WHEN GOOD BANANAS GO BAD... THE ADVENT OF BANANA BREAD BISCOTTI

What do you do when a good banana goes bad?  In my house, the solution typically comes in the form of banana bread.   But due to the fact that my family suffers under the delusion that eating any of the final three bananas in any given bunch is punishable by death, we have grown rather bored by the ever-present banana bread.   I had saved a recipe a while back for banana biscotti, thinking that it would be another good way to reform bananas gone bad, but alas when I pulled it up I found that it called for banana bread mix.  Heavens!  So, my little chef protege and I  donned our aprons and inventing caps and came up with a marvelous recipe of our own that is simple and yields professional looking results.   It keeps for several weeks if stored in an airtight container.  Enjoy!

Rook No. 17's Banana Bread Biscotti

makes approx. 3 dozen

5 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 overripe bananas
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 large eggs
1 cup toasted chopped pecans


12 oz. good quality chocolate, chopped and melted at low heat


Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix bananas, oil, vanilla and eggs on medium speed for five minutes.  Add dry ingredients and pecans and mix until just combined.  Dough will be thick.  Turn out on a floured surface and divide into four equal pieces.  Shape each piece into rectangles, flattened to a 1/2" thickness.  Place the four dough rectangles on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  Remove rectangles from baking sheet and allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Cut each rectangle vertically into 1/2" slices.  Place slices, cut sides down, on a baking sheet.  Reduce oven to 275 and bake for another 15 minutes.  Turn cookies over; bake an additional 15 minutes.  Cookies will be very lightly browned and still slightly soft, but will harden as they cool.  Remove from baking sheet and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  

Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.  Because of their length, I prefer to dip my biscotti into melted chocolate held in a long, narrow dish.  Pyrex loaf pans work beautifully.  Dip each biscotti, flat edge down, in melted chocolate and arrange on lined baking sheet.  After all biscotti have been dipped, you can rest them in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to help the chocolate solidify.

A note on chocolate dipping:  I don't recommend chocolate chips for projects such as this.  The reason is that chocolate chips have been specially formulated to retain their shape inside cookies; a quality that makes them rather thick and awkward when melted for dipping purposes.  If you're a chocolate connoisseur, I recommend investing in a box of Guittard Semisweet Chocolate Wafers for your pantry.  You can find them at Whole Foods, Cost Plus, and Sur la Table for around $10/box.  Another alternative is the bittersweet "Pound Plus" bar found at Trader Joe's.  If semi and bittersweet chocolates aren't really your thing, and you're looking for a good buy that's easy to work with and that everyone will enjoy, try the Wilton brand Dark Cocoa candy melts.  You can find them at most craft stores for around $2-$3/bag.

HOE! HOE! HOE! HOW TO CELEBRATE PRESIDENTS' DAY

One of the things that brings me the greatest joy is being able to use my creativity to create special and magical little moments for the people I care about ~ transforming the ordinary and sometimes mundane moments of life into something that shimmers!  Many of us long for "a life less ordinary", but find that commercialism has narrowed our focus to a few favored holidays.  In reality, almost every day is a day being celebrated somewhere in the world.  What better opportunity to learn about the people with whom we share our globe, than by acquainting ourselves with the unique ways that they express joy and celebrate life?

I started this blog, partly out of a desire to share my new traditions and revamped customs with a greater audience.  While continuing to offer original recipes, crafts and tutorials, I hope to provide a more cohesive direction for Rook No. 17 in the months to come ~ with an emphasis on simple, yet profound ways to create everyday magic.

Chances are, if you're reading this post, you're probably wondering what the "hoe, hoe, hoe" is all about.  Since the blogosphere has produced a wealth of original Valentine projects, and the stores have us "tickled pink" and "seeing red", I'd like to offer up a sweet little tradition for February's lesser celebrated offspring ~ President's Day, and more specifically, George Washington's Birthday.

This brings us to HOEcakes.  I can't resist the opportunity to be cheeky and tell you that this is not the name for a version of my "Polly Cakes" made with Bratz dolls.  No, no, this hoecake was a favorite breakfast of our founding father, better known to most teenagers as the guy in the wig on the dollar bill.  

The hoecake is a small pancake ~ a sort of buttermilk, silver-dollar, cornbread hybrid.  Today it is cooked on a griddle, but back in our nation's more agrarian days, field hands (for lack of a decent frying pan) would remove the blade from their hoe and use it like a griddle over an open fire.  Back in George's day, the hoes used for cotton fields were much larger and flatter than the streamlined models we use for today's home gardening.  Hoecakes were served both for  breakfast, like pancakes, and as an accompaniment to a savory meal.  

