Be amazed.

For the first time in my life (ok, maybe not my entire life), I followed a recipe to the T. Exactly. I didn't even try to change a thing.*

I've been falling all over myself trying to make apple recipes (although...why? we go through apples like they're going out of style...I can barely keep enough around for baking!) at about the same time we had a basket full of (rotting) bananas sitting in the kitchen. I forget if I food blog searched for a recipe or if I happened upon it another way, but regardless of how it went, this recipe is perfect. It comes from The Goddess's Kitchen and it involves banana bread & caramelised apples, so, really, it would be hard to go wrong.

It originally came from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book (which I am totally dying to get) and was quite perfect, just the way it was written. :) I do think I may have cut my apples too small or perhaps over-caramelized them, because it was more like there were slim shivers of apples than actual chunks. I liked it that way though...added a bit of sweetness & flavor to the banana bread without taking away from the banana bread.

Mom's Banana Apple Bread
adapted from The Goddess's Kitchen

Makes one 1½ -quart loaf pan (2lb/900g)

For the apples:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
teaspoon pure vanilla extract


For the banana bread:
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups very ripe mashed bananas (2 to 3)

Before you start:Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/180oC. Lightly butter and flour a 1 1/2-quart loaf pan.

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 sauté 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:-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 flour 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 unmolding onto the rack to cool further.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. The banana bread keeps well wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Defrost (still wrapped) at room temperature.

*(Of course I did use cute little leaf molds instead ofloaf pans. That's allowed, right?)

Simple Banana Bread

Ah, today I did something very unlike me. And it made me happy.

I'm one of those people who loves to use millions of ingredients in her recipes. A little whole wheat flour here, some AP there, and a little graham flour for good measure. Add-ins? Chocolate, raisins, zucchini, banana, applesauce, cherries, blueberries, nuts... And the list (usually) goes on.

And though Tim loves my baking & cooking, sometimes he'll say to me, "Can we just have Bisquick pancakes today?" And then I remember that people actually like simple, basic recipes. And actually prefer them over extravagant, complex ones. Silly me, how hard this is to remember.

(I haven't yet mentioned to Tim that you can in fact still make pancakes from scratch with plain AP flour...that Bisquick really isn't the main ingredient of pancakes...but I'll save that for another day! :) Keeping quiet is one way to get him to make the pancakes...)

So Tim's been in southern Illinois since Thursday, working through the weekend 14 hours a day, & he's tired of it. Today's his last day before he comes home to me, so to make it easier to get through the day, I told him I'd bake him whatever he wants for when he gets home.

He chose banana bread. I immediately thought of all the combos out there...nutella, pb, chocolate, caramel! Then I quickly realized that what he has in mind is probably good ol' plain banana bread. When I ask if he wants anything in it, he answers plain & simple: nuts.

And so, with great difficulty, I created a (nearly) plain loaf of banana bread.

I used the banana bread from Simply Recipes as a base (I still intend to make the delicious looking cake from The Wednesday Chef, but figured I'd stick as close to the simple bread as possible). I halved it because I only had 2 bananas (so sad!) & made very few other changes.

Banana Bread
adapted from Simply Recipes

2 ripe bananas, mashed
2.5 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 egg, beaten
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unbleached AP flour
1/4 cup graham flour
1 tsp instant coffee

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Mix instant coffee & 1/2 tsp hot water, then add to butter. With a wooden spoon, mix butter mixture into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered mini loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Ok. Yes. I did add instant coffee. Only a little. Oh, and I did add a little tiny tiny bit of graham flour, which I don't really count. And some cinnamon. See...step in the right direction! :)

It was pretty yummy. Not as moist as I expected it to be, but I did use frozen bananas, & I did allow them to leak all over the counter as they defrosted for far too long. I'll have to try again soon with fresh ones!

If I never have to grate sweet potato again...

I'm not even going to lie & say that I've returned to blogging. It is just TOO beautiful outside to stay in for too long! I have been making a few things, in moderation, as the need arises, but I've definitely been slacking. On the other hand, however, my bike & I have become very well acquainted. See...a summer friend (bike) & a winter friend (kitchen). :) Not so bad!

I'd been wanting to make muffins lately as I love to grab them as I run out the door in the morning. I had bookmarked this recipe a long time ago from Joy the Baker, & when I came across it again I realized I had both zucchini AND sweet potato! Honestly, very unexpected. I especially like that she lightens the recipe a bit, and because, as you know, I like to overdo things, I lightened it up a bit more.

