Phylo Banana Ricotta Pastry

 One of the great things about phylo dough is that more often than not you will have a surplus by buying just one pack of it. This is particularly true if you use it sparingly like I always seem to do. I wanted to finish up a pack of it before it became completely unusable, so I concocted a little something sweet and savory. I took some ricotta, bananas, a little maple syrup (thank you Arianna for bringing me some real deal one from Toronto. You have made me immensely happy), nutmeg, Parmesan and of course the phylo and here is what I came up with.

Phylo Banana Ricotta Pastry

2 sheets Phylo Dough
3 TBSP Butter (melted)
1 1/2 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1 TBSP Ground Nutmeg
3 TBSP Maple Syrup
1 Banana (sliced into 1/4 inch pieces)
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan (To garnish)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Take your phylo one sheet at a time and brush with the melted butter. Lay one sheet on top of the other and fold in half. place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl combine the ricotta, nutmeg and maple syrup until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Place this mixture on the center of your phylo dough and distribute evenly forming a strip about 2 inches in thickness making sure to end the strip about 2 inches away for each end and leaving enough room on the sides to allow room for you to fold the pastry over the filling.

Place the banana slices along the entire length of the ricotta strip. Fold the pastry over the filling and sprinkle with the grated Parmesan.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until your pastry has reached a golden brown throughout.

Allow to cool before serving. You can serve this with a nice hazel nut or vanilla ice cream or just drizzle with either maple syrup or honey.

Enjoy :)

Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting & Maple Glazed Bacon

Sorry for the prolonged absence. Life was a little hectic for a bit and then came the computer troubles again with my machine not letting me upload images which makes it so hard to show you the stuff I have made lately.

Today I am bringing you my version of the Elvis sandwich in cupcake form, or what my husband has denominated as the Man's cupcake. I was inspired by a couple of things, one of which was the banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting at Butterlane Cupcakes in Park Slope, Brooklyn, because I was a little disappointed with it. The inspiration for the bacon came from one of my favorite shows Bitchin' Kitchen and the host Nadia G, who like every good Canadian makes ample use of maple syrup.

The banana bread recipe is from the Food Network website, in order to do the cupcakes just divide the batter and bake in your cupcake pan for about 30 minutes or until the tops are golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. The bacon and frosting were done by me so here is the how to:

Peanut Butter Frosting

8 TBSP Salted Butter (1 Stick)
1 1/2 Cups Peanut Butter
 2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar
3-4 TBSP Heavy Cream

Combine the butter and peanut butter in a bowl with a mixer until smooth.

Add in the confectioner's sugar a few tablespoons at a time allowing it to incorporate well into the butter mix before adding in more.

Add it the heavy cream. The amount depends on how smooth you want your frosting to be.

Set aside until you are ready to decorate your cupcakes.


Maple Glazed Bacon

6 Strips of Bacon
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 380 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lay your strips of bacon on a roasting pan (like the ones your oven comes equipped with, i.e. the two piece pan that has the top part that has draining holes and a bottom pan to catch drips).

Brush the top of your bacon strips with a generous amount of maple syrup and place the pan in the oven, baking the bacon until it starts to shrink (about 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the bacon).

Remove from oven. Turn your bacon strips over, coat with maple syrup and insert back in oven until you can see they are starting to brown and crisp (about 5-8 minutes).

Remove from oven and allow to rest coating with a little more maple syrup.

Once they are cool either cut into thin slices or crush the bacon. Set aside until ready to add over the peanut butter frosting.


I don't recommend you make these every week (for obvious reasons), but every now and again these really hit the spot.