Banana Maple Bread

I wasn't sure what to do when I woke up extremely early this Saturday morning when I didn't have pastry school at 8am, so what did I do? I got in the kitchen and baked. First I prepared custard cups for creme caramel to be finished later that day. Then, feeling once again inspired by Love Veggies and Yoga's simple/healthy/vegan/gluten free/delicious recipes, I made a tiny batch of banana maple muffins. They were insanely delicious with strong maple flavor and a nice chewy texture. I love this recipe because all you need is a fork and a large bowl to mix the ingredients in- barely any mess! All of the ingredients can be found at Trader Joe's too.

With just one over-ripe banana, this recipe makes four muffins. You could easily multiple the ingredients by three, and get a dozen muffins.

A few days later I multiplied this recipe by SIX (I had to get rid of six bananas, ok!?) and it was still delicious. I tried swapping crunchy peanut butter for the almond butter and next time I will stick with almond butter, the flavor profile matched the other ingredient's flavors better.


The best is when you get a little pocket of maple syrup in the muffin, yummm.

Banana Maple Muffins
vegan, gluten free

Ingredients (to make 4 muffins):

• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 medium over-ripe banana, mashed
• 1/3 cup unsalted raw almond butter
• 1/3 cup almond flour (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix flax seeds through banana in a medium bowl until well combined. In another bowl mix together the flour(s) through salt. Mix the dry ingredients in to wets until well combined. Pour the batter in to lined muffin tins. Bake for about 18-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Cup Banana Cookie

Finally, the first time I have been in town for a weekend and can write about the one time I have baked in the past two weeks. But I’m not complaining, the lack of baking and blogging is because I have been going to the lake every weekend, though I am still better at baking than wakeboarding ;)

This tiny bout of baking came on because our friends at the lake said they had never had any of my baked goods. Thursday night, after a grocery trip to Berkeley Bowl where I picked up a bag of about 10 over-ripe bananas for $1, I got to work with two loaves of banana bread, one plain and one with walnuts and dark chocolate chips-It's so easy and always pleases.

That didn't cure my baking itch though, so once the bread was in the oven I got to work on my own recipe that I have been wanting to give a whirl. The idea came to mind after a lot of thinking about my failed attempt at this Banana Peanut Butter Cup cookie recipe. Look at the cookies in her blog, they're beautiful, and now check out what happened when I made them…

After random contemplations since then, I think this happened because I pureed the bananas rather than mashed them and it needed more flour. I was skeptical before trying this recipe anyway because it had no butter- I mean really a cookie with no butter?

So here’s my spin on it— less healthy but more delicious?

PB Cup Banana Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mashed over-ripe banana (about 1 banana) 
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter (2 oz)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (2.3oz)
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (I used turbinado brown sugar aka sugar in the raw) (2.5oz)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup peanut butter (12oz)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (2.5oz)
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp white flour (4.5oz)
• ~10 peanut butter cups chopped into quarters 
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces

Have all ingredients at room temperature and preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes.) Mix in the egg and vanilla. Mix for 2 minutes, then the peanut butter until combined, then the banana until combined. Once combined, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended, but don’t over-mix. Add in Reese's and walnut pieces.

Let the cookie dough sit in fridge over-night (or at least a couple of hours).

Remove from fridge, create golfball-size dough balls. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle a tiny pinch of coarse salt over the tops (you can sprinkle some sugar over too make it prettier). Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Success!

White Chocolate Banana Birthday Cake

I know, I know I’m about to describe a weekend with another banana recipe. But in my defense it was my friend, Jen’s birthday and when asked if she had any special requests for her cake, she said anything— and then listed banana, peanut butter and chocolate as her favorite flavors….

So, there I was in the kitchen (for the third time in a row) mashing ripe bananas for a banana birthday cake (with a fluffy peanut butter frosting filling and a white chocolate ganache)!

While the flavors don’t sound like a cake for adults, it was quickly devoured by the birthday-goers, and really I think this cake will please anyone. While banana bread is dense, and peanut butter is thick, this cake was nothing but light and fluffy and quite sophisticated.

(Going back to my Tips & Tricks to Mix By may be helpful). For this cake, make the white chocolate ganache and the cake the night before and assemble it the next day (The day you need it). The flavor of all cakes significantly improve by the next day too…

Banana Cake

2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp sour cream
1 1/2 cup mashed banana (3 large bananas)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and lightly flour two, 8-inch round cake pans.

In an electric mixer on low speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix the eggs in one at a time until fully incorporate. Mix in the vanilla.

Sift flour, soda, powder and salt together in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the batter, about 1/2 at a time, alternating with a 1/2 cup of the mashed bananas, mix after each addition and begin and end with the flour mixture.

Bake about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Tip: a light colored, metal cake pan, will keep the cake from browning too much. Glass or dark metal pans, will make your baked goods darken more in the oven.)

Let cool about 15 minutes, then gently remove from the pans and by flipping them onto wire cooling racks. Let cool completely before frosting (overnight).

White Chocolate Ganache

3 cups Guittard white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp light corn syrup (adds a bit of shine to the ganache)

Place chocolate into a large heat-safe mixing bowl. Heat cream on the stove until boiling. Pour cream into the chocolate and whisk vigorously until the chocolate has melted smooth. (if you have difficulty turning mixture smooth, place in the microwave for 30 seconds, then keep whisking.) Near the end of this process, add the corn syrup. Cover and place in fridge for 24 hours.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup butter
2 cups Skippy smooth Peanut Butter
2/3 cups heavy whipping cream
8 cups powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in ½ of the powdered sugar. Mix in ½ of the cream. Beat in the remaining powdered sugar. Add more cream as necessary until the frosting is a good spreading consistency and the color is light in color and smooth. Place in fridge for 30-45 minutes.

Putting it All Together

When ready to pour the ganache over the cake, reheat the ganache in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between each interval. Repeat this process until it is completely melted and smooth. It should be a thick but pourable consistency.

Pour the ganache over the layered cake. Place the finished cake in fridge to let the ganache harden. Take your masterpiece out of the fridge an hour before serving.




...Maybe I should just start a website dedicated to bananas?