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

Crunchy Cornflake Cookies

I ate a  cornflake cookie at a cafe when we lived in Oklahoma and it was 

love at first bite!  I threw this recipe together almost 5 years ago, 

and the taste is deliciously spot on! These cookies are loaded with some 

of the best pantry goodies imaginable, so of course they are certain to be a hit!

 What you need:

 1 cup Butter, soft

1/2 cup + 2T Oil

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 cups Cornflakes

1 cup Quick Oats

1 cup Raw Pecans

1/2 cup Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)

3 1/2 cups AP Flour

1 T Baking Soda

3/4 tsp Salt

2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Place the oats, coconut and pecans in a food processor fitted with the

sharp blade. Pulse until consistency of large crumbs.

I feel certain we over pulsed the three ingredients as I had eager helpers

in the kitchen, after their soccer game. Wouldn't have it any other way!

Next, pulse in the cornflakes until bits of cornflakes appear throughout.

Then set the food processor aside

In the green bowl are the wet ingredients whipped together: butter, oil,

eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar and pure vanilla extract. I use an 

electric hand mixer to blend the wet ingredients.

In the sifter, awaiting a sift, are the dry ingredients: AP flour, 

salt, baking soda and cinnamon.

Slowly sift and hand mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. 

Then fold in cornflake crumble goodness.

 Use a small scoop (this is ~2 T scoop, but you could do as small as 1 T)

Line 12 on a parchment lined baking sheet and press the dough 

balls flat with clean finger.  

Bake for ~13 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

Remove the cookies from the oven, then edges should be a tad 

darker in color than the centers.  Allow the cookies to cool for 

a minute on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack 

for complete cool.

Enjoy. 

xo

Crunchy Coconut Cookies

Kid Tested and Approved!

I remembered, super last minute, that I needed to bring a dessert to a party.  I popped a quick look in the pantry and came up with these cookies.  So easy (as they start with a bag of cookie mix) and so so so tasty!

What you need:

1 bag of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

5 T butter (soft)

3/4 cup Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (a must for your pantry!)

1/4 tsp pure almond extract (optional, but lovely)

1/4 tsp sea salt

raw sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 Combine all of the ingredients listed above (except the raw sugar) 

and use a small kitchen scoop.  I end up creating 2 dough balls from

each scoop (this is a small, roughly 2 tablespoon scoop).  So, if you do not have

a small scoop, roughly size out a heaping tablespoon for each dough ball.

Then roll the tops of the dough in raw sugar, gently pressing the dough

to create a disc.  Place cookie dough discs, sugar side up, on a parchment

lined baking sheet (you will fit about 20 small discs on a standard size sheet)

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the edges start to turn golden.

Allow cookies to cool and then you will have delicious, 3 bite cookies

that are crispy and crunchy on the outside and a little bit chewy on the inside.

Trust me, these will be a crowd pleaser!!

xo.

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup

Talk about easy!  

This delicious seasonal soup was created in a few short steps! 

 Cut a large butternut squash down the middle and scoop out the guts.

Place the cut sides down in a pan.  Splash 1/2 cup of water into the pan 

with the squash.  Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes. If I had a white

or yellow onion on hand I would have cut it up and tossed in the

pan to cook up, as well.

Remove from heat and allow the squash to cool a bit.

Glorious, cooked butternut squash. 

Use a spoon to scoop the cooked squash into a blender.

Then add one 14 ounce can of coconut milk and 3/4 cup coconut 

cream,1 T. yellow curry powder (you can find it most anywhere, I just

recently picked some up at Target).  Blend and add salt to taste (and if I 

wasn't serving this soup to my kids I would add cayenne pepper to taste).

Then add stock (vegetable or chicken stock) to desired thickness of soup.

If you have an immersion blender, just pop all this stuff into a large saucepan and start a blending.

I do believe Trader Joe's makes the finest of

fine coconut cream and coconut milk.

For a garnish I decided to bake some store bought naan.  

Used a pizza wheel to cut strips, then cut each strip in half.

 Tossed with sunflower oil (any light oil will do) and

sprinkled with flake sea salt and yellow curry powder. 

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

I think tomorrow I will try topping the soup with chicken & 

apple sausages.  Some other tasty add ins would be:

crispy pan fried garbanzo beans, sauteed greens (spinach or kale)

and grilled chicken.  Hmmm, what else?

Italian Cream Cupcakes, on the QUICK!

I was in a pinch for a dessert and thought I would give a go at making Italian Cream Cupcakes, 

starting with a box of cake mix.  The results were fantastic (and oh so quick), so give this a whirl!

What you need:

box of white cake mix (that will yield a 9x13 pan)

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup buttermilk

3 eggs

2 T water

2/3 cup shredded coconut

1 cup raw pecans 

Click here for my delish frosting recipe, that must top

these cupcakes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the chopped

pecans to fold into the frosting.

Use a sharp knife to roughly chop the pecans.  If you don't feel like

getting your chop on, pulse the pecans in a food processor.

By hand or mixer, blend the cake mix, buttermilk, butter, water and eggs.

Then fold in the coconut and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

 

I use a large scoop to plop the batter into muffin papers (I looove

the organic look of these parchment papers I picked up at King Soopers) 

Bake in a 350 degree, preheated oven.  17-21 minutes bake time.

While they bake, make the frosting!!!  Here is the link again. 

Stir in the 1/2 cup of chopped pecans you reserved.

After the cupcakes cool (I always set on a cooling rack for at least

half hour), top with as much frosting as you wish.

Then, ENJOY!!!  

xo.

HOWDY POLLY Pan-o-Bars!!!!

I should love "Hello Dolly" pan-o-bars, but I don't.  Do you know why?  I cannot stand graham cracker crust.  So, a few years ago I decided to kick these classics up a notch, with pretzel crust.  Oh my. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup chopped raw pecans
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup shredded coconut
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk (I use Trader Joe's)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 

Crush the pretzels.  Either the old fashioned way: in an unsealed plastic bag, 

crush with a rolling pin OR use a food processor.

Yields 1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels. The crush will be much finer when

using a food processor, but either way is just fine.

Mix the crushed pretzels with 1 stick of melted butter and 

1/2 tsp sea salt.

Press the pretzel/butter mixture into a lightly greased (I use coconut oil), 

parchment lined 9x13 pan.

 Chop the raw pecans.

 Over the pressed pretzel crust, evenly sprinkle the chopped pecans,

coconut and chocolate chips.  Press firmly, again.

Evenly cover all the goodies with sweetened condensed milk.

Bake at 350 degrees for 23-27 minutes.

Remove from heat and slide a knife along the edges of the pan that were not 

parchment covered.  Then place bars (still in pan) on a cooling rack for an

 hour (or pop in the refrigerator, to speed the cooling process up). Then gently wiggle 

the bars out of the pan, using the parchment paper as handles, and place on a 

cutting board.  Use a pizza wheel to make desired sized cuts.

Store in an air tight container, either at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

You are about the be the hero of your next potluck!!

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!