Banana Bread with Oats and Coconut

In case you haven’t heard and/or did not see the greeting cards in your local store, today is National Banana Bread Day.

Well, that may be a big deal for some, but, as anyone who reads this blog knows, I bake banana bread more frequently than anything else and I have so many recipes that I’ve lost count of them, because I make a new version almost every time. 

I always buy too many bananas and then they get soft and no one wants to eat them so I make banana bread because I can’t bear to throw food away.

And the ironic thing about all this is that I am allergic to bananas, so I can’t eat them OR the bread. I love that fragrance though. Everyone else gets to enjoy the rest.

The version here includes coconut, coconut oil and quick oats, so it’s sweet, even though I’ve cut down on the sugar somewhat. And the oats help make it really tender.

Happy National Banana Bread Day.

Banana Bread with Oats and Coconut

2 cups flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup grated coconut

2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread (or shortening)

1-1/3 cups sugar

4 large very ripe bananas, mashed

4 large eggs, slightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, oats, coconut, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the coconut oil, Earth Balance and sugar at medium speed until well blended, about one minute. Add the bananas and blend them in thoroughly. Add the eggs and beat the ingredients well. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 16-18

Banana Bread with Ginger and Cranberries

I wish some publisher would contact me about doing a Banana Bread Cookbook. Because I have enough good recipes to fill a book.

Well, banana breads and also cakes, muffins and so on.

I don’t actually eat any of this stuff because I am allergic to bananas, but I always buy bananas because I like how they smell and also because my husband says he is going to eat them but then never does. Or he eats one and I’m left with 4 or 5 more.

I do have tasters though. They tell me whether the recipe is good. And I give whatever banana baked thing I’ve made away to cancer patients and their caregivers at Stamford Hospital at our every-two-week Tea sponsored by the local Hadassah group. I’ve been getting great reviews from everyone.

The one I sent this week is a dairy-free version, made with Earth Balance Buttery Spread and Oat milk (you could substitute coconut milk and, if there’s no nut allergy, almond milk).

I made this cake two ways, once plain and once with dried cranberries and chopped crystallized ginger. Everyone preferred the second one. Here’s the recipe:

Banana Bread with Ginger and Cranberries

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup Earth Balance buttery spread

1/4 cup coconut oil

1-1/2 cups sugar

4 medium very ripe bananas, mashed

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup oat milk

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-cup bundt pan. Mix the flour, salt, ginger and baking soda together in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the buttery spread, coconut oil and sugar until well blended. Add the bananas and blend in thoroughly. Add the eggs and beat well. Stir in the oat milk and blend thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and beat until the batter is well blended. Fold in the cranberries and crystallized ginger. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about one hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one bread, serving 16-18

Squash Bread with Kefir

When my kids were little we had lots of books in the house. There were favorites of course, like “Come Over to My House” by Theo LeSieg (aka Dr. Seuss). We’ve kept some of them (that particular one has been read so many times that it is falling apart).

But there was one book, whose title I can’t recall (and I can’t find the book) that ended with a recipe for pumpkin bread.

If anyone knows the title/author — I would surely appreciate if you could tell me.

Anyway, at the time I’d never heard of pumpkin bread, which became increasingly popular as the years rolled by. But the idea of such a thing intrigued me, if only because I was familiar with other quick breads like cranberry-orange and banana.

So I tried the recipe and liked the result.

But it was only a beginning. Over the years I’ve made dozens of versions of pumpkin bread.

Including this one, using kefir because I happen to have some in the house. 

You can substitute buttermilk of course, or yogurt. And use more vegetable oil if you don’t like or have coconut oil. Also, use any kind of winter squash, pumpkin or otherwise.

Squash Bread with Kefir

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted, or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 cup mashed cooked squash

3/4 cup raisins

1/3 cup kefir (or buttermilk)

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a bowl and set it aside. Beat the brown sugar, coconut oil and vegetable oil with a handheld or electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the squash and raisins and beat the mixture to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Add the flour mixture, stirring only enough to blend in the dry ingredients. Add the kefir and vanilla extract and stir them in. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for one hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan 15 minutes, then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one loaf. 

Banana Bread with Coconut Oil and Coconut Milk

I used to think that I made banana bread because I always bought too many bananas and then had to do something with the leftover fruit that got too soft and brown to eat as is.

But I finally realized I buy too many bananas because I want to make banana bread.

The folks at the CIA — the Central Intelligence Agency, I mean, not the Culinary Institute of America — should learn to bake this because the aroma in the room with one of these in the oven is the kind of hypnotic thing that could pry information from prisoners.

Banana Bread with Coconut Oil and Coconut Milk

2-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup coconut oil
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup coconut milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch (8-cup) bundt pan. Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda together in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the shortening, coconut oil and sugar until well blended. Add the bananas and blend in thoroughly. Add the eggs and coconut milk and beat well. Add the flour mixture and beat until batter is well blended. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one bread, serving 16-18

Eggless Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread

Eggless Lemon Blueberry Bread

Even the most experienced home cooks make mistakes.

