Pineapple Coconut-Banana Upside-Down Cake

To all afraid of dessert tolls, never fear: this recipe is from the Cooking Light book my mom gave me. So it has to be healthy, right? I actually made some modifications when I tried it that made it even healthier, though I'd like to try the original some time.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. butter (I used margarine)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 (15.5 oz.) can pineapple slices in juice, undrained
1 cup flaked sweetened coconut (I skipped this, since I didn't have any)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 banana) (I used applesauce)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large egg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet; sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Drain pineapple slices over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Place 1 pineapple ring in center of pan. Cut remaining pineapple rings in half and arrange around center pineapple ring. Sprinkle evenly with coconut. Set aside.
3. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife (Side note: this is how the book recommends always measuring flour. When you measure flour by scooping with the cup measure, you compress it and end up using 3 tablespoons or so too much flour, which is bad for recipes.). Combine flour and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine reserved 1/2 cup juice, banana, oil, and egg, stirring with a whisk. Add pineapple juice mixture to flour mixture, stirring until combined. Pour flour mixture over coconut. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Invert onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: 10 servings. (Calories 301, 9g fat, 54.8g carbs, 1.4g fiber)

After I made this, and Jeff saw the pile of dishes in the sink, he started singing, "Oh ye mountains high..." I love him.

Better-Than-A-Hostess-Cupcakes

Maybe you think that this wouldn't be hard, but there are some who would argue with you. This is the name that, after much deliberation, we settled on for what are traditionally known as Black Bottom Cupcakes. Jeff didn't think that name really fit. The recipe is from the Ivy Bake cookbook.

Better-Than-A-Hostess-Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
(These last two are optional)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions:
Beat cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt together until light and fluffy. Stir in chocolate chips; set aside.
Sift flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together. Add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla, and then beat thoroughly.
Line muffin pans with paper liners (or just cooking spray). Fill cups about one-third full and then top each with a heaping teaspoon of cream cheese mixture. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and almonds in a bowl and then sprinkle on top of cupcakes (that's the part I skipped). Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Did you know that, besides being scrumptious, cupcakes have a practical side, too? After a little research on Wikipedia, Jeff and I discovered that this muffin tray is saying "Hi" in Braille.

Russian-fest: Vareniki and Bliny

Last Friday and Saturday, Jeff and I celebrated his one-year-back-from-the-mission anniversary. We had crockpot Beef Stroganoff for dinner (recipe to come) and some Vareniki (apple dumplings, emphasis on the second syllable) for dessert Friday.


With an apple cinnamon filling, they were good at first, but a little bland--they were much better after we decided to Americanize them by rolling them in cinnamon sugar.

Apple Vareniki:

Ingredients:
Filling:

2 ea Apples, peeled 1 ts Cinnamon 1 ts Lemon juice, fresh 2 tb Butter Dough: 4 c Flour 1/2 c Milk, warm 1 Egg 1 Egg Yolk 2 tb Sour cream 1/2 ts Salt 1 ts Butter

Directions:
Mix dough ingredients and knead into a soft & pliable dough. Cover & let sit for 10 minutes in a warm bowl. Knead for 15-20 minutes at most. Divide the dough in 1/2. Roll thin. Cut into
2-inch squares or use the rim of a large round glass. Take one piece & stretch slightly, place a small spoonfull of filling in the center, fold dough over & very carefully seal the edges. Wetting the edge very slightly insures a good seal. In a pot of salted boiling water, cook Vareniki until they float, then gently remove from pot with a slotted spoon.


Saturday's dessert, made by Chef Jeff (whoa, that's way too fun to say) was Blini (thick crepes spread with jam or, if you want to do it Russian style, sweetened condensed milk). I have to include the description from russianfoods.com, though. It's pretty priceless:
"Bliny is a Russian traditional dish. They are baked in a great quantity at Shrove (carnival) - last week before Lent. Bliny making was a real sacred mystery. People told fortunes on the dough, kept their recipes of Bliny in secret. The first Bliny were put on the window-sills for poor people and pilgrims. The foreigners were very surprised at how many Bliny Russians could eat. At Shrove mother-in-law must bake a lot Bliny for her son-in-law. The most popular Bliny were made from buckwheat flour. Good Bliny must be very very thin. The thinner Bliny are the perfect your skill is."



Bliny:

Ingredients:

1 c flour 3 c milk 1/2 ts soda 2 tb vegetable oil salt and sugar to taste (Jeff and I make dessert bliny, so we add a few tbs of sugar) 2-3 eggs

Directions:
Mix eggs with 3 cups of milk . Add salt and flour and mix thoroughly (so that there are no flour lumps in it). Heat a frying pan and grease with vegetable oil. Pour a thin layer of batter evenly. over the pan, like an omelet (remember, "the thinner Bliny are the perfect your skill is"). Add more flour if you are not successful with thin bliny. Cook until light brown, about 2 minutes on each side.
Spread with jam, syrup, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and sugar, or any other topping you please. Then roll up and enjoy.