Chocolate Banana Nut Cake...A Recipe from the Greyston Bakery Cookbook!

Chocolate Banana Nut Cake
Makes one 10" cake, 10-12 servings

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup ground walnuts
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups lightly mashed (5-6 whole) very ripe bananas
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Position a rack in the center ocf the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 10" round cake pan and line the pan bottom with a parchment paper round.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the chocolate, stirring until completely melted and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, ground walnuts, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to blend thoroughly. Stir in the buttermilk, vanilla, and banana just until combined. Set aside.

Add the eggs to the cooled chocolate mixture and stir until well combined. Stir the chocolate mixture into the banana mixture until well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the over and carefully sprinkle the chipped walnuts across the top of the cake. (The cake will still jiggle in the middle.) Return the cake to the oven and bake for 25 minutes longer, or until a wooden skewer inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serving suggestion: serve the cake dusted with confectioners' sugar or topped with whipped cream.

Red Velvet Cupcakes...from the Greyston Bakery Cookbook!

A few times a month, we'll be posting select recipes from the Greyston Bakery Cookbook. This week, we've chosen our delicious Red Velvet Cupcakes. Happy baking and please enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 12 Cupcakes

A fun way to serve these cupcakes is to peel the paper liners away from the cupcakes and slice them in half horizontally. spread frosting over the top of the bottom halves, cover with the tops, and frost the tops; you'll have a festive handheld layer cake.

For the Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) red food coloring
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Frosting
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
4 cups (about a 1-pound package) confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

PREPARE THE CUPCAKES
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder to blend. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer set on medium speed, lightly beat the eggs. Add the buttermilk, vinegar, oil, food coloring, and vanilla, beating until well combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted near the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove the tin from the over and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cupcakes out of the tin and place them on the wire rack to cool completely.

PREPARE THE FROSTING
In the bowl of an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, cream the cream cheese and butter. Reduce the speed to low and gradually bea in the confectioners' sugar, until the mixture is fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.

Spread a few spoonfuls of frosting on top of each completely cooled cupcake.

And lastly...eat and enjoy!

The Story of Ben & Jerrys' "Chocolate Fudge Brownie" Ice Cream!

In the 1980s, Greyston Bakery was but a small operation that specialized in making fine desserts for New York City restaurants. But after founder Bernie Glassman met Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield at a Social Venture Network event in Colorado, the tiny social enterprise was given the opportunity to become Ben & Jerry's sole supplier of brownies for ice cream sandwiches!

The very first shipment of these 'thin' ice cream sandwich brownies arrived in Vermont in nearly one piece...but really a handful of very large pieces. The folks at Greyston hadn't given the brownies enough time to cool before packaging them, and as a result, they stuck together in 50 pound blocks of brownie bliss. This proved to be an amazing mistake because rather than dispose of the brownies, the makers of Vermont's finest decided they would crumble the big brownies into small pieces and mix them into chocolate ice cream. The result was delicious, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream was born. The flavor remains one of the company's best sellers today!

Our relationship with the quirky ice cream makers continues to this day. Greyston Bakery, employing over 50 underprivileged individuals from the Yonkers community, pays its skilled brownie artisans a fair, living wage and donates all of its profits to the Greyston Foundation, a non-profit community development organization whose work supports jobs, childcare, healthcare and housing for the underprivileged. The bakery continues to provide rich, decadent brownies to its quirky friends in Vermont and offers its delicious fudgy treats to consumers under the Do-Goodie name. I guess you could say that together, we’re a batch made in heaven!

Greyston's Beginnings and New York Style Cheesecake!

The Greyston Bakery opened its doors in 1982 in Riverdale, an affluent section of the Bronx just north of Manhattan. Bernie Glassman, a Brooklyn-born applied mathematician and Zen Buddhism teacher, lived with his students in a nearby house. This house, called the Greyston Mansion, sat on the Hudson River and had been originally built as a summer home for the Dodge family. With Glassman as its leader, the Zen Community of New York (ZCNY) opened the bakery, then just a small cafe, as a way to employ students and provide a place for them to practice mindfulness, hard work, and service, three of the basic tents of Zen Buddhism.

-The Greyston Bakery Cookbook by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan
Hope that introduction was enough to whet your palate! Now for a little something to satisfy that appetite...our recipe for a classic New York Cheesecake.

New York Cheesecake

Makes one 9" cake, 10-12 servings

The Greyston Bakery is known for its incredible cheesecake. This version has a graham cracker crumb crust anad both lemon peel and lemon juice, which is known as New York style. Here, we offer both a plain version and one decadently glazed in chocolate ganache.

FOR THE CRUST
2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about eighteen 2 1/2" x 5" crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

PREPARE THE CRUST
Position a rack in the center of the over and preheat the oven to 350° F.

In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Press the mixture on tot he bottom oand two-thirds of the way up the sides of a 9" round springform pan. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until the crust begins to deepen in color. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool. Reduce the over temperature to 325° F.

PREPARE THE FILLING AND ASSEMBLE THE CHEESECAKE
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar and salt. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the cream, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Pour the mixture into the cooled crust.

Place the springform pan in a roasting pan and pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake 1 1/2 hours, or until the filling is puffy and golden on top but still jiggles slightly when gently shaken. Remove the springform pan from the water and cool on a wire rack at least 1 hour, then refrigerate at least 6 hours. Let the cake stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.

The cheesecake will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days.

FOR A CHOCOLATE-GLAZED CHEESECAKE
8 ounces good-quality semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 egg, lightly beaten

In a small heavy saucepan, combine the chocolate and water. Set over low heat, stirring constantly until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the corn syrup and egg. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, then gently pour it over the cooled cheesecake. Chill for 1 hour, or until the glaze is set.

...then ENJOY! Look forward to more recipes from the Greyston Bakery Cookbook in the coming months.