Cherry Chocolate Banana Bread

Hi there– Well, if you love banana bread and also are fond of cherry bread and, of course, it’s a given you probably are crazy about chocolate chip bread, then here you go!!  All three breads rolled into one!

Made this for friends on a Sunday morning and there wasn’t a crumb left.  I thought you might like a Sunday morning treat too.

CHERRY CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD
1 cup dried cherries*
2 ripe bananas
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unflavored yogurt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tab. amaretto (or 1 tsp. vanilla)**
1  1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Pour the dried cherries in a heat proof bowl and covered them with hot water for 5 minutes.  Drain in a strainer and set aside.

In a mixing bowl mash the bananas until they are a creamy pulp.  Then sit-in the oil, yogurt, brown sugar, egg and amaretto until it’s all blended.  Next mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.  Finally stir in the chocolate chips and drained cherries.

Spoon the batter into a standard 9″x 5″ bread pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray (I used two half size pans for 2 loaves).

Bake it all up at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.  Let it cool for 30 minutes or more before you slice it.  Enjoy!

*I used cherry flavored dried cranberries, because I had them sitting in the cupboard.
** Use amaretto in place of almond extract because you can find a large bottle that will last forever for less than a tiny bottle of almond extract.

Pecan Coconut Banana Bread

Hello baking friends–  I’ve already posted more than my share of banana bread recipes on this blog.  Blame it on too many over ripe bananas collecting in my kitchen.  But honestly, this one must be the best!  All that coconut and those pecans!

Made it with my baking buddy, Jenna, and we downed it with mugs of tea at the kitchen table and agreed it was delicious.  Hope you give it a try…

PECAN COCONUT BANANA BREAD

Topping:
6 tab. flour
6 tab. brown sugar
1/4 cup (4 tab.) butter
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Bread:
2 bananas
1/2 cup unflavored yogurt
3 tab. canola oil
1 egg
1  1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp, baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Melt the butter in the microwave.  Then in a small mixing bowl stir together the 6 tab. flour, brown sugar, butter, 1/4 cup coconut and 1/4 cup chopped pecans.  Set aside.

In a larger mixing bowl, smash the bananas with a fork. Then stir in the yogurt, oil and egg.  Next mix in the 1 1/3 cup flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, 1/2 cup pecans and 1/2 cup shredded coconut.  Mix just until it is all blended.

Spoon the batter in to a 9″x 5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray (I used two smaller half size pans).  Put it into a 350 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes until it’s gold brown and a knife inserted comes out clean.

Banana Pecan Waffles

Good morning Breakfast Eaters–  We’re still experimenting with our new waffle iron.  There’s been some hits and misses.  But this has been a favorite so far (and I’m pretty sure you may see more waffles float by on these pages in the future!).

The sweetness from the bananas, a little pecan crunchiness and a light texture from beating the egg whites, make it a winner!

BANANA PECAN WAFFLES
2 ripe bananas
3 eggs, divided
1 1/2 stick butter (3/4 cup) melted, cooled for a few minutes
1 1/4 cup milk
1  1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tab. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
garnish: maple syrup & fruit

Smash the bananas to a paste with a fork in a mixing bowl.  Separate the eggs.  Put the whites in a new mixing bowl (set it aside) and the yolks in with the bananas. The mix in the milk and butter with the bananas.

Then add in the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt to the banana mixture.  Stir it all together. Fold in the pecans

Next take the egg whites, and beat them with an electric mixer until they are foamy.  Then add in the sugar and continue to beat on high speed until they are glossy and stiff peaks form.  Be patient.  This takes 4 or 5 minutes.  (Best done with the whisk attachment of your mixer).

Then gently fold the egg whites into the banana batter, mixing until there are no white streaks.

Pour about one cup of batter into a hot waffle iron that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Cook according to the directions on your waffle iron (mine takes 7 or 8 minutes for each waffle and made 6 medium waffles).

