Bananas

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January 20, 2011

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Posted by itsmeangie621 under Bananas, Bread, Breakfast, Cinnamon
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Banana is my go to fruit when I want to bake, and but I don’t know what.  I’ll pick up a bunch of bananas some point in the week–have some for breakfast or a snack for a few days…and by the end of the week I have some awesomely ripe and black bananas. Perfect!  Michael knows that by the time the bananas are spotted, he knows they’re off limits to him.

I already have a go to banana nut bread recipe, but found one that was more cinnamon intensive and knew it would be perfect for my niece and nephews!  I was heading to San Francisco for MLK weekend, and wanted to bring them something a tad healthier than the Chocolate S’more Cookies (Plus I was getting over a terribly nasty cold I had been fighting for 2 weeks, so I didn’t have too much energy for anything more labor intensive).

I think that I still love my default banana nut bread recipe–but this recipe was also very, very good.  Major differences?  This recipe is much lighter on the banana flavor.  The next time I make this recipe, I may add an additional banana.  The flavors were much more subtle overall.  The saving grace to this recipe?  It’s also much a lot less sweet than my default recipe–which I actually really enjoyed.  I will be reducing the sugar in my original banana nut bread recipe the next I make it.

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

good for one 9×5 loaf

  • 3 over-ripe bananas, mashed up
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • dash of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups flour

For the swirl:

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 Tbs cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.
  2. Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. Sprinkle top of mixture with baking soda and salt. Gently stir in flour. Mix just enough to combine.
  3. In a small dish, mix together the 1/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbs cinnamon.
  4. Add 1/2 of the batter to the loaf pan and then a little more than sprinkle half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter, and then sprinkle the leftover cinnamon-sugar on top.
  5. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  6. Allow bread to rest in pan for 20 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.
Adapted from Lovin’ From the Oven
 

November 16, 2010

Banana Nut Bread makes me weak

Posted by itsmeangie621 under Bananas, Bread, Breakfast, Nuts | Tags: , , , , , |
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I LOVE banana nut bread and I’ve accepted that banana nut bread will never be healthy.  Yeah, it’s dark brown–makes you think of wheat bread–and it somehow registers that its healthy.  No? Not you?  The things my mind will resort to make rationalize my baking.

Either way, this recipe is sooooooooooooo good.  I always have a pile of ripening bananas in my apartment.  I buy tons of them hoping Mike will actually eat some fruit, and they always end up ripening faster than I can eat.  I suppose this is one  way to get him to eat some fruit.  Works out just fine for my mom, who asks for banana nut bread every other week.  This recipe gives you 2 huge loaves of banana nut bread–and if you have no plans of giving the other away, it’s probably a good idea to cut the recipe in half–eating too much is detrimental to your waistline.   I have a good system going on here–we go halfsies with Mike’s mom.

Enjoy!

 

Banana Nut Bread

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup butter, partially melted and cooled
  • 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups white sugar (Depending on how sweet you like it. I keep mine steady at 1 1/4)
  • 2  1/2  cups mashed super,overripe bananas
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pan.
  2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl.
  3. In a microwave safe bowl, cut each stick of butter in half.  Throw in microwave and partially melt butter for about 30 seconds. Allow to cool–3-5 minutes.
  4. Now in the bowl of your electronic stand mixer, blend the butter and sugar until smooth. On low, stir in the bananas, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla,  and walnuts until well blended.
  5. Add dry ingredients to mixture and mix on low until combined.  Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.
  6. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for at least 5 minutes,
  7. Transfer to rack to cool completely.
  8. Slice when ready to serve.
  9. Tastes fantastic at any temperature!
 

October 4, 2010

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

Posted by itsmeangie621 under Bananas, Chocolate, Dessert | Tags: , , , |
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For most of my life, I refused to try bread pudding.  Not because I had a particularly bad experience–but I just couldn’t get with the idea that mushy baked bread was going to be any good.  I was stubborn and I believed, as though I had eaten bread pudding my whole life, that it was really going to taste like mushy balls of milk flavored bread.  Bleh.  Cue Mike, the boy wonder who eats anything and everything.  I kid you not, he ate waffles, syrup and tuna his whole life.  And I don’t mean waffles and syrup and a side of tuna…but I mean pile one on top of the other.  He swore by it.  It was the breakfast of champions.

In high school, we’d go to hometown buffet after a movie (coupons, people…we had tons of them!) and he’d always finish off that awful meal with a bowl of hot bread pudding.  And I think because I loved him, I was willing to try it because he loved it.  Yes, I really typed that last sentence :)   Ahhh…fiancehood (it’s a word in my world) it really takes you to a whole new level of cheese).  Either way, I’m certainly a fan now.  Now, I probably won’t order this in a restaurant, unless their description is out of this world.  Why?  It’s because this recipe is just absolutely amazing!  The bananas and chocolate really enhance what’s already a rich, custardy bread pudding.    This is simply the easiest dessert I’ve ever made.   It’s definitely a wonderful comfort food–and tastes wonderful served hot or cold.

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups cubed French bread
3 bananas, sliced
1 cup chopped chocolate
dash of cinnamon

  1. Preheat oven to 325° F and grease a 9×5 bread pan.  In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, cream,  sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
  2. Stir in bread, bananas, cinnamon and chocolate chips, and allow bread to absorb milk mixture.  I like to leave it for 10 minutes.  Pour mixture in prepared pan.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
 

May 4, 2010

Peanut Butter Pie

Posted by itsmeangie621 under Bananas, Peanut Butter, Pie | Tags: , , , |
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Peanut Butter Pie and Joy Luck Club (the movie) are synonymous to me.  I know, let me explain.  I remember watching that movie in elementary school, so excited to watch a movie that featured Asian women.  That just goes to show you that no matter how old you are, you are well aware of how much, how little, and generally just how people of ethnic origin are depicted in mainstream media.  Let’s do a quick U-turn and get back on track to what I was trying to explain, shall we?

