Banana Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

The recipe for these tasty banana cupcakes comes from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. As most of Nigella’s recipes, these are incredibly easy and quick to make. They’re best warm, either fresh from the oven or heated in the microwave. When they get cold, the only thing you can actually taste in them is banana. The other flavors are barely palpable even though I’ve increased the amount of dried cherries (the recipe below includes the change). Heating brings the subtle flavor of chocolate and cherries out of the cupcakes and makes them taste really delicious!!!

Banana, Dried Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 12-14 cupcakes

125 g unsalted butter
200 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas
4 tbsp sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
300 g plain flour
80 g dried cherries, roughly chopped
50 g white chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) / gas mark 4
2. Grease or line 12 muffin cups.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then, off the heat add the sugar, vanilla and bananas, mashing them with a fork in the pan.
4. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs a fork, add the cream, then fold them into the melted butter, sugar, and banana mixture.
5. Add the baking soda and the baking powder and stir in.
6. Add the flour, cherries, and white chocolate. Mix gently with a spoon just until the ingredients are combined.
7. Spoon into the muffin pan filling ¾ full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top.
8. Remove the cupcakes in their paper to wire rack and leave to cool lightly.

Przepis po polsku:
Bananowe babeczki z suszonymi wiśniami i białą czekoladą

Onion Day

As there was Zibelemärit (onion market) in Berne, Switzerland yesterday, Zorra from 1 x umrühren bitte blog has declared 26th November as an Onion Day. She invited food bloggers from all over the world to join the celebration by preparing a dish with onions on 26th November and blogging about it today. Even though I’m not a big fan of onions, there’s one onion recipe I absolutely love! The dish is Red Onion, Feta and Olives Tart and it’s definitely the best savory tart I’ve ever had!!!

The first time I tried this recipe though, it wasn’t that good at all. The mistake I made was omitting balsamic vinegar. I didn’t have balsamic vinegar at home and thought it would taste fine without it too. Well, it didn’t. It turned out that the vinegar was really an essential ingredient in the tart, as without it, the onions came out too sweet. This time, however, I followed the recipe and the result was amazing. The vinegar balanced the sweetness of the onion and sugar mixture and the tart came out delicious. The combination of flavors of sweet (but not too sweet this time) onions and savory feta and olives is absolutely genius.

The recipe comes from the Polish edition of Good Food: 101 Veggie Dishes cookbook and asks for ready puff pastry. I made the pastry myself using Nigella Lawson’s Processor Puff-Pastry recipe from How to Be a Domestic Goddess, I altered the recipe slightly by omitting the lemon juice though. The pastry came out great: buttery, flaky and tender.


Red Onion, Feta and Olives Tart
( adapted from the Polish edition of Good Food:101 Veggie Dishes)

Serves 4

25 g butter
2 large red onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp light brown sugar (e.g. Demerara or Light Muscovado)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
450 g puff pastry (see the recipe below)
100 g feta cheese, crumbled
175 g black olives, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
basil, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400F)

Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the onions and season to taste with salt. Fry for 10 minutes until golden and soft stirring occasionally. Add sugar and balsamic vinegar, and cook for a further 5 minutes until the juices are reduced and syrupy. Leave to cool.

Roll out the pastry on lightly floured surface. Lightly grease 25 cm (10 inch) tart pan, then line with the pastry. Cover with the onion mix. Scatter the feta and olives over. Drizzle the olive oil over the topping.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry is risen and golden and the base is crisp. Top with the basil. Serve with green salad.

Processor Puff-Pastry*
( adapted from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson)

250g strong white flour
pinch of salt
250g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 cm slices
5-6 tablespoons iced water

Pulse the flour and salt together in the processor, then add the butter and pulse 3-4 times, the pieces of butter should still be visible. Add the iced water, and pulse till the pastry begins to form a ball, then form a ball with your hands. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.
Dust a surface with flour, roll the pastry out into a long rectangle, and fold it in three like a business letter.Now turn the folded pastry so that if it was a book the spine would be on your left. Repeat twice more, turning every time.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for another half an hour before using it.

* This makes enough for 2 tarts, so you may need to scale the recipe.