Black Bottom Banana Cake Squares

Michelle shared a banana cake recipe for dessert at the South Arm Seniors Kitchen. In fact, we had two desserts for this kitchen. We enjoyed the double desserts from Michelle’s cravings for sweets during her last leg of pregnancies. The recipe is inspired by Stella’s contributions of frozen bananas from her freezer.

Michelle told us that the best way to freeze unused ripen banana is as it is. Do not store them in ziplock bag or they’ll become soggy.

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This Black Bottom Banana Cake Squares are very moist.  The cocoa adds the chocolate flavour without adding extra sweetness.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 6 bananas, mashed
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder

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Source: Hospitalilty: Cooking the Doukhobor Way

P/S: You can halve the recipe easily and bake in a 8″x8″ square pan

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Grilled Peanut Butter Banana Tortilla

What do you do when you have left over ripen bananas? Normally, I will bake a banana cake. But, since it’s summer, I would not want to heat up the home with the oven. Another of my favourite recipe with banana is Steamed Banana Cake but I don’t feel like having it this time round. So, I made something even simpler and sweet for lunch.

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This Grilled Peanut Butter Banana Tortilla is great for snack or dessert. It is warm, gooey, sweet, nutty, crunchy and crisp. I love it so much that I had this three days in a row.

It can be messy eating this though because the filling will be squeezed out when you bite into it. At times, the natural syrup from the warm banana will dripped from the tortilla. I also find that the Nutella is more messy as it turns more liquid when heated.

Ingredients

  • 1 large tortilla
  • 1 ripe banana, peel and slice
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter or Nutella

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Source: Suanne

Serve 1

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Chocolate Banana Cookies

For dessert, Minoo selected a Chocolate Banana Cookies recipe to end the meal at South Arm Community Kitchen. This Chocolate Banana Cookies are great for breakfast or tea time snack. They can be easily packed into the lunch box.

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This Chocolate Banana Cookie is soft and fluffy. It’s has a cakey texture. You may use various types of chocolate for this recipe, like milk, white, dark or flavoured chocolate. If you do not like banana, you may leave it out. To make this into a real chocolatey cookie, you may add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.

We made this recipe with dark chocolate which is produced by adding fat and sugar to the pure cocoa solids. Dark chocolate is believed to reduce the possibility of heart attack when consume in small amount regularly. This is due it’s dark chocolate is a rich source of epicatechin and gallic acid which possess cardioprotective properties.

Ingredients

  • 1 large ripe banana, peel and slice
  • 4 oz (100g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 2/3 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar
  • 1 medium egg, beaten
  • 1 cup (100g) all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) baking powder
  • 1/3 cup (50g) oats
  • 4 oz (100g) dark chocolate, broken into small chunks

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We usually double or triple the recipe when we cook in the community kitchen. The left over food can be brought home for our family to try.

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I love butter in the 1/2 cup stick. It is much easier to cut up the quantity required. I’m glad it can be found in the Real Canadian Superstore now.

Source: Minoo

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Lemon Banana Raisin Oat Bran Muffins

For dessert, Marian prepared a Lemon Banana Raisin Oat Bran Muffin recipe for the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. We had to bake the cake in a baking pan because there is no muffin tins in this kitchen which is a temporary location while South Arm Kitchen is undergoing renovation.

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This is a high fiber recipe with the addition of oat bran cereal. It is a healthy muffin that you can have without guilt.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup oat bran cereal
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed banana
  • zest from one lemon
  • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 cup raisin

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P/S: milk and whole wheat flour are missing from the ingredients picture

Source: via Marian

Makes 12 muffins

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Banana Split with Pineapple and Maple Walnuts

The South Arm Community Kitchen completed the meal with a dessert. Minoo prepared a Banana Split recipe with a twist.

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This Banana Split with Pineapple and Maple Walnuts is just the right size and not as indulging as the version served at the stores. I like the portion size and the addition of the pineapples with a slight sourness to counter balance the sweetness of the ice-cream.

While we were enjoying our meal, Minoo shared with us some tips for a healthy lifestyle and a cleaner environment, starting from our own kitchen. Here is the link to the tips.

Ingredients

  • 1 x 15 ounce can crushed pineapple, in natural juice
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice, preferably freshly squeezed
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 ripe, firm bananas
  • 6 scoops vanilla light ice-cream or frozen yogurt, 1/4 cup each
  • 6 fresh mint leaves, for garnishing, optional
  • Maple Walnuts for toppings (refer Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Walnuts recipe)

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Source: unknown via Minoo

Serves 6

Oh!, I learned something new about banana from a NCIS: Los Angeles show and it is also mentioned in Wikipedia.

Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive, more so than most other fruits. Small amounts of the isotope is found in naturally occurring potassium.

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Fried Banana Fritter (Kuih Kodok)

Fried Banana Fritter or Kuih Kodok in Malay is a common street food in Malaysia. I had not eaten this for 9 years since I immigrated to Canada. I missed it so much that I decided to make it at home despite that I do not like deep frying in my kitchen.

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The Fried Banana Fritter is soft and sweet and full of banana flavour. It is best eaten warm. I got the recipe from Kuali but made some adjustment to it as I find that the recipe in Kuali has too much salt in it which makes the banana fritter more savory than sweet. I prefer it to be sweet.

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Ingredients

  • 150g (net weight) ripe bananas (about 1 large banana)
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 5 tablespoons self-rising flour
  • 1 tablespoon rice flour
  • 1 tablespoon Quaker oats (I subtitituted with 1 teaspoon of ground flax seed)
  • a pinch of baking soda

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Click on the link below for the instructions.

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Apple Banana Muffin

Stella made this Apple Banana Muffin for last year’s Caring Place Potluck. She demonstrated this recipe in the Caring Place Community Kitchen upon Minoo’s request.

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The Apple Banana Muffin is moist and the walnuts give it the crunch. This muffin is good for after school snack or breakfast. It can also be made into a loaf.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup oil or melted margarine
  • 1 cup brown sugar (less if bananas are very ripe)
  • 2 to 3 bananas
  • 1 large apple
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

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Click on the link below for the instructions.

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Banana Loaf Cake

In the Caring Place community kitchen, Jean made a Banana Loaf Cake and Matrimonial Squares.

Jean also shared with us the benefits of eating bananas. The benefits include healthy bowels, healthy cardiovascular, protection from strokes and ulcers, improve blood pressure and boost of energy.

Bananas are rich source of vitamins B, C and A. Bananas are also low in calories and fat, plus they have a high water content and potassium levels. A diet high in potassium foods and low in sodium-loaded processed foods can help reduce water weight.

The Banana Loaf Cake was moist and very rich in banana flavour.

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 3 large very ripe bananas
  • 1/2 cup nut pieces if desired

Click on the link below for the instructions.

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