Classic Banana Bread

I think just about everyone has a recipe for banana bread, but even if you do you should give this one a try. It is just perfect: dense, banana-y, sweet but not overpowering, and packed with pecans. Also, it takes all of 15 minutes to mix everything together and presto you have a sweet treat to eat or give away.

As always this is a great way to use up blackened overripe bananas (which I usually toss in the freezer to preserve if I don't feel like making banana bread). I bake mine in a tube pan because I have never gotten around to buying a loaf pan. I am sure this would turn out just fine in a bread pan but it might take a little longer to bake.

Classic Banana Bread
1 3/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
2 blackened (overripe) bananas mashed
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Buttermilk (you can easily substitute curdled regular milk by adding in a tablespoon or less of vinegar to plain milk)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Pecans chopped
In a bowl mix together dry ingredients and set aside. 

Dry ingredients

Combine mashed bananas, eggs, oil, vanilla, and buttermilk.

Wet ingredients

Add in the dry ingredients and mix until all is combined. Stir in the pecans.

Pour into a greased tube pan.

In the tube pan

Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour and 10 minutes checking on the hour to make sure it doesn't get overdone (bread is done when a knife inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean - with only a few sticky crumbs).

Final product

Sweet Potato Salad

Went for a long ride out to Key Biscayne, about 45 miles total, on Saturday with Emerge (a Miami cycling group) and we had a picnic so I made this salad to take. Everyone loved the taste of sweet and tangy, and the sweet potatoes were the perfect vehicle for the flavors. I made it the night before because I wanted it to chill and marinate, but you could probably make it just a few hours ahead of time too.

The original recipe called for boiling the sweet potatoes, but I baked them instead because I have tried that before. Word to the wise: boiled sweet potatoes are gross. The texture is off and the flavor is weird; overly starchy and still kind of "raw" tasting.

I actually forgot to put in the pecans before I was out the door but am sure they would be a nice addition to the salad.

Sweet Potato Salad (adapted from a Taste of Home recipe)
2 lb. Sweet Potatoes (about 3-4) cubed
1/3 cup dried Cranberries
2-3 tablespoons Orange Juice (use a fresh orange)
1-2 teaspoons Orange Peel
3 Celery Stalks diced
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
1/2-3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Pecans chopped
Note: Spices are approximate - I just sprinkled them on the sweet potatoes

Toss cubed sweet potatoes with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon and bake on a large ungreased pan at 410 degrees (turning over potatoes about 2-3 times so they don't stick) for about 20 minutes or just until the potatoes become slightly soft (not super soft though or they won't hold up in the salad).

Celery and orange peel

While potatoes are cooking mix together orange peel, orange juice, brown sugar, dried cranberries, and celery.

Orange after peel has been grated off

Once potatoes are done toss in with all the other pre-mixed ingredients and add in the mayonnaise. Chill for at least a few hours. Add in the pecans right before serving. Makes about 6 servings as a side dish.

Apple Cream Coffee Cake

This is such a moist toothsome coffee cake! It is great for brunch or as a snack any time of the day. This is a really simple coffee cake to make, no yeast dough to worry about and it bakes in 40 minutes. I have had good luck substituting other fruits in the filling, this time around I used pears. You could also probably substitute yogurt (preferable greek since it is thicker) for the sour cream if you don't have any sour cream on hand. I have also left out the nuts when I didn't have any on hand and no one ever complains because the cake stands well on its own.

This will be my last post for a week or so because I am heading up to northern Florida to go on a camping/bike trip. We will be covering 327 miles on our bikes, touring the springs and camping in that area! I am excited.

Happy baking while I am away!

Apple Cream Coffee Cake
Topping
1/2 cup Pecans
1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 cup Sugar
Batter
1/2 cup Butter softened
1 cup Sugar
2 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Sour Cream
2 Apples sliced thin

butter, eggs, and sugar

Combine toppings in a small bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar together, beating until light colored and fluffy. Add in eggs and beat until mixture has thickened a little (from the eggs) then add in the vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing well after each addition. Spread half the batter into a greased 10 inch tube pan with a removable bottom. Sprinkle half of the topping onto the batter and top with all of the apple slices then put the rest of the batter evenly on top and sprinkle with the remaining topping. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes or until cake tests done when you stick a knife into it (knife should come out clean, with only a few crumbs not with uncooked batter).

About to go into the oven

Remove from the oven and let rest for about 30 minutes then remove from the pan and cool completely. Serve!

English Toffee

Yummy, yummy toffee pieces

This toffee is so rich and buttery, exactly how toffee should be. I always make it around the holidays to give as a gift and for guests to snack on. Candy making during the holidays is a tradition for me, starting when I was a teenager and I would get together with a friend of mine to make different candies. I hope you enjoy making this, and the other candies I will be posting, as much as I have over the years.

A quick note on candy thermometers: I have never had the best of luck with them and prefer to check my candy the old fashioned way, by dropping it in water and observing what stage it is in. Usually I use a candy thermometer but I also check the candy the old way. To do this you should drop a little of the candy mixture into cold water and see what it feels and looks like when to you take it out of the water with your fingers. If it is at the hard crack stage it should form strings (or small blobs, it doesn't always form strings in my experience) when it gets into the water and it should be hard to the touch; Also, when you taste it it should be brittle and not stick to your teeth (i.e. it shouldn't be chewy at all). If you want to know how to tell the other stages you can search online, but any older cookbook should also have that information.

Enjoy your candy making!

English Toffee (From Taste of Home Magazine)
2 cups Butter and a little additional butter for the pan
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Pecans or Almonds (sliced or crushed)
3/4 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

toffee when it first started boiling

Butter a 15x10 inch pan and set aside. In a medium sized saucepan over medium-low heat bring butter and sugar to a boil while stirring constantly. Once mixture is boiling, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Uncover and begin stirring again until mixture reaches 300 degrees (hard-crack stage) and turns golden brown. When the toffee gets close to this point it will have cooked down a far amount and will resemble a very thick syrup and it will pull away from the sides of the pan.

Pour the mixture into the buttered 15x10 inch pan and spread out evenly. Sprinkle nuts immediately over the toffee and press in with you fingers then sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Once chips have softened you may spread them around a bit if you wish.

Let toffee cool in the refrigerator for about 2 hours then break into pieces.

This recipe makes about 2 1/2 pounds of candy.