Oatmeal Zucchini Banana Bread

I live in an apartment with four people. Four people that are addicted to eating a banana every morning. Ok, it's really probably more like 2 addicts and 2 people who feel like they have to eat a banana rightnoworelsetheywon'tgetonebecausetheywillallbegonetomorrow. So everyone eats a lot of bananas.

I do most of our grocery shopping (at Wegman's with a sidekick of course) and since our (fabulooouuus) 4th roommate has moved in, I have started to feel increasingly silly about the numbers of bananas that we bring to the checkout. We're buy ever growing bunches, some green, some yellow of course, just to get us through the week. Trust me we're not lacking potassium and it's really a wonder that any of us can poop (I feel like talking about poop on a cooking blog is kinda like a party foul, but I just did it anyway... oops).


Of course marathon banana eating this isn't really conducive to baking. Because I love banana bread banana's are the only piece of produce (that I can think of right now) that I want to go bad. And we just can't keep them on the shelves.


When we do get an over ripe banana it's never more than one. I think one of the best tips I've received is to freeze them. This way, I can save up until I have enough for bread.


This is all relevant, of course, to this bread. You only need 2 bananas. Cash in early.  Go. Me.

The other bonus about this bread is that I've adapted a Weight Watchers recipe. So if you feel lighter after eating it... that's why.


PS I can never spell Zucchini. EVER.

Buddies!

Soundtrack: Boogie.

Oatmeal Zucchini Banana Bread

Adapted from Weight Watchers

1 1/4 c ap flour
1/2 c unpacked brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cardamom

1 cup(s) uncooked old fashioned oats
3 tsp canola oil
1 large egg, beaten
2 large egg whites, beaten
2 large bananas, just a bit too ripe 

1 small zucchini, about the size of a banana

1/2 c walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, mash bananas with a fork and set aside. Puree the zucchini in a blender or small food processor until the dice is very small. Squeeze handfuls of the zucchini bits over a colander to remove all excess  water, then add to the bananas and set aside. 

In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients and spices. Add oil and eggs; mix thoroughly. Fold in bananas, zucchini and walnuts and stir until mixed well using as few strokes as possible.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Banana Buttercream

Happy birthday to the most important person in my life. Besides myself, of course. No, not Jagger, I said person! Adam you win! And you win cupcakes! I hope that your birthday was as special and as much fun as it could be, since that I could not be there with you. (omg boys weekend!)

Happy Birthday to you!!

Chocolate. Pretzels. Bananas. Three things that don't really stay stocked very well around here. Some of Adam's favorites. So I combined them into the ultimate birthday cupcake. He got them a few days early since I was shipping up to Boston (to see NKOTBSB OMGOMGOMGOMG!!! and relive my childhood, but wasted this time around). Speaking of that song.. they PLAYED IT DURING THE NKOTBSB concert. And if I wasn't freaking out enough already, this was the icing on the cake.


Speaking of the icing on the cake, this frosting is damn good. Definitely my most favorite part. And there was extra. And it was glorious. Please note, that's the best part. Now go make this.


Having extra frosting reminds me of a story my grandparents love to tell about me. At probably around 11/12, I was staying at their house for a week during the summer. I decided to make a funfetti cake (doesn't funfetti just remind you of childhood?), which came out of the oven and was set out to cool. We were all spending some time under the house (think beach house, built on stilts) and I asked to go frost it. They let me go upstairs alone (first mistake) with a tub of frosting to do just that. I don't remember eating that much of it. Honestly. But they came up to check on me at some point after I had finished. They describe a pretty much naked cake with some frosting here and there in spotty areas, huge holes in the cake, etc. Empty tub in the trash. Yep, I love me some frosting. Like I said, embracing my inner fat kid in a healthier way. 


Anyway, let's begin here. Before I go grab another one.


Soundtrack: SBTRKT

Chocolate Cupackes with Banana Buttercream (and Pretzels!)


Chocolate Cupcakes (recipe from Joy of Baking)
Yield: 16 cupcakes

1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup boiling hot water (just a tip - boil more water then you will need, don't boil exactly 1 cup. Seems obvious, but I gotta admit I would do it.)

1 1/3 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature (check here for a tip on how to do this quickly!)

