Banana Bread Muffins

My Hermit Crab has come and gone. She was only home for about a day and a half, but she crammed a lot into her short stay.

We had lasagna on Friday night, she went out with her High School BFF all afternoon Saturday to celebrate the BFF's birthday. When she got home, she ran to the local taco shack she used to work at in high school and we feasted on tacos and burritos and the awesome crispy potatoes. After dinner we cleared out the dining room and set up our pumpkin carving stations. HC took almost three hours to carve her pumpkin. The rest of us finished in about 40 minutes.

I knew she was jonesing for some homemade treats so I fixed her up with some banana bread and some Chocolate covered Peanut butter Crispy treats (recipe coming soon). I always struggle with making loaves of banana bread-you know, they get all nice and golden brown but the center sinks and it is a hot, gooey mess inside. I now make them in muffin or small loaf pans and they come out perfect.

It also allows me to customize the loaves and muffins since Drama Queen doesn't really like nuts, so I usually need to make 2 pans of bars, or take some of the cookie dough out before adding nuts so she can have nut-free treats. Seriously, my family is way too spoiled.

I have combined two of my recipes to make this one. I received passing marks from the entire family, so this one will need to go into rotation.

Banana Bread Muffins

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg (about 3 or 4 swipes on rasp)

3 very ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl, combine the flour, soda and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. (I did this in my stand mixer because of my wrist issues) Stir in beaten eggs, the spices and the bananas. When combined, stir flour mixture into wet mixture. Only stir until combined so you don't overwork the batter. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake 60-65 minutes. Or, use muffin tins that have been greased and bake about 28 minutes. Test with toothpick or cake tester. Cool in pan and then turn out onto rack to finish cooling. Wrap and store in fridge.

I store my banana bread in fridge because the peeps in this house like it a little more firm, plus I think the flavor is a little better this way.

Hermit Crab took a small loaf back to school to share with her roommate. I hope it made it to school and didn't get eaten in the car on the road trip back, or Debbie will be mad at me-I promised her some fresh banana bread.

Banana Cream....It's a Dream

Last week when I made the chicken stock, I also baked a pie. I had told Dude I could make him a Lemon Meringue since I had everything on hand, but he shook his head. Maybe you could make a banana cream? I haven't had that in forever. I searched through cookbooks and found one that was not based on Jello. I figured I might as well go all out.

This comes from Diner Desserts, the same book my Lemon Meringue pie comes from. It wasn't hard, but there were a few steps involved, but I had nothing going on at 2 in the morning.


Banana Cream Pie

1 pie crust

Filling
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3 TBSP cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2-1/2 cups whole milk (I used 1%)
2 TBSP unsalted butter, cut in TBSP's
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, medium sized
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Garnish
1-3/4 cups whipping cream
3 TBSP powdered sugar
1/2 vanilla extract
3 TBSP English toffee bits

Line your pie plate with pie crust and blind bake your crust for about 10-15 minutes until it is golden brown. Let cool on wire rack. For banana filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt until well combined; set aside. In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a gentle boil over medium-low heat. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk about 1/2 cup of hot milk into the egg mixture, then return the yolk mixture to saucepan with milk in it. Do this to temper the eggs so they won't scramble. Place pan over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle boil, whisking constantly. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in butter pats until melted. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Quickly strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. This will catch all the little pieces that didn't blend in completely and makes a smooth custard. Half-fill a large bowl with ice cubes and add cold water to cover ice cubes. Place the smaller bowl of custard in the ice 'bath' and allow to cool, stirring occasionally, for several minutes. Peel the bananas and slice them 1/4 inch thick into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and toss gently to cover all the slices. Arrange the banana slices in an even layer over the bottom of the pie crust, pressing them into the crust slightly. Scrape the custard filling over the banana pieces and smooth the top with an off-set spatula or the back of a large spoon. Refrigerate the pie for at least 3 hours before garnishing.

For topping, in an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream on medium-low speed for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and add the sugar and vanilla. Beat until the cream forms soft peaks. Scrape the cream into a pastry bag fitted with the star tip. Pipe cream over the custard in large rosettes, covering it completely. Sprinkle with the toffee bits.

As you can see in my photo, I didn't do the whipped cream garnish as I was taking it to work that night. I brought a can of the spray stuff so those that wanted cream could have it and those who didn't could pass. Plus I knew the topping would be weepy by the time they ate it 16 hours later. Dude said it was fantastic and wants it to be marked a keeper. The next time I do it, I will make it for dessert for a get together with friends and use the topping.

Unfortunately my brother's Dad did pass away this weekend. His wake was tonight and his funeral is tomorrow. I didn't do the wake, but will be driving up to the Cities tomorrow morning for the funeral. I realized yesterday that I had finished cleaning out my work closet and didn't have any dress pants left that were not capri's and didn't think a dress was an option. I decided to visit Marshall's as I have never shopped there before. Let me tell you, I had a blast! I have lost about 22 pounds since I started working in a factory so was able to shop in the misses department for the first time in a long time. You girls know how happy that makes us! I went for pants. Came home with black dress pants, yoga pants for our trip to be comfy on the plane, a darling pair of black almost-patent leather peep-toe pumps, a blouse, a cow-inspired print spring dress coat, a new exercise outfit, sunglasses, some fun elbow length rubber gloves, a microplane for cheese/chocolate, some candles, a body scrub and some good smelling kitchen soap. Dude looked at me and said "Um, I thought pants were on the list. This looks like more than pants". Then I whipped out the reusable shopping bag I bought for him-in a giraffe print! I redeemed myself!

Have a good weekend and Happy Valentines Day! We work, but we are getting our winter dinner catered in on Friday night. It is a pasta bar with meatballs, chicken and another type of protein that I can't remember. Guess I can sleep in Friday since I don't have to get up and make us lunch to pack up!