Better Than the Bux: Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

I work at a coffee shop here in Madison. In fact, you probably have a similar one near you since there seems to be one on every street corner. I try to avoid eating the pastries, since my mindless snacking the first day of work put me over my daily calories before 11am. The coffee cakes always tempt me, especially the Banana Chocolate Chip variety. Phil's family was visiting from out of town so I decided to recreate it for them. At least that way I wouldn't down the whole batch myself. Well, I solved my pastry munching problem in an unexpected way- my homemade coffee cake put the store bought cake to shame! My new problem is that I can't stop thinking about my "Better Than the Bux" cake.

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel

Adapted From Bon Appetit - January 2003

12 servings

1 bag semisweet chocolate chips- 1 1/4 cups for streusel, mix the rest in the batter

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups AP flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

About 3 very ripe, mashed up bananas

3 tablespoons of sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.

Streusel: Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside.

The Dry Team: Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar, room temperature butter, and egg in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients and blend well. Fold in the extra chocolate chips, if desired. Come on, you know you want to!

Spread half of the batter (about 2 cups) in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel. Bake coffee cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool coffee cake in pan on rack.

The ingredients- mostly stuff you probably have on hand.

The streusel ingredients....

...mix them up!

The dry team. Note: These pictures are of a half batch.

The wet team. I broke the yoke, opps!

The bananas and 3 tablespoons of sour cream.

My $5 mixer from the thrift store works just nicely.
Here's the part where Amanda says BAM! Extra chocolate chips!
Ready for the oven!

Fresh out of the oven, yum!

The final product! Phil says my extra chocolate chips make this more like breakfast brownies, but I see nothing wrong with that.

Comments!

Bloggers love to see comments on their posts and I am no exception. My Aunt told me that she wanted to comment on my last post but couldn't unless she signed up for a google account. I investigated the problem and it is now fixed! So comment away! Even if it is just to say "hi".

What If Your Food Isn't "Just Fine, Thanks!"?

You may have noticed in my last post I planned on writing about the restaurant I dined at last night for restaurant week. Alas, I have decided not to blog in detail about my experience since...well, it wasn't a great experience. Actually, I take that back, the company and conversation was awesome, the beer was cold, but the food left something to be desired, like a kobe beef burger that's not cooked to death, or a salad without any "extra protein"...I don't ask for much!

Which brings me to another interesting topic, what, do you say, if anything, if the food at a restaurant is bad? Issues like bugs in the salad are obviously unacceptable, but truth is, we didn't say anything! We were just having a great time and didn't want to start even the tiniest of confrontations. Looking back, we should have said something, but seeing as it wasn't my salad I didn't want to push the issue.

As if the foodie gods were testing my limits, the waitress came by and said "wasn't that burger GREAT?" and I faked a "Oh, yeah! Great!". I have heard of this phenonmenon of people saying the food is fine even when it's not, and here I am being a part of it. After carefully considering the issue, I have two reasons why I didn't say anything:

1) I was hungry and ate a little more than half the burger before giving up. Kind of tacky to complain about food after you ate half of it.

2) What do you say that doesn't make you sound like a total food snob? " I was expecting awesome and your burger was mediocre at best. Is this your definition of medium?..." I admit it, I am particular about the quality of my food, but I still want to be a nice person, plus, to some people, my waitress included, that burger was perfectly awesome.

What would you do? If a server or the manager comes around and asks you how your food was, are you honest about it? Do you vote with your wallet and never come back? Do you go home and slave over a slanderous Yelp review?

If anyone is out there reading my blog, this is your chance to comment and let me know you are here!

Not the actual bug! Photo: Flikr

Restaurant Week in Madison

It's restaurant week in Madison! Brought to you by the letters E, A, and T and the number 25. $25 dollars that is, because that's how much a three course dinner costs at participating restaurants. I'm starting to sound like a commercial, you can read the fine print here: Madison Restaurant Week.

Last night I went to Liliana's, a restaurant serving New Orleans style fare just outside of downtown Madison in Fitchburg. I have driven past Liliana's on multiple occasions and judging by the exterior decor only, I wanted to try it. Big windows, outdoor seating...after asking around, a few friends agreed that the food was great as well. There were three dinners on the restaurant week menu to choose from, and I went with the seafood heavy one: the Bayou menu.

My starter was four barbecued rock shrimp, which put Phil's starter (some fried okra and a salad) to shame in both looks and taste. The fresh, succulent, head-on shrimp transported me from ocean-less Madison to a beach side restaurant in Valencia, Spain where the head-on shrimp adorn the top of a savory paella. Obviously these shrimp had traveled some distant from the sea to my belly, but I would never have guessed by the taste.

My main course consisted of a catfish fillet on a bed of southern goodness: greens and grits. Despite growing up in Virginia, I haven't had greens in recent memory. This makes me sad, because they tasted like bacon. I'm sorry bacon flavored leafy vegetables... for not eating you more often when I had the chance. Meanwhile, the catfish and grits had just the right amount of spice for me. Like the appetizer, the entree was a little on the greasy side, but that's just more flavor, right?

