Bourbon Banana Bread

Oh baby! No playing around here, there is some serious taste in this banana bread and I urge you to run home and make it immediately! I have made this bread before under the title Boozy Banana's Foster Bread but I added a few ingredients that I believe really take it over the top. I confess that the caramel drizzle was an after-thought. I had some in the fridge and thought, why not. If you really want to shoot the taste into the stratosphere, make your own salted caramel, drizzle it, taste it and then call your mother and thank her for bringing you into a world that allows for the amazing pleasure that comes from delicious food. I personally felt the need to do just that a few weekends ago when I tasted duck fat fries for the first time...but that is a different post.

Another point on this bread is that you will notice that these little darlings are in small loaves. I am now absolutely enamored with small loaf pans as I have found that they cook the bread more evenly, they are easier to remove, they are fantastic for storing, easy to give as gifts, (I give this bread out a lot and it is my way of saying, I think you are really neat!). Anyway, so the list of benefits of cooking small versus the cumbersome big loaf that never cooks all the way through is very long. With that, go forth and bake! Enjoy! AJ

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons bourbon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Big pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
Pinch of Allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cups and two tablespoons of flour

Brown Sugar Topping:

5 tablespoons salted butter cold and diced
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of Kosher salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose white flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and rum, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for one hour to one hour and ten minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Boozy Banana's Foster Bread

Let’s see. I am, ahem, in my early 30’s and I have been baking banana bread since I was in diapers. So, that would make the number of flops that have transpired in order to achieve this glorious loaf, way too high to count. Maybe that’s a little harsh. The other banana breads I have made were not necessarily bad, they just never popped, made me weak in the knees, gave me the stomach flip, made me want to shove aside all reason and just stuff the whole thing in my mouth. Well my darlings, this bread does all of the above and then some.

I almost signed banana bread off as a lost cause. Almost; but then a work colleague brought in banana bread that was given to him by a friend. He let me have a slice and it had a wonderful crunchy brown sugar cinnamon topping that was different from anything I had ever tasted on top of banana bread and it was fantastic. So, I researched some crunchy toppings that are usually used for pies and I came up with the concoction below. I could eat that topping alone and be a happy camper.

For the bread itself, I always thought that some sort of buttermilk or sour cream or other creamy and sour ingredient would be standard in good banana bread. I was wrong. I also have a weird obsession with putting nuts in everything and I actually held myself back from doing so with this bread. Apparently withholding the nuts and cream were both good things because the bread on its own, without the crunchy topping, was better than all of the banana breads I have ever made. I made some alterations but the basic recipe comes from a combination of the fantastic blog Simply Recipes and my most favorite blog, Smitten Kitchen, who appropriately named her adaptation, “Jacked Up Banana Bread”.

One more note, another work colleague who shall be known on this blog as “J”, came up with the “Bananas Foster Bread” name and I feel like I should give him credit for the title. So thanks to J for naming this and while we are at it, thank you for being the sounding board on this and so many other recipes.

Adapted from Simply Recipes and Smitten Kitchen

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon dark rum
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

Brown Sugar Topping:

5 tablespoons salted butter cold and diced
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of Kosher salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose white flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and rum, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for one hour to one hour and ten minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Banana Bread Bombs

So I am not posting this recipe, or I should say two recipes as there were two breads, because they need work. I did, however, post the photos and I know they look completely innocent but upon tasting, I was completely disappointed. I was attempting to make one with a crumbly brown sugar topping and the other with peanut butter and marshmallow that I was going to affectionately call Elvis bread. So the Crumbly and Elvis recipes are not going to be making their appearance but rest assured, I am working on them and will post the new and improved version when I am ready.

Xoxo – AJ

Banana Cream Pie Controversy

Good God this pie caused a lot of controversy. It started out so very simple. I was out on a seemingly harmless date and I asked, "What is your favorite kind of pie?" Thinking that I was the pie baking goddess and that no man could resist my skills in the kitchen, I thought I could really wow him with whatever pie he wanted. On top of my overblown ego, he said his favorite was banana cream. Jackpot! I had made a banana cream pie with my cooking club fellow goddesses from an Emeril cookbook a few years back and it was heavenly. How could I possibly go wrong? Ugh, famous last words.

I proceeded to diligently prepare the pie with what I thought was some skill and care. I took this photo and texted it to the guy. Lesson #1 in this scenario, never text the finished product to the taster as this will lead to too much build-up, leading to high expectations and a diminished rate of return upon tasting. Note: don't do food trailers.

