Banana-Nut Muffins

The search is over. The perfect banana bread recipe is mine.

Goodbye hours spent buried in cookbooks. Goodbye time wasted scouring websites and food blogs. I don't need you any more. This recipe for banana bread from joyofbaking.com is it. I am never ever going to search for another banana bread/muffin recipe, ever (well, at least that's what I'm claiming for now).

The first time I used the joyofbaking banana bread recipe was for this Banana-Chocolate Chip Bread that changed my life. This time, I used it for some Banana-Nut Muffins. And, I am telling you, this banana bread is the real deal.

Using the same banana bread base I used before, I omitted the chocolate chips and added some walnuts and cinnamon instead.
And used a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan (it cooks quicker, if you are short on time).
The results were spectacular. Not only did my house smell like delicious banana baked goods for at least a day, but also the muffins themselves were scrumptious.
How sweet it is for the search to be over!

Banana Nut Muffins (from joyofbaking.com)
1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place oven rack to middle position. Grease a muffin tin, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. (The important thing is not to over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth). Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes and then remove the bread from the pan.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Beet Bread, the quick kind

Beets are awesome: shredded raw or roasted and warm, I rarely have them around for long enough to do anything with them other than just eating them straight up.  Luckily, I've been busy and not cooking much, so when i got to them this week, my beets were tired, shriveled, and soft. So I decided I would bake with them!

Here's my thought process: zucchini bread is delicious. So why wouldn't beet bread be equally delicious?

I scoured the interweb for some beet quickbread recipes, but to my surprise, could not find any.  So I took a zucchini bread recipe from epicurious and ran with it. I still can't get over how beautifully color-saturated the batter was, and how all that color dissipated after being cooked. But nonetheless, the bread was delicious! (pictured above with a basic cream cheese-lemon spread, the slightest bit sweetened).

Recipe
Adapted from Epicurious.com's Sweet Potato and Zucchini Bread:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cups sugar (1.5 would have been better)
  
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups grated beets (raw) 
• 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
  

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together all the dry ingredients (flour through salt) in medium bowl; mix together all the wet ingredients (sugar through vanilla) in a large bowl, then add the beets, then the dry ingredients and then the walnuts.
I cooked them in mini loaves, so it only took 40 minutes. If you're making a big loaf, count up to 80 minutes of bake time (or until a toothpick comes out clean).

As noted in the recipe, next time I'll use a bit more sugar (I cut the amount in 1/2 from the recipe I was following) and I think I might try using zucchini along with the beets because i think it would be pretty... And i have to play around with the spices a bit more... any recommendations are welcome!