banana bar cookies

Banana Bar Cookies


1 large banana mashed or enough bananas to make 1 cup mashed bananas
6 tbs margarine (softened)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 8x8" pan and line with wax paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix the margarine and brown sugar till creamy.
3. Add in the mashed bananas, egg, vanilla, baking powder and salt.
4. Add in the flour and mix till well blended.
5. Add the chocolate chips and stir till just mixed.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out.
7. Bake for 20 minutes till set and let cool.

cherry pie

I needed to use up the last bit of morello cherries which I already used a little over half of the jar so far. For the last round of my cherry run, I decided to go a bit more traditional and classic and made an all American cherry pie!


I would have liked to use fresh cherries for this but morello works really well too as you get that tarty sweetness too. The shortcrust recipe is from this site. It came together quickly and easily even with just my hands and no KitchenAide or machine whatever. I let it chill overnight which definitely made a difference in rolling out the dough.


Once it finished baking, I dusted it with icing sugar and dug straight in while it was nice and hot! Yum! It feels like the 4th of July already! Except that it's cold and wintry here in Melbourne while sunny and perfect beach weather everywhere else.

oatmeal jam crumble bars

Oatmeal Jam Crumble Bars


1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (softened and cut into chunks)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup jam (use your favourite flavour, I used raspberry)

1. Cut the butter into the flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, salt and vanilla till they are blended and resemble coarse crumbs with small and big chunks.
2. Take half of the mixture and press them into the prepared 8 x 8 inch baking pan till the bottom is covered evenly.
3. Using a piping bag or a zip-lock bag with one side of the tip snipped off, pipe the jam all over the mixture leaving half an inch of space from the sides.
4. Sprinkle the remaining mixture all over the jam but do not press down. Make sure they are evenly spread.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 30-35 minutes. Let cool then slice into bars.

chocolate cherry brownies

Chocolate Cherry Brownies


1 cup butter
1 cup dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa broken into pieces)
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup drained morello cherries

1. Melt dark chocolate and butter in a microwavable bowl at medium for about a minute and till it's thick and creamy when stirred. Let cool.
2. Beat sugar, vanilla, and eggs till creamy and smooth.
3. Mix the chocolate mixture with the eggs mixture.
4. Add in the flour and salt and mix till well combined.
5. Fold in the morello cherries and spread the batter onto prepared brownie pan.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 25-30 minutes.
7. Let cool then slice into squares.