Serve them up with syrup and fruit and big mugs of tea.  Delish!

Maple Walnut Banana Bread

Hello Bakers–  I’ve been making my Grandma Rose’s banana bread for as long a I can remember,  It’s the favorite in kitchens all over our family.  But when I saw this version sweetened by maple syrup, I had to give it a try.  I can just say it smells heavenly coming out of the oven!!

MAPLE WALNUT BANANA BREAD
2 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
2 tab. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

topping:
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Prepare the topping first.  Chop the nuts, mix in 2 tab. brown sugar and set aside.

Mash those bananas with a fork in a large mixing bowl.  Then stir in the oil, syrup, egg and vanilla.  Next mix in the flour, brown sugar, baking powder an salt.

Spoon the batter in to a standard 9″x5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees from 35 to 40 minutes, until a small knife inserted comes out clean.  (I used two smaller pans to make one loaf to keep, one to take to my father-in-law Stu). Enjoy!!

Yogurt Banana Muffins

Good morning!  I’m still here in San Francisco with Baby Lois and her dear parents, Ani & Brian.  This morning I grabbed her early and she laid in her rocker in the kitchen and “helped” me make banana muffins for breakfast.  The sun was shining in the windows and she just squirmed and made her little “turkey sounds” while I mixed and stirred.  It was a fine time in the kitchen!

These muffins are from one of my very very favorite bloggers– Shannan Martin Writes.  She’s funny and fresh and has so much to say about family and faith and seeing the beautiful in every places.  She occasionally puts a recipe out there–  AND she recently published her first book– well worth reading, Falling Free, Rescued from the Life I’d Always Wanted .

The muffins (back to the real subject here) are tender and spongy and pretty on your plate–with a sweet crunchy coating on top.   A great start to your morning.

YOGURT BANANA MUFFINS
2 smashed bananas
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup unflavored yogurt
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (or a bit more if you love nuts like I do!)

topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Smash the banana with a fork in a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the sugar, yogurt, egg and oil.  Then mix in the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nuts just until it’s all blended.

Spoon the thick batter into a muffin tin lined with paper liners.  Makes 12 pretty muffins.  Mix together the 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon and then sprinkle it over the unbaked muffins.

Pop them into the oven and bake them at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, until they are nicely browned and springy to the touch.  Best warm with mugs of tea and sunshine coming in the windows!

And I just can’t resist putting up a photo of my baking buddy– Baby Lois!  (I’ll really try not to over do it on baby pictures!!)

Here she is sleeping– it’s what she does best!

Banana Caramel Cake

Hello there– Made this birthday cake, of sorts, for my Mom’s big 85th birthday Open House.  You may have already heard me brag about how amazing our Mom is- Bright and Fun and a Facebook whiz!  She’s someone we really want to celebrate!  So last week we invited all her friends in and served up cake and hugs and lots of photo ops with that birthday gal!  It was a whole lot of fun!

BANANA CARAMEL CAKE

Cake:
2 bananas, mashed to a paste
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1  1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup caramel sauce*

Topping:
1 pint (2 cups) whipping cream
1 tsp. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla instant pudding mix
3 bananas

Candied Pecans:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup sugar

To make the cake, smash the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl until they are a soft paste.  Mix in the sugar, oil and eggs.  The stir in the flour baking powder and salt.  Spoon the batter into a 9″ or 10″ cake pan** and bake it in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes until it’s firm to the touch and cooked through.

Take wooden spoon and use the handle to poke holes about an inch apart all over the top of the warm cake.  Then pour in the caramel sauce trying to sink it down into those little holes and covering the top of the cake (if he syrup seems too thick, microwave it for 20 seconds).

While the cake is baking you can make the candied pecans– mix the cup of pecans and 1/2 cup sugar in a small skillet.  Cook over medium heat stirring the whole time, until the sugar melts to a golden caramel and coats the pecans.  Don’t go to long.  It’s easy to burn the sugar!  Turn the candied pecans out onto a piece of foil on the counter and let them cool.