The first two pieces of pie went to my parents and being the sweet parents they are, said the pie was "amazing". Lesson #2, do not test recipes on your parents as they are your parents and they will lie to your face because they love you and still think you are 8 years old cannot handle their real opinion.

The second two pieces went to two guys in my office who taste a lot of my baking. When they are not fond of something, they are pretty diplomatic but honest so I knew they would tell me the truth. I thought if these two like it, I am golden. One of them liked it and the other said it was the best thing I had ever made.

So, by now, I am feeling pretty good. My family and colleagues all gave the big thumbs up and collectively indicated that whoever did not totally dig the pie was mentally deranged. Fast forward to a random Tuesday night. I ask the target audience to come over and taste the last piece of pie I had. He says no need to twist his arm and that he will put in a double work out to prepare. Lesson #3, people who spend a lot of time at the gym and watch every little thing they eat should not be completely trusted with providing credible food tasting opinions. Their taste buds have been diminished by bland food without salt, sugar or fat. Anyway, I gave him the pie, left the room and returned to find that he had eaten most of the pie but left some of the graham cracker crust on the plate. Not good. He then proceeded to say the following, "it was good but if I could offer a suggestion, I like banana cream with the regular butter crust rather than the graham cracker crust you have." There you have it, everyone liked the pie except for the person it was aimed at. Crashed and burned.

To make matters worse, I then proceeded to call my Mother to tell her what happened and she said, "yes, your Father and I thought the same thing, it was a little overwhelming with the graham cracker crust." I understand lying to me about the Tooth Fairy and Santa, but my baking? She said they didn't want to hurt my feelings.

I will try the pie with the butter crust in the next few months. Until then, here is the fateful recipe that I still personally love. Cheers to Emeril, who, in my book, is a genius.

Recipe:

4 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise in half

2 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 recipe graham cracker crust

3 pounds (about 9) ripe but firm bananas peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine 2 cups of the cream, the milk, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the vanilla bean, and the vanilla seeds in a large heavy saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, whisking to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat.

Combine the eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch, and 1 cup of the sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until pale yellow. Slowly add 1 cup of the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly until smooth. Gradually add the egg mixture to the hot cream and whisk well to combine. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly with a heavy wooden spoon, and cook until this mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. (The pastry cream may separate slightly; if so, remove from the heat and beat with an electric mixer until thick and smooth.) Strain through a fine mesh strainer, pressing it directly against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 4 hours.

To assemble, spread 1/2 cup of the pastry cream over the bottom of the prepared crust, smoothing it with the back of a large spoon or rubber spatula. Arrange enough banana slices (not quite one-third) in a tight pattern over the custard, pressing them down with your hands to pack firmly. Repeat to build a second layer, using another 3/4 cup of the pastry cream and enough bananas to cover it. Do a third layer using the method above. If there is any remaining cream and bananas, do a fourth layer. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

In a medium bowl whip the remaining 2 cups cream until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons sugar and the vanilla extract until soft peaks form. (In my version there is also a tablespoon of dark rum that went into this but that's up to you.) Pile the high with the whip cream or pipe on the cream for a more refined look.

Graham Cracker Crust Recipe:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl and mix well. Press the mixture into the sides and bottom of a 9-inch pie pan.

Bake the crust until browned, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Okay, so maybe I should say half of the bread. I made this yesterday before I got this blog up and running. I have always thought that banana bread, no matter how many flavor uppers are added, is inherently bland. So, I found a recipe that had sour cream in the ingredients and I had to try it. Sour cream, in my opinion, can perform magic in so many dishes with its thick and slightly sour quality that really bumps up flavor. I also added in walnuts and chocolate chips to see if I could add a little more complexity. It turned out very well and my son loved it! I put 1 cup of chocolate chips into this recipe but I think I might add in a little less next time. The chips seemed to overwhelm the banana flavor whereas it really should enhance. I will try this again in a few days and modify this post based on the next try.

***One very serious note here, I am working on getting a better camera and acquiring better photography skills. Until then, the amazing photos seen on seemingly every other blog on earth will not be appearing here...at least not yet.

Recipe:
11 tablespoons Butter (at room temperature)
3 very ripe bananas mashed
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Spray PAM in a 91/4 by 51/4 by 21/2 inch loaf pan

Puree mashed bananas, sour cream, eggs, butter and vanilla with a paddle attachment in mixer.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add flour mixture in with banana mixture until just combined. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Bread should be lightly browned and spring back when touched. Remove from the oven and leave in pan for about 30 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack lined with a paper towel.

Xoxo - AJ