Tag: banana

Vegan Adventures

SadieLeave a comment

I’m constantly trying to justify my sweet tooth by finding recipes and baked goods that provide some healthy attribute, or aren’t completely sinful.  Though vegan recipes are not completely guilt free, they often offer nutritional benefits, and remove some level of guilt.

I found this below recipe when I was surfing through a few blogs online.  It intrigued me because it included some of my favorite ingredients: oats, peanut butter, and bananas.  What could go wrong?

At the end of the day I think these cookies are good snacks but I would not put them in the category of a crave-able treat.  They are not super sweet, and though the PB and banana add to the taste, they aren’t particularly exciting.  I think these would be best enjoyed as an energy booster when you would otherwise grab a granola bar.  And in the future I would also consider adding some mix ins like chocolate chips (obvi not vegan), nuts, or dried fruit.

Vegan Banana Maple Cookies

Adapted from Pumps and Iron

Yields about 20

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole grain rolled oats
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  •  ¼ cup brown sugar (I added this because the batter was not sweet at all)
  • 1 banana
  • ¼ cup apple sauce
  • ¼ cup peanut butter
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp lemon juice
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp water

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Mix wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls (brown sugar is a wet).
  3. Combine both mixtures.

    I resorted to a pastry cutter to mash it all together
  4. Spoon onto cookie sheets and bake 8-13 minutes.  The dough will not change shape much, so make sure they are the desired shape when they go into the oven.

The Apple and the Tree

Sadie1 Comment

I’ve come to realize I’m pretty much a carbon copy of my mother.  For the most part this means we have a lot of the same mannerisms and similar speech patterns and sayings.  I’ve also been told we look a lot alike.  These are the things that other people see.

For us, the similarities mean we basically have ESP with each other.  We have fragmented conversations because it’s redundant to say every word out loud when you know what the other person means.

Though this connection is helpful, sometimes the similarities combine to too much of a good thing.  We’re both very strong minded, and we do not always appreciate compromise.  So we tend not to compromise and each do our own thing.  We also both love to cook/bake and plan family gatherings and menus.  When we have the family out to the summer house during the summer weekends we go through several iterations of menus and dishes to try.  We have trouble settling on one idea.

This past weekend, we went food shopping separately and not surprisingly we ended up with a lot of duplicates. This included an abundance of bananas.  What to do, what to do with too many bananas?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Yields 2 8 x 4 loaves

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick)
  • 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4-5 large ripe bananas
  • 2 cups AP flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup milk (any kind)
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2 8 x 4 pans with non-stick spray and/or parchment.
  2. Combine dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, cinnamon.  Set aside.
  3. Cream together room temperature butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy.  Add sugars, mix. 
  4. Add egg, vanilla, and mashed bananas.  Mix until well combined.

    Bananas ready to go
  5. Slowly add dry mixture to wet, combine well but do not over mix.  Add milk.  Fold in chocolate chips.
  6. Pour batter into loaf pans.  Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean (might be longer).

    A moment for my parent’s fabulous oven.

Martha Strikes Again!

Sadie2 Comments

That’s right, I own a few books.  Though most of them are presidential biographies, I have a few food/cook books.  I was browsing through the Martha Cookie Cookbook the other day, and I saw a recipe that I’ve been meaning to try: Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

From Martha 

Yields about 3 dozen (maybe less)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup AP flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp coarse salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1.5 sticks)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1)
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or chips if you don’t have chunks)
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Cream together butter and sugars.  Combine flours, salt, baking soda, and oats in separate bowl.
  3. Mix banana, egg, and vanilla into butter and sugar mixture. Then slowly add dry ingredients to wet.
  4. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips.
  5. Use an ice cream scoop to portion dough out onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake 12-14 minutes.  Remove and all to cool.

    I made two batches at once. It was a good decision.