Ever since I discovered that frozen banana makes awesome soft serve (just puree frozen banana slices in the food processor. Amazing.) we’ve been going through a LOT of bananas. I’m slightly conflicted about this because I know it takes a lot of fuel to get them here, and there are some human rights concerns with banana workers, but for now, I’m still eating them (just with more guilt than I used to).

It’s rare that bananas go unfrozen in our house, but a few days ago I found a few just on the edge of too ripe sitting in the bottom of our fruit bowl, and I stumbled upon this recipe to use them up. If you have 2 or 3 lying around getting brown spots, and you want to make something other than banana bread, I HIGHLY recommend these. The caramel frosting didn’t taste as caramelly as I wanted it too, because I was impatient, but it’s definitely worth it to let it get a deep brown (just be careful not to burn it!) Mine aren’t especially beautiful because I just spooned the dough onto the cookie sheet rather than piping it, but the flavor was still outstanding with a nice balance between the sweetness of the frosting and the banana in the cookie.

Recipe:
(adapted from Good Things Catered)

cookies
2 cups flour (all purpose or whole wheat pastry)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (2 medium bananas)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

frosting
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp water
2 tsp corn syrup
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp cup sour cream
3 tbsp softened butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

To make the cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and salt into bowl. Mix the banana and yogurt together in a separate bowl.
Beat butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with the paddle attachment until light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and egg.

Add half the banana mixture, and mix on low until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour mixture. Mix on low until traces of flour disappear, then add the remaining banana mixture.

Use a spoon to drop about a tablespoon of dough at a time onto the parchment-lined cooking sheets.

Bake just until set, about 10 minutes, then cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:
Put the granulated sugar, water and corn syrup into a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir to combine, then cook until the mixture is a nice, deep golden brown.

While the sugar is cooking, heat the cream in a small bowl in the microwave, or bring to a simmer in a (very) small saucepan.

Once the caramel is a nice deep golden brown, remove the pan from heat. Wait one minute, then stir in the heavy cream. Let cool a few minutes, then stir in the sour cream. Allow to cool completely

When the caramel is cool, beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth. Add the caramel and powdered sugar, and beat until it has a spreadable consistency.

Assemble the whoopie pies by spreading a little frosting between two cookies that are the same size.

I’m sure the internet doesn’t need another basic banana bread recipe floating around, and does my blog really need THREE different recipes for it? I think so. First, there’s the healthier version which has whole wheat flour and yogurt. Then there’s the oh-so-chocolatey version. But sometimes, you just need to stick with the basics. Get back to the true essence of what banana bread should be.

Last time I mentioned to Mike that I was making banana bread, I got into a little trouble. He heard “banana bread” and thought of the classic version you see here. I said “banana bread” but was already thinking about adding cocoa powder and chunks of chocolate. Although he really liked that version, he was just a little disappointed that I didn’t keep it simple. That’s the way he likes most things – just the classic version, with no fancy additions or embellishment. Which is fine, but most of the time I can’t help myself and have to mix things up a little bit.

So this time, I stayed true to my word, and made a plain old simple banana bread. And it was nice, in the classic, comforting way banana bread should be. Moist, slightly sweet, and evocative of sitting at my red kitchen table after being picked up from Montessori school about 20 years ago. The only thing I changed was the pan that I baked it in, because I only have my trusty 8 1/4″ round pan, and the baking time, which I shortened to about 40 minutes (give or take a few).

Recipe:
(adapted from Cookbook Catchall)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 mashed bananas

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9×5″ loaf pans (or a 9″ round pan – my 8 1/4″ pan almost overflowed).
Cream the butter and brown sugar, then add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Gently stir the flour mixture into the butter and eggs, then add the bananas.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes (in a round pan) or about 60 minutes (in a loaf pan).
Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

A year ago I attempted to make a peanut butter banana bread but was seriously underwhelmed with the results, so this time I knew I had to go in another direction.

I caved in and bought an 8″ round cake pan a few days ago because my sanity was beginning to wither away due to a lack of baking.  Fortunately, with this cake, it seems to have returned. 

With mushy bananas on my counter and a jar of peanut butter in my care package (you’re the best, Mom!) I knew I had to make another attempt at the banana bread and peanut butter combination.  I have always been the kind of person to eat coffee cake for the streusel (and cucpakes for the frosting), so I decided I would make a banana coffee cake with peanut butter streusel.  And I am so glad I did.

The cake is denser and moister than other coffee cakes I’ve had, but I think that provides a great base for the streusel.  I scaled down the original recipe, which was written for an 8″ square pan, because the only baking pan I own is the aforementioned 8″ round one. 

Recipe:
(cake adapted from Epicurious)
Cake:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed banans (this was 3.5 small bananas for me)
1 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp plain yogurt

Streusel:
2 tbsp peanut butter (I used natural crunchy)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Grease an 8″ round cake pan.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg and vanilla, then the bananas.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together with a fork.
Add to the banana mixture and stir gently until combined.
Stir in the yogurt, then pour into the pan. Set aside while you make the streusel.
To make the streusel, put the peanut butter and butter into a bowl and mix them together.
Add the flour and sugar and rub between your fingers until the mixture looks like wet sand with little pebbles.
Sprinkle over the cake evenly and bake for about 35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool in the pan on a rack, then cut into slices to serve.