Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

I'm still adjusting to the transition from an electric oven to this gas oven. I think the temperature is a bit off... I need to buy an oven thermometer to confirm my guess. The reason that I think the temperature is off is that I slightly burnt the banana bread I made today.

I added chocolate chips to half of the batter (1/2 cup of chocolate chips). Banana bread with chocolate chips is a delicious thing. I advise you try it. It probably tastes better not burnt.

I'll start posting new recipes once I figure out how to not burn things!

Banana Cream Cake

A lot of my baking lately seems to revolve around what my little taste tester would like to eat. He loved the blueberry cake a few weeks ago. He also enjoyed the strawberry shortcake cupcakes. This week, I made a banana cake and he enjoyed that as well. He has also now started to say “cake”, so I’m doing a good job.

I’m not sure if I like this banana cake more than the one I made back in October. This one is nice and fluffy and very cake-like. The flavor is different enough from banana bread that you can tell it is supposed to be a cake. I can’t remember much about the previous banana cake except that it was delicious. I was out of milk, so I didn’t make the cinnamon frosting for this cake. Maybe next time.

Banana Cream Cake (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

2 1/4 c sifted flour

1 1/4 C sugar

2 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 C shortening

2 eggs

1 1/2 C mashed banana (approx 3 bananas)

1 t vanilla

Throw the first 7 ingredients into the mixing bowl and add 1/2 C of the mashed banana. 

Beat this together for 2 minutes. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl after 30 seconds to make sure everything mixes in.

Add the remaining 1 C bananas and the vanilla.

Beat for another minute.

Pour into a greased and floured 9x13inch pan.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread 2

There are a lot of recipes for banana bread in existence. Most of these recipes are basically the same with a bit more or a bit less of a certain ingredient. I grew up eating the banana bread recipe that I posted a few months ago. That recipe is good and I never had the need to find a different recipe. However, lately I've wanted a recipe that did not use shortening in it!

This recipe does not have shortening in it. It has butter and sour milk instead. I may like this new banana bread better than the banana bread that I've known and loved for so long. I'm not sure if it is any healthier than the other, but it has a different flavor and texture. Maybe I’ll make both of them at the same time for a more official taste test.

Banana Bread (Printer-friendly PDF Recipe)

1 1/2 C sugar

1/2 C butter

1/4 C sour milk

1 1/2 t soda

1/4 C warm water

3 ripe bananas, smashed

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 C nuts, chopped (optional!)

3 C flour

Cream together the butter and the sugar until nice and fluffy looking.

Stir the soda into the warm water. Add the sour milk, soda water, bananas, and eggs to the creamed sugar. Mix this all together until well blended. 

You can do this all at once or break it into steps. Either way, it should look like this after all the wet ingredients are mixed in.

Mix in the flour at a low speed. Mix in those chopped nuts at this point if you want them in the bread. Mix until nice and combined.

Split the batter between two loaf pans. Lightly grease the pans if needed. Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.

Let cool, slice, and eat.

Enjoy!

Banana Kuchen

As promised, here is something very delicious to make up for the failed cookies of the last post. This cake was very easy to make. It didn't make very much, so it is great to bake and snack on for a few days. Or you can share it with people if you are feeling nice.

The texture along with the cinnamon crumble on top makes this very much like a coffee cake. The banana flavor is not overwhelming at all. The crumbly top is not too sugary. This seems to be a nicely balanced dessert which would probably go great with a glass of milk.

Banana Kuchen (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
1/4 C shortening
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 medium banana, sliced
1/4 C milk
1 1/2 C sifted flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/3 C brown sugar, packed
1/2 t cinnamon

Cream together the shortening and sugar.

Add the egg, banana slices, and milk. Mix until smooth. Mine was still a bit lumpy, but that is fine.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Pour the batter into a 8x8 inch pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top.

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Be sure to test at 25 minutes by poking it with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it is done!

Serve warm or let it cool first. It is delicious either way.

Enjoy!

These Muffins are Bananas (w/ Orange Juice Glaze)

There is almost no reason to ever throw away icky bananas. If a banana has a brown spotted peel, it is great for baking. Sometimes, the worse looking the banana is, the better the baked goods will taste. So don't throw away your bananas! If you have two icky bananas, make these muffins. They are delicious.

Banana Muffins (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

2 1/2 C flour

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

3/4 C brown sugar

1 C milk

1 egg

2 T butter (softened)

1 1/2 t vanilla

2 ripe bananas

In a bowl, place the flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, smash the bananas. Set aside

Put the milk, egg, butter, and vanilla in yet another bowl. Beat these ingredients together until well combined.

