Piece of life
This year has been special for many reasons. For us, it was also the beginning of a new adventure: our daughter started school. The system is a bit different in Quebec [than in France], and the kids start kindergarten at 5 [for one year only]. Another difference: schools rarely have a canteen, so guess who needs to prepare the meals ?! Even for people who cook a lot [like me], this represents a challenge, and you need good organization. So, for now, I am still getting used to the system. And for snacks, I prepare them on the weekend, and I froze them. I split them into individual portions so I just have to put them in the lunchbox when needed. Cakes, muffins and cookies are my best friends: they are easy and quick to prepare and can also be conserved very well in the freezer.
Tips: What to do with overripe fruit?
1/ compotes or jams are always a good solution
2/ but also cakes, crumbles or croustades, muffins
3/ or freeze them! it is not always instinctive, but it is very useful.
For bananas, I usually chose option 3. Once the skin is getting dark, I put them in the freezer [as a whole, with their peel]. Then, when you have enough, take them out and make this beautiful banana bread recipe [that was a bit obvious, no ? ? ]. I actually find it better with bananas that have been frozen first.
About the Banana Bread
This is the kind of “ultra-easy” recipe. There is no way to go wrong. Another reason to love it: avoid waste!
For this recipe, I like to use muscovado sugar. This sugar is a whole, unrefined brown cane sugar [that is why the cake has that dark colour]. You can find it in some grocery stores, but it’s not always easy [I bring mine from my trips to Brazil], but you can replace it with demerara sugar, brown sugar or blonde sugar, and even white. However, the taste will be slightly different depending on the sugar you use. For the rest, it’s a cake: mix the dry ingredients on one side and the liquid ingredients on the other, then mix both and bake it. The little trick: sprinkle nuts and a bit of sugar before baking to get a thin, crispy and greedy crust.
Banana and Pecan Cake
Équipements
Ingredients
- 4 bananas overriped mashed
- 200 g flour (100 g whole, 100 g white for me)
- 70 g melted butter
- 100 g sugar (muscovado, or other)
- + 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 100 g pecan nuts coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Grease and flour a cake mould.
- In a salad bowl, mix the mashed bananas, the sugar, the egg and the butter.
- In another salad bowl, mix the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and the salt.
- Pour the flour mixture over the liquid ingredients. Mix until you get a homogeneous dough.
- Add the nuts (keep the equivalent of 2 tbsp for topping).
- Pour the mixture in the mould.
Finishing
- Sprinkle the top of the cake with the sugar (1 tbsp) and the nuts.
- Take it to the oven and bake for 1 hour.
