“By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by National Dairy Council and the Quaker Oats Center of Excellence and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.”
I never quite understood the term “quick bread.”
I mean, I get it logically. You don’t have to add yeast. In theory, a good banana bread should take less time to complete than dough takes to rise. But if I may define my own idea of “quick bread” for you, it would be bread that’s prepared and out of the oven in less than a half hour. Or even more ideally, bread that appears out of thin air. If this whole music career thing gets tough (haha… if) I’m going to invent a device that dispenses fresh, warm, delicious loaves of bread instantly at the push of a button. “Carb-O-Matic.” Patent pending.
I already have a few recipes for “quick” breads in my arsenal, including this one, this one, and possibly this one (I think scones count). In my opinion, though, you can never really have too many – despite my impatience, quick breads really are quite convenient to put together. As a result, they’re great for brunches, gift-giving, and pot lucks, and can often be repurposed as a muffin recipe, and won’t take a big chunk out of your day. That was a HUGE requirement for me when creating this recipe in particular. If you follow me on Instagram, you may know that the past week and a half has been a bit of a crazy roller coaster ride. I packed up one apartment and moved into another, changed cities, and then packed up a day later to go away AGAIN with my family. I’m now enjoying some well-deserved R&R (aside from the placement exam and audition prep for graduate school), but before I left, I promised that I’d spend my last night at home whipping up a nice recipe for this month’s Recipe Redux challenge, hosted by Quaker Oats and the National Dairy Council.
This bread is delicious fresh, as is, or toasted, but I would recommend storing it in the refrigerator if you do not plan to eat it all immediately as it is very moist. Enjoy!
In a food processor, grind oats into a very fine flour. Sift flour into a medium bowl.
Add baking powder and salt, and mix to combine.
Whisk eggs and yogurt together in a separate mixing bowl until smooth, then whisk in almond extract, honey, and sparkling water.
Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir gently to combine – do not overmix.
Gently fold in blueberries, and transfer batter to a greased loaf pan. If desired, sprinkle a few extra blueberries and some slivered almonds onto the batter before baking.
Bake about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Notes
For a sightly sweeter bread, increase the amount of honey.
“Ew, Sarah, why would you EVER put sea salt and bananas together?” – You
What can I say, I’m good at reading minds. But you know what I was slightly less good at until recently? Baking banana bread. It has literally (and I mean literally, not figuratively…there is, in fact a difference) taken me YEARS to come up with the perfect banana bread recipe. I posted one back in my Tumblr-blogging days that I’m pretty sure consisted mostly of chia seeds. Not to hate on chia seeds (they have their time and place), but this recipe is tastier for sure, and just as healthy. Now, to address your sea salt inquiry, it’s pretty much universal knowledge these days that sea salt and dark chocolate are the new power couple. Caramel tries to make it a love triangle, but I am definitely on Team Chocolate. And lately, I have been putting dark chocolate in and on everything I can get my hands on.
Why?
Well, I’m celebrating, because (Spoiler: if you follow me on Instagram, then neither of the following things are going to be “big news” to you) after a whirlwind year of suddenly changing plans and deciding NOT to take a year off, I took graduate auditions and was accepted to everywhere I applied! I’m going to be pursuing my Master’s degree next year at the conservatory of my dreams in New York City, and I couldn’t be more excited. I also gave my senior recital a few weeks ago to a lot of positive feedback, which means I officially CAN graduate and go to New York City. Also, Ithought the performance went well had a lot of fun giving it, which for self-doubting and perpetually unsatisfied me was kind of big.
So, yeah… I’m declaring that I now deserve to put chocolate in everything. You can judge me or whatever, but you’re going to be thanking my little chocolate binge when you taste this banana bread. Notice I said when, not if, because that’s how sure I am that you need to make it immediately.
Just in case you’re not convinced yet and need a REALLY compelling reason to make it (other than that it’s chocolate banana bread and because I said so), it will use up your ugly, mushy, seemingly inedible bananas. I bet you’ve thrown out some spotty/browning bananas in your time, thinking they were unusable. Think again, my friend – your banana-wasting days have passed, because for this recipe and banana bread in general, the spottier the better! (Unless they’re actually rotten and wrinkled… Then you probably shouldn’t cook with them. :P)
These are what perfect banana bread bananas look like. <3
Also, this bread came out super moist, and has just the right texture! You could also omit the chocolate chips or walnuts (or both) and the base recipe would come out fine. I will definitely be keeping this as my go-to banana bread recipe!
1 cup unbleached whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup oat flour (may do 1 and 1/2 cups oat flour for gluten free alternative)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup 60% dark chocolate chips, plus 1 tbs. for melting
1/4 cup walnuts
Sea Salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350˚F.
In a mixing bowl, mash peeled bananas thoroughly until mostly smooth. Some small lumps of fruit will remain, that’s ok!
Mix in melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla, and then add the egg/egg white (adding the egg and coconut oil too closely together may cause the egg to cook in the hot oil).
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients (except for the 1 tbs. of chocolate chips for melting), and then slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.*
Melt the remaining chocolate chips, pour onto the batter, and swirl with a fork. Sprinkle the top lightly with sea salt, and bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Notes
*I recommend using coconut oil spray, which I swear by for baking, roasting, and sauteeing! So flavorful, and so much better for you than most non-stick sprays.
There are some concepts in this world that are simply genius. For example, the other day, I dubbed February 14th “Violin-tines Day.” This was not because I think that Valentine’s Day is essentially pointless, and that we don’t need a holiday to celebrate our loved ones. It also was not because I’m eternally single on Valentine’s Day. Well, maybe that was part of it. But seriously, it was because violins are awesome and the word play was crazy good. And thus was born my genius idea of the week.
