Banana Nut Muffins (Vegan!)

I love banana bread and will sometimes deliberately buy ripe bananas just so I have an "excuse" to make it (like I need an excuse!) This weekend, I decided to try out a new spin on the banana bread recipe I've been using for years to make these muffins. They are so full of banana flavour - really wonderful! :) They have wheat germ so they are a great source of vitamin E and folic acid.

Makes 12 large muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. aluminium-free baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (superfood!)
1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (superfood!)
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1 cup mashed banana (about 2-3 medium bananas) - I like to think bananas are a superfood!
1 additional banana, mashed (egg substitute) - superfood! (eggs are a superfood, too, if you choose to make this non-vegan)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup applesauce (you could also use 1/4 cup cooking oil if applesauce is unavailable)
1 tbsp. raw turbinado sugar (optional)

Method:
1. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper or foil cupcake cases. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, wheat germ, and walnuts. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and set aside.

3. In another bowl, combine the bananas (including the "egg" banana), brown sugar, granulated sugar, and applesauce. Add this banana mixture all at once into the well in the dry mixture. Stir until just moistened - the batter will be lumpy.
**Do not overmix as this will create tunnels and pointy tops on your finished muffins.**

4. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin (an ice-cream scoop is your friend here!) Sprinkle the unbaked muffins with a little turbinado sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Reference:
The basic banana bread recipe (and cooking times) are from The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (1996 edition). I got the inspiration to add the wheat germ and turbinado sugar from Cooking Light's Orange-Cranberry Wheat Germ Muffin recipe which I love so much! The nutmeg and brown sugar additions were just last-minute changes I decided to try out - thank goodness they worked! I know messing with baking recipes can be a bit risky!

Chocolate-Strawberry Bread

This is a recipe I used for our WC Platinum Chef Challenge (from The Nest). I used a recipe for double-chocolate banana bread (I think the original recipe is on this blog, too) and just changed some things around to make it with strawberries and nuts (two of the challenge ingredients).
Just had a slice of this for "lunch dessert" - wow! It's so worth all the fat and calories ;) I did decide to up the amount of strawberries by just a bit so you get more of the strawberry flavour (especially since that was one of the ingredients in the challenge!)
This was really easy to make and is super-yummy. I'll have to have my fruit-hating husband try it and post about what he thinks. :)

This recipe will make 16 (1 slice) servings

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped (one of those 16-ounce containers)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 coarsely chopped walnuts

Method:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom and sides of a loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, and oil at medium speed until mixed. Beat in the vanilla extract. (I used my KA stand mixer for this part; if you don't have a stand mixer, you can use a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer).

3. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; beat into sugar mixture at low speed until just combined (do not overmix). Use a wooden spoon to stir in the strawberries, chocolate chips, and walnuts.



4. Spoon the batter into a loaf pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a tester inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack then remove from pan and cool completely. Wrap the bread in foil and leave it overnight before slicing.


Reference:
This recipe was based on the Double-Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe which can also be found in this blog. The original Chocolate-Banana bread recipe was found in a copy of Cooking Pleasures Magazine which is published by the Cooking Club of America.

Double-Chocolate Banana Bread

A little twist on the original banana bread idea. This will make one regular-sized loaf or about 16 slices. Great with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or applesauce)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas
1 cup chocolate chips

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of an 8-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, and oil (or applesauce) at medium speed until mixed (use an electric mixer or stand mixer). Beat in vanilla. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; beat into sugar mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in bananas and chocolate chips.

3. Spoon batter into loaf pan. Bake 60-70 minutes. Cool 10 minutes then remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Reference:
The original recipe came from a copy of Cooking Pleasures Magazine which is published by the Cooking Club of America.

Banana Bread

To get the best banana flavour, always use the ripest ones you can find - they should be starting to turn dark. The nuts are optional but I always make it with nuts (unless, of course, someone who will be eating it has an allergy!)
Good news! So I just read in Self Magazine that walnuts act as a fat blocker (these quick breads are really fatty!)... all those Omega-3s in the nuts reverse the saturated fats (I never knew that.. thought they were just antioxidants). Yippee!!! So, if you're not allergic, the nuts are not optional!! lol

This makes one full-sized loaf/about 16 slices

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 medium-sized ones)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cooking oil (you can substitute 1/4 cup applesauce to make it a little lower fat)
1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Method:
1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside.

2. In another bowl, combine the egg, bananas, sugar, and cooking oil (or applesauce). Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts.

3. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan; cool on rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.


Reference:
Original recipe was found in the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.
Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen (1996). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Meredith Publishing Group: Des Moines, IA.

Glazed Cranberry-Orange Mini Loaves

I have a 4-slot mini loaf pan from The Pampered Chef, which is where I found this recipe. These are great for brunches. Each slot on the mini-loaf pan holds about 1 1/2 cups... I'll have to play around with this recipe so it will work with a regular sized loaf pan.

Ingredients (makes four mini loaves)
Bread:
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. aluminium-free baking powder
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
1 orange
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1 cup dried cranberries

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. milk

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray the bottom of the mini loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Chop pecans; add to batter bowl. Mix well and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, microwave butter on HIGH for 45-60 seconds until just melted. Zest orange to measure 1 tbsp zest. Juice orange to measure 1/4 cup juice. Add zest, juice, eggs, and milk to butter; whisk until combined. Add butter mixture to dry ingredients; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix. Gently stir cranberries into the batter.

3. Fill each well of the loaf pan with about 1 cup batter. Top batter with additional pecan halves if desired. Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean and tops of loaves are golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pan; remove to cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

4. For glaze, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth; drizzle evenly over cooled loaves.