With a fork, combine the ingredients in the flour bowl. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix together until blended.

Add the smashed bananas and mix well.

Put the batter in greased and floured muffin cups. You can also use paper liners.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely, or at least cool mostly before eating.

Orange Juice Glaze

1 C powdered sugar

1 T orange juice plus a bit more

Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Add the 1 T of orange juice. Mix well. Slowly add more orange juice to obtain the desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled muffins.

This Cake Is Bananas

Do you know how amazingly delicious banana cake is? Why didn't anyone tell me? This banana cake is tasty like banana bread, just about a thousand times better. The cinnamon icing is an awesome touch. Seriously, go bake this cake and eat a lot of it. You won't regret it. Well... if you are allergic to bananas you might.

Can you guess how many recipes I have that contain bananas? No, no. More than that. Goodness, don't be silly. It's around 23. So, now you've been warned.

Banana Cake (cinnamon icing below) (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
2/3 C butter (softened)
1 1/2 C sugar
2 egg yolks
1 C mashed bananas
1 t vanilla
2 C flour
1 1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 egg whites
1/2 C hot water
1 t baking soda

Do these things first and set aside: Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mash 1 cup of bananas (approximately 2 bananas). Heat 1/2 C water in the microwave, leave in microwave until needed. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

Cream together the butter, sugar, egg yolks, mashed bananas, and vanilla. You can cream these together all at once or you can add one ingredient at a time.

Add the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add the baking soda to the hot water, stir with a spoon to ensure that it is completely dissolved. Mix the hot soda water in with the batter.

Fold the egg whites into the batter. Do not over mix!

Pour the cake batter into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Check it around 25 minutes by poking it with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, it has finished baking.

Let cool completely in pan or remove the cake from the pan (after a few minutes) and cool on a cooling rack.

When the cake is nearly cooled, make the following cinnamon icing.

Cinnamon Icing
2 T butter
1/4 C milk
2 C powdered sugar
3/4 t cinnamon

Heat the milk and butter over low heat until butter is completely melted and the milk is steamy. Place the powdered sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

When the milk is warmed, pour approximately half of the milk mixture into the powdered sugar. Mix well. Add more milk until it is a consistency you like. It may seem runny, but the icing will cool quickly and thicken quite a bit. I'm guessing I used around 2/3 of the buttery milk.

Pour and spread the cinnamon icing on the banana cake

Banana Bread

Sometimes I buy extra bananas... about 3 more than I could eat before they go bad. By "bad" I mean overly ripe and kind of mushy. Why do I do this? Because icky bananas are perfect for banana bread. The more brown spots the banana has, the better tasting the banana bread will be. Some people might argue that point with me, but it is purely opinion. This is also my blog, so I would win that argument. Keep in mind, I don't mean the banana has to be ripe to the point it is attracting flies.

Banana bread is very easy to make. As it seems to be with most things I make, the hardest part is waiting for it to cool before eating. This is one of the baked goods that taste better when it isn't extremely hot right from the oven. I tend to try eating something right out of the oven and then complain that it doesn't taste good. Once the food cools down and my taste buds recover, I realize the food is fine.

So go buy too many bananas, make some banana bread in about a week, and practice your patience and self control.

Banana Bread (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
3 ripe bananas
1/2 C shortening (or butter)
1 C sugar
2 eggs
2 C flour
1/2 t baking soda
nuts (very optional)

Note: I haven't tried the recipe with butter, so I'm not sure how that turns out.

The first thing you need to do is peel the bananas, break them into pieces and mash them. After they are a gooey blob, set them aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix the sugar and the shortening (or butter). It will be mixed enough when it has a soft, crumbly consistency. Add the mashed up bananas and mix them in well.

Next, add the two eggs and beat them into the mixture until well mixed. Finally, add the flour and baking soda. Mix that until it forms a sticky dough. Scrape the sides to ensure all the flour is mixed in.

Split the dough between two bread pans (or one if you want really thick bread). You can, and I don't recommend it, add some sort of nut on top of the dough. This will most likely ruin the dough and leave it inedible (unless you like that sort of thing... not that I'm judging you...)

Bake the banana bread in a preheated oven set at 275 degrees for 60 minutes. Remove the bread pans from the oven after 60 minutes (or maybe longer if you insist on making just one loaf) and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Use a butter knife to loosen the loafs from the pan and flip them out onto a cooling rack. Let cool nearly completely before consuming!