Going Bananas: Frosted Banana Cookies

I am picky about the bananas I eat. I prefer a little green tinge to the bananas I consume for breakfast. Randy is less discerning. (Read less picky, if we're honest.) He'll cut up bananas that are way past their prime (in my humble opinion) for a swim in his cereal bowl.

But, I still seem to end up with bananas ripening on the counter, 90 percent of the time. During this Covid-19 pandemic, it seems we are all a little more creative in using up leftovers and past-its-prime food. After all, some of us remember standing side-by-side in the kitchen with our grandmothers. After a Sunday chicken and noodle meal, Grandma Neelly had us washing foil and plastic bags along with the pots and pans. In her mind, those "disposable" goods could be used again. Waste not, want not: I may have rolled my eyes at the time, but it was a good lesson to learn. (I'm not to the point of reusing foil, but I may be paying more attention to the squares of toilet paper - just saying.)

Back back to the bananas: My languishing bananas often end up in Byers Banana Bread. I usually have enough bananas to double the recipe so that I can stash some small loaves in the freezer for a rainy day or for when the kids come home for a visit. (I hope that will eventually happen again, don't you?!)

But this time, instead of turning to my go-to banana bread recipe to re-purpose a bunch of aging fruit, I tried a new recipe - Frosted Banana Cookies. When I was growing up, my sisters and I made a lot of chocolate chip cookies. Big surprise that we kids liked them the best, right?

But my dad would prefer soft oatmeal raisin or some alternate to the chocolatey morsels. These soft Banana Drop Cookies are more reminiscent of a cake-like treat, rather than the crisp outside-chewy inside of a chocolate chip version.

I frosted most of them with a flavorful icing. No sugar and milk sweet toppings for my cookies, no sir. I much prefer a butter and/or cream cheese cheese-based icing that has some substance and flavor.

I used the majority of the dough for the frosted version and stashed them in my freezer for a Palm Sunday reception at church. I like providing a little fancier alternative for these special occasion reception tables. Alas, there are still cookies in the freezer because the Holy Week services got canceled. Or maybe that's not such a bad thing. It's always good to have cookies on hand for Cookie Monster cravings.

I also decided to take a portion of the unbaked dough and add chopped walnuts and Ghirardelli Caramel Bits. I left those unfrosted. They were a delicious alternative, too. Unfortunately, I neglected to get a photo of the unadorned cookies before we ate (or shared) them all.

If you prefer more texture to your cake-like cookies, you could also add chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans or even cashews) to the unbaked dough and still frost them when cooled. Other add-ins would also provide some variety.

Enjoy!

Frosted Banana Cookies

Adapted from Shugary Sweets blog

Cookies:

½ cup butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup sour cream
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2½ cups flour
1½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Beat butter and sugars. Mix in the sour cream, bananas, vanilla and egg. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Use a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a small scoop, drop dough onto paper. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes until light brown and set. Cool and frost if desired.

Optional: You may add nuts and/or other add-ins to the unbaked dough. I used walnuts and Ghirardelli caramel bits in a portion of the dough for some variety. Any kind of nuts, cinnamon chips, chocolate chips or other additions would also be tasty.

Note: I doubled this recipe. The cookies freeze well.

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
4½ cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Frost  cookies when cool.

Banana Caramel Coffee Cake

It could be argued that I buy too many bananas.

I am picky about the bananas I consume "as is." They need to have the perfect tinge of green. And if they start showing their age spots, they are no longer in the eat-as-is category. (I know I should be more tolerant of age spots these days. I certainly have my share.)

Randy is less picky than I am and will eat some of what I deem too far gone. Invariably, though, I end up with bananas languishing on my kitchen counter.

There is an upside: There's no shortage of ripe banana recipes in this world. And I tried a new one last weekend - Banana Caramel Coffee Cake. It was Mother's Day weekend, so a special breakfast treat only made sense, right? This one has several parts, which may seem daunting when looking at the recipe, but the combination of tender cake, tangy cream cheese caramel swirl, buttery crumb topping and glaze made for a yummy combination and was worth the extra steps to produce the finished coffee cake.

The swirl is made by canned dulce de leche, which can be found in many grocery stores near the sweetened condensed milk or in the Mexican food aisle.

 

With graduation ceremonies on the calendar for many this coming weekend, this recipe would be a perfect addition to a breakfast or brunch buffet to celebrate a graduate ... or the end of school ... or a lazy weekend morning ... or just any old day. Enjoy!

