Sourdough Banana Bread

Our teenager recently proclaimed, "I think I could eat this banana bread every day of my life." That's a pretty solid endorsement. And I could agree, and happily. This banana bread is SO good. 

I have found myself thankful that I have a sourdough starter, not to make sourdough bread, but just to make this banana bread. And true confessions: I make this banana bread probably 5 or 6 times to every time I make sourdough bread. You don't even need to get out the mixer; a good wooden spoon and some arm muscle will do the job just fine!

This bread can use sourdough discard or freshly fed starter, so it's easy to make it whenever the mood strikes. I buy bananas for the sole purpose of making this bread. Bananas that are ripe can be frozen, and frozen bananas can be easily thawed, either on the counter or in the microwave, to make this batter.

If you don't have a sourdough starter, you can try to get one of your friends to give you some, or you can make your own.  However you get it, make sure you use it to make this awesome banana bread. You and your family will be so happy you did. 

Sourdough Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups overripe mashed bananas, about 3 medium bananas

1/2 cup sourdough starter (fed or discard)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl or batter bowl, stir together the mashed bananas, sourdough starter, oil, sugar, and brown sugar until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix again.

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and stir together just until no dry streaks remain. 

Pour batter into a greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Place the pan on a wire rack and cool for about 20 minutes. Then carefully remove from the pan and place the bread on the rack to cool completely. 

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Muffins

Just look at these beauties! Pumpkin muffins (one of the best ideas ever) are topped with a cinnamon sugar, or as we could say, Snickerdoodle!, streusel. You will be hard pressed to find a better fall inspired breakfast or coffee snack.

This recipe combines a couple of my favorite things. Perhaps I have already given it away with the exclamation points but pumpkin! snickerdoodle! combined in a muffin! I love muffins because they are an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. 

This recipe is so easy to whip up - you just need two bowls, all the ingredients, a whisk and a spatula. And if you're fancy (or uncoordinated like me sometimes!) you could use a cookie scoop for measuring out the batter. But that's it! No fancy tools required, and hardly any time required. This recipe is fast and easy and OH SO DELICIOUS.

Get in that Thanksgiving spirit and make these muffins!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Muffins

1 - 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4  cups flour 
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice 
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Streusel:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, cubed

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until well-mixed. Add the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined and no dry streaks remain. Fill paper-lined muffin cups with the batter, about 2/3 full for each. (This recipe makes about 16 muffins.)

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter cubes and cut in with a pastry blender, a fork, or your fingers, until the mixture is evenly combined and crumbly.

Divide streusel evenly over the muffin batter. Bake the muffins at 350 for 18-25 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch. Remove from the muffin tin and let cool completely on a cooling rack. Store any leftovers in a covered container at room temperature.

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Lemon Blueberry Scones

It's a beautiful, sunny day here today so it's time for some spring-themed baking! These lemon blueberry scones will have you singing like a birdie, they are so good! Here's a close up to entice you:

They would be perfect for Easter morning, or for any morning actually. They are just the right blend of tartness from the lemon and sweetness from the blueberry, and they aren't all dry and craggy like some scones. The cup of buttermilk ensures that these are just plain downright delicious.

Look at these beauties, straight from the oven:

An easy lemony glaze tops these scones, which takes them over the top. Once the scones are cool, I like to place the wire rack right over the cookie sheet so I can glaze away with abandon and not worry about the mess on my counter. 

You will definitely feel spring in the air when you make these scones. Even if it IS going to snow AGAIN later this week. Grrr. 

Lemon Blueberry Scones

2 1/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup blueberries

Glaze:
2 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 -2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar

For the scones:

In the bowl of your food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.  Add in the cubed butter, and pulse until mixture is crumbly. You still want some small, pea-sized chunks of butter, so check it after you've pulsed a few times! Transfer to a large bowl. 

If you don't have a food processor, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, and using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. 

Add the buttermilk and stir with a fork to make a soft, sticky dough. Lightly flour your hands and gather the dough, making a ball as best you can! Knead this about 10 times on a lightly floured service. 

Then fold in the blueberries. This will be tricky, but do your best. 

Press out the dough until it is 1" thick.

Using a 2-½ inch cutter, cut out rounds. 

Place on ungreased baking sheet. Gather up any scraps and cut out more rounds.

Bake at 425 for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

For the glaze:

Whisk 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice and 1-½ tsp. lemon zest. Add more lemon juice until desired consistency.  Drizzle over the top of scones. 

Store in an airtight container. 

 

Sourdough Waffles

 

We love waffles at our house. They are a traditional Saturday or Sunday brunch (or lunch) item. (When you have teenagers, they call it breakfast. For me, it's lunch. Ha!) I almost always make my favorite oat waffles, and sometimes I change it up with bananas or pumpkin, but these.  These sourdough waffles.

These waffles are SO good. They truly melt in your mouth. And the overnight sponge gives them just enough sour flavor to be SO incredibly delicious. How many times can I capitalize SO? 

