Baking in the Time of Social Distancing
Those who know me also know that “shelter-in-place” is pretty much my default setting. But choosing social distance by preference is a heck of a lot different than maintaining it for the safety of oneself and others. We all need to take whatever comfort we can in these crazy days–and although I’ve been trying to limit my intake of tasty, tasty carbs, these times call for baking, and lots of it.
CH and I have a sort of “Jack Sprat” relationship with bananas. He’ll eat them when they’re still green (ewww!), but I like them when they’re just starting to speckle with brown. Sometimes, we both miss our window of opportunity and end up with overripe bananas (which neither one of us likes).
Banana muffins to the rescue!
I’ve had this recipe for…jeez, forty years. I wanted a banana bread recipe but hated nuts, and nearly every recipe included walnuts. I found the original of this one–banana tea bread, no nuts!–in a cookbook I was returning to the publisher back in the days when I worked at B. Dalton Bookseller. I’ve adapted it over time and recently added finely chopped toasted pecans. (Yeah, yeah. I know. Nuts. But what can I say? We can all change, right?)
The slightly overripe fruit intensifies the banana flavor, and depending on how many are languishing in the fruit bowl, I can double this recipe with no trouble.
Oven: 350°
Makes 6 large muffins or 12 regular
Ingredients
Instructions
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2-3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
- Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
- Beat shortening until creamy.
- Add sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 – 3)
1/4 cup finely chopped toasted pecans (optional)
- Add flour mixture alternately with bananas, stirring only enough to moisten dry ingredients.
- Fold in pecans.
- Turn into greased muffin tin (or use muffin cups).
- Bake for ~25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Sounds nice but you are probably not aware that you have international readers on your blog. 😉
Cup? Ok, approx. 240-250 ml of sth.
Degree what? F or C?
Shortening? Obviously butter or margarine but accord. to google you need more of it then.
They were my questions too. Australian translation please!
I got this recipe back in the mid-seventies from a cookbook printed in the US (I was living in Southern California at the time–now I’m in Oregon). The recipe itself didn’t specify what kind of shortening to use. When I bake these muffins, I use a solid vegetable shortening (Crisco, in my case).
All of the ingredients and measurements are US-centric (Fahrenheit for temperature, for instance; cups, teaspoons, tablespoons for measurements), I’m afraid, because that’s all I know! Whenever I watch The Great British Baking Show, I’m similarly mystified (“Strong flour? What the heck? Does it work out?” “The oven’s only at 170? It’s barely warm!”)