Bananas Foster Cobbler

As usual, I saw an interesting-looking recipe and changed all but the basic idea.  This is best served warm with a scoop of your favorite version of vanilla ice cream.  I bet Butter Pecan would be good, too!

Ingredients:

Cobbler Base:
1 cup self-rising flour, separated
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup sweetened vanilla almond milk  (or increase sugar to 1 cup, use unsweetened original almond milk,  and add 1 tsp vanilla)
1/2 cup non-dairy margarine, melted

Banana Mixture:
4 medium bananas, pureed (about 2 cups)
3 Tbsp gold rum

Topping:
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup non-dairy margarine

**Note: if, like me, you don't have self-rising flour on hand you can make a batch for this recipe by using 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1-1/2 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt, and 3/8 tsp {1/4 plus 1/8 tsp, if you're like me and fail at fractions : ) } baking soda. Use 1 cup of mixture for the base and the remaining 1/2 cup for the topping.**

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 13x9 glass baking dish.

For the cobbler base, combine the 1 cup of flour and white sugar in a medium bowl.  Add the milk and melted margarine and stir until smooth.  Pour into the baking dish and spread evenly.

For the banana mixture, simply stir together the pureed bananas and rum into a creamy, rummy goodness.  Pour onto the cobbler base.  It will sink in, like a marble cake; distribute it evenly but don't worry about mixing them together.

For the topping, combine the oats, brown sugar, and flour in a large bowl.  Use a pastry cutter or large fork to cut the butter into the dry mixture until it's crumbly.  Sprinkle the topping over the bananas and cobbler base evenly.

Bake 25-30 minutes, or until browned and set.  A toothpick will not come out completely clean because of the banana mixture so judge by whether or not the center of the cobbler jiggles like jello.  If it does--bake it another few minutes.  It should be pretty firm when jiggled and the edges will brown and start to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Let cool a bit and serve topped with ice cream.  Enjoy!

Note about baking with almond milk

I've noticed that when I make pancakes or other baked goods using almond milk that the batter is always extra thick and often the resulting baked item is not as fluffy as I would like.  Because almond milk is thicker than cow's milk, it is necessary to use a little bit more to achieve the desired result.  For instance, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of milk I usually use more like 1-1/4 cups of almond milk.  My recipes here take that into consideration and can be followed as written.  But  I thought I would mention this for those who are also converting traditional recipes to dairy-free.

Cinnamon Apple Oven Pancake

I've made oven pancakes for years but only stumbled across the idea for the cinnamon apple topping out of desperation last weekend!  As they say, "Necessity breeds invention!"

Cinnamon Apple Oven Pancake

Ingredients:

For pancake:
1/2 cup flour
just under 2/3 cup unsweetened original almond milk
dash salt
2 eggs
1/2 stick or 1/4 cup Earth Balance spread

For topping:
1 granny smith apple, peeled and diced
1 tbsp Earth Balance spread
1/4 cup loosely measured brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
A sprinkle of powdered sugar, if desired

Instructions:

Pancake:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place margarine in a glass pie plate and place in oven to melt.  Meanwhile, combine the flour and milk with a fork; it will be lumpy and that's okay.  Then add the dash of salt and eggs, mixing until a nice batter forms.

When margarine has melted, remove pie plate from oven and pour pancake batter over the margarine.  Replace in oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are light brown.  The pancake will rise up around the sides, forming a canyon and be very puffy.  When it's removed from the oven the center will fall and you will still have a bit of a bowl shape, just perfect for holding all that yummy topping!

Fresh from the oven

Topping:

While the pancake is baking, put the diced apples in a microwave-safe bowl and top with the margarine, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Microwave for 3-4 minutes, or until apples are soft and covered in thick, syrupy goodness.  Set aside and wait for your pancake to be ready.

Assembly:

Use a large, flexible spatula to get the pancake out of the pie plate and onto a plate.  It might be stuck a little bit--gently nudge with the spatula to loosen.  There will be a lot of melted margarine on the pancake.  I always let that drain off but if you're into it, go ahead and take it all.  Spoon the topping onto the pancake, sprinkle with powdered sugar and enter into tastebud heaven!

Pancake is ready!

***Note: You can top the oven pancake many other ways.  Lemon juice, sliced strawberries (really any fruit), chocolate chips, etc.