This weekend's project: bread, to give myself and the family a break from sweets.
I chose to make a "faluche". This is a bread that is typical of my hometown in Belgium (and surrounding areas) as well as the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardie regions in France. In my hometown, they usually have a more rectangular shape, while in France, they tend to be round.

This bread is pretty flat and very white and it can be used in a variety of ways, whether savory or sweet. To give you an example, my daughter had some with honey mustard and ham; while I had some with seafood salad. Below the recipe, you will find a way children from my hometown eat theirs after school. I just ate some that way and childhood memories came flooding back.

And once again, I had some bananas that needed using. It’s amazing! We love bananas but never can seem to eat them before they get to the point we don’t find them attractive anymore.

I didn’t want to make muffins again, so I went for a banana cake. Now, I had done this before, I had a recipe ready to use but decided to try something new. So, off I go, searching the net to find a recipe I could easily make with the ingredients I had on hand.

And I found this recipe. It seemed quite easy and the picture made it look good. I start reading the comments, because, well, you can learn a lot from comments... Of course, you can also get very confused. Some people loved this recipe, and found it foolproof. Some said it failed, fell, etc. Some people said the order of the ingredients was not important, others said you had to put them in the order listed. Some people said it was too sweet, they added more bananas, etc. The temperature of the oven and the baking time also seemed to be very different.

I have to say, I admire these people who try recipes and change quantities, ingredients, etc. I would be so afraid to do this, not knowing how the changes will affect the final product. But I guess this is also the point of these experiments, correct?

So, this banana cake came out delicious. I did need to bake it longer than the recipe called for. It did rise and then fall when I took it out of the oven. It is so moist that I can’t tell if it’s normal or not. BUT it tastes GOOD!!!! Especially with a chocolate icing...

Click on "Read More" for the recipes.

Challenge this week: still work on pie crusts and expand. I decided to go for a traditional Belgian pie crust, and practice the "crème pâtissière", this vanilla cream one finds in pies and éclairs. I also took the opportunity to practice more on my piping with a homemade whip cream.

So, my daughter has been asking for this and here we go. I made again the cannoli bites I had previously done, with a few modifications.
The biggest modification: instead of using store-bought pie crust, I made it from scratch. I also reduced the amount of powdered sugar and substituted some regular sugar to try and reduce the chalky after taste.

Ingredients:
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 cup of mascarpone
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
up to 1/4 cup regular sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Drain ricotta cheese. Put in processor until smooth.
2. Add the mascarpone, the sugar and the vanilla to taste. Mix until smooth.
3. Keep in the fridge.
   

Believe it or not, I experienced snickerdoodle cookies for the first time a couple of years ago. A friend had brought it as her contribution to a group meal. They were just delicious and became one of my favorite cookies. So, when I came across this recipe, which is a muffin version of the cookies, I just had to try them. And here we go.
The recipe itself was very easy to follow and make, but here are some of my comments for those of you who wish to try it.

    One cannot help but be fascinated by the number of possibilities out there on the internet. I recently found this recipe and my daughter has been asking for it. So here it is, (very) slightly modified.
    They came out light and fluffy, moist with a taste that was not sweet at all. They can be served at breakfast or for snacks, you can take them on road trips or serve them in the Fall or for holidays.