Today I attended a gathering of high school friends for lunch.  Following lunch, we continued our visiting at the home of a classmate.  During planning of this gathering, I was asked to make dessert.  I know, no pressure, right?! Anyway, what to fix...  I know most folks like banana pudding so I found this cheesecake recipe on https://cookiesandcups.com/banana-pudding-cheesecake/ and decided it would be perfect.

Long story short, we had a grand time and my what a "hen party" it was!  Everyone was very complimentary of this lovely cheesecake.  I followed the recipe pretty close, but I did use my homemade vanilla extract and added around 1/2 tsp. more.  I also used stabilized whipped cream since I knew we were having lunch before and it needed to "hold-up".  If you want to short-cut and use Cool Whip on top, that will work as well, no judgement!

I know all the steps look very involved and perhaps are intimidating, but don't let that scare you off.  I hope you make this and enjoy it as much as everyone did today! I know I'll be making it again when opportunity presents itself. It is a keeper!

Banana Cheesecake

Serves 16

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups crushed vanilla wafer cookies (around 60, plus 17 whole for the rim)

5 Tbs, butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

Cheesecake:

4 (8 oz) packages full fat cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 eggs, room temperature

12 coarsely chopped vanilla wafer cookies

1 large banana, thinly sliced

Whipped Cream Topping

1 cup heavy cream, very cold

1/4 cup powdered sugar

10 vanilla wafer cookies to decorate 

1/4 cup caramel sauce

Instructions:

Make the Crust:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl combined the crushed vanilla wafers, sugar, salt.  Mix to combine.  Pour in melted butter and stir well to combine.  
• Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9" springform pan.  
• Press the 17 whole vanilla wafer cookies around the side of the pan.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden.  Set aside and make your filling.

Make the Cheesecake:

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed.  Mix until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Turn the mixer to low and add the sour cream and vanilla.  
• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition. Do not overmix or beat hard. Overmixing causes cracks!  These only need to be mixed until combined.
• Pour 1/2 of cheesecake mixture into the crust and spread evenly.
• Sprinkle the coarsely chopped wafers over the cheesecake mixture.
• Top with the thinly sliced bananas,
• Pour remaining cheesecake batter over the bananas and spread evenly.
• Double wrap the bottom of the springform pan with foil.  Ensure a tight seal to prevent water from getting into the pan.
• Place the springform pan into a larger pan and pour very hot water into the larger pan to a depth of 1".  Be sure to not add water above the edge of the foil.
• Carefully place the pan into the oven and bake 60-70 minutes.  The center should slightly jiggle while the edges will be set.  
• Remove the cheesecake pan from the larger pan of water.  Be careful so you don't get burned.  
• Allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
• Cover and move to the refrigerator and chill for at least 6 hours.  Overnight is better.

Whip Topping:

• Just before serving , pour the chilled heavy cream into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
• Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix on medium high speed until the cream thickens and stiff peaks form.
• Fill a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe the whipped cream, or dollop it on with a spoon.
• Place the remaining 10 vanilla wafers randomly into the whipped cream.
• Randomly place some sliced bananas (about 1/2 banana) among the cookies and whipped cream.
• Drizzle with caramel sauce if desired.

....and that's What's Cooking at Cathy's ~ Enjoy! 

Its a frosty 4 degree morning and a little dusting of snow fell overnight and while there is not enough to have snowballs outside, we can definitely have them inside.  What could be better than to help warm the kitchen with some cookie baking! Grab your apron and let's get to baking.

These little gems are addicting, so consider yourself warned!  They are buttery, melt in your mouth, toasted pecan bits of heaven.

This is a vintage recipe and I've seen it everywhere, so it is hard to know who to attribute it to.  I will say this is recipe is a little different than many of the recipes in that it requires the pecans to be ground very fine, almost to the same consistency as the flour.  The pecans toast during the bake and your kitchen will smell so delicious.

Snowballs

Preheat Oven:  300 Degrees Fahrenheit

Yield:  4 dozen or so, depending on the size you make them

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter softened 

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups ground pecans

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

1.  Preheat Oven to 300 Degrees Fahrenheit.  Line baking sheet with parchment.

2.  Cream butter until softened.

3.  Add sugar, pecans, flour and mix until blended.

4.  Using a tablespoon of dough for each cookie, shape into balls.  I use a small cookie scoop to make this easier.  You can put these close together as they do not spread.

5.  Bake 40 minutes.

6.  Cool for 10 minutes and roll in powdered sugar to coat.  Set back on parchment.

7.  When cookies are completely cool, give them a second coat of powdered sugar.

Grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy.

......that's what's Cooking at Cathy's ~Enjoy!

Banana Bread Cupcakes

Today I decided to use the lone banana laying on the counter.  Why does it always seem to come down to just a single banana?  I didn't really want a sliced banana bread or banana cookies so I decided to do a single serve option and turn the traditional bread into cupcakes.  Some will go into the freezer for later for a quick single serve option; easy to thaw quickly to satisfy that sweet craving or breakfast on the go!

It is a cold, cold day out with single digit temperatures and sub zero windchills so all in all a good day to be snuggled nice and warm inside.The additional the warmth of the oven with the wonderful aroma eminating from the kitchen just adds to the coziness.

I've been away from the blog for several years and decided I needed to start it up again.  We will see how well that goes.  It takes a lot of time and I do it for the simple pleasure of it and having some of my favorite recipes quickly at hand as opposed to those who do it for ad and sponsor money.  I need to figure out a better solution for the photographs since the lighting in my kitchen isn't always the best!  I hope  you enjoy the recipes and that some of them become your family favorites.

These cupcakes are simple to make and really easy if you have a stand mixer, but a hand mixer will also do a good job.

I make my own vanilla extract, and I used that in this recipe.  I also make vanilla sugar and used that as well.  I'm expecting these little gems to be so so good!

Here is the recipe.  The origin is unknown.  It is a pretty standard banana bread recipe, but I modified it just a bit with additional yummy ingredients like chocolate chips, chopped walnuts and coconut.  Feel free to omit them to adjust the recipe to your personal taste.  I toyed with the option of adding a crumb topping, but for now, decided to just go with them plain. They taste amazing!

Banana Bread Cupcakes

Yield:  12 cupcakes

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees Farenheit

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana
1 stick of butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit.  Line your cupcake tin with parchment liners or silicone ones, whatever you prefer.  These are the ones I use and I get them from Amazon.

2.  Add the softened stick of butter and peeled banana to the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix until well blended and smooth.  

3.  Add the egg,  milk, vanilla, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt to the bowl and mix thoroughly and mixture is smooth.  

4.  Add the walnuts, coconut and chocolate chips to the bowl and mix on low speed until well blended.

5.  Using a 1/4 cup measure (I like an ice cream scoop) fill the parchment lined muffin tin,  I used a heaping measure so as to have only 12 muffins.  

6.  Bake for 35 minutes,.  I'd recommend you start checking them at around 25 and increase the time as necessary.  You should have a nice rise and a lovely golden brown top.  A toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake should come out clean (no wet batter).

....and that's What's Cooking at Cathy's ~ Enjoy!