Archive for: banana bread
I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to incorporate bananas into various baked goods. I always have bananas on hand and it’s nice to have alternatives to banana bread. These Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of those variations. I wanted to create a cookie recipe that had a chewy – and unmistakably cookie-like – texture to them, but still had a good banana flavor. Often, cookies that use bananas and other fruit purees have a dry and cakey texture to them. These are moist and chewy, but you won’t mistake them for banana bread.
There is a whole banana in this recipe. It is mashed up and added to the cookie dough along with the usual ingredients that you would find in chocolate chip cookies: butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, etc. You could easily add in cinnamon and other spices to this dough, but I kept the spicing very basic and only used vanilla extract to play up the natural banana flavor. This basic dough would probably be delicious as-is, with no mix-ins, though I couldn’t resist stirring in a whole bunch of semisweet chocolate chunks. When the cookies are still slightly warm from the oven and you take a bite, getting a mouthful of sweet banana cookie and melted chocolate, you know that the chocolate chips are a good idea.
These cookies get slightly crisp around the edges during baking, but they are a bit softer than your average chocolate chip cookie. They are moist and have a good chewy quality to them. Don’t overbake the cookies or they’ll get a little bit dry. The cookies should be lightly browned on top with a golden brown bottom when they’re done. They keep well (and actually freeze quite well, too) for a couple of days when stored in an airtight container, but stack them with layers of parchment or wax paper because the cookies will tend to stick together slightly when stored.
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Bananas go very well with both peanut butter and with chocolate, and when you put those three elements together in one cake, the result is irresistible. And irresistible is just how I would describe a slice o this Chocolate Peanut Butter Topped Banana Snack Cake. The snack cake consists of a layer of moist banana cake that is topped with a thin layer of salty-sweet peanut butter and drizzled with melted chocolate.
I was inspired to create this cake after making a batch of my Peanut Butter Tasty Kakes, a homemade version of a popular snack cake made by the East coast-based Tasty Kake company. Those cakes have a plain sponge cake layer as a base, and I wondered what other flavors I could add to the cake for some variety. Some overripe bananas slated to be baked into banana bread caught my eye, and instead I made a banana cake base. The cake is very moist and tender, with a great banana flavor to it. There is some sour cream for added richness, and it keeps the cake moist along with mashed bananas.
Honestly, the cake is excellent on its own without any topping and you could simply stop this recipe there (it’s a great alternative to banana bread!). But if you want to make the cake more decadent, spread a thin layer of peanut butter over the still-warm cake and allow it to set up, cooling as the cake cools. When the peanut butter layer is set, carefully spread a thin layer of dark chocolate over the top to finish it off. The effect is almost like having a candy bar on top of your banana bread – but much, much better.
This cake is best stored in a cool place to keep the topping from melting on a hot day. The cake can even be stored in the refrigerator, although the cake will start to dry out (as do most baked foods) if you store it in the refrigerator for too long. Chill the cake slightly just before serving if it’s hot out, and wrap any leftover pieces for storage in the freezer if you don’t think you’re going to finish it all up in a day or two. If the weather is cool, however, the cake can simply be stored for a few days in an airtight container.
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Browned butter is a flavor that goes well with just about everything, adding an extra toasty, nutty and rich flavor to almost any dish. There are a few flavors that it goes particularly well with and banana is one of them. The sweet flavor of a very ripe banana is greatly enhanced buy the savory notes that browned butter adds, and that is what inspired me to make this alliteratively named Browned Butter Banana Bundt Cake
The bundt cake uses browned butter, bananas, sour cream, brown sugar and vanilla to create a delicious cake that is easy enough to make for everyday snacking. The cake is moist and tender, with a soft, light crumb. It isn’t heavy or dense, as some banana breads can be. None of the flavors overwhelm the others in this cake. Instead, they all seem to come together and blend seamlessly. This means that it will be hard for anyone you serve it to to put their finger on exactly what makes this cake so good.
I added a browned butter glaze to the cake to add a little extra sweetness and further enhance the browned butter flavor in the batter. I browned the butter on the stovetop for the cake and made a little bit extra, so I could set some aside for the glaze. If you do this, your reserved butter might firm up while you wait for the cake to finish baking. Don’t worry if this happens, as the butter can be easily remelted in just a few seconds in the microwave. If you have a large microwave-safe container, you can actually prepare all of your browned butter in the microwave instead of on the stovetop to save a little bit of time (although you will still need to keep a close eye on it as it cooks and take care to use a large bowl). The glaze is so good that I will definitely look for other cakes and cupcakes to top with it – and might just start putting it on my regular banana bread, too!
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A bran muffin starts to sound a lot more delicious when you introduce Nutella into it. Don’t get me wrong – I have had some very good bran muffins, but I see many people turned off of them after eating dense, heavy, flavorless, overly oily or overly dry muffins. There is no cause for that and a good dose of Nutella is exactly what you need to turn anyone into a bran muffin fan. These Banana Nutella Bran Muffins are full of bananas and Nutella and are just waiting to win over a few new fans.
These muffins are moist, fluffy and light, but with a great combination of banana and chocolate flavors. The muffins themselves are fairly low in fat (only a small amount of oil in these), so they get a lot of richness and flavor from Nutella that is incorporated into the batter. Even with it in the batter, the Nutella flavor was fairly subtle in the finished product and took a back seat to the banana. I added a little cocoa powder to bring out the chocolate notes of the spread, then added about 2 tsp of Nutella to every muffin before baking and swirled it into the batter with a toothpick. It would have been nice to turn it into a topping, but the batter isn’t quite thick enough to provide a base for something like my Nutella Self-Frosting Cupcakes. I highly recommend serving these muffins with more Nutella. It might make them look a bit like frosted cupcakes from a distance, but a smear of Nutella on top of the muffins is the absolute perfect way to finish these off.
These muffins work well with both oat bran and with quick cooking oatmeal as the “bran” part of the muffins. Oatmeal adds a little more of a chewy texture than the bran does, and I have it on hand much more often than bran, so I tend to use it. Wheat bran will work, as well, but I find that oat has a slightly nicer flavor. The muffins will keep well and stay moist for several days when stored in an airtight container and you can freeze them and defrost them for a quick breakfast, too. Don’t forget the extra Nutella when you are ready to eat!
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The next time you have overripe bananas in your kitchen, don’t make a banana bread. Instead, make some Banana Whoopie Pies. The classic whoopie pie is a chocolate cookie with a vanilla filling. This is a great combination in many types of desserts, but there is something about the soft, cake-like outer cookie and the creamy filling that make whoopie pies almost irresistible. This banana version is even better.
Soft, banana bread-like cookies are the base of these whoopie pies. The batter is somewhere between the thickness of banana bread batter and cookie dough, which lets the whoopie pies hold their shape well during baking, but spread out enough to make a good-sized sandwich. The cake is tender and very moist, with just a little bit of cinnamon and vanilla to highlight the flavor of the banana – which comes through very clearly. I used a cream cheese filling to sandwich the pies together. The cream cheese goes very well with the banana, and adds a little bit of tanginess that contrasts with the sweetness of the cake.
This recipe doesn’t make a huge batch of whoopie pies, but the pies are generously sized. You can easily double the recipe to make more, or scale down the size of your pies (and reduce the baking time by a couple of minutes) to get smaller, bite-sized pies and get more of them. These keep well when stored in an airtight container at room temperature, but they are so moist and flavorful that I bet you’ll find them as difficult to resist as I do.
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