BakeSpace Test Kitchen: Recipe Swap

This month's challenge in BakeSpace Test Kitchen was trying out a recipe from another BS member (only among the challenge participants), decided in a round robin fashion. In this way Karen got to chose a recipe from my Kitchen, I got to try a recipe from Michele's, etc.
We thought the idea was quite interesting, the recipes are plenty and they come from different backgrounds and origins.
My excitement sank a little, I have to say, becuase, you see, Michele comes from a family of Italian origin. Even the name of her blog says it clearly, My Italian Grandmother. But knowing that Michele cooks a lot of different things not only Italian food I went to check her Kitchen box. [Michele, Michele] I found not so many recipes and most of them I have cooked many times, so they wouldn't be that challenging. And some recipes included the ingredients that I could not find here. The whole point of this challenge is to make something you have never made before or change the recipe in a way that it is something totally new.
I couldn't do any of the recipes from her blog, so I knew soon that the recipe I would be trying was her mom's Banana Bread.
Strange as it may sound to you, I had never made Banana Bread before. The idea got me going and I waited for my bananas to get ripe enough.
The moment finally arrived. Considering this is the first time ever I made and ate one, I can't judge, but I can only say that I LOVED IT. I had to hide the plate or I would have eaten it all in one afternoon.
This is the RECIPE I started from, but I did a few changes (don't ask me why, it just happened). One reason being that I had only 2 bananas (the recipe called for 3). So I decided to add a little mascarpone. The rest just came along the way. I had some ground pecans at hand, and so on. And yes, I thought 1/2 tblsp of butter was too little, unless she wanted to write 1/2 C.
In the end I was about to dust it with some powdered sugar, to hide the cracks, when my daughter entered the kitchen asking for some sweets. As I opened the cabinet where I keep the sweets, my eye caught the sight of mini Mars chocolates and in a flash I decided I wanted to glaze my cake with them. I soon realized that would be hard and added some chocolate drops, butter and milk. It was quite dense, and the flavour is right from Heaven.
I was a little bit in a hurry and didn't take a picture for every step, but I don't think that's a problem, right?



Michele's BANANA BREAD (with Dajana's twist)

180 g brown sugar (1 C)
50 g butter (1/3 C, instead of 1/2 tblsp)
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas mashed (instead of 3)
180 g flour (1 1/4 C)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
50 g (2 tblspoons) mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons ground pecans
1 tablespoon chocolate drops
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:
5 mini Mars chocolates
a handfull chocolate drops
1/2 tblspoon butter
1 tablespoon milk

Cream the butter and sugar,

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

Add the mashed bananas,

mascarpone and vanilla extract.
Sift together the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder and the salt and add to the batter.
Add the nuts and/or chocolate drops (if desired).

I baked it in my silicone Gugelhopf mould and therefore there was no need to grease it (otherwise bake in a greased and floured loaf pan) in an oven preheated to 180°C (350F) until the toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Serve dusted with powdered sugar or prepare this delicious, gooey glaze:
Melt the chocolates, the butter and milk in a small pan over a bigger pan with boiling water.
When completely melted and liquid, drizzle over the cake. The glaze will remain soft even when cold, so be careful if you need to carry the cake somewhere. Difficult to imagine, because mine disappered in less than 24 h.



(Ita)
BANANA BREAD

Banana Bread è un dolce soffice, morbidissimo e profumato. Non preocupatevi nel caso non vi piacciano le banane, perché il loro sapore davvero non prevale. Potete omettere completamente il cioccolato e le noci, oppure aggiungere di più, tutto secondo i vostri gusti.
A me è piaciuto tantissimo. Non vedo l'ora di avere di nuovo qualche banana troppo matura (che nessuno vuole mangiare) per rifarlo. L'ho fatto soltanto ieri pomeriggio, ed è già sparito.