I wish I could take credit for this week’s recipe idea, because it’s also truly genius. I don’t know exactly who originally invented the “cornbread quiche,” but I first discovered the combination on Imma Eat That, and have been drooling over the idea since. Upon Googling, I found other cornbread quiches as well, so my attempt is now sadly past the point of “groundbreaking.” But, I attempted to be original, my first attempt came out very well, and I ate so much of it at Sunday brunch that I thought I might literally become groundbreaking, so I guess that’s something.
Also, you know who else is a genius? Johann Sebastian Bach. Before you roll your eyes and give me a huge “DUH,” I listened to Bach cantatas while making this quiche, which I’m 99% sure is why it turned out so well. Just thought that was worth mentioning…
Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, almond milk, and honey.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then stir in the melted coconut oil (this will avoid cooking the egg with the hot oil).
Pour batter into a greased, deep oven safe pan or dish – the pan should be big enough that the batter forms a thin layer at the bottom. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the mixture is just set, and remove from oven.
Quiche
Whisk eggs, egg whites, and almond milk, then add in cheddar and set aside.
In a pan, sauté chopped onion with garlic and a small amount of oil.
Set onions aside, then sauté the spinach in a separate pan and cover until slightly wilted, making sure to drain any excess water. Once spinach and onions have cooled, add them and the chopped tomato to egg mixture.
Season with salt and pepper, then pour on top of the cornbread crust. Return to oven, and continue to bake for about 25 minutes, or until the egg mixture is solid throughout. If the center jiggles when you move the pan, it’s not done. I baked the quiche for about 15 minutes with aluminum foil on top, and then removed the foil for the last 10 minutes.
I’m back! It feels so nice to return to posting after several weeks of “hiatus” and a few days of remodeling the site. Although I’ve stayed up-to-date on social media, I know I’ve been completely neglecting my blog, and that makes me sad. Especially since I keep excitedly hashtagging “#ontheblog soon” on Instagram, and then not actually following through. Isn’t that abysmal? Maybe you’ll forgive me, since preparing for graduate auditions, practicing for my senior recital, and attempting to play violin in general have taken up all of my time over the past few months. Which is weird, since I still can’t play violin. I’ll keep trying though, and maybe one day I’ll understand how this thing I’ve been doing for 17 years actually works. Maybe. I did start a practice journal, which for the past…. three days (haha) has proven itself to be pretty efficient so far. Planning out my weekly/daily practice goals and logging my progress has already helped me to approach my music from a fresh angle. Yesterday didn’t go as well, but I kind of sealed my fate when I attempted to practice solo rep after playing orchestra music for five hours. (Stupid…)
In other news, I just applied to graduate, which is strange, since I SWEAR I just got to college. Before I know it, I’ll have to be making mundane adult decisions, like whether “eggshell” or “tropical sand” is a better paint color for the cardboard box I’m living in master bedroom. I’m not quite there yet, so over winter break when I wasn’t obsessing over the future, practicing, or resisting the allure of Netflix, I was developing recipes like crazy. Some of the recipes were amazing, and some were… not. I made this granola for family and friends as a holiday gift, so I had several rounds of baking to perfect it. It didn’t really take many tries, since the first round was pretty great, but needless to say, this recipe has joined the ranks as “amazing,” and I will definitely be making my own granola from now on! I always like to make my own foods whenever possible and avoid store bought products, since it’s healthier (and often times, cheaper) to be in control of what goes into your food.
This recipe contains all “real” ingredients, and can be modified to fit your dietary needs/wishes. You can customize granola easily, and I admittedly had a little help from Buzzfeed when I made the first batch. Their article really helped give me a good idea about proportions, but I was able to tweak a couple things here and there until the final product was perfectly crisp, crunchy, nutty, sweet, and crackly. I hope you enjoy this granola as I much as I do (I literally had some in a cup of Chobani while typing this… I can’t stay away)!
Unsweetened dried cranberries (optional after baking)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 300˚F.
In a large bowl, mix oats, chopped pecans, unsweetened coconut, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, vanilla, and egg whites, and then stir into the oat mixture.
Melt your coconut oil, and then add it to the oat mixture after maple/vanilla/egg (this helps to avoid the coconut oil solidifying in the cold egg/the egg cooking in the hot coconut oil).
Once all of your ingredients are together, pour them into a tray that’s lined with parchment paper. Using clean hands or a spatula, spread and flatten the mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until the mixture becomes golden brown at the edges and you start salivating from granola fumes. At that point, I like to break my granola up into little chunks with a spatula, mix, and return it to the oven to continue toasting for a bit, maybe 5-10 minutes, until all of the little bits are golden brown.
Remove from oven, and mix in dried cranberries if desired.
This cornbread is adapted from a recipe by Paula Deen, but does not contain butter, refined sugar, or milk products of any kind. It is, however, incredibly delicious and moist. (Note: I hate the word moist, but I can’t think of any other word to accurately describe this bread’s moistness.) It also goes absolutely perfectly with my Pumpkin Kale Turkey Chili.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs, maple syrup, and almond milk. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and mix well.
Once fully combined, add melted coconut oil and stir. It’s okay if the resulting batter is somewhat lumpy.
Add the dates, stir, and pour the batter into a greased baking dish. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Notes
Mine took about a half hour because I used a deeper, narrower baking dish. In the last 5-10 minutes of baking, I put foil over the dish to keep the heat from escaping.
