I think that I might have mentioned this before, but I am very much a fan of “florentine-style” cookies — very thin, almost lace-like, crunchy and a little sticky. As most of you know, I am also a huge fan of coconut, so with these, I combined the best of both: a little coconutty, very thin and crispy, and just a touch of chocolate for good measure. Great afternoon pick-me-up; very addictive.
Who here has stayed at the Hilton Hotel’s DoubleTree chain? You know how they hand out warm chocolate chip cookies at check-in (or anytime you ask for them, if you didn’t know that… have a cookie craving, go to the front desk!) Anyway, purportedly, these chocolate chip cookies are that recipe. I saw it on FB and even if it was a lark, the recipe looked solid, so I gave it a go. I like to play around with chocolate chip recipes anyway. These have a touch of lemon juice and a touch of cinnamon and you bake them for longer at a lower temperature. Whether they are the actual DoubleTree recipe, I have no idea, but that’s ok too.
Have you noticed this crazy phenomenon called Banana Bread? As a person who follows a lot of food websites, chefs, fellow-bloggers and newspaper food section watcher, there is this crazy phenomenon where, I swear the collective households of the entire US are baking banana bread. Here is an article that jumped on the bandwagen.
And seeing it is bread week here at CSPS, I might as well jump on the bandwagon and make some too, right? This is my second go at banana bread during this pandemic and subsequent quarantine time and this one is simply amazing! Browned butter = yum, spiced rum (ok, if I must), banana overload (goodie) and then caramel pieces (OMG!) and walnuts (optional, but still pretty darn good). It’s sort of like bananas foster without setting the thing on fire. If you have some bananas left over while you’re sheltering in place, definitely give this one a go! (PS: don’t overfill the pans; I’d rather go for two than have an overflow!)
I know that most people eat Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday and thus I am a day early, but I had time this morning, and won’t tomorrow, so there you have it. Also, in case someone was inspired to make their own and needed a recipe. Every year I make a new variation, but the base recipe stays the same (it’s usually the things that I add — raisins or cranberries or currants or chocolate chips — or this year, apricots) that I swap out. They are actually one of my favorite things and I have to be careful that I don’t snack this whole batch. As you can see, it makes a lot of buns!