an hour's commute for me to get to work from where I live so very firmly in the suburbs. On a very bad day, like yesterday, it may take two and a half hours of replaying every feel-good song I have on my iPod, and a full Starbucks tumblr for me to get to the office. That was my personal hell, shared with thousands of others, also stuck in similar vehicles on three lanes for over 50 kilometres.

Things I typically do when driving on my own include plotting what to bake and cook when I get home, mentally inventorying my pantry to see if I need to  make a stop at the grocery store (most times I don't need to, but do anyway), telling myself I need to improve my lighting for nighttime food photography, typing up future blog posts in my mind (such as this one), sing along to 90s hits, try to call into the radio stations, create elaborately heart-wrenching conversations in my mind with the guy I'm currently gaga over, call my family members and ask them what they're doing, read a chapter or two of whatever book I have handy (this week it's A Woman in Black, bless thin books), and trust me, the list goes on.

Forget driving and texting, I've got bigger things on my mind.

When stuck in situations like I was yesterday (read above; bad traffic, growing urban population, people suck, etc), I feel like I HAVE to bake or cook, or generally tinker in the kitchen. It's either that, or bug my siblings half to death with my rolling over them, begging for love and attention. Baking is my number one method of relieving stress and heartache, it's something bigger than me, you know? *sounds like a hippie* It's not about the eating of cookies, cupcakes or the such (usually, when I stress eat, it's pasta based), it's more of the method and being in this other world where I am the queen of the kitchen, and nobody can touch me.

Last night, I came home with a reusable bag of fresh ingredients, and still clad in my confining corporate clothes, I went to work on these happy little bundles of love: Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies. I just took a whack at it really, googled a recipe real quick and found this one on Baking Bites. Only thing is, I may have overdone it with the beating in of strawberries...

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp white clover honey
• 2 cups freeze-dried strawberries, chopped into 1cm cubes
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line your cookie trays.
2. Sift into a medium bowl and set aside
3. In a larger bowl, beat using your electric mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time 
4. Stir in vanilla and honey, beat until just incorporated 
5. Add the strawberries and chocolate chunks
6. Drop onto your baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden around the edges and the top springs back when pressed lightly with a finger. Cool for 5 minutes of the tray before removing onto a cooling rack

Guaranteed to have your entire house smelling of love and cookies! I love using freeze-dried strawberries as the flavour is so much stronger, and it's more sweet than tangy like fresh strawberries. I don't know, you can probably give fresh ones a shot if you've got plump and sweet ones in season. 

Much love, 

Nabs

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

As I was driving home from town earlier today, I came to the scary realization that one of my biggest fears is that I have a brain tumor... but I think it's just bad headaches. And then I end up in hospital where the doctor is nowhere near as good-looking as McDreamy because this is real life.

In conclusion, I watch far too much television, and I should also not drive without the radio on because then I start thinking up weird situations.

I'm a very imaginative person, some (my school teachers, for example) would say I'm a day-dreamer, and thus I tend to come up with far-fetched scenarios, or over-think things (very much in the way Taylor Swift over-thought things in the song Mine) and then before I know it... I'm in the car, sobbing by the side of the highway because I've scared myself with a possibility of a horrible life.

Over the years, I've always looked for distractions, things that could take me away from me so that I can just be, for a little while. In my teenage years, it was SnitchSeeker (it still is, sometimes heh) that provided that escapism, and now I find that baking shuts up my fears better than anything!

It's something to do with the precision of measuring out ingredients, the routine of mixing, melting, baking... the whir of the Kitchenaid works as well as any sleep machine, too, and then... there's the payoff. Chocolatey goodness, cookies, cupcakes, breads, muffins, pies, pastries, anything and everything that is good and guaranteed to cheer me up.

Today, I'm sharing a very simple recipe, a particular favourite of mine that has always been a hit with my baby brother, Adam. As a rather fussy customer, I find his to be one of the highest recommendations. He's also quite cruel, in the way that Simon Cowell can be, when he doesn't like something I've made. Enough rambling! On to the banana chocolate chip muffins!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup buttermilk (or milk)
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, line/grease your muffin tray
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
3. In a medium bowl, mix the banana mash, melted butter, egg and buttermilk
4. Pour the banana mix into the flour mix, and stir until just combined (I simply used a spatula for this entire recipe cos I didn't want to over-mix anything)
5. Stir in the chocolate chips
6. Bake for 30 mins, or until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean
7. Pop one into your mouth whole, mere minutes after it's out of the oven, then soldier on as tears stream down your face cos it's too damned hot, but sooooooo good!