Banana Bread
Hey guys! Today I’m jumping back into one of my favs- my Grandma’s Banana Bread recipe. You’ve seen me make a version of this before, Banana Crumb Cake, which you can also find in my book, Sugar High. This time around, we’re adding chopped pistachios and baking it up classic, in a loaf.
I’ve got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. I wanted to make this cake a little more moist. Don’t get me wrong, the original is a great recipe, and it’s a perfect coffee cake. But I wanted to make things a bit more cake-like for the loaf version. So I added some extra mashed banana to give it a little extra.
Okay and also, this is my new favorite trick ever guys. You know I bake a lot of loaf cakes, it’s kind of my current favorite. I really love a cake that stands on its own without the need for frosting, and I love the ease of loaf recipes. PLUS, I love that sugary, crisp top that you get on many of those cakes, including this one. I’ve seen a lot of info online recently about dusting your cake pans with things other than flour, including just using regular granulated sugar and guys. It’s everything.
Instead of just getting that sugary top, you can have it all over the edges of your loaf cake. It’s sheer perfection. So ya know, look out for me using this like, idk, all the time from here on out.
So anyways, sugary crust, we got it. I know the classic option for banana bread is walnuts, but I had some extra pistachios from this recipe last week, and it’s just a nice little twist. Honestly, throw any nuts you’ve got on hand in here, or even a handful of chocolate chips alongside ’em. You know what you like, you got this. But for the record, pistachios are a great choice.
Today we’re all snowed in, it’s been a pjs-all-day type of Saturday, and you can find me curled up on the couch with a slice of this pretty thing. Enjoy!
Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar, plus more for dusting
- 6 tbs. softened butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas, over-ripe about 3 large bananas
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 3/4 cup roughly chopped pistachios
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and generously spray an 8 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle the bottom and all sides with granulated sugar, and shake out any excess. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and mashed banana and mix until combined.
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In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients into the wet in three additions, mixing well between each addition, and reserve about 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture. Toss the chopped pistachios in the reserved flour, and fold into the batter.
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Pour the batter into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a tooth-pick comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!
Maple Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Hey everyone! Thanksgiving is already upon us, what the heck happen??
Thanksgiving is really the start of the holiday season for us, so we’ve already got Christmas decorations up and shining in our house. I know, I know, it’s too early. But it’s not too early, you guys are all wrong!
BUT, we’re still in pumpkin season, so that’s really the important thing to take away from this. I think many of us skip lunch on Thanksgiving, but it’s nice to have a little something for breakfast on the big day, especially if you’ve got company around.
Enter Maple Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. You guys. It’s the perfect combination of flavors, seriously. A sweet yeast bread, filled with pumpkin and all the spices, and then rolled up with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Top it with the flippin’ best maple cream cheese icing and seriously, it’s a winner.
So when I first started making yeast breads, I kind of thought of it as a huge, all day affair type of thing. It takes so long to rise, and shape, and rise again, I always thought it would take me forever. But when you’re baking at altitude, it really doesn’t always take that long.
In fact, because dough rises a bit faster here, I often can get through an entire recipe (like this one) in about 2 hours start to finish. That’s pretty crazy, and with all the downsides to learning how to bake at high-altitude, this just isn’t one of them!
This is a fairly small batch when it comes to homemade cinnamon rolls- normally you get a batch of somewhere between 12-18. But these make an easy 8 rolls, and I love this smaller-batch form. Hey, I can’t even go through 18 cinnamon rolls, and believe me I’ve come close.
So seriously you guys, if you’re looking for something festive, these are perfect to throw together the evening before Thanksgiving, or maybe just on Tuesday night for snacks throughout the week off!
Maple Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the rolls:
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 tbs. butter, melted
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. allspice
- 3 1/2-4 cups flour
- 3 tbs. softened butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbs. cinnamon
For the Maple frosting:
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. maple extract
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1/2-1 tbs. milk
Instructions
For the rolls:
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In a small bowl, stir together the milk, melted butter, pumpkin puree, and sugar. The mixture will be thick. Microwave until the mixture is warm (about 110 degrees on an instant read thermometer). Stir in the active dry yeast, and set aside to bloom.
