Banananananana

SO MUCH BANANA IN MY DORM ROOM. O_O

It's seriously a little ridiculous. 

We have bananas, banana pudding, banana bread (right), and banana chocolate chip bars (left).

OH YES!

Seriously, though. You should make the banana chocolate chip bars. It's a freakin' banana miracle.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars

3/4 cup butter

2/3 cup white sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla 

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3)

1 3/4 cup flour (all-purpose or wheat)

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chip (any variety)

To make: Cream butter and ALL THE SUGAR! With one hand, gracefully break the egg into the bowl. Do a backflip. Add vanilla (with generosity). Throw in flour, baking powder, and salt and mix together. Add as much chocolate as your heart desires. Bake for 20+ minutes (seriously, it takes forever) at 350F in any cake pan, preferably one that's unicorn shaped. Eat with your face. 

On another good note, I am all registered for classes next semester! :D God I love early Honors registration. 

I am taking American Literature from 1870 to Present, Advanced Readings in French Literature, Organizational Behavior, Honors Technical Writing, and Physics of the Solar System. Wheehoo! 

PS - My professors are Conn for American Lit, Lawler for Physics, Powell for Organization, and Kaplan for French, in case you know anything about any of them (I'm looking at you, Alex). 

Banana Bread Is Da Bomb

Banana Bread is amazing, am I right? My family (like many families, I'm sure) has been eating banana bread for my entire life. So when I started hard-core cooking/baking, of course I wanted a perfect banana bread recipe with which to dominate taste buds everywhere (without kicking anyone's daily calorie allotment's butt, because it's me and I do that kind of thing).

So this is one of the recipes I grew up with, and the one I sort-of-kind-of used today, with modifications, because to me recipes are more like guidelines to which I apply creativity and experimentation in order to invent more delicious/healthy/convenient/picky-eater-friendly foods. Anyway, here's the recipe:



But the one I use regularly is in fact a muffin recipe (I like to think of banana bread as just one giant muffin) and can be adapted for, well, anything! Any preference, any occasion, any pantry, any diet, any taste. I think this gets the Most Versatile Recipe of the Year award.

Basic Muffin/Quick Bread Recipe

 (Mix 'n' Match! Choose one set of ingredients per category.)

Baking Agents

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

Eggs

1 egg

2 egg whites (for healthier muffins!)

Flour

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. all-purpose flour (the proportion here really isn't too important - it's just how wheaty you like your muffins!)

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

¼ c. flax seed

½ c. oatmeal

1 c. whole wheat flour

¾ c. oatmeal

Sugar (may need to add more to taste - good excuse to eat some of the batter. Haha.)

¼ c. honey

¼ c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

½ c. granulated sucrose (sugar substitute, which I have used but some people don't like)

Oil (mix and match, add up to ½ c.)

½ c. canola oil/butter/vegetable oil

¼ - ½ c. low fat vanilla yogurt

¼ - ½ c. no-sugar-added apple sauce

¼ - ½ c. canned pumpkin

Milk (optional, especially if you used yogurt above)

¾ c. 2% milk

¾ c. skim milk

Spices (use as much or as little as you like!)

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 – 1½  tsp. vanilla

Flavorful Additives

1 c. canned pumpkin

3 medium bananas, mashed

½ c. fruit preserves (strawberry, etc.)

¼ c. honey (if not sweet enough)

¼. c. chocolate chips

¼ c. raisins

¼ c. nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc.)

1 apple, diced

  

TO MAKE:

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine all ingredients. Pour into muffin tins/bread pan. Bake 20ish minutes @ 350°F. Consume rapidly. 

I would most recommend this recipe made with full eggs, whole wheat flour, brown sugar maybe augmented with a little sucrose, apple sauce, no milk, all the spices, and either bananas or pumpkin, but that's just my taste. This is a recipe which takes a lot of experimentation but can result in a muffin that is exclusively yours and perfect for your tastes.

YUM!