Better-Than-the-Average Banana Bread

Truth be told, I don’t like banana bread. It’s a sad reality of my family that I can make a loaf and no one will eat it. However, I made some bread yesterday for church and oh my, the smell in my house was amazing. This, my friends, is a banana bread worth making, smelling AND eating. Can’t beat that. The following recipe is altered from Janet’s Rich Banana Bread.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 medium bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

**I made the entire recipe in my Kitchen Aid mixer and it turned out just fine. When using a stand mixer, make sure not to be beat the ingredients too hard. Use the 1st level/basic stir setting more often to gently incorporate the ingredients without beating the life out of them. Also, I rarely ever dirty two bowls with wet and dry ingredients. I add dry to the wet as I go and it usually works out well in the end.

Low Fat Blueberry Banana Bread

I found this yummy recipe on epicurious.com and tweaked a little by making it more low fat, using whole wheat flour, and adding blueberries.  It’s outstanding.

** (Renae here): I have been making this regularly since Brook first posted it. I much prefer her version with the blueberries, but I make it with chocolate chips as a treat for the kiddos (pictured here). I also add 2-3 tablespoons of ground flaxseed and up the applesauce to 2 tablespoons — you know, to even out the health factor with the chocolate chips.

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup smashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (or kefir)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or applesauce
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Lightly grease 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2-inch pan; dust with flour.
3. Using electric mixer; beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until thick and light, about 5 minutes.
4. Mix in smashed bananas, buttermilk, oil and vanilla.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt over mixture; beat until just blended.
6. Fold in blueberries.
7. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
8. Bake bread until golden brown on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
9. Turn bread out onto rack and cool.

Cranberry Anything Muffins

One of the reasons I generally like cooking better than baking is that cooking tends to be a little more forgiving when it comes to experimentation and substitutions. Lately, though, I’ve been playing with quickbreads. For this recipe, I took elements from three or four recipes and hoped for the best. These muffins were good enough that I wanted to remember and repeat.

I specifically wanted these to be low fat and low sugar.  They ended up being vegan too.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour (you could use some wheat flour — I didn’t have any)
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup almond milk (you could use any kind of milk)
• 1/2 cup butternut squash puree
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (you could use brown or white sugar)
• 2 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1 cup cranberries (I gave mine a little whir in the food  processor)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
2. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda,  cinnamon, and coconut in a large mixing bowl and stir. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, squash puree, agave, and bananas with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mix slowly, stirring just until moistened. Carefully stir in the cranberries. Do not overmix — the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake 18 to 20 minutes.

 

Vanilla Pear and Strawberry Bread

So this is my very first attempt at creating a recipe. I was pleased enough with how it turned out that I am preserving it here, though I think in the future I would need to streamline the process. Read on; you’ll get why.

I started out making a batch of Smitten Kitchen’s Vanilla Bean Pear Sauce for Ian. The problem was that I didn’t know how many pears I had, and I just followed the recipe hoping I had the right amount. I had too few pears, and the sauce turned out way too runny and I thought maybe a bit too pungent for the babe (he tried it, but I couldn’t tell what he thought of it). Simon and I liked it, though (flavor if not texture), and I really didn’t want to just toss the batch. I poured it into ice cube trays, thinking I would combine it with a thicker puree, but then I had a change of heart, and maybe even a bit of inspiration.

I based the recipe on Brook’s Low Fat Blueberry Banana Bread but subbed out almost every ingredient. I chose the strawberries because (a) I had them and (b) I thought that if the balsamic taste didn’t totally get lost in the baking that at least balsamic goes well with strawberries.

Next time I would make the pears with the same recipe, but instead of dumping all the liquid in the blender at once, I would add it a bit at a time until I got the right consistency with the sauce. I also think the balsamic taste could have come through a little more in the bread, so I want to try macerating the strawberries with balsamic first.

I had fun trying to think through what would work . I am more confident in swapping and experimenting when it comes to cooking than baking, but this was a good first try.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon vanilla bean pear sauce (you could also use 1 tablespoon oil in place of the extra tablespoon)
• 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt (I used nonfat)
• 1 3/4 cups flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Lightly grease 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2-inch pan; dust with flour.
3. Using electric mixer; beat eggs and brown sugar in large bowl until thick and light, about 5 minutes.
4. Mix in pear sauce and yogurt.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt over mixture; beat until just blended.
6. Fold in strawberries.
7. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
8. Bake bread until golden brown on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
9. Turn bread out onto rack and cool.

Applesauce Muffins

This recipe comes from Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld. I made only minor modifications. I skipped the topping, mainly because I’m trying to cut back on the sugar that Simon eats — baby steps.