Banana Caramel Coffee Cake

Adapted from Inside Bru Crew Life blog

For the Cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

For the Caramel Filling
1 14-ounce can dulce de leche
4 ounces cream cheese, softened

For the Crumb Topping
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
6 tbsp. butter, softened

For the glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
5 teaspoons butter
Milk, as needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9- by 13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

For cake: Beat the butter, cream cheese and sugars until creamy. Add the eggs, banana and vanilla and beat again. Mix together dry ingredients and add slowly to the creamed mixture. Spread in the prepared pan. The batter is fairly thick. Set aside.

For filling: Put dulce de leche into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 15 to 20 seconds or until slightly softened. Mix the cream cheese in until it is incorporated and creamy. Place big spoonfuls of the caramel mixture on top of the batter. Use a knife to swirl into batter evenly.

For crumb topping: Mix together all ingredients until big crumbs form. Sprinkle on top of cake. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until the cake tests done with a toothpick inserted in the center. Cool completely.

For glaze: Mix together powdered sugar and melted butter. Add milk, if necessary, to make glaze consistency. Drizzle over top of the cake and serve. Note: You can pour on the glaze while the cake is still hot or warm. It will provide a glaze, rather than the "ribbons" of frosting.

Same Recipe: More Options

I would rather brown 3 pounds of hamburger than a pound ... no matter if I only need a pound for the recipe. I have a skillet just the right size for the job, and I know there will be less mess and less time invested in the next meal or two if I do a little extra initially.

I have long utilized the same principle when making drop cookies. I triple a basic cookie dough recipe. I divide the dough, stir in some add-ins, and it looks like I've made three or four different kinds of cookies. (Randy is not the only one who does amateur magic around here!) It's a great trick for cookie platters. I still make a few other kinds, but having four to six "different" cookies as a base speeds the process!

But it's been only recently that I've used the same principle when making banana bread. We like plain banana bread. But I've also been mixing in various add-ins for some variety to my tried-and-true Byers Banana Bread recipe.

Depending on how many bananas I have, I can double or triple the recipe. Then, just like with the cookies, I divide the batter and add different stir-ins to each portion. These could include dates and nuts, peanut butter chips, cinnamon chips, mini (or regular) chocolate chips, Craisins and white chocolate chips, brickle chips ... the possibilities are endless. I pour the batters into mini loaf pans. To make sure I know which "extra" is inside, I sprinkle the tops of the loaves with more of the add-ins.

The banana bread freezes well, so it's easy to pull out when we have visitors, during a busy time on the farm or on a day when you just "need" a little banana bread!

I've tried a lot of different banana recipes, but I inevitably circle back around to one found in my well-used Byers United Methodist Church cookbook. 
It  probably wins the prize for the most battered and stained in my whole cookbook collection (and I have an impressive collection).

It takes a rubber band to hold it together these days. On the inside cover, it reads:

A Book of Favorite Recipes
Women's Society of Christian Service of
The United Methodist Church
Byers, Kansas
1972

My mom inscribed: To Kim from Mother, April 1972

The Byers UMC was my childhood church, so I love seeing the names of all the women I remember who shared pews and potluck suppers.

Banana Bread

3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped (optional)

Cream together oil and sugar. Add mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to the banana mixture, alternately with buttermilk, beating after each addition. Add nuts, stirring well.

Bake in large loaf pan or two or three small loaf pans at 325 degrees. The large pan takes about an hour to bake, the smaller ones, around 25-30 minutes, depending on your oven. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

This freezes well.

Recipe Notes:

• The bananas in the photo aren't ripe enough for this recipe. They are just for decoration!
• You can leave out the nuts. I always had to leave nuts out of part of it for Jill.
• If you don't have buttermilk, you can use 1 tablespoon of vinegar, then fill the measuring cup to 1/2 cup. Let sit while you are preparing other ingredients.

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Today, I'm linked to Weekend Potluck. Visit the hostesses and see tested recipes from across the U.S.

• The Country Cook~ Brandie
• The Better Baker ~ Marsha
• Sweet Little Bluebird~ Mary
• Served Up With Love ~ Melissa
• Mommy’s Kitchen~ Tina

Bananas Foster Bread

I am picky about the bananas I eat. I prefer a little green tinge to the bananas I consume for breakfast or a snack. Randy is less discerning. (Read less picky, if we're honest.)

But, I still seem to end up with bananas ripening on the counter, 90 percent of the time. So I'm always in search of new ways to use ripe bananas. Is it any wonder that banana bread recipes seem to jump out at me on blogs? I don't think so.

