Mr. Flavor Bakes? Fudge Brownie-Banana Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae

First off, Happy Valentine's Day! It's important to show love all 365 days of the year, and we all know it's a Hallmark holiday- but it nice to be a bit more gushy on this chocolatey romantic day! We honestly do not have anything planned. We worked, paid a ginormous bill, and budgeted- how romantic! Paying bills is sexy to me...ok not really...

Saturday, my daughter wanted ice cream after a cold day's out at the playground. She really does ask for random things at random times. She asks for sausages when she first wakes up, or asks where's my doughnut before we kiss her goodnight. Haha...food is always on her mind!  Anyway, she asked for ice cream- BANILLA ice cream to be precise. For some reason when she asked for it, I became nostalgic for Baskin Robbins Hot Fudge brownie Banana Sundae. Not sure what the name is exactly, all I know is I ate it by the bucket-loads during my first pregnancy. When we told the little ones about the dessert plan, they were most certainly down.

The brownie recipe was my first successful baking recipe  a few years back. It's posted here with some changes.  This time, my husband and I agreed thinner brownies are better for this and we also added about 1/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips to the batter. Use any brownie recipe you like. This one is a good one, though! Also, if cooking in a 13 by 9 pan bake for about 17-23 minutes.

The husband took the lead on this one and he didn't do bad at all :) Great way for us to spend some much needed time together, too. Happy Valentine's Day! This is great for anytime of the year if you ask me ;) We forgot to buy heavy cream to make whipped cream, but you don't really need it. Unless you're kinky like that ....

You will need:
A Brownie Recipe
Vanilla Ice Cream- homemade or purchased (we bought Haegen-Daaz)
2 ripe bananas
Your choice of toppings such as melted semi-sweet chocolate, toasted walnuts, whipped cream cherries, etc

Directions:
Once brownies are slightly cooled, cut 'em up, top with ice cream, sliced bananas,  melted chocolate and nuts (or whatever you want)

And voila! Easy peasy husband pleasy ;)



His toes are curlin' ;)

Enjoy!!!

Banana and Cream Cheese Filled French Toast Waffles! Whoa.

Dude(ttes), I am not joking. I first read about this after I clicked Bobby Flay's link on Twitter. It said: "didn't/ see/already recycled yesterday's Parade Mag? (cont)" It made me giggle as there are a lot of jokes about Parade Magazine. But I really miss it, it has some great articles and comics! Along with the awesomeness of Parade Magazine, it had a recipe for the yummy looking Waffle/French toasts! My children's favorite breakfasts are waffles and French toast, so I HAD to give them a shot. My husband was away last night, so what a perfect time to have breakfast for dinner!

I used bananas and cream cheese, because that's what I had on hand. I had peanut butter, but I wanted something a bit different.  I used some bananas I froze, and  it gave the cream a thicker texture than unfrozen bananas would, I believe. And it added the perfect touch of sweetness.

 Biting into one of these is like a present for the soul. You get the sweet crunchiness of the bread, and then you are hit the smooth, sweet cream cheese mixture. I am definitely making this again!

I made this with Bacon, but do what you want. I LOVE Bacon. In fact, I capitalize the "B" in Bacon because Bacon is that important to me. And I put it in the oven for 10 minutes on 400F and it's perfectly crunchy and I am not covered in Bacon grease pop burns (not so sexy).

Recipe

Banana-Cream Cheese Filled French Toast Waffles

or try Bobby Flay's orginal version here!

French Toast Batter:

8 stale slices of whole-wheat bread

4 eggs

3/4 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 tsp orange extract (or use 1 teaspoon of orange zest)

1/4 tsp of  cinnamon

pinch of salt

Banana -Cream Cheese Filling

1 banana, chopped (i used frozen)

6 tablespoons of cream cheese (full fat or neufchatel) 

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

pinch of cinnamon

a little orange extract

Directions

Heat your waffle iron on medium

Put all ingredients for filling in a blender and blend baby!

Pulse for about 5-10 seconds. don't want it too thin!

Now put that in the fridge and start your French toast batter.

Add all the ingredients for the French toast batter EXCEPT the bread. Stir up nice and gently.

Now, get that cream cheese out of the fridge and slab some cream cheese on the bread and make a cream cheese sandwich. Resist the temptation to eat it right then and there are keep making sandwiches.

Dip a sandwich one at a time into the batter,

then place in waffle iron. 

Cook until waffles/toasts are all cooked. And voila! Easy, yeah?

 I used powdered sugar on mine but the kids preferred maple syrup. Use whatever your heart desire. Bobby used an amazing looking mixed berry sauce. I would have if I had some berries on hand. But this recipe is a great fridge/pantry cleaner upper ;) Hope you all try this or make it your own!

Banana Crumb Snack Cake Will Make Ya Go.....BANANAS!

I have a confession- I am a Peeping Tom(ika). Not in a pervy kind of way, really! What I mean is whenever I am out for a walk with my little ones, I always try to get a sly peek at kitchens of the houses we past. Just a quick glance, nothing weird, I promise! I am always interested in what people are cooking up in their kitchen, especially if there are delicious smells coming from their home!

 That's why I love reading food blogs and reading a magazine called Taste of Home. What's similar about both is that there's home chefs writing the history of a meal that either goes back generations or something whipped up on whim. I love looking at the photos, what markets they went to and why they chose the dish. It makes me feel excited about cooking and preparing meals of my own! As I live in Germany, my family and close friends are in the US, so it feels nice to be "apart" of what someone's creating for their family with so much love and passion.

So while planning meal planning, I cracked open one of my older Taste of Home magazines. I came across a recipe for Banana Crumb Snack Cake. It's the perfect fall dish. With the crunchy topping and the moist cake with bits of banana, white chips throughout; added warm cinnamon and fragrant vanilla for a little spice and a touch of me. 

It's easy to prepare and can be made any time of the year. This dish has a Autumn essence to it, so I thought this time of the year would be perfect for this cake. And if you have any banana's turning brown, this is the perfect recipe for them. Also, this dish can be made into cupcakes!  Make a nice cream cheese frosting and top the frosting with toasted slivered almonds! 

Ingredients

Adapted from Taste of Home

2/3 slivered almonds

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

3/4 teaspoons almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon  baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 or 4 medium bananas)

1 cup (8oz) sour cream

1 cup vanilla or white chips

Directions

In a small bowl, combine almonds and brown sugar; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

You can use a mixer, but sometimes it's nice work those muscles!

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; add extracts.

Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda

Add to the creamed mixture alternately in thirds with bananas and sour cream. Then fold in chips. PLEASE do not over mix or your result with big brick!

Spread into a greased 13-in, x 9-in x 2-in. baking pan

With help of my daughter aka Curly Sous Chef, I sprinkled on the topping. If you don't have a Curly Haired Sous Chef, any Sous Chef will do. It's easy enough to do yourself ;)

Sous Chefs love rewards!

Now bake at 350F for 35 to 40 or until when toothpick inserted near center comes out clean!

This cake tasted absolutely AMAZING and I hope you try it!

My assistant Sous Chef nearly ate all of the white chips!