Apple Cinnamon Dog Treats

Today we were all out of dog treats...again. So instead of getting in the car, driving to the store and paying for dog cookies, I decided I would experiment with making a new recipe. And in about the same amount of time it would have taken me to pay for buying dog treats, I had them warm and fresh from the oven.

Apple Cinnamon Dog Treats
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 30 minutes
oven temp: 350 and 200 degrees
yield: 30 multi-size cookies

1/4 cup natural apple sauce
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup corn meal
1 cup all purpose flour

In a bowl mix apple sauce, cinnamon, peanut butter and butter together. I use the natural apple sauce for my pup because he doesn't need the added sugar that are usually in the original flavor. I also use regular peanut butter, but you can use chunky (if you know that your dog digests nuts well.)

Mix in the baking soda, flax seeds and corn meal. Slowly add in the flour. I usually add 1/4 cup at a time, to make sure the cookies get to the correct consistency. I also used another 1/8 cup of flour to flour the board and rolling pin for cutting out the dog cookies. You don't have to cut these out, but they make the cookies so much fun. Just remember to flatten down if you scoop the cookies, because of how they bake.

Roll out the dough and cut using fun cookie cutters. I used doberman, paw print, heart, moon, and shark cookie cutters. You can place these fairly close on the baking sheet, they hardly grow at all. Place them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, turning them over once. Bring the oven temperature down to 200 degrees, and bake for another 20 minutes. This step is meant to dehydrate the cookies to make them last longer.

 
Cool and enjoy with your pup. :) Troy loved them!

Vegan Coffee Rolls

I've been on an eggless/vegan kick recently. Honestly the idea of eggs is freaking me out slightly. I never really enjoyed making or eating eggs, but now I'm more inclined to bake without them than with them if I can.

We have a family recipe for Coffee Rolls, that is similar to this recipe. However I wanted to work with a separate recipe than my families, because I wanted these rolls to not be a vegan version of something great, I wanted this recipe to be great on its own.

Vegan Coffee Rolls
prep time:  3 1/2 hours
cook time: 15 minutes
oven temp: 400 degrees
yeilds: 35 coffee rolls

1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup soy milk (I used light soy because that is what I had.)
3 cups flour plus 1/4 cup flour for kneading
1/4 cup earth promise vegan butter
3 Tbsp sugar**
1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
3 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 Tbsp earth promise vegan butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

 It does say that this recipe will take 3 1/2 hours from start to finish, and yes that is true but a lot of it is resting and rising time. This recipe is not as intense as it seems from first look. So I'd definitely recommend trying it.

Dissolve the entire package of dry yeast in warm water, then add the soy milk and stir. Add 1 cup of flour to the yeast and soy milk mixture-you are making a yeast sponge. Let sit for 30 minutes.

Cream the vegan butter, and sugar. Microwave the flax seeds with the 3 Tbsp water for 30 seconds until it forms a gummy texture. Add the flax seeds to the creamed butter and sugar, stir in the salt. 

Once the yeast sponge has sat for 30 minutes mix in the vegan butter, sugar and flax seed mixture. Add 2 additional cups of flour to make the dough soft. Turn out onto your kneading surface. I needed an extra 1/4 cup of flour to get my dough to the correct consistency, but just work your dough slowly until it is soft and no longer sticky.

Place the dough into a greased bowl, and put in a warmed oven, let the dough rise for about an hour. The oven should not be on. You can warm the oven prior to placing the bowl in by having the oven on 100 degrees for about 5 minutes. The dough should about double in size.

While the dough is rising you want to make the filling. Fork the 1/2 Tbsp vegan butter, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. It will end up being the consistency of sand.

Punch the dough down, and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out the dough into a rectangle, should be about 12 inches by 18 inches. Spread the cinnamon mixture over the entire surface. Roll the dough tightly. Cut into about inch width pieces and place into a greased muffin pan. Let the rolls rise in the muffin tin for another hour.  