"He rose before sunrise, always wrote or read until 7 in summer or half past seven in winter. His breakfast was then ready – he ate three small mush cakes (Indian meal) swimming in butter and honey, and drank three cups of tea without cream.”  

Nelly Custis Lewis, step-granddaughter of G. Washington

Food anthropologists have confirmed that these "mush cakes" were even at the time, synonymous with hoe cakes.  

For the past few years I've made it a tradition, and shared it with my daughter's preschool, to make hoecakes with honey butter in celebration of George Washington's birthday.  It gives us an opportunity to talk about the ways in which our country was different back then, the ways that people made do with what they had, and to learn more about our first president in a way that is relatable and fun  ~ "Hey, I eat pancakes for breakfast too!"  

This year, I made a double-batch, which yielded about 48 hoecakes.  The batter is easy enough to make that my "line cooks" Fiona (age 4)  and Mackenzie (age 5) were able to do most of the work.  In less than ten minutes, Twenty-four kids and six adults had devoured the entire platter.  The kids got a kick out watching one of the moms demonstrating how a real hoe is used, while I explained the history.  

Jean Fritz has written a wonderful children's book, "George Washington's Breakfast", in which the protagonist finds out that the first US president ate hoecakes for breakfast.  It's a delightful story, and makes a great prelude to making hoecakes with your family.

Following is my recipe for hoecakes.  One bite of these buttery, golden corn-kissed morsels and you'll be counting the days till next Presidents' Day weekend!

Hoecakes

• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 cup cornbread mix (I prefer Marie Callender's)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
• 1 stick butter, melted and clarified

Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and water.  Pour wet ingredients into the well made in the dry.  Mix well to combine.  Let  batter rest while heating the griddle.

Heat griddle to medium-high (approx. 350 degrees).  Once preheated, brush surface with some of the clarified butter.  Drop the batter, by heaping tablespoonfuls, on to the griddle.  Fry until bubbles start to form in each hoecake.  Flip and fry until golden brown.  If serving a large crowd, transfer finished hoecakes to a baking sheet in a 175 degree oven while continuing to fry new batches.  Serve with honey butter.

FRIDAY FOLLOW ~ WELCOME!

If you're stopping by from Friday Follow, Welcome! And if not, well, you're very WELCOME too!  I hope you enjoy your visit.

If you like to get creative in the kitchen, stop by the "RECIPES" "CULINARY RESOURCES" and "CULINARY TIPS" section of the "Bill of Fare" on the right side-bar (The nav bar on top isn't quite finished yet).

If crafting is more your style, check out "CLIPART AND GRAPHICS", "CREATIVE THINGS TO DO", "TUTORIALS", AND "CREATIVE RESOURCES".

Interested in learning some Chocolatiering?  Visit the "WONKATEERS" link!

If eclectic, edgy, and cosmopolitan music (the likes of Carla Bruni, The Hush Sound, Edith Piaff, and the Shins) is to your liking, click the playlist on the right.

I look forward to returning the visit!  Have a wonderful weekend!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR ~ FREE VINTAGE VALENTINES PROJECTS, CARDS AND GRAPHICS

"Love grows by giving. 
The love we give away is the only love we keep. 
The only way to retain love is to give it away.”
~ Elbert Hubbard, American writer


How will you be showing your love this Valentines Day?

Like a box of Valentines Chocolates, 

today's post is a mixed collection of sweet treats for you:

• Three Vintage Valentine Card print-cut-and fold PDFs 
• A Treat Box Template
• Valentine Cupcake Topper PDF
• From my personal archives, I've pulled some charming Valentine postcards for you to use in collage, decoupage, scrapbooking, card-making, etc.

To make this 3D Valentine Card, download it HERE and print on cardstock.

To download and print these cute retro Valentines, click HERE.

To make these Valentine Treat Boxes, download this template.  Print it out "as-is" for a pink box, or print, cut and use as a pattern on your own special paper.  You can trace four boxes on a single sheet of scrapbook stock. Embellish with vintage ephemera, ribbons, and glitter and finish with a pipe cleaner handle.  

Make these lovely little cupcake picks by downloading HERE.

Print on cardstock, cut, glue to a toothpick, then back with a paper rosette.  

For the rosettes you'll need 5.75" x 1.5" strips of paper.  For instructions on how to make paper rosettes visit this TUTORIAL from Paper Source. 

Lastly, here are some Valentine's postcard images from my collection: