Banana Bread

Count it a blessing when you find leftover riped bananas sitting rather neglected at your kitchen counter.

This is a easy one-bowl recipe shared by elsie. Really handy especially when you want to make something but too lazy to lug out the Kitchen Aid.

Makes one loaf.

Ingredients
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
75g butter, melted
125g brown sugar (3/4 cup)
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
204g all-purpose flour (1 1/2 cups)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

2. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix.

3. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan.

4. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Full of banana flavour and not too sweet. I like it slightly toasted with a thin spread of butter, yum!

Ina's Fleur de sel Caramel

Still remember as a young child, thumbing through a children's cook book and chancing upon a supposedly easy to make fudge/candy to make - put all the ingredients into a pot and boil. Even after boiling for the required cooking time of 35 mins, the thick and sweet mixture remained as liquid as ever and ended up in the bin. Feeling cheated, left the book forgotten at the bottom of the cupboard.

Now, many years on and having read more cook books, realize that to successful make candy it is vital to use a candy thermometer. . Without one, it is hard especially for novices to judge when the hot mixture is ready.

Take note that the hot sugar liquid is very HOT and dangerous, absolutely no licking until it is cooled.

These salted caramel turned out SO ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS that Master Prince gave me 110 marks declaring that this is the best-ever EVER thing I have made!! ...ok, haha not sure whether to be flattered here.

Recipe source here

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups coarse sugar (375g)
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream (250g)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter (75g)
1 teaspoon fine fleur de sel, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing it to drape over 2 sides, then brush the paper lightly with oil.

2. In a deep saucepan (6 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches deep), combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar and corn syrup and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until the mixture is a warm golden brown. Don't stir, just swirl the pan.

3. In another small pot, bring the cream, butter and 1 teaspoon of fleur de sel to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat and set aside.

4. When the sugar mixture is done, turn off the heat and slowly add the cream mixture a little at a time to the sugar mixture. Be careful, it will bubble up violently. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until the mixture reaches 248 degrees F (firm ball) on a candy thermometer.

5. Very carefully (it's hot!) pour the caramel into the prepared pan and refrigerate for a few hours, until firm.

6. When firm, take caramel out for 20 min before cutting it up to smaller bite size pieces and sprinkle with a little bit of fleur de sel.

7. Wrap in glassine or parchment and store in the refrigerator.