Tag: sweet

Bananaza Bread {Foodie Friday}

Bananaza Bread {Foodie Friday}
Written by Grace Pennington of Fruitful

It’s pretty amazing how spotty, blackening, forgotten bananas still have a use. Can you think of another fruit that can make something taste so good when it’s gone bad?

I love the fact that when I buy a bunch of bananas, I won’t have to beat myself up when I forgot to eat them during the week. I won’t feel like I abandoned a beautiful fruit and wasted money.

I’ll just know that these bananas were meant for something greater!

This time, I used my aging bananas to make a loaf of Bananza Bread: banana bread with apricots and swirl of Nutella. I decided to spice up the old banana bread recipe with a different kind of nut flavor, hazelnuts, a sweet swirl of chocolate and a few bites of tangy apricot.

The bread turned out wonderfully. It’s super moist and has such a unique flavor. What goes together better than bananas and chocolate? And who can say no to Nutella bread?

I found this exciting spin on the classic banana bread to be a wonderful change.

It’s kind of amazing how a few mushy, rotten bananas turned into something with such complex flavor and sweetness.

And if you’re like me and have ever been frustrated when your banana bread gets too brown on the top and is still gooey inside, this recipe has a great tip for you!

Bananza Bread (Adapted from Recipe Girl)

Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup plain low fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ Nutella (chocolate-hazlenut spread)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8×4-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

3. In a separate large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, on at a time, beating well
after each addition. Add banana, yogurt and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture and apricots, beat at low speed just until flour is incorporated (don’t over mix).

4. Spoon Nutella into a medium dish and soften in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Add 1 cup of the banana bread batter to the Nutella and stir until blended well. Spoon Nutella batter alternately with plain banana bread batter into the prepared pan. Swirl batters together with a knife.

5. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check the oven at 40 minutes to check the top of the bread for browning. If it’s browning too quickly, cover lightly with foil for the remainder of the baking. Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins {Foodie Friday}

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins {Foodie Friday}
Written by Kelly Peterson of Kelly’s Pink Bicycle.  

 

 I’m not a gluten-free expert. In fact, if there was a level below novice, I’d be in that category. But we have recently found that my husband appears to be somewhat gluten-intolerant, and since I love him very much I am learning to cook with his needs in mind.

However, gluten-free baking is INTIMIDATING. I didn’t realize how many different types of flours existed until I began scanning through gluten-free recipes for bread, donuts, pastries, and cakes. I’ve been sticking to lots of rice and vegetable dishes because they’re healthy and easy to make, but this past weekend I decided to venture outside my comfort zone and bake.

I decided to start small with my version of gluten-free chocolate chip muffins, adapted from a recipe from Arrowhead Mills. You could easily make them bigger (they’re pretty small) by filling the muffin tins all the way to the top, and lengthening the oven time to 25 minutes or so. You could also do all kinds of fillings – I used chocolate chips and dried cranberries, but I bet they’d be amazing with blueberries, chopped apples, shredded coconut, or even crunchy peanut butter!

My husband gave them a thumbs up, and he’s a pretty picky eater. I hope you like them!

 

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins (makes 15)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups gluten-free baking mix (I used Arrowhead Mills Gluten-Free Pancake & Baking Mix)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp xantham gum
  • 3 Tbsp milled flax seed
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¾ cup water
  • ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ cup gluten-free chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup chopped dried cranberries

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the first 4 ingredients.
  3. In a small bowl, mix together all wet ingredients (egg, honey, water, applesauce, and vanilla)
  4. Pour liquid mixture into bowl with dry ingredients and mix only until lumps are gone.
  5. Mix in the chocolate chips and cranberries (don’t over mix!).
  6. Fill oiled muffin tins ¾ full with muffin mixture. The mixture will be thick.
  7. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

 

Nutritional Information (per muffin)

Calories: 123; Carbs: 26g; Fat: 2g; Sugars: 8g; Sodium: 181mg; Protein: 3g; Fiber: 1g; Calcium: 11%

Kelly is in love with her husband, her cookbooks, and her bread machine. When she’s not reading The Hunger Games or trying to sprout her own lentils, she can typically be found spending way too much time on Facebook and Twitter. You can read more at Kelly’s Pink Bicycle.