Banana Bread

I made some banana bread over the weekend. This is the recipe I usually follow when I’m making banana bread, but this time I was looking for something different and wanted to try another recipe for a change. I came across this one that looked very good, but at the last moment I realized that I did not have sour cream, a key ingredient in the recipe. So I made a few substitutions and ended up with a recipe that is a combination of both the recipes with a few additional ingredients thrown in. 

Here's what needs to be done-

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour your pan.  (I had enough batter for my regular 8 x 4- inch loaf pan and a mini one too.)

Mix together the following ingredients in a bowl-

• 1 ½  cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½  tsp. salt
• A pinch of cardamom powder
• ¼  tsp powdered cloves
• ½  tsp cinnamon

In another bowl, beat together these wet ingredients-

• ¾  cup sugar
• ½  cup olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed banana (from about 2   very ripe bananas)
• ½  cup yogurt (I used low-fat)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the dry and wet ingredients together and mix well. Fold in the following -

• ¼  cup butterscotch morsels
• ¼  cup toffee bits (I used Heath Bits ‘O Brickle Toffee Bits)
• ½  cup toasted and chopped hazelnuts

Pour the batter into the greased pans. Bake for  45-50 minutes  or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out relatively clean. My small loaf was done in 30-35 minutes. Cool, slice and serve.

The recipe was a success- the bread had the perfect amount of sweetness, and it was soft and moist. A slice or two of  this delicious loaf  makes a wonderful accompaniment to a cup of tea. 

Chocolate Banana Swirl Cake

This wonderful cake can be made with little effort. If you like bananas, this is a cake you'll definitely love - it's very banana-y. I didn't bother frosting it but decided to create some swirls on the surface of the batter instead for a pretty finish. I baked this late one night and took it in to work the next day - it disappeared pretty quickly.

My cake was inspired by this recipe from Week Of Menus. I made a few changes to come up with a slightly healthier alternative.

Here's what needs to be done:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch cake pan.

In a bowl, mix together these dry ingredients-

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt

In another bowl, beat together:

• 5 Tbsp softened butter
• 2 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed well
• ¾ cup yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rum extract

Combine the dry and wet ingredients together. Mix well. The batter will be a relatively thick one.

Add 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter and mix again.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Melt 2 ounces of white chocolate. Drop small blobs of the melted chocolate all over the surface of the batter and run a toothpick through it to create beautiful swirls.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out relatively clean.

Cool, slice and serve.

Notes: I was a little disappointed that I could not taste the rum or vanilla flavors in the cake. I could not even taste the chocolate in the cake though I'd added almost 6 ounces of it in addition to the cocoa powder. The banana flavor had overpowered all of the other flavors in the cake. Next time, I'd like to try adding some coffee to the cake for a different taste.

I'm sending this over to Deeba for the Fruit in Baking edition of the Monthly Mingle event that she's hosting.

Spiced Banana Bread

I don’t know why we buy bananas, without fail, during every trip to the grocery store especially since we rarely give them a second look once they get to the fruit bowl. I usually end up throwing them out, a couple of days later, when they are overly ripe. Every once in a while I make a banana bread not because I’m too crazy about it, but because I can’t think of anything better to do with a bunch of bananas (other than making the occasional smoothie, pancake or batch of muffins) that are rapidly spoiling.

I've made a couple of different versions of banana bread since I first started baking but never one that’s been spiced up like this. This is a very nice spiced bread/cake to bake especially this time of the year, it being the holiday season and all.

Wet ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well (I pureed the bananas)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup sugar (adjust according to taste and sweetness of fruit)
1 egg
3 Tbsp yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger powder
½ tsp powdered cloves
¼ tsp salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg; beat well. Add the mashed bananas, sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients together and combine with the wet ingredients. Add a few walnuts to the batter and sprinkle the rest on top. Pour into the greased loaf pan.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 375 degrees F, then turn off the oven and let it continue to remain inside for another 5-10 minutes.

I’ve baked a couple of different versions of this bread over time and this seems to be one version that I will keep going back to.