Finally, I finished the meal off with a chocolate filled beignet. Now the Chef isn't getting any creativity points for beignets at a New Orleans restaurant, but tastes is what matters and this square chocolate filled donut was simply delicious. After my first bite the waiter came over and asked me if I was enjoying it, I thought about saying "Didn't you hear me moaning?"... but decided to keep the unlady-like comments to myself.

I give this one two governator thumbs up...I'll be back!

Amanda's entree: Catfish with Grits and Greens

Phil's entree:Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage

I'm checking out the Restaurant Week scene again tonight so check back soon!

Crazy Caprese

In my last post I showed you how a few simple pantry staples can make a tasty shortcake to enjoy with summer fruit. Continuing on with the simple and seasonal theme, this week I made a flashy salad. But don't worry, it looks and tastes flashy, but is super easy to make. Just slice up a 2-3 tomatoes (different colors make it fun), and 1 ball of fresh, whole milk mozzarella (the kind that is chilling in the brine pool is the best). Layer the tomatoes, cheese, and some basil, then drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I like a pinch of salt on mine too. YUM!

I'm also helping out my community since I bought the tomatoes and basil at the Madison farmer's market. Even on a budget, I like to eat responsibly when I can. Buying locally ensures that the food I eat doesn't have to travel, which makes it freshers and therefor, tastier! Yummier food is only one of the reasons to buy and eat local food, to read more, check out the REAP's Food Group website: Why Buy Local

I don't know many tricks, but one I do know: the cutting board shot.

...but this trick is pretty impressive, too!

Susie's Shortcake

The best part about this recipe is the simplicity to happiness ratio. I know shortcake makes me really happy, but it has a special place for Phil because his mom used to make it. Then, she hand wrote the recipe with love and now I'm making it for him an taking all the credit, mwahaha! No, just kidding, the credit definitely goes to Susie. This shortcake proves that the best food is simple and from the heart. Awww, let's all hug like its the end of an episode of Full House.

Susie's Shortcake

Adapted by Amanda

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder Fun fact: BP is what makes it shortCAKE and not shortBREAD, thanks Wikipedia!

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup sugar

5 tablespoons oil

2 tablespoons melted butter

3/4 cup milk

1. Mix together all the ingredients. First time I made it I just dumped the hot butter into the cold milk and the butter got all clumpy, but the cake turned out fine. Second time I made it I slowly added the hot butter to the milk, no clumps this time, but I don't think it made a difference in the final product, so dump away!

2. Pour into a greased pan. I used 9in round metal pan and Phil says Susie does too, you could use a loaf pan.

3. Bake 12-15min at 425.

Serving suggestions:

-Strawberry shortcake- serve up a piece of cake with sliced strawberries and cool whip, or real whip cream if you are feeling fancy. You could even try different kinds of fruit, I bet peaches would be awesome.

-Shortcake and Milk (Phil's favorite)- Put a piece shortcake in a bowl, add some sliced strawberries, pour on some cold milk. Great for breakfast.

Susie's handwritten recipe, with Phil and Amanda's shopping list for burgers on the right. If you were thinking smoked mozzarella and bacon don't go well with shortbread, you are right.

The ingredients- I bet you have all this stuff in your pantry. What are we waiting for? Start cooking!

So easy- ingredients in the bowl...

...mix...

...put in the greased pan...

...bake...

...and serve!

Burger Paradise

Yesterday I typed "paradise" into my GPS and that's exactly where I ended up. More specifically, Paradise Pup, a tiny burger/hot dog joint in Des Plaines, Illinois that serves fast food Chicago style. My belly was rumbling as I approached but I whispered "I know we're here but there will probably be a line, but don't worry, it will be worth it".* The only thing more famous than the char grilled burgers at the Pup is the line which is usually out the door on "warm"** days like this. Somehow the foodie gods were smiling on me because there was no line! I stepped up to the counter and ordered the following: Chicago style hot dog, cheddar burger, 3 layer fries and chocolate banana milkshake. While I could have easily consumed all this food myself, Scott was nice enough to come along to save me a few calories as well as act as photographer. He actually had to stop me from chowing down so he could take a picture.

The burger, sitting pretty on its fresh tasting, soft, glorious bun tasted charred and delicious. Fresh veggies and grilled onions came along for the ride, and the cheddar cheese came to play- it was sharp and flavorful. I later found out the cheddar was from my new home state, Wisconsin.

I won't bore you with long descriptions of the other foods, since you are probably drooling right now and ready to get in a car or on a plane to come try burger paradise for yourself.

*If you have been reading my blog you know how obsessed I am with food and probably aren't surprised I talk to my belly.

**Using quotes here because as a Virginian I would not consider 65 degrees warm, but hey, I'm a Midwest transplant now, my standards are changing.

The burger of my dreams.

3 layer fries!

Yep, these burgers are famous!