Three Tries at Banana Bread

After trying so hard for the last week to get a decent loaf of Banana Bread, I think I may have finally hit on the right combination of ingredients. I first made the Banana Bread as I always do. It fell. Tasted great. Not too pretty, but I wouldn't have been ashamed to serve it.

I made a second attempt and it looked a lot like the first try, but the third time was the charm. I changed a lot of things and it came out really pretty.

Here's the original recipe. This is an old family recipe that came from my mother:

2 c flour
1 t baking soda 
½ t salt
1 c sugar 
½ c butter
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 medium) 
½ c chopped nuts (optional)

Bake at 350° for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This recipe works well by just substituting Ener-G Egg Replacer prepared as directed on the package for the eggs. I generally don't include the nuts.

This is the Eggless at Altitude©  Recipe:
2 c + 2 T flour
¼ t baking soda 
½ t salt
1 c - 2 T sugar
½ c butter
Ener-G Egg Replacer prepared to equal 2 eggs
1¼ c mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
2 T sour cream
½ c chopped nuts (optional)

Blend butter, sugar, bananas, and sour cream. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add the egg replacer last. Pour into greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 350° in the lower third of a preheated oven for about an hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*5/12/11 Breaking News: After sampling this loaf this morning, I think that it could definitely be improved by the addition of nuts, or maybe craisins, or something chunky. The texture is more cake like and it is very pale in color.

Both of these recipes can be made dairy-free by using shortening and substituting a dairy free sour cream. I have not tried them with soy margarine.

First Success

As I write this, I am scavenging the dropped cookie crumbs from the computer keyboard and Marco is sniffing around my feet hoping for some crumbs to land on the floor.

After an afternoon trip to Las Cosas to stock up on shiny new bakeware and an oven thermometer, there is finally a plate of Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin bar cookies cooling on the kitchen island.

I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe:
1. The original recipe recommended increasing the amount of flour for high altitude.
2. Of course, I used Ener-G egg subtitute for the 2 eggs.
3. The oven temperature was a little hot, so I cut back the baking time. Anyone know how to calibrate an all digital oven with a touch-pad?   Perhaps I should read the manual. Ha! Like that's going to happen!
4. And lastly, I substituted Craisins for the raisins. (Raisins are evil and an abomination to all things baked. But don't let me influence your opinion of the vile, shriveled things.)

As soon as they came out of the oven, I cut the cookies  into bars and promptly ate two big ones!

One minor success and I am inspired to try something else tomorrow.

Curses! Foiled Again!

Well, I managed to get most (some) of my chores for today accomplished, and feeling so inspired and just generally good about myself, I decided to make cookies. How hard should that be? I had all the ingredients to make Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin cookies (the recipe under the lid of the Quaker Oats box.) Found the mixer. I'm sure the beaters are here some place. Located the mixing bowl. Preheated the oven. All is good. There must be a cookie sheet here somewhere.  Nope. None.  "Aha!" says I. "Bar cookies it is!"  Now, where did I put that 13" x 9" pan?  None to be found anywhere. I even looked in the garage. There's LOTS of boxes out there still. No luck. Drat. No cookie sheet. No cake pan. No cookies.

Now to scour the internet for the closest local cooking store.

It's at least a good excuse to buy shiny new bake-ware.

Just getting started...

Well, we are just about settled in our new home outside of Santa Fe. The boxes are mostly unpacked now and we are starting on a whole new adventure in a place that we have always dreamed of living in. During our thirty-three years together, we have lived in Dallas, Boston, Austin, and now Santa Fe. People told me that living in Santa Fe would be very different from anywhere else. In fact, Santa Fe's motto is "A City Different." So far, the differences are fun and exciting. People are very friendly and the weather is gorgeous. The desert landscape is beautiful and I'm just really glad not to have to have a yard that needs to be mowed or even really watered. There are a lot more birds around than I thought there would be- and so many are blue!  As an amateur birder, I'm looking forward to adding a few new sightings to my life list.

The night before last, I decided to try to make cornbread from my favorite egg-free cookbook. I had been told that cooking at high altitude was difficult and that baking was especially fussy. Well, with a bold leap, I just dived right in. People have said that you should add a little extra flour for stabilization, so I increased the flour from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup. The result was that the cornbread still fell a little, but not unpleasantly so. It still tasted pretty good. I didn't think to take a picture of it- I wasn't really thinking about starting a blog at that point. That was my son Chris' idea. As usual, he has some pretty good ideas. He also came up with the title of the blog.

I've bought some local cookbooks and I have my favorite recipes from sea-level land. So I'm ready to jump in with both feet and try to figure this whole egg-free at altitude thing out! 

Stay tuned for the next baking experiment.