Bananamania

My last post mentioned that I had recently purchased 40 pounds of bananas.  I froze many of them so I can make them into smoothies.  But I didn't freeze all of them.  I googled "banana recipes" to see what would pop up and then had fun experimenting.  Here are the banana things I've tried lately.  And sorry, I only took a picture of one of them.

1.  Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins - Grade: A+ 

You really can't go wrong here with this recipe.  Simple and delicious (with chocolate!).  Recipe is below for those interested.

2.  Banana Whoopie Pies - Grade: B+

They were fairly easy to make, the filling is cream cheese based.  Everyone else who tried them really enjoyed them, but I think the cream cheese filling threw me off a bit.  It was a little too cream cheesy for my liking, but I'm not a huge fan of piles of cream cheese to begin with.  The banana cookie part was quite good too.  Click the name above for recipe if you desire.

3.  Banana Snack Cake - Grade: B

The first time I tried this, it was an A+, but this last time, not sure what happened, but it just wasn't as good.  I definitely enjoyed it, but it wasn't as great for snacking on as I remember the first time.

4.  Banana Split Blondies - Grade C, then turned into a B+

I really like blondies, which are basically a dense chocolate chip cookie bar.  So I was excited to try this recipe, even though I'm not a fan of banana splits.  I didn't have the cherries to add to the bars as the recipe called for.  Even if I had them, I would not have put them on my half of the recipe because I think they taste like nasty red cough syrup and not as delicious as Aaron claims for them to be.  So I made this recipe and tried it out while it was still somewhat warm from cooking.  It tasted and had the texture of mediocre banana bread - but with lots of chocolate chips.  It wasn't bad, but wasn't amazing, and definitely was nowhere near a blondie.  The next day when I tried it again, the chocolate chips had cooled and hardened back up, giving me a little more of the chewier texture I wanted and I felt the flavor had improved too.  Probably won't make them again though.

5.  Banana Pancakes - Grade D-

No one liked this recipe.  No one finished breakfast.  Not sure what the issue was with it, but they didn't turn out very good.  To start with, the combination of ingredients began to smell like banana baby food as it cooked.  If you've ever had a baby and have tasted the pureed banana that is passed off as baby food in a jar, then you will know what I mean.  It kind of had that nasty jarred banana flavor too (just so you know, we attempted the jarred banana baby food once and I was so grossed out that it was never again).  The pancakes were also difficult to get just right in cooking as the insides stayed a little mushy though the outsides were done - I worked on changing cooking temps, but still struggled to get them done on the inside.  Definitely a never again recipe for us! 

So after five banana recipes in as many days, and as you may have noticed, the grades kept falling, we got burned out on banana recipes.  It's been 3 days since I made anything with bananas now and there is just one more recipe I want to try.  I don't think I'll tell anyone that it has bananas in it as the kids were becoming suspicious of everything I made. 

So before I forget, here's my winner of a banana muffin recipe for you.

Mix together: 2 c. flour, 1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. baking soda, 2/3 c. oil, 1 c. sugar, 1 1/2 c. banana chunks, 3 eggs, 1/2 c. walnuts (I don't), and 1 c. chocolate chips (I do!).   Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  Special note for extra yumminess:  I use at least half raw and/or turbinado sugar in this recipe as it provides more chunks of sweetness to eat, and I also sprinkle on a bit of raw sugar on the top of each muffin before baking to add a small layer of crunchy sweetness to every bite.  Mmmm.  Love them!

Do you have any good banana recipes for me?