Loaded Banana Bread

My dear, sweet Benny (2 years old) is really into bananas.  

His love of bananas runs deep.Yet, the depth of said love lasts only 

about 3 bites per banana and then he refuses to touch the half eaten 

banana again. And we must start over with another whole banana. 

Lordy. 

I, being the practical 'thou shall not waste a perfectly

 good half of banana' mama that I am, 

started storing the remaining bananas in a container in the 

refrigerator and decided it was high time I create a go to banana recipe. 

So Benny, keep up the good work, I could eat this goodness all year long!

This recipe will yield 2 large loaf pans of outrageous 

quick bread or ~32 large scoop muffins. 

What you need:

1 cup of butter (soft)

4 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar 

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

With an electric hand mixer (or stand mixer) blend the above ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp fine sea salt

2 tsp baking soda 

Place dry ingredients in a sifter

5 ripe bananas (peel and mush finely with a fork) yields ~2 cups

1 cup finely chopped raw pecans

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (+ additional 1 cup for topping)

 Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in three heats.  

That way the wet dry integrates very well.  I always hand

mix at this point, as to not over mix.

Fold in the banana

 Fold in the pecans, coconut and chocolate chips

Use a large scoop if you are going the muffin route, otherwise 

coconut oil two large loaf pans.

For muffins I am borderline obsessed with parchment muffin

liners.  They do not stick to the muffins, like the fluted cups

sometimes do and they look so dang cute, which is obvy 

important!  I buy them in big bunches on the internet.

here's a little picture from an old post.  After coating

the pan with coconut oil, cut a piece of parchment paper

for each pan, allowing a bit higher up the sides, so after

baking you can run a knife along the two shorts sides

of the pan, then use the parchment like handles to lift the 

bread out, and transfer it to a cooling rack.  

Top with a good sprinkle of coconut 

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes if baking muffins and I would

guess at least one hour to one hour and 15 minutes for 

the loaf pans.  Make sure you do the toothpick check!!

Although them to cool a bit and then get your gobble on!!

 Benny Approved!!

Enjoy!

xo

Rice Crispy S'more Bars!

 

 

Oh YUM!  All the goodness of a s'more, 

folded into a rice crispy treat!

What you need:

1 bag + 3 additional cups mini marshmallows

1 stick of butter
9 cups crispy rice cereal

5 cups Golden Grahams (don't buy generic on this one, 

I find they actually taste generic!) 

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 tsp sea salt

buttered 9x13 pan

 

 In a large stock melt, over medium heat, melt the butter

 and the marshmallows (reserving 1 cup of the marshmallows

for a bit later) stir in the sea salt.  Once melted add the 2 types 

of cereal. Once cereal is coated, fold in the reserved cup of 

marshmallows and the semi-sweet chocolate chips.

 Press the mixture into a buttered 9x13 pan 

(I butter the back of a spatula to press)

 

 Yum Yum Yum!  I made these for the made up

holiday 'National S'mores Day'! We were so 

excited to celebrate, with these tasty treats!

  I mean you could basically call these breakfast bars!

Enjoy!

Funky Dipped Pretzels...OMGeezy these are Easy!

We all have a friend who pays a cople dollars a pop, for a dipped pretzel rod...

what a rip off!  These tasty treats are so easy to make!  

What you need to create these treats:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

22 pretzel rods

Then all the goodies you can think up for topping the dripped pretzel rods...there are no limits to the possibilities!  My little sous chef (Logan) and I whipped these up while Zac and our friends from MN are up mountain, skiing for the day.  I just know they will love the Samoa-esque (yes, the Girl Scout cookie) goodies we top the chocolate pretzel rods with.  

 Fill a sauce pan with a couple inches of water,

then place a glass or stainless steel bowl over the sauce pan.

Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

Over medium heat, slowly melt 1 and 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips.

(if you don't have a way of doing this, pop the chips in the
microwave, but be diligent...20 second intervals in the
microwave, and give a stir after each interval.)