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In a large bowl, stir together the egg and the vanilla extract. Once the yeast mixture has bloomed, it should look a little puffy near the yeast granules, stir the yeast mixture into the egg and vanilla until incorporated.
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Add in the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and 3 cups of flour. Stir together with a sturdy spatula or a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently start to knead. You will likely need to add a bit more flour while kneading. You are looking for the dough to still be slightly tacky and soft, but strong enough to hold in a ball shape. It should only take about 5 minutes of kneading in additional flour.
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Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic for the first rise. You want the dough to grow by just under double in size, as you can see from the photos above. For me, this only takes about 20-30 minutes.
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Return the dough to your floured surface, and begin to pat out into a rectangle. Then use a rolling pin to roll the dough to a rectangle about 10x16 inches. It doesn't need to be exact.
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Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough, all the way to the edges. It will be a very thin layer of butter. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon, and then evenly sprinkle the mixture over the butter, again all the way to the edges. With your rolling pin, gentle press the mixture into the dough. Starting on the longer edge, roll your dough into a spiraled log.
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Cut of the edges of the dough, and then cut the dough into 8 even rolls. I use a very sharp knife and a sawing motion here, cutting the dough in half, and then each of those pieces in half, and repeating again to reach 8 total.
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Lightly grease an 8 inch cake pan with cooking spray, and place the rolls evenly into the pan. Cover with plastic for the second rise. Preheat your oven to 375 while the dough rises.
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For the second rise, the dough will only get slightly puffed. For me, this takes about 15 minutes, or about as long as it takes for my oven to preheat. Then, remove the plastic and bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes, until just slightly golden on top.
For the maple frosting:
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In a small bowl, whisk together the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, maple extract, salt, and 1/2 tbs. of milk until smooth. Add more milk if needed to reach your desired consistency, though I like to keep my icing a bit thick.
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Frost the rolls in the pan while still hot, and serve warm. Enjoy!
Chocolate Blueberry Muffins
Hi all! I hope you are just knee deep in holiday celebrations and fun by now- I most definitely am.
I’m counting muffins as a holiday treat because let’s face it- tis the season to call cake a breakfast item, right??
And anyways, I know chocolate and blueberries kind of sound like a weird combo, but it’s actually super good! You get the strong flavors of chocolate, dotted with juicy blueberries and the effect is pretty dang good, especially when you top it with a chocolatey crumb.
I use dark chocolate cocoa powder because it gives me that super strong chocolatey flavor, and it makes the muffins this pretty deep dark color.
I’m a fan of crumb toppings in general tbh- I’ve made tons of different crumb cakes on the blog because it’s such a good combo. This is no exception, although this crumb is fairly different than others I have made. Primarily because it’s flavors are heavy on chocolate instead of brown sugar and cinnamon. Regardless, it fits in perfectly with these muffins of course!
And if you’re hosting any guests this holiday season, I feel like muffins are the right choice. It’s an easy breakfast or quick little midnight snacks for guests, and it won’t leave you slaving over the stove in the morning. Win-win.
And yet another win- muffins are too easy to make man. You can just stir these together by hand, no mixer needed. In fact, it’s better to mix them by hand because you really don’t want to over mix the batter- it can lead to tough muffins. That sounds like a slogan or something to tell your kids right? You can’t always get what you want- tough muffins!
Alright anyways, enjoy it, it’s really nom you guys.
Chocolate Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 tbs. melted butter
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 pint blueberries
For the crumb:
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tbs melted butter
Instructions
For the muffins:
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Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir gently with a spatula or large spoon. Just before the flour is completely mixed, add in the blueberries and gentle finish mixing. The batter will be lumpy.
For the crumb:
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In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and melted butter with a fork until crumbs form.
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Scoop the muffin batter evenly into your muffins tins. They should be about 3/4 full. Top with a generous sprinkling of the crumb mixture. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!
