Cocoa-Nana Bread

I know I know I've said so many times I don't like banana bread. But it's a pretty impossible thing to not make given the fact that overripe bananas are bound to occur. The bananas used for this loaf were from my boyfriend's brother & wife who had a bunch of overripe bananas and somehow I went home with them. I asked my boyfriend what he wanted me to make with them and he said chocolate chip banana bread, but I thought I'd go a little further and do a chocolate chocolate chip banana bread. I found it in my most favourite baking book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. It was super chocolatey, had a great texture, and was really soft. And it was equally banana-y and chocolate-y.

Have I mentioned that I'm extremely excited that it's October?? Ahh my favourite month and time of year. What's yours?

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins
Mom's Banana Apple Bread
Garden Harvest Cake
Chocolate Strawberry Loaf

Cocoa-Nana Bread
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups all purpose flour (I used 272 g)
1 cup cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 1/2 cup store bought chocolate chips)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan and placed it on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked on top of the other. (This will keep the bottom of the loaf from overbaking.)

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter at medium speed for about a minute, until softened. Add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. At this point, the batter may look a little curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Still on low speed, add the buttermilk, mixing until it is incorporated. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Cover the bread loosely with a foil tent to keep the top from getting too dark, and continue to bake for another 40 to 45 minutes (total baking time is between 70 to 75 minutes), or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the brad and unmolding it. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins

As I've mentioned before, I get kind of sick of banana loaf, banana muffins, and bananas in baking in general - not because I don't like bananas (I eat one pretty much everyday) but because I guess they're not exciting to me anymore. However, I've been obsessed with the idea of peanut butter and banana in a muffin together. So I made these muffins which are exciting, fairly healthy and excellent. They're really moist, don't have a too distinct whole wheat flavour, and the banana and peanut butter flavours are well balanced.

Abby loves laying on her back and sprawling out like this. When we walk by she'll roll over a bit to reach out her paw to try and grab us.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Roast Banana-Pumpkin Breakfast Bread
Banana Crunch Muffins
Mom's Banana Apple Bread
Whole Wheat Orange Spice Muffins

Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins
Adapted from Baking Bites

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (207 g)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup mashed banana (about 2 med.)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup light buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, brown sugar, eggs, mashed banana, peanut butter and buttermilk until very smooth, making sure all egg has been well-incorporated. Pour into flour mixture and stir until no streaks of flour remain.
Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin tin, filling each just about up to the top.
Bake for 16-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Remove muffins from tin and cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12.

Roast Banana-Pumpkin Breakfast Bread

I discovered this recipe for roast banana-pumpkin breakfast bread a few years ago on 101 Cookbooks, a while before I had a blog. And over the years I've thought about making it - roasted bananas, rum soaked raisins, coconut milk, pumpkin seeds. It sounded like such a unique and delicious combination of flavours but I was always missing an ingredient. The cookbook the recipe comes from also really interests me but it doesn't seem to be in print anymore - Southwestern Vegetarian. Anyone have this cookbook? I'm just curious if it's as good as it sounds. Regardless I think it's time that I try and track it down!

Well how did this magical banana bread that I'd built up in my head turn out? It was good, but not as good as I had hoped. I thought roasting the bananas would impart something special but it just tasted like regular banana bread. You can taste the rum in the raisins which was a nice touch. If you love banana bread a lot I think it's one worth trying out, just for something a little different.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Banana Crunch Muffins
Mom's Banana Apple Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins

Roast Banana-Pumpkin Breakfast Bread
Adapted from Southwestern Vegetarian (found on 101 Cookbooks)

Makes 1 loaf

3/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dark rum
2 ripe bananas, unpeeled
2 cups cake flour (I used 250 grams.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a small pot, combine the raisins and rum. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then take off the heat and let stand for 1 hour. Strain the plumped raisins and set aside, discarding any remaining liquid.

Place the bananas on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or until the skins are black and they have started to seep. Remove from the oven, set aside, and let cool.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a mixing bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Turn the machine to low and add 1 egg. Mix until completely incorporated and then add the second egg. Mixing again until completely incorporated.