Stir often. Be patient. You don't want to rush the

process, or the chocolate will burn.

 Heat until completely smooth.  Remove the

bowl from the sauce pan.

Stir 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips into the melted 

chocolate.  This will help temper the chocolate (this is not
the proper way to temper, but it works just fine for this treat!).

 

I placed sweetened coconut flakes in a dry saute pan and toasted

over medium heat, keeping them moving in the pan with a fork.

Keep a watchful eye on the pan as the oils and sugars from the 

coconut will go from toasted to burnt in a jiffy.  

 After I removed the toasted coconut from the pan, I put in some

chopped raw pecans (yes, I recognize these are not in the beloved

cookies, but I think they make for a legit dipped pretzel).  Use

the same technique as for browning the coconut, as the pecans will

also go from lightly toasted to burnt wildly fast!

For the caramely goodness of the Samoa cookie, I decided to use

Heath Bits-o-Brickle (which is just the toffee bits, no chocolate...you 

will find the bag of bits in the same area as chocolate chips at the market)

All the goodies, ready for assembly!

Dip the pretzel, using a spoon to coat and then using the spoon to 

drag off excess chocolate.

If your chocolate starts to set up in the bowl, as you 

are working on dipping the pretzels, pop the bowl

in the microwave for 10 seconds, or pop the bowl 

back on the double boiler to make it smooth again.

Place the dipped pretzel on a Silpat or parchment

lined baking sheet.

Immediately sprinkle with the toppings.

The nice thing about me doing this, and working the 

kinks out before I share with you is that instead of sprinkling,

I ended up placing all the toppings on a plate and rolling the 

chocolate dipped pretzel in the goodies, then placed the 

fully dipped stick on the Silpat to set.  Easy Peasy!!! 

 

Allow the chocolate to set, and enjoy!

Report back the tasty treats you roll your dipped pretzels in!

 

CONTEST TIME...delish cookie mix giveaway!

 

I am back on the blogging horse, full stop!  I am taking pictures like a picture-taking-fiend, carrying a little notebook with me to jot down recipe ideas and dreaming of all things rusty & chippy paint.  To celebrate my return as a legit blogette (I totes just made that up), I am having a little contest.  All you have to do to enter is become a follower of the blog, via the 'join this site' link along the right side of my blog page.  Do this, leave comment that you did so (if you are already listed as a follower and want a chance to win, just leave a comment), and you will have a chance to win a package of my new favzy cookie to whip up. 

I simply call them TRAIL MIX COOKIES.  They are legit, with a L!  The perfect blend of buttery pecans*, sweet dried cranberries, rich dark chocolate and oatmeal.  Are you drooling yet?  You should be.

Just in time for all the holiday cookie exchange parties, let me do the work for you...all you will have to do is add 1 egg and 6 T. of butter and get your bake on!  The mix will yield roughly 2 dozen cookies.

On Tuesday, November 27th, 2012 around noonish I will pick one winner for every 15 comments (the moral of the story is: more comments = more winners).  Get after it, and please tell your friends too! 

*If you have a nut allergy (real or fake) I feel really bad for you, seriously...but, I won't judge. Just let me know and I will certainly omit.  I have many fake allergies: cilantro, seafood, parsley, ham...the list goes on and on, so for reals I shant judge. 
xoxo. 

am I the only one who just tried to chew on my computer screen?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I don't think I can state enough how easy it is to whip up something

dang tasty and original, starting with a simple box of cake mix.  Once

again, I am getting my pumpkin harvest on with these little beauties.

1 box of vanilla or white cake mix (to yield 9x13 pan)

1 cup of pure pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp pure almond extract

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg (or ground nutmeg)

Mix all the above goodies and add 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees in paper lined cupcake tray for 18-19 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool, then top with my ridiculous frosting!

*10 out of 10 people agree that these treats are needed at your Thanksgiving dessert table!

(* = I would imagine they would say that!)