My favorite has to be my variation of Royal Fans. The original recipe is a royal pain, but sounds pretty. My variation is to just make the dough get it into a squarish log, cut into pieces and brush the top with egg yolk and water (or skip that if just for me).
Last thing I baked was an Asian pear Bundt cake. Next is apt to be banana bread. Hopefully soon enough zucchini bread for an army.
I also have a soft spot for Mirro cookie press cookies because they are easy and still nice enough to impress those who can't bake.
My sister just made a vegan chocolate chip banana bread that is bomb. Pure bliss! And you know how much it takes for me to get excited about food, ha. My dad found the recipe for her in this morning's LA Times:
Valerie Confections shares the best chocolate chip banana bread recipe
We didn't have bananas that were as ripe as recommended, but it still turned out really great.
She has a lot of other recipes she's wanting to experiment with but apparently there's been this massive shortage of baker's yeast.
Recipe (I think you may need a LA Times subscription to view it otherwise):
½ cup lightly salted roasted peanuts, finely chopped
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
⅔ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ¾ cups mashed very overripe bananas
½ cup vegetable oil or other neutral-flavored oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
⅔ cup mini chocolate chips or very finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, line the bottom and two long sides with parchment with overhang on the long sides, then spray the parchment.
2
Combine the peanuts, olive oil, 2 tablespoons sugar and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Mix well and reserve.
3
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and remaining 1 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Whisk the bananas and remaining ⅔ cup sugar in a large bowl until the bananas are completely broken down. Add the vegetable oil and vanilla and whisk until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture and fold gently with the whisk until no traces of flour remain. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
4
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the peanut mixture evenly on top and press into the batter so that the nuts are immersed halfway.
5
Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 ½ hours. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. Use the overhanging parchment to lift the loaf out of the pan, then discard the parchment.