When the cake has cooled completely, beat the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla pudding mix with an electric mixer (whisk attachment works best).  Cut the the 3 bananas into little disks and spread them in a single layer over the cake.  Top the cake and bananas with the cream and pop it into the fridge.  Add the pecans just before you’e ready to serve the cake.  Delish!

My sis Lulu, Mom (the birthday girl) and me– with all those cakes!

*I like Hershey’s caramel topping.
**I use a springform pan because it’s easy to take the cake out of the pan to sit on a pretty dish.

Oatmeal Banana Bread

Hello there– Looking for something warm and comfy for chilly winter breakfast?  I think this banana bread will do the trick.  Just pretend it’s your morning bowl of oatmeal with all those oats tucked inside.  I like it sliced and toasted in the toaster oven–  with a mug of steamy tea for breakfast.  I hope you do too.

OATMEAL BANANA BREAD
2 bananas
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
a little more oats to sprinkle on top

Smash the bananas to a pulp in the bottom of a mixing bowl.  Then stir in the sugar, oil and eggs.  Next mix in the oats, flour, baking powder, salt and walnuts.

Scrape the batter into one standard bread pan or two smaller pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray.  Sprinkle a handful of oatmeal on top.

Pop the bread into a 350 degree oven for 30  to 35 minutes.  Let it cool a few minutes to take it out of the pan and slice it up.  Homey good!

Banana Rum Cake

Hello all– It was another case of too-ripe bananas languishing on the kitchen counter–speckled, soft and fragrant.  I was obliged to run to the store and scoop up a bottle of rum to stir up this cake.  It’s sweet and rummy and showered with sugary pecans–

aside: If you’ve read this little blog at all lately, you must think I’m near pecan addiction. It’s true.  My mom gave me the BIGGEST bag of pecans (& a bag of walnuts & one of pine nuts) for my birthday gift and I’ve been tossing them into everything!!  Nuts glorious nuts!

BANANA RUM CAKE
1/2 cup butter, room temperature*
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature*
1  1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 ripe bananas, smashed
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup light rum
3 cups flour
2  1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk (or half & half)

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tab. rum

Candied pecans:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup pecans

Sweet and smelling so banana-ish warm from the oven.

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter and 1 1/2 cup sugar until smooth.  then beat in the eggs, bananas, vanilla and rum.

Finally, beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and milk.  Scoop the batter into a tube or bundt pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Drop it into a 350 oven for 55 to 60 minutes, until it’s golden and a a thin knife inserted comes out clean.

Let it cool and make the rum glaze.  With a whisk, beat the powdered sugar and 2 tab. rum together.  When the cake it cooled Drizzle over the cake.

To make the sugared pecans.  Just mix the 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup pecans in a skillet.  Stir them constantly over medium heat until the sugar all melts and the pecans are coated with the browned, melted sugar.  Turn the nuts out of the pan onto a sheet of foil separating the nuts and let them cool.  Top the glazed cake with the nuts– and it’s ready to eat!

*If you’re pulling the butter and cream cheese out of the fridge, just microwave them for 8 to 10 seconds and they’ll be soft enough to beat into the cake.

Dark Chocolate Banana Pecan Ice Cream

Hi there–  My Dad was the ice cream maker in my family.  We had a churn in a good green wooden bucket.  You’d drive down to the ice house, for a big thick paper bag of crushed ice and then race it home to pour into the bucket with handfuls of rock salt.  Then you’d crank and crank and crank out on the back porch.  We 4 kids would wait expectantly  as Dad cranked, hoping to get to lick the dasher when it came out of the tub.  It was the best!

Thank goodness I have that electric ice cream maker now, with a refrozen container.  It’s almost too easy.

Got this recipe from Christine years ago when our kids were small– and it’s still just as super delicious as the first time I tasted it in her backyard.  I’m going to have to make it at least one more time before we run out of summer!  Wish I could share a bowl with my Dad.

