No Fail Banana Bread

I was having one of my lazy weekend days when I decided I wanted to bake some banana bread, but also not have to go to the grocery store. I was out of butter and milk, so I started looking for options that didn't require any of these. I came across this recipe and was very skeptical. All the reviews said the banana bread was great and I eventually decided I would give it a try and see how it turned out. This is such an easy bread to make and it has turned out wonderfully each time I've made it. I brought a loaf to work and it was gone by the afternoon. I made 3 of these loves in a month and each has turned out delicious. Don't be scared off by the slightly odd ingredient list. This banana bread freezes really well too. I could hardly tell the difference between the loaf I thawed from the freezer and the fresh loaf.

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Coconut Banana Muffins

I have been on a baking kick lately and my friends are probably tired of my coming over with a bunch of baking experiments. I decided to make these muffins on a whim since I had all of the ingredients at home and wanted to try something other than my classic banana go to: Leonie's banana bread. Leonie's banana bread will probably always be one of my favorite classic banana bread/muffin recipes out there, but I wanted to try something a little new. I had a bunch of coconut flakes leftover from when I last made energy bites, so this was the perfect recipe to make a dent in that. There muffin taste great and look adorable with the shredded coconut on top. Wrap in an airtight container and snack on these for a few days in a row.

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Oat Banana Bread

I recently had a case of too many ripe bananas in my house. though I usually freeze them for smoothies, I decided to use a few of the and make a healthier-ish banana bread. This recipe made a great loaf cake that is not very sweet, but goes wonderfully with a cup of tea or coffee in the morning. It's a great snacking cake (I unintentionally finished off about a third of the cake in one sitting, then decided I needed to share it as soon as possible). The ingredients are ones that I have at home, so this was a great recipe for me. But I also keep things like ground flax seeds around for sprinkling on yogurt or oatmeal, or making peanut butter chocolate chip energy bites. As with most banana breads, you really can't ruin this recipe.

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Dairy Free Banana Bread

I am a huge fan of banana bread. It's one of those easy to bake, hard to destroy breads that turns out great every time. I am pretty plain when it comes to banana bread. I'd rather have the batter be simple, without any nuts or chocolate chips. But if you love those additions, feel free to add them. This is another recipe which my sister discovered. It's a great baking option for people who don't consume dairy since the moisture comes from the oil instead of butter and/or milk. This bread also lasts for days in an airtight container- but don't expect it to stick around for that long.

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Easy Gluten-Free Banana Pancakes

I don't know if I'd call these banana pancakes or banana crepes, but either way this make a delicious and very easy breakfast. The pancakes are a little difficult to flip since they're much more delicate than a pancake made with flour. The smaller you make these, the easier this will be. I accidentally overcooked mine, hence the slightly too brown picture, but they still tasted great. I topped mine with honey but they are just as good plain or with maple syrup. In the version picture I did not use baking powder. This recipe makes breakfast for one person.

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Sour Cream Banana Pancakes

I realize I just put up a post involving bananas, but these pancakes would make an amazing Mother's Day breakfast treat. The first time I tried this recipe I was probably 19 and had just recently discovered Ina Garten. I made these for a family breakfast and they were a hit with everyone. Although I usually just grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast, banana pancakes are one of my favorite hot breakfast foods. They're fluffy and the flavor from the lemon zest is amazing. But, if you're not a fan of lemon zest, you can leave it out and still enjoy these pancakes.

I almost always top these with maple syrup. On the rare occasion that I am out of maple syrup, I'll just eat these plain or add a little bit of butter on top. They really taste amazing either way. If I know I don't have any real topping for the pancakes at home, I usually slice some extra bananas into my pancakes. If you don't like bananas, feel free to add whatever fruit or berries you like to the batter. Or just make them plain.

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Banana Nut Muffins

When I feel like baking, but don't really know what to make, I like to check out Joy of Baking for inspiration. Most of the recipes I've tried from that website have been great and are fairly easy to execute. I wanted to make a banana something or other, that's all I knew. I had some bananas sitting the the fruit bowl and figured they were spotted enough to bake with (usually, the browner your bananas, the better they are for baking, until they are actually just rotten). After I read the recipe for these muffins I realized I had everything at home to make them and got started.

This is one of those easy recipes you can make without any fancy kitchen gadgets. What I love about these muffins is the subtle hint of cinnamon you taste with every bite. Be sure to toast the walnuts before baking, it brings out a richer flavor than just throwing raw nuts into the batter. Make sure the bananas are spotted and on their way to looking really unappealing. If you use a bright yellow banana these muffins will not be as sweet and they're more difficult to mash. In other words, don't make these if you don't have slightly overripe bananas.

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Granny Cake

If you asked me a week ago to bake you a granny cake, I would have had no idea what you were talking about. Was it a cake your grandma used to bake a lot? Maybe it was an old school recipe that dates back to your grandma's childhood? Turns out it is a spiced banana and pineapple cake, which tastes better than it sounds. I stumbled upon this recipe accidentally while searching for different ways to use up ripe bananas. I found so many recipes online that sounded great, but many were based on packaged cake mixes, which I'm not a fan of using if I'm going for the homemade angle. And as much as I love my aunt's recipe for banana bread (and yes, that one will always be my favorite), I wanted to try something different. At first this cake sounded like a hodgepodge of random ingredients, but I decided to try it out anyway. I was curious to see how cloves and pineapple would mix together in a cake, unsure if I would even like it.

Before I could try this cake, I was tortured by the delicious smells coming from the oven, and then again while waiting for it to cool. The original recipe makes a massive cake. I cut it in half and thought it was more than enough for one cake since I was only going to be feeding 3 people with it. What I loved about this cake was how moist it was, and it stayed moist siting out on the counter wrapped in plastic for 3 days. I'm sure this would be an easy recipe to make ahead of time since it is just as good on day two as it is the first. Though it will be hard to ever get me to love a banana bread/cake recipe more than my aunt's, this cake was a nice, flavorful change from the usual.

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Leonie's Banana Bread

During one of my high school spring breaks, my mom and I went to New Zealand to visit some family. While we were there, my aunt Leonie made this amazing banana bread, along with lots of other delicious things. To this day, it is still my favorite banana bread recipe. I've tried many different banana bread variations, but nothing comes close. I don't know where she found this recipe, but I simplified the original one and love the final result.

This banana bread is moist and won't dry out overnight. I've had this three days after baking it and it was still delicious. Every time I've made this banana bread, people have asked for the recipe. My first summer in Switzerland, this banana bread was such a hit that the recipe got passed around to lots of different people. It's easy to make and even when I haven't had proper measuring devices (I don't think a nalgene water bottle qualifies as a fancy kitchen gadget) it has turned out really well. You can also play with the flavors in this banana bread and add some honey, walnuts, or chocolate chips.

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Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Happy 4th of July weekend. We've had beautiful, hot, sunny weather in Denver, which also means perfect conditions for nighttime fireworks (last year I watched fireworks in the rain). With this heat comes the never ending need to cool down. After neglecting the ice cream maker for a while, I decided to put my free time to use and make some roasted banana ice cream. As is often the case with my cooking and baking, this ice cream flavor was chosen because there were some spotted bananas in the fruit bowl, but nobody felt like having banana bread.

I recently read about making homemade banana ice cream by just freezing chunks of banana, and then throwing them in a food processor when you want to have ice cream. Sounds good, but I like my ice cream to be a little sweeter and more flavorful than that. This David Lebovitz recipe was the perfect solution to the banana problem. Even when frozen for a while, this ice cream remains creamy, thanks to the bananas.

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