banana bread

I used to make banana bread all the time. My favorite coffeeshop would give me all of their old or unusable bananas to make into banana bread. At one point, I actually had about 30 bananas in my freezer. I was a little overwhelmed. They all eventually found their way into banana bread which found it's way in the the stomachs of many happy people.

However, one of the foods that my roommate is allergic to is bananas. . .sad day in happy town. I had just enough bananas left in my freezer to make one more batch, so I decided to make it up and send it with the muffins to my friend who was entertaining house guests last weekend. And here's the thing about my banana bread. I almost never make it the same way twice. Yes, I have a recipe that I gauge off of, but every time I make it I decide I want to try something a little different. And honestly, I don't even really remember what all I put in this batch as I didn't really write it down as I was making it, but I will try my best to remember.

Banana Bread
1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 coconut sugar and 1/2 dark brown sugar)
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
3 Tbsp. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour (I used a combination of almond flour, whole wheat and unbleached all purpose)
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. (approx) cinnamon
dash nutmeg (or some fresh ground)
2/3 cup sour milk
(I didn't have any milk on hand, so I used almond milk with a bit of vinegar in it)
3 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix together shortening and sugars.

And this is where I stopped taking pictures. Add in the egg, applesauce and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients. Then alternately add the milk, bananas, and dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. I add a banana, 1/3 of the milk, 1/3 of the flour mixture, and repeat until it's all in. Mix well. Then stir in the chopped pecans. Pour batter into two greased regular loaf pans. Bake at 325* for 40 to 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. My oven takes about 40 to 45 minutes.

i'm part british

Yes, it's true. I am part British. I have known this for a long time in my person, but it was recently confirmed by a family member doing some research on our ancestry. How did I know that I'm part British? Well, I love all things British. Including shortbread. Yep, buttery, delicious goodness. Shortbread is simple and with only a few ingredients it is easy to make and easy to make so that my roomie can have it too. I have been craving shortbread for a while, so I decided to give it a try. I adapted my recipe from here.

Shortbread
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup oat four
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg
1/3 cup toasted sliced almonds

Combine the flours in a bowl and set aside.


In a separate bowl cream together the butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut sugar, vanilla, and salt.


At this point, I placed my sliced almonds in a 350* oven to toast for about 8 minutes, stirring at the 5 minute mark.


Then once the almonds have cooled a bit, stir them into the creamed butter mixture. Then add the flour and stir just until it is all combined. You don't want to over mix this or the shortbread will become tough not light and flaky like it's supposed to be.


Once it is all mixed up, wrap it in waxed paper and place in the fridge for an hour or so (or you can put it in the freezer if you are impatient like me). When you take it out, roll it out until it's about 1/4 inch thick and cut out cookies using a cookie cutter.


Bake at 350* for about 12 minutes, turning the pans at the 8 minute mark. I had mine in for about 13 minutes and they almost burnt, so be careful!!




And there you have it. . .the perfect snack to have with your afternoon tea. Lovely!! Now if I were just back in London. . .