Recipes Worth Repeating

Banana Bread

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Bananas go brown too soon? I got you, boo.

INGREDIENTS

1 stick butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

3 tsp vanilla extract

3 medium bananas

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1 tsp molasses

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Small sprinkle of nutmeg and cardamom

Tiny splash of whiskey (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend together sugar and softened butter in the mixer, and mix longer than you think! Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Mash the bananas in with a potato masher. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Put parchment paper in a loaf pan, let it hang over the sides so it can lift the bread out when done baking. Sprinkle the top with demarera sugar or plain white sugar. Bake for 55 minutes and double check it’s done using the ol’ toothpick trick.

Serve with butter (or if you’re feeling fancy, make salted maple butter by mixing together a stick of butter and a few tablespoons of maple syrup with a sprinkle of salt). OR, you can try this with cream cheese! The banana bread is best when slightly warmed.

Pumpkin Bread

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  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
  • 15oz can of Libby’s Pumpkin Purée
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 2 large eggs

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325°. Coat a 9×5″ loaf pan with canola oil. Line the pan with parchment, leaving a generous overhang in order to be able to lift out the bread easily.
  2. Stir together all the dry ingredients.
  3. Mix together the eggs, pumpkin purée, oils and grated ginger. Then combine the wet and dry ingredients together in one bowl.
  4. Transfer batter to the pan and then sprinkle the top with sugar.
  5. Bake bread for 80–90 minutes.

This recipe is inspired by (but not exactly like) the one demonstrated by Molly Baz, which you can find here.

Fair warning: this recipe will ruin Starbucks’ pumpkin loaf for you forever. There’s no going back when you realize how cheap and easy it is to make at home- and tastier too!

Cream Cheese Frosting

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In honor of turning 34, I’m sharing my favorite frosting recipe. It’s excellent on cinnamon rolls, carrot cake, red velvet cupcakes, sliced fruit, hummingbird cake… or right off the spoon.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese, never fat free (you might as well eat salad)
  • 1 stick Salted Butter
  • 1/3 cup Greek Yogurt
  • Splash of Vanilla Extract (and/or Rum)
  • 1 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
  • Sprinkle of Cardamom
  • Use a mixer on high speed to combine the wet ingredients above and beat well, then add the powdered sugar last and beat again- just when you think you’re done, beat it for another 2 minutes, then chill well.

Pop Quiz— Do you know the difference between frosting and icing? Frosting is thick and spreadable and made with a fatty base, often butter. Icing is thinner and usually made of powdered sugar mixed with a liquid such as water or milk.