Banana Buttermilk Muffins

I found my new favourite banana muffin recipe!
It was on a blog called Alida's Kitchen and I love it and so do the kids.
The main reason I made them was because I had buttermilk in my fridge, two ripe bananas and half a cup of chocolate chips. Clearly a sign that I had to bake muffins. I just had to do it. And I cannot wait to bake them again!

Here is a link tot the recipe and here is a copy:

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 cup well-mashed ripe banana (I used 2 large bananas)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided (I used plain chocolate chips)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Spray 12 standard muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.
In a separate bowl (or in a liquid measuring cup), whisk together buttermilk, banana, oil, egg and vanilla.
Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and fold until just blended. Add 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and fold until combined.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with remaining chocolate chips.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes and then move muffins to a wire rack to cool completely. completely.

Cinnamon Banana Bread

I know what you are thinking.
How many banana breads can this woman bake...
Who knows. A trillion?

This time round I felt like experimenting a little and I happen to come across Orangette's blog. She has a lovely way of writing about food and her recipes sound great. So I had to try one.

The banana bread recipe is very straight forward and I like the addition of the cinnamon.
However it is quite a sweet banana bread and if I make it next time I might reduce the sugar and even consider not adding the topping.

The strangest thing happened while I was measuring the ingredients. The kids were running around, Stella started crying and I turned around to give her a quick hug and then I went back to baking. Except I could not remember how many cups of flour I added. Was it one or one and a half? So I added a dash more flour and it doesn't seem to have caused any harm because the banana bread came out of the oven beautifully dark, moist and delicious.

The kids loved it too, but then again they clearly take after me when it comes to my banana bread obsession.

Here is a link to the recipe and here is a copy with my notes:

Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping from Orangette
Adapted from Bakesale Betty and Bon Appétit, September 2008

For bread:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (I used 2 bananas)
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey
¼ cup water

For topping:
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 ½ Tbsp. packed dark brown sugar
Note: This was too much topping for me - I'll be using way less of this next time

Preheat the oven to 175° C.  Spray a 9 x 5 inch pan lightly with cooking spray and then line it with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the sides. (I'm pretty sure my pan is bigger than 9 x 5 inch and I am just plan bad at conversions...)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the banana, eggs, oil, honey, and water. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir well. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle them evenly over the batter.

Bake the bread until a tester inserted into its center comes out clean, about 1 hour, give or take a little. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread from the pan, taking care not to dislodge the topping. Cool completely before slicing.
(yes, let it cool if you can resist it - I couldn't!!)

Yield: 1 loaf

Basic Banana Bread

I decided it was time for a banana bread. I've just been craving one and the hot weather we had before we went on holiday facilitated the ripeness of all the bananas in the house. Plus I had to use up all fresh produce before we left! (okay, like I really need an excuse to bake... you know me so well.)

For a change I used the basic banana bread recipe from theKitchn. It turned out really well. Didn't even last an afternoon... but then again banana bread is one of my very favourite things to eat.
This recipe is not much different to my mothers' recipe. The main difference being the addition of some milk and using fewer bananas. 

Here is a link to the recipe and here is a copy:

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (2 medium bananas) mashed bananas
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions
1. Gather Ingredients - make sure everything is at room temperature.
2. Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease the pan of your choice. This recipe makes 1 loaf but also makes 6-8 muffins.
3. Add butter and sugar to bowl of mixer. Blend on low until combined and then increase speed until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes).
4. Crack and add eggs to the mixture one at a time, incorporating after each addition. Next, add bananas and blend on low until combined. Mixture will appear to curdle or separate and that's alright. If all your ingredients were at room temperature, this shouldn't occur and will keep the texture more creamy.
5. Add the remaining milk and vanilla to the mixture and mix just until combined.
6. Add the flour to the bowl and the other ingredients on top of it (sift prior if you wish). Mix on medium speed until mixture has come together and is thick and creamy. Now is the time to check the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure all dry ingredients and butter has been incorporated.
7. Now is the time to stir in nuts, berries or chocolate chips if you wish.
8. Pour into prepared pan and smooth surface with a spatula. Place in preheated oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. If you use a different size pan, start checking after 20 minutes in 10 minutes increments for doneness. Some moistness in the crest that forms is fine, but actual "goop" will mean it needs to continue cooking.
9. Allow To Cool - approximately 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

Apple and Banana Muffins (again)

Isn't it nice when you just know a recipe that will always turn out well?
This apple and banana muffin recipe remains one of my favourites.
I tend to vary the apple and banana ratio, because that totally depends on what fruit I have in the house.  In my opinion grating the apple is best.
And this time round I used wholewheat flour.
Delicious indeed.

So delicious I had to hide them from Stella when she kept coming back for more.

Luckily I was able to send most of the muffins along with Heidi when she went on a playdate with two of her friends from school. Happy faces all round.

Click here for the recipe which I posted in June 2011.

Banana, Oats and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, I was thinking about posting a weekly menu, but then at the last moment I couldn't resist sharing this cookie recipe with you. Have a look at the photo... I am practicing my 'food photography' skills!

Once again I found myself with one very ripe banana.
Only one.

I decided that this one banana will be used in cookies.
Banana and Oats cookies seemed like a good idea, although the recipe called for two bananas.
One worked fine. Of course one mustn't forget the chocolate chips!