DARK CHOCOLATE BANANA PECAN ICE CREAM
2 large bananas
1  1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pint milk (2 cups)
1 pint whipping cream (2 cups)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mash the bananas with a fork.  Stir in all the other ingredients except the pecans.  Pour the mixture into a half gallon ice cream maker.

Freeze the ice cream according the instructions on your ice cream maker.

When the ice cream starts to thicken, add in the pecans and finish the freezing process.

Serve it up and get ready to make more.  It will disappear pretty fast!

Sour Cream Coconut Banana Bread

Hi all–  I bought bananas.  Went to the store later in the week and bought bananas again, not even thinking.  So many bananas!  There was only one thing to do.  Banana bread.  My favorite form of eating bananas.  This one adds some coconut and a jolly cup of walnuts.  And my favorite part is the coconut on top that gets browned and crunchy–perfect.   Oh, and the super moist banana flavor inside.  I think you’ll love seeing it sit on your kitchen counter, ready to be eaten, too!

SOUR CREAM COONUT BANANA BREAD
3 ripe medium bananas
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts chopped
1/2 cup coconut, plus more for sprinkling on top of the loaf.

Smoosh the bananas in the bottom of a mixing bowl with a fork until they are creamy.  Then mix in the eggs, sour cream, sugar, oil and vanilla.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix it all up just until it’s completely blended.  Finally fold in the chopped nuts and 1/2 cup coconut.

Spoon the mixture into a standard loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Top it with a healthy sprinkling of coconut and pop it into the oven at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until the coconut is nicely browned and the bread is firm to the touch.  Enjoy!

Bananas & Rum Bread Pudding

Hey there–  Here’s a recipe I’ve been dying to send off to you.  I love this cozy, mellow stuff!  I saw it published as a breakfast food!  Really?!  All that sugar and rum.  I would definitely slide it into the dessert category.

So when my young moms came to sit around our coffee table a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t wait to spoon this delectable dish onto their plates. I think they loved it as much as I did.  Warm from the oven, with a piles of whipped cream.  It’s darn good.

BANANAS & RUM BREAD PUDDING
1 tab. canola oil
1 tab. butter
4 bananas, cut lengthwise, then sliced
1/2 cup rum
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup half and half
4 eggs
2  12 oz. cans evaporated milk
1 pound loaf of French bread, cut in 1″ cubes  (don’t cut off the crust please)

Streusel:
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup almonds, or walnuts, or pecans
2 tab. butter
powdered sugar

Plus–Whipping Cream to top it all off (of course) (– or you could settle for ice cream!)

In a large skillet, heat the 1 tab. canola oil and butter.  Add the bananas to the skillet and cook one minute to soften.  Then pour in the rum, brown sugar and salt.  Cook 3 minutes more.  Remove from heat.

In the largest bowl you have, whisk together the sugar, eggs, half and half and evaporated milk, thoroughly until the eggs are completely blended in.  Add the bread cubes and bananas into the bowl and mix it all up.

Pour everything into a 9″x13″ baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray and pop it into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While that is cooking make the streusel. Combine the flour, brown sugar, oats and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two forks still it looks like crumbs.  Stir in the nuts.

After 20 minutes of baking, remove the bread pudding from the oven and sprinkle on the streusel.  Bake 30 minutes more until golden and set.  Let it cool a few minutes, and then dust with powdered sugar, shaking it through a sieve.  It is the yummiest served warm with a happy scoop of whipped cream.

Toffee Pecan Banana Bread

Hi all– This is our old family banana bread recipe.  I remember the square little waffled metal pan that my mom would bake it up in.  And my Grandma Rose made it too– usually slightly burnt, but still delicious!

I love it because the recipe’s so usable–get it into the oven in less than 10 minutes when you suddenly find you need something sweet for friends coming in.  And you can add all kinds of treats to make it even better.  Every Thanksgiving, at school my kids change out the banana for pumpkin and bake up 30 loaves in the cafeteria ovens! With whipped cream on top, it’s dessert.  So here’s my new favorite version with toffee and pecans.  Hope you like this old, but new, favorite.

