Tag: bananas

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Recipes

Foodie Friday: Bananamisu

Thanks to Australian Bananas for this week’s recipe!

Serves: 6-8 | Prep: 30 mins + 3 hours chilling

Ingredients

  • 375ml thickened cream
  • 395g can or jar caramel
  • 250g mascarpone
  • 1/3 cup instant coffee powder
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1 tbs caster sugar
  • 3 tbs kahlua
  • 300g savoiardi sponge fingers
  • 10 bananas, sliced (Lady Finger or Cavendish)

Cocoa powder, to serve

Method

  1. Pour the cream into a large electric mixer. Add half of the caramel and whisk together on low speed to soft peaks. Add the mascarpone and whisk on low speed until just combined.
  2. Combine coffee, hot water, caster sugar and kahlua in a shallow dish, stir to dissolve the sugar. Dip the savoiardi, one at a time into coffee mixture and arrange in a single layer over the base of a 5cm deep, 6 cup capacity dish, trimming to fit as required.
  3. Mix the remaining caramel in a bowl until smooth. Carefully spread half over the sponge biscuits. Spread over a layer of caramel cream mixture then top with a layer of bananas. Repeat the layers.
  4. Place the remaining caramel cream mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round nozzle. Pipe dollops on top of the banana to cover. Refrigerate 3 hours.
  5. Just before serving dust generously with cocoa.

Tips

  • To make this child friendly, replace the kalua with 1⁄4 cup chocolate milk.
  • To check if your dish is big enough, pour 6 cups water into the dish and it should fill the dish. Your dish can be a little bigger but not smaller.

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Foodie Friday: Lamington bananas

This quick and easy snack from Australian Bananas is great for kids and grown-ups alike and healthier than your average sweet treat!

Makes: 16 |  Prep: 10 mins  |  Cooking: 4 mins

Ingredients

  • 200g milk chocolate, chopped
  • 4-5 bananas (Lady Finger or Cavendish)
  • 1 ½ cups desiccated coconut

Method

1. Place the chocolate in a clean, dry, heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a metal spoon for 3-4 minutes or until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

2. Peel and cut bananas into 4cm-thick rounds. Spread coconut into a shallow dish.

3. Dip the banana pieces, one at a time in chocolate, turning to coat all sides. Allow excess to drain then roll in coconut to coat. Transfer to a tray lined with baking paper to set. Repeat with remaining banana, chocolate and coconut.

Variation: You can replace the coconut with hundreds and thousands or a mix of both.

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Foodie Friday: Banana double chocolate almond muffins

The perfect afternoon treat packed with the nutritional value of Australian Bananas and complimented with the indulgent taste of milk chocolate.

Ingredients

(Makes 16 muffins)

  • 4 bananas, mashed
  • 200 gm or 1 cup caster sugar
  • 150 ml or ⅔ cup oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 240 gm or 1 ½ cups plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 50 gm or ½ cup good quality dark cocoa
  • 100 gm good quality milk chocolate, chopped into chunks
  • 100 gm flaked almonds

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Prepare a muffin tray with 12 or 16 muffin papers.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and cocoa together.

3. Mix the bananas, caster sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl until well combined.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, chocolate and 50 gm of the almonds) and stir until just incorporated, without over mixing.

5. Fill the muffin papers to just over ¾ full and sprinkle with the remaining almonds.

6. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or till cooked in the middle when tested with a knife.

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Foodie Friday: No-bake banoffee pie

foodie friday logo

Banoffee pie is a household favourite and this no-bake recipe from Australian Bananas, makes it a quick and easy treat. Serves 8. 