I saw this recipe on Ashley's Kitchen Meets Girl blog. She's the Wichita blogger who hosts What's in Your Kitchen Wednesday, and I've never found a "dud" when I've used her recipes. (That's why I am so particular about the recipes I share on Kim's County Line. I don't want someone who tries something from here to have a bad experience. If the recipe isn't good, I don't share it here.)

This recipe also appealed to me because it has flax seed. Now I'm not one to believe in "miracle" or "trendy" ingredients, but a little extra nutrition in a sweet quick bread can't hurt, can it? I also substituted white, whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour in this recipe.

Ground flax seed. I purchased mine at Smith's Market in Hutchinson, but it's available at a bulk food store or health food store, as well as larger grocery stores.

The recipe also called for Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is the new "IT" ingredient, but I didn't have any in the fridge. So I just substituted light banana cream pie yogurt, and it turned out great.

Enjoy!

Bananas Foster Bread

Adapted from Kitchen Meets Girl blog

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium)
1 cup brown sugar, divided
6 tbsp. butter, melted and divided
1/4 cup dark rum, divided (see below)
1/3 cup banana yogurt (or Greek yogurt)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf pan(s) with cooking spray. You may use one 9- by 5-inch pan or three smaller loaf pans, depending on your preference.

Combine banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of rum in a non-stick skillet. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool. (If you don't cool it, you could end up with scrambled eggs when you do the next step.) Place banana mixture in large mixer bowl. Add yogurt, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and eggs. Beat with mixer at medium speed.

Combine flour, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda and spices in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Pour batter into one 9- by 5-inch loaf pan or three smaller loaf pans which have been coated with baking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour for large loaf or 25-30 minutes for smaller loaves. (Be sure and check the loaves to make sure they are done. A toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf should come out clean. All ovens are different). Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on wire rack. Remove bread from pan and place bread back on wire rack to cool completely before icing.

For icing: Combine remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter, remaining 1 tablespoon of rum and powdered sugar. Stir until smooth and well blended. Drizzle over cooled bread.

Note:  I know some people would prefer not to use the alcohol and that's fine. You could substitute 3 tablespoons of milk and add some rum, butter or vanilla flavoring. FYI: In the bananas foster mixture, you are heating the mixture so that the alcohol cooks off and just the flavor remains. In the icing, you may substitute rum, vanilla or butter flavoring.

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I am linked today to Ashley's What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday. Check out all the other yummy links for tried-and-true tested recipes.

Here are some of my other favorite ways to use ripe bananas:

 Byers Banana Bread

This recipe is my go-to banana bread recipe. I've made it dozens of times, as my tattered Byers United Methodist Church recipe book can attest.

 Coconut Banana Bread

 Reese's Peanut Butter

 Banana Bread

Going Bananas for Quick Bread

I go bananas for a good quick bread recipe. And, if it just happens to use up some of the bananas I always seem to have hanging around on the kitchen counter, that's a bonus.

I adapted the recipe for this Coconut Banana Bread recipe from Wichita blogger Ashley's Kitchen Meets Girl. (She likes quick breads about as much as I do.) I took it to Jill's and Eric's house when we visited a couple of weeks ago, and it got good reviews from everyone but Kinley. (She preferred the Blueberry White Chocolate Crunch Bread. I guess she likes her fruit in discernible form.)

But if you're as tired of this schizophrenic Kansas weather as I am, maybe this bread will conjure up images of the tropics with its banana, coconut and lime flavor combination. It's worth a try after another morning of hard freeze, isn't it?

Coconut Banana Bread

2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup coconut

Icing:
1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup powdered sugar
Additional toasted coconut, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, stirring with a whisk. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add mashed banana, sour cream, milk and vanilla. Beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed, just until moist. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut.

Spray cooking spray on one 9- by 5-inch loaf pan or three small loaf pans. Spoon batter into prepared pans. Top with another tablespoon of coconut, if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees. Bake large loaves for about 1 hour and small loaves for 25-30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on wire rack. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan.

Mix icing ingredients. The original recipe just used lime juice and powdered sugar for a glaze, but I like a little butter in my icing. After I decorated the tops of the loaves by piping on the frosting, I sprinkled with toasted coconut.

If you want to use just the lime juice and powdered sugar, use 1 1/2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Put the glaze on top of warm loaves. If you prefer a frosting rather than a glaze, let the breads cool before adding the frosting and toasted coconut.

Note: In the original recipe, Ashley didn't toast her coconut and she just mixed it into the glaze. I'm sure it's good that way, too.

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Today, I'm linked to Ashley's What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday? Click on the link to check out what other food bloggers have cooked up this week.