Strawberry Banana Bread

As per my last post, its strawberry season! Yum! With some of the last strawberries that I hadn't done anything with yet, I thought I'd bake something. This recipe caught my eye as I also had some ripe bananas that needed to be used up. I just pulled the loaves out of the oven and they smell delicious!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped and tossed in 1 tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Spray 2 loaf pans and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture and beat until combined. Add the mashed bananas and mix until combined.

Sift all dry ingredients together and then slowly add into the banana mixture. Mix just until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in floured strawberries.

Pour batter into the two prepared loaf pans and bake at 375F for 15 minutes. Then turn oven down to 350F and bake another 25-30 minutes until edges are brown or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool before removing from pans.

*From http://therecipecritic.com/2015/07/strawberry-banana-bread/

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

So I was looking in my freezer the other day and realized I have shredded zucchini from the summer of 2013 still in my freezer. I thought I better use it before it gets too freezer burnt, but what to make? I came across this recipe. Looked pretty easy to whip up, and it tastes good too!

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 9x5-inch loaf pans with parchment paper then grease the parchment paper with cooking spray.

In large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined (the batter will be very thick). Fold in the grated zucchini and chocolate chips.

Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the loaves from the oven and allow them to cool for 20 minutes in the pans. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

*Adapted from http://www.justataste.com/

Chocolate Banana Pudding Bread

What's a good way to spend a snow day? Baking! We've got a blizzard going on and with the roads being so bad (some even closed), I decided to bake this delicious looking dessert bread I found on Pinterest awhile back.

For the banana dough:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 pkg banana cream pudding (just the dry mix)
1 ripe banana
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce

For the chocolate dough:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 pkg chocolate pudding (just the dry mix)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
6 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bread pan with cooking spray.

You are going to need 2 large bowls and 2 smaller bowls. In the 2 large bowls, combine the flour, baking soda, sugar and pudding mixes for each respective dough (one for banana and one for chocolate).

In one small bowl, mash the banana, add the egg, butter, vanilla and applesauce. Then fold into the dry ingredients for the banana dough.

In the other small bowl mix the eggs, butter, vanilla and applesauce and fold into the dry ingredients for the chocolate dough.

Alternating between the banana and chocolate dough, drop by spoonful into the bread pan. You can also run a knife through the dough to give it a marbled look.

Bake for 60 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.

*From http://www.wineandglue.com/2013/10/chocolate-banana-bread.html