Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Pistachio & Banana Mini Cakes

Banana & Pistachio Mini cakes


I know it takes me years to post a new recipe, and I apologize for all of you who are following my blog and may be wondering why am I such a lazy blogger??!! I am "lazy" when it comes to writing and posting. I essentially created this blog mainly because people were asking for recipes on my flickr page, and my answer would be: soon .............on my blog! I ,hopefully, will be more serious and post more often. This post didn't help get me back on track, I almost gave up. I had so much trouble getting it all together. I wrote it may be 5 or 6 times and kept losing the whole work after adding a link. I gave up the link- obviously- and ended up frustrated! writing always drives me nuts!! Grrrrrr.....
Speaking about nuts, I need to mention couple things regarding this recipe. First, I am not a big fan of banana bread. I only make it when I have ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter for days. The cake itself is good and I think banana bread lovers will like it. BUT, the issue is in the "nuts". I discovered lately that I'm no fan of nuts in cakes anymore. I don't like when they become soggy when mixed and cooked with any kind of batter. So, I left their addition optional and let you decide!

Pistachio & Banana Mini Cakes (or 1 large loaf/cake)

100g butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup granulated sugar

4 eggs

4 medium bananas (preferably ripe), pureed

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Pinch of salt

1/2 to 1 cup chopped pistachios mixed with a tablespoon of flour

Preparation

1- Preheat the oven to 350 f. Butter and flour a large loaf pan or ramekins (you need a lot of those if you're making the full recipe)

2- Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the melted butter, oil and the pureed bananas. Mix until well combined.

3- Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and the salt. Mix the milk and lemon juice. Set aside.

4- Add the dry ingredients mix to the wet one alternating with the milk. Fold in the chopped nuts

5-Bake until a toothpick inserted inside the cake(s) comes out clean. For the large loaf pan it will take between 50 and 55 minutes. The smaller ones, approximately 20 minutes. Cool before enjoying!