I made this banana bread for my brand new son-in-law, Robert! He married my daughter, Nikki, on New Year's Eve in our home. Very special wedding. But, sadly, he is leaving today to go back to Bermuda. Nikki has to stay behind until all paper work is finished. So, to ease the pain, I packed two loaves for him.
This recipe is a bit unusual. It is made with buttermilk, bananas and pineapple. It makes a great bread!
Banana Pineapple Bread
1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple with juice
3 bananas, mashed
3 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
sprinkle of allspice
Using my KitchenAid mixer*:
Place oil and sugar in mixer bowl. Attach the flat beater. Turn to Speed 6 and beat about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Continue on speed 6 about 1 minute longer. Add eggs. Turn to Speed 4 and beat 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl, Add buttermilk and vanilla, turn to Speed 6 and beat 1 1/2 minutes more.
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine the bananas and pineapple in another bowl. To the large mixer bowl add 1/2 of the flour mixture and 1/2 of the banana/pineapple mixture. Using Stir speed, mix about 30 seconds. Add the remaining four and banana/pineapple mixture and beat for another 30 seconds.
Pour into loaf pans (greased on the bottom) and bake at 350° for about 1 1/2 hours. Cool 5 minutes then remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
*Instructions for hand mixing:
Blend ingredients in large bowl until completely moistened. Pour into pans and bake as directed above.
Robert use to take a bunch of bananas to his mother's house and he said by some miracle they would turn into bread and muffins! Since his mother is no longer with us, perhaps I can continue the miracle.
Labels: bananas, breads, buttermilk, desserts, kitchen aid mixer
By: Sharon Pickering | 1/06/2007 at 11:49 AM | | If you want, you can leave a comment by clicking here.
This is a wonderful time of the year for baking. The weather is chilly and the kitchen is warm and cozy from baking cookies. The entire house takes on the gentle aroma of sugar cookies. Christmas cookies are perfect for holiday get togethers and gift giving. Or simply curl up next to the fireplace with a good novel, a cold glass of milk and a plate of cookies.
These Sugar Cookies are a recipe that my sweet Grandma use to make. The recipe was handed down to my Mother and to me and now to my daughter.
I have a little story about these cookies. The first time I made them we were living in a small trailer. I had no clue about cooking...let alone baking cookies. The recipe was rather vague concerning the flour because my Grandma didn't need much instruction when it came to cooking. It listed the ingredients, said to add flour and bake. No amount of flour was given. Nor did it say in what order to add the ingredients. With a call to my Mother, I found out you cream the sugar and shortening, add eggs, etc. But, I was on my own with the flour. I added, and added and added flour until it formed a dough. After the cookies had been baked, decorated and set out to dry, everu flat surface in my trailer was full of sugar cookies! The recipe takes between 7 1/2 - 8 cups of flour! My Grandma would bake cookies for her very large family and the farm hands and all her company.
I have to say this about my Grandma. She must of been a strong woman. It is no little feat beating the flour into the rest of the ingredients. I remember in years past how tired my arms would become. This year I blessed my Kitchen Aide Mixer over and over...it made short work of the cookie mixing process.
Grandma's Sugar Cookies
2 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 ½ cups shortening
1 ½ cups milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
Flour enough to roll (or as it turns out usually 7 1/2 to 8 cups)
Cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Beat eggs and add to sugar/shortening mixture. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add baking soda, baking powder and salt to a cup of flour and stir in. Add enough flour to roll dough. At this point you may chill the dough. Turn out about a fifth of the dough onto a flour covered board or pastry cloth. Roll about ¼" thick, and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Bake at 350º for 14 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool and frost.
That takes us to the frosting recipe. For many years I only used powered sugar with a little milk and food coloring. Recently I discovered a wonderful recipe that makes a shiny hard icing.
Sugar Cookie Icing
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon vanilla
assorted food coloring
In a bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.
While making a mad dash through our little local grocery store last week, I found this fantastic cookie cutter! I think it really made a difference. I love the chunky cookie it makes. I searched online and found many others to choose from. My gingerbread boy cookie cutter was well worth the $2.99 I spent! I'm thinking the snowman and Christmas tree are on my 'to buy' list.
I forgot to mention that the decorating was done by my husband and my daughter! Didn't they do an awesome job?
Labels: cookies, kitchen aid mixer
By: Sharon Pickering | 12/07/2006 at 4:31 PM | | If you want, you can leave a comment by clicking here.
Buttermilk Cloudsties together a few aspects of my life that I love. Cooking, photography and playing with blog templates. So, it is a labor of love, near and dear to my heart. I get inspiration from all around me. Cooking is a natural...I cook for an appreciative crowd - my family. From that I have developed a few quirks - I cannot pass up a cookbook or a bowl. (I don't know what is up with the bowls...the cookbooks I understand, but the bowls???) I have every type of casserole dish imaginable, not to mention pie plates, wooden spoons, pots and pans...the list goes on and on. The crowning jewel of my kitchen is my Kitchen Aid mixer that my son bought for me...was it two Christmas's ago? It's truly a 6 quart capacity bowl , industrial strength, luscious cream colored appliance masterpiece. OK, so I really like my mixer.What is not to love?
Photography has evolved within me. For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed drawing...pencil and ink. But, for the last several years I have not done either for one reason or another. Within me I feel the need to create - art, items of beauty, expressions of what I am feeling or seeing. Somehow this had to manifest it's self or leave me feeling 'not finished'. That is where photography came into play. It started with a digital camera that I bought for my husband and a trip to Bermuda. I would get up early and take long walks through picturesque neighborhoods snapping hundreds of shots a day of what I liked. As it turned out, the photos were gorgeous - not your normal run of the mill snapshots. (At least that is what I think!) Take a look at some of my photography at Looking through sea glass... For the Bermuda shots scroll down to Fall in love all over again...Bermuda style. Two of my favorites are the sailboat with the Christmas lights on the left and the pink house with green shutters. Since that trip I have continued snapping away.
All that leaves to cover is playing with blog templates. That is the geeky part of me coming out. I love working with CSS/HTML and editing my template. As a matter of fact, this is my second blog. My first is BlogU which concentrates on providing helpful tips for other bloggers to customize their blogs. (Shameless plug...check it out. You will probably find something that you can use to make your blog better.) I realize this aspect of my personality probably seems out of character considering my love for cooking and photography. But, I guess that is what makes me unique.
Buttermilk Clouds will cover recipes I like, photos of food and all things to do with cooking. I know you will enjoy reading my blog - because I will enjoy posting, cooking, taking photos, and tweaking my template!!!
Labels: introduction, kitchen aid mixer
By: Sharon Pickering | 10/29/2006 at 4:47 AM | | If you want, you can leave a comment by clicking here.
