Rhubarb Oat Bread

You know how, when you have company for dinner and you make a lot of food, you sometimes forget to serve one (or more) of the dishes you cooked?

I did that recently. I made stewed rhubarb because my brother was coming to my house for dinner and it's one of his favorite things to eat.

Not only did I forget to serve it, I forgot about it in the fridge for a couple of days.

It was still good, of course, and we ate some, but there was some left over too.

So I made banana bread but used the stewed rhubarb instead of mashed bananas. (Also added some lemon peel which I thought would work nicely with rhubarb.)

Voila! This is sometimes how good recipes are born. It was well-loved.

And if you don't have stewed rhubarb, you could use applesauce or mashed banana.

 

Rhubarb Oat Bread

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1-1/3 cups sugar
• 1-1/3 cups stewed rhubarb
• 4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and lemon peel together in a bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the coconut oil, vegetable shortening and sugar at medium speed until well blended, about one minute. Add the rhubarb and blend it in thoroughly. Add the eggs and beat the ingredients well. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 12-16

Banana Bread with Cherries

This summer's cherries have been especially delicious. I've been buying (and eating) tons of them.

So, when I had to think of what to do with the usual leftover bananas, I decided to use some in a new version of Banana Bread. I also added some orange (peel and juice) -- just a hint to bring out the best in both of the fruits.

Pitting cherries can be a real drag. But there's an easy way to do it and you don't even have to buy a cherry pitter. Look here.

Banana BREAD with cherries

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 3 medium very ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup orange juice 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup cut up fresh cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Mix the flour, orange peel, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set it aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil with a handheld or electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mash the bananas and add them to the sugar mixture. Beat thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Add the flour mixture and beat for 1-2 minutes to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the juice and vanilla extract. Fold in the cherries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool on a cake rack.

 Makes one bread serving 10-12

Banana Crunch Cake

I am always amazed at the amount of fruit that I buy -- and that is consumed -- when my children and grandkids come. Quarts of berries of all kinds. Mangoes, pineapples, grapes and kiwi fruit. In season, also stone fruit such as peaches, fresh apricots, plums and so on.

Plus oranges, clementines, grapefruit.

Apples of course.

And bananas. Lots of bananas.

Usually I am left with nothing, which is why I am always amazed, just at the sheer quantity of what has been eaten.

And I am not complaining at the lack of leftovers! Eating fruit is a good thing. Glad my family is good with that.

IF and when I have leftover bananas I use them for banana bread or cake. I have so many different recipes it's difficult to choose one or another, so I often come up with something new.

Like this. The crunchy crust gets it one step beyond homey, making this suitable for company.

 

Banana Crunch Cake

Crust:

• 1 cup crushed raisin bran or similar flakes
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons liquid coconut oil (or use melted butter)

Combine the cereal, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Pour in the coconut oil and mix until the dry ingredients are thoroughly coated. Set aside. 

Cake:

• 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Make the crust and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a small bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the vegetable shortening and sugar together at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until creamy and well blended. Add the eggs and bananas and beat the ingredients for another 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Mix the water and lemon juice together. Add the flour mixture alternating with the lemon-water and blend in ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the vanilla extract. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Cover the top evenly with the crust mixture. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 12-16 servings

Banana Fruit Cake

I don't celebrate Christmas but I do love Christmas fruitcake. You know, the kind everyone makes fun of and laughs about.

So sue me. I like fruitcake. The kind that those in the know bake around Thanksgiving time, wrap in cheesecloth and soak in booze so it will mellow and be ready at Christmas.

My friend Vaughan Mitchell, z"l gave me one of the best fruitcake recipes ever. It was one of his family treasured recipes, from his Grandmother Sue. He and I used to tinker with her recipe every year, add a little of this or that, change the alcohol, add a new fruit or something and then exchange our yearly version every December.

I miss him, our correspondence and the fruitcakes.

I don't make fruitcake anymore because, with the exception of my son-in-law Greg, I am the only person who eats it. 

