Banana Nut Bread

This recipe is awesome. Not just a little bit awesome, but really, really awesome. And, it's pretty old to. This recipe for Banana Nut Bread actually was not found on Pinterest as so many of mine are these days, and it isn't a family recipe. I do owe a big thank you to a very special lady - Mrs. Brown. I don't remember Mrs. Brown's first name, but she was our downstairs neighbor when we lived in Wildflecken, Germany. I babysat for her periodically, and she let me help her in the kitchen as well. She shared this recipe with me, and my copy is still in my 11-year-old handwriting. As you're looking through the blog, please don't be scared by how many ingredients you see. The recipe is for a single loaf, but when I prepared it and took photos, I made a quadruple batch. The recipe is very simple and straightforward and very easy to make. You really should try it out, and when you do, let me know how it works for you!

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2-3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Peel and mash your 2-3 bananas. I mash mine quite a bit, because I prefer less texture. Mash to your preference.

Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add oil and eggs, and mix.

Mix in bananas and nuts.

Pour into 9"x 5"x 3"pan sprayed with baking spray (or greased and floured) or fill muffins with liners about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour (for loaf) until golden brown. Muffins bake for a much shorter time, 15-25 minutes. 

Enjoy warm or cooled for breakfast, dessert, or as a snack. It really is that good!

Hummingbird Cake

I love baking. And I really love trying out new recipes to help develop what I like and what I don't and learning new techniques that I can apply in future recipes. This Hummingbird Cake recipe that I found on Pinterest was moist and tasty. It was also a big hit with my coworkers. I'm not sure I got as much out of this one as I have others, but sometimes that's ok too.

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsps vanilla extract
8 ounce can crushed pineapple
2 cups bananas, mashed (approximately 4 large or 6 medium-small bananas)
1 cup chopped pecans
Parchment paper to line bottom of the cake pan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 3 9-inch round baking pans or a bundt pan. Place parchment paper in the bottom of each pan, if using rounds.

In a sifter over a large mixing bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Sift into the bowl. Set aside.

In a second large mixing bowl combine the granulated and brown sugar; stir to combine.

 

Add the eggs and stir briskly by hand to combine all ingredients into a smooth mixture.

Whisk the oil and vanilla into the sugar/egg mixture until combined and smooth. Add the flour mixture all at once and hand stir (do not beat) to combine the mixture fully.

Add the pineapple and juice, mashed bananas and pecans to the batter. Stir just until combined; do not over stir.

Pour batter into pans, and bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes until cake bounces back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes then turn out onto cooling racks to fully cool before frosting. 

For Cream Cheese Frosting

1 sticks unsalted butter, chilled
8-ounce packages of cream cheese, chilled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 ½ cups finely chopped pecans

Beat the butter and cream cheese in mixing bowl until combined. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth. Fold in pecans by hand or sprinkle some on tope after cake is frosted cake. Enjoy!

Banana Bread Bars

While I don't like bananas (it's a texture thing), I do in fact love banana bread! So, when my friend Carrie shared this recipe with me on Facebook, I knew I was going to have to give it a try. It took a few weeks, but I finally tried this last weekend. Here's the original post: Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting. These bars turned out quite delicious! They were very moist and quite flavorful. However, they were basically unedible after two or three days. The icing sort of melted into the bars and the leftovers turned into a hot mess.

1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan (I used a 12X17). For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract. 

Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. 

Stir in walnuts.

Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Brown Butter Frosting
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp milk

Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).