Archive for: banana bread
A fluffy cinnamon bun that is packed with a sweet, buttery filling and topped off with just the right amount of sticky glaze is a breakfast treat that is just about irresistible. Cinnamon buns can be a lot of work to make, however, since you need to prepared a yeast dough and there are several steps that include rolling and re-rolling the dough just to shape them. This Cinnamon Bun Bread recipe is one of my favorite twists on a cinnamon bun because you get all the same flavors as you find in a traditional bun – but without any of that work.
This Banana Cinnamon Bun Coffee Cake is a twist on that basic bread that includes a little bit of banana to give the dough a little more flavor and make the coffee cake a little more unique – while keeping that cinnamon bun-inspired tastiness. The dough is an easy to make yeast dough that includes mashed banana, cinnamon and ground nutmeg. It doesn’t have to be kneaded once it is all mixed together, just poured into a prepared pan and left to rise while you prepare the topping mixture.
The topping is a mixture of butter, cinnamon, flour and spices, with a pinch of salt added just for contrast. It looks very much like the crumble mixture that you might put on top of a classic coffee cake. In this recipe, however, it is swirled and folded into the yeast dough to spread that sweetness throughout the coffee cake and make sure every bite has some cinnamon flavor. I always make sure that a little extra is sprinkled on top before baking, too.
The finished bread has a light, tender texture and that combination of butter and cinnamon that we always associate with cinnamon buns. The nutmeg and banana come through, as well, but are a little more subtle in the presence of that cinnamon and brown sugar topping. The bread is great on its own and can also be finished with a little drizzle of glaze (the recipe is given below, although I did not glaze this slice of cake) to give it the right amount of stickiness. I serve this both for breakfast and dessert, and since it is a no-knead yeast recipe, I find that it can fit into my schedule any time of day.
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I always have maple syrup in my kitchen for topping waffles and pancakes, but it is a great sweetener to bake with, too. It has a lot of flavor – especially if you have dark maple syrup or grade B (as opposed to the light grade A syrups) – and can add a lot of moisture to baked goods. Maple also compliments many flavors, and one of my favorite combinations is banana and maple. This pair works very well in pancakes and it works just as well in these Banana Maple Muffins.
The muffins are moist and soft, with a great banana flavor to them. The maple syrup is a little more subtle, when compared to the banana flavor, but it does add a caramel note to the muffins. I really recommend using a dark maple syrup or grade B maple syrup to get the most maple flavor into the muffins. If you have maple sugar, you can substitute it for the regular sugar in the recipe, as well, but I like to sprinkle a little on top instead to really draw attention to the maple notes in the muffins.
When cooled, the muffins will keep well for a few days when stored in an airtight container. I like these muffins slightly warm and fresh from the oven, either plain or spread with a little bit of butter. To amp up the maple flavor – or to turn these into a more decadent breakfast treat – place the muffins in an bowl and drizzle them with a generous splash maple syrup before serving.
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It’s always nice to have an easy banana bread recipe on hand, and it doesn’t get much easier than this One Bowl Banana Bread. The bread is mixed up in one bowl in just a few minutes, and uses a more streamlined mixing approach than most banana breads do. I like this kind of recipe because it makes the bread seem very accessible: it requires very little prep and can be stirred up in less time than it takes to preheat the oven.
The bread is soft, with a tight and dense crumb. It has a very good banana flavor, and the cinnamon and vanilla just highlight it even more. The biggest “wet” ingredient in this quick bread is the mashed banana, which is not only flavorful but keeps the bread moist. Bananas can vary in size, so if you have two large bananas you will probably have plenty even if you don’t have exactly 1 1/4 cups of mashed banana. A bit more or a bit less won’t throw off the recipe. The loaf is delicious plain, but can hold up to being toasted and slathered with butter or peanut butter, too. It is perfect when cut into generous slices and eaten for breakfast.
I should also note that this is not the fanciest looking banana bread that you’ll ever see. In fact, it’s a plain loaf that isn’t all that tall, even after baking. This is a banana bread for whipping up when you want a treat for yourself, not for when you want to bring something out to impress a crowd. Of course, after a bite or two anyone will definitely appreciate this easy to make banana bread, even though it comes in a plain package.
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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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