So this year I decided that, rather than make a fruitcake for just two of us, I would use the best of what I love about fruitcake -- the dried and candied fruit and the booze -- and combine it with banana bread, which everyone likes. And I'll see how it all goes down.

Here's the recipe. The only problem is that I can't eat it because I am allergic to bananas.

So maybe next year maybe I will bake a half recipe of my standard fruitcake plus this. 

Banana Fruit cake

• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups diced dried and/or candied fruit
• bourbon or brandy, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda together in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the shortening and sugar until well blended. Add the bananas and blend in thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat well. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Fold in the dried/candied fruit. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and, if desired, brush the surface with 2-3 tablespoons of bourbon or brandy. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one cake, serving 16-18

Banana Marble Cake

Whenever my mother had leftover sour cream that was still safe to eat but had been hanging around the fridge for too long for it to taste fresh, she would use it to bake something. Like her marble cake. 

That cake was a simple wonder. Tender, vaguely sweet, with just enough melted chocolate swirling through the vanilla crumb. Rarely frosted, we ate it like coffee cake, just as is.

I've made that cake many times, and for the same reasons. Leftover sour cream (I also use leftover plain Greek yogurt when I have some). I've made it the original way and with coconut oil in place of shortening. 

Recently I had sour cream and yogurt leftover, the not exactly new kind.

I also had bananas left over. I always have bananas left over. I usually make banana bread with the leftover bananas.

So I took a cue from my mother and decided to bake marble cake. Using bananas.

So good.

Banana Marble Cake

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
• 1 cup dairy sour cream or plain Greek yogurt 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a (10-inch) 8-cup bundt pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the sugar and eggs for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the vanilla extract and vegetable oil and beat for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Add the bananas and sour cream and beat them in. Add the flour mixture and beat for 1-2 minutes or until the batter is well blended. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Pour in half the melted chocolate and swirl it into the batter using a knife or wooden spoon. Repeat with the remaining batter and melted chocolate. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 12-16

Banana Bread with Dates and Figs

Every Purim I try new hamantaschen from different bakeries. I've also made my own hamantaschen using a variety of recipes.

But so far, after years and years of buying this one and that one, my favorites are the (parve) ones I get at The Bakery, in Plainview, NY. For me, they are the enduring treats of childhood, never failing to please, never changing, even in a world where innovation is honored.

And so -- I will buy my hamantaschen this year. Old fashioned flavors: prune and apricot. At The Bakery.

Which means that for Purim, instead of creating a completely new hamantaschen recipe or even trying a new pastry recipe with old fashioned filling, I am going to bake banana bread as mishloach manot gifts.

I have a zillion recipes for banana bread. Some with streusel. Some dairy-free. Some loaded with chocolate chips, some with coconut. Some all chocolate-y. Some spicy. And on and on.

This is my most recent banana bread recipe, one I came up with while revising my mother's date-nut bread recipe. 

Banana Bread with Figs, Dates and Nuts

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup chopped dried figs
• 1/2 cup chopped dried dates
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-cup bundt pan. Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda together in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the shortening and sugar until well blended. Add the bananas and beat them in thoroughly. Add the eggs and beat them in thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and beat for a minute or so until the batter is well blended. Fold in the figs, dates and nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about one hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 16-18

Banana Chocolate Cake

My grandson wanted to bake a cake with me. I think he actually liked the licking-out-the-bowl part the best and I actually was most thrilled that he came up with the idea about combining banana bread and chocolate cake.

I looked through my recipes for endless variations of banana bread. And chocolate cake. I fooled around with them, combining this and that from several of the recipes and came up with the one here. It's dairy-free, so his sister, my 3-1/2 year-old grand daughter, could eat some too. And we added some chocolate chips, just for good measure.

He did like the licking-out-the-bowl thing.

He also told me the cake was too dry. But I think that was because the temperature indicator on my oven has been cleaned so often for so many years that the numbers have disappeared and I can only estimate the proper cooking temperature. I do have an oven thermometer but that also needs "updating." so I don't know if the cake baked at exactly the right temperature.

