Banana Chocolate Buttermilk Pancakes

I made these for a quick weekday dinner the other night and they were perfect, just what I wanted to eat right then. I've been working a lot of evenings lately so I come home, feeling like I've worked a full day, and then I need to go back out for another hour or so - I need something to pick me back up. Since I was making them just for myself, I ate half the batch for dinner and the other half for breakfast the next morning.

Banana Chocolate Buttermilk Pancakes

Adapted from Inspired Taste

Makes 6-7 smallish pancakes

1 cup flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

3 tbsp butter, melted

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Brown Butter Banana Bread

I've made a few dry, plain, not that tasty banana breads, so I don't really agree with what most blog entries about banana breads say - that it's so easy and foolproof. My past few attempts have been extra good, though, including this one with brown butter, so it makes me want to make banana bread a lot more often.

My all-time favorite banana bread is the Nutella-swirled one I posted way back in March 2013. Also, if you want to do the opposite of this brown butter version and not include butter at all, you could try Michelle's vegan version with homemade vegan Nutella. And Julia posted a whole wheat flour version almost exactly two years ago! 

When Joy the Baker's posted this recipe, it was made with cranberries - I have fresh cranberries in the freezer and was fully intending to put them in the batter but decided not to at the last minute. Even though I really like baking with fresh cranberries, I just wanted a more simple banana bread this time. In Joy the Baker's recipe, she adds 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries to the batter, folding it in right before turning the batter into the loaf pan. 

Brown Butter Banana Bread

Adapted from Joy the Baker

For the bread

6 ounces unsalted butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 cup of butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 large eggs

3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 1/4 cup mashed banana (from about 3 medium bananas)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup plain yogurt

For the crumble

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons lightly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oats

Pumpkin Chai Smoothie

Can you tell I've been roasting pumpkins by all the pumpkin recipes lately? Well here's another one.

1 large, ripe banana
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup pumpkin chai tea mix (I picked up some Tazo chai)
3 ice cubes
1 tsp bee pollen

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree. Pour into glass and top with additional bee pollen.

Lemon Olive Oil Banana Bread

This is the first item that has been cooked in our new oven! We are (almost) all moved in and everything is in chaos. I did manage to find enough supplies to make this fantastic bread though. I used Laura's beautiful bundt pan to make the bread. That's a good thing about moving-getting to consolidate all of our kitchen supplies and get more use out of them. The recipe is from 101 Cookbooks of course.

2 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup olive oil
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cup (super) ripe bananas
1/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons limoncello
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the first four dry ingredients together, then add the chocolate chips. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, olive oil, bananas, and yogurt together. Then add the zest, limoncello, and vanilla extract. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, a little bit at a time until no loose flour can be seen. Grease and flour a bundt pan and pour the batter in. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes until golden brown. There was a glaze recipe with the bread too, but it really didn't turn out for me. The bread is great on its own.

Nutella Banana Bread

The inspiration from this bread came from Laura! Her recipe looked so great that I wanted to make my own version without butter. After some searching, I came across a site called the Big Bake Theory. It's so cute! Her version is vegan but I opted for some eggs instead of coconut milk.

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar
4 very ripe, medium-sized bananas
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanillla
1 cup homemade vegan nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together dry ingredients with a wire whisk.
Mash bananas with a potato masher in a large mixing bowl. Then add the oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a little bit at a time until incorporated.
Mix 1 cup of the batter with the nutella in a separate bowl.
Spoon the batter into a greased bread pan, alternating with spoonfuls of the nutella batter. Swirl the batter with a butter knife to give a marbled effect.

Bake for one hour and 15 minutes until a toothpick can be removed cleanly from the center. Serve it with some extra nutella.

Vegan Nutella

This awesome recipe is from Chocolate Covered Katie, a healthy dessert blog. There are some delicious recipes on there! You all should definitely check it out.

2 cups raw hazelnuts
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 packet stevia
3 tablespoons raw cane sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon cacao butter, melted
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

Roast the hazelnuts for 10 minutes at 400 degrees on a baking sheet. Check them constantly after 5 minutes to make sure they don't burn. You want them to be a light golden brown color. The skins will be a darker brown. Let cool a little, then rub them together in a paper towel to get the skins off. If some of the skins don't come off, just leave them on.
Then in a food processor, blend the nuts until they’ve turned to butter. It really doesn't take too much blending to get to this point. Then add all other ingredients and blend until smooth. I felt like the mixture was a little more runny than Nutella, so I would add less almond milk the next time I make this.

Banana Upside Down Cake

Such a fun cake!!! I will definitely be making this again and again. I want to perfect my banana placing technique. Today's cake is for my grandma's birthday dinner. She'll be 88 years old!

We also had a salad with warm bacon-y mustard dressing, VERY GOOD maple mustard chicken, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

BANANA UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Slightly adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

2 cups all purpose flour (I did 1.5 all purpose, .5 whole wheat)

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

4 oz (1 stick) butter, room temp

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup whole milk (I used 2%)

Banana Topping:

4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp bourbon, rum or whisky

2-3 medium bananas, sliced lengthwise

Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

This banana bread is special. It's really more like a cake. Actually, I might throw some cream cheese frosting on this and call it a birthday cake next month.

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NUTELLA SWIRLED BANANA BREAD

From Sugar Plum Blog 

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour  
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana 
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 cup packed brown sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 large eggs 
1/2 cup Nutella 

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

 I've also been trying to use more whole wheat flour so I'm going to piggyback right off of Laura's delicious looking Honey Whole Wheat Bread with a dessert.  This whole wheat banana bread is moist and yummy despite the lack of white sugar/flour.  It is very filling and I didn't feel as guilty eating it for breakfast.

What you'll need...

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 packed light or dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I added a lot more because I do not believe cinnamon needs to be measured) 
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see my above measuring technique when it comes to delicious spices)  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (about 3-4) mashed very ripe bananas 
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9x5 in. loaf pan

Beat together butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla in a bowl until creamy.  Add the mashed bananas, honey, and eggs and beat until smooth.  Add the flour and chocolate chips.  Spoon batter into the pan and let sit uncovered for 10 minutes.

Bake for 50 minutes.  Then, place a piece of foil across the top and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 in the pan and then place onto rack until cooled completely.

I made muffins too! If you do this, make sure you grease the muffin liners.  I filled them about 3/4 of the way with batter.

And last but not least, Percy!  I haven't seen any cats on here and I have a perfectly cute gymnast one laying around so, here he is!

Vegan Blueberry Banana Buckwheat Waffles

Lately I've been craving waffles.  I have a near Leslie Knope level of love for this tasty not-just-breakfast food,  thanks in part to my Aunt Leisa and my babysitter making them for me all the time growing up.  At my aunt's we always smashed ripe bananas and mixed it into the batter, something I continued to do at Duquesne Towers.  Here's a recipe inspired by an Your Daily Vegan's recipe with that incorporated. 

Vegan Blueberry Banana Buckwheat Waffles

Mine made 10 waffles

• 2 or so bananas, ripe
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 2 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 handfull of frozen blueberries

• Smash up those ripe bananas and set aside.

• Mix all the dry ingredients first, then add in the wet ingredients.

• Cook the waffles per your waffle maker's directions.  JUST MAKE SURE YOU SPRAY THE IRON! Can't stress that enough.

• I like mine to be nice and brown.

Simple enough - delcious waffles.  Make sure if you're going to freeze them you let them cool completely first. And in the words of Leslie...

 

"We need to remember what's important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn't matter, but work is third."