Chocolate Maple Pecan Granola
Hey!
Happy Friday everyone! Today I’m announcing the winners of the recent giveaway with Rodelle Vanilla and Breckenridge Distillery! TBH, I’m so jealous I don’t get to keep all this stuff for myself- it’s all really cool.
The responses were fantastic, and it was so great to hear from everyone!! So, our two winners of Rodelle goodies are Sally W. & Manda and the two winners of the Breckenridge Distillery swag are Ginger & Jeffrey! Look for me reaching out guys!!
Onto the granola! Granola is like. Silly-easy to make you guys. It’s so yummy, and like really customizable. Because I don’t know about you, but it feels like every time I buy a new type of granola, I always wish it were just slightly different. Make it how you want it guys.
You want to stick with generally the same amounts of wet to dry ingredients when you customize. You’ll want to be sure to keep the egg white and oil in tact in this recipe as well- they offer important components. The egg white will help bind things and create a crispy end result, and the oil is another binder in the mix. You can sub butter for oil though!
So I’ve added a little bit of cocoa powder here, as well as maple syrup. The flavors are my kind of treat, and my husband and I just snacked on this bag all week long- it’s so good!
I’ve got to keep things short today guys- it’s about to be a busy weekend! I hope you love the recipe, it’s so easy and really tasty!
Chocolate Maple Pecan Granola
Ingredients
- 4 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbs. dark cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 300 degrees, and have a large clean sheet pan ready to go, preferably with edges.
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In a large bowl, stir together the oats, pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, maple syrup, egg white, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until completely coated. This might take a few minutes, but take your time- you really want everything well coated.
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Spread the mixture evenly in your sheet pan. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once during baking. Cool completely in the pan, and then break up to desired size, and store in an air-tight container. Enjoy!
Spice Crumb Cake
Hey guys! Happy first snow if you’re here in Denver! Actually it might have already done a light snow a few days ago, but this is the first like. Snowy day so. HAPPY FIRST SNOW!
I know I like JUST posted another crumb cake recipe, but since it’s all cold out, it just feels right to do this. Let’s break it down.
So traditional crumb cake is vanilla cake topped with a brown sugar and cinnamon crumb. This is just a simple twist- I’m adding spices to the cake portion to make for a warm, spicy, very fall tasting cake. We’re still topping it off with big crumbs stuffed with cinnamon and sugar, and when you bring them together you get something that is just too perfect for a day like today.
I baked mine in a braiser-style dutch oven. You can make yours in one those too, or in a traditional 6 quart dutch oven. Or in cast-iron skillet, though I’ve done it that way. I think it would work well though!
I’ve been poking around the interwebs looking for the origin of crumb cake, and it seems to be originally German. Traditionally it was made with a yeast dough, instead of a cake batter base, so that might be something I dive into on a day where I’m feeling adventurous.
I’m so excited for winter. I really love winter here in Colorado, so this first snow is legit making me smile. It’s the holiday seeeaaasssonnn guys! I may or may not already be doing some Christmas shopping and planning. I’m aware it’s October haha. It just feels like the holidays are so fleeting, and I really like to stretch em out as much as possible. Oops.
And anyways, it’s not as though I bake any less any other time of the year, but fall and winter are like. THE baking seasons. Everyone wants to make baked goods, everyone wants to eat baked goods, everyone wants their homes to smell like baked goods.
So here we are. This will make your house smell bonkers delicious, plus then you get to freakin eat it guys!
Spice Crumb Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. allspice
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
For the crumb:
- 2 cups cake flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 3/4 cup melted butter
Instructions
For the cake:
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease your dutch oven. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined. Add in the flour mixture and buttermilk alternating in several additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. The batter will be thick. Spread evenly in your prepared pan.
For the crumb:
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In a medium bowl, stir together all the ingredients with a fork. Mash together as needed to get the butter evenly distributed, and to create large crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the cake batter. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Enjoy!