Also, I forgot to set the timer.

Anyway, everyone else declared the cake delicious. Even my grandson said it was and would want it again when I finally decide what oven I want to get to replace the old one.

So here it is, the creation.

Banana Cocoa Chocolate Chip Cake

• 1-3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon and baking soda together in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the shortening and sugar at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the bananas and blend them in thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and blend them in thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes 16-18 servings

Banana Bread with Blueberries

When I saw purple prune plums for sale last week I realized that summer is almost over. This plum variety is usually a September fruit but everything seems to be growing earlier or quicker this year or maybe it's just that I'm growing older and life is flying by faster.

Fortunately the peaches are still lush and sweet, the tomatoes juicy, so there's that.

But fall is coming and alas, the blueberries are past prime. I bought a couple of pint boxes and found that their up-to-now summer flavor has faded.

I decided the leftovers were best used as a secondary player, not the star. And at that they were perfect.

 

Banana Bread with Blueberries

• 2-½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the pan
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a (10-inch) 8-cup bundt pan. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and lemon peel together in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the sugar and eggs for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the vegetable oil and vanilla extract and beat for one minute or until thoroughly blended. Add the bananas and yogurt and beat them in. Add the flour mixture and beat until the batter is well blended. Fold in the blueberries. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 12-16

Banana–Mango Bread with Chocolate Chunks

Next weekend is Purim, one of the merriest and noisiest of Jewish holidays. Children dress in costumes and run around swinging “groggers,”which are, essentially, very, very noisy noisemakers. Grownups are commanded to “make merry,” which usually involves an alcoholic beverage.

Some of my friends are baking hamantashen, the classic Purim cookie, 3-cornered and filled with jam or fruit puree in the center. They’re getting very creative with them: date-almond, chocolate-coconut, among others. Another friend has even created a video showing how to shape the classic hamantashen.

But I am not making hamantashen this year. I am making banana bread. Of course. Because I always make banana bread. 

One of the most important Purim traditions is giving away food to the poor and to friends and family. So this year my gifts will be banana bread.

I usually make banana bread because I always have too many bananas around the house. This time was different. I didn’t have enough bananas! A first for me!

But I did have a mango.

So here is the result of my tinkerings. Banana-Mango Bread. I threw in some chocolate chunks because, well, it can’t hurt right?

Guess you’ve already guessed: this freezes well.  

Banana–Mango Bread with Chocolate Chunks

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup coconut oil

1-1/2 cups sugar

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1 mango, flesh pureed

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel and baking soda together in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the shortening, coconut oil and sugar until well blended. Add the bananas and mango puree and blend in thoroughly. Add the eggs and beat well. Stir in the coconut milk and blend thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Stir in the chocolate chunks. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 16-18

Banana Bread with Oats and Coconut

In case you haven’t heard and/or did not see the greeting cards in your local store, today is National Banana Bread Day.

Well, that may be a big deal for some, but, as anyone who reads this blog knows, I bake banana bread more frequently than anything else and I have so many recipes that I’ve lost count of them, because I make a new version almost every time. 

I always buy too many bananas and then they get soft and no one wants to eat them so I make banana bread because I can’t bear to throw food away.

And the ironic thing about all this is that I am allergic to bananas, so I can’t eat them OR the bread. I love that fragrance though. Everyone else gets to enjoy the rest.

The version here includes coconut, coconut oil and quick oats, so it’s sweet, even though I’ve cut down on the sugar somewhat. And the oats help make it really tender.

Happy National Banana Bread Day.

Banana Bread with Oats and Coconut

2 cups flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup grated coconut

2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread (or shortening)

1-1/3 cups sugar

4 large very ripe bananas, mashed

4 large eggs, slightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, oats, coconut, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the coconut oil, Earth Balance and sugar at medium speed until well blended, about one minute. Add the bananas and blend them in thoroughly. Add the eggs and beat the ingredients well. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 16-18