These do take an extra little bit of effort, since you prepare the sponge the night before, then let it sit out on the counter all night. This seems weird, especially with two cups of milk included, but it's what gives these waffles their outrageous lightness and flavor.

These also only work if you have a sourdough starter. I know. I really try to refrain from posting recipes that are too specialized, and this is one. However, if you don't have a friend to give you some starter, you can make your own. I assure you that it will be worth it! Plus once your starter is activated and ready to go, you can make bread, too! I've been making our sourdough bread and it's SO good. (There I go again with the capital SO.)

Make these waffles and have a great day, or weekend. You'll still be thinking about them hours and days later, I promise!

Sourdough Waffles

Sponge:

2 cups flour

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup sourdough starter (discard is fine too!)

2 Tbsp. sugar

Batter:

2 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

For the sponge, in a large bowl or batter bowl, combing the flour, sugar and buttermilk and whisk well. Stir in the starter, then cover and let sit in a cool place (or on the counter if your house is not above 70!) for 8-12 hours. 

(If there is a time lapse between the 12 hours and making the waffles, it's ok to stick the batter in the fridge. For example, I made the sponge on Saturday night, put in the fridge 12 hours later, then returned from church to finish the recipe.)

Add the eggs, oil, salt and baking soda to the sponge and stir well to combine. It will also "grow" because of the baking soda, so hopefully your bowl was big enough!  

Pour the batter onto a preheated waffle iron. Note that sourdough waffles spread quite a bit, so you might want to use less than "normal."  Cook according to your waffle maker's guidance.  Enjoy with syrup, berries and cream, or your favorite toppings!

Sour Cream Coffeecake

Coffeecake is such a luxurious breakfast or morning treat. Especially when it's layered and topped with streusel. This cake, that you can eat for breakfast because of its clever name, will get your day off on the right foot. Paired with a steaming hot cup of coffee, and maybe even scrambled eggs if you're fancy, you will feel like you can tackle the world.

Just look at those yummy layers - it even makes the bird on the plate jealous! ha! Seriously though, a super tender crumb with sugary, buttery streusel in the middle, topped with more cake and streusel - every bite is a marvel. I usually don't use a lot of flowery language here, but sour cream coffeecake deserves every accolade.

I hope you will make this soon - you probably have the ingredients already! - and that your family and friends will love it as much as we do.

Sour Cream Coffeecake

1/2 cup butter 
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Streusel:
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add egg and mix again, then add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Gradually add this mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until combined.

Spoon half of the batter into a greased 8" pan. Smooth into an even layer.

In a small bowl, combine pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of this streusel over the batter.  Spoon remaining batter on top of the streusel, and smooth as well as you can. Then sprinkle remaining streusel over the top.

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.  Tent with foil if the cake is browning too much after about 25 minutes. (Mine did not need the foil.)

Cool for at least 10 minutes. Leftovers can be frozen or stored in an airtight container. 

 

Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Bread

Spinach and Artichoke Dip is one of the best inventions ever, am I right??? I love it with pita or tortilla chips, and it is great party food. But stuff it into Italian bread, and we've got a whole nother situation. (do you say "a whole nother" in your region?) 

Just look at all that cheesy, spinach-y, artichoke-y goodness. On bread!!!! This is a carb and cheese lover's dream. This would be perfect for your SuperBowl party this weekend. 

Oh you're not having a party? Will you be there? Good enough reason. Make this bread.

It's really not very complicated at all for such a tremendous result. First, make your dip - full directions below.  Then cut a grid pattern in the bread. See how it has all these squares now?

Butter this up then stuff away! Take that dip and get it in all the crevices of the bread. Your hands WILL get messy. That's the goal. Pull that bread apart and poke that dip down in there. I found it was easiest with a regular table knife. Be a little careful so that you don't break all the bread apart, but this is extremely forgiving... no one's going to notice in the end. 

Top that beautifully stuffed bread with more cheese, and then get it in the oven.

Bake, and then get ready to enjoy! You can just pull apart pieces of the bread, or you can provide a knife if you want to be more civilized about it. 

If for some reason you don't eat all the bread in one sitting (it is very rich!), you can wrap it in foil and then reheat it another day. We did that, and it was just as good the second time. 

It doesn't matter who wins or loses on Sunday. What matters is that you have delicious food to eat. I hope you love this as much as we did!

Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Bread
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 ounces baby spinach
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup chopped artichoke hearts
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 ounces shredded parmesan cheese
1 loaf Italian Bread

4 tablespoons melted butter

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, and turn down the heat slighly, and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the spinach, and cook until it is wilted, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, artichoke hearts, half of the mozzarella and all the parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the spinach and stir until combined.

Make a grid pattern in the bread by cutting with a serrated knife -- first, long-ways and then crossways. If any pieces fall out, tuck them back in.

Brush the bread and inside the pieces with about 3 Tbsp. of the melted butter. Then gently stuff the spinach mixture into the grid pattern. It's easiest to do this with a butter/table knife. You want the dip pretty evenly distributed so try to get it down into all the crevices. 

Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top, then drizzle with the remaining Tbsp. of butter.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until bubbly. 

Recipe Source: Adapted from How Sweet Eats