#40 - Toasted Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich

Coming back to the scene after taking a 2 months break from food blogging is not easy. You just find it that much harder to get the momentum going. One day I can be super gung-ho, going through sites and books on recipe ideas, but another day I just feel like chucking them all aside, refusing to take a second look at the number of "backlog" recipes I have on hand. 

It is not that I do not enjoy being in the kitchen, snapping pretty pictures of the end products and sharing them with everyone, but I just can't seem to find that motivation for the longest time. But hey, I am back! That's all that matters isn't it?

During this short break, I actually spent more time catching up with friends, put in more hours in my teaching job and more important, I spent more time with myself. I want to believe that I am now stronger and I kind of appreciate life better, as what it is. As cache as it sounds, everything does happen for a reason right? Right.

Back to food blogging. Although I have not been baking/ cooking much lately, one thing that I do engage in on a daily basis (or at least I try to make it 3-4 times a week) is Breakfast Preparation! I do up these breakfast boxes for my hubby so to make sure he has a decent breakfast and he gets all the energy he needs for his work. As such, I am constantly on the lookout for  quick, fuss-free and yummy breakfast ideas. Be it a simple recipe for Tuna Melts (with a twist in adding  cottage cheese and dill) or 20 ways to incorporate colours in your breakfast, count me in! 

And this week, I tried out the warm and sweet Toasted Peanut Butter & Banana sandwich. It is such a yummy alternative to its more popular counterpart, P&J sandwich. Make sure your bananas have really ripen before you do this okay. The nuttiness of the peanut butter goes so well with the sweetness of the bananas. No additional butter or spread needed at all. To add on to the flavour, I added a dash of cinnamon powder over the bananas and YUM! The fragrance of the cinnamon powder just elevated the sandwich to another level. 

This is so simple and fuss-free and you can easily fix this up in like 15 minutes? So why not give this a try tomorrow morning. There! You have something to look forward to for tomorrow already! 

Good day everyone!

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Servings

2 Sandwiches

Ingredients

4 slices of Wholemeal Bread
2 tbsp Peanut Butter
2 Banana, sliced
1/4 tsp Cinnamon Powder

Directions

1. Spread peanut butter evenly onto one side of each slice of bread.

2. Using air fryer, toast the bread at 180C for 3 - 5 minutes until it is lightly browned. 

3. Remove bread from air fryer and place banana slices onto the peanut buttered side of one slice of bread. 

4. Dust lightly with cinnamon powder. Top with the other slice of bread and press together firmly. 

5. Serve while warm. 

#30 - Banana Loaf with Streusel Topping

I have always love baking with different types of fruits and one of my favourite has got to be bananas! The sweetness of this fruit is good for cake, muffins, bread and it even goes well with peanut butter in a sandwich. My mum has always been a great lover of banana bread and since young, I have kind of pick up on this love of hers and there is no way I can resist a soft and fragrant piece of banana cake/bread. 

In my kitchen, I always seems to have a couple of overripe bananas on the counter top every now and then and it's strange how excited I get when I see them turning dark and black. And why is that so, you asked? Simply because the darker they get, the sweeter they are and that make them so PERFECT for baking! 

For this particular recipe of Banana Loaf with Streusel Topping I am sharing, you got to love the topping as well! Trust me on that. The topping is crumbly and sweet and it goes perfectly well with the soft banana bread. Not to mention, I simply adore the combination of brown sugar with butter! On the other hand, if you are not such a huge fan of Streusel Topping, you may replace it with a cream cheese frosting and it will taste just as good! 

The loaf itself is loaded with banana and that definitely helps to ensure that the loaf remains moist and rich! 

I just love it when my kitchen is filled with the smell of freshly baked Banana Bread. Don't you?

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Ingredients

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 1/2 cups Mashed Banana (about 3 medium size bananas)

2 Eggs

3/4 cup Fine Sugar

1/2 cup (113.5g) Butter, room temperature

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

3 tbsp All Purpose Flour

2 tbsp (28.4g) Butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and baking paper. Set aside for later use. 

2. To prepare the streusel topping, combine the brown sugar and flour in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut in the cold butter until coarse crumbs are obtained. Refrigerate the streusel topping until it is ready to use.

3. Sieve the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon) together and set aside. 

4. In a mixing bowl, mashed the bananas using a fork until you get a thick mash of banana. 

5. To the mashed banana, add in the eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Whisk these ingredients together using a whisk until they are well combined and a thick mixture is obtained. 

6. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients in Step (2) and add in the wet ingredient in Step (4). Mix well using a whisk / spatula. Make sure that the combined mixture is well-mixed, with no trace of flour.

7. Pour the creamy batter into the loaf pan. Using a butter knife, run the knife through the batter a few times so as to remove any air bubbles.

8. Remove streusel topping from refrigerator and sprinkle them on the top of the batter evenly.

9. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until toothpick when inserted comes out clean.

