Banana Bonanza

I love bananas. I also love the fact that there are about a bazillion recipes to do with bananas, and the fact that every house hold always seems to have about a bazillion more bananas in their freezer to accompany these recipes.

Interesting fact about bananas: "Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive, more so than most other fruits, because of their high potassium content, and the small amounts of the isotope potassium-40 found in naturally occurring potassium. Proponents of nuclear power sometimes refer to the banana equivalent dose of radiation to support their arguments. Banana shipments often set off the radiation monitors installed at US ports to detect illegal shipments of radiologic materials." Wikipedia.

I always have a stash of “very ripe” i.e. brown, mushy, highly fragrant bananas in the freezer. They are either whole, or peeled and broken into chunks stored in Ziploc bags. Whenever I'm in the mood for a potassium boost, or my freezer is getting a little jam packed with bananas I make some sort of banana bread.

Have bananas that sound like this? You know what you have to do!

Strawberry Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from here

Need a new banana recipe? Try this cookie recipe out! This was the first recipe I ever tried from Annie's Eats, from this recipe I knew that her blog was definitely trustworthy. These cookies are soft and cakey, in return allowing you this time to not make banana bread, but still allowing you to have banana bread with your cookies. They have the right amount of spices, as you know, I love my "peppery" spices so the fact that they are mixed with such a flavourful fruit makes these that much more amazing! This recipe is simple and quite easy to make too. *Note, the last time I made these cookies I had strawberries that were coming to the end of their shelf life so I decided to throw these them into the cookies as well, UGH YEAH, AMAZIIIING.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 1/2 large bananas)
• 1 cup of mashed strawberries
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until well incorporated.

In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which will in turn give the cookies their lift and rise.

Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture until just combined.

Fold chocolate chips into the batter. Drop into dollops on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This was a recipe I had before I started blogging and had no need for where the recipe was taken from and I can't recall where I got it from sorry.

Want another recipe similar to banana bread? Here you go. This is one mouth-watering muffin. As mentioned a few posts back I really am not a fan of muffins, however, this, this is just an exception. I don't even know if I would really classify this as a muffin. Really, it has more the consistency of a cupcake, which may be why I like this so much. I was making these for my cousins and they wanted some butterscotch chipits in there as well, the butterscotch definitely made them a lot sweeter, but it was a nice mix. These are a hit with everyone, young and old. They have the right amount of sweet, salty, creamy, awesome... mmmm. I wish my kitchen wasn't under renovation so I could whip up a batch of these puppies!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not "natural")
  
• 2/3 cup sugar
  
• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
  
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
  
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F. Spray the wells of a muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the peanut butter and sugar together until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the mashed bananas and eggs and mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Stir in the flour mixture with a spoon, mixing just until combined. Stir in the chopped nuts and the chocolate chips.

Divide the batter between the muffin tin wells, filling the wells 2/3 full. Depending on the size of your tins, you will get between 12 and 17 muffins.

Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Let the muffins cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Once cooled, the muffins can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also tightly wrap the individual muffins in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 1 month

Banana Bars

Recipe taken from here

This is a really nice banana recipe, it isn't too sweet but still has a really nice flavour. I made a frosting with mascarpone cheese, lime zest, lime juice, vanilla, and chopped walnuts that added such a beautiful flavour to the banana bars that made it into a dessert more-so than a breakfast. I made half with the frosting and half without, they were still just as delicious without the frosting.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup mashed bananas

Directions:

Cream the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda and gradually add them to the creamed mixture. Stir in the mashed bananas. Spread the batter into a greased 15 x 10 x1 pan (or a 9 x13 and a 8 x8 pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake should spring back to the touch. Once cooled, cut the bars into the size of your choice.

Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• Zest of 1 lime
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix the ingredients to form a creamy frosting. Spread over the banana bars.

Store the frosted banana bars in the refrigerator or freezer.

Inebriated Poor Knights of Windsor Gone Bananas

Recipe taken from here

Last but not least is a recipe that I myself did not try since there was bread (that wasn't made from me) so I made this for my friend. If going on account of watching her eat this and having to answer whether or not this was good, ugh, I'd say it passed the test. The smells were very aromatic, I'm sure the wine had something to do with that =D, and banana + alcohol is insanely divine so I'm sure if you're a fan of those two items plus bread, I mean who isn't a fan of bread, then you will probably be a fan of this dish!

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of stale bread, crust removed and sliced into triangular halves
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon of refined sugar
• 70 ml of white wine (Red wine should be fine too.)
• 1 banana, cut into 1/2 inch slices.
• 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of a neutral vegetable oil (e.g., canola oil or grapeseed oil)

Directions:

Pour the wine into one shallow dish.

Beat the egg yolks together with the sugar and pour the mixture into another shallow dish.

Dip a triangular slice of bread into the wine and then into the egg mixture. Repeat for all the bread slices.

Heat up the 2 frying pans, one on low heat and one on medium heat.

Place the sliced bananas into the frying pan on low heat and let the natural sugars in the bananas do their work in peace for about a few minutes before flipping the bananas to the other side. There is no need to add sugar or butter to aid the caramelisation unless you feel very decadent or just had an amazing workout and need extra calories.

Add the butter and vegetable oil to the frying pan on medium heat, let the mixture heat up, then start frying your inebriated poor knights. Just a couple of minutes on each side. It's ok to peek at the underside to check that Mr. Golden Brown has arrived. Really.

Serve with the caramelised bananas.

Don't just make banana bread next time you have overripe banana's, try one of these excellent recipes for a change!