Mom's Banana Apple Bread

Continuing on with my topic of types of food we have way too much of... browned bananas. At last count, the number of too brown bananas hanging out in my freezer was north of 15, and I haven't counted recently :)

In all seriousness, bananas are something we almost always keep in the house as I'll eat them everyday for breakfast when we have them. My problem? I like them green. As long as I can get the peel off, I'll eat them. One spot and they're sitting on the shelf waiting for banana bread, and one thing that I have learned since moving is that bananas ripen much faster here!

I have had my eye on this banana bread in The Sweet Melissa Baking Book since before I joined the baking group. The group made it before I was a member, and I remember thinking that this was a recipe that I definitely needed to make to "catch up." The opportunity presented itself to make this bread over the holidays while my in-laws were here, so I finally got to using up (at least a couple) of those bananas.

This banana bread recipe takes the twist of first caramelizing a couple chopped apples in brown sugar and butter before mixing them into the batter. I feel like we didn't necessary taste the apples themselves in the finished loaf, but they definitely helped keep the loaf really moist, even for a couple of days. Banana bread is one of those things where I can't seem to commit to a recipe, making a different one almost every time, but this is a recipe I'm sure we'll make again. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Mom's Apple Banana Bread
From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Ingredients:
For the apples:
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the banana bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups ripe mashed bananas (2 to 3)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 1-1/2 quart loaf pan. Set aside.

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.

For the banana bread, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. 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. 

In a small bowl, combine the orange juice and vanilla. 

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 addition. Stir in the mashed bananas until combined. Then stir in the reserved apples.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan to cool on the rack further.

SMS: Irish Soda Bread

Well, it's been several months at best since I've been able to make a recipe with SMS. I have to say that I've really enjoyed participating in the group and getting to know many of you wonderful ladies a bit better. I really appreciate the fact that you've let me tag along while I was finishing school, but if this post means anything, it means that I'm home! In reality, I've been here for about 3 weeks now, and it's been great getting back in my kitchen. We definitely have been eating well =)

This was a fun first recipe to get back in the swing of things. This bi-monthly recipe was hosted by Julie of Little Bit of Everything. I love reading Julie's blog, so check it out if you get a chance! I've never actually had Irish Soda Bread, but it has been one of those recipes that has been on my "to make" list for awhile. I am glad this gave me the little shove I needed. We were having corned beef for St. Patrick's Day anyway, so this fit right in with the theme. 

In her post, Julie mentioned that her bread dough was pretty wet. I noticed this as well and also added a little extra flour. I did bake mine on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and my loaf really spread out when cooking. In fact, the cuts that I made before baking it just opened up rather than staying indented. I also ended up needing to bake it for 6 minutes longer than the time called for in the recipe before my toothpick came out clean. The resulting loaf was really good but also really crumbly. I feel like soda bread is traditionally a little bit crumbly, but it went from wet to crumbly really quickly?

Neither of us ever having soda bread, both my husband and a I really enjoyed the flavor of the loaf. Because it was crumbly, it didn't cut into pretty slices, but I've never been one to care much about how my food looks when it tastes good =) Head over to Julie's blog to check out her post and the SMS blogroll to see how the other bakers fared. I know we liked it enough here that I'm already looking for a different variety to test out next year!

Banana-Oatmeal Bread

As part of cleaning out my refrigerator and pantry in preparation to move, I knew I needed to find a couple recipes to use up my healthy supply of over-ripe bananas living in my freezer.

We almost always have bananas in the house. They seem to make a great topping for cereal in the morning, and some days there is nothing better than a peanut butter-banana-honey sandwich at lunch. The problem lies in the fact that I like my bananas green. If I can get the peel off, that's perfect. As soon as I see ANY brown spots on it, they are too ripe and get set aside for other uses. Thus, this banana bread.

 

I found this recipe here on the Cooking Light website looking for a "healthier" adaptation of banana bread. With minimal oil (and canola oil at that) and fiber from the oats, this recipe seems like it offers some nutrition beyond just fat and sugar. That said, I did throw in a half bag of cinnamon chips that I had in the pantry to use them up as well :-)

The verdict on the recipe - quite good. My husband really enjoyed it. I seem to like almost all of them, so I may not be the best judge :-) I found that I didn't need the full 70 minutes of bake time. I checked it somewhere around 62 minutes, and the crust was already quite brown. Next time, I would check it a little earlier. Other changes I made was to add a teaspoon of vanilla and swap canola oil for vegetable oil based on what I had in the pantry. If you've got that freezer full of ripe bananas like I did, try it out. It's a great way to use up produce that has gone a little south and makes a great snack!

(Printable Recipe)

Banana-Oatmeal Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
1 c. packed brown sugar
7 Tbsp. canola oil
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1-1/3 c. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large, defrosted if frozen)
1 c. regular oats
1/2 c. fat-free milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl, beat well at medium speed of a mixer. Combine banana, oats, and milk; add to the sugar mixture, beating well. Add vanilla and mix well. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir with a whisk.  Add to sugar mixture and beat until just moist.

