"Muffin top" Banana Cookies two ways

After reading the comments on the Simply Recipes website about these cookies, I was intrigued. They were described by one commenter on the site as Banana Muffin Top "Cookies", which explains them perfectly. Baked until lightly browned, they are slightly crispy on the outside and soft and cake-like in the centre. The banana allows the cookies to be lovely and moist. The reaction that takes place between the banana and baking soda gives the cookies their rise as they bake.


I baked half of them plain and iced them with cream cheese icing. The rest I filled with snickers. Mr X tasted both and said while both were good, he preferred the plain iced ones. That surprised me - I actually had made that flavour combination with my Dad in mind and the 
snickers ones for Mr X to take to work. Ooops!

The original recipe called for more spices and pecans but I chose not to add them. If you want to add the nuts, add them at the end to the whole batter where I added the snickers (1 cup). I also added vanilla bean paste. 


Ingredients:
Cookies
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup of mashed bananas (3 large bananas)
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup snickers, chopped

Cream cheese icing
75g cream cheese, softened
30g butter, softened
Heaped cup icing sugar, sifted

Method:
Cookies
Preheat the oven to 176 degrees C. Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and beat the butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy.

In a bowl, mash the banana and mix in the baking soda, letting it sit for 2 minutes. This is an important step as I mentioned above, so don't skip it.

Add the banana to the butter mixture. Mix flour, salt, and spices together then sift this into the butter and banana mixture. Stir until just incorporated.

Remove half the batter and set aside. With remaining batter, mix in the chopped snickers. Drop heaped tablespoons of batter onto prepared baking tray for big cookies which I did - this makes 20 to 25 cookies. I think next time I would try making them a bit smaller. They do spread a little so space them far enough apart.

Bake for approx 12-18 minutes or until the tops are lovely golden brown (cooking time obviously depends on the size of your cookies - mine took 15 minutes). Turn onto wire racks and allow to cool.

Makes 20 to 25 cookies.

The cookies will keep for a couple of days if you don't want to eat them right way. To help maintain their firm exterior, the advise on the Simply Recipe website was to pop them in a container with the lid not quite on (i.e. not air-tight).

Chocolate Brownie Roll-Out Cookies two ways

We are in the process of putting our home up for sale. It is a small, two bedroom unit (i.e. a "shoebox") and we have basically out-grown it. Because weekends are filled with open for inspections (and the house will have to look spotless at all times), I decided to impose a baking ban on myself. So I (sadly) pack up the majority of my baking stuff - cupcake and cake pans, the electric mixer, food processor, rolling pin - basically everything except a set of measuring cups and one mixing bowl. All of it is now stored in boxes at my parents house (including, it seems, half the contents of our house - thanks heaps Mum and Dad!) This baking ban lasted one week - I felt like I was going crazy! So I panicked - and decided that I had just enough equipment at home to make these cookies...if I used a wine bottle to roll them out.I was confident I would have all the ingredients, so I got to work. I realised I didn't have sugar, and I was about 2 tablespoons short of cocoa! Luckily the wonderful Mr X came to the rescue and picked them up from the supermarket on his way home.


The original recipe leaves them plain and un-iced but I decided to top half with chocolate ganache and the remaining half with caramel.

Cookie recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
Cookies
3 cups plain flour
pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste 
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Chocolate ganache
100g dark chocolate, chopped
100g milk chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup thickened cream


Cheats caramel
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbs golden syrup
2 tbs brown sugar


Method:
Cookies
Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Line baking trays with baking paper. 
Mix flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Pop the softened butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in a large bowl and beat to combine (or mix with a spoon, it works fine). Gradually add in the flour, and mix until just combined. The dough should be nice and smooth. Wrap in cling wrap and pop in the fridge for one hour, or roll out dough and cut into shapes and then pop in the fridge. I rolled out the dough immediately and cut into shapes, and this worked well. The dough was really easy to work with - I spread out some baking paper, sprinkled out a little cocoa and shaped the dough into a roll. I placed another piece of baking paper on top, then used a rolling pin wine bottle. I rolled the dough out to a thickness of about 7cm.

I chose three cookie cutters all roughly the same size (small, 3-4 cm wide). Cut out the cookies and transfer to the baking tray. They don't spread during baking so they can be placed relatively close together.

Bake 6 to 10 minutes (baking time will depend on thickness of cookies and size of your cookie cutters. Watch them closely during last stages of baking - you want the edges firm and the centres still a bit soft and puffy (this puffiness settles on cooling.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate ganache
To make the ganache, put cream in a microwave safe jug and put it in the microwave on medium for one minute. Stir, then return to microwave for another 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and add chocolate, stirring regularly until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Put aside to cool.


Cheats caramel filling
To make the cheats caramel, put sweetened condensed milk in the microwave on medium for four minutes on medium, stirring every few minutes. Return to microwave and reduce heat to medium/low for a further 6 to 8 minutes, stirring regularly. It will start to thicken and the colour will become deeper. Remove from microwave, add golden syrup and mix well. Add brown sugar and mix well. Return to microwave on med/low for a minute. Stir again and set aside to cool and thicken.


Assembling the cookies
Dip a cookie in the ganache, coating it evenly. Lightly tap off excess. Repeat with half the remaining cookies. Leave to dry.

Put some of the cheats caramel into a piping bag and pipe a dollop onto a cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Apple crumble slice for Dad

Dad has relatively simple tastes when it comes to baked goods. Chocolate (no white chocolate), banana or apple cinnamon.

This apple crumble slice can be served hot or cold. It has a buttery biscuit base, apple and cinnamon filling, with a brown sugar and cinnamon crumble topping. It is definitely not a pretty slice - the topping making it a little messy to serve, but it smelt great baking in the oven.

Ingredients:

Apple filling
3 apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cornflour
4-5 tablespoons butter

Base
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter

Crumble topping
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Method:

Melt butter in pan and add apples, stirring for two minutes. Add sugar, stir until dissolved. Add cinnamon and stir thoroughly, then add corn flour to thicken. Cook for a further five to seven minutes. You want to have the apples just cooked - not soft and mushy. Keep warm while you make the base. you want to add this to the base straight from the oven.

Preheat the oven to 176 degrees C. Grease and line a 20 x 20 cm cake pan. Cut the baking paper bigger than the baking pan so you have some overhang for easy removal of the slice after baking.

For the base, place the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the butter and use an electric beater on low to mix until it resembles sandy crumbs. Use your hands if it's easier!


Tip the mixture into the baking pan and use your fingers to press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Pop in the oven and bake for 16-20 minutes, until golden brown at the edges. Watch closely after 15 minutes, but mine took closer to 20.

While the base is baking, get the crumble mixture ready. Mix butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. You want to pour the mixture onto the base while still warm from the oven, so have it ready! Spread apple evenly over base. Sprinkle the crumble on top.

Return to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until crumble is golden. Leave to cool before slicing.