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Let sit in the muffin tins for a few minutes then turn out onto cooling racks, and let cool.

**Please note that if you are making this recipe for someone who is vegan you should either check with them on if they eat refined sugar, or buy vegan sugar.

Recipe variations: The coffee rolls that my mom makes have raisins in the filling, so if you like raisins you could always add this to the filling. I prepared half the recipe without raisins and half with. I added 1/8 cup of raisins to the filling ingredients. You can also top these rolls with icing, but I don't think they need that extra sweetness.

Be careful, as you can see above. One of mine stayed in the oven for a minute or two too long, and these ended up going down the drain. The caramelizing of the sugar and cinnamon creates this sticky goodness, but it will burn if you leave the rolls in too long.

I really liked these coffee rolls, just enough sweetness paired with the yeast dough, makes them perfect for a snack or breakfast.

Odwalla Chewy Nut Bar

Another review...another bar...but there was a coupon a few weeks ago for like 55 cents off of one Odwalla Bar. So even though I wouldn't normally reach for an Odwalla bar I went for it because of the coupon.

Odwalla Chewy Nut Bar
Chocolate Chip Trail Mix

Now if you're smart, and apparently I'm not part of that group you would have seen that this bar is called a Chewy Nut Bar, and the flavor is chocolate chip trial mix. I just saw chocolate chip trail mix and snatched it off the shelf. My first bite in my reaction was wow this is very nutty for a chocolate chip trail mix bar...That being said there was only a hint of chocolate and raisins in this bar, it's predominantly a chewy nut bar. It was decent. Maybe I didn't choose the right flavor, but I'm also not that big into chewy nut bars. If you love a nut bar, then these are right up your alley. After realizing that this Odwalla bar was supposed to taste like nuts, I was then very disappointed by the scant amount of chocolate and raisins.There was just a hint of each. Overall I'd give this Odwalla bar a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

On to nutrition: This bar boasts that it is made of 24% organic products...In my mind its either organic or its not. I appreciate then that a few of the ingredients in this bar are organic, but it seems like a bit of a waste of money? on those few organic ingredients, since overall this bar is NOT organic. The Chocolate Chip Trail Mix bar has 200 calories, 7 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber, 15 grams of sugar and 5 grams protein.


Another thing I noticed while attempting to take pictures for this blog post. The enjoy by date was September 19th 2011, and I definitely bought this bar after the 19th. This tells me two things...no one has been buying this bar at my grocery store, and maybe for good reason. Also next time I go out on a whim and buy something with a coupon I should check the expiration date. :) So eh, Odwalla Chewy Nut Bar not a winner.

Orange and Dark Chocolate Bars

Ben and I have been away for a little vacation. Sorry it has been a while!

I thought I would come back with a very new bar. A flavor combination that is classic that I do not particularly love, but everyone else (including Ben.) Dark chocolate and orange. Ben loves the chocolate that is shaped like and orange that you slam on the table and it breaks into orange slices. I always wondered how those worked...


Anyway back to the recipe. I had a few oranges in the fridge that I knew I was not going to eat but did not want to throw them away. I always feel bad wasting food.

Orange and Dark Chocolate Bars

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz dark chocolate chopped

Melt the butter and whisk in the dark brown sugar. Make sure the butter and sugar are at room temperature before adding in the egg. Stir in the egg and whisk until color lightens a bit. Add in the vanilla extract, salt, orange juice and zest. Whisk to combine and stir in the flour and chocolate pieces.


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Pour the batter in a greased 8 by 8 inch pan. Bake for 25 minutes.


Let cool and then cut into bars.


These came out really well the texture that zest adds to the bar and the depth of flavors are fabulous. I would have used orange liquor, or amaretto instead of vanilla extract if I had any on hand but I didn't. This is a fabulous and unusually bar that everyone will like!

