Banana Bread Snack Bars*

I was looking for a healthier kind of "early morning" snack-- something to get our little guy from 5:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. when he gets to school for his Monday-Friday breakfast.   I wanted something not toooooooo loaded with sugar.  First off, I hope you understand that he doesn't eat breakfast at school because of there not being a breakfast option right here at home--  it is because the school offers the breakfast program and students are encouraged to take part in it, so he does. 

My "google-search" took me to these Chocolate Chip Banana Bars--  BUT!, because I think they taste more like a slice of banana bread, that is what I am naming them.    (IF these were just for me, I'd load them up with nuts!  The way it is, I did change the original recipe just a bit--  the first time I made these, I used all coconut oil; this time I used butter as the shortening, and I added three tablespoons of ground flax seeds.)  

 Since our little one gives me a "thumbs up" on these, I am posting this recipe here so that I don't lose it.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 5-6 very ripe bananas (1 and 2/3 cup mashed banana, total).  RIPE bananas add more        flavor and sweetness.
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (I used dark)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted  (OR 1/4 cup warmed coconut oil; OR 2 Tbsp warmed coconut oil/2 Tbsp applesauce; OR 1/4 cup all applesauce.)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 and 3/4 cup flour (or substitute with whole wheat flour if you don't mind these ending up a little "heavier")
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. ground flax seed (optional)
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips (put half in batter, spread other half on top just before baking).

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350-degrees.  Spray a 15x10.5" pan with non-stick spray.
2. Peel bananas and mash well.  Stir in brown sugar, oil, milk and eggs until combined.
3. Add in dry ingredients and stir.  Stir in the ground flax seed (optional.  Fold in 1/2 of the             mini chocolate chips.
4. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle remaining chips on top.  Bake 18-              22 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
5. Cool completely, and cut into squares.

*Adapted from a recipe from the recipes posted at butterwithasideofbread.com

Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins

I just HAVE to save this recipe here

because I do not ever want to lose it.

These are not the "dessert" kind of muffin--

but are so good for a "grab and go" of 

...GOODness!

These ameteurish photos are mine.

I had a supply of "ripe" bananas--

I googled "whole wheat banana muffins" and found this recipe!

This recipe caught my eye because
it called for "all things good"!

Whole wheat flour, coconut oil,
maple syrup, ripe bananas,

milk (reg. or almond milk),
eggs, oatmeal, etc.

You can find the recipe for these at:

http://cookieandkate.com/2015/healthy-banana-muffins-recipe/

(There are all kind of good/interesting recipes on her site. Check it out.)

Zucchini 'n Stuff Muffins

I've made these with using honey instead of sugar; bananas instead of butter or oil; wheat flour in place of some of the white flour; gluten to add 'lightness'; wheat bran to add fiber; and chocolate chips ... for 'just because'.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 3 small bananas, mashed (equals 1 cup)
• 1 cup honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 2 teaspoons wheat gluten
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Another option:  You can omit chocolate chips and/or walnuts, and add 1 cup of raisins OR dried cranberries instead.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees (175-degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the honey, eggs, mashed bananas.
3. Stir in the grated zucchini.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the two flour(s), wheat gluten, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  
5. Stir the dry mixture into the zucchini mixture.
6. Add walnuts, chocolate chips if using.
7. Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray.  Use a spoon or 'cookie scooper' to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up to within 1/2" of top.
8. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 t0 30 minutes.  Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done.  Set on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Remove muffins from the tin and let cool for another 20 minutes.

NOTE:  If you are including walnuts and other 'good stuff', you will likely have more batter than is needed for just 12 muffins.  I got 15 of the LARGE-sized muffins from this batch.

Banana Blueberry Crumb Muffins*

It's hard to believe we can get to THIS kind of 

"GOODNESS" in just about 25 minutes 

from start to finish!

What a wonderful  "marriage"!   Three very ripe bananas and one cup of fresh blueberries--  oh, how GOOD they end up tasting after meeting up with the other ingredients!!!

Yield:  12 muffins
Prep. time is about 5 minutes
Baking time is 18-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

........

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (but not into mush)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

.......

• 1 cup fresh blueberries

.......

• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2  teaspoons butter, at room temperature

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 365-degrees
2. Line one 12-count muffin tin with papers
3. Ever so lightly, spray liners with non-stick spray.  Set aside.
4. In a med. bowl, combine the 1 and 1/2 cup amount of flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together well and set aside.
5. In another med. bowl, combine smashed bananas, sugar, slightly beaten egg, and melted butter.  Stir until well blended.
6. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, barely stirring-- stir JUST until all is moistened.
7. Spoon muffin batter into muffin papers (a cookie scooper works great for this)
8. Drop the fresh blueberries (equally) on top of the muffin dough in the tins-- I ended up having about six blueberries for each muffin top.
9. Gently press each of the blueberries down into the dough.  They don't have to be totally covered.  (I do it this way so that my stirring doesn't break the blueberries as they could be IF they had been mixed into the dough.)  Set aside.
10. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of flour, and the cinnamon together.
11. Using a fork, cut in the 2 teaspoons softened butter until evenly mixed.
12. Sprinkle the brown sugar/butter mixture evenly over the tops of the muffins.
13. Bake for 18-20 minutes OR until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
14. ENJOY!!!!  

