Pumpkin Banana Bread with Cinnamon Swirl

I was looking at the bananas on my counter and wanting to do something with them, but it's fall and time for pumpkin. So I googled recipes with both bananas and pumpkin and found this recipe from the Kitchen Snob. Her made only one loaf and I wanted two, so I doubled hers. She also glazed her bread, but I didn't want a glaze on mine, so I did alter it a bit. It has a lot of cinnamon

Here is in doubled form!

Pumpkin Banana Bread with Cinnamon Swirl

3 ½ cup flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
¾ teaspoon allspice 
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
2 pinches of cardamom
4 eggs, room temperature
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canola oil 
⅔ cup water
2 very ripe banana, peeled and mashed

Cinnamon Swirl

½ cup granulated sugar 
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350° and grease 2 9x5 loaf pans.
In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt.
Add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cardamom to flour mixture and whisk together until blended. Set aside.
In small bowl, mix cinnamon swirl mixture and set aside.
In large bowl, beat together eggs, pumpkin, and banana.
Add both sugars and beat until blended.
Add vanilla, oil, and water and mix together.
Slowly add flour mixture and beat with electric beater until smooth.
Pour half of bread batter into the pan. Sprinkle cinnamon swirl mix over bread mixture. Try to get an even coating over the batter.
Pour remaining batter into the loaf pan, completely covering cinnamon swirl mixture.
Bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Banana Bread

I have tried about 8 different banana bread recipes. Ones that have coconut, macadamia nuts, barley flour, rice flour, oil, and shortening. This was the second recipe I tried, and it is the one I always go back too.  I love it as it is here or with chocolate chips thrown in or pecans.  You know I love pecans!

Banana Bread

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3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Here are some pictures are of my friend's from when he made the bread in Kazakhstan! I've never seen round banana bread before but why not!

Old-Fashioned Date-Nut Bread

One of my students brought me a mess of dates, and I didn't know what to do with it. I'm not such a big date eater, but I am a big bread eater. I researched date breads and found this one. I love it!! I especially love it with camembert cheese spread on it. The contrast between the bread and cheese is divine!! It's from Family Fun Magazine.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into half-inch pieces

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped, pitted dates

1 cup boiling water

1 large egg

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

9”-x-5” loaf pan, greased and floured

Place the butter, baking soda, and dates in a medium-size bowl. Pour the boiling water over them and let the mixture stand for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Heat the oven to 350º.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk to blend, then stir in the date mixture (after it has stood for the full 30 minutes).

In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and walnuts. Make a well in the dry mixture and add the date mixture. Stir the combined ingredients with a wooden spoon until evenly blended; do not beat.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spoon. Bake on the center oven rack until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and put it on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes, then remove the loaf from the pan and place it on the rack to finish cooling. Makes 10 servings.

Cherry-Pecan Bread

This is a bread of the fruit cake variety. It's a quick bread and only has cherries and pecans in it. I wanted to try something different, and this bread is it! My husband feels it's a little dry, but I love the crust! It feels full of caramelized sugar. I think it could have more cherries, but I haven't experimented with that just yet. I'm not sure where I found this recipe anymore, but I found many online that are very similar.

1 4-ounce bottle maraschino cherries (juice reserved)

1 egg, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 cup each orange juice and water

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped pecans

1 medium (8"-x-4") loaf pan, greased or Teflon

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Pour off the cherry juice and reserve. There should be 1/4 cup. With a sharp knife, quarter the cherries.

In a mixing or mixer bowl beat the egg, add the cherries, and stir in the sugar and melted butter with a large wooden spoon or spatula. Pour in the cherry and orange juices and water.

On a length of wax paper, sift or stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add these to the liquid, a spoonful at a time, and blend together thoroughly. Add the chopped nuts, and stir in.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Push into the corners and level with a spoon or spatula.

Bake until the crust is well browned (and perhaps cracked open) about an hour. When a wooden toothpick inserted in the loaf comes out clean and dry, the loaf is done.

Remove the bread from the oven. Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

This loaf is better seasoned for a day or so before slicing. Wrap with foil or plastic wrap.

Pain Rapide au Chocolat (Quick Chocolate Bread)

 I love chocolate bread. Love it!! So when I found this recipe in Bernard Clayton's bread book, I had to try it!

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup (I stick) butter

4 eggs

2/3 cup honey

2 cups fresh or instant mashed potatoes

1/2 cup brandy, rum, or orange juice

2 teaspoons each vanilla extract and grated orange zest

21/4 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 large (9"-x-5") or 2 small (7"-x-3") loaf pans, greased orTeflon, lined down one side and up the other with greased wax or parchment paper

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a double boiler melt the chocolate and butter. Set aside for the moment.

In a medium bowl beat the eggs until they are thick and light­colored. Fold in the honey, mashed potatoes, brandy, rum, or orange juice, vanilla extract, and orange zest. Stir in the chocolate-butter mixture.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Stir 2 cups into the chocolate mixture. The mixture should be a heavy batter. If thin, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour. Stir gently just until moistened.

Pour or spoon the batter into the prepared panes). Push the batter into the corners and smooth the loaves with a rubber spatula.

Place the loaves on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 1 hour. Test the loaves for doneness with a toothpick, metal skewer, or cake testing pin. If the probe comes out clean and dry, the loaves are done.

Place the pans on a metal rack to cool for 10 minutes before turning the pans on their sides and tugging on the paper to pull the loaves out.

Stuffed Buns

These Asian-inspired but highly-westernized buns were something my college roommate made me a million years ago, and they are still simply delicious. They are as labor-intensive as their Chinese counterpart (包子 baozi). If you do make these delicious buns and then watch episode of the TV show Firefly where Saffron (or as we like to call her in my house, Yo-Saf-Brig) makes Mal a single bao, you're like to get really irritated at the unlikeliness of such an act! Anyway, I don't where my roommate got this recipe but it is definitely worth the work especially if you love mushrooms!! 

Dough

1 pkg yeast

1 cup warm water

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

2 3/4 cups flour

Filling

1/4 lb mushrooms

1 onion

1 clove garlic

1 tsp ginger

1/2 cup cashews

1 can bamboo shoots

2 scallions

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp  dry sherry

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp flour

BUNS:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water; blend in sugar, oil, and salt.  Let stand until bubbly (about 15 minutes).  Add flour and mix until dough holds together.  Place dough on a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 to 10 minutes).  Turn dough over in a greased bowl; cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 1 hour).

FILLING:

Chop the mushrooms, onion, cashews, bamboo shoots, and scallions.  Mince the galric and ginger. In a bowl combine the soy sauce, sherry, sugar, water, and flour.  Heat the oil in a wok over high heat.  Add the mushrooms, onion, garlic, and ginger and stir-fry for 3 minutes.  Add bamboo shoots, cashews, and green onions and cook for 2 minutes.  Pour in soy mixture and cook, stirring, until sauce bubbles and thickens.  Stir in 1-teaspoon sesame oil.  Remove pan from heat; cool and set aside.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 1 minute.  Cut dough into 12 equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a round about 4½ inches in diameter.  Press outside edge of round to make it slightly thinner than the rest of the dough.  Place about 2 tablespoons filling in center of each round.  Pull edges of dough up around filling and twist to seal.

Place buns about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until puffy and light (about 30 minutes).  Melt butter; brush over tops.  Bake in a 350° oven until bottoms of buns turn golden brown (about 15 minutes).