The movie is comprised of interconnecting vignettes, but I’m going to focus on Rose’s story.  A young Chinese American woman who ends up falling for Caucasian classmate.  To woo him she makes his favorite dessert–peanut butter pie.  I remember thinking, “That sounds pretty gross!”  I envisioned dense, thick layers of dry peanut butter topped with whipped cream topped with drizzles of chocolate.

Fast forward 15 years or so, and I’m now a college educated, working professional.  During lunch, my coworkers and I (well, more them than me…) were discussing their favorite desserts and what dessert they’d like me to bring in next.  One of them suggested Peanut Butter Pie–his favorite.  Flashback to Rose watching (not eating) the peanut butter pie she makes for Ted.  I grimace a bit…but he goes on to describe the creamy textures, light peanut butter accents, and the decadent cross between cheesecake and mousse…and I was pretty much sold.

And thank goodness I did.  It’s absolutely delicious!  Creamy, light…I’ve never had anything like it.  Wonderful…and definitely aesthetically pleasing.  Give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I decided to make single serving sizes.

****If you’re looking to spruce up this dessert, add some bananas!  I like to add a nice slice of banana onto the cookie pie crust before pouring in the batter.  It really gives the dessert a nice twist.

Get in my belly!

Peanut Butter Pie

Pie Filling
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 12-oz container of cool whip
Oreo Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups finely ground Oreos
1/4 cups melted unsalted butter
1 tbsp granulated sugar
Whipped Cream Topping
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1-3 tbsps confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Toppings
1/4 cup finely ground Oreos
Hershey’s chocolate syrup
5-6 Coarsely chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Directions
To make cookie crust: Preheat oven to 350°.  Prepare muffin tin by filling with paper liners.  In a bowl, combine Oreo crumbs, sugar and melted butter.  Mix to combine evenly.  Crust should be moist.  Fill cupcake liners with about 1 tbsp of cookie mixture.  Press down on the crumbs to make firm, flat surface.  Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes, until shell hardens.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Pie filling: In a large bowl fixed to a stand mixer, mix peanut butter with cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar.  Once combined, add Cool Whip and mix until smooth.  Once crust has cooled, gently spoon filling into pie shell.
Whipped Cream: Make sure whipping cream is very cold.  In a metal bowl, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla until cream is fluffy and you see soft peaks.  Do not overbeat or you’ll end up with thick and chunky curds.
Garnish pie with whipped cream and top off with chopped peanut butter cups, chocolate syrup and oreo crumbs–and voila! Nom nom nom…
Adapted from All recipes
 

April 29, 2010

Banana Cupcakes w/Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted by itsmeangie621 under Bananas, Cupcakes | Tags: , |
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So this story is going to start out…well…a bit ghetto.  My friends and I did the Irvine Mud Run the weekend before Mike’s birthday.  It was a great experience and an eye opener–that I need to start running again.  Either way, there were booths giving away free samples; and after an exhausting run, the fruit stands were by far the best.  Because we were scheduled for the last leg of the race, most of the vendors were gone by the time we finished–and well…it’s probably for the best.  Why?  Because my friends and I ended up taking home what was probably 30 bananas.  Were we supposed to?  I have no idea, but they were laid out for everyone and we certainly weren’t the only ones.  I can’t tell you how pleased I was with the bananas.  Not only did a handful of us have breakfast for the next couple of days–but I would also have a bushel of ripe bananas for the following week’s Birthday Extravaganza!

There was of course, a bit of a catch–someone had to carry those bananas.  And thank goodness it wasn’t me.  We were all so excited about all the bananas, we forgot that we parked 2 miles away.  I heart my friends for doing the needful (I understand that that phrase means nothing to most of you out there…but that’s how we talk around the office and it has somehow become of my general speech.  Have a go at it…I think you’ll like it too).

And now–drum roll–the cupcakes!  These things were awesome.  These cupcakes are so refreshing and light.  It may be misleading, but it definitely feels like you’re eating a “healthier” cupcake.  Mike and I really enjoyed these cupcakes–even without any frosting.  My parents, who aren’t too keen of “American” sweets, raved about the cupcakes.

Recipe makes approximately 24-36 cupcakes.  If it’s for a smaller group, you should definitely cut the recipe in half.

Banana Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2 1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup & 2tbsp. buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 (12 tbsp) butter, room temperature.
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas)
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a standard cupcake pan with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.   Set aside.  In bowl attached to a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy (2 minutes or so).

Reduce speed down to medium low and add one egg at a time.  Scrape down the sides as needed.  Reduce speed down to low, and begin alternately adding dry ingredients and buttermilk.  Make sure that you are beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix only until batter is incorporated.   Divide batter into prepared cupcake liners–taking care to fill them only 2/3 to 3/4 the way up.  Bake until toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean–anywhere from 17-22 minutes.

Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from Annie’s Eats

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 1/2- 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar (adjusted for your own taste)

In a bowl of the electric mixer with a paddle attachment, mix everything with only 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar.  Once evenly mixed, give frosting a taste to see if it’s sweet enough for your taste.  I personally never use the amount of confectioners’ sugar specified in a recipe, so I always caution others to do the same.  I generally use close to 1 1/2 cups of sugar, but I know certain people prefer their cream cheese based frostings a tad more sweet.

Once you’ve reached desired sweetness, chill frosting for 10-20 minutes.  This will help you with the application.

 

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