Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Banana Bread

whole wheat banana raisin muffins

I *really* wish I had more pictures of this, maybe I'll make it again before I post this, but I was making it with all three kids. When my husband was away. And our teenage babysitter was sick. So here's me:



This is a HUGE benefit of baking versus cooking, you can do it with a baby in a Baby Bjorn Carrier  I wouldn't cook on a stove like this, but measuring, mixing, pouring? Sure.



Loose interpretation of Banana Bread from Nigella Lawson in Domestic Goddess.
Ingredients:

scant 1/2 cup raisins (she recommends golden, I use regular, sometimes even pouring them out
6 tablespoons rum (optional, I don't do it with kids)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, *melted*
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 small, very ripe bananas (you can microwave them if they aren't ready yet)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour (I use whole - wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Makes either one 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, 18 muffins (or "cupcakes"), or 30 mini-muffins

Put the raisins and rum in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and cover. Let the raisins plump up and absorb most of the liquid. When I do this, it is amazing! With kids, and a quick turn-around time, I just skip this step entirely.

Nigella, I make her recipes enough to feel free calling her that, recommends using golden raisins. I rarely have these, so I use regular raisins. Sometimes I even find myself emptying out snack size boxes!

Preheat oven to 325.

Mash bananas. This is my son's favorite part:)



In a large bowl or mixer, mix the melted butter and sugar. Add the 2 eggs, mix. Add the vanilla, bananas and raisins.

In a separate bowl (if you feel like it, you can just add it to the mixer if you want to save a bowl) mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix everything together, but don't overmix. Which means about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

If you are making a loaf, pout batter into greased loaf pan, I use the Pam Spray for Baking, ince it's one step and I don't have to butter and flour.

If making muffins, or "cupcakes" as my kids call them, use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter evenly into the cups. Again, I wish I had a picture, but believe me, it's so much easier than pouring, every muffin is the same size, and there is very little mess.

Bake for 1 hour if in a loaf, 20 minutes for muffins, and 8-10 minutes for mini-muffins.






Pin It

7 comments:

Colleen said...

that looks so good! making me hungry. I love your son's outfit. gymboree right? so very cute!

Erika . . . with a K said...

I love banana bread so so much! This recipe looks delicious!

Megan said...

Love how the kids are involved!

Unknown said...

These look delicious! Kuddos to you for baking with all your kids. They sure love being involved, don't they?

Unknown said...

Yum! Thank goodness for baby wearing!

Unknown said...

Yummo...may just have to try these!

Jessica

Erin said...

Those look yummy! I love banana bread. Great idea to use the ice cream scoop. Makes me wish ours wasn't so cheap that it broke after about 4 uses. :P

That's a great picture of your son helping, too. :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...