TOFFEE PECAN BANANA BREAD
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 smashed bananas
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Heath (of Skor) candy bars, cut to nice little bits
1 cup pecans, chopped

Smash the bananas in the bottom of a mixing bowl with a fork until they are a smooth pulp.  Then stir in the oil, sugar and eggs.  Add in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix it just til thoroughly blended.  Finally, fold in the toffee bits and pecans.

Spoon it all into 1 standard (of two smaller) loaf pans* sprayed with cooking sprays and bake it up at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.  It will make your kitchen smell glorious!

*I like my 7″ long smaller loaf pans to make 2 loaves.  One to eat, one to give away!  And my mom used a 9″ square baking pan.

Banana French Toast with Caramelized Bananas

Hello there–  Oh bananas.  They’re the perfect ingredient.   From your first peanut butter & banana sandwich moving up to baking banana bread  and on to banana cream pie.  And have you made “Bananas Foster?”  They add their creamy sweetness to everything.  You gotta love ’em.  So here’s yet another recipe made even better by those old friends– bananas!

BANANA FRENCH TOAST
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk or half & half
1 large banana, smashed to a paste
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 loaf unsliced french bread*
maple syrup & chopped almonds to finish it off

Cut the bread into nice substantial slices.  Beat together the eggs, milk, banana, vanilla and brown sugar in a shallow bowl.  Dredge the bread slices in the egg mixture and brown both sides on a flat grill plan sprayed with cooking spray (or melted butter if you’re feeling luxurious).

CARAMELIZED BANANAS
4 tab. butter
4 tab. brown sugar
4 bananas, sliced into rounds

Heat the butter and brown sugar until it’s starting to bubble and all melty together.  Then add in the banana and stir until it’s thickened to nice gooey coated bananas.  Just needs to cook a couple minutes.  Spoon it over your french toast.  Add maple syrup and chopped almonds if you want a bit more sweetness and crunch.  Enjoy!

*I like sour dough loaf for french bread–has a nice tang to cut all the sweetness I pour on with that maple syrup.  Mmm.

Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Hey there–  Found this recipe that makes good old banana cream pie even better!  Add in rich dark chocolate and amber rum.  How’s that?  Took it to a friend’s house for dinner.  So I’m sad to say I only got to eat one piece. Creamy, rich, with that happy cooperation of banana and chocolate and the crumbling shortbread crust.  Oh mama!  I’ll have to find a reason to make another one again soon…

BLACK BOTTOM BANANA CREAM PIE
10 oz. shortbread cookies*
5 oz. butter melted
2 oz. bittersweet dark chocolate, cut into bits
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 egg yolks
2 tab. butter, cut into smallish pieces
2 tab. amber rum
1 tsp. vanilla
2 bananas
1 cup whipping cream**
1 tsp. vanilla instant pudding
1 tab. powdered sugar
chocolate shavings

Smash the shortbread cookies to crumbs (in a food processor or just just squished in a plastic bag with a rolling pin).  Mix the crumbs together with the 5 oz. of melted butter and press them into a 9 or 10″ pie pan.  Stick this in the freezer to set while you make the custard.

Put the dark chocolate bits in a heat proof bowl and set aside.  To make the custard, put the milk, sugar, corn starch and egg yolks into a pan.  Stir it up with a whisk continually over medium high heat until it thickens, 4 or 5 minutes.  (Beware–do not overcooks this or you’ll have an eggy mess.  Trust me, I know how that goes!)

Then scoop 1/2 cup of the custard into the bowl with the chocolate.  Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 tab. of the cream and stir it up.  Spread it over the cold crust and pop it into the fridge (not freezer)

To the remaining custard, stir in 2 tab. butter and rum.  Stir it up and put it in the fridge for an hour– stirring occasionally.

