Banana Bread/ Cake

I rather call it a cake as it is rather rich for a bread. Really easy recipe and my all time favourite. One of the very first cake mom taught me to make.

Ingedients:

• 125g butter
• 1 cup castor sugar
• 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
• 5 ripe (medium sized) bananas (peeled & mashed)
  
• 1/3 cup plan yorgurt
  

Shift together:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tbsp bicarbonate soda
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Cream butter & sugar until creamy & light
2. Beat in eggs a little at a time
3. Add mashed bananas and fold in sifted flour alternately. Add yorgurt.
4. Pour mixture into a lined/greased tin. (Approx 9 x 5 x 3in) Note: My mom says greasing the tin and dusting it with flour works well.
   
5. Bake in preheated over at 170 degree Celcuis unntil golden in colour and skwer comes out clean when inserted. Baking time is approximately 50 mins, depending on the size and type of baking tin used.

Gingerbread Men/Shapes & Royal Icing

Gingerbread Man/ Shapes

Ingredients:

• 100 gms Butter
• 80 gms Sugar
• 300 gms Flour
• 1/2 tssp Baking Soda
• 2 tssp Ground Ginger
• 4 tbsp Golden Syrup

Directions:

1. Beat egg & butter until fluffy.
2. Sift dry ingredients together (Flour, Baking Soda, Ground Ginger).
3. Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and stir until crumbly.
4. Add golden syrup. Stir well.
5. Knead until you have a ball of dough.
6. Chill for 15 minutes.
7. Heat oven to 180 degree Celcius.
8. Roll out and cut into desired shape. I dont have a gud gingerbread men cutter so I used the tree and stars instead.
   
9. Place onto greased tray and baket for approx 10 minutes.
10. Once baked, leave on the tray to cool for a few minutes and then lift off.
11. You can then ice your gingerbread however way you like. I iced mine with royal icing and decorated with silver balls and some sugar deco.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

• 200gms Icing Sugar
• 1 Egg White

Directions:
Mix icing sugar and egg white until smooth.

• For softer icing, add extra egg white. For stiffer icing, add extra icing sugar. I added a bit more icing sugar for the gingerbread shapes.
• You can add a drop of food colouring if you want to. I added a tiny tiny drop of red. Remember a little goes a long long way.

Substitute for Sour Cream

Found this on Yahoo! Answers. Thought its a useful tip. Sour cream is expensive here in Kch.

Sour Cream Substitutions and Equivalents

• 1 cup sour cream For baking: 7/8 cup buttermilk or sour milk plus 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup sour cream For baking: 1 cup yogurt plus 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream For baking: 3/4 cup sour milk plus 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup sour cream Baking: 3/4 cup buttermilk plus 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup sour cream Cooked sauces: 1 cup yogurt plus 1 tablespoon flour plus 2 teaspoons water
• 1 cup sour cream Cooked sauces: 1 cup evaporated milk plus *1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken.
• 1 cup sour cream Dips: 1 cup yogurt (drain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve for 30 minutes in the refrigerator for a thicker texture)
• 1 cup sour cream Dips: 1 cup cottage cheese plus 1/4 cup yogurt or buttermilk, briefly whirled in a blender
• 1 cup sour cream Dips: 6 ounces cream cheese plus 3 tablespoons milk, briefly whirled in a blender
• 1 cup sour cream Lower fat: 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese plus *1 tablespoon lemon juice plus 2 tablespoons skim milk, whipped until smooth in a blender
• 1 cup sour cream Lower fat: 1 can chilled evaporated milk whipped with 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Quick Chocolate Fudge Sause

A really easy fudge sause recipe to to prepare for chocolate fondue. Unbelievable.

Ingredients:

• 1 can (12 fl. oz) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Buttons/Morsels
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. COMBINE evaporated milk and morsels in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until morsels are melted. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla extract.
2. SERVE warm as a dipping sauce for fresh fruit or spoon over ice cream or cake. Store remaining sauce tightly covered in refrigerator.
3. Recipe makes 2 cups.

Chocolate Fudge

I thought this is a clever recipe to try. Looking forward to do some baking for the holiday seasons.

Chocolate Fudge Recipe
(Originally Nigella's Chocolate Pistachio Fudge)

• 350g dark chocolate
• 1 can (397g) condensed milk
• 30g butter
• pinch salt
• 150g nuts (Either almonds, walnuts,almonds, marshmellows, dried cranberries, or any nuts /dried fruits of your choice)

1. Put the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy- based pan on a low heat, and stir to melt.
2. Put the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin, until broken up into big and little pieces.
3. Add the nuts (and/or dried fruits) to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.
4. Pour and spatch this mixture into a foil tray/baking tray 23cm square, smoothing the top.
5. Let the fudge cool, and refrigerate until set.
6. You can then cut it into small pieces approx. 3 X 2.25cm. Cutting 8 X 8 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces best achieves this.
7. Once cut, it can be kept in the freezer- no need to thaw just eat straight away.
8. Makes 64 pieces of rich fudge.

Will be posting a pic once I get this done up. If it lasts that long ^__^