Cake mix Banana Bread

Have you heard about the Cake Mix doctor? Yes, it is amazing ! I used to bake a lot several years ago and have tried a few recipes from this book. Basically, you are using a boxed cake mix and doctor it up by adding the right ingredients and Voila you get a tasty cake/ muffin.

My colleague, an amazing baker, recently brought this humming bird cake which tasted so good. I was taken aback when she told me she made it from a  boxed cake mix. I went back to my recipe collection and found this easy one to make banana bread.

This is the most moist and quick banana bread one can make.  Try this and trust me you will love this! Ideally you need very ripe banana to make banana bread. I had only 2 of them and used a medium ripe banana for the 3rd one.

Get Ready

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 tbsp chopped walnuts ( optional)
• 2 tbsp mini chocolate chips ( optional)

Go

• Preheat oven to 350 farenheit and prep your loaf pan by spraying some cooking spray
• Peel and mash the banana and set aside
• Make the cake batter as per the box instructions
• add the mashed bananas, nuts and chocolate chips and fold them in the cake batter

• Pour in the loaf pan and bake as per the box instructions, 45 mins or till a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted in the bread.

• Let it cool completely, I mean completely before you slice and serve.

Your friends and family may think that you worked so hard to bake this out of the world tasting banana bread!

Let us keep them thinking that way !

Banana Bread ( Version 2)

Here is a very easy, no nonsense banana bread recipe to make. This is a second version and it was as good as my previous one.

Best Banana Bread


Kids are at home for the summer and they are always hungry. I am sure, you like me must be getting tired of providing healthy snacks for them when at home.

 Get your kids involved in baking this and they will love this. This can be made in no time.

Last Sunday, we decided to make this in the afternoon and my kids loved in cracking the eggs, mashing the banana saying" eew, eew", licking the batter and had so much fun. The recipe can be easily halved and that is what I did. So, it filled only half of the loaf pan and was ready in 40 mins of baking.


The final product tasted very good and was soft after 3 days too.



Get Ready

• 1/2 cup butter at room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 4 ripe bananas mashed 
• 1 & 1/2 cup all purpose flour ( maida)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract ( i did not have this, but original recipe calls for it)

Go

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease your loaf pan with cooking spray
• Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar. You can use a spatula or an electric mixer.
• Add the eggs and beta well till frothy.
• Add the mashed banana , vanilla extract and mix well
• Add the sifted flour mixture and fold with a spatula. Do not beat this mix.
• Pour into the greased loaf pan and bake for 50 mins - 1 hr or till an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.

Remove it out of the oven, let it cool well, slice and enjoy for breakfast or an evening snack with a cup of chai!

Sorry, could not do step by step pictures with little helpers in the kitchen!

Other options:

Adding chocolate chips, chopped walnuts would be tasty too.

Cranberry Orange Bread

Quick breads were discovered  here in America. This includes anything that uses a leavening agent other than yeast. They get their name coz you don't wait for the yeast to help raise the bread. They were  popular during the period of great depression.

You may wonder why i mention this now? please don't read between the lines!

Here is a perfect quick bread for the holiday season. I wanted to make cranberry and orange muffins and had bookmarked a few. Most of the recipes used fresh cranberries. I was a little reluctant to use fresh ones due to their tartness. I was pretty sure my kids would not eat them. I used craisins which are dried sweetened cranberries. I used 1/4 cup OJ from the orange I zested and 1/4 cup store brought OJ. The reason being, i spilled the fresh OJ! The zest and the fresh OJ gives it a nice fragrance and the whole house smelled fabulous while baking!
Feel free to replace fresh cranberries


Get ready

• 1 &1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Orange Juice
• Zest from 1 orange
• 1 stick Unsalted Butter, at room temperature ( if from fridge, nuke it for 30 secs)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup dried Cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 large Eggs

Go

• Pre heat oven to 350 C
• add 2 tbsp of flour to the cranberries, walnuts and mix well. this helps them from not sinking at the bottom of the bread.
• Mix salt, baking powder, flour and keep aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar well.
• Add the eggs and cream them well. I used only a whisk!
• Add the OJ, zest, flour, cranberries, walnuts and fold in well till everything is well incorporated.
• make sure you don't beat them too much as it make your bread very tough.
• Pour it in a loaf pan, (i used foil one) and bake for about 50 mins or till a tooth pick comes clean.

The same batter can be used to make muffins too. I baked 4 of them and it takes about 15 mins to bake them.

Enjoy it any time and share it with your friends.
I am taking this to work tomorrow for everyone to relish!

Also check out my Cranberry Salsa , which is to die for!

I am sending this bread for Breakfast Club and this event

Mango Cardamom Bread

Move over banana and zucchini bread! Mango Bread is taking your space now!

I do not buy mangoes from the supermarket as most of them are not as sweet as the one we get back home. As far as I am concerned nothing can beat our indian mangoes! we have Alphonso and in the south the juicy banganapalli, rumani, neelam, imam pasand, naduchalai....How many varieties we have! Unfortunately we have a limited options here. But thanks to canned mangoes ,we can get the home flavor all through the year.

Anyway i had these plump mangoes sitting in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
After searching on line, I modified Dorie Greenspan's mango bread and made this. The original recipe called for raisins, ginger powder etc..I did not have those with me and replaced it with cardamom powder ( my favorite) and used cashewnuts. I used 2 mangoes and one of them was a little tart. The addition of raisins could have made it tad sweeter I guess!
It tastes awesome and i am taking this for a my co workers leaving party at work.

Get Ready:

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 2 & 1/2 cup All purpose flour/ maida
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
•  1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp yogurt
• 2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup cashews broken
• 2 cups diced mangoes ( i used 2 mangoes)
• 1/2 tsp lemon zes
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Go:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan or any baking utensil you have and dust with flour.
• Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom powder, cinnamon.
• Beat eggs and oil till combined
• Add sugar and brown sugar and combine well.
• Add the flour, cashews,mango, vanilla, lemom zest and fold till everything is combined. do not over mix.
• The batter will look pretty thick, but do not worry.
• Transfer to the baking pan and bake for 45- 50 mins or till the centre comes clear when a tooth pick is inserted.

This is my first attempt to bake from Dorie's collection, and I am happy that I did it.

So my fellow mango lovers,what are you waiting for??

Enjoy! I am gonna try an eggless version and also use kesar mango pulp the next time i mkae it.

The Best Banana Bread ever.....

I am very happy today! You know why? I found the best banana bread ever. Thanks to Food Network!

I have been looking an awesome moist BB and found in food network. The 100 odd reviews with 5 stars speaks for itself. I followed the recepie verbatim and the results were unbelievable. Try it for yourself and you will agree with me.


Now, straight to the recipie


Ingredients

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Avocado chapathi

I fed my baby with some mashed Avocado. I had the the other half sitting . I did not want to eat it nor did I want it to turn black.

So I added a little lemon juice, mashed it and added atta, salt, green chillies. So basically the mashed avocado got incorporatedi n the atta.
I made chappathis the usual way and it was super duper soft.

I didn't have time to click pics and trust me those chappathis were awesome.