Coat a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Spoon in batter and bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool ten minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from the pan and cool completely before storing.

SMS: Sweet Potato Bread with Cinnamon-Rum-Orange Glaze

After my test on Thursday, I'm glad to back with SMS this week. This week's SMS was hosted by Lorelei from Mermaid Sweets. You can find the recipe in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book or on Lorelei's blog.

This recipe is listed in the book as "dessert for breakfast." Despite being called a bread, this recipe definitely seems like more of a dessert. I've noticed through making these recipes that I usually have a hubby peeking in the kitchen wondering when it will be finished. This one was no different. I kept getting, "Smells good. Is it done yet." 

Unfortunately, this recipe gave me a little bit of trouble. First, I realized about half way into making the batter that I only had about 1/2 of the oil that I needed for the recipe. Too late to cut the recipe in half... Luckily, I keep unsweetened applesauce around the house, so I ended up subbing applesauce for half the oil.

The rest of the cake baking went okay, but it didn't come out of the pan quite as easy as I would have liked :-(

I'd like to blame it on the lack of sleep from my exam, but I was really just trying to follow the recipe despite my reservations that it really should have cooled a little bit longer before I tried to dump it out of the pan. Oh well, I ended up patching it back together with the glaze. 

Overall, it didn't look quite as pretty as it should have but ended up okay. It lived up to the smells and ended up really moist from the applesauce :-)

Low-Fat Applesauce Banana Bread

This is probably going to be a quick post because it's finally the end of the week, and I'm exhausted! Still getting back in the swing of this whole school thing again... 

If you are like me, you probably could have a whole recipe file of banana bread recipes.  This is one that I keep coming back to time and time again. It is lower fat, but I can't really tell you that I notice a difference between it and other full-fat versions that I have made. If nothing else, you can at least feel a little less guilty for eating it =-)

It is loosely based this banana bread recipe from allrecipes.com, but I've made enough changes to it that I don't think the recipes can be considered one and the same. This time I threw in approximately 1/4 c. frozen raspberries because they had been chillin' in our freezer for a couple of months. Both my husband and I really enjoyed the addition of the raspberries, so I think I may have to try it again with a little bit larger quanity next time.

I also like to sprinkle a cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the dough before it is baked. It gives the finished loaf just a little bit of extra crunch on top (and that is my favorite part)!

Low-Fat Applesauce Banana Bread

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. whole-wheat flour

1/2 c. white sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. unsweetend applesauce

2 egg whites

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 medium overripe bananas, mashed

1-1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

cinnamon-sugar mixture

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.In a large bowl, stir together flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add egg whites, bananas, vanilla, and applesauce. Stir until just moistened. Do not overmix. Pour batter into pan. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top the loaf.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack and let cool completely.

Banana Foster Banana Bread

Oh my... so I was looking through some blogs the other day and found this bread here at the Brown Eyed Baker. I'm pretty sure this was meant to be. I made it that same day. Not only have I been on a bananas foster kick recently, I've been wondering what to do with the 3 BLACK bananas that are chillin' in my freezer. This bread is entered in the Best Banana Bread Challenge. Check it out here at mixingbowl.com if you want.

The bread part of this recipe is a pretty standard recipe for banana bread. I did make a couple substitutions of my own - swapping half the oil for unsweetened applesauce and adding a teaspoon of cinnamon. When I make it again, I may try swapping in my go-to banana bread recipe as I like my banana bread a little more moist than this one turned out.

Enough about the bread. It's the topping that really made this recipe. The only change that I made here was to omit the walnuts in the streusel. I like nuts, just not in my desserts. The glaze topping is nothing but rum-caramal gooey goodness! I did make the mistake of not using a large enough skewer to poke holes in the bread. Next time I'll use something larger in diameter so that the glaze can soak down further into the loaf. My coworkers must have agreed that this was good because the only reminants of the loaf after work were a few loose streusel crumbs =-)


Banana Foster Banana Bread
For the bread:
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil (I used 1/4 c. canola oil, 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce)
2 eggs
3 medium bananas, mashed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. cinnamon

For the streusel:
1-1/2 c. chopped walnuts (omitted)
1/3 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. butter, cold

For the rum glaze:
1/4 c. butter
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients for streusel topping in a small bowl and mix with fingers until crumbly. Set aside

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Beat the sugar, vegetable oil, and applesauce together. Add the eggs; one at a time, beating after each until combined. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract; mix to combine. Alternatively add flour and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

Spread into a prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter. Bake until a knife inserted near the middle comes out nearly clean, about 60 minutes.

To make rum glaze, combine butter, water, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minuts. Stir in rum and cook 1-2 minutes more. Set aside and cover to keep warm. Cool the loaf for 5 mintues on a wire rack. Poke holes throughout cake with a skewer. Spoon about 1/4 c. of the glaze over the loaf. Let the loaf sit for about 5 mintues and then repeat until glaze is all absorbed into the bread.