Martha Stewart's Banana Nut Bread

I love to make this recipe because it is chock full of goodies. I has a nice crunch, and yet it is still a soft piece of bread. Even after a few days on the counter it is just like it was fresh out the oven soft. I also decided to make some french toast out of it and that morning was fulfilled. You can use whatever mix you would normally use for french toast and have the same outcome. Give this recipe a try and you will understand how necessary it has to keep this in your recipe book.


Banana-Nut Bread
From Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups ripe mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup (about 4 ounces) walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped
½ cup buttermilk
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat two 9-by-5 loaf pans with cooking spray, set aside. In large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil on medium-low speed until combined. Beat in the flour mixture. Add the vanilla, banana, coconut, nuts, and buttermilk, and beat just to combine.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, smooth with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and let cool completely. Bread can be kept at room temperature, wrapped in plastic, for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 3 months.

Random Shots with Random Talk

I have been so busy between school, kids and the school, cake show, and just life in general that I don't have much blog time. I try to get pictures of things that I make or see so that when I have the time to blog I can post pictures along with the words.

I am taking French and Precalculus along with Alice(programming) and World Civilization. Let's just say school is kicking my butt this semester. No more talking about what you could care less about and on to the good stuff...FOOD!

This is some 3 cheese macaroni, which include Dubliner, Gruyere,and age cheddar(no yellow needed). I have been making macaroni for as long as I can remember so I have it down to a science in my head that when people ask me for the recipe I tell them to use what's on the box and adjust it to your taste. As you can see I don't like dry baked macaroni so I add extra milk and extra cheese.Here we have Dorie Greenspan's Party cake except an orange version. I must say that I liked this one better than the lemon. This cake is enrobed with cream cheese frosting.

How about my girlfriend and I went to the library and saw these geese going the wrong way. Maybe they needed to go in and learn to read.

Just a pic of the front of the library

Martha Stewart's graham crackers from her baking handbook...of course mines look nothing like hers. Nonetheless they were still good.

During all the rainy weeks in Virginia lots of mushrooms were popping up everywhere and I just couldn't resist the urge to get some shots.

An last but definitely not least, Bambi and mother. The must live in the brush near the school because they kept coming out to graze and going back in. AWWWW so cute!

I refuse to spend the whole day in the kitchen!!!!

This is what I said yesterday and meant it too. What did I do today, I started at about 9 something this morning and didn't leave until about 6:30 p.m. Yea, there were breaks in between, but not long enough to enjoy sitting down and relaxing my body. You would think working in a bakery would help cure my need to be in the kitchen at home. Guess what, it doesn't!

Is there a clinic or rehab center to help with this addiction, this obsession, this love affair with food? If someone could point me in that direction I would gladly take the help or at least bake the doctors and nurses something to make them turn their head and give me a clean bill of "cured".

Today I made Herbed Cheese Bread and my inspiration came from my girlfriends suggestion and that darn Subway restaurant(I love that bread).

Then there was this meatless lasagna made with whole wheat pasta, not ricotta here. I can't stand that stuff in lasagna. I just mix eggs with grated parmesan cheese and it taste meaty and yummy. This went well with the bread.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Buttery Nipple cupcakes with Brown Sugar buttercream. The story starts last summer when all the neighbors went out to The Brass Bell and one of the neighbors who happens to be the DJ sent over some drinks. Well it was a Buttery Nipple, and boy was it good. For anyone who has never had one, it is a shot of Butterscotch Schnapps and then you pour(from the side) some Irish Cream Liqueur into it.

As I was looking through Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella, I came across her Irish Cream Cupcakes recipe and made a few changes to it. Instead of 1 1/3 cups of Irish Cream, I put 2/3 cup and added 2/3 cup Butterscotch Schnapps and I used half all purpose flour and half cake flour.

For the buttercream I used Martha Stewart's recipe for Brown Sugar buttercream from her Baking Handbook. It was a perfect pair since butterscotch is made with brown sugar.