Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

So…I’m out of ingredients.

I’m not sure what happened…Just one day I looked in to my pantry and…cobwebs.

Well, that might be an exaggeration. But I am out of eggs, white sugar, and all but a scant 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Which makes baking desserts, you know, a bit tough.

Banana Blondies

But, some days, I just have to bake. It’s my outlet. My stress relief. I need my fix, man!

Somehow I scrapped together enough ingredients to create these awesome Banana and Saffron Blondies.

It was very much a Chopped-style baking adventure.

“So…what can I make with the few ingredients that I have in my kitchen?”

I took stock: unbleached flour, a stick of butter, a little powdered sugar, the measly drags of a bag of brown sugar, vanilla (I never run out of vanilla), a couple old and nasty brown bananas, the remains of the dried coconut from my Coconut Ladoo adventure, and a half bag full of jaggery.

Oh and a bag of ground flax seed. I’ve been on a ground-flax-seed-in-my-oatmeal kick. That phrase probably didn’t require all those hyphens…

Banana Blondies 3

As I didn’t have eggs on hand, the ground flax was quite a boon. I may have mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again. Flax seed is an awesome egg substitute in baked goods. 1 Tb ground flax seed + 3 Tb water = 1 whole egg.

My easiest, most hassle-free, go-to dessert recipe has always been blondies. They require very little time and very few ingredients. And even fewer cooking skills. It’s pretty much just dump a few things in to a bowl, mix, and bake.

They are also very forgiving of substitutions and, as Smitten Kitten has said, they are infinitely adaptable.

So when I wanted to bake the other night, but saw only a bunch of sad, nearly empty jars on the shelf, my mind instantly (well, quickly, anyway) went to blondies. With a few adaptions of course :).

I opted for banana blondies then asked my man if he thought I should add anything else to the mix to make them a bit more interesting.

“Saffron”

No hesitation what-so-ever.

So I went with saffron.

Banana Blondies 2

So on a boring weekday night, in a poorly stocked kitchen, I baked these not-boring, flavor-loaded Banana Saffron Blondies.

Alas, they never lived to see the day. They were devoured by the next morning.

Banana and Saffron Blondies (adapted from Infinitely Adaptable Blondies)

Makes 12 (2 x 2 inch squares)

  • 8 Tb (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup jaggery or substitute more brown sugar *NOTE*
  • 1 Tb ground flax seed mixed with 3 TB water
  • 1 banana, mashed
  • 2-4 tsp saffron extract oil *NOTE*
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  1. Butter an 8×8 pan.
  2. Mix butter, jaggery and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter and jaggery have melted completely.
  3. Transfer butter-sugar mixture to a large bowl and continue to mix until smooth.
  4. Add flax and banana and stir until combined.
  5. Add saffron oil 1 tsp at a time to taste. (Yes I want you to eat straight up butter and sugar. I know you are doing it anyway.)
  6. Fold in flour and salt until just combined.
  7. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting them.
  8. Once cool, drizzle with saffron icing.

Saffron Icing

  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 Tb milk
  • 1-2 tsp saffron oil
  1. Whisk together sugar, milk, and saffron until smooth. Drizzle over blondies.

 *NOTE*

Look at my past post for a description of jaggery and where to find it. Saffron extract oil can be found at most Indian groceries. And it’s WAY cheaper than saffron threads.