Banana blondies

I don’t bake blondies very often, but so far the recipes I’ve made turned out delicious – Martha’s gingerbread blondies I made back in 2010 were just irresistible. When I saw Dan Lepard’s banana blondies I had to make them: not only because a blondie made of banana made me curious but also because I’d be able to use up some of my banana overload; oh, and before I forget to mention, there’s

Butterscotch banana cake

And just when I thought that Flo Braker’s banana cake would hold the title of “best banana cake ever baked in my kitchen” forever Mr. Dan Lepard showed up with the idea of caramelizing the bananas before adding them to the cake batter – how great is that? The cake turned out absolutely tender, with a deep, beautiful golden hue and a delicious, strong banana flavor.

Inspired by one of my

Banana and coconut cake with lime icing

I used to love pink as a kid – as I told you a while ago – and I love Lisa Yockelson’s “Baking by Flavor”; therefore, the minute I saw this book I knew I had to have it. Oh, I’m really shallow sometimes, I’ll admit it. :)

This delicious and super moist banana cake comes from Lisa’s very pink and girlish book – if the book was a director it would certainly be Baz Luhrmann. :D

Banana and

Banana, caramel and raisin galette

A couple of days after watching Four Weddings And A Funeral I bought Wet Wet Wet’s "End of Part One: Their Greatest Hits" just because of one song: “Love is All Around” (it was a version of the CD released after the movie, with the theme song included). I had never heard of the band before and not only did I find the CD cover really cool – for the record, I was in my teens – but I ended up

Banana, hazelnut and cinnamon cakes and the book I am currently reading

I thought I should tell you what book I’m reading right now – after all, you helped me choose it. I decided to go for a modern classic: "In Cold Blood" – I hadn’t read anything by Truman Capote and even though I’m still in the beginning of the book I’m enjoying his narrative very much.

And since I am reading a modern classic, I’ll give you today a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks:

Banana crumble

I was watching “Law & Order” the other day and felt like eating something sweet (like that’s something unusual). :) But the episode was really interesting – no Linus, which is bad, but Benjamin, which is good – and I wanted something fast to get back to the couch as soon as possible. The result was this crumble, ridiculously simple and oh, so delicious – and that smells and tastes like banana

Banana sheet cake with fudgy chocolate frosting and a forgotten book

When I was a kid all my friends were tall and strong, unlike me – I had a sort of development delay, so to speak (due to my mom’s death) and I was very tiny. Can you imagine how much I loved P.E. classes? #not
I was always picked last for everything and I don’t blame my colleagues: I could barely hold a basketball, let alone play with it.
I’ve had this book for years and had only baked from it

Banana, chocolate and coconut muffins

Since you are not tired of my banana recipes, here comes another one, with a special help from good friends coconut and chocolate. :)

Quick to put together and delicious, these muffins are perfect for the rainy day/couch/TV combo – but I can assure you they taste great on a summer day, too. ;)

Banana, chocolate and coconut muffins
slightly adapted from here

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2

Spiced banana breakfast loaf

Sometimes when I’m going through my cookbooks I say things out loud: things like “I am so making this”, or “I’ll make this next weekend”, and so on; just so you know it, the hubby doesn't find it weird. :)

A couple of weeks ago I was “talking” to my books again when I said I was going to make a banana cake. “Another one?” Joao asked. I smiled back at him and said nothing, but thought “hey, don

Banana walnut cake (with quinoa flour)

As I previously told you, I’ve been having fun baking with different kinds of flour – and there’s a lot to come, I guarantee. :D

As for this cake, it is really good – my sister loved it – but hasn’t dethroned my favorite banana cake. I found the walnuts a bit bitter after being toasted twice – I’m using sliced almonds next time I make this recipe.

Banana walnut cake
from Good to the Grain

2

Banana streusel snack cake

I’m not a huge fan of Jamie Oliver’s recipe names style like “the best ___ ever”, “the ultimate ___”, and so on – taste is such a subjective thing, something fantastic for some people might not be all that for others.
But if you allow me, I’ll be a walking contradiction today and tell you that this is the best banana cake I have ever eaten – it’s a good thing my grandma doesn’t read my blog. :D

Banana poppy seed cake with lemon glaze

Last week my lovely Brazilian blogger friend Ana Elisa asked her followers if they wanted an apple or a banana recipe on her blog – I voted for banana, but the apple post won at the end and she published these mouthwatering apple fritters (I bookmarked the recipe immediately). :)

We’ll have bananas here, then, as a very tender and deliciously moist cake, made with bananas that had been in my

Banana pancakes

I love holidays – who doesn’t? :)

Lazy days like today call for a special breakfast, like these banana pancakes – they are delicious with fresh fruit, especially strawberries. A wonderful way to start the day. :)



Banana pancakes
from Simple Essentials Fruit

2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup (116g) brown sugar, packed
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk

Banana and dried cranberry tea cake

I know, I know... Another banana post in less than a month – please bear with me and my full-of-bananas-freezer. :D

This recipe comes from a book a bought several months ago but only recently became addicted to – and with a whole chapter devoted to bananas, I’ll be using it again soon. :D



Banana and dried cranberry tea cake
from Baking by Flavor

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 ¼

Teacup banana puddings

With all this heat, fruit goes ripe in no time – as much as Joao and I love bananas (and eat them on a daily basis) it is impossible to go through a bunch in 2-3 days.

These teacup puddings looked adorable on the magazine – I cannot resist bananas and caramel together – and were also a perfect way to use the egg whites I had left from making ice cream.



Teacup banana puddings
from Donna Hay

Banana cake with passion fruit icing

As some of you already know, I spent part of my vacation with my lovely and dear friend Valentina. We visited beautiful places, ate delicious food and had a wonderful time together – I miss her already! :DI’ll soon post the photos on Flickr.Not only is Valentina an amazing and generous friend but also a very skilled cook and baker – Trembom was the first food blog I ever read and the inspiration

Toasted coconut and banana friands

Driving in Sao Paulo can be quite tiring and in the middle of the daily traffic jams the radio becomes my best friend.
Even though I listen to music most of the time, I love to catch Carla Pernambuco’s comments about food on MitFM. I’m a huge fan of her work and can’t wait to have dinner at her restaurant again.
Last week she was talking about financiers and friands and it suddenly hit me: I

Banana butterscotch pudding

I’m here today on a very special mission: I must convince you, my dear readers, to make this dessert next time you see a very ripe, freckled banana hanging around.

Banana bread is delicious, and so are banana cakes and cookies, but hear me when I say you’ll be an extremely happier person once you’ve tasted this pudding. Did I mention there’s caramel sauce involved? Oh, yes, there is. Plenty of

Banana caramel cake

Even though there are new movies coming out on a daily basis, some are so good that if they are on TV it’s almost an obligation to watch them again - I saw “Misery” for the 4th time last week. :DCan’t say the same happens in my kitchen: with hundreds of new things to try – a list that grows longer everyday – I don’t like repeating recipes... I’m pretty sure some of you agree with me. But I don’t

Banana-oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

I started listening to Smiths at the age of 9 and even though I understood nothing Morrissey said those songs made a strange kind of sense to me – I ended up learning why later on in life. Music became a huge part of my days and brought me comfort in several bad moments.Besides listening to the songs, I loved checking out the LP covers – some were absolutely fantastic. I became obsessed about one