Banana Bread

I made up a banana bread recipe this morning. My lovely assistant has been singing the banana bread in a bunt pan song which sounds more like "banana butt pins".

• 
  
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• tsp vanilla
• tablespoon cinnamon
• tsp nutmeg
• quarter cup milk
• approx a handful of raisins

Preheat to 350
Start out creaming the butter and sugar. I just toss the banana's in after that and beat them into a lovely fragrant mess. Add the egg, milk and vanilla. then the cinnamon, nutmeg baking soda, powder and salt. Finally the flour and raisins. Bake about 50 minutes until knife test comes out clean.


ok so- yum. seriously. not only does my house smell awesome, Virginia is doing what i call the nomnom dance

cinnamon roll's

I've been attempting to get yeast to work. For me it's been years of weird dinner rolls and broken dreams until this last month. Finding that my wealth of home time and strange confectionery cravings have lead to me to mixing and matching a couple recipes for this cinnamon rolls fun.

Dough:

• 1/4-ounce package yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup scalded milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Okay- notes. Scalding milk means boiling it until it gets filmy. What I do is toss my butter in with this to melt. This temp means you need to temper you egg/sugar mixture, which translates into adding spoonfuls of hot milk and butter in slowly so you don't end up with scrambled eggs . Also, As I mentioned before I have had a huge problem getting my yeast doughs to rise. I found that if i set my oven to 175 for fifteen minutes then cut it off, it works perfectly for me. I usually start the oven before i start collecting my ingredients. Also, 90 minutes is perfect for cleaning up the disaster zone which occurs from having a lovely 2 year old assistant.

Filling:

• 1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.

Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.

This part is pretty cut and dry.

Filling

• 2 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened, approximately 1/4 cup
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 5 1/2 ounces powdered sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups

While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.