Meanwhile, squeeze the flesh of the bananas out of the skins and into a small mixing bowl. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and mash together. Add half of the banana mixture to the electric mixer bowl and blend thoroughly on low speed. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining banana mixture, blend thoroughly, and add the remaining flour mixture; mix just enough to thoroughly blend the ingredients. Fold the pumpkin seeds and reserved raisins into the batter and pour it into a lightly greased 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.

Bake in the oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

Banana Crunch Muffins

I finished my last final yesterday!! What relief. That was not a fun week and wow did I eat way too much bad stuff to keep myself awake or try to make myself happier about spending hours and hours studying. I was planning to bake after my last final but now all I want to do is eat healthy stuff.

I made these banana crunch muffins a while ago and had been wanting to make them for even longer. I originally found them on Deborah's site. They sounded so good - coconut, granola, diced and mashed banana, walnuts. Unfortunately they didn't live up to my expectations. They were good muffins for sure, but I think I was most disappointed by the fact that they had no crunch! Deceptive banana "crunch" muffins. Take into consideration my view on banana baked goods too though (not a huge fan).

If this sounds good, you might also like these muffins:
Applesauce-Oat Bran Muffins
Mom's Banana Apple Bread
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
Orange Berry Muffins

Banana Crunch Muffins
Adapted from Ina Garten found on Taste and Tell

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 extra large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
1 cup small-diced walnuts
1 cup granola
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, plus more for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well, being careful not to overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling to the top. Top each muffin with a bit of coconut. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan then unmold and move to cooling rack.

Mom's Banana Apple Bread

I know banana bread is well loved by many but for me it's pretty blah. Banana bread was what my mom frequently baked when I was growing up and while I did love it, now I could easily take it or leave it. But I was intrigued by this recipe for banana bread that involved sauteed spiced apples. And thus began my journey into The Sweet Melissa Baking Book (which is excellent by the way). This loaf was really delicious and very soft. The apples added a yummy flavour - enough to convince me that while it is "just" a banana bread, I will be making it again.

I'm getting into finals now so unfortunately not as much time for baking as I'd like but I'm definitely spending a lot of time thinking about what goodies I'll be making for Christmas! I can't wait to see what everyone else will be making - especially the cookies.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Caramelized Apple Danish Braid
Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread
Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake
Candied Maple Walnut Pancake Loaf

Mom's Banana Apple Bread
Adapted from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Makes either 1 9"x5"x3" inch loaf or 1 8"x4" loaf and 6 muffins.

For the apples:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
2 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the banana bread:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups very riped mashed bananas (2 to 3)

Before you start
Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter your baking pans (either one 9x5x3 pan, or one 8x4 pan and 6 cup muffin tin).

To make the apples
Preheat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and brown sugar and heat until bubbling. Add the apples and cinnamon and saute until golden and tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

To make the banana bread
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Combine the orange juice and vanilla.

4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the orange juice mixture, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each flour addition. Stir in the mashed bananas until combined. Then stir in the reserved apples.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan (and muffin tin if using). Bake for 55 to 60 minutes (for loaves) or 25-30 minutes (for muffins), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool further.

Elvis Fluffernutter Cake

As soon as I saw this cake on Lynn's blog, I saved the recipe thinking I would make it for my stepdad at some point, as he is a big Elvis fan. Plus the cake sounded like something fun and a bit different (banana cake with chocolate chips sprinkled on top, peanut butter marshmallow filling, and peanut butter icing - all sprinkled with chopped peanut butter cups). Well when my stepdad's birthday came around, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said cheesecake with some kind of sauce. Yea I could've made that for him but what about the fluffernutter cake?? I told him about it but he said no I want the cheesecake. But then I sent him the link to Lynn's post and he changed his mind.