1 c sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 and fill 2 muffin tins with 16 cupcake cups. Spray with cooking spray to ensure they will peel easily. Combine cocoa power and boiling water in a small bowl; set this aside to cool completely to room temp. (I stuck it in the freezer). Meanwhile, in another small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set this aside as well. In a larger bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. This requires a minimum of 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture, slowly. You will get a thick batter, this will seem weird. Don't over-mix. Using a spoon, stir in the cocoa until mixed though. Pour into cups, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean! Cool the cupcakes on a rack, then frost and decorate!

Banana Buttercream Frosting

1 large, very ripe banana

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 c butter, at room temperature

4 c powdered sugar

6 drops yellow food coloring

In a small bowl, mash the banana and stir in lemon juice; set aside. Cream together the butter and 1 c powdered sugar. Beat in the banana mixture. Then add the rest of the sugar, slowly. Once combined, add food coloring.

Add boiling water to the cocoa power. Penzy's is the best!
And yea, those are chocolate chips in the background. I needed a snack...

Dry ingredients

Batter up!

Naked!!

Ba-na-na!

Finished little cuppycakes!

Caramel Banana Cake

Hello again!


I invited my mom and family over for dinner last night - for Mother's Day obvi. The dinner will be featured in this post and the next. She's very excited to be featured on the blog (there's your first plug Mom!!).  As a mother it's her job to be proud of me and she does it well! =) Here's a picture of my mom:

SAY HI MOM!
Isn't she beautiful!?

I have good genes, wouldn't you say? My mom is important to this blog because I owe any motivation that I ever had to cook anything to her. She taught me the basics and sparked the interest (Note to self made: post some of her recipes soon!).

My mom is getting married in a month (Congrats Mom!) so I really thought she was going to kill me for making her a cake, but this cake was really just that good that she couldn't complain. The recipe that I used for the caramel-banana cake comes from The Kitchn. It is an incredibly moist and airy cake. I adjusted it slightly so that the banana flavor was subtle and the cake was not too sweet, and then just covered it in a glaze. The caramel swirl works well with the glaze and really makes a great bite. This was easy and extremely worthwhile.

Just look at that swirl!

Side note: I actually discovered lately the convenience of freezing bananas to be used in baking. I usually only get one over-ripe banana at a time and very rarely, since I live with 2 huge banana monsters (similar to cookie monster, who actually has NOT been renamed to the veggie monster contrary to popular belief). So, they can be frozen until needed. Peel them first and store them in a ziploc, or else it's hard to get those stringy pieces off. Whatever they're called.


Soundtrack: High Places - Link to Myspace


The adjusted recipe (I also made a few notes in places that might be confusing in the original) is as follows (or try the original!):

Caramel Banana Cake
2 9-inch layers

3/4 c. butter
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
3 large eggs
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. milk 
2 med. mashed bananas (yea, that's what mashing bananas makes me think of. Thanks a lot,        years of babysitting!!)
1 c. caramel sauce (can be homemade or you can buy one. I used a homemade one, made by someone else, which was the best of both worlds and perfect for this project)

First, heat oven to 325F. Grease two 9" cake pans.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then, add the eggs and beat until silky and lightened (about a minute). 

In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking soda and salt. In a third bowl, whisk together the milk and mashed bananas. Then, add to the eggs and butter, alternating between a bit of flour mixture and a bit of liquid mixture until combined. Beat just until smooth.

Pour batter into the prepared pans. Pour half the caramel sauce into each pan, and swirl with a knife. Put in the oven carefully and bake for about 60 minutes, or until the centers are set and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before icing. 

The glaze that I used was a combination of powdered sugar and milk. Start with 1 c. powdered sugar and then add milk a little at a time until you get a glaze that doesn't run too much when you stick a utensil in it and then hold it up right. The ratio will really not use a lot of milk. Powdered sugar is deceivingly fluffy. Pour over the top of cake and allow to run over the sides. 

Mashed BA NA NA

Fluffy sugar and butter (pre-eggs)

Silllkaaaaaay eggs, butter and sugar

Mixed batter

Straight out the oven!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the rest of dinner! Roman-Style Chicken (a la Giada) and Oven Roasted Potatoes!