Treasure Cookies

So these cookies are weird lets just start with that, they have only 1/2 a cup of flour, no sugar, no eggs and no vanilla extract! What kind of cookies are these? I had to make them and find out if they are good. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com. They were extremely easy to make. I made a few changes to the recipe and I think they turned out great!


My inspiration behind the few changes that I made were that I wanted them to taste like the Caramel DeLite girl scout cookies, and I think the tastes are there. Great new cookie to add to the bank of recipes.


Treasure Cookies

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup toffee bits

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.


First you want to toast the pecans and the coconut, just to deepen the flavors of each. Make sure to not burn either one they should just start turning brown and they will each start to smell once they are ready.

Beat the butter and the condensed milk together until smooth. Add the baking powder, graham crackers and flour, beat until smooth. Add in the toasted pecans and coconut, then the chocolate chips and the toffee bits


Stir to combine, spoon onto a baking sheet and cook for 9-11 minutes. I got 21 bigger cookies from this batch.


These will be going off to the office as a reward for all the hard work that has been going on lately. It is not usually this crazy in the office but times are changing and big things have been happening, so everyone has been working very hard. It is time to reward everyone. :)

Everyone at work loved them, they were a bit hit. So next time you need something a little different make these and they will be enjoyed by all!

Seared Scallops with Asparagus & Linguine

Ben and I had a small celebratory dinner last night, just a little nod to the fact that we have now been together for 2 and a 1/2 years. We don't really celebrate anniversaries, why if we love each other why do we have to congratulate ourselves for sticking in the relationship? We are together and it's great, there is no reason to count or list the days, hours, minutes that we've lasted.

But nice dinners together are something that I think we both cherish, so there is no reason that we can't do that on a weekly basis, and just enjoy each other.


I sent Ben a few different options for dinner. We decided on a pasta dish because neither of us could remember the last time we had pasta (which is almost a crime.) We also like trying new things and neither of us had ever made scallops before, and they are a food that we both like. So we experimented, guided by a cooking light recipe.

Seared Scallops with Asparagus & Linguine

1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated linguine
1 bunch asparagus
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp Romano cheese, divided
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
Handful of chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 lbs sea scallops
1 lemon

In a medium size pot bring the water to a boil to cook the pasta. While waiting for the water to come up, rinse and cut the asparagus into bite size pieces. Once boiling place the asparagus in the water, let come up to a boil again and then add the pasta in. Cook according to the package (2-3 minutes) then drain pasta and asparagus in a colander over a bowl. Combine pasta, 1/4 cup cheese, 1 tablespoon oil, chopped basil, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and pepper in a large bowl; toss well.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Sprinkle salt evenly over scallops; add scallops to pan. Cook 1 minute on each side or until golden.


Serve pasta with scallops on top and extra lemon wedges on the side. Sprinkle with cheese to finish the dish.


So the pasta was good, not great, the flavors were there that Ben and I love but we had a few issues with the dish. First, apparently I don't like fresh pasta, for some reason the texture was too chewy, it stuck together and I just didn't enjoy it. So if we make this again the first thing we would do differently is use dried pasta.


The second thing we would do is not over cook the scallops. I said "Ben it says scallops one minute on each side, that's it, don't over cook the scallops" about 7 or 8 times before we started to cook them. (Ben was in charge of the scallops while I did the pasta.) It got to the point where I knew I was annoying him, but I had this feeling that he would cook and cook and cook the scallops and they would be like rubber. Well...that's exactly what happened. We sat down to eat and Ben popped a scallop in his mouth, looked at me and smiled..."I over cooked the scallops," he said. Oh well...at least we'll know for next time. I'm sure that we will make scallops again, I can't wait to perfect it.

One last thing that we would change, adding the cheese to the pasta while it was hot made one big clump of cheese in the middle of a bunch of pasta, because the temperatures of the cheese and the pasta were too cold to have the cheese mix in well, so I would just take that whole part out and add the cheese on the top over everything at the end. I would also next time use Parmesan cheese not Romano.

