Banana Orange Bread

This month’s Taste & Create inspired me to tweak my Best Walnut Banana Bread recipe just a bit, thanks to Tamy and Always Eat On the Good China. It took me a few tries to perfect my own banana bread recipe, and now I’m ready to start creating a few new variations. Here is a new one for me.

But, first things first: Here is the link to the recipe that inspired my new creation.

I immediately went to my Best Banana Walnut Bread Recipe. Then I realized I was out of some ingredients. Good planning on my part (smile). So I altered the flour in my recipe as follows: 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup unbleached white flour, and 1/2 cup crushed rolled oats.
Other than the flour substitutions, I followed my banana walnut bread recipe and added some great ideas from Tamy, such as 1/3 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened), 2 teaspoons granulated ginger, 2 crushed cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and zest from one large navel orange. I added some chocolate chips to half of my batch to mix it up a little.
I baked muffins. I just now realized that I baked Aussie bites (also muffins) for last month’s Taste & Create. What’s up with me and muffins lately? Are all of my Vita-Mix smoothies making me crave muffins?

Bread and Cheese and Mushrooms and Greens

There is, in my and many locals’ opinion, nothing better than a Hazel Dell mushroom. They are quite simply the best mushrooms you can buy around here. They really make a meal.

Now, I don’t eat red meat, so the entire meal was actually a grilled steak topped with a mushroom saute, hon tsai tai, and freshly baked bread with Camembert cheese. I just ate the side dishes…

I sautéed some shiitake and cremini mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I added a little white wine and let them cook a little before adding a tablespoon or so of dehydrated chopped shallots from Savory Spice Shop. Everything is better when Savory Spice Shop is involved!
And my dinner was: bread and cheese, mushrooms, and greens… but it was perfect for me.

Fresh Butter Blue Corn Bread

I love baking blue corn bread, and now that I no longer bake with packaged butter, I am in the process of an experiment where I remake all of my baked dishes with fresh, homemade butter. I adapted my Chunky Corn Bread recipe for fresh butter, and, guess what? It turned out fantastic! (If I may say so myself…)

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup blue corn meal
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder (a little less if at altitude)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda (little less at altitude)
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 400. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and toss with a whisk or fork to mix a little more evenly.
Next, make your fresh butter. Pour the heavy whipping cream into your KitchenAid mixer bowl, and whisk with the wire whisk attachment on speed 10 for a few minutes until you have freshly whipped butter. I like to take out just enough to butter my baking pan. Then, add the maple syrup, mix on speed 2 for a minute, the eggs, mix again another 30 seconds, and the buttermilk, and mix another minute.
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until it is all combined.
Pour into a buttered baking dish, pan, muffin tray, or whatever you are using, and bake at 400 until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Baking time will vary depending on the size of your pan: muffins might be done in 10 minutes or so, mini loaves in 15, and full-sized pans in 25. When it is nicely golden brown, remove from oven and let cook in the baking dish for 10 minutes or so before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy.

Best Banana Walnut Bread

I am very proud of my banana bread. I worked hard at creating a recipe since I try to personally create each recipe on my blog. The first try at banana bread was a baking failure, but I got it right the second time and this is officially going to be the only banana bread recipe I bake from now on. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 egg
  • 2 very ripe mashed bananas
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda (a little less if at altitude)
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup oat bran
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 (375 if at altitude). Lightly oil a bread pan with butter or walnut oil- I prefer to use mini-loaf pans because it is easy to store one or two loafs in the freezer. They also bake a lot more quickly.
In your KitchenAid stand mixer, turn your cream into butter. How? Pour the cream into the bowl and with the wire whisk (and hopefully your splash guard) turn to speed 10 and whisk a couple minutes until it is fresh butter. Then switch to the paddle blade and start adding the ingredients, one by one in the order listed, mixing a little in between each one.
Pour into your bread pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. It took 20-25 minutes for the mini loaves. I would estimate 45 minutes or more for a large loaf. Please let me know if you try this at home just how long a large loaf takes to bake. Enjoy.

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A Bolder Table is a place where I bookmark my favorite recipes for later along with some occasional musings. It's my personal digital recipe compilation... Let's say it's my cookbook. Thanks for stopping by! -Megan
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