#16 - Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins

I bet you have had days when you are yearning to have something sweet and satisfying and yet, you don't have the whole afternoon to come up with fancy recipes to satisfy that craving. So, what do you do then? For me, when I was something quick, yummy and easy to fix up, I will always go to this recipe of mine. Simple Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins. The whole preparation and baking time takes less than 30 minutes. Incredibly easy! 

For me, I wanted the muffins to be kind of bite-sized to prevent myself from overeating, so I only filled up the muffins cups to slightly above the half-mark. If you want to a pretty muffin-looking one, you'll have to fill up those cups to at least three quarter of the way. Look at the batter before they go into the oven. Creamy, thick and with those polka dotty chocolate chips. Cant wait! Oh yah, I also added yogurt in my version of these Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins (different from original recipe) just because I wanted them to be more fluffy and richer in their taste. It actually paid off! 

See how much chocolate chips I have put in the batter? The whole muffin was filled with addictive chocolate chips. Not to mentioned, the sweet smell of bananas.  The best bananas to use for this recipe are those that are over-riped. They may not look pretty on the outside, but when used in such baking recipes, they taste SO sweet and so heavenly! Yum Yum!

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Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings

Make approximately 12

Ingredients

213g All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

152g Chocolate Chips

3 Bananas (medium size)

1/4 cup Vegetables Oil

2 Eggs

50g Fine Sugar

1/4 cup Yogurt

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200C and line muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside for later use. 

2. Sieve the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon) together and set aside. 

3. Using a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with 3 tbsp of flour. Once all the chocolate chips are coated in flour, set aside. This will ensure that the chocolate chips will not sink to the bottom of the batter and will be able to spread well across the muffins.

4. In a separate bowl, mashed the bananas using a fork until you get a thick mash with small chunk of bananas in it. 

5. To the mashed banana, add in the oil, eggs, sugar, yogurt and vanilla extract. Whisk these ingredients together using a whisk until they are well combined and a thick mixture is obtained. 

6. Using a whisk, add in the flour mixture in Step (2) (1/3 portion at a time) into the wet mixture in Step (5). Switch to a spatula to help with mixing. Make sure that the combined mixture is well-mixed, with no trace of flour. Be careful not to over mix the batter.

7. Fold in the chocolate chips into the mixture using a spatula. 

8. Using an ice-cream scoop, divide the batter evenly into 12 muffins cups. Each muffin cup should be filled up to 1/2 to 2/3 of the way. 

9. Tap muffin tray on tabletop and shake it gently to ensure that the batter is level and evenly spread out. This also help to make sure that any excess air is removed from the batter.

10. Bake for 18 minutes (turn the muffin tray front-to-back after 9 minutes) or until the top of the muffins become golden brown and toothpick when inserted comes out clean. Remove muffins from oven and cool in muffin tins for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to allow them to cool completely. 

#08 - Breakfast Banana Splits

Alright, alright, alright. I know the picture above does not look that appetising, but trust me, taste wise it is pretty creamy and sweet with a zest of citrus from the strawberries (which you are unable to see in this picture) and raspberries. Honestly, I never really understand why the strawberries we have in Singapore are never sweet. Or is it just me? I always seem to be buying strawberries that are sour no matter how ripe they are. Their bright red appearance are so deceiving! 

Anyway, Wednesday is usually my busy busy day with all the household chores to be done as well as lessons to prepare and to go to. So, just last Wednesday, I woke up in the morning with this feeling of wanting to fill myself up (with some good food, of course) for a busy day ahead. So, what I saw in the fridge were tonnes of fruits which I have bought over the weekend. So I thought, why not have a fruity morning! The idea of Breakfast Banana Splits just came to me. 

For those of you who know me, you will know that I am not so much of a citrus fan and that my tolerance level for sourness is really really low. Luckily, I found some grapes in my huge fruits collection in the fridge and of course I added them to the berries for my Breakfast Banana Splits. 

At the same time, I also wanted something a little crunchy and chocolatey and hence, I pulled out the last box of Koko Krunch cereal in the cupboard to go with the dish. If you are looking for something healthy yet yummy and at the same time, you are a huge fruits fan, try this recipe. Simple and easy to make and you are good to go in a couple of minutes. Have fun!

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Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

2 riped bananas, peeled

20g Koko Crunch Cereal, chopped into smaller size (with food processor/ rolling pin)

140g plain yogurt

4 strawberries, sliced 

18 raspberries, sliced 10 (keeping 8 of them aside for garnishing)

18 grapes

10g walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Slice the bananas in half (lengthwise) and place them separately in 2 serving dish.

2. Mix 3/4 of the Koko Crunch Cereal with the plain yogurt.

3. Spread half of the portion of yogurt mixture along the (top) length of the banana.

4. Place the berries and grapes on the banana slices. 

5. Spread the remaining yogurt on top of the fruits.

6. Sprinkle with chopped walnut and remaining 1/4 of the Koko Crunch Cereal on top.

7. Garnish with raspberries.