Banana Bread

Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, & vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda & salt over the mixture & mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan (I used my mini loaf pan & sprinkled turbinado sugar on the bread before baking. I baked for 30 minutes). Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan & slice to serve.

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I had some bananas that were past their prime & found this recipe online. It didn't disappoint & I'm excited for the boys to try it.

Strawberry Shortcake

I altered this recipe a bit to make shortcake as a cake instead of biscuits. So very tasty! A big hit with my Bible study group. :)


Strawberry Shortcake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 stick butter, chilled
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup half and half, milk, or cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Set rack at center level.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut butter into about 8 pieces & add to the mixture using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal, but with few pea-size chunks of butter left in the mixture.

Make a well in the center & with a fork stir in the cream or milk, just until dough is moist. Be very careful not to overwork. The dough doesn't have to hold together well at this point.

Use your hands to knead a few times & place mixture in a greased round cake pan, pressing to fill the pan. Brush on a little milk or cream and sprinkle tops with some sugar, if desired. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until risen and golden brown.

Serve with sugared strawberries & whipped cream.

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (210g) flour (I used wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (1/4 L) pumpkin purée*
1/2 cup (1 dL) olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water (I used a little less, since there was water added to my pumpkin when I pureed it)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice (I used cloves instead)

1/2 cup (1 dL) chopped walnuts (I skipped these)

I added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.

3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. (I used mini loaf pans & sprinkled the tops with turbinado sugar) Bake 50-60 minutes (30 minutes in mini pans) until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.

Makes one loaf. Can easily double the recipe.

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Yumm! This is a hit with the whole family. So tasty. :)