Organized Culinary Divo (OCD)

Yesterday was a cold, damp and grey day, which was perfect weather for having the oven on.  I was going to a dance party and there was a request for some baked goods, so I decided to make a couple of old standbys - Turtle Bars and Banana Bread.

Turtle Bars (adapted from Bon Apetit)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
3 tbsp whipping cream
1 cup toasted pecan halves
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour, 1 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup butter in a food processor and blend until crumbly.  Don't worry if it doesn't all come together, just tip out into an ungreased 9x13x2-inch metal baking dish and gently mix together.

Press evenly into the pan and bake for 15 minutes until the crust is golden.  While the crust is baking, bring the remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter and cream to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Continue boiling for a minute then remove from the heat.

Remove crust from oven and sprinkle pecan halves on top - I always add a lot as I LOVE pecans! Pour the caramel over the pecans and bake for another twenty minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips, let stand for 5 minutes so the chocolate melts, then use a spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the top.

Let set in a cool place, then cut into squares or bars.  Just try and have one!

N.B.
1) I usually put parchment paper down in the pan, which makes removing the bars much easier later on.
2) Please be careful with the hot caramel as it can cause nasty burns!
3) I toast the pecan halves in a cast iron skillet, but be careful not to burn them.

4) More chocolate chips can be used for a chocolatier taste, and milk chocolate chips would be okay, but I find the dark chocolate chips help balance the sweetness of the caramel.

Banana Bread (adapted from Martha Stewart)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
freshly-grated lemon zest
1 cup toasted walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350 F and butter a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.  Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and beat well.

Sift the dry ingredients together, combine with the egg mixture and blend with a wooden spoon.

Don't over mix! Add banana, yoghurt, vanilla and lemon zest mixture and stir well.

Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

N. B.
1) This is a great way to use up old bananas. When they get brown, smelly and disgusting (ech!), just store them in the freezer until you're ready to use them.  Let them thaw slightly and you'll find the peels and strings (double ech!) come away easily.  Mash the banana goo with the yoghurt (I like to use Astro Balkan style, full fat of course!), vanilla and lemon zest and allow the flavours to combine while the mixture comes to room temperature.

2) I usually add about half a lemon's worth of zest because the smell and taste are wonderful. Adding it to the butter allows the essential oils to flavour the butter.
3) Use as many nuts as you like, but do make sure you toast them first (see N.B. 3 above). Pecans would also work well, and I have even added dried cranberries.

Remember, recipes are just a starting point, so feel free to play around with them a bit to make them your own.  Baking is more of a science than cooking, so certain, fundamental principles need to be followed, so change things gradually until you're more comfortable.

The above is not representative of how I do things.  I am a multi-tasker extraordinaire, so I did not prepare one recipe then move onto the next.  I did them both concurrently and used any free time to clean, dry and put away.  CC is always amazed when I cook because it looks like no one has been in the kitchen. Here then is an account of how yesterday really panned out...

Awake to miserable weather and after shopping at the farmer's market, return to a freezing cold kitchen, so I decide the oven needs to be on to help keep my extremities viable.  Hmm, how about Turtle Bars? Hey, if I'm going to make them, I better take some butter out of the freezer (we buy bulk when butter is on sale and store it in the freezer). Well lookee there, we have some frozen bananas in there too, so I might as well make Banana Bread as well.  That requires eggs, so I'll bring them out of the fridge so they can come to room temperature, which at this point, isn't much different from the fridge! Okee-dokey, better figure out what ingredients I need to go out and get to make these recipes - chocolate chips, pecan halves, dark brown sugar and whipping cream.  While I'm out I may as well pick up some milk as we're out, so I think I'll walk to the grocery store.  Look outside at the hideous weather. F--K that! I'll go to the local, downtown, much closer bulk food store and get milk at a variety store. <Time passes> Well, that was easy, now I'm ready to begin.  Oh, the butter is still a block of ice. So, I'll have to resort to some creativity.  First, I'll cut (saw?) the needed amounts of butter for each recipe, then cube  each into oven-proof bowls and pop them into a warmed oven.  Now I'll measure out all the needed ingredients for both recipes and place them in separate stainless steel bowls - can't have too many of those folks - next to the recipes themselves, so I don't mix things up (I never do). Eew, the bananas are thawing - thank god I put them on the stainless steel daring board next to the sink. Well they thawed a little too much so the skins are (gag) coming off in (gag) pieces.  Let's just put those in a bowl with the yoghurt and vanilla extract.  Hey there's a lemon, so I'll add some zest while I'm at it.  Better mash that together now and let the flavours combine. Oh yeah, the nuts need to be toasted - I'll do pecans for the Turtle bars and Walnuts for the Banana Bread. Okay, the caramel requires butter, so I'll just add that to a pot with the brown sugar and cream and melt it on the stove. Hmm, the butter's not rock hard but it's not exactly softened either, so I'll increase it's exposed surface area by mashing it with a fork.  May as well add the sugar while I'm at it, and, hey, lemon zest!  Can't have too much lemon zest. Now, where was I?  Oh yeah, Turtle Bars. Butter's okay for combining with the sugar and flour in the Cuisinart. Better cut some parchment for the pan as the caramel can make it hard to get them out later on. Dumping the crust ingredients into the pan.  Damn! It didn't mix thoroughly.  No worries, I'll just add that to what's already in the pan and mix it together.  There. Perfect. Now while that's cooking, I'll prepare the caramel and clean the dishes I've used so far. Caramel's done. May as well dry these babies and put them away. Ooh, crust is done - isn't it pretty? Pecans, meet crust.  Caramel, meet crust and pecans.  Back into the oven with you.  May as well mix the butter, sugar and zest for the Banana Bread and sieve the dry ingredients together. Wow, look how warm and bubbly the Turtle Bars are.  I'll just add these chocolate chips, hmm, maybe some more, hell, I'll add them all. <5 minutes later> That chocolate spreads so easily and smells so heavenly! Better lick the remaining chocolate off that spatula - waste not, want not. Now I'll just move that downstairs where it will cool and carry on with the Banana Bread. Well that didn't take long - into the oven with you my pretty. Might as well do these dishes while I'm waiting. May as well dry them and put them away too. Done! Mmm, smells so yummy. Now that it's flipped out onto the rack to cool, I better cut those Turtle bars into pieces.  <Time passes> Ah the Banana Bread has cooled, so I'll cut that into slices then strips and set up some plates of both to take with me later on. And that folks, is how I multi-task.