Banana Coconut Muffins

I was in the mood for some new muffins...I had some ripe bananas to use but didn't feel like making banana bread.  Enter good ole Pinterest, a search for "banana" and in front of my eyes all sorts of inspiration!  I picked this recipe from ZagLeft because it had a short list of ingredients, and had coconut :-)  Here is the recipe:

Banana Coconut Muffins

3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350F.  Prepare muffin tin (I lined with paper liners).

In a large bowl mash the bananas, add in the melted butter, egg and vanilla, mix well. 

In a separate bowl. combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, combine just to mix.  Fold in the coconut.  Spoon into the prepared muffin cups.  Bake 22-25 minutes.  Remove from oven, cool and serve.  Enjoy!

VERDICT:
I wasn't overly thrilled with these, however, the kids loved them. Inhaled them, actually.  For me, there was something missing...maybe some walnuts.  Yes, I'll have to give them another try with walnuts, because really, I have never met a muffin that I didn't like!

Blueberry Banana Bread

It was my turn for "Pit Stop" at work recently.  Pit Stop is a little bit of team building that we do each week.  Our team is so busy and always on the go here, there and everywhere else that we bond over food once a week.  On payday Fridays our Culinary Arts students provide a campus wide "Pit Stop" for any staff to attend (and our team always goes together) and on non-payday weeks, we take turns providing "Pit Stop" for our team.  The "rules" for "Pit Stop" are simple - there are none!  We can buy our treats, make our treats - and there are no rules on what the treats are to be (sometimes it is ice cream, we used to get amazing cupcake...KSL...) - anyways, it was recently my turn, and I had been craving banana bread, but of course, wanted to add a little twist.  I dud use my standard banana bread recipe, and amended it slightly.  Here is the recipe:

Blueberry Banana Bread (Adapted from Company's Coming, Muffins and More)

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup bananas, mashed (approx 3)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare loaf pan for baking.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Beat until smooth.  Mix in the bananas and vanilla.

In a second bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients, stir just to combine.  Add in the blueberries, stirring slightly.

Pour the mixture into the loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes, then turn onto a rack to cool.

VERDICT:
Everyone at the office seemed to enjoy the bread :-)  That's good!  My family sure did too...just like most banana breads, it didn't last long in our house!

Banana Coconut Bread

Usually we go through bananas like crazy, but in the last few weeks the banana consumption seems to have slowed in our house.  As a result, I was presented with 3 very ripe bananas the other day...which of course is the perfect number of ripe bananas to make banana bread!

I pulled out my trusty "Company's Coming Muffins and More" cookbook and went to my stand-by banana bread recipe.  But then I saw one for Banana Coconut Bread, and thought maybe I'd try that one.  Ran the idea by my hubby who agreed, and so, Banana Coconut Bread it was! Here is the recipe I used:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 bananas, mashed

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup coconut, medium
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Note - The recipe also called for 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, cut up.  I had neither on hand at home, so I left them out of the recipe this time. 

Preheat oven to 350F.  Prepare a loaf pan (grease/butter)

Beat eggs until light and frothy.  Add in the sugar and the melted butter.  Mix well.  Add in the banana and mix well.

In a second bowl combine the flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients, stir until mixed.  Pour/spoon into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan, cool and wrap.

VERDICT:
This was a nice change to the everyday banana bread.  A hit with my boys :-)

Recipe Recap #7

Welcome back to Recipe Recap!  This week I am looking back at the week of March 10-16, 2011.  That week was an exciting week for me - my very first recipe featured on another blog!  I remember my excitement so well :-)

Here are the week's recipes:

Savoury Fish
This is a go-to staple dinner in our house.  We love the flavours, and it is quick and easy to make.

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Bread
Sounds like a mouthful to say, but it sure was delicious to eat!

Recipe Recap will return next Tuesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Bread

Banana bread is a hot commodity in our house.  We all love it, we all fight over that first slice (the chef gets the first slice)...and one of the submissions to this week`s Scrumptious Sunday left me inspired to try something new with our banana bread.  Thanks Like Mother, Like Daughter for inspiring me to try something new!  I probably would have tried their banana blueberry bread if blueberries were in season (I will try the recipe later this year!), but instead I went to my trusty piles of recipes to see what I could find.  I found one that is full of all sorts of goodness - bananas (of course!), coconut, chocolate, and then I added in some extra goodness, peanut butter chips and walnuts.  Here is my recipe:

Topping:
1/2 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour

Combine all the topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Bread:
1/3 cup oil (vegetable, coconut, etc)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 ripe, mashed bananas
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup walnuts
3/4 cup mixed white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and chocolate chips (use whatever ratio you wish -  I used mostly white chocolate and peanut butter chips)

Preheat oven to 325F.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Add in bananas and stir until well mixed.  Add flour mixture.  Add 1/2 cup of the white chocolate/peanut butter/chocolate chips.  Pour intogreased bread pan (8" x 4"). Top with remaining 1/4 cup of chips and cover with coconut topping.

Bake in centre of oven for about 70 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan, on a rack.  Enjoy!

VERDICT:
Everyone enjoyed this bread, it was a nice change to our usual, everyday banana bread.  Though my husband said there could be less chocolate (my chip ratio was about 1/2 peanut butter chips, 1/4 white/chocolate chips)...but then again, he claims to not like chocolate ;-)  My oldest son said that he didn't like the walnuts.  But they both keep eating the bread, so I'm taking that sign as one that they do like it!  I found the coconut topping too messy for my preference, and will probably reduce the coconut to 1/4 cup for the topping and would consider mixing some coconut into the bread to see how that tastes!  Next time!

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