Like the one I made yesterday. I decided to bake a Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread and as soon as I put the pan in the oven I realized I had left the eggs out of the batter.

Wow! That’s a biggie.

I did that once before, many years ago and made the big mistake of retrieving the loaf pan, scooping the batter back into a bowl, mixing in the eggs and then baking the bread as if nothing had happened.

Unfortunately, after the bread baked and cooled down, biting into a slice was like chewing day-old used bubble gum.

This time I just let the bread bake with a “let’s see what happens” kind of attitude.

The results were astonishingly surprising. What a boon for people who can’t eat eggs! This Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread is delicious. Firmer, denser than one made with eggs, but tasty and tender without them.

So, here’s the recipe, including the eggs, but for egg-free diets — just leave the eggs out.

Lemon-Blueberry Tea Bread

• 4 tablespoons butter

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 large eggs (optional)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

• 1 cup milk

• 1 cup blueberries

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

• 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and 3/4 cup sugar at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until well combined. (Add the eggs and beat them in). Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk. Beat to blend the ingredients to a smooth, even batter. Fold in the berries. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. While the bread is baking, combine the lemon juice and 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. When the bread comes out of the oven, pour the lemon juice mixture on top. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread

Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread

I always get into a rut for breakfast. When I was a kid I would eat Cheerios every morning until I got sick of them and switched bagel with American cheese until I got sick of that. It’s been yogurt for several weeks now — I go in and out of my yogurt phases. I love Chobani plain 0% yogurt which I mix with exactly 4 cut up dried apricot halves. But I need a break. I feel an oatmealy period coming on. But I am not in the mood for oatmeal in a dish because I hear this little satanic voice calling for me to have sugar and half and half cream on top (oh YUMMMMMM).

But I won’t because that’s just too indulgent for January, when I need to shed the 3 pounds gained over the holiday season.

I’m going to have some oatmeal bread. Just a slice (with a little butter or cream cheese) and a pear, for breakfast.

That’s healthy isn’t it?

Anyway, it is really delicious. Here’s the recipe:

Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons honey or molasses

• 1 large egg

• 1 cup plain yogurt (or use buttermilk)

• 3/4 cup quick cooking oats

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-1/2-inch x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside. Mix the brown sugar and honey together. Stir in the melted butter and egg, blending them in thoroughly. Stir in the flour mixture and blend in thoroughly. Stir in the yogurt, alternating with the oats until all has been incorporated. Stir in the nuts or raisins. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the bread on a cake rack to cool completely. Or serve warm.

Makes one loaf

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

My camera must have been knocked unconscious yesterday. I dropped it taking a photo of pumpkin bread. I couldn’t see anything in the frame and the camera wouldn’t turn off.

I started to research new cameras. Several hours later though I looked again and the light was off, I pressed the button and — a miracle — the thing was working again. So here’s what the pumpkin bread looks like. It is so fabulously moist and nicely spicy. Great with coffee or tea as a snack or even for breakfast. Give it a try. I’ve reprinted the recipe.

If you don’t have yogurt use buttermilk or milk plus a tablespoon of lemon juice. You can add raisins or dried cranberries and/or chopped nuts if you like (half cup of each).

Pumpkin Bread

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• finely grated rind of one orange (about 1-1/2 teaspoons orange part only)

• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup orange marmalade

• 2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x5” loaf pan. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand mixer or sturdy whisk) combine the sugar, brown sugar, orange rind and pumpkin puree and beat at medium speed for about 1/2 minute to combine ingredients thoroughly. Add the yogurt, vegetable oil, marmalade and eggs and beat at medium speed for about 1/2 minute or until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and blend them in thoroughly, beating until smooth, about 1/2 minute. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Slice with a serrated knife.

Makes one loaf

Pumpkin Yogurt Bread with Orange and Spices

I spent the entire day inside, writing in between baking pumpkin breads. I tried several different recipes basing each one on an original recipe for applesauce spice bread. Changed stuff here and there. Had no applesauce so used pumpkin. Had no buttermilk so used yogurt. Tried different spices and seasoning combinations until I got it right.

I love pumpkin bread. It’s moist, spicy and makes my tongue tingle. Great with coffee or mint tea. Or milk I guess. Here’s the version I liked best. I wanted to take a photo but my camera fell and it broke. Now I can’t turn it off. Or on. Anyway, the bread is a soft amber color and looks lovely.

Pumpkin Yogurt Bread with Orange and Spices

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• finely grated rind of one orange (about 1-1/2 teaspoons orange part only)

• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup orange marmalade

• 2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x5” loaf pan. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand mixer or sturdy whisk) combine the sugar, brown sugar, orange rind and pumpkin puree and beat at medium speed for about 1/2 minute to combine ingredients thoroughly. Add the yogurt, vegetable oil, marmalade and eggs and beat at medium speed for about 1/2 minute or until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and blend them in thoroughly, beating until smooth, about 1/2 minute. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Slice with a serrated knife.

Makes one loaf