quinn's place

oh, valentimes. always inspiring me to make something fun & special at home.

i got together with my galentine, sara, to make something fun for valentine's day weekend. not sure how we landed on making pretzels, but we were set on it. actually, yes i do. we decided that one day we'll own a flower shoppe/bakery/taproom combo and we needed to practice our pretzel-making skillz to complement pete's brewery zone of the shoppe. its going to be great. we know next to nothing about starting/owning/running a brick-and-mortar business, but...at least now we know how to make pretzels. baby steps, people!

first things first, sara brought over these deeelicious pistachio & blackberry croissants from the farmer's market. and local pear "gem!" haha we aren't sure why they wrote gem, but it is jam. fun to call it gem, though. local gouda, tooooo!

check out sara's post about the fabulous local goodies that she generously picked up from the farmer's market for us that day.

sara is the queen of highlighting cool small businesses and finding ways to support your community by shopping locally. foods just taste better and make you feel better when you know they were produced right in your neighborhood and not shlepped a zillion miles up a dusty highway to get to you.

also, sara gets to go see the QUEEN BEY in concert soon and i'm mega jealous. what a well-rounded human she is ;)

so, i made the pretzel dough in advance so we didn't have to wait ages for it to rise. we used this soft pretzel recipe from real simple magazine.

once the dough was ready, the pretzels were surprisingly easy to make. and when we figured out how to twist them, we were so excited! just look at those plumperoonies!

you boil the pretzels for about a minute, then dress 'em up on the baking sheet.

brush on an egg wash (1 egg + 1 tsp water), add your desired sea salt, cheese, seeds, herbs, whateva you fancy.

we used pink and white sea salt, poppy seeds, black pepper, sharp cheddar, and rosemary.

they bake for just 10 minutes. and they actually looked like pretzels! we've done it! floral/baked goods/beer shoppe combo biz, here we come!

for the fondue, we just melted some gouda and gruyere cheese on the stove, then transferred to the fondue pot with the tea candle lit.....

...we quickly learned that there is more to making fondue than heating cheese on the stove. it would not stay melty and we ended up just eating it in bits because we were too hungry to fix it. apparently you need liiike some wine or citrus or something something. oh well ya live ya learn, amiright?

[also, some more "fancy" water. this time, grapefruit, rosemary, & eucalyptus. "fancy" water ideas: one, two, & three.]

pete joined us on the living room floor for our pretzel and fondue date. it was a pretty simple and fun valentine's treat for all three of us to enjoy together heheeeee.

ps. those green olives you see.....$8! beware of the self serve zone of the grocery store, folks. we savored every last morsel of those buttery little green love nuggets anyhoo. so that's all that matters.

Recipe Info:

Soft Pretzel recipe from Real Simple Magazine

Gouda & Gruyere cheese used for fondue

behold my precious banana bread secrets. i've baked/eaten many, many a' loaf o nanner bread to figure this all out.

1st obvious (not so secret) secret: chocolate chips just make it better. and walnuts. in my opinion. if you dislike these things, leave em out.

secret #2: coconut sugar! i realized when i made these chocolate chip cookies a while back that coconut sugar is somehow far superior to white sugar or even brown sugar. its just a richer sweetness that i really appreciate. i notice you, coconut suga!

in this batch i used half coconut sugar half brown sugar, but i would have used all coconut sugar if i'd had enough :/

secret #3: half an avocado. yeah i said it. i'm not opposed to putting avocado in anything these days. its a "good fat" moistening agent. it doesn't taste like 'cados amidst the nannery-ness, it just keeps the bread extra MOIST. ew.

ps. all the synonyms for the word "moist" are even worse than the word itself: soggy, clammy, damp, watery. i don't want to tell you that this banana bread is clammy and damp, no thank you. so, "moist" it is.

notice this recipe doesn't call for butter (in the batter); the half avocado worked wonders in that department. now, butter on top of the bread is your own prerogative.

p.p.s. does anybody else think that the background music to the chorus of bobby brown's "my prerogative" (0:21) sounds exactly like chorus equivalent in the seinfeld theme song (starting at 0:32 in this vid)? this is super random, but i have always thought this, and i think only one person has ever agreed with me. wah.

secret #4: at least 4 ripe bananas! i've seen so many banana bread recipes call for 2 or 3 bananas. psh. that tastes like hint-o-nanner to me. i want full-fledged banana flavor and texture up in here!

in conclusion, all these aforementioned adjustments to your standard banana bread recipe will yield the most flavorful, moist, rich yet subtle in sweetness, amazingly delicious banana bread! we slathered in in kerrygold butter, which.......is soo good and you must try it if you haven't. actually, my friend joe (also mentioned in my last post about ice cubes...hi joe, you're funny) left it at our house when he and his wife brought over "an artisan loaf of bread and some fancyass butter." <<in joe's words.

when i went to go make this banana bread and needed to look up a recipe online, i was perturbed that i didn't have a personal go-to recipe of my own! so now this recipe is the one! its kinda weird and unconventional, but the outcome was/is seriously the best!

shout out to my bff kt who got me this adorable red mini loaf pan for my birthday. she really showered me in kitchen gadgets this year and i love her for it. even more than i love this banana bread. and that is a whole lot ;)

Extra Moist and Delicious Banana Bread

Makes 1 regular loaf, or 2 smaller loaves

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (mostly baking time)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar (or just use 2/3 cup of one or the other type of sugar)
1 egg
2 TB melted coconut oil
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 of a ripe avocado
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup chocolate chips, or more (optional)

Instructions-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugars and egg until smooth. Add the melted coconut oil, vanilla, mashed bananas, and half avocado. Mix until smooth.

Slowly add the flour and mix until combined. Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Chop the walnuts and add to the mixture, along with the chocolate chips. Stir just until incorporated.

Pour the batter into a well greased loaf pan (or 2 small ones) until its 3/4 filled. Place the loaf pan(s) onto a cookie sheet (so that the bottoms of your loaves don't burn easily) and place onto the center rack in the preheated oven.

Bake a smaller loaf for 40 minutes, testing the center with a toothpick to see if the bread has cooked all the way through. Bake for 5 minutes longer if the toothpick comes out sticky with batter.

Bake a regular sized loaf for 60 minutes, testing the center with a toothpick to see if the bread has cooked all the way through.

Let the breads cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. I did not wait that long when I made these particular loaves so they may appear slightly doughy. Oh well :) Use a pat of delicious butter, served on the warm bread. Cover in foil and eat the loaves within a week. It stayed super * moist * the whole week long! Nothing is worse than a crusty dry banana bread brick. Thank you, avocado!