But all that said, the flavors were there, the lemon, asparagus, seared scallops, it was yummy and I can't wait to redo it and make the dish really a winner. Ben took the leftovers to work today for lunch so...it was good enough to keep and eat again, just not as fabulous as we thought.


The night was not ruined because this is what we love, to cook, eat and be together, it's fun to be in the kitchen, mixing, stirring and pouring. I boss Ben around, his dinner gets cold while I try and take a million pictures and for us, this works.

Oatmeal Raisin Craisin Bars

So I made up a recipe. Based off of another recipe of course, but it's all mine. It probably needs some tweaking but YAY, my first and hopefully not my last experiment into creating my own lovely baked goods. And...they were good!


These will also be heading off to the Boston University chapter of Alpha Delta Pi for all of the amazing girls to consume.

Oatmeal Raisin Craisin Bars

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cut quick cooking oats
1 cup raisins
1 cup craisins
(walnuts optional 1/2 cup)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch pan. In a mixing bowl melt the butter and then whisk in the sugars. Add in the eggs one at a time and stir to combine. Add the vanilla, and stir. Add in all of the dry ingredients and max sure it is all well mixed. Fold in the raisins and the craisins (if you are using nuts add them here too.) Pour into your prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes. Let cool and then cut when the bars are at room temperature.


They are a really good and easy alternative to making brownies or other bars, or if you are craving oatmeal raisin cookies these give you that flavor without all the scooping and drop work of cookies. Pour, bake and cut. Easy.


I really hope you enjoy these new bars. I did and I know Alpha Delta Pi girls will as well!

Apple Cider Cookies for Ben

I was not sure that a recipe for cookies that had pieces of apple and apple cider in them existed. I thought only Ben would want a cookie like that, and it probably didn't exist. After looking through all the blogs I could find yesterday, I found a recipe for Apple Cider cookies and was so excited. I changed the recipe because I did not have the Mulling Spices and thought it was not worth spending a lot of money on whole spices when I might never use them again. I think the cookie was just as good if not better with my changes.


Apple Cider Cookies

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup reduced apple cider
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups diced apples (Fiji)
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup flour
2 tsps cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar in the raw

You need to start off with reducing the the apple cider down, you want to start with 3 cups of apple cider and reduce it to 1/2 a cup all the flavors will intensify and add so much to this recipe. It took me more than an hour to reduce the apple cider, I think the sauce pot I used was too small. You want to bring it up to a boil and then reduce down to a simmer until the cider has reduced.

With an electric mixer cream the butter and the sugars together. In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk, vanilla and the reduced cider together (you want to make sure that the cider is at room temperature or you will cook the egg.) Mix until smooth.


In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients, flour, spices, grahams, oatmeal and apples, stir. Slowly add the dry mixture into the electric mixer with all the other ingredients. Mix until combined. If the mix looks a little wet add in another 1/4 cup of oatmeal (mine was wet and I didn't and when I cooked them they came out a little runny and spread way bigger than I wanted, next time I will add this 1/4 cup of oatmeal.) Refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, spoon the dough into balls 2 tbsp big roll in the raw sugar then place on cooking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. My cookies stuck to the pan as well because of the sugar, so next time I wouldn't roll the bottom in sugar so they come up easier off the pan. Let cool on a cooling rack. I came out with a few dozen good cookies and a bunch of broken too soft broken apart too fragile cookies.


Ben loved the taste of these cookies, so next time I make these I will defiantly add in more oatmeal and use less sugar in the raw. I'll update this post when I do make them again and let you know how they come out. I was almost ready to give up on these cookies and do an Apple Cider Cookie: Fail but in reality the flavor was there the structure wasn't and that can hopefully be fixed. They will go on the Thanksgiving cookie platters, even some of the broken, ugly ones will end up hiding on the tray. No one has to know, and honestly if they taste good, the will get eaten. :)

WOW Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

"Love it." Was the official quote from my father, now I'm not sure I've ever ever heard this from him. There is usually some comment attached, "Really good, but..." I almost can't believe how good these cookies are. They are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I've ever made. You need to make these. You will wow everyone. It's an exciting day when you print out a new recipe and it becomes the new standard because it is just so damn good. This cookie is amazing.


