The combination of banana and coconut just screams of summer, however, this combo is probably best in a cake rather than a drink. I was never a big fan of pineapple upside down cake, but replacing the pineapple with bananas just seemed right. I made a few adjustments to the traditional recipe and made this cake lighter and the crumble a little less sweet.

Sliced and ready for dessert

One tip is to use bananas that are not too ripe. Keep the old ripened bananas for the bread not this cake. Bananas are delicate and since you need to lightly cook them in the crumble before baking the cake they can easily become softened if they are old and too ripe.

Recipe

Cake
4 egg whites
110 grams sugar
4 egg yolks
20 grams almond flour
20 grams powdered sugar
90 grams flour
15 grams butter (melted)

Quick to make, easy to eat

I am running out of cookie ideas so will have to dig deeper for inspiration or revert back to baking cakes. We are getting used to having a container of cookies readily available for munching in the house which is cancelling out the steps I track each day. Oh well, these aren't usual times.

This is another quick recipe to put together. It should take about 20 minutes preparation and then about 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking. Double the recipe if you want a larger batch but with only two people eating the results this size is best for my home. Recipe should make about 25 small cookies.

Recipe:

85 grams all purpose flour
10 grams cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
55 grams butter (room temperature)
100 grams brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
145 grams chocolate (sweet chocolate or about 66% or less)

Please feel free to use a stand mixer if you have one for this recipe, but this recipe does not use one.

1. In medium size bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
2. In a small bowl, melt the chocolate over hot simmering water. When melted, remove from the heat and let cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the butter until soft and then add the brown sugar and whisk together. Then add the add the egg and mix well. Add the vanilla. Whisk in the chocolate in portions and mix well.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture in portions and use a spatula to mix thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes so the dough will be easier to handle.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Use a small spoon to spoon out the dough and lightly roll into round pieces about 20 grams each. I prefer small size cookies, but up to you on this point. Place the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat. The cookies will spread when baked so leave room in between.
6. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes and let cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. Enjoy!

During my stay at home days, I have been learning how to make sourdough starter and sourdough bread. Once the sourdough starter is ready though, it should be used and fed everyday. This is fine if you are plan to bake bread everyday, but I don't need that much bread in the house on a regular basis, so I looked for other ways to use the bread starter.

Lots of banana goodness in this loaf

Of course, a short search on the Internet produced many recipes that use sourdough starter in other baked goods than just bread. My favorite site for all things sourdough is The Perfect Loaf, this site is really a labor of love and painstakingly provides thorough and clear instructions for starting on the sourdough road. The  below recipe is from the Perfect Loaf but I have decreased the original recipe in half since I needed a smaller size bread. I also added a few walnuts and a banana on top.

Recipe
120 grams all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
50 grams chopped walnuts
65 grams butter (room temperature)
50 grams brown sugar
1 egg
65 grams sourdough starter
1 tablespoon honey
2 medium size bananas (mash with a fork)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 banana for topping before baking

1. You can use a stand mixer or make by hand. This recipe description does not use a stand mixer. Prepare a loaf pan by lightly buttering and dusting with flour.
2. In a small bowl, measure together the flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the butter then add the brown sugar and mix. Next add the egg and mix together. Add the ingredients sequentially, but complete mixing before adding the next. Continuing mixing in the sourdough starter, honey, mashed bananas, olive oil, vanilla, flour and nuts.
4. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Slice a banana lengthwise and place on top before baking.
5. Bake in a preheated 180 degrees Celsius oven, for 35 - 40 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes before removing from the baking tin.

Sliced and ready for breakfast

Pour yourself a cup of coffee & enjoy an afternoon break with cookies

More cookie recipes. Yes, we need more cookies for this stressful time. I am baking small batches of cookies to enjoy a variety rather than having lots of the same type. Need to start planning ahead for the next flavor now that I have my craving for molasses satisfied.

This recipe can be easily put together in about 20 minutes once the butter is softened. If you have some helpers around the house then even faster.  Enjoy and see you for the next cookie recipe.

Recipe (makes about 20 cookies)

Hope everyone has friends or acquaintances to help provide baking inspiration during quarantine. Luckily, Facebook can enable and help us create new contacts. Nothing like a group bake to add a little excitement to the quarantine routine.


