Cinnamon Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

My daughter texted me after she arrived back home on Christmas Day, apologizing for not eating the bananas she asked me to purchase for her visit. She didn't realize that I love banana bread, and I welcomed the leftover bananas for the opportunity to make it again.

Although I have posted many banana bread recipes on this blog as well as on my older blogs, I feel there is always room for one more version. In this case I revisited a recipe by Eva Longoria in her cookbook Eva's Kitchen. This time I used her basic recipe, which I find excellent, changed the rum and cognac to Irish cream, used oil instead of butter, and added chocolate chunks and a streusel crust. I also changed up the method a bit; you can find my adaptation of the original here, as Boozy Banana Bread.

I loved the crunchy sugary crust, and the hint of Irish cream combined with the chocolate was really delicious!

Banana Bread
adapted from Eva's Kitchen

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 very ripe bananas
2 tablespoons Irish cream
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons milk
2 cups unbleached flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, well beaten
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Streusel:
3 tablespoons salted butter
1/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 9 X 5 loaf pan with cooking spray or shortening. I find it helpful to put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the loaf pan in addition to greasing the pan to help release the bread after baking.

Process streusel ingredients in food processor until crumbs form. Set aside.

Process oil, brown sugar, and bananas in food processor until smooth. Set aside.

In bowl, whisk together flour, white sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add chocolate chunks and pecans to flour mixture and toss.

Combine Irish cream, sour cream, milk, and vanilla in small bowl and whisk until smooth; add eggs and mix until well blended, then add banana mixture. Add this mixture all at once to flour mixture and mix just until blended. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Evenly sprinkle streusel over top. Bake until well browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 1 hour or longer - start checking at 45-50 minutes. Place pan on wire rack and cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely.

Pumpkin Biscuits

Pumpkin and/or cranberries make an appearance in just about every meal I make this time of year. I needed a biscuit to go with grits and bacon for a lazy Saturday morning, so these pumpkin biscuits were perfect.

The dough is quite moist, so the key to keeping the biscuits flaky is a light hand with the flour and gentle kneading.

I was so eager to eat these I only managed an iPhone photo. The recipe yielded a tender, flaky biscuit, slightly sweet from the brown sugar and scented softly with a hint of pumpkin pie spices. With the salty bacon, they were magnificent.

Pumpkin Biscuits

1-3/4 cups unbleached flour, plus additional for rolling
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup cold salted butter
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425°.

Whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Cut in 1/2 cup butter until coarse crumbs form. Combine pumpkin and buttermilk in separate bowl; stir into flour mixture just until moistened.

Scrape dough onto lightly floured surface and knead gently 3 or 4 times, sprinkling on a tiny bit of flour to keep from sticking. Pat or roll to 1-inch thickness and cut with floured biscuit cutter. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheet.

Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about a dozen. Yield depends on size of biscuit cutter. I got 11 using a 2-1/2 inch cutter.

Vanilla Roasted Pear Muffins

After enjoying these ambrosial pears with our roasted chicken dinner the other night, I took the leftovers and pureed them, strained out (and saved to freeze) as much juice as I could, and ended up with a cup of beautiful pear sauce. This provided just the right ingredient for perfectly moist, tender muffins that actually did have a faint taste of pear, which is difficult to taste in most baked goods. The streusel provided just enough sweet crunch.

Vanilla Roasted Pear Muffins
Makes about 48 mini muffins*

Muffins
2-1/4 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup vanilla roasted pear puree (from this recipe)


Streusel
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup salted butter, diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray mini-muffin pans with cooking spray.

For streusel, mix flour, sugars, and cinnamon; cut in butter with a pastry cutter until small crumbs are formed.

For muffins, whisk together flour and spices; set aside. Mix together buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla; set aside.

Combine sugars, oil, and pear puree; add buttermilk mixture and mix until well blended. Fold in dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly in pans; sprinkle streusel over tops. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 15 minutes. Cool pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan.

*Although the recipe indicates 48 muffins, I ended up with enough batter for an additional dozen regular sized muffins.

Blueberry Crumble Muffins

These delicious muffins are Ina Garten's Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins recipe with a streusel topping. The moist, coffee cake-like muffins with sweet bursts of blueberry are even better with a cinnamony crumble topping. The streusel recipe is one I developed when I baked pastries for Java Dave's coffee shop in Edmond, OK, and it adds a sweetly delicate crunch to any muffin.

We enjoyed these for breakfast this morning with eggs and sausage.

Blueberry Crumble Muffins
adapted from Ina Garten's Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins
Makes 12 regular muffins or 6 jumbo muffins

6 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups white sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons 1% milk
1-1/4 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons flour

Crumble Topping
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons salted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon King Arthur vanilla sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin with baking spray or cupcake liners.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well. Mix sour cream, milk, and vanilla; add to batter, mixing well. In separate bowl whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; gently mix into batter in three additions. Toss blueberries with 2 tablespoons and fold into batter very carefully just until blended.

Combine topping ingredients in small bowl; mix with fingers until crumbly and all ingredients are well well-blended. Set aside.

Scoop batter evenly into muffin pan; top with streusel. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins are lightly browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes or you will burn your tongue!

Linking with
Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm
and
Foodie Friday at Life as a Lofthouse

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Oat Bread

It's a good thing I love banana bread and smoothies, because out of the bananas I buy each week, very few get eaten fresh. They are either frozen for my favorite fruit shakes, or ripened for recipes such as this one from my old blog. I tweaked the recipe with oats, flax seed, applesauce, and a few other changes. Very moist and delicious and just bursting with good stuff.



Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Oat Bread
adapted from For Goodness Sake
original recipe from Food.com

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup whole oats, ground in food processor
1/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup white sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed or whizzed in food processor
1/3 cup natural crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg white
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat 9X5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; add a strip of parchment paper to bottom of pan for easy removal.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. In another bowl or bowl of mixer, mix bananas, peanut butter, applesauce, egg white, egg, and vanilla. Fold in flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain, then gently fold in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into loaf pan. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with few moist crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes; carefully remove from pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack before slicing.