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

3 Large Eggs
1 generous tsp vanilla extract
1 cup raisins
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 generous tsp cinnamon
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup toasted walnuts

In a bowl combine the eggs, vanilla and raisins. Let sit for about an hour. (I only let mine sit for about 40 minutes.) You can just do this as the first step and then start on with everything else and by the time you need the raisins it will be about 30 minutes.

Beat the butter (room temperature) and the sugars until homogeneous. Mix the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together, well. Slowly add this mixture to the butter and sugar. The dough will be dry at this point. Add in the egg, raisins and vanilla and mix, then add in the oats and the toasted walnuts.

Scoop onto cookie sheets and bake for about 10 to 13 minutes at 350 degrees. They cookies will turn very golden brown. Let them cool a minute on the tray and then move to a cooling rack. I made 15 big cookies and 15 medium cookies. It may be around 40 medium cookies total.

I found the original recipe here, I did make a few changes in that I never use shortening, which is what the original calls for. You can substitute butter for it at the same amount.


Please, please make these, they are just so good.

Banana Nut Muffins

Three ripe bananas on the last day of passover. It may not have been quite ok to go ahead and do some baking yet, but I decided that I needed to get my hands dirty in a little baking finally.


Three spotted brown bananas plus a boyfriend who loves banana bread but is trying to start eating better, equals Banana Nut Muffins. This way the potion size in controlled unlike the usually large slices that are taken from a loaf.


I used the same recipe that I do for making banana bread and just put them in a muffin tin, with liners of course. This cut the baking time from just about an hour to 25-28 minutes, and clean up was a snap. I under filled the muffins (getting 22 muffins, therefore Ben gets 2 for breakfast,) and would next time make them twice as big I think, fill them all the way to the top of the liner and do the recipe the original way.


This banana bread recipe spans my family, my mom, aunts, and I all use it, but we all do it a little differently. The original recipe stays to split the eggs add in the yolks first to the batter then at the last step, after the vanilla fold in beaten whites. This will add lift and a lightness to the bread. I have never done the recipe this way, my mom has done it both and my aunt swears by splitting the eggs up. For a muffin I think that puff and lightness may be needed to bring these Banana Nut Muffins to the top of the list.

There will always be another three ripe bananas, and therefore there will be another chance to take on these muffins.


*I only used a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, 1/4 cup into the batter and the rest sprinkled on top of the muffins.

French Toast with Pecan Banana Syrup

It was time for something different. A sweet Sunday morning breakfast for Ben, no more eggs and potatoes. He might not have been bored of it yet, but I was. I needed something...well great, and I needed to have some creativity in the kitchen. This came out great, but not fabulous. There are many reasons for that. All of which I will address. This became more of an experiment in making syrup than anything else.

French Toast! I thought, it's been forever since I've made that for Ben, I had the bread, eggs, everything I needed, so this seemed like a perfect idea. Now I went to the grocery store I think 2 or 3 times after I had come up with this idea. (I love going grocery shopping.) None of those times I ever thought to buy syrup. Well I did actually think about it and decided against spending 8 or so dollars on an entire bottle of syrup for one single breakfast and besides my roommates would end up using it. Now, I'm all for sharing, but between the beer and everything else they "borrow" I thought against it. It seemed a waste of money, and usually one of my roommates does have some syrup in the refrigerator so I thought borrowing a squeeze or two they might not notice. I did however notice the bottles of Jack Daniels and vodka that "disappeared."


