Recipes
Banana bread
Ingredients
- 250g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 150g brown sugar
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 80g sour cream or greek yogurt
- 345g bananas (usually 3 bananas)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 90g mix-ins (chopped nuts and/or dark chocolate chips)
Directions
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon in a bowl
- Cream together butter and brown sugar in a separte bowl
- Beat in 2 large eggs, one at a time
- Mash bananas in a third bowl, mix in sour cream and vanilla
- Thoroughly combine banana mixture with butter, sugar, egg mixuture
- Fold in flour mixture until just combined
- Add mix-ins until just combined, do not overmix
- Spray loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and dump batter in
- Bake at 350ºF for 60-65 minutes on oven rack in the lower 3rd position
Notes
- I make this almost every Sunday
- I use light and dark brown sugar interchangeably in this recipe, can’t really feel the difference
- Life hack: soften butter in the microwave, warm up eggs by putting in warm/hot water
Chef John's Lemon Bars
12/30/25
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/232799/chef-johns-lemon-bars/
Ingredients
Shortbread crust
- 120g all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 28.25g confectioner’s sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Lemon curd
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 198g granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Directions
Shortbread crust
- Mash butter and flour together in a bowl until thoroughly combined
- Mix in confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully combined
- Grease an 8x8 cake pan and press crust mixture into the pan, prick bottom with a fork
- Bake at 350ºF for 22 minutes
Wait for crust to finish baking before starting next step 1
Lemon curd
5. In a large bowl, beat together 2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
6. Whisk in granulated sugar and 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour until smooth 2
7. Whisk in lemon juice an lemon zest for 2 minutes
8. Pour over cooled crust, bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes
Notes
- This recipe produces about a 1:1 ratio of crust to lemon, which I find perfect
-
If you prepare the lemon curd while the crust is baking and dump it right into the hot crust, you will cook the curd touching the crust too fast and it’ll be eggy ↩︎
-
I like lemon bars more lemony and less sweet, I’ve been able to reduce the granulated sugar by about -40g and replace it with a tablespoon or so of flour and a splash more lemon juice without affecting the texture noticeabley ↩︎
Cornbread
Ingredients
- 150g all-purpose flour
- 117g yellow cornmeal
- 49.5g granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg (beaten)
Directions
- Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl
- In a measuring cup, measure out milk, vegetable oil, and beat in 1 egg
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until combined, don’t overmix
- Spray an 8x8 or 9x9 inch cake pan with non-stick cooking spray
- Pour in batter and bake for 25-30 min at 400ºF
Notes
- Goes hard with chili or baked beans + weens
- I add more sugar for sweet cornbread, add shredded cheese, green onion, and minced garlic for a savory bread
- Moist and buttery without soaking cornmeal! I overbaked it once and it was very dry though
- I rarely buy milk, so a lot of the time I mix 1/2 cup half n half with 3/4 cups of water to make “whole milk” and it turns out okay