Banana Bread

Hello all!  So you may laugh at me for this, but....here goes.  I know that I've said that I'm a moderation girl and I eat everything but I like to cook for my friends and family who have special dietary needs.  Well, recently I've discovered that eating gluten-free actually appears to ease a medical condition of mine, so I have been focusing a lot on some gluten-free recipes.  This recipe is a tried and true recipe but my biggest reason why I like it is that it's SO versatile.  At the bottom of this post, I will list a bunch of my favorite ways to change this up to make different delicious treats.

I'd also like to point out that this recipe happens not to use butter, so if you wanted it to be vegan, you can substitute the egg with an egg replacement powder.  I have used Ener-G Egg Replacer and you canNOT tell the difference.  It tastes exactly the same.  So here we go!

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (I have included info for my favorite gluten-free flour in the instructions below)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 egg (if you want vegan bread, use the egg replacer listed above)
1/2 cup sugar
2 overripe bananas
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable oil, heated coconut oil can be substituted if you like, as long as it's in liquid form
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5x2 inch pan.  Combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.  For gluten free flour, I like to use Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free All Purpose Baking Flour.  I like this one because it isn't coarse, like some other alternative flours.  It's the same consistency as wheat flour, and it has a sort of sweet nutty flavor that I think is great for baking.
 

In another larger bowl, combine the egg and sugar.  Remember, for a vegan bread, you can use an egg replacer.  I promise the one I listed above will taste the same.  I'm also going to take this opportunity to say that I LOVE baking and have never once used a stand mixer.  This trusty little hand mixer is the same one that was purchased for me for my first apartment more than a decade ago.  Don't judge my little hand mixer-I bring it up to show you that you do not need fancy tools to be a good baker!
 

Mix in 2 smashed bananas, vanilla, oil, and all spices.  What is that little round thing in the picture below?  It is whole nutmeg.  I strongly urge you to buy whole nutmeg cloves and grate the nutmeg yourself.  It tastes so much better.  And for this recipe, I really think the reason it's so good is because it's essentially spice cake with bananas added to it!  So don't skimp on the spices-they're what make the bread.  Get good spices!
 

Slowly pour the dry ingredients in batches and mix until combined.  Don't over-mix!  I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries to my recipe, in case you're wondering what else is in the batter!  Pour batter in the pan and cook for one hour.  Depending on humidity and your fruit, your batter may be more wet or dry.  This bread is done when a skewer is inserted into the middle and comes out clean.  I start checking the bread at about 45 minutes.  When the bread is done, let cool and serve for brunch or as a snack.  You can also freeze it.

I really hope that you enjoy this bread.  I've been making it for over 10 years and it is one of my most favorite recipes.  Below I have listed a bunch of modifications that you will love!

*Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips, dried cranberries or your favorite nuts to the banana bread
*The 2 bananas can be substituted with 1 cup of pureed pumpkin, steamed apples, or steamed pears
*For a more savory bread, substitute 1 cup of grated carrots or zucchini.  Eliminate the vanilla and spices and use salt and pepper and a 1/2 cup of your favorite chopped fresh herbs (like parsley, basil, or dill)
*These can also be muffins!  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes-again, start checking them around 15 minutes, depending on the moisture in your bread.

Also, if it is of use to you, here is the nutritional information for this recipe:
1 serving: 1/8 of a loaf
174 calories, 24g carbs, 8g fat, 3g protein, 262mg sodium, 10g sugar

Vegan Gluten-Free Holiday Baking

So I've already made it known that I am not a vegan, nor do I eat gluten-free.  However, I always have believed in moderation, and I have friends and family who are vegan and/or gluten-free and I want to be able to bake for them.  So I am finally sharing my two recipes that I used during the holiday season to make all my friends happy.  I do not seek out vegan or gluten-free recipes.  My goal is to show you how to modify the recipes you already use to be able to accommodate your friends and family with special food needs!  I can tell you that my non-vegan, and non-gluten-free friends LOVED both of these recipes and could not tell that they were missing any of the ingredients that they are used to eating.  That is what I consider a huge success.

So here we go....the first is Peppermint Bark, my future brother-in-law's favorite.
Ingredients: 12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate morsels
                  12 ounces of white chocolate morsels
                  2/3 cup macadamia nuts (or almonds), chopped
                  12-14 crushed candy canes
Here are the steps.....It's SO easy.  Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips are vegan-no milk solids in it anywhere!! Who knew??  So you need to temper the chocolate and melt it.  I've heard so many complicated ways to do this, but you wanna know the easiest way to do it?  Put the chips in a microwave-safe bowl and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir the chips.  It won't feel like that did any good, but repeat these steps, microwave for 30 seconds and stir, until all the chocolate is melted.  Now the chocolate is tempered and you really didn't have to work that hard and mess up a bunch of pots and pans creating double boilers.  Prepare a cookie sheet that is lined with wax paper and dump all of the semi-sweet chocolate onto the paper.  Use a spatula to spread the chocolate into a thin layer, as big as the cookie sheet.  Put this in the fridge to set up.

The vegan white chocolate chips are a little harder to find, but I found these on Amazon.  They are King David White Choco Chips.  They taste the same as regular white chocolate chips!  I promise!
                                      
You will need to temper the white chocolate chips the same way you did for the semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Then pour the white chocolate onto the semi-sweet chocolate and spread it out into a thin layer.
                                                         
Next, crush the candy canes by peeling the canes and putting them all in a one-gallon plastic bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin.  Sprinkle the candy canes onto the white chocolate while the chocolate is still hot!  Press the candy canes softly into the chocolate with your hands.  Do the same with the macadamia nuts.  Work fast so that you can press everything down into the chocolate.  If you don't, you will not have bark, you will have chocolate that has candy and nuts laying on top of it and when you try to break it, it will not stay together--this is no good.

Once you have gotten the candy and nuts pressed into the chocolate, put the pan back into the refrigerator so that it can get hard.  It will look like this!

Once everything is hard, you can break it apart with your hands or by using a sharp knife to score the chocolate. This is the perfect candy for everyone!


Ok, next is Jam Thumbprints.  This will be a huge hit with everyone and it is very easy to make vegan AND gluten free because there are no eggs in this recipe.
Ingredients: 3 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
                  1 cup sugar
                  1 tsp vanilla extract
                  3 1/2 cup flour
                  1/4 tsp kosher salt
                  a jar of your favorite jam (to be vegan, it cannot contain gelatin!)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a stand mixer (or in my case, using my trusty hand-held mixer), cream butter and sugar, then add the vanilla.   I use Earth Balance buttery sticks.  It behaves just like butter and is a perfect substitute.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar and mix until dough comes together.  I use Red Mill Gluten-Free flour.  It is slightly nutty, but I think it goes perfectly with this recipe.  There are plenty of Gluten-Free flours out there so just use your favorite.

 

As soon as the dough comes together, dump out onto a floured board and roll into a flat disk.  Do not over mix-the dough will be too tough!  Wrap your disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  You can make this a day ahead of time and just bake the cookies the following day.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Use your thumb (these are thumbprint cookies after all!!) to make thumbprints in each cookie.  Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each thumbprint and bake for 20-25 minutes.

These cookies can be frozen for another time once they have completely cooled.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as my friends and family did over the last holiday season.  As you can see, there is no need to be intimidated by baking for friends who do not eat the same things that you do!  A few easy substitutions and you are well on your way!  ENJOY!