To put it all together.  Beat the remaining whipping cream with the pudding mix and powdered sugar.  Slice the bananas in cute little circles evenly over the chocolate in the crust.  Layer on the custard. The spoon the whipped cream over the top. Stick it in the fridge for 20 or 30 minutes to set up.  Garnish with chocolate shavings just before you serve it to hungry, happy  friends.

*I used pecan sandies for the crust
**If you keep the whipping cream cold and stick your beaters in the freezer for a few minutes before you beat the cream, it will set up easier.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

Hello there– This is one of those friendly little cakes that you can put together in just a few minutes– warm and homey.  I made this one to drop off for a friend who has sisters fly in for a “sister week” every year.  They bicycle and spend a couple days down by the beach, cook together and talk and laugh and talk…  They’ve been doing it forever through the ups and downs of life. …I hope they all like the cake.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
1 large banana, smashed
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup dark chocolate chunks*
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (or more if you like nuts as much as I do)

Smash the banana in a big mixing bowl.  Then stir in the oil, brown sugar. egg and vanilla.  Second, blend in the flour, baking powder and salt.  And finally mix in the chocolate and nuts.  The batter will be stiff–turn it into a 9″ cake pan or springform pan** sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, just until it is fully set and firm to the touch.  (better a bit mushy the over baked!)  Last step–share some with a friend.

*I used the Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips– they are bigger, brighter than regular chips.
** I like a springform pan because it’s easier to get the cake out of the pan and onto a pretty cake plate to serve it up.

Enjoy!

Banana Poke Cake

Hi y’all– I think this cake is banana’s answer to strawberry short cake– it’s chock full of bananas, creamy pudding and topped with crunchy almonds.  So likable!  I think you would want to get acquainted with it yourself. Here it is:

BANANA POKE CAKE
1 yellow cake mix
canola oil
3 eggs
large size banana pudding mix
(cook & serve style, not instant)
2 1/2 cups milk
3 bananas
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 heaping tsp. powdered cugar
1 tsp. instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup toasted almonds*
1/3 cup sugar

.   .   .   .            .   .   .   .

Mix up the cake mix according to the directions on the box.  Spoon the batter into a 9″x13″ pan or a large 11″ round springform pan, that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until it comes out firm to the touch.

While the cake is cooking, put the banana pudding mix and the 2 1/2 cups milk into a pan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until it comes to a boil and thickens.  Then take a wooden spoon handle and poke holes all over the top of your cake.  Carefully spoon the hot pudding onto the cake, patting it down into the holes.  Then set it in the fridge to cool.

When the pudding is cool, use the mixer to whip the cream with the powdered sugar and the instant vanilla pudding.  Top the cake with the bananas, sliced into nice little rounds.  And then pile on the whipped cream.

Then toss the almonds and sugar in to a nonstick pan and cook them over medium high heat until the sugar melts and gets caramel-y and coats the almonds.  Spoon them out of the pan onto a piece of foil.  When they are completely cooled, sprinkle them over the whipped cream.  You’re done!  …and it’s so pretty.

Crunchy Banana Oatmeal

Hello oatmeal fans–  Yesterday I spent the entire day cooking up food to send to you on the blog– Laurel and my mom were my taste testers– 3 breakfasts, a couple lunch treats, 3 dishes for dinner and 2 desserts!  It was a real cook-o-rama!!  But my favorite dish of the day was this crunchy banana oatmeal.  Delish!!

CRUNCHY BANANA OATMEAL
2 bananas, smooshed to a paste
2 2/3 cups oatmeal
4 cups milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tab. melted butter (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
more bananas, sliced
granola
sliced almonds
honey

Mix the smashed bananas, oatmeal, milk, brown sugar, butter and salt up and pour it into a 2 quart baking dish.  Cook it up at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Then spoon it into bowls and top it off with bananas, granola, sliced almonds and a drizzle of honey.

If you’re an oatmeal aficionado like me, I promise you’ll like this one!