Banana Trail Mix

This recipe can be adapted anyway you like to suit your taste more. Subbing in different nuts and dried fruit makes for more interesting and new ways to enjoy the same base of the recipe.

The recipe uses coconut oil  but that could defiantly be swapped with melted butter. As well, the banana could be swapped with yogurt, you just have to be aware that the final product may come out less sweet.

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup oats

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, divided

1/3 cup chopped candied ginger

1/3 cup chopped dried cherries or cranberries

1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate (you can sub in chocolate chips)

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil, melted

1 cup ripe banana, mashed

1/4 cup honey

1 large egg, preferably at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon turbinado (raw) sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan (see note below on how to make muffins).
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in 1/2 cup shredded coconut, then mix in the chopped ginger, dried fruit, pecans and dark chocolate.
3. In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, mashed banana, honey, egg and vanilla.*
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup coconut. Top with a light sprinkle of turbinado (raw) sugar.
5. Bake for until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes or longer. Let the bread cool in the pan before slicing. This bread is dense and not very easy to slice; I found that my sharp paring knife worked better than a serrated bread knife.

*If your coconut oil goes back to its solid state when you’re stirring the batter, just warm the mixture for short 30 second bursts in the microwave, stirring between each, just until it is melted again. *

Brownie Bunch

Moist Brownies

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Before you get to making this you must know, these brownies are absolutely delicious and you will be strongly addicted. Don't worry, there's an App for that.

Steps to glory

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking pan(the wider the pan is, the less amount of time you will have to bake).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Also good...

Adding almonds, chocolate chips(white or chocolate), little banana slices, or adding icing and chopped strawberries


Best served warm with a cup of milk

*when you insert a tooth pick it may still come out a bit covered, the brownie will harder a bit out of the oven. as well, these are moist brownies*

Here's a funny link if your trying to get baking but your body just wont do it.

www.belarr.com/bakercat/

Banana Muffins

This are absolutely delicious and are prefect on so many levels.

I have a friend who is terrified of bananas:everything about them scare her. Even the sight of bananas makes her cringe. Me being me, I snuck one of these in front of her without her knowing the flavor. She absolutely loved them!! I have cured her insane phobia and got a free complement out of it!

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 sticks butter

1 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup buttermilk (milk or coconut milk can be used here as well)

1 cup shredded coconut (I skipped them since I didn’t have any in hand)

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with a kitchen mixer using paddle attachment. Add sugar and beat for a few minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time while continue to beat at low speed and vanilla. The mixture will be silky smooth – add banana and lower speed.

Mix in the flour and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour.

3.Fill into cupcake pans (fill up about 2/3-full, you should get approximately 18 cupcakes), bake them for about 18-minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

   Apple Crumb Cake

For the Dough:
4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 package Active Dry Yeast
9 tablespoons  unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
Pinch of Salt
Juice from Half of a Lemon
1 cup Milk
For the Apples:
4 to 5 Apples
Lemon Juice from One Lemon
1/2 cup Sugar

For the Crumb Topping:
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 sticks Unsalted Butter
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1 package Vanilla Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon


Create a "pre-dough" by combining the milk and yeast. Use a whisk to help dissolve the yeast. Mix in one tablespoon flour and one tablespoon sugar. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for one hour. During this time, you should see the yeast becoming active, noticeable by bubbles forming in the mixture.

Sift the remaining flour.

Using a mixing bowl, whip the butter until it is smooth. Add sugar and continue whipping until the sugar is absorbed. Change your mixer to the dough hook. To the mixing bowl add 3 cups of flour, milk, lemon juice, salt, and the "pre-dough." Combine all the ingredients. Gradually add remaining flour until dough is no longer sticky (if the dough reaches this point before adding all of the flour, then stop adding flour). Knead dough for 2 minutes. Transfer dough to a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place for one hour or until it has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

While the dough is growing, prepare the crumbs by combining all the crumb ingredients. Crumbs should not be sticky. If they are sticky, add some extra flour (1 tablespoon at a time) until they crumble easily. Set aside.

Wash, peel, and core the apples. Cut apples into thin slices. Drizzle lemon juice over the apple slices and mix to distribute the juice over all the apple slices. Set aside.

Prepare a retangular cake pan by greasing it and dusting it with flour. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a flour surface for a minute or two. Roll the dough out to fit the cake pan. Transfer dough to the cake pan. Top the dough with apple slices and optionally the almond slices. Sprinkle the apples with the sugar. Top the apples with crumbs. Cover cake loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise again for 30-40 minutes.

Remove plastic from cake. Bake cake for 40 minutes or until the dough and crumbs are golden brown. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely. Dust top of cake with powdered sugar.

Blueberry Blast Tart

Ingredients

For the Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

 

 

 

 

For the Filling

6 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2/3 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt, and butter; process until large moist crumbs form (dough should hold together when squeezed).

1. Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom; with floured fingers, press evenly into bottom and up sides. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes; prick bottom of dough all over with a fork. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes; cool completely.
2. Meanwhile, reserve 1 cup of the prettiest berries for topping. In a medium saucepan, bring 1/4 cup water and 1 1/2 cups berries to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries begin to break down, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water; stir into berries in pan. Add lemon zest and juice, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, stirring, just until mixture begins to thicken, 30 to 60 seconds. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining 3 1/2 cups fresh berries. Immediately pour hot berry mixture into cooled tart shell, and smooth with a spatula.
4. Scatter reserved berries on top, pressing down lightly to help them adhere. Refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

 

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature

   

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt for 30 seconds, set aside. In a separate large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer set on medium-high speed, whip together eggs, sugar and vanilla until mixture is very pale, fluffy and thickened slightly, about 3 minutes. Mix in melted butter and vegetable oil. Working in three separate batches, beginning and ending with flour, add 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by 1/2 of the milk mixture, blending until well combine after each addition. Pour batter into 12 paper lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven 19 - 22 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack, then frost with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting and top with a small whole fresh strawberry or fresh strawberry slices.

*To bring the eggs to room temp quickly, simply submerge in a bowl of warm water for 5 - 10 minutes. To bring milk to room temperature quickly, simply heat in microwave on high powder in a microwave safe dish for 15 - 20 seconds until no longer cold.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup  strawberries

2 1/2 Tbsp milk

2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, whip butter on medium-high speed until very pale and fluffy 6 - 8 minutes, frequently scraping down sides and bottom of bowl. OR if you do not have a stand mixer you can use a hand mixer which will only take 8-10 mintues.

 

You can pulverize the strawberries if you like, or if you want a more strawberry texture use a knife. I find cutting them up into fine peices gives a wonderful texture and a great appeal.

Stir in strawberries, milk, and powdered sugar and whip mixture for 4-5 mintues. Best results if served within the hour.

Reciepe found at www.cookingclassy.com

Banana Bread

This recipe is actually stolen from grandma`s kitchen!

Inspiration: I decided to make banana bread because it's my Father's favourite. My house always smelled of fresh banana bread because he was so in love with it. I remember he would always let me squish the banana's with my hands, which at the age of 7-17 is very amusing. So this baked good is for him, love you Dad!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup softened butter

2 eggs

3 medium bananas

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cup white sugar.

2. Then add 1butter(better if warm/soft),eggs,  mashed bananas and make sure completely stirred.

3. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees f.

SWITCH IT UP:

Depending on what you like to eat in your loaves, adding chopped walnuts and extra banana's makes for a delicious and one of a kind treat.

From mix to master piece!!