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Ingredients

  • 23 cm diameter spring form cake tin
  • 1 x 250 gm packet of Granita or Marie Biscuits
  • 125 gm butter, melted
  • 1 x 495 gm tin sweetened condensed milk
  • 50 gm or 2 ½ tablespoons of butter, cubed
  • 3 tablespoons or 60 gm golden syrup
  • 4-5 firm bananas
  • 400 ml cream, whipped
  • 50 gm dark chocolate, grated

Method

  1. Crush the biscuits in a food processor until you have fine crumbs then and add the melted butter. Process again to combine. The crumbs should stick together when squeezed.
  2. Press into the spring form cake tin halfway up the sides. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
  3. Place the cubed butter and the golden syrup into a saucepan and heat, stirring until melted.
  4. Add the tin of condensed milk and stir on medium heat for approximately 5-8 minutes until the mixture bubbles, thickens and starts to change colour.
  5. Remove from the heat and cool for a couple of minutes before pouring into the chilled crumb crust.
  6. Refrigerate until cold and firm. The pie can be made up to this point and finished when you are ready.
  7. Slice three bananas and mix them with the whipped cream.
  8. Pour into the tart shell on top of the chilled caramel and smooth down to a nice flat surface.
  9. Sprinkle chocolate shavings onto the top of the tart and then decorate with the final sliced banana.

Tips

  • If making ahead of time, toss the bananas in a small amount of lemon juice.
  • This pie is very rich and you only need a small slice!

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Appliances Kitchens

The $55 appliance that helps you make guilt-free ‘ice cream’

It may be winter in Australia, but that doesn’t mean you suddenly stop wanting ice cream, am I right? At the same time, if you’re into the latest paleo/no sugar kind of diet, you may be avoiding processed nasties. So, what if I told you could make guilt-free ice cream at home, really easily? The only catch is you have to like bananas!

Cherry and banana Yonanas
Cherry and banana Yonanas

The last gadget I tried out before setting off on my travels was Yonanas and I loved it so much, it is sure to become a regular feature on my kitchen bench when I get home. Its technology and high-torque blade emulsify frozen fruit into a healthy treat that looks, tastes, and feels like soft-serve ice cream—in just seconds. Unlike other dessert makers, you don’t have to add any other ingredients such as milk, cream, sugar, yogurt or soy—which makes it perfect for vegans, diabetics and those who are lactose intolerant (which seems to be a lot of people these days).

yonanas

While you can chuck any fruit through this machine, if you want a creamy, ice cream-like texture, you really do need to include bananas. What’s more, it works best with overripe bananas (the ones you end up chucking out when they get too brown and spotty) which will no longer be wasted. When you have those sad looking brown bananas in your fruit bowl, simply peel and freeze them to use in your Yonanas later. You basically chop them up and force them through the machine, a bit like pushing fruit and veg through a juicer. It’s amazing how frozen bananas alone come out tasting so good and so similar to the consistency of ice cream. I bet you could trick your children!

The machine comes with a great book of recipes. I tried adding both peanut butter (not that great) and dark chocolate (yum!) to my bananas, but to be honest, the frozen bananas alone were so satisfying I didn’t feel the need to add any extras, plus it’s healthier that way.

My husband Damian wasn’t as convinced, but let’s just say I have healthier tastebuds than he does and he’d rather have the processed, artificially flavoured version of most things (it’s a constant battle…). It wasn’t that he didn’t like the end result, but just refused to believe my claims that it really was just like ice cream!

I found it really easy to use and loved that it was dishwasher safe. The only downside was the noise. It’s not quiet!

Since I checked out the appliance ($55), they’ve released a new, snazzier version called Yonanas Elite ($165). The original machine got a makeover with sleek new design elements and a quieter and more powerful motor. Available in glossy red or black.

Yonanas is available online or from The General Trader, Harvey Norman and David Jones.

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Interiors Addict

Kip & Co bedding on sale: 40% off!

Don’t hang around with this one, okay? Kip & Co’s bedding has a bit of a cult following and if you’d like to get your hands on some at a huge discount, now is your chance.

kip co 1

To make way for the new range, arriving in about 4 weeks, the Melbourne boutique bedding brand are having a big sale with 40% off EVERYTHING from the Autumn/Winter 2013 designs. They’re not even that old and they certain won’t look out of place on your bed this summer!

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