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!

Pumpkin Spice Bread

When I was a teenager, I lived in upstate New York. There was this restaurant and motel on Canandaigua Lake that my parents and I ate at periodically called Kelloggs Pan Tree Inn. After you were seated at Kelloggs, the waitress would deliver a basket full of rolls and muffins. These muffins were delicious, and for years I never knew what they were or even thought much about it. Enter the age of the Internet, and I decided that I wanted to try and make those muffins and began searching to find out what they were so that I could search for a recipe. I was so surprised to learn that they were pumpkin spice bread. While searching for something that might get close to the experience of Kelloggs Pan Tree Inn pumpkin spice bread muffins, I found this recipe and, as we used to do in the old days hehehe, I printed it out. I only altered it slightly by increasing the amount 0f spices in it, but otherwise, I've held to the original recipe. I've received many compliments on this bread, and it is a perfect fall recipe. You really should try it.

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16-ounce can pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp cloves
1.5-2 tsps cinnamon
1-1.5 tsps nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts
Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter and flour (or spray with baking spray) two 9x5x3 loaf pans, 1 bundt pan, or three muffin tins. In a small bowl, combine flour, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil until mixed.

Add eggs and pumpkin and combine until blended.

Sift the dry ingredients into the wet and blend until combined.

Add nuts and mix until combined.

Pour the mix into the chosen baking pans, sprinkle with sugar (I use Morena Pure Cane Sugar) and bake. For a bundt pan or two loaf pans, bake 60-70 minutes; for muffins or mini loaf pans, bake 18-22 minutes.

Pumpkin Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Several weeks ago, I tried my hand at creating a cookie recipe and Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Raisin Cookies was the result. You know what? It turned out really well! So, I decided to try my hand at creating a cake. For all of the creative side of my personality, I also have a very mathematical, analytical side as well, and that kicked into high gear as I prepared for this recipe. I wanted to do something like a carrot cake, but based loosely on my pumpkin bread recipe. I did research on what exactly it was that made something a "cake" versus being a "bread," and I found several good blogs to help explain the difference. Then I broke out Excel, and listed the ingredients for my carrot cake recipe, pumpkin bread recipe and a recipe for carrot bread that I found. Then with the knowledge I learned from the blogs, I compared the recipes and decided roughly on the following - I did tweak it just a little bit more as I was preparing it. I have to admit that I was a little scared to tell my coworkers that I had brought Pumpkin Zucchini Cake for Monday treat. Doesn't really sound like much of a treat does it? Let me tell you though, it went over very well. I received lots of compliments on it. Even my daughter said it was delicious, and she had NO idea that there was even zucchini in it! Maybe it was just the cream cheese icing, but the spices in the cake really shine and it was really, really tasty. Want to sneak just a little more vegetables into your recipes, then this one should go over very well.

3 cups all-purpose
1 tsp baking soda
2.5 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsps nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can pumpkin puree
1-2 whole zucchini, peeled and shredded
1 cup chopped/diced walnuts

(By the way, please ignore the vanilla in the photo - it actually shouldn't have been there, but I didn't take a second picture without out it. Oops.)

Sift together dry ingredients, and then set aside.

Combine oil and sugar in large bowl or stand-mixer bowl.

Add eggs and pumpkin. Mix until combined.

Add flour mixture in two rounds. Mix until combined.

Add zucchini and nuts. Mix until combined.

Pour into greased and flour cake pan (9X13, two 8" or 9" rounds, or bundt pan).

Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 40-55 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow cake to cool for 10-15 minutes in pan, and then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. While cake cools, prepare cream cheese icing.

1 lb powdered sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened

Cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.

Slowly mix in powdered sugar until it is all incorporated; add vanilla, and then continue to blend until smooth. Spread icing onto cake, and enjoy!

Baklava

Bakalava. Flaky patry. Slightly sweetened cinnamon-y nut filling, sweet honey drizzle. There's just not much better than baklava. That's why I decided I wanted to find a good recipe and try making it from scratch. I did a good bit of research and learned quite a bit about this delicacy. While most of us probably think of Greek cuisine, baklava, in fact, originated in the Ottoman Empire, and the word itself is Arabic. The variations found in baklava will indicate where the recipe originated. I won't go into all the history, but which nuts are used, what is used to create the syrup all indicate the region of origin. I finally settled on this recipe: Easy Baklava. I liked the idea of using various nuts, so I went with a mixture of walnuts, pecans, almonds, and hazelnuts. I always imagined baklava was very difficult to make, and I've always heard about how hard it is to work with phyllo dough. Honestly, while this was a bit time consuming (to do it right anyway), it really was rather easy!

Pastry

1 lb mixed nuts, chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
16 oz package phyllo dough
1 cup butter, melted

Syrup

1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1⁄2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest, grated

To ensure a smooth process, make sure you have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Toss together cinnamon and nuts. Unroll phyllo and cut whole stack in half to fit the dish, if needed. The dough I got was already cut for a 9X13. Cover phyllo with a damp cloth while assembling the baklava, to keep it from drying out.

Place two sheets of phyllo in the bottom of the prepared dish. Brush generously with butter. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons of the nut mixture on top. 

Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, ending with about 6 sheets of phyllo. 

Using a sharp knife, cut baklava into desired shapes. I had a little trouble with this part, I think, because I buttered the top layer before cutting. The phyllo kept sticking to my knife. Lesson learned. :-)

Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes, until golden and crisp. While baklava is baking, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. 

Stir in honey, vanilla and lemon zest, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Remove the baklava from the oven and immediately spoon the syrup over it. 

Let cool completely before serving. I ended up adding just a bit extra honey to the baklava before serving. Just added a little bit more oomph to it. Store in an airtight container.

Walnut Cinnamon Winter Cookies

I really like Danish (or Mexican) wedding cookies. The little pecan shortbread-type cookies covered in powdered sugar. So, when browsing Pinterest several weeks ago, I knew I was going to have to try this recipe I found for Walnut Cinnamon Winter Cookies. These are similar to the wedding cookies, but they use walnuts rather than pecans, and they are a little bit "nuttier" than the wedding cookies. Oh, and the cinnamon. It adds a really nice flavor to the cookies, but I think next time I may cut it back to 1 1/2 tsp just to see. I thought they were pretty awesome, and they went over well for Monday treat at work. I didn't have too many left when I got home.

1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour + 2 Tbsp
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups walnuts
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.

Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Sift in 2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.

Mix until just combined. In the bowl of a food processor, add the walnuts, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons flour. 

Pulse until the walnuts are well chopped, be careful not to let them turn to a paste.

Add the walnut mixture to the cookie dough, stir to thoroughly combine.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and drop the dough in tablespoons on it.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, allow to cool, and transfer to a cooling rack.

Pour the powdered sugar into a large zip-lock bag, toss in a few cookies at a time and carefully fully coat each one.

Remove from the bag and serve!