I didn't really like this cake, which is odd for me because usually I can find something I like about most things I bake. Everyone else on the other hand, loved it. Really loved it. Some people said it's their favourite cake I've made - even my mom who is against chocolate chips in banana bread and never eats peanut butter cups.

You can see in this picture my typical "stick all the frosting on top!" tactic. I really don't intend to do this but somehow it always happens. Must work on that.

I've started to put the cakes together a day or so before we eat them but the resulting cakes are drier. I know for some cakes (or maybe all cakes?) people say that if you let it sit for a day it will taste better because the flavours meld, but I'm not really convinced.

Other cakes I've made:
Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Carrot Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese White Chocolate Icing
Perfect Party Cake (Lemon, Raspberry, Coconut)

Elvis Fluffernutter Cake
From All Recipes then adapted by Foodaphilia and adapted again by Cookie Baker Lynn and by me

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 mashed bananas, about 1 cup
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Chopped up peanut butter cups for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans. Fit the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Grease and flour the whole pan.

2. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating just to combine. Stir in vanilla and mashed bananas.

4. Pour batter evenly between the two cake pans. Sprinkle the mini chips over the top of the batter. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

5. Let pans cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Carefully invert layers onto a plate, peel off the parchment paper, then carefully put back on the rack to finish cooling.

Frosting

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
1 cup of smooth peanut butter
4 cups of powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup marshmallow fluff

With an electric mixer cream together the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time.

Place 1/3 of the frosting into a separate bowl and fold in the marshmallow fluff until completely incorporated.

Frost the top of the first layer with the marshmallow frosting. Top with the second layer. Frost with the rest of the frosting and sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups over the top, pressing them into the frosting slightly.

Banana Nut Shortbread

I love shortbread. Like really love shortbread. Maybe because I grew up with my mom and grandma making it, or maybe because yes it's just that delicious. My mom has always made it at Christmas, and my grandma's shortbread is one everyone fights over (I still need to try out her recipe). Their shortbreads are quite different though, with my mom's being light, extremely crumbly and topped with half of a maraschino cherry, and my grandma's being covered in sugar and more sturdy. Both are yummy.

I was really curious to try out this recipe, wondering if it would be anything like shortbread since there's half of a banana in it. Impressively it was quite like shortbread in texture, but it didn't have a strong banana taste. There was way too much nutmeg, so I recommend halving it which is reflected in the recipe below. And it was easy to roll out (a huge plus in my books).

I really loved trying this recipe out, but I doubt I'll make it again because the flavour just didn't do it for me (maybe it was the extreme nutmeg). So why am I posting it? Well it's worth trying if you're an adventurous shortbread lover, or just looking for something different. And if you're fancy, you can add dried banana chips, walnut halves and/or maple icing to these. The Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies magazine has a few different shortbread recipes, and I can't wait to try out the other ones - carrot cake, peanut butter candy, and strawberry.

Other cookies I've made:
Earl Grey Tea or Matcha Shortbread
Chocolate Oatmeal Coconut Cookies
Russian Tea Cakes (Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies)
Strawberry Shortbread Cookie Bark

Banana Nut Shortbread
Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies 2007

Makes about 36

1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup mashed ripe banana (1/2 medium banana)
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts

Beat butter, banana, and vanilla in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours or freeze about 20 minutes until firm.

Preheat the oven to 300F. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Cut in butter mixture using a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling together. Add chopped nuts. Knead dough until smooth; form dough into a ball. Divide dough in half.

Roll each dough portion into an 8 inch x 6 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Cut each rectangle into sixteen 2 x 1 1/2-inch rectangles. Place rectangles 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in preheated oven about 30 minutes or just until bottoms begin to brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool.

My 100th Post! And Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread

This is my 100th post! I don't have anything exciting to celebrate it with but this banana bread was pretty delicious. I rarely make banana bread because when I was growing up my mom always made it. It was yummy but I guess lost its magical appeal. She never put walnuts or chocolate chips in it though, and this was actually my first time putting chocolate chips in banana bread. I like to maintain this image in my mind of banana bread being healthy and if I put chocolate chips in it, well it just makes it a little more difficult to believe! But I thought if I cut down the sugar a lot (to 2 tablespoons) and only put a small amount of chocolate chips, it wouldn't be a terribly unhealthy snack. And thus begins my love of this chocolate walnut banana bread.

