I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

banana bread

Nutty Chocolate Chip Banana Monkey Bread

Damn, toddlers are difficult.

Under statement of the year, right?

Besides stating all the obvious things like them freaking the eff out over dumb stuff like what shoes they want to wear (I swear we can NEVER find the pair she wants to wear right that very minute!) or the Minnie/Dora/Disney Princess of the cup she wants, we have entered a whole new realm of ‘fun’.

We have now entered the fun bed time fights that involve me moving things because they scare her. Last night I had to move a stack of framed pictures and canvases sitting on her dresser to get hung up since they “look like an alligator” Say what?!?

Then a little while later I had to move a bag in the hallway since it, again, looked like animals trying to eat her. 

Can’t wait to see what tonight brings!

Also, I was asking her what I should put into the monkey bread. We settled on adding in chocolate chips (duh!) to the bananas and nuts. She was too into watching Shimmer and Shine on my phone (our cable isn’t hooked up yet… ugh!) to help me make it so understand what I was doing because…

as soon as it was ready and we offered her some “monkey Bread” she refused “EWWWWWW NO MONKEY’S BREAD.” Well then…

 

It’s like a

I almost called this Chunky Monkey Monkey Bread but I was afraid the double ‘monkey’ in the name would be confusing. Maybe?

And that’s all my silly stories for today!

Nutty Chocolate Chip Banana Monkey Bread

Makes 10-12 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 packages of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
  • 1 Cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 bananas, thinly sliced (about 1/4″ thick)
  • 2/3 Cup finely chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans
  • 1 Cup chocolate chips
  • 1 Cup butter, melted

Process

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a fluted tube pan with non stick cooking spray
  • Cut each roll into 4 pieces.
  • Place half the banana slices, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips in the bottom of the pan.
  • Roll each piece into the blend of sugars and cinnamon. Then put into the tube pan.
  • Once half the pieces are in the tub pan, add the remaining slices of banana, nuts, and chocolate chips.
  • Finish putting the coated biscuit pieces into the tube pan then evenly pour the butter over all of the pieces.
  • Bake for 43-48 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before inverting on a platter for serving.

Classic Banana Bread

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This is my favorite banana bread.

Hands down FAVORITE.

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Plus it’s simple to make. So simple that I made this one handed. Yep, one handed.

The morning I was making this Autumn wanted to be held but also play with her toys on her mat so about every other minute she would yell from her mat at the top of her lungs and then I’d pick her up, she would stop and be happy to watch me make the banana bread. But then she would yell at the top of her lungs to be put back down. And then, after about a minute of playing around the yelling would begin again…

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So with her in my left arm I made this pretty much one handed. Thankfully I was at the point of cracking eggs when she was on the mat since I’m not great at doing that 1 handed.

Let’s get back to the banana bread.

It’s perfectly predictable. You know, banana-y and bread-y. It’s just that it has the best texture and flavor.

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I love the chunks of banana that are mixed into the creamy light batter. I often put chopped pecans in but I didn’t this time because I wanted to use the bread later on for french toast and I didn’t want the pecans in that. But I highly encourage you to put pecans in because they add such great flavor and texture.

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Classic Banana Bread

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour, but all-purpose works as well
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 overripe bananas
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped (optional)

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Prepare a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan by lightly greasing the surfaces.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  4. Put 2 bananas and the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix together for 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream.
  5. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  6. Mix in the dry ingredients until about 50% incorporated.
  7. Add in the 2 remaining bananas and chopped pecans. Mix together until the bananas are broken up but still in large chunks and the dry ingredients are more incorporated.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.
  9. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.
  10. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. Toast the slices of banana bread, dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve.

Adapted from Food Network

Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Banana Bread

I’m kinda the worst when it comes to buying bananas.

I buy several pounds of bananas when I go grocery shopping and then let them spoil since I forget about actually eating them… umm okay? Then as I stare at blackening bananas I think ‘ooo I’ll make banana bread’. But typically I don’t because I get to distracted with the million other things I have on my to do list.

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Well things changed this time when I was going through Peanut Butter Comfort: Recipes for Breakfasts, Brownies, Cakes, Cookies, Candies, and Frozen Treats Featuring America’s Favorite Spread and saw a doozey of a banana bread. It was not just a peanut butter banana bread but it ALSO had Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups involved.

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The perfect kind of recipe for a peanut butter lover.

Plus it didn’t hurt in this post-Halloween week when a massive bowl of candy was staring at me.

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This bread is light in texture and packs a peanut butter punch. Plus getting a piece of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the bread is always a fun surprise. I’m already thinking about making this again and then making french toast with it. I should, shouldn’t I?!?!

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Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Makes 1 9×5 loaf

Ingredients

  • 3 large ripe bananas
  • 1/2 cup vanilla or plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/3 cup cream peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6 full size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, diced into about 10 pieces each

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray a 9×5 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray, such as Pam, and then place onto a baking sheet.
  2. Slice 1/2 of a banana into 10 slices, approximately 1/8″ thick. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, mash the remaining 2 1/2 bananas.
  4. To the mashed bananas, mix in the yogurt, peanut butter, melted butter, vanilla extract, and the cinnamon.
  5. Mix in the eggs and sugars to the banana mixture.
  6. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
  7. Gently fold in 2/3 of the chopped peanut butter cups into the banana bread mixture.
  8. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and top with the sliced bananas and remaining diced peanut butter cups.
  9. Bake for 50-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center is clean upon removal. Let cool for at least 20 minutes prior to cutting and serving.

Adapted from Peanut Butter Comfort by Averie Sunshine

Banana Nutella Bread Pudding- SRC

Banana Nutella Bread Pudding

So probably picking a bread pudding for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post was not the best idea since it’s been so hot out now. Wasn’t I just complaining that it was cold and rainy? Well, that is the way things go in New England. But not or not I swear it’s worth it to make this bread pudding anytime of the year!

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club post I had Shirley’s blog Enriching You Kid!. It had such a fun time going through Shirley’s blog because she had such interesting recipes. I went through years and years of recipes looking around for something to make and share. I had several recipes in mind but decided on the Banana Nutella Bread Pudding. I couldn’t pass up on having some Nutella!!

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I kept all of the ingredients the same but played around with the proportions of the ingredients. Shirley’s recipe called for 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of bread. Since I prefer a bit drier of a bread pudding I changed up the amounts to 1 1/2 cups milk and 3 1/5 cups of bread. If you prefer a wetter bread pudding then increase the amount of milk and reduce the amount of bread a bit. Just as simple as that.

Hope that you enjoy this delightful bread pudding as much as we did 🙂

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Banana Nutella Bread Pudding

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups bread pieces
  • 1 banana, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons Nutella
  •  1/4 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts, optional

Process

  1. Beat together the milk, egg, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the bread, sliced banana, and the Nutella. Fold together completely to combine, let soak for 30 minutes.
  2. While the bread is soaking up the milk mixture, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and prepare a baking dish by greasing all the sides.
  3. Pour the bread pudding mixture into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle nuts on top.
  4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, then let stand for at least 10 minutes prior to serving.

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Secret Recipe Club



Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts

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