Recently in Banana and Nut Breads

Pumpkin  Bread

Be sure all your spices are fresh.  If they are over 6 months old... buy some new spices in the bulk section.  Spices lose their flavor quickly.  Anything you bake with old spices willnot be as good as with fresh pungent spices. You don't want to mess with those wonderful holiday flavors!

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 8 ounces (scant 1 cup) canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup water

Tropical Coconut Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup organic cane sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

5 very ripe bananas, coarsely mashed

6 oz. canned crushed pineapple, drain liquid

5 oz. canned cream of coconut (not coconut milk - however I have used coconut milk when I couldn't find cream of coconut and I added a 1/4 tsp of vanilla)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup of roughly chopped and toasted macadamia nuts

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a standard loaf pan
• Toast the nuts in the oven for about 10 minutes
• Cream butter, 2 of the mashed bananas and sugars in a large bowl.
• Mix in eggs.
• In a separate bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients
• Mash remaining bananas thoroughly in another bowl (3rd) and fold in pineapple, cream of coconut, and vanilla.
• Fold both banana mixtures from other two bowls slowly into dry ingredients - don't over mix!
• Fold in the nuts.
• Pour batter into the pan
• Bake for about 55-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out mostly clean, rotate pan a few times while baking (Cooking time may vary depending upon your oven... my oven is commercial grade and tends to cook faster than others... just keep an eye on it :-)
• Let the bread cool on a rack and turn out of the pan after about fifteen minutes. Let cool almost completely (approximately 45 minutes) before slicing. The bread will be very dense and moist.

• Lightly dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Macadamia Nut Banana Bread

What is better than homemade banana bread?  The whole house smells fantastic as it's baking and it's one of the most simple things to make.  This recipe is very basic.  I just modified a little of this... and a little of that... and received rave reviews from my husband and 4 year old son, Wyatt.  To me macadamia nuts compliment the tropical origins of bananas more than walnuts.

If your bananas don't seem ripe enough... place in the oven on 350 for 15 minutes prior to mixing the ingredients.  This will simulate the sun and allow all of the sugars to be released.  This is what makes banana bread great.... truly ripe bananas with black peels.  This trick does not work with green bananas... they must be very yellow or very ripe but not fully black on the peel.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar (I use organic cane sugar)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

5 very ripe bananas - mashed well

1 stick unsalted butter - melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1/2 cup whole organic yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cups macadamia nuts, toasted and chopped

Confectioner's sugar - light dusting before serving.

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease with butter an 8.5 by 4.5 inch loaf pan

3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl.

4.  In a mixer using the wire attachment whip 2 mashed bananas, melted butter, eggs, yogurt and vanilla.  Mix well.. you want a fluffy and creamy banana mixture.

5.  In a separate small bowl, mash the remaining 3 bananas so they still have some chunky texture.  Then blend together with banana mixture in blender.

1. Slowly fold the whole banana mixture in with the flour until it is combined.. but don't over mix.  Fold in the macadamia nuts.

7.  Using a rubber spatula, pour the batter into the buttered loaf pan and smooth the edges and top.

8.  Bake until golden brown - approximately 55 minutes.  Rotate every 15 minutes to ensure all sides are baked evenly.  When you do this be delicate so you don't upset the rising bread

9.  Remove and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Then place on rack and cool with a cloth towel over the bread for another 30 minutes before serving.

10.  To serve, cut into slices and lightly dust with confectioner's sugar - serve!

Spiced Pear Banana Bread

The pears add a really nice flavor to this spiced banana bread recipe. For best results use soft pears!

PREP TIME: 20 Min

COOK TIME: 1 Hr 20 Min

READY IN: 1 Hr 40 Min

SERVINGS: 12

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups plain flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• 2 mashed bananas

• 2 mashed pears (peeled or use canned pears)

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine

• 1/4 cup plain or vanilla yogurt

• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan and coat with flour to prevent sticking.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

3. In another mixing bowl, cream together the white sugar, brown sugar and butter.

4. Mash the pears and bananas together really well in another bowl.

5. Stir the pear and banana into the sugar and butter mixture and add in the eggs and vanilla, stirring well. Then stir in the yoghurt, again mixing well.

6. Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stirring constantly. Mix really throughly until everything is perfectly blended together.

7. Spoon the mixture into your prepared loaf pan. You can place a few slices of banana on top and sprinkle with a little brown sugar for decoration if you like.

8. Place the loaf pan in the center of preheated oven and bake on 350F for 1 hour 20 minutes. Cooking times may vary, especially in fan assisted ovens, so check the loaf is done by inserting a toothpick or knife into the middle of the loaf. If it comes out clean the loaf is ready.

9. Allow the banana bread to cool in the loaf pan for about 10-20 minutes. The cooling is important because the loaf will solidify fully as it cools.