*  This recipe was adapted from the recipe I saw on the blog of  http://realhousemoms.com/ in 2013.  I didn't make any huge changes.  How I did change: Lightly sprayed the paper liners, reduced the sugar a bit, introduced the fresh blueberries to the batter in a different way, reduced the total amount of the final crumb topping, and reduced the oven temperature just a little.  

Banana Bread w/Sour Cream*

I will be KEEPING this recipe so I can make more of these!

INGREDIENTS:  

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
6 very ripe bananas, smashed (but not into "mush")
2 cups (16 oz.) sour cream (I used Daisy brand)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 level teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
4 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Grease three of 4¼" x 8½" pans (I measured inside the edges of their top opening).  I like to not only grease/spray the pans, but I also put a long strip of parchment paper down the end, along the bottom and up the other end of each pan and then lightly grease that, too (or very lightly spray it with  "non-stick").  By doing that, it makes loaf-removal less of a "breath-holding" experience.

1. In a large bowl, cream the softened butter with the 2 cups of white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar. (I used my stand mixer for this.) 
2. Mix in eggs (one at a time), smashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon.
3. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour... until evenly blended.
4. Stir in nuts.
5. Divide into prepared pans (my pans ended up being filled to almost 1/2" of their top edge).  Before baking, I sprinkled a small amount of chopped walnuts on top of batter and gently pressed them in (just a little).
6. Bake for 1 hour plus 15 minutes OR until the small/clean/sharp blade of a knife gently inserted in the center comes out clean.  (With the oven I was using, I had to add just a few more minutes.)
7. Remove from oven, let sit in pans for about 10 minutes.

Remove from pans and lightly butter the tops.Let cool.  Slice.  Enjoy!   (Because these came out of the oven at bedtime, I set them on a layer of dish towels, covered them up with a few more; these were SO READY to CUT and ENJOY by this morning.)

* I changed a few things in the recipe I was sent. I first put a strip of parchment paper into the greased/sprayed pan and then sprayed that.  Then,... the original recipe said to dust the inside of the greased pans with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon, but I opted to NOT do that because I didn't want their outsides to get too dark.  I replaced one cup of white sugar with a cup of dark brown sugar; I used UNsalted butter; and baked the bread in three "larger" pans instead of the four "smaller" ones called for.  Also,...I added 1/2 cups of walnuts, and used some of those for sprinkling on top of the batter before baking.

Banana "Surprise" Muffins

Win'r-Win'r, Muff'n-IN'r!

I am happy with how these turned out!

They're like a cross between banana bread and 

banana muffins.   IF these were only for me, 

I'd have added a LOT of chopped walnuts!

Above:  I baked some of these in the little 
'mini' cupcake papers.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely ground wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (light, or dark)
• 2 tablespoons milled flax seed (make sure they're 'fresh enough' that they don't have an 'old/rancid' taste).
• --------------------------
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (not to the 'soupy' stage, though)
• 1 cup mayonnaise (I used Hellmann's brand)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used regular)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• --------------------------
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, OR a Hershey's Kiss-- totally OPTIONAL!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees.
2. Grease/spray 12 regular-sized muffin cups, or use paper cupcake liners.  I used two pans-- one was a large-type 6-holer for making LARGE muffins, and the other pan was for regular-sized muffins.  I put paper cupcake liners in both pans. This recipe filled the "six-holer" and just four of the regular-sized muffin wells.
3. Stir the flour(s), baking soda, baking powder, sugar(s) and the flax seed together until evenly blended.
4. Add the mashed banana, mayonnaise, sour cream and vanilla to the dry ingredients.  Stir only until well combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups to about 3/4 full (I used my lever-action cookie scoop for this--the big papers took about two scoopsful.)
6. After the batter was in the liners, you could add some chocolate chips, but,.... I just 'pushed' one regular-sized Hershey's Kiss down into the middle of each, leaving only the very tip of it sticking out.  When the muffins were done, they ended up looking like this on the inside...  the 'chocolate kiss' can be the 'surprise'.
   

• Bake on middle rack in a preheated oven until golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly pressed-- for about 20-25 minutes.  BUT!, the four baking in the smaller muffin tins were done in about 15 minutes (I think!).  
• Because ovens are so 'different', check on their baking progress after the first 15 minutes and even more closely after that.

...it WAS . SO . GOOD with a cold glass of milk!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

May 10, 2013... today, I made another batch 
a DOUBLE batch and baked them in 
various sized muffin pans/papers...

Into the freezer, they go......... they keep SO well!!!

