Banana Bread

I hate bananas! hatehatehatehate, mostly the smell.  So to stick to my diet and to continue baking - I made banana bread in the hopes I wouldn't eat the sweets - didn't work, this banana bread was good enough for even this banana-hater to lick a few spoons and take a few bites.

Banana Bread
adapted from Betty Crocker 

This recipe makes 2 8x4 loaf cakes so I halfed it

Ingredients

1/2 + 1/8 cups sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg

2 mashed very ripe bananas

1/4 cup buttermilk - I didn't have any so I used milk and a squeeze of lemon

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped nut, if desired - I left this out and added CHOCOLATE CHUNKS and I definitely added more than a 1/2 cup 

Mix it:

Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. 

Stir in eggs until well blended. 

Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. 

Beat until smooth. 

Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts or CHOCOLATE. 

Pour it: into greased loaf pan

Bake it:

The oven should be pre-heated to 350 degrees 

Bake for about an hour - If that 

Blueberry Muffins

mmmm muffins. These muffins were very moist, a little bland but very moist due to the yogurt/sour cream.  I shouldn't have left out the lemon but I think this recipe would make a great base for lots of flavor muffins - I love the thickness of the batter, just needs more flavor - or a pat of butter when serving.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

5 tablespoons softened butter - I'm a bad baker and always use salted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt - I used 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt and 1/4 cup sour cream because its what I had
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest - I left this out, I regretted leaving it out :(
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon  baking soda
1/4 teaspoon  salt
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray - I used a regular cupcake pan and got 12 cupcake sized muffins out of the batter

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. 

Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest. 

Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter - I'm also a terrible baker that doesn't sift

Mix until combined. 

Add blueberries. 

The dough will be quite thick and yummy fill tins 3/4 full

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes

 

serve!

Berry Cobbler

Berry Cobbler, adapted from Allrecipes.com  

I haven't made this since Summer (oh, how I miss Summer) so this recipe is from Allrecipes.com without all my tweaks, when(which considering all the requests, I will) I make this yummy cobbler again, I will update with tips and more pictures

Ingredients 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1 1/2 cups white sugar, divided 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

6 tablespoons cold butter 

1/4 cup boiling water 

2 tablespoons cornstarch 

1/4 cup cold water 

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

4 cups fresh berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries), rinsed and drained

Directions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F 

In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist. (I double all of this for extra cobbler topping) 

In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and berries. Transfer to a pot, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Transfer into serving dish

Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls. Place dish on baking sheet. 

Bake until dough is golden brown.

Apple Pie

Apple pie, and really the best crust. I found pictures of my previous baking endeavors and decided to post them in my attempt to actually have a blog

Adapted from the Food Network Kitchens

Dough:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon fine salt

3/4 cup cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), diced

1 large egg

3 to 4 tablespoons very cold water 

Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together
Cut butter into chucks and rub into the dry ingredients with your fingers until completely absorbed, resembling pea-sized balls

Beat the egg with 3 tablespoons of the water and pour over the dough mix
Mix dough together, if the dough is really dry, sprinkle it with the final tablespoon of water


Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap and shape into disks.
Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. (The dough can be frozen for 2 months. Defrost dough in the fridge overnight.)

Filling:

1/2 lemon

About 4/5 pounds baking apples, such as Golden Delicious.

2/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on the pie

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, beaten

Grate lemon zest and set aside.
Peel, core, and slice apples into slices.
Squeeze the lemon juice over apples
Toss apples with the sugar, salt, and spices

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the apples and cook, stirring until the sugar dissolves and juices simmer Reduce heat to medium, and cook, uncovered, until the apples softens and the juices evaporate some, about 10 minutes.
Evenly mix the flour into the apples; then cook about a minute more to thicken the juices slightly.
Stir in the vanilla and lemon zest; and remove from the heat.
Cool completely.

Form the pie:

Dust the work surface with flour. Roll a disk of dough into an 11 to 12-inch circle. Transfer the dough to 9-inch pie pan, trimming so it hangs about 1/2-inch over the edge of the pan. 

Fill the crust with the prepared fruit so it mounds slightly in the center. Roll the remaining dough into a 12-inch circle. Brush the rim of the crust with some of the egg.

Roll the dough onto the rolling pie and unroll it over the filling so it hangs over the edge of the pie pan by about 1/2-inch. 

Trim crust if needed

Fold the top crust edge under the bottom one, then press the edges together to seal. 

Flute the crust by pressing a finger into the crust against the other hand's index finger and thumb to make an even ruffled edge. 

Refrigerate the pie for at least 20 minutes.

Bake:

Heat to 425 degrees F.

Brush pie with egg and sprinkle with sugar. 

Cut 6 to 8 small steam vents into the top of the dough. 

Place pie on a baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F. 

Bake until the crust (both top and bottom) is golden brown, about 50 minutes more. 

If the edges begin to brown too quickly, cut a pie shield out of a piece of aluminum foil and cover the edges. 

Cool pie