It was a hit with the kids and grown ups alike, and very easy to make. In fact, Heidi did most of the work ;-)

Here is a link to the original recipe and here is a copy of it, converted to metric measurements:

Ingredients:

227 gram porridge oats
2 ripe bananas (I used only one)
227 gram brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
113 gram margarine
1 beaten egg
(optional - 28 gram dark chocolate chips)

Method:
Mix dried ingredients together.
Mash the banana.

The bananas form PART of the 227 gram of sugar, they aren't in addition to it! So you place the 2 bananas on the scales and then make up the weight to 227 gram with brown sugar. (I used only one banana so I had to use a little more sugar)

Melt margarine in a saucepan and add to dry mix. Blend thoroughly.

Use a teaspoon to drop walnut size blobs onto a greased baking tray (I use greased greaseproof paper as well), allowing space for cookies to run. Bake in middle of moderate oven (190 Celsius) for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

One Banana Banana Bread

Yes, your read right. This is a one banana banana bread.
I only had one ripe banana and wondered what to do with it...
I googled and stumbled upon this recipe.
I figured why not?

Heidi was keen to bake and I am always happy to make banana bread.

It turned out really well! It's pretty amazing that it only contains one banana.

Here is a copy of the original recipe which I found on a blog called What a Crock, I modified it to suit my metric measurements:


One Banana Banana Bread


1 Large Very Ripe Banana (or two small ones)
1 Egg with enough milk to make One Cup liquid
113gram Softened butter
1 tsp Vanilla
1-1/2 Cup Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda

Put all ingredients in a large bowl together (don’t need to sift or
mix anything beforehand). Use mixer on slow to medium to mix until
lumps are pretty well gone (not too long or bread will be too firm).

Pam-Spray® bread pans (do not flour).
Fill pans 2/3 full

Bake 55 Minutes @ 180 Degrees Celsius until Golden Brown. Toothpick test for
doneness. This bread comes out quite moist and quite a lot of banana
flavor (with only the one banana)!

You can use this same recipe to make itty bitty, kid-sized teacakes
(bake time is about 15-18 minutes), cupcakes, small loaves, etc.

The baked bread can be wrapped up in foil and frozen. Just pull it
out, defrost it, unwrap and reheat in paper towel in the microwave
until warm. Slice it and enjoy!

The Comfort of Homemade Banana Bread

I had three very ripe bananas, waiting patiently to be used. So I mustered up the energy to bake a banana bread.

Having a bad cold doesn't really make me fun to be around. And I needed something comforting. A banana bread seemed like a good idea. I used my Mom's recipe and it made me feel closer to home.

Heidi, Stella and I enjoyed a slice of banana loaf with a little bit of margarine spread on top.

Probably not exactly a healthy breakfast, but definitely one that made me feel just a little better.

My Mom's banana bread

I love banana bread.

It conjures up happy childhood memories for me.
We must have had a lot of ripe bananas in the house when I was growing up because my Mom made banana bread all the time... but then again, it could just be a trick of the mind.

Here is my mom's recipe, which I bake more often than I should.

Please also scroll down to the bottom of the post because for the first time ever I am translating a recipe into Dutch!

Ingredients:
0.5 cup butter (125 gr)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 - 6 small to medium sized ripe bananas - peeled and mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla (paste or essence will do)
0.5 teaspoons salt
A little bit of butter to grease the baking tin

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Cream the butter and the sugar.
Mix in the vanilla.
Mix in the eggs.
Add all the dry ingredients and beat together (do not over beat this mixture!).
Add the mashed bananas and just mix it through gently.
Pour the mixture into a greased bread loaf tin (or a rectangular baking tin).
Bake for one hour.
It is ready when a toothpick or a fine skewer comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before turning it over onto a cooling rack.

You can either enjoy this warm or wait a day - the banana flavour tends to intensify if you leave it over night (in an airtight container of course!).

Ingredienten:

125 gr zachte boter (plus ekstra om in te vetten)

1 kop suiker

2 eieren

2 koppen bakmeel

2 tl bakpoeder

4 - 6 rijpe bananen - (pel de bananen en prak ze fijn met een vork)

1 tl vanille extract

0.5 tl zout

Bereiding:

Verwarm de oven voor op 180 "Celsius en vet een broodvorm.

Klop in een grote kom de suiker en zachte boter door elkaar.

Roer de vanille extract er bij.

Klop de eieren door en vervolgens de droge ingredienten. 

Voeg de bananen toe aan het mengsel en roer rustig door.

Schep het mengsel in de broodvorm en bak voor 60 minuten in het midden van de oven.

Het bananenbrood is gaar wanneer een satestokje schoon uit het brood komt.

Laat het brood 5 - 10 minute afkoelen in de vorm en stort het dan op een rooster om verder af te koelen.

Eet smakelijk!

Banana, honey and peanut butter toast

My favourite breakfast is toast.
Toast with jam, toast with eggs, toast with cheese...
But my favourite topping of the year has to be banana, honey and peanut butter.
It is sweet and delicious and healthy too.

Needless to say this is a very child friendly breakfast - Heidi loves it and is always very eager to scatter the banana slices on the toast. She also tries to spread the peanut butter with her Ikea plastic knife but more often than not she ends up eating it straight from the jar.

Ingredients:
2 slices of wholewheat toast
margarine (optional)
a tablespoon or two of peanut butter per toast
one banana
a drizzle or two of honey

Method:
Spread the peanut butter on the toast
Slice the banana and place the banana slices on the toast. Scatter them, make a pattern, get your kids to help.
Drizzle the honey on top of the bananas and enjoy your breakfast.

Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day :-)