Among my FB friends, the baking challenge chosen was a Polish Chalka. This is a braided egg bread with raisins, if you choose, and is similar to a Jewish challah. The recipe was an inspiration from the Spruce Eats so please check the site for her full recipe, tips and tricks. I missed to bake bread at Easter and this satisfied my craving.

The original recipe produced a large loaf of bread, and with only two people in my home, I decided to reduce the portions. Also, if you don't have a stand mixer handling a large amount of dough by hand is challenging.

The below version is for a smaller bread but should be plenty for 4 - 5 people. I made a few tweaks, especially reducing the sugar.

Recipe
85 grams butter (room temperature)
100 grams sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
170 grams milk
6 grams instant dry yeast
1 egg (room temperature)
415 grams all purpose flour
80 grams raisins (optional)

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour and yeast.
2. In a saucepan, heat the milk to just boiling then pour into a bowl and cool lightly. Add the butter, sugar, egg and salt and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the milk mixture in 4 - 5 portions to the flour so that it is easier to mix especially if you are it doing by hand. Use a spatula or bench scraper to mix the dough. If you have a stand mixer then you can use it with a dough hook to mix everything.
4. Once thoroughly mixed, put on a flat board and knead the dough until smooth. The dough should be soft and supple. If it feels tough, spray lightly with water and knead until it begins to feel soft. Roll into a ball and let sit under a bowl for about 10 minutes.
5. After the dough rests under the bowl, add the raisins and mix in thoroughly. Roll into a ball and put in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm space.
6. After the rise, divide into 3 equal pieces and shape into 3 logs about 35 cm long.  Braid the logs together and place on a baking sheet. Lightly brush with egg wash.
7. Let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes. Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes. If the bread starts to brown too quickly then cover with foil until baking is finished.
8. Cool thoroughly before cutting.

My braid was quite tight so was careful to bake thoroughly

Bread with jam is a great breakfast

We are still at home and observing social distancing. Japan has not implemented the drastic lockdown rules as other countries have so we are waiting to see how that develops and in the meantime I am still baking. To compensate for all of the desserts, I bought a steps tracker to check steps and distance during the morning neighborhood walks.

New plates look good with the custard pie

While browsing recipes, the custard pie jumped out at me. I have never made one of these and definitely haven't eaten one for a long time as well. So, why not.

Preparation is only about 15 minutes (add another 20 minutes if you make your own crust). Feel free to use a ready made crust if you really want to keep things simple. I think the custard recipe can be very forgiving if you need to either increase or decrease to fit your pie pan. I saw some recipes that included fresh cream in addition to the milk so depending on what is in your refrigerator feel free to experiment.

Pie Crust Recipe (fits 18 cm pie pan)

100 grams cold butter
1/2 egg
1/4 teaspoon vinegar (such as apple vinegar)
175 grams flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Egg white from one egg (use the yolk in the custard below)

6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for about 10 minutes.


Custard Pie

3 eggs plus the egg yolk from above
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Nutmeg powder as needed

1. In a large bowl mix the eggs, egg yolk, sugar, salt & vanilla extract with a small whisk until well mixed. Strain this through a sieve which will remove any egg parts which were not mixed.
2. Pour into the warm baked pie shell and sprinkle with nutmeg powder and continue to bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes depending on your oven.

I had extra batter and baked in small milk bottles

Full pie baked and ready to serve

Coffee & Cookies. Life is good.

Starting week four of working from home so having a few snacks around the house is a good thing -- or may be not. After watching the daily news though, gaining a few kilos is the least of the problems for most people right now.

It is the beginning of April and Easter is in another week. I think we will be hunting eggs in our homes or yards with immediate family instead of going to church or having get togethers in restaurants. The only good news is the warmer weather and all of the blossoms are blooming. My neighborhood is an array of colors as the various cherry blossom trees, tulips and other flowers bloom.

This recipe is quite easy, should be about 20 minutes at the most to put together.

Recipe
(makes approximately 20 small cookies)

150 grams all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
100 grams creamy peanut butter
75 grams butter (room temperature)
30 grams granular sugar
30 grams brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
2. In another large bowl, soften the butter with a small whisk then add the sugars and mix thoroughly. Next add the egg in portions and continue mix. Add the peanut butter in several portions & mix. Lastly, add the vanilla.
3. Use a spatula and mix in the flour in several portions. While you clean up, let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 20 - 30 minutes.
4. Use a spoon and divide the dough into about 20 - 25 grams pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten with a fork to make a nice hatch design.
5. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for about 15 - 18 minutes. 