Ingredients:

Topping

• 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread, melted

Batter

• 1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup white and 1/2 cup wheat; I also added 1 1/2 tablespoons of soy flour and 1 1/2 tablespoons of wheat germ)
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil (I wonder if you could substitute another 1/4 cup applesauce — I bet you could)
• 1 large egg

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
2. To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the margarine.
3. To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and stir. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mix slowly, stirring just until moistened. Do not overmix — the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18 to 20 minutes.

French Bread

I love making this loaf of bread. Few ingredients. Little time requirement. Great flavor (especially when you make it with the additional seasonings and butter/garlic salt for topping). Thanks to Diane Downing & Kristie Strahm for this addition to the NZC (New Zion Cookbook).

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 C flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 1/4 C water, lukewarm
• 2 1/4 t yeast

Directions

1. Place ingredients in a breadmaker or mixer and knead.
2. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning dough to coat all sides with oil.
3. Let dough rise for 30-45 minutes.
4. Punch down and roll out dough into rectangle shape, then roll dough in a jelly roll shape.
5. Place dough on a baking sheet. Cut slits in top with a knife and let dough rise for 1 hour.
6. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.
7. Reduce oven to 375 and bake for 4-8 minutes.

Notes

• This recipe is often used as communion bread. For a special treat, Kristie adds 1 T Italian seasoning and 1 T rosemary to the lukewarm water. Mix the dough the same way. After it is baked, she brushes melted butter on top and sprinkles lightly with Lawry’s garlic salt.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I find that lately I don’t like to leave baking recipes untweaked.  I altered this one from epicurious.com.  They call is “Spiced Pumpkin Bread”.  I call it “not good enough.”  The way the spices and the chocolate chips combine is like having Mexican hot chocolate.  They’re so good.  Below is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or you could use oil)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
• 3 cups all purpose flour (1 1/2 c. whole wheat, 1 1/2 c. white)
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• all the chocolate chips I had left in the bag

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Butter and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans or 24 muffin tins.
3. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend.
4. Mix in eggs and pumpkin.
5. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder.
6. Add chocolate chips.
7. Divide batter equally between prepared pans.
8. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean (approx. 70 minutes for bread, 25-30 minutes for muffins).
9. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes.
10. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves.
11. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

Jamie put me on to these when we were visiting. The original recipe comes from Carrie Moseman, and it’s in the new Zion cookbook (NZC). They’ve quickly become a staple around here.

• 5 cups flour (you can use a combination of white and wheat if you like)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 (15-oz.) box Raisin Bran
• 5 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 quart buttermilk
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup applesauce or oil

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, and applesauce. Place in refrigerator for a couple of hours (or overnight) until cereal is soft. Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Keep remaining muffin batter in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.

Grandma’s Banana Bread

I pulled out the ole jar o’ molasses today for a whole wheat bread recipe (which, if it’s good, I promise to post later), and kept it out to make a recipe on the back of the jar. I am a huge non-fan of banana bread; don’t know why, but I rarely eat it. And yet, I really like this molasses banana bread. It bakes up to a lovely dark brown—thereby fooling my family into believing it was a loaf of chocolaty goodness–and has a firm, chewy texture. Enjoy!

4 T butter, softened
3/4 C Grandma’s Molasses
1/4 C sugar
1-1/4 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed

optional:
1/2 C each chopped nuts & chocolate chips
1/2 t each fine orange zest & nutmeg

Heat oven to 350. Cream butter, molasses and sugar. Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda. Combine with butter mixture until consistency resembles brown sugar. Beat in eggs. Fold in remaining ingredients. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes. Cool.

**Combine until consistency resembles brown sugar? What is that supposed to mean?!? I tasted the batter/dough/whatever you call it and it was a little grainy, kind of brown sugar-like, so I figured it was good enough for me to continue. If anyone knows precisely what this recipe intends from such a statement, do share.

Apple Cranberry Bread

Sarah made this recipe years ago and I fell in love with it instantly. I’ve made it so many times that I was forced to take a year off. Fortunately, the tradition resumes in 2009. Thanks, Sarah, for this delicious recipe. I almost always double my batch.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 T. canola or vegetable oil
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups chopped, peeled tart apples
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and oil.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; add to egg mixture just until combined. (Note: Batter will be very thick!)
4. Stir in the apples, cranberries and walnuts. **
5. Transfer to an 8-in. x 4-in. x 2 in. loaf pan coated with non-stick spray.
6. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of the loaf comes out clean.
7. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 1 loaf

** Sarah’s note: Fresh cranberries can be frozen if you don’t plan on using them shortly after purchasing. I do believe they’ll stay good in the freezer for up to 1 or 2 months. Also, this bread freezes very well. Place them in heavy-duty freezer bags, or double wrap in plastic, before freezing. Allow them to thaw completely in the bag (I don’t recommend attempting to thaw in the microwave) before serving.