Yogurt-The Other Ice Cream

I keep a vat of plain yogurt around for various reasons. It goes great in smoothies, gives quick breads a moist texture and is just good eatin' with the right toppings.

After pouring a tablespoon of maple syrup (the real maple syrup please) over a cup of the smooth stuff and devouring something occurred to me; I have heavy whipping cream, leftover dulce de leche and a new food processor! A simple but tasty concoction was born. Behold:

I was surprised at just how good this was. Frickin' delicious. At first I only made it to take a photo. But I never put anything on this blog without eating it first, so...that glass is empty.

Here is what you need:

-Plain yogurt.
-Dulce de leche (see easy recipe here.)
-Heavy whipping cream (you could use a can, but the extra sweetness is overkill.)
-Fresh strawberries, bananas, or fruit of your choice.

**All ingredients should be refrigerated before using if possible.**

Prepare:

-Drizzle a thick layer of dulce de leche into the bottom of the glass. Let it settle, then:

-Layer spoonfuls of yogurt gently across the top of the dulce de leche. You could do one giant layer or repeat this process two or three times. Personal preference.

-For the last layer, pile on the pre-whipped and refrigerated whipping cream.

-Top with your favorite fruit and enjoy! You could also shave a little nutmeg, chocolate or cinnamon on top of this for aesthetics and another flavor layer. Yuuuummy.

Of course, if all that seems too complicated, you can always pour a little maple syrup over in and call it a day.

Banana Bread Cake-Do More with your Overripe Bananas

Inspired by a pile of overripe bananas in a bowl on the kitchen counter, I went in search of something besides banana bread. Nothing wrong with banana bread. I happen to make a pretty good loaf if I do say so. You can read about that here.

But after awhile this seems so vanilla. Blah. There had to be something else. I found a recipe on Delish for a banana cake and decided to use it as a foundation for this:

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and greasing two 6 inch round cake pans.

The ingredients:

-3-4 ripe bananas
-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-3/4 cup refined sugar
-2 tbls. confectioner's sugar
-3 eggs (room temp.)
-1 stick butter
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-3/4 teaspoon baking soda
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-~2 teaspoons cinnamon
-1/4 tsp. nutmeg
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup heavy whipping cream
-1/2 cup sour cream
-Maple syrup or rum (about 1/4 cup)

Combine: 

-Mix butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is lightened and fluffy.
-Add 3 egg yolks. Reserve the whites in a separate bowl.
-Mix in vanilla extract.

-In a separate bowl, puree the bananas and combine with the butter/sugar mixture.

In a separate bowl:

-Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the flour in parts to the butter and banana mixture until incorporated.

-Whip the egg whites until they have stiff peaks, then fold gently into the batter. Fold until no white is showing.

Fill the cake pans evenly, about 1/2-3/4 full, and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Cake is done when fork comes out clean.

Finish:

After the cakes cool, whip 1 cup of heavy cream with the confectioner's sugar and sour cream. Once it stiffens, spread a thick layer on the top of the bottom cake, keeping it an inch from the edge. Refrigerate for an hour.

While the filling is cooling, make thick slices of the remaining bananas. Heat a saucepan and melt a tablsepoon of butter. Add the bananas, a teaspoon of brown sugar and let it cook for about 2 minutes. When the bananas begin to brown, add the maple syrup or rum.

For the syrup, keep cooking until the sauce is reduced. If using rum, light it with a long handle lighter and cook until the flames die.

Pour the banana 'sauce' over the top of the cake and serve.

As far as ripping off recipes goes, this is very close to the original. My saving grace is that I have been using the same banana bread recipe for years. The whipped filling and bourbon was a great twist, but I ignore this and use rum. Bottom line? Something different to do with those fast-ripening bananas. Enjoy!




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