B is for Banana: Cocoa Bottom Banana Pecan Bars

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Baking, Banana, banana bars, cakes, chocolate cake, cocoa bars, cocoa bottom banana pecan bars, healthy food, overripe banana, pecan, what to do with overripe banana

What’s the best healthy treats to do with overripe bananas?

My kids and the bananas is like on and off, sometimes they can be gone in a couple of days and some other times they stay until browned then no body will touch them (They call them rotten and would rather throw them in the garbage, you may had this issue with your kids too). To me, it’s the best healthy sweetener to use in cakes and smoothies, every time I have some ripened banana, I just peel and freeze them in a zip lock plastic bags, that’s a good way to save the banana until you have a use for them.

Here is a great way to use up these overripe banana on your shelf and your kids will thank you for. They even will not notice the trick part of using those what they called “rotten bananas”. Another recipe to use the banana is in these healthy delicious Banana Oat Muffins.

I had this recipe from kitchen aid cookbook, and since I tried the recipe, it became my family stable. A very moist, light and fluffy bananaishy cake, your house will be filled with banana smell, it uses a large amount of bananas, you can add some other spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, but I prefers it as is. The addition of cocoa powder to half of the cake batter makes it kids friendly, you know kids love anything calls and tastes chocolate, they will finish every bit of it, trust me.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
5 ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a13x9-inch baking pan. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer (or you could do it by hand), beat sugar and butter at a medium speed until creamy. Add the bananas, egg, and vanilla, continuing to beat until well blended.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, and beat until well blended. Stir in the chopped pecans.
Divide the batter in half. Stir the cocoa into one half, and spread the chocolate batter into the bottom of the greased pan. Top with the plain batter, and swirl with a knife as desired.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

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Honey Buttermilk Oatmeal Coffee Cake: For The Daring Bakers February Challenge

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& Muffins, Baking, Bread and Pastries, breakfast, buttermilk, Cake, coffee cake, Cupcake, daring baker, daring kitchen challenge, honey, oatmeal, pecan, quick bread

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Bread that is quick to make because it doesn’t require kneading or rising time. That’s because the leavener in such a bread is usually baking powder or baking soda, which, when combined with moisture, starts the rising process immediately. In the case of double-acting baking powder, oven heat causes a second burst of rising power. Eggs can also be used to leaven quick breads. This genre includes most biscuits, muffins, popovers and a wide variety of sweet and savory loaf breads.

Some tips from Lisa:

•Quick breads can be sweet or savory, they are a modern innovation they became common after the introduction of baking powder and baking soda.
•Baking powder is a combination of acid and alkaline that reacts together when moistened to form gases that raises the baked quick bread. Usage 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup of flour.
•Baking soda (an alkaline salt, sodium bicarbonate) is used when the liquid is acidic, such as buttermilk, honey, molasses, tomato sauce etc. Usage ½ to 1 teaspoon per cup of acidic liquid.
•Be sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh.
•Measure ingredients accurately, using the measuring tools and techniques suggested.
•Preheat the oven to the correct baking temperature. Arrange racks so that the bread will bake in the center of the oven which has the best heat distribution in the oven.
•To allow for good air circulation while baking, leave at least 1 inch of space between pans and between pans and sides of oven. Switch pan positions and rotate pans halfway through baking.
•The two top secrets to moist, tender quick bread is 1)in the mixing always use a quick light technique so you don’t over-mix the batter 2) don’t over-bake since this cause dryness in the final baked product.

Biscuits, coffee cake, muffins_ they’re all quick breads. My recipe for the quick bread challenge is for the coffee cake, simple, light and healthful, perfect for afternoon tea or breakfast with tea or coffee.
A lot of thanks to Lisa and the Daring bakers for sharing with us some tips and recipes for quick breads.

Honey Buttermilk Oatmeal Coffee Cake

The honey mixture bakes at the bottom of the pan for this dessert. Then flip the finished cake over to reveal a sweet glaze on top.

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 Tbsp. light-colored corn syrup
2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
4 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1-1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
Honey (optional)

Grease a  baking pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup honey, 1/3 cup melted butter, corn syrup, lemon peel and lemon juice. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Pour into prepared pan; set aside.

For cake: In a blender or food processor, blend or process oats until finely ground. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in flour, brown sugar, 1/2 cup pecans, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, 1/4 cup melted butter, and vanilla. Add the milk mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

Spoon batter evenly over honey mixture. Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately invert cake onto a serving plate. Cool about 10 minutes. Serve warm drizzled with additional honey, if you like. Makes 9 servings.

A Tip From My Kitchen:

I learnt from Martha Stewart Very helpful tip about buttermilk.
When I buy a quart of buttermilk, I never need all of it. Luckily, it freezes well and is great to use later in pancakes, cakes, or marinades.

Banana Oat Muffins

Tags

Banana, breakfast, chocolate chip, cinnamon, kids friendly, Muffin, nutmeg, oatmeal, pecan

Delicious … satisfying … Warming … Fragrant …  Healthy …  Easy and quick …

But the most important ONE  kids friendly

yeb! kids like these.

When I bake these muffins they always gone within an hour, they even don’t wait for the morning. I some times double the batch if I plan to have some at breakfast.

It’s a good way to push a high fiber oat into your kids diet, banana also give that beautiful aroma with cinnamon and nutmeg. oh very tempting to eat all of them.

For snacks they are a healthy choice, so whats your kids favourite snack?

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

 

1 1/2 cup  flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 bag vanilla powder

1\2 teaspoon cinnamon

1\4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup oatmeal old-fashioned

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup minced pecan

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

2 medium egg at room temperature

3 bananas medium size

1 teaspoon  white vinegar

4 tablespoon liquid milk

chocolate chips

 

for the top

 

oatmeal

Brown sugar

 

 

Heat  the oven to 350 f.

  

Beat the butter and white sugar with the electric mixer until they creamy and fluffy, add the egg one at a time, beat together.

 

 Mash the banana add the vinegar to it then add the banana to the egg batter (I like to put vinegar to all my baking, it takes off the smell of eggs also increase the shelf  life for the bakings).

 

 

Add the milk and beat together,the batter will be smooth and fluffy.

 

Sift together all the dry ingredients:  the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg),  then add to it the minced pecan, the oatmeal (first you must grind it very fine in the food processor).

Add the dry ingredient gradually and stir gently after each addition.

 

 Add the chocolate chips the amount you like and as how you like it  in the batter.

 

Line the cupcake pan with paper cups and spray the papers with oil, fill 3\4 of the cups with the batter.

 

Mix 2 tablespoon oatmeal with 2 tablespoon brown sugar, add to the top of the batter