Coconut Banana Spice Pancakes

We don’t have pancakes very often, the main reason being that we don’t care much for sickeningly sweet breakfasts. In fact, I think we’ve only had pancakes twice in the last 5 years. But the other day I came across this interesting recipe on Stefanie’s fabulous blog which made me want to try making some immediately. And that’s how I came to make my very first pancake from scratch following her simple recipe.


Ingredients:

For the batter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2tsp baking powder
1/3 rd cup shredded sweetened coconut
½ tsp cardamom
1 tsp red chilli flakes
A pinch of nutmeg
½ tsp salt
1 cup milk
¼ cup coconut milk
1 banana, mashed well
Oil/ Butter- to grease the skillet


For the topping
Honey
Chopped walnuts

Method:
In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, coconut flakes, cardamom, chilli flakes, nutmeg and salt.


In another bowl, blend the milk, coconut milk and mashed banana.
Add this to the flour mixture and whisk well.


Grease a hot skillet with oil/butter, pour a ladleful of the pancake batter . Tilt and move the the skillet around a bit so that the batter spreads out a little.


Cook on medium heat for 45-60 seconds until golden brown. Flip the pancake and cook the other side similarly. Repeat with the remainder of the batter.


Drizzle some honey on the top of the pancakes and sprinkle a few chopped walnuts.


This recipe makes 8 small pancakes.

These pancakes were moist and delicious with just a hint of sweetness. So much better than the syrup-laden cloyingly sweet ones! We loved it.

Fruity Tofu Smoothie

Ever since WBB was announced by dear Rajitha, I wanted to make something which I had never tried before, with tofu. This has always been an ingredient that I have used either for making the very popular tofu scramble or the usual Indo-Chinese fare. This time around, I wanted to give tofu a breakfast-y makeover for obvious reasons. ;-)

I adapted this recipe that I saw on the Nasoya website. This makes a very filling and delicious protein-rich drink that’s ready in minutes.

Ingredients:
8 oz silken tofu, drained (I used Nasoya)
1 ½ cup frozen strawberries
1 ripe banana
1 cup orange juice
½ cup milk
3-4 Tbsp honey


Method:
Throw all the ingredients together in a blender and process until smooth. Chill and enjoy!

Makes 3 servings.

Tofu by itself has very little flavor and is almost bland. It blended really well (flavor- wise) with the fruits and took on the fruity taste. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it could not be tasted at all in the smoothie. What a great way to sneak some protein into your diet!


This recipe goes to Rajitha for Weekend Breakfast Blogging with soy. I am also sending the picture to Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi for Click: Liquid.

Banana Latte Smoothie

Here's a recipe for smoothie lovers & coffee lovers.
It's a great healthy breakfast by itself when you're pressed for time, serves as the perfect morning energizer or can be had just any time of the day.

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 cup coffee (I made it by boiling a cup of milk & adding 1/2 - 1 1/2 tsp coffee powder to it & chilling it well before making the smoothie but do adjust according to your taste.)
1 cup cold milk(this is in addition to the milk used to make the coffee)
2 Tbsp yogurt
3-4 drops vanilla essence
Sugar as needed

Method:
Combine the ingredients & blend until smooth.
Couldn't get any simpler than that now, could it?

This makes 2 servings.

Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour, sifted
3 bananas, very ripe

1 egg, beaten

1/3 Cup vegetable oil (I prefer butter here but was too lazy to melt it!)

1/2 cup sugar(you could use more, my bananas were verrryyyyyy sweet)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

A pinch of cardamom powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 Cup of walnuts, chopped coarsely

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift the flour, add baking powder, baking soda, salt & cardamom powder. Mix well to ensure that there are no lumps.

Mash the bananas well & add the vanilla essence to it.Add the beaten egg along with sugar & oil and mix well.

Add to the dry ingredients.Add the chopped walnuts and mix well to bring everything together.

Line the muffin pan with muffin paper cups & add enough batter to fill each cup to about

2/3rds to the top. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top of each cup.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Check for doneness. A toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin should come out clean and at this point the muffins turn a beautiful golden brown color.

This recipe yielded about 12 muffins.

Muffins are best served warm. I love to have this for dessert with a little bit of whipped cream on the top !

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Ingredients
10 -12 strawberries
1 banana
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2-3 tsp. sugar

Method
Blend all the ingredients really well until smooth.
Serve chilled. Enjoy!

Banana Walnut Muffins