Best Ever Banana Bread EVER!

For weeks I was dying for banana bread (Bananas being my favorite fruit!) and I was talking to my mom about it and she said my oldest sister just send her a recipe for some. I freaked! So I got the recipe and got busy. After I made it, it was gone in less than an hour. I only got one piece, sadly. This was all last week, but I didn’t think of even posting it until some family friends brought over a huge case of over ripe bananas this morning. So that is my story, now go make some banana bread

 BANANA BREAD RECIPE:

 3 Large Ripe Bananas

 1 Cup Sugar

 1 Egg

 4 Tablespoons Butter, melted and cooled

 1 1/2 Cup Flour

 1 Teaspoon Salt

 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

 1/2 Cup Walnuts (Optional)

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mash banana; beat in sugar. Add egg and melted butter, mix well. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda; add to banana mixture, mixing just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into lightly greased 9 x 5 loaf pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes

Enjoy!!!

Apple Butter Recipe

As you all know from a previous post I have been making apple butter. So for all of you who are too far to get it from me you can now make it on your own! Just to let you all know mine came out way thicker than the picture. I wanted everyone who makes this recipe to know that so they do not think they messed it up. ENJOY<3

*All rights belong to Paleo Leap!

Apple Butter Recipe

PREP: 15 min. COOK: 5 hrs.
Ingredients

• 4 lbs. apples, cored and quartered; ( I used Pink Lady Apples, my favorite!)
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar;
• 2 tsp. cinnamon; (I used more)

Preparation

1. Place all the apple slices and the apple cider vinegar in a slow cooker set on high and cook for 4 hours. (It took mine 2-3 hours)
2. Stir several times during the cooking, to make sure the apples don’t stick to the bottom.
3. Once the apples are cooked, they should be soft enough to break easily with a spoon. Mash them with a potato masher or a wooden spoon until you get a sort of applesauce with skin.
4. Place the applesauce in a blender and pulse until you get a really fine puree with an almost buttery texture. You might need to work in batches for this.
5. Pour the apple butter back to the slow cooker. Mix in the cinnamon and cloves. Cook on high, uncovered, for another 45 to 60 minutes or until you get the desired texture.
6. Place in jars and refrigerate.

Roast and Salt Your Own Sunflower Seeds

Okay, I am going to make a long story short. Sunflower seeds are a big thing in this house hold! So, when my mom bought raw because they were out of salted-roasted ones, we thought nothing of it! We figured it would be almost exactly like the salted-roasted ones, but we were wrong! BIG TIME! Raw sunflower seeds are chewy and very bland. When my dad told me to go ahead and salt them and roast them I thought " Okay, this can't be too hard". When I went to look up what temperature to set the oven at I saw you do not just toss them in the oven, and wait for them to be done. You actually boil them with the salt to infuse the salt flavor, then you roast them.  The best thing about this little mishap is the fact that we can add our own flavoring to them (ex: we did jalapeno salt). 

Roasted In-Shell Sunflower Seeds Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 45 minutes
• Yield: Makes one cup of roasted sunflower seeds 

Ingredients

• 1 Cup raw in-shell sunflower seeds
• 1/4 Cup table salt
• 1 Quart water

 

 

1. Place sunflower seeds, salt, and water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Drain the water from the seeds and spread the seeds out in a single layer in a sheet pan. Place in a 400°F oven on the top rack and roast for 10 to 15 minutes.  Starting at about 10 minutes. If they are not roasted yet to your satisfaction, return them to the oven for another 2 to 5 minutes.  Keep checking every few minutes until they are dry enough and roasted to your satisfaction. The seeds can quickly go from done (dry and easy to bite to open) to charred (browned on outside and black on the inside). So as the time gets closer, keep an eye on it.

Chewy Gooey Flourless Chocolate Cookies

Today I am sharing one of my favorite cookies recipes. When I first heard of flourless cookies I thought "YUCK!", but I was very very wrong! These are so easy to make, and super quick!
This recipe was taken from Recipegirl

Chewy Gooey Flourless Chocolate Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

Prep Time: 25 min

Cook Time: 14 min

Nicknamed "Black Friday Cookies," these treats can be mixed up and baked rather quickly to enjoy after a long day of shopping on Black Friday... the day after the American Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 4 large egg whites, at room temperature ( most of the time I use 4 )
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. If you like give it a light swoosh of cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together powdered sugar with cocoa powder and salt. Whisk in egg whites (start w/ just two) and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened. You're looking for a brownie-like, thick and fudgy batter consistency. If it seems too thick, add another egg white-- then a 4th one if it still seems too thick. Gently stir in chocolate chips.
3. Spoon batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 12 evenly spaced mounds per cookie sheet. I like to use a spring-release cookie scoop. Bake about 12-14 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked. Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto wire racks. Let cookies cool completely, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
4. Enjoy EVERY last bite!

                                                  Brittany-Ann 

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Okay, hands down this is better than any chocolate syrup you can get in the store! We always have some in the fridge. I love to drizzle it over ice cream, frappes, chocolate milk (Of course), etc... But enough of my rambling!


Chocolate Syrup:

1cup Water
1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 cups Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla



Combine the water and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium while stirring to dissolve the cocoa. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Bring to a boil and heat for 3 minutes, watch carefully to avoid boiling over. (Turn down heat, if necessary.) Remove from the heat and mix the salt and vanilla. Let set to cool. Use funnel to pour into a clean glass jar with lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. Enjoy!

Makes: approx. 2 cups

Triple Chocolate Muffins

Hi everyone,

To start off this post I am just going to say "these are some of BEST muffins EVER!" I would like to thank "The Keenan Cookbook" for finding this recipe! I made these one day when my parents were gone and I was babysitting my little siblings. I went on Google and got to work, I kept telling my self "I don't think your going to find anything worth making" but I was wrong!

 

Triple Chocolate Muffins

Yield: 12 Muffins

Ingredients

• ¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1¼ cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Fit a 12 muffin pan with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
2. Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Do not over mix the batter. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate and the semi-sweet chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing the muffins.