And omg. The best thing about this recipe? Accidentally vegan. That's right, I forgot the eggs. Completely. I'm sure that it affected the texture of the breads, but it was delicious without the eggs, so I didn't mind. Tim said they were the best muffins ever. Even after he found out there were sweet potatoes in them. :)

Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread
adapted from Joy the Baker

1/2 cup unbleached AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup graham flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups finely grated zucchini
1 1/2 cups peeled & grated sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 9×5x3- inch loaf pan, 4 mini loaf pans or 2 cupcake tins and set aside. Sift dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl. In a separate, large bowl, beat the sugars, oil, applesauce and vanilla extract. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan(s). Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour for loaf pan, 20 minutes for mini loaf or cupcake tins. Cool bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Loosen the edges of the bread with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely. Can be prepared 1 day in advance. Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature. Alternatively, wrap in plastic wrap/foil & freeze until you need it.

Heidi's Brown Bread

Just a quick post (for Alex!) to mention that I made this:

Heidi's "Irish Mum's Brown Bread"

also for St. Patrick's Day. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures but her picture is probably much nicer anyway! :) It is SUPER easy & really hearty bread, so you should definitely try it sometime you are in the mood for a nice substantial bread.

I think I probably used 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt & 1 1/4 cups skim milk because I doubt I had buttermilk on hand, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly! With so few ingredients, there's not really much room for playing with the recipe.

Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread: 2x the fun

Ugh. What an awful few weeks. They have been just overwhelmingly sad, almost unbearable. I never thought I'd have to watch the people I love suffer so deeply. It's still so hard to believe, for so many people, and I don't know that the sadness will fade easily.

And so, this post is dedicated to Mark, who I barely knew but I loved, and who I regret I will never be able to know like Tim did. We celebrated St. Patty's Day in honor of him (well, hell, I did anyway) & I thought of him as the cabbage cooked because Tim told me that he's awful at making cabbage (since he hates it) & the only time he's ever made cabbage well was once when he cooked St. Patty's dinner for Mark, who told him that it was cooked just as he liked it. :)

And I know that Irish Soda Bread is the last thing on anyone's mind right now, but I made it before all the crap, and I've been wanting to post about it (and I haven't really baked/cooked in over a week...ugh, I'm so tired of take-out). I was originally going to post 3 recipes, but I seem to have lost the 3rd, so you'll get the first two I tried instead.

The first is much more like a cake (and therefore, delicious) but the second is much more like what I think of when I think of soda bread. I still think a mix of the two recipes might result in my perfect idea of soda bread (the 3rd recipe was my first attempt at integrating the recipes) but maybe a completely separate 3rd recipe would be best.


Irish Soda Bread (cake form)
from Whole Grain Baking

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup raisins, plumped
1 Tbsp milk, for glaze

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8-inch round pan.

Beat together the butter & sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs and beat on high speed until the mixture is thick & light colored, about 2 min. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda & salt, then 1 cup of the whole wheat flour. Gently beat in half of the buttermilk then another cup of the flour. Add the remaining buttermilk and the all-purpose flour, mixing until smooth. Stir in the raisins.

Turn the dough into the prepared pan. Drizzle the milk over it & sprinkle with sugar.


Irish Soda Bread (bread form)
from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
1 egg white
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare a 9-inch round baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking osda & baking powder. Thoroughtly mix in the brown sugar. Cut the butter pieces into the flour until the mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse meal.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg white until frothy. Add the buttermilk & raisins. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring just until the dough is evenly moistened, the dough will be very soft & VERY sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and with floured hands, gently knead for just 30-45 seconds.

Mound the dough into a dome about 9 inches across in the baking pan. Cut an "X" in the top of the loaf. Bake for 45 min, or until firm to the touch & golden brown.

*You know, I might have made some modifications to these recipes (in fact, I'm pretty sure I did) but I can't remember at this point. I'll edit the recipe if I remember. I know instead of buttermilk I used about 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, & the rest milk.*

I know I don't really have any regular readers out there, but if anyone's noticed my absence, thanks for bearing with me. I haven't been able to focus worth a damn. And it hasn't helped that in between I've been sicker than I can remember. (My "Spring Break" was spent shaking with fever while my mom took care of me in the middle of the night (thanks Mom!) & missing my flight back to Indiana...I'm so glad I was home in Jersey with my family, but it sure wasn't my favorite "vacation" ever!) I even made these recipes before St. Patrick's Day, thinking for once I'd actually post before the holiday, but life got in the way!

So a happy belated St. Patrick's Day, and here's hoping that next year will bear happier times than this one.

* Love, Sarah *