Gluten Free Banana Nut Bread

I’m on a GF kick.  Not because anyone in our house requires GF but because my best friend, who is, challenged me to make a good GF Banana Nut Bread.  And I love a good challenge. 

When I first started baking as a teen, I used to love making banana bread.  My only problem was that I could never get the bread to have the little brown flecks synonymous with banana bread.  Mine usually came out of the oven and white as snow.  It tasted great but most people would say it looked nothing like traditional banana bread.  It took me almost 10 years to finally get it with the flecks.  Now I have a great banana bread recipe but decided to tweak it with the request for gluten free.

I took out the butter and buttermilk and replaced with apple sauce and Greek yogurt. So if you take out the walnuts and chocolate chips, this truly would be a non-fat bread.  As it stands now it’s low fat! You could also use stevia or honey in place of the white sugar.

Recipe:

• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 cups GF flour (my fav is Cup 4 Cup)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Prepare two loaf pans and set aside.
3. In bowl of a stand mixer, combine all ingredients excluding walnuts and chocolate chips.
4. When just combined, remove paddle and fold in walnuts and chips.  If you mix too much, the bread gets a bit chewy.
5. Divide batter into two and bake for 30-40 minutes. Or until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let stand 10 minutes and then remove from pan.
7. Cool.  Keeps wrapped for 4-5 days, or in freezer 3-4 weeks.
8. Enjoy!

This bread is fabulous! I gave one loaf to a friend who just had a baby and ate the other.  Yup all by myself.  Rob doesn’t like nuts baked into things plus he wasn’t here to complain about it :)

You could also use regular all-purpose flour but when Sapna gave me the challenge I was all over it!  So if you have a bakers challenge for me, I’m always up for it!

Thanks for looking!

English Muffins

There is just something about nooks and crannies!  Last weekend I had a craving for an English muffin and alas we did not have any.  I’ve also been watching Downton Abby and so have become a little nostalgic for all things British. 

Since I’ve been not allowed to do anything since my epidural shot on Thursday, my hubby set me up in bed with a constant supply of Canadian tea (because US tea is shyte) and Amazon Prime where I could watch the first season of Downton Abby.  Have you seen it yet?  Oh my, it’s a must.  There’s something about pomp and circumstance in the British aristocracy.  LOVE IT.  And Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall) is in it, so it’s pretty awesome.  Also tons of actors where you don’t necessarily know their names but know them to see them.  ;)

Back to the English Muffins.  I went online and did a search and came to rest on a trusted bread recipe site.  King Arthur Flour.  I love their unbleached flour and decided to give their recipe a try.  My first shock was to find out that you fry the muffins on very low setting and not bake them.  So you can’t really start them and walk away, this requires your full attention.  I also just love fresh bread, there truly is nothing better.

I started the recipe Sunday afternoon before I realized I had to corn meal.  So I popped the dough into the fridge overnight and made a quick run to the grocery store to get the corn meal.

I followed the recipe fairly closely except I used honey instead of sugar and my goodness they were amazing.

Whilst laid up in bed after my needle on Thursday, Rowan brought me a snack of English muffin with butter and jam.  She kept helping me eat the other half of the muffin, so I required two orders or in the end just one full muffin, but when she went back down after the 2nd time asked for a muffin just for herself.  SUCCESS.  Honestly, if you can get the kids to eat whatever you make and they go back for thirds you’ve accomplished a lot!

Recipe:  as adapted by King Arthur Flour

• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm milk
• 3 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 4 to 4 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• white corn meal, for sprinkling the griddle or pan

1. In bottom of stand mixer bowl add milk, honey and yeast.  Allow the yeast to start to bubble.
2. Add remaining ingredients except corn meal and using a dough hook, turn on mixer until the dough is combined and pulling away from the bowl.
3. Place dough into greased bowl and let stand to rise to double it’s size.  Punch down and repeat.
4. Sprinkle surface with corn meal and roll out dough to 1 inch thickness and cut out 3” circles.
5. Let stand for 20 minutes on baking sheet. 
6. Heat frying pan on low heat. Once pan is warm, sprinkle with corn meal and “fry” 4 muffins at a time.  8 minutes per side, flip and another 8 minutes.  Check after 4 mins for colouring.  I had to increase the heat on the pan for the first batch to get the right colour but found the corn meal started to smoke a bit.  The rest of the muffins were perfect.
7. Once done, cool completely on rack.  Fork open and place in toaster.  Add butter and jam and enjoy!

These were superb.  Enough said.  And also a welcome comfort during a week of not so much comfort.

I hope you’ll try them, you may never buy another English muffin from the store.  I know I won’t.

Thanks for looking!

Baked Cinnamon French Toast

Well my first new recipe for 2013 was a success.  It’s what happens when you get up too early because you have to pee and can’t go back to bed because if you do the pain will be excruciating.  The joys of a herniated disc. So this past Sunday morning I was up bright and early and decided to try something new.

Now the girls don’t like French toast in the traditional soak bread in egg and fry in pan way.  But they do like eggs and toast and all things sugary, so I thought I’d try the baked method of French Toast.

I had also seen on Pinterest several versions that added a crumble to the top, so I did that as well.  And what can I say but delish.  Now you shouldn’t eat the entire dish without consequence but then I won’t judge if you do :)

Recipe: for a 6x6” square pan, serves 4, Cal: 335 per serving

• 3 pieces of your choice of bread
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cold butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 and Pam the baking dish, very important
2. Tear up bread into small pieces and line the pan.
3. In separate bowl, mix together eggs, whites, cream, vanilla and white sugar.
4. Pour over bread and let stand 15 minutes
5. Mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.  Make sure it’s clumpy and spread over bread and egg mixture.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  The topping should be fairly crispy to the touch.
7. Let stand 5 minutes then divide by four and serve.
8. A little real Canadian maple syrup on top just pushes it over the edge!
9. Enjoy

So what happens if you don’t Pam the dish before you bake…this!

It soaked all day and through the dish washer and I still have to scrub some of it off.  UGH!  So Pam or oil spray please, you’ll thank me.

Now I wouldn’t serve this every morning but as a weekend treat for brunch is delightful.  For the four of us in this house, the toast got 3 thumbs up and one no comment as she refused to try it.  She’s very very picky. Still 3 out of 4 is pretty good, so we’ll have this again for sure!

Thanks for looking and I hope you come back again!