Banana Hazelnut Dessert Wontons

Flipping through the newspaper 24H, I came across a deliciously looking recipe called Banana Hazelnut Dessert Wontons. It is an easy and quick recipe to follow with a baking time of only 5 minutes. After making a batch of these, I have to admit that they were not my favourite. I thought the banana and Nutella would have made these wontons amazing, but my taste buds were not feeling it. I will post the recipe anyway, and if you have the ingredients, you can try it out for yourself and see what you think.

~Ann

Banana Hazelnut Dessert Wontons

1 medium banana peeled and diced

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup brown sugar

16-20 wonton wrappers

1 egg lightly beaten

1/3 cup hazelnut spread

Powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Stir together banana, pecans, and brown sugar in a small bowl.

2. Lightly brush the edges of each wonton wrapper with beaten egg. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of hazelnut spread and 1-1/2 teaspoons banana mixture in centre of each wonton.

3. Fold over each wrapper, forming a triangle and seal edges well. (Instead of folding each wonton, I covered the banana and hazelnut wonton with an extra wrapper and sealed the edges, making a square shape)

4. Place wontons on baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Brush the tops of the wontons lightly with lightly beaten egg.

5. Bake 5-6 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool slightly and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Hey hey hey, let's bake a cake! Again. But cake's always good. ;)

Besides, this banana bread is super good for you. It's made with whole wheat flour (fiber), nuts (antioxidant) bananas (potassium) and coconut (er..hm..fiber?). See? All good stuff. =)

This is the best banana bread I've had so far. Seriously. It is at the top of my banana bread list. Go make some for you! ;)

3 cups whole wheat flour - I used 2 c. whole wheat and 1 c. all-purpose and worked out fine

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 cups brown sugar - I used 3/4 c brown sugar and 3/4 caster sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract - I used 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 tablespoon banana extract - I ommited

1 1/2 cups very ripped bananas, mashed (about 3 bananas)

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped - I used Brazil nuts

1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Grease the pan with butter.

2. In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt. In another large bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, and sugar. Add the flour mixture to the eggs mixture, mixing with a spoon/spatula.

3. Add vanilla and banana extracts, mashed bananas, coconut, nuts and the buttermilk, mixing until incorporated.

4. Pour into the pan and bake for 60-65 minutes. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

PS.: I poured half the batter into the pan, arranged some banana slices over it and topped with the rest of the batter.

Recipe taken from here (in Portuguese).

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

A few week ago I received an email from Ana informing me that in August our blog Oh So Sinfully Delicious would be a year old. I was totally taken by surprise. I couldn't believe that a year has gone by so quickly. Contributing to this blog has been a great experience for me. I got to learn so much about baking, photography, and blogging, and even though I have not contributed much for the past few months, I am keen on baking and doing more food writing.

A few months ago I purchased Cooking: A Commonsense Guide, ed: Jane Price, and Justine Upex. It's a cookbook for people who can't cook or have little experience in the kitchen. What I like about this book is, it breaks down cooking into introducing different elements, from various pots and pans that are needed, to the different cuts of meats, poultry, and seafood so when one is faced with a recipe it's not as intimidating as one may suspect.

From Cooking, I baked a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Traditionally this cake is topped with whole pineapple slices garnished with maraschino cherries, but this recipe omits the cherries and slices the pineapples in half. It's a different design but tastes just as good.

~Ann

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

20g (3/4 oz) butter, melted

2 tablespoons soft brown sugar

440g (14 oz can pineapple slices in natural juice

90g (3oz) butter

1/2 cup (125g/4oz) caster sugar (I used granulated sugar)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup (125g/4 oz) self-raising flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to moderate 180C (350F). Grease a 20 cm (8 inch) ring tin. Pour the melted butter into the tin and tip to coat the base evenly. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the butter. Drain the pineapple, reserving 1/3 cup (80 ml) of the juice. Cut the pineapple pieces into halves and arrange over the brown sugar.

2. Using electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl until light and creamy. Add the eggs gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla essence.

3. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Using a metal spoon, fold in the flour alternatively with the reserve pineapple juice.

4. Spoon the mixture evenly over the pineapple and smooth the surface. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.