Banana Bread Cheat

Bananas don't usually last long enough in this household to get overripe, but, for some reason, this week we ended up with three over-ripe bananas. So, what do I do? Time to make banana bread!

As always, I decided to play around instead of following a recipe. We had a lovely box of white cake mix in the pantry, so I decided to base my banana bread off of that.

1 box white cake mix (bet this would be yummy with chocolate!)
3 mashed bananas
1 stick softened butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup water


I mixed it all together in my mixer until it was nice and smooth. I decided to make these into cupcakes, and it made 24. Baked in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at 350.

So far I have just left them alone, but I am tempted to mess with toppings-- like chocolate ganache, or peanut butter honey whipped cream frosting... maybe dipped in homemade Magic Shell...

I think I will wait until my boys try them before messing with them!

Verdict: Leave them alone! These are light and yummy with all the banana flavor. They really don't need anything!

Goat Milk Custard

I have given up soda, and needed something sweet to satisfy the urge to crack into one, despite the fact that it's ruining my teeth and my health, so I looked at the beautiful goats milk I happen to have in my fridge (long story) and decided I was going to make custard.

I cracked open Julia Child, read a few recipes, closed it and went my own way (totally typical me).

Here's my recipe-- though the amounts of ingredients are estimated.

I put about three cups of goat milk on the stove at medium heat (watching like a hawk) and added about 1 tspn. of cardamom.

In my stand mixer I whipped up some sugar (about a cup and a half?) with six eggs and three extra egg yolks. I beat this up until it was creamy and beautiful. By then the milk on the stove was getting near boiling, so I slowly drizzled that into the mixer as it beat.

Meanwhile I made a quick caramel on the stove. When the sugar started turning brown I added some butter (real butter) about a stick. This I poured into the bottom of a pan I had prepared.

I then poured the mixture from the mixer over that and put it in the over at 325 for forty minutes in a hot water bath (just a cookie sheet with water in it, really). I made it in a cake pan because I had nothing casserole-like to make it in.

It is SO GOOD. Way too sweet and just what I needed!