Bodacious Banana Blueberry Bread

It's been over a month since I posted a recipe!  And....the last thing I posted was a  fruit bread. Delicious as it was, and many of you made it and reported your outcome, this is a bit of a repeat on the theme.  However, it'll be one worth printing off and putting in your file as it will be the best banana bread you will ever make.  I thought I had posted this a long time ago. Then, I happened to be reading a recipe tip at this place about adding cooled coffee to a brownie mix. I thought what a great idea that is for making it a bit gourmet, and I said wow, I do that with my banana bread and realized I never shared this recipe on the blog. That was a huge run-on sentence, and I don't care... ;-)  So, here it is. Cooled coffee tip and so bodacious.... You've just got to try it.  Plus, you can practice your tongue-twisting capabilities when you talk about it, especially when you add my name to the title.

If you own my cookbook, you know that I recommend baking the bread in one large loaf pan. Today I wanted to make small breads and give three of them away. I actually kind of liked them like that, petite, you can freeze the others, give them away, etc.  I baked them for around 45 minutes at the same oven temperature.  And, of course, when blueberries are not in season you can just omit them.  Enjoy, and let me know in the comment section how you loved it.




BETH'S BODACIOUS BANANA BLUEBERRY BREAD (Say that five times fast)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mash 2 very ripe, large bananas. Stir in 1/4 cup of cooled strong, black coffee and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together 2 cups of sifted flour, 1/2 tsp. of baking soda, 1/2 tsp. of salt, and 1 tsp. of cinnamon.

In yet another bowl, cream 1/2 cup of softened butter with 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar.  Stir in 1 tsp. of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp. of almond extract. Add 2 eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture and the mashed bananas alternately to the creamed mixture, combining well after each addition.  It's not necessary to beat it to death, though, as this can make for a tough outcome. Stir in 1/2 cup of broken walnut pieces if you like nuts in your bread.  When blueberries are in season, 1/2 cup gently folded in with the walnuts in awesome.

Pour the batter into a loaf pan that has been coated with cooking spray.  Or, prepare 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray and divide the batter evenly.  Bake one large loaf for an hour at least, or until a tester comes out clean.  Or bake the mini loaves for about 45 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack for cooling, then wrap in foil when cool.

Below at a glance is the list of ingredients you will need:

• Ripe bananas
• Brewed coffee
• Flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Cinnamon
• Butter
• White sugar
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Almond Extract
• Eggs
• Walnuts
• Blueberries (when available)

Brown Eyed Susans

When I put together my cookbook a year or so ago, I knew this recipe would have to be part of it. So old is this recipe, I can remember coming home from school and seeing a batch of these on the countertop. As busy as my mother was with four children, she somehow found the time.  If you own the book, you know that I featured this recipe in the dessert section by putting a picture of the original recipe from the back of a Parkay Margarine box. It was so stained and tattered, it tells a big tale, and a happy one too, of those little things that my mother did for us.  Today I went to visit her at her new "home" and brought her some of these cookies so she could decide which lucky resident would get one of them. I wonder if my mother realizes how this silly little recipe that has stuck with me for many years longer than I care to mention has had such an impact on me.  Try the recipe and see for yourself if you think this isn't one of the best shortbread cookies you've ever eaten.  Of course, Parkay Margarine is a thing of the past, so I've used butter here instead, and what's not to like about that?

BROWN EYED SUSANS

1 cup softened butter
3 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. pure almond extract
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Cream the butter. Add the sugar, almond extract, flour and salt.  Roll this mixture into small balls the size of a walnut. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. With your thumb or finger, make a deep indentation in the center of the dough. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven on the middle rack for about ten minutes until lightly browned on the bottoms. When cool, frost with:

1 cup of confectioners sugar
2 Tbs. cocoa
2 Tbs. hot water
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift together the sugar and the cocoa. Add the hot water and vanilla and beat well. Make sure the cookies are completely cooled, then top each cookie with a small amount of frosting. If the frosting becomes thick or hardened while waiting for the batches to cool, add a drop of water and mix it up again. Don't overdo it with the frosting, as you want to end up with a nice little round blob of frosting atop each cookie!

The original recipe called for a blanched almond half to be placed in the center of the frosting, but Mom never did it this way, and we thought they were awesome. I did, however, have sliced almonds on hand and thought the addition of a small thin slice of almond on top would make the perfect decoration for these delicious shortbread cookies.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth Brown Eyed Susans