Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I had a few ripe bananas looking at me in a very sad way, so, I decided I had to do something with them. I looked through the internet and I discovered this recipe for a banana bread. I hadn't tried banana bread so I went for it. Now I know that banana bread is actually cake. To be more precise a muffin in the shape of a loaf. This one I made is actually very tasty,it smells and taste so much banana and it is a great combination with the chocolate chips. Great for breakfast. I just think that with brown sugar it would be even more delicious so, that is what I'm going to do with my next ripe banana batch.

January 2014 Daring Bakers challenge: Baumkuchen

The January 2014 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Francijn of "Koken in de Brouwerij". She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).

This was an interesting challenge. I hadn't heard of this cake before, so, it was nice to try something different and unknown. What was more interesting is the baking technique. You start baking one layer of the cake and then you add one layer at a time and bake it and when you cut the finished cake you can see the different layers. They look kind of the lines that you see inside a trunk and that is why it is called Baumkuchen (tree cake). You normally do that on broiler and because I don't have in my oven I was a bit worried that I will end up with a half-burnt cake but in the end it turned out perfect. The consistency and the taste were both amazing. I used the given recipe with some small changes and I loved how soft the cake turned out and I liked that it has marzipan since I love almonds. Here is the recipe then:

Tiramisu Semifreddo

I love semifreddos and I love tiramisu. On New year’s eve that I had made a tiramisu along with the chocolate terrine, I had bought too much mascarpone and savoiardi, so, I found the perfect recipe to use them. A tiramisu semifreddo! It is very cold here the last days (-15 to -30^oC), but it didn’t prevent me from making it. I love everything that has to do with ice cream no matter the weather.

The recipe that I used, is adapted from Leila Lindholm’s recipe. Because I’m a little scared of raw eggs I whisked them on a bain-marie to pasteurize them. If you are not scared of them or you are sure about them you can just whisk them in a bowl.(the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another).So, here is the recipe:

Chocolate terrine with praline wafer sticks

I am posting this recipe a little late, since I made it for New year’s eve but better late than never. It is once more, one of the recipes of my favourite pastry chef in Greece, Stelios Parliaros. It is very chocolatey and a little piece is enough to send the sense of your taste to another level. So, here is the recipe and the link is for the video of the recipe where Stelios Parliaros is making it.

Irish Soda Bread

The holidays are over, it’s time to go back to reality and for some people (me included), time for new beginnings and new goals to achieve. So, good luck to everyone to whatever your goals are.

Today it was the official beginning of the working week, so, we started our week with a warm and cosy salmon soup and I also, made a quick and easy Irish soda bread to go along with the soup. It is a very nice solution to have bread in no time. I only had white flour, so, I made a white soda bread. Here is the recipe:

Cheese and Christmas ham leftovers quiche lorraine

After Christmas we had so much leftover ham. Even the smallest ham is too much for two people, so after eating ham for some days and getting bored of it, I decided to make a quiche lorraine with what was left and it was delicious!  Next time instead of eating it for a lot of days I will make more things with it, I already have a few ideas.

Happy New Year 2014!!

Happy New Year everybody I hope this year is better than the other ones and that at least some of our dreams will become true! I hope everyone had a great time at New year’s eve! We had a very nice time at New year’s eve. We prepared a lot of food because we were twelve people but it was worth all the effort because it was very fun and what is better than celebrating among friends?