100% Whole Wheat Coconut Oil* Banana Bread

For the two loaves pictured, I doubled the following recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup raw honey)
• 1/3 cup virgin coconut oil* (My note about this is at the bottom)
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups mashed ripe bananas (5-6 medium)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used a tiny bit less)
• 1 and 2/3 cups 100% whole wheat flour (Next time, for an experiment, I'm going to try the coconut flour I have on hand.)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnut halves)
• 1 cup shredded coconut (The coconut I used was very 'fine'.)

Here's a photo of the 'shredded' coconut that I used...

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
• Grease the bottom only of one 9x5" loaf pan.  (For just in case, I greased pan bottom and also put one sheet of parchment paper in just the bottom of the pan and greased that.)  Set aside.
• Mix sugar (I used raw honey) and coconut oil until well blended.  With using the honey, I was very surprised to see I had a very 'thick/white mixture' when I first combined the two but I kept the 'beater' going until it was very smooth/well blended-- until the two started to 'behave' and 'get along'!
• Add mashed bananas and water, mix well.
• Add baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Mix in evenly/well.
• Add flour and mix ONLY until all is just moistened.
• Stir in nuts and coconut.
• Pour into prepared loaf pan.
• Bake until toothpick or sharp knife inserted in the middle of loaf comes out clean-- this will be about one hour.

Let it cool for about five minutes; loosen edges with knife and remove from pan to wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

I adapted this recipe from a site with free coconut recipes.  It was originally submitted by Rachel of Costa Rica.

*Through the years, there's been 'hoopla' about coconut oil.  First, it was safe.  Then, it wasn't.  Then, it is, again.   When I did the following 'GOOGLING', this is what came up:

• Coconut Oil Benefits: 4,820,000 sites
• Canola Oil Benefits:  1,050,000 sites
• Olive Oil Benefits:  3,370,000
• Butter Benefits:  42,700,000
• Coconut Oil Dangers:  522,000
• Canola Oil Dangers:  132,000
• Olive Oil Dangers:  1,410,000
• Butter Dangers:  5,110,000

The percentage of 'dangers' sites vs. 'benefits' sites of each is probably the most interesting.  Still,... could some of the information on the sites be considered 'suspect' because of the writer having a biased opinion in order to promote another product?  Well,... for what it's worth, you can look/read for yourself.  So,...

Do the 'Google' for yourself, read away and draw your own conclusions-- there is SO MUCH information available on the pros and cons of almost everything.  More information, I think, than any human could ever cover!   I just know that through the years, I faithfully used canola oil and olive oil-- now, as I've aged, I question the smartness of my relying on canola oil as much as I did.

▼

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What can I say!?!?!   The two slices were just...................really that good!

Banana Bread (with PHOTOS)

I typed up and included this recipe in my regular "Family Chatter" blog during the month of April-- now, I've copy/pasted it into here.   First of all, here are the pictures of how this bread turned out for me-- I was VERY satisfied!!!

Banana Bread: 

I already had/have what I consider some good recipes for making banana bread.  But,... from 'someones?' blog site about baking, I ended up watching a 'you tube' video of an 89 yr. granny making banana bread with her daughter-in-law.  You can find this video by clicking on this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcUy88gELWo  The recipe I found there is what I've typed out below. 

To make this recipe of banana bread, you will need:

6 very ripe bananas with some brown spots on them, but not rotten (LOL!).  Smash/crush these, but not so much that they turn into 'banana soup'... in fact, pieces that are still 1/4 to 1/2" are okay.  Set this aside until it's time to add it.
Start mixing together (you don't need a mixer for this):

2 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar  (Ever since the first time I made this recipe, I've used only 1 cup of sugar-- it works!)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 finger pinches of salt 

Add:  Smashed bananas and stir in until well blended

Add:  3 cups all-purpose flour (stir only long enough to incorporate; do not over mix it)  and 1 cup walnuts, optional (chop them only 'slightly').

 Put this batter into "VERY" greased or buttered pans, paying special attention to the corners of the pan (so the loaves don't act like they are part of the pan after baking).  In fact, I like my daughter Paula's suggestion even better:  Spray the pans with non-stick, cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the pan, put it in there, spray that with the non-stick and........... magic!................. pops out before there's time for any kind of 'wonder if you will' feeling! 

If you are using two large (9" long) loaf pans, bake them about 1 hour at 350-degrees, or until a toothpick or sharp clean/dry knife stuck into the center comes out clean.  I baked mine in three of the smaller (8" long) loaf pans and they were done in about 45-minutes.  Before trying to remove from pan, run a knife around all the edges to loosen them a bit.

Okay, ... done!!!   Wayne was in here as they came from the oven and he wanted a 'sample' right away.  I preferred to first let them cool for a while, but..... he won! (See photo at top.)  He asked me to wrap up a couple of slices for him to take to the woods were John is cutting wood.   I believe this IS a good recipe!  This house smells better than ANY scented candle could accomplish!!