Feliz Dia del Amor y Amistad!

I have a confession to make. I hate Valentine's Day. But this year I realized that the name for Valentine's Day in Spanish is "El dia del amor y la amistad". Translated that means, "the day of love and friendship".
I like this idea much better, so to celebrate my newfound sentiment of this holiday, my friend Erica Reyes and I made cookies for all of the friends in our weekly study circle.

Erica had the idea of trying to form the dough into the shape of hearts.

I think they are just precious. Plus they were made with all the love in my heart.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup butter (very softened)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. beat sugar into butter
2. add egg and vanilla and mix well
3. in another bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder)
4. slowly mix dry ingredients into buttery egg mixture
5. scoop out dough in 1 tbsp balls
6. (for sugary coating) mix 1/3 cup sugar with 3-4 drops red food coloring
7. press balls into sugar mixture
8. cook for no more than 8 minutes at 375 degrees F

BANANA MANIA

 I've been on a banana kick.

I just love bananas!

This morning I made banana pancakes!

They were delicious.

banana pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 bananas sliced
• 2/3 cup milk (use soy or other non-dairy milk to make it vegan)
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

Directions:

1. mix dry ingredients in bowl.
2. put milk and 2/3 of banana in blender. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix until just barely incorporated. Should still be a little lumpy.
4. add in rest of sliced bananas.
5. cook on medium in a well oiled skillet.

The angels eat this for every meal.

This is the most heavenly dessert known to man.

It is a banoffee pie, aka heaven in food form.

Mona, Chris and I shared this delight at the Cornish Pasty Co. It is a very yummy restaurant. I highly recommend it. Anywhoo, their description of this delicacy is,

"Crisp graham cracker crust, homemade caramel. Fresh whipped cream and bananas."

God bless the soul who conceived this dish. The guy who made it at the restaurant said his name was Stevo. I like him.

LOTS OF LOVE AND CREATIVITY

Tonight Kathryn and I made double chocolate chip cookies at Nora Reyes' house.

We only had one egg, so as a former vegan, Kathryn suggested we use a banana as an egg replacement.











After the first batch of cookies came out of the oven, I had the idea of adding berries to the mix.

THEN Nora had the brilliant idea to add cocoa to the mix. I thought she said "coco" (the word in Spanish for coconut), so she put some of that in there too.

So as a result we had double chocolate banana berry coconut cookies.

SO GOOD.

yummm.

Also, on Thursday morning we made "eggs in the hole" for breakfast. I made the hole into the shape of a heart. I call it "love in the hole"!

Love in the hole

OH MY WHAT?

My friend Dee posted this on her facebook. I thought I'd share it.
10 cooking points to anyone who finds me the recipe and leaves it in the comments.

UPDATE:
found the recipe, and the nutrition facts here (click for link).