MADELEINES

 Cafe Treats Baker Deanna is a new addition to the Cafe Treats Bakers and also to our Blankets of Hope quilting group at the church. That's what I call jumping in feet first and she is contributing so much to both groups. We are blessed that she found Platte Woods United Methodist Church.

Deanna had a friend recommend making these Madeleines and even loaned her the pans to bake them. Deanna had so much fun making these she told me she was going to try and find the pans. I told her Friend Janice and I see them occasionally at estate sales so I would keep my eyes open looking for some.

Deanna sent me the recipe earlier in the week and said she would be making them later in the week. She just caught me at an alert moment so I asked her to take some pictures along the way and she did. Yay. I am such a visual learner and I love having pictures to show the process.

The recipe is really easy and taste great! Deanna said she thought the lemon zest really made them delicious. Anyway, hopefully you have some pans and you can make them too. (Credit Martha Stewart with the recipe.)

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MADELEINES

1/2     cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pans

1        cup sifted flour, plus more for the pans

4        large eggs, room temperature

2/3     cup sugar

1/4     teaspoon salt

1        teaspoon vanilla extract

1        teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour madeleine pans carefully with the extra ingredients. Set aside.

Melt the stick of butter and allow it to cool.

Using the whisk attachment on your electric beater, whisk the eggs, sugar, and salt for 8 minutes until thick.

Add the vanilla and lemon zest to the mixture.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour rapidly but gently.

Gently fold in the cooled butter, making sure it does not settle to the bottom.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake until golden, about 7 minutes.

Remove from the pans and cool on racks.

Dust with powdered sugar when cooled.

BANANA NUT BROWNIES

 I hope you aren't tiring of my recipes using bananas. I actually used our bananas this time as I was making these for our next door neighbors. We are really blessed to have some friendly and helpful neighbors. When it snows, someone appears and clears our long driveway and sidewalks. If we need any assistance with anything, it's there. Just a few days ago we lost one of our maple trees to some strong wind and rain. The next morning two neighbors Peter and Ryan were there with saws to cut it up to carry it off. (Pictures below.)

Peter's wife Colti has recently started selling Native American Jewelry. I have always loved Native American Jewelry and have quite a few pieces. She was going to show her pieces at a Spring Arts and Crafts Show and we went to support her and see what she had to sell. I was looking at two charms that I really liked and suggested to her that they would make pretty earrings. She picked them up and said she would make earrings for me. They turned out so cool. When I told her I wanted to pay her, she said, "baked goods". That's why I made these brownies. Colti told me Peter's daughter Ireland loves anything chocolate. So chocolate it was.

As I said, we had bananas that needed to be dealt with and I had found this recipe earlier when looking for something for the Cafe Treats. It has been a while since I made brownies that didn't have much flour so they have a different consistency. Ireland especially enjoyed them.

Right now I have a lot of baking to do...

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BANANA NUT BROWNIES

1/2     cup (1 stick) butter, melted, cooled

1        cup sugar

3        tablespoons baking cocoa

2        large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

1        tablespoon whole milk

1        teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2     cup flour

1        teaspoon baking powder

1/4     teaspoon salt

1        cup mashed ripe bananas (2 - 3 bananas)

1/2     cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray or grease a 9 inch square baking pan. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and cocoa.

Stir in eggs, milk, and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and

then add to the creamed mixture.

Stir in bananas and nuts.

Pour into pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes our with moist crumbs,  40 to 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Cut into squares to serve.

Just before serving you can dust with powdered sugar if you like. 

Our beautiful maple tree...

BANANA CREAM COOKIES

 Since I have all of those bananas to use up for Cafe Treats, I continue to be on the lookout for tasty looking treats using bananas and the more the merrier. This recipe only used one banana, but result was so delicious, it's okay. (I'll just be making treats with bananas a little while longer.)

I must admit it took me trips to several different grocery stores to find the banana cream instant pudding mix, but I did. I also bought two boxes so I would have an extra one to make the cookies again if they turned out good.

One person thought the white baking chips were macadamia nuts, but I reminded them the Cafe Treats was a nut-free zone. They were pleased when I told them it was white baking chips. The recipe made almost 5 dozen cookies so I did keep just a few for our cookie jar.

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BANANA CREAM COOKIES

1/2     cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1        cup sugar

1/2     cup smashed banana (about 1 banana)

1        3.4 oz package banana cream instant pudding mix

2        large eggs

2-1/2  cups flour

1/2     teaspoon baking soda

1/2     teaspoon salt

2        cups (12 oz package) white baking chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Combine the butter and sugar and mix with an electric mixer til smooth.

Add the smashed banana, dry pudding mix, and eggs. Mix until ingredients are smooth.

Add the dry ingredients slowly to the mixing bowl and mix  until dry ingredients are moistened. 

Add the white baking chips.

Scoop the dough using a small (tablespoon) cookie scoop and drop dollops about 2 inches apart.

If you like flatter cookies you can then lightly flatten with your fingers. 

Bake for 10 minutes or until slight golden. Cool baked cookies for two or three minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

MADISON COUNTY'S BANANA (NUT) BREAD

I'm still trying to use up the bananas that didn't get eaten on Palm Sunday at church. I cooked as much as I could at first and froze it all and then froze the rest of the bananas. Since then I keep searching for as many different recipes as I can using bananas. So far I haven't heard any complaints about all of the banana treats.

The first Sunday, I shared Amish Banana Bread from my most popular post ever. Then the next Sunday I shared a Banana Bread recipe from the Stephenson's Apple Farm Restaurant. This past weekend I had planned to offer some more of Stephenson's bread, but changed my mind and decided to use some more of the frozen bananas. That meant I was on the lookout for a new recipe that I hadn't made so I could then share it with you here on my blog.

I only had to look through about five cookbooks before I picked up my Madison County Cookbook with Stories and Traditions of Winterset, Iowa and saw their Banana Nut Bread recipe. It must be a popular recipe in the county as two different names were credited with it - Shirley Bush and Rosemary Stuchel.

I liked that it used three bananas and was low on sugar with only 1/2 cup required. I considered using stevia for the sugar, but since I already had a sugar-free treat for the Cafe, I went on and used the real thing.

I had several compliments on the bread and the three loaves didn't last long. I cut them into 13 + slices.

 

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MADISON COUNTY'S BANANA (NUT) BREAD

1/2     cup (1 stick) margarine or butter

12      cup sugar

3        eggs

2-3/4  cups sifted flour

1-1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1/2     teaspoon baking soda

1        teaspoon salt

1-1/2  cups ripe mashed bananas (about 3 medium)

1/3     cup chopped walnuts 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 5 " loaf pan or three mini loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar til creamy.

Add eggs and beat well.

Sift together some flour and then measure 2-3/4 cups into a sifter. Add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt and sift twice to blend together.

Mash the bananas to measure 1-1/2 cups and add alternately with the dry ingredients mixing well after each addition

(3 parts dry ingredients and

2 parts banana beginning and ending with the dry ingredients)

Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

Stir in nuts if using. I didn't.

Pour into one large loaf pan or divide evenly between three mini loaves. (I weighed each loaf as I filled them so they would be about even.)

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes for the large loaf or about 40 minutes for the mini loaves or until done.

Remove from pan(s) and cool on wire rack. I ran a knife around the inside of the pan to remove.

Can wrap with foil to store before serving or to freeze.

At the Cafe at PWUMC