Originally, my plan was to do some sort of cauliflower and yellow cheese dish (with herbs for coloring and flavor). I ended up pulling a fast one, my husband rushing to the store to pick up an already-made poundcake (I believe it was a Sara Lee cake). I did the rest of the work, was basically entailed caramelizing bananas in brown sugar, butter and cinnamon and serving it over the poundcake. My idea for a quick one came from a book I had recently picked up at the library- 20 Minute Meals by Sandra Lee. Her dessert was similar, except she made cookies and served the caramelized bananas over ice cream. I figured that to keep a yellow theme going, butter poundcake was my best bet. Normally, I would have no trouble baking a butter poundcake from scratch- but due to my illness, I was unable to.

4 underripe bananas, diced on a slant (quarter sized pieces)
1/8th of a stick of butter
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp of Cinnamon
Ready-to-eat/serve Butter Poundcake
Ice cream or Cool Whip for garnish (optional)

1. Allow the butter to melt in a skillet. When it’s melting and bubbly, add your diced bananas and allow to cook up in the butter sauce.
2. Add the Cinnamon and Brown sugar to the skillet and stir and incorporate it in all together, allow to simmer down.
3. Slice poundcake to desire and spoon the banana mixture on top. Add vanilla ice cream or cool whip on top if you desire.

Also known as Sweet Rice Flour and Coconut Cake.

This is a lot like Bibingka, but the difference is it’s a bit more dense and rich than the Bibingka I have made previously. I think the addition of coconut milk and eggs is why it’s more rich and why the flavoring is a bit more exotic and not quite as doughy as Bibingka is.

It’s quite simple to make (at least to me, I find baking rather easy and not too hard) and when you combine the dry and wet ingredients together, it’s a thick and creamy batter that is easy to spread in the pan. It looked like any cake would look.

The only thing I’m not too keen on is the coconut on top. I think if I add coconut it’ll either be inside the cake or not at all. I think I’m starting to get a little sick of coconut at this point, but it really does give it that exotic flavor that I am so used to.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
3 cups mochiko* (sweet rice flour; 1 lb)
2 1/2 cups organic evaporated cane sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 (14-oz) cans unsweetened coconut milk (not low-fat)
5 large organic eggs
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) organic unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

Sweetened shredded coconut, for topping (optional)

Instructions:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C.

Whisk together mochiko, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together coconut milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla in another bowl. Add coconut mixture to flour mixture, whisking until batter is combined.

Pour batter into an ungreased 9 x 13-inch baking pan, smoothing top, and bake until top is golden and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 1/2 hours. Cool cake completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours. Sprinkle top with shredded coconut, if desired. Cut mochi into 24 squares before serving.

Cooks’ note:
Mochi keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days.

I followed the recipe directly but instead of using white sugar, I used brown sugar. The consistency that came out was a bit different from what I have seen elsewhere, but it was due to my lack of patience to let the Bibingka cool, so I cut right into it and the pictures look kind of funny, but trust me, the taste brought me right back to my Nana’s apartment when I was a little girl, eating my “Kangkanin” (that is what we call any type of Filipino dessert).

Bibingka:

1 box rice flour (Mochiko)
3 cups milk
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup dried coconut

Mix all together and bake in a 7 X 13 rectangular pan till top splits and edges are browned.

350 degree oven, spray pan first.

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

What I love the most about this pie is that the filling (the custard) is very fluffy and not too rich or sweet. I have made other Banana Cream Pies where the custard was extremely rich and too sweet for my tastes, but this one worked well. If I had the inclination, I would make a meringue topping, but I don’t know how well that would work with this pie. Also, I substitute a graham cracker crust for a pastry crust and while it may be a bit more sweet, I love the way the flavors mix together and prefer it to the pastry crust.

Enjoy!

Servings: Makes one 9-inch pie
Serving Size: not available
Nutrition: not available
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 (9-inch) baked pastry shell
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups water
1 (14-ounce) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium bananas
Lemon juice

Instructions

In heavy saucepan, dissolve cornstarch and salt in water; stir in Eagle Brand® and egg yolks. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat; add margarine and vanilla. Cool slightly.

Slice 2 bananas; dip in lemon juice and drain. Arrange on bottom of prepared pastry shell. Pour filling over bananas; cover. Chill 4 hours or until set. Spread top with whipped cream. Slice remaining bananas; dip in lemon juice, drain and garnish top of pie. Refrigerate leftovers.

Making these brownies was easy and a fun task for my 6 year-old daughter to help me with, down to the icing we put on the brownies. The only thing to remember here is that you must cut them into 24 squares and remember that one small square is the portion serving. Eating in moderation is something that many of us in my family lack, and something we all have to remember to work on.

When the brownies were cooled down and frosted, I tried one and my sweet tooth that had been bugging me was satisfied. Having to remember that one serving is a small square was rough, but one was enough to curb the carby sweet goodness craving.

Guilt-Free Brownies
Courtesy of Diana’s Desserts

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. chocolate extract or chocolate flavoring
2 large eggs

For The Frosting:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp. skim or 2% milk
1/2 tsp. chocolate extract or flavor
1/8 tsp. butter flavoring
Walnuts halves, ( for garnishing tops of brownies) optional

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350° F (180 C). Grease bottom only of 8-inch square pan. Combine all brownie ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Spread in greased pan.

Bake at 350° F (180 C) for 13-18 minutes, or until top is dry and springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all frosting ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Spread over top of slightly cooled brownies. Cut into 24 squares. Top each brownie with 1 walnut half, if desired.

Makes 24 brownies.

Nutrition Information:
(serving size: 1 brownie)
Calories: 80
Sodium: 50mg
Cholesterol: 18mg
Fat: 3g
Carbohydrates: 13g

Diabetic Exchanges: 1/2 Bread/Starch and 1/2 Fat