Ingredienti:

180 g di zucchero di canna
50 g di burro a temperatura ambiente
2 uova
2 banane mature
180 g di farina
1 cucchiaino di bicarbonato
1 cucchiaino di lievito per i dolci
1/2 cucchiaino di sale
50 g di mascarpone
2 cucchiai di noci pecan grattugiate
1 cucchiaio di gocce di cioccolato
1 cucchiaino di aroma di vaniglia

Glassa:

5 mini Mars cioccolatini
1 manciata di gocce di cioccolato fondente
1/2 cucchiaio di burro
1 cucchiaio di latte

Mescolate bene il burro con lo zucchero. Unite le uova uno alla volta mescolando bene con le fruste elettriche. Aggiungete le banane schiacciate, l'estratto di vaniglia e il mascarpone.
Unite la farina, il bicarbonato, il lievito e il sale setacciati insieme.
Alla fine, a piacere, aggiungete anche le noci grattugiate e/o le gocce di cioccolato (io ho messo tutti e due.)
Versate il composto in uno stampo da cake, imburrato e infarinato (io ho usato lo stampo in silicone per il Gugelhopf).
Cuocete nel forno già caldo a 180°C finché lo stuzzicadenti inserito al centro non risulta asciutto (il tempo dipenderà dallo stampo).
Lasciate raffreddare nello stampo per 10 minuti, poi togliete e lasciate raffreddare completamente.
Cospargete con un po' di zucchero a velo oppure preparate questa glassa:
Sciogliete i Mars, le gocce di cioccolato, il burro e il latte a bagnomaria e versate sul dolce. La glassa è molto densa e rimane morbida anche dopo che si è raffreddata.



(Cro)
KOLAČ OD BANANA (BANANA BREAD)

Trebalo mi je dugo da isprobam ovaj recept, ali doista se isplatilo. Tako je mek i sočan, a okus banana nije pretjerano jak.
Važno je da koristite jako zrele banane (znate one kad malo pocrne izvana i nitko ih ne želi jesti?). Ostali su sastojci manje više promjenjivi. Ja sam npr. imala samo dvije banane, a u receptu je pisalo 3, tako da sam dodala dvije žlice mascarponea, i ispalo je savršeno. Isto važi za čokoladu i orahe.

Sastojci:
180 g smeđeg šećera
50 g maslaca sobne temperature
2 jaja
2 jako zrele banane
180 g brašna
1 žličica sode bikarbone
1 žličica praška za pecivo
1/2 žličice soli
50 g sira mascarpone (može i kiselo vrhnje)
2 žlice mljevenih oraha (ja sam koristila pecan)
1 žlica čokoladnih kapljica ili čokolade nasjeckane na komadiće
1 žličica ekstrakta vanilije

Glazura:

5 mini Mars čokoladica (ili 1 velika)
2 žlice nascjeckane čokolade za kuhanje
1/2 žlice maslaca
1 žlica mlijeka

Umutite pjenasto maslac i šećer. Dodajte jedno po jedno jaje.
Umiješajte zgnječene banane, mascarpone i ekstrakt vanilije. Umiješajte brašno koje ste prosijali skupa sa sodom bikarbonom, praškom za pecivo i solju.
Na kraju po želji umiješajte mljevene orahe i komadiće čokolade, ja sam stavila oboje, ali nisu obavezni.
Istresite sve u namašten i pobrašnjen duguljasti kalup (ja sam kako vidite, pekla u silikonskom kalupu za kuglof) i pecite u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C dok čačkalica umetnuta u sredinu ne izađe suha. Vrijeme će ovisiti puno o obliku kalupa.
Ostavite da se hladi 10 minuta u kalupu, a onda izvadite i ostavite da se ohladi do kraja na rešetki.
Možete ga posuti samo šećerom u prahu ili napraviti ovu "moju" glazuru izmišljenu u trenu:
Rastopite na pari Mars čokoladu, čokoladu za kuhanje, maslac i mlijeko pa ukrasite kolač sipajući glazuru u tankom mlazu. Glazura je prilično gusta i ostane mekana i nakon što se potpuno ohladi.