Ok back to the french toast. Sunday, morning, well afternoon, I went downstairs to make breakfast, got the bread out, made the egg soak, and started looking in the refrigerator to find the syrup. NO SYRUP, Ahh. Whats french toast without syrup, its just disappointing. So I vaguely remembered watching a Paula Dean episode where she makes the syrup that goes on some tragically buttery breakfast. Alright, lets experiment. First the recipes:

Best French Toast

2 1/2 pieces white bread*
2 Extra large Eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon


*Challah is the best bread to use for french toast, but in a pinch you can use anything even french bread or plain white as I did.


I cut the bread so that they would fit better in my smallish size pan but either way works. I didn't want to be cleaning every pan in the house after breakfast. The key to making a good Sunday morning breakfast is to get greatness and little clean up. Combine Eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a bowl, add the bread to the egg wash and let soak for a few seconds on each side. Do not leave in the egg was for too long, especially with thinner slices of break, the liquid will start to break down the break and it will just be mush. Place in pan that have either butter or Pam in the bottom, and let cook over medium heat. Flip only once, it will need maybe 4 or 5 minutes on each side, but this also highly depends on the thickness of your bread.

Plate and cover in syrup. Dust with powdered sugar for a professional look.


Ok my syrup was almost like caramel, and this is the only fault that Ben found with the dish. By the end the thickness of the syrup was too much, he loved the taste of it, so therefore managed to clear the plate, but did comment that it was on the thick side.

Pecan Banana Syrup

4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 whole pecans
1/2 banana sliced


Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat, add in the brown sugar and the honey. Stir to combine, let the sauce start to bubble up, this will start to thicken the syrup, take off heat, because you do not want it to burn add in the pecans put back over low heat and let warm. Start slicing in the banana and let sit in syrup for just a few seconds to let warm through. Top on french toast and serve.

It was great, but not amazing, maybe I put too much syrup on the plate when serving? Oh well it was a crisis averted, and a successful experiment.

Naner Bread

One of my favorite childhood memories of my mom's cooking was the comforting taste of my Mom's banana bread, the top was my favorite. I used to eat the sides, middle and save the top for last. She made it once in a while and I used to eat it a a breakfast treat.


A couple years ago when I really started to bake and experiment with cooking, I decided to ask my mom for this recipe so that I could make Ben a Banana Bread, he loves banana bread, it's one of his favorite sweet treats. It seems like many of the things that I have put up on this blog are Ben approved, or one of Ben's favorites, but this is all family approved. There is nothing to change about this recipe because it makes the perfect banana bread. The right amount of banana to bread ratio, not too dense cake and amazing top crust.

All you need is a few extra bananas, and this week I bought some for the sole purpose of making Ben and his mom some banana bread.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sour cream
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 medium sized ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream the softened butter and sugar together until smooth, add eggs, make sure to scrape down the sides to make sure that the sugar, butter and eggs are fully incorporated. In a separate bowl mix the sour cream and baking soda together, put aside. Mix all of the other dry ingredients together. Mash bananas with a fork until a gooey consistency and bananas to to sugar and eggs. Add in sour cream alternating with the dry ingredients until just fully incorporated. Add in the vanilla, and you can add in 1 cup of walnuts if you are using them. I am not putting the nuts in this time, the bread is a lot healthier without them, and you can then eat bigger slices. :)


Bake in a 350 degree oven in a greased loaf pan for about 55 minutes. A tooth pick entered into the middle of the cake should come out almost clean. Make sure you are not putting the tooth pick into a gooey piece of banana, because it will come out looking like the cake is not baked, when it might be. Let the bread sit in the pan for around 20 minutes until it has cooled. Run a knife along the edges of the pan to release the bread and flip over. Bread should come out easily. Let sit until fully cool, then make sure to cover so that it says fresh. The loaf will last a good week on a counter, or you can place it in the freezer for up to 3 months.


Make sure you share this bread with friends and family. It's too good to just take one slice.


Tip: Also I have found that if you double this recipe it will make 3 good size loafs, as a single recipe it makes a large loaf, you can also use 2 large bananas to substitute for 3 medium ones in a pinch.