I haven't used my mini loaf pans for a while and forgot how great little loaves are. In the recipe I wrote that you can use either oat flour or whole wheat pastry flour. The oat flour makes it much denser, but I loved it that way. If that's not quite for you, try the whole wheat pastry flour. It will still be a dense muffin but lightens it up a bit.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Healthy Banana Bran Muffins
Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins

Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread
Adapted from How It All Vegan!

Makes 1 loaf, 6 mini loaves, or 12 small-ish muffins

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour OR oat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup chocolate chips, optional*

Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until very mushy, then add the applesauce, sugar, and walnuts and stir together.

In a separate large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour (or oat flour), salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix together gently until "just mixed". Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan (or muffin pan) and bake for 40-50 minutes**. Test with a toothpick or a knife to see if done.

*Use nondairy chocolate chips or omit them to make this vegan.
**The first time I made these, I used mini loaf pans and I can't remember how long it took. I would check them around 25 minutes and see how they are. Maybe even 20 minutes.

Battle of the Healthy Muffins

I think most of us are used to cake like muffins, and I definitely love those ones but I'm on a search for healthy and tasty muffin recipes. (I seem to be on a search for a lot of things recently (perfect red sauce, best peanut butter cookies, really good tofu marinades). Why the healthy muffin search? It's a quick, easy, hopefully filling, and potentially healthy snack. So far there are three contenders: honey banana, oatmeal raisin, and pumpkin banana.

Honey Banana | Oatmeal Raisin | Pumpkin Banana

The honey banana were the first ones that I made and they were okay. Well they tasted good for a healthy muffin, but for a muffin in general just okay. Plus the tops of the muffins became all wet the next day, which is a true muffin pet peeve of mine. I wonder if I had used all oil instead of half oil and half applesauce if the tops would've been wet. I'm guessing they would've been because of all the bananas. I also added some nuts to the honey banana muffins. The oatmeal raisin ones were kind of bland, and drier than the honey banana. I wouldn't bother making these again but I like the idea of an oatmeal raisin muffin. The description said "oatmeal raisin cookie meets muffin", so I was really excited about tasting them. Unfortunately they do not taste as awesome as an oatmeal cookie.

Then we have the muffin that currently reigns supreme (yes I think that's stuck in my head from Iron Chef), the superb pumpkin banana muffins! I doubt I would have thought of putting pumpkin and banana together but it worked well. You don't taste the pumpkin too much (for those people that are pumpkin haters) - it's more about the pumpkin pie spices. These muffins are moist and full of flavour, and the top of the muffin doesn't get wet! There is however 2 cups of sugar in them which doesn't seem healthy to me, but it does make 30 muffins. You're getting about 3.2 teaspoons of sugar in each muffin (that actually does seem high, but I don't know). There's no added fat (oil, butter), and lots of good things (whole wheat flour, oat bran, walnuts). The one thing I forgot to do was add some ground flax to the batter.

For now I will hang on to the honey banana muffin recipe, but if I find better healthy muffins I wouldn't be sad to discard it. The pumpkin banana muffin recipe I will keep and make again. I'll try to add less sugar next time and see how they turn out. And I will keep searching for other healthy muffin recipes so I can have at least a few solid ones in my repertoire.

Healthy Pumpkin Banana Muffins
(Adapted from Recipezaar)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup applesauce
15 ounces canned pumpkin
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Grease or line muffin tins with paper liners.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flours, bran, oats, baking powder, spices, baking soda and salt.
4. Combine remaining ingredients (except nuts) in a large mixing bowl; beat until smooth.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
6. Beat just until combined.
7. Spoon into prepared pans or tins (fill cups until just about full).
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
9. Remove muffins from pan and cool on wire rack as soon as they come out of the oven.