Banana Bread

Hi again! Monday is back with a vengeance. I'm at work and it's quite possible I could fall asleep at my desk any minute. Oh well, that's what Mondays are for right? Anyway, I made banana bread last week and never got around to posting it so here it goes...

This recipe is also my Nan's. A few years ago she wrote up a little cookbook of some of her "famous" recipes and now the book is getting lots of use! Everyone I have used so far has turned out great, not surprising considering she ALWAYS has the best baking!

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After I made it I couldn't get it out of the pan fast enough. It was devoured, and much liked might I add.

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Banana Bread

2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

tsp. baking soda

tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt

tbsp. sour milk

1 cup crushed walnuts (optional)

3 smashed ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream softened butter and sugar then add eggs, one at a time. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and gradually add, stirring in between additions. Next, add sour milk (add a drop of vinegar to milk to sour it) and the smashed bananas. If adding walnuts, add at here too. I didn't have any at the house so mine was sans walnuts. Pour into ungreased bread pan and cook until golden brown, about 40 minutes.

Back at it

Sadly, the long weekend is over and I'm back to work (for a 4 day week, phew!) .. Anyway, I had a fun weekend. Friday night I attended a sleepover with my brownies which turned out to be not so bad. Saturday I went out with friends into the wee hours of the night and Sunday, a tid bit hungover, I went to Bras d'Or with my parents and we ate at the Cedar House - yum! Yesterday when I woke up it was like 24 degrees .. so PSYCHED! So, I went to Baddeck with two of my besties and we walked around and of course ate. It was an overall successful weekend.

Onto the baking part of my day. Lastnight I decided on spider cookies simply because I felt like eating them. It was kind of late when I decided on these so they were a wise choice if I was going to bed at a half decent hour.

Oh! Shoutout to my Nanny who celebrated her 70th birthday yesterday! Here's to many more!

Here's what my cookies looked like before they were put in cookie form. I definitely contemplated eating half the pot .. but didn't.


Here's the finished product. I made them using tablespoons so they were pretty big.

Spider Cookies

Bring to a boil:
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
tsp. vanilla
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In separate bowl combine:
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup coconut
8 tbsps cocoa
Pinch of salt
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Take pot off of stove once ingredients have begun to boil and pour in dry ingredients. Combine and spoon onto baking sheet with parchment paper. Allow to cool in fridge for a couple hours.

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Just letting you know, the long weekend took a toll on my baking & therefore my posting ability. I will be making something tonight and posting later tonight or tomorrow :)

"Mouthwatering Wednesday"

Yesterday was Wednesday, "Mouthwatering Wednesday" actually. People at work are holding a bake sale every week to raise money for Relay for Life. Gotta love it, last week they raised over 100 dollars and it's only for an hour at lunch! The money goes towards cancer research and the like so it's a really good cause. I took a couple pics of the bake sale and the aftermath, not very much left but you get the idea. They had caramel squares, aero bar squares (the best!), some kind of toffee candy and rice krispie squares.

Since I was too lazy to bake lastnight, I'm gonna post these today. I went to bed at 9 and it was awesome!! I think I'm gonna make the early bedtime more of a habit. On the down side, it's raining today. The weather is making me sleepy and it's only the start of the day.

The last one is the epic caramel square. That just screams calories, and deliciousness. I obviously asked for the recipe and when I get it I will do an update post with the recipe. Kinda want one right now.. just sayin'.

Shortbread Cookies

So, this summer I'm working a "9-5" office job for the second year in a row. No complaints but when I get home I don't exactly feel like baking something that takes a lot of time. Lastnight I chose shortbread cookies. The easiest recipe for shortbread I might add - 3 ingredients for the actual cookie. But you'll see that later in the recipe. After I rolled out the cookies (with my brand spankin' new rolling pin I got for my birthday!) I realized there was only christmas cookie cutters. BUT I managed to find a pretty good solution, a double shot glass. Circles are pretty boring, but they did the trick. When they came out of the oven they looked pretty blah, so I opted to melt milk chocolate chips and dip the cookies half in. Chocolate makes everything better.

Totally off topic, but I started back to the gym today. I know some people say it grows on you, but I have to disagree. No matter how many times I go I never want to go back. But that's life.

Nanny's Shortbread - Chocolate Dipped

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 cup butter

2 cups flour

Whatever meltable chocolate you prefer

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Microwave butter just until soft. Cream together the butter and icing sugar, use a whisk or fork to avoid lumps. Add 1 cup of flour first and mix. The gradually add 2nd cup of flour, mixing in between. Roll out on floured surface and cut as you want (cookie cutter is best for uniformity). Place on cookie sheet and bake until edges are light brown, tops of cookies will stay pale. This took about 8 minutes in my oven.

When done, allow to cool. Then ice with frosting or dip in chocolate. I chose the chocolate. Melt about half a bag of chocolate chips in microwave and dip cookies in half way. Put dipped cookies on parchment paper and into fridge to allow chocolate to harden.

The safe choice

For my first baking post, chocolate chip cookies are the way to go. So easy and so yummy. I made this batch for my Dad, needless to say there are none left. There were four left when I took a picture and five minutes later my boyfriend managed to eat what was left.


Yum. No complaints here, maybe bigger next time. What do you think? I'm really not a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies, I'm a square girl. But these cookies are pretty awesome. Got the recipe from my elementary school's cook book they made as a fundraiser.

I know, I know. Everyone has a recipe for chocolate chip cookies already. But I might as well post it, because they all have their own tweaks.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

tsp. baking soda

Pinch of salt

Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in bowl, add white and brown sugar. Once mixed, add egg and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and gradually mix in with wet ingredients.

Spoon cookies onto baking sheet (makes about 20 cookies) and bake until golden brown. This only takes 10 minutes in my oven, so watch out!

And so it begins ...

Hey there! This is my official "first post" of hopefully many! That's me, the girl, the blonde girl. As my profile says, I'm 20 years old and I'm currently discovering the terrors and triumphs of the kitchen, and life. From now on I'll be posting pics, updates, recipes & pretty much whatever I feel like at the time. So get ready for a mouth watering blog, with my life mixed in ... enjoy!