I live outside Tokyo and technically we are not in a lock down, yet, but I have been in a work-from-home situation since mid-March. Japan has been aware of the virus since February due to close proximity to China so this is an ongoing story. During this stay at home time,  I've tried to show some constraint and only baked what could be reasonably consumed over a couple of days.

Instead of making fancy and fussy cakes, I just feel like a simple, quick and easy snack. With an easy recipe, I've been able to prepare dinner and make dessert at the same time. First was chocolate chip cookies, then oatmeal cookies and lastly this delicious banana bread.

Get the coffee ready

This simple recipe was borrowed from Sallysbakingaddiction and I added a few chocolate chips and an extra banana on top for decoration. I reduced the brown sugar a bit since the ripe bananas provide enough sweetness and the vanilla really draws out the banana flavor.

Recipe
(Fits 2 baking pans)

250 grams all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
115 grams butter (room temperature)
120 grams brown sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
80 grams plain yogurt
3 ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
40 grams chopped walnuts
25 grams chocolate chips

1. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt & cinnamon powder.
2. In a small bowl, use a fork to mash 2 bananas.
3. In another larger bowl, use a small whisk to mix the softened butter until smooth. Next add the brown sugar and mix thoroughly. Add each egg separately and mix gently until each egg is incorporated thoroughly. Lastly, add the yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla extract.
4. Add the flour mixture in portions to the butter mixture. Use can use a spatula or small whisk to mix. Lastly, add the nuts and chocolate chips.
5. Lightly butter and flour the baking tins and then divide the batter evenly between the two tins. Peel and slice one banana lengthwise and put a slice on top of each tin in the middle of the batter.
6. Preheat the oven and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 35 - 40 minutes depending on your oven.
 7. After baking, cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely.

Creamy chocolate mousse with raspberry gelatin

Winter is my season of choice for baking with chocolate. My house is not well insulated so it is chilly even with the heat on so basically a good place to work with chocolate.

In this recipe you need to combine the warm chocolate with the warm anglais - keeping both at about the same temperature - and the room temperature can effect how these two mix together.

This recipe does have several steps to it but you can make it a day ahead if you want to have it for a special dinner.

I used an 18 cm x 6 cm baking ring to make this cake.

Cake

I visited Iceland in 2019 and while going through the Copenhagen airport I found a wonderful cookbook about Scandinavia and Icelandic desserts. The cookbook weighed at least 2 kilos (about 3 pounds) and luckily I was on my way home so I didn't have to carry it around too much.

Unfortunately I did not eat this cake while I was in Iceland but after seeing the recipe in the cookbook, I wanted to try it. I think this is a fun recipe to make with kids since you can't get into too much trouble. Basically, this cake is made of several layers with jam between each layer. Simplicity at its finest.

I had extra dough after lots of baking so I froze it and later used it for a pie dough and it turned out quite nicely.

Deliciously simple

Sliced dried figs decorate the top

Ingredients

The generous amount of fruits makes this a delicious cake

Right out of the oven Baking paper is used instead of butter & flour to line the baking tin

Simplicity at its best

This cake is simplicity at its best. Not too much fuss and probably no extra shopping needed. 

Don't be limited to the traditional filling of raspberry jam but go a little crazy and use something like Nutella for a winter version or lemon curd for a summer version. Fresh strawberries or blueberries sound quite nice to add extra zest to the cake.




225 grams room temperature butter

The cookies kept their shape during baking

I was dying to try one of the rolling pins with the cut out etchings. After a little comparison between Amazon and Etsy, I decided on the one from Etsy due to price and of course since it was Christmas I bought the holiday theme.

My feedback on using one of these rolling pins is that you need to roll the dough using a regular rolling pin first and then just do a last roll over the dough with the one that has the decoration. Lightly flour the decorated rolling pin & dough before starting. Last step is to cut the cookies to the shape you want.

I think that the more intricate the design on the rolling pin then more of a chance for the dough to  stick into the crevices. My recommendation is don't by a rolling pin with super small etchings.

Also, you need a good cookie dough that will roll out without being too sticky and will hold its shape during baking. The recipes below for spice cookies meets both of  these.