Breakfast

Basic Banana Bread

This is my favorite basic banana bread.  Last time I made it I was out of vanilla, so I subbed almond extract and cardamom and ended up baking one of my favorite loaves ever.

A single batch of this nearly overfills my standard loaf pan, especially if you include the nuts. Last time I had a lot of bananas, so scaled up the recipe by a third, then split into two loaves. Worked great. (Room for more batter if ever want/need to scale up to 1.5X sometime.)

  • 2 C. very ripe bananas, mashed; about 4 or 5 medium bananas (455 g.)
  • 1/2 C. vegetable oil (99 g.)
  • 1 C. sugar  (200 g)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 T. milk
  • 3/4 t. almond extract or 1 t. vanilla
  • 3/4 t. cardamom or 1 t. cinnamon
  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour (250 g.)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas, add the oil, sugar, eggs, milk, and extract, stir to combine.
  3. Mix in the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. (and nuts, if using.) Make sure ingredients are thoroughly combined.
  4. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  5. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack.
Advertisement
0 CommentsLeave a comment

Amber’s Granola

My favorite.

3.0 C. oats
1.0 C. raw buckwheat groats
0.5 C. raw sunflower seeds
1.5 C. pecans, roughly chopped
1.0 C. walnut halves

1/2 C. coconut oil, just melted
2/3 C. maple syrup
1 t. cinnamon (very heaped)
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. fresh ground nutmeg
1.5 t. kosher salt (heaped), divided
3/4 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. almond extract

1/2 C. dried cranberries

—
Mix the oats/seeds/nuts in a large bowl.

Separately, mix the wet/spices (I do it in a big pyrex measuring cup), but only use 1.t of the kosher salt here.

Pour the wet into the dry, mix, pour onto parchment covered baking sheet, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 t. of kosher salt.

Bake at 350* for about an hour, stirring once, after 15 minutes, then rotating the pan once again after.

I think this granola tastes best with some color on it – I like to let it get fairly golden brown.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle dried cranberries over the top of the pan and let cool. Try not to eat the whole pan.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

After making these about 6 times in the past couple of months, I think I can declare these our official household muffins.

Adapted from food.com.

  • 1 cup AP flour (120 g.)
  • 1 cup 100% whole wheat flour (120 g.)
  • 1 cup quick-cooking oats (100 g.)
  • 1 cup cane sugar (210 g. turbinado)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 4 med.-lg. bananas, mashed (~100 g. ea.)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to  375 degrees (I use 360ish because I have a dark muffin pan.)
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (first 9 ingredients), in a medium bowl mash the bananas and add the remaining wet ingredients, mix well.
Add wet to dry, mix just until combined.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full, sprinkle with large grain turbinado sugar.  Bake for 15-18 minutes, until toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs clinging.
Makes 16 muffins.  (They freeze well!)
0 CommentsLeave a comment

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

I’m ready to declare this my favorite pumpkin bread.  Especially after defrosting a 2.5 year old loaf from the deep freeze and finding it to be as delicious as if I had pulled it out of the oven that day.

Recipe from the delightful Joy the Baker.

Makes 2 loaves.

  • 2 C. all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 C. white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour
  • 2 C. light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/3 C. granulated sugar
  • 2 t. baking soda
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 t. freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 1 t. allspice
  • 1/2 t. cloves
  • 1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree, or just under two cups
  • 1 C.  vegetable oil
  • 1/3 C. maple syrup
  • 1/3 C. water
  • 1 C. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 2 loaf pans (8″x4″)

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients listed, through the cloves. In medium bowl, mix wet ingredients.   Add wet to dry, fold with spatula until combined.  Mix in walnuts, reserving some to sprinkle on the tops of the loaves.   Pour into two prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 60-75 minutes, testing for doneness with a skewer.  Let cool in pans for 20 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

Notes:

  • My frozen loaf was noted “nearly vegan”  but I have no idea what modification I made.  Maybe I used part butter, part oil?
  • To freeze, I wrapped in saran wrap and then foil, and then stored in a freezer ziploc bag.
  • The flavor and texture of this loaf are awesome.  Moist, dense, leans gingerbread-ish with the listed amount of spices.
  • I’m usually inclined to try reducing the sugar, but don’t know if I did that before or not.  2 1/3 cups + maple syrup is a lot of sugar, even for 2 loaves.  The one-third cup of white sugar seems especially extraneous.
  • Next time: review comments on Joy’s site — people have tried various methods of reducing both oil and sugar.
1 CommentLeave a comment