Banana Bread, meet Rum Cake

I'm a huge fan of anything with banana. When it comes to banana bread, I'm all in for trying different variations. Last Fall I came across a Cooking Light recipe for Bananas Foster Bread, and my eyes about popped out of my head. That could be the best sounding banana bread, ever. Why had I never heard of this before!!! Well, it is one of the best things ever, trust me. If you like banana bread, AND if you like rum cake, this will blow you awayyy!


The banana bread has a little dark rum in it, but the rum glaze on top of the bread seeps into it to give it such a great flavor. I couldn't help but be reminded of rum cake when I took my first bite.


Here is the recipe (Cooking Light):
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. mashed ripe banana
• 1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
• 6 tbsp. butter, melted and divided
• 1/4 c dark rum
• 1/3 c. plain fat free yogurt (I used Fage Greek yogurt)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c. ground flaxseed
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice (Didn't have this on hand)
• 1/3 c. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tbsp. melted butter, and 3 tbsp. rum in a skillet. Cook the mixture over medium until it begins to bubble. Remove from heat and cool. Mix this mixture in a bowl along with remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat at medium speed.

Combine all the dry ingredients remaining (except for powdered sugar). Gradually add this mixture to the banana mixture, then pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the bread cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from the pan and cool on wire rack. While the bread is cooling in the pan, mix together remaining melted butter, rum and the powdered sugar. Pour this delicious mixture over the warm bread and try to resist digging in right away. 

Cinnamon Bread

So I did end up making cinnamon bread today -- I couldn't resist after finding the recipe awhile back on The Pioneer Woman. One of the so many, many, many... great things about living back home(!) is that there are more people around to eat all the randomness that I make. I only get complaints from my mother who says she has gained 10 pounds since I moved back in. She's just fine though -- keep eating, mom :). Now that I've acquired my trusty bread maker, I tested out this recipe using it, rather than following the first steps provided in the recipe.

Recipe (The Pioneer Woman):

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 6 tbsp. butter
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (I used bread machine)
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. cinnamon
• some egg & milk beaten together for brushing
• softened butter for cinnamon sugar layer

Instructions (with bread maker):

Add the milk, butter, eggs (beaten), sugar, salt,  flour, and yeast (must go in last) to the bread maker. Select the dough option, and let the machine get to work. 

After 1.5 hours, move dough to a heated metal or glass bowl coated with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and continue to let rise for one more hour in a warm place (Heat the oven to about 250, turn off, place bowl in the oven and this should work). 

After the dough has risen, roll out onto a counter or work surface, and shape into a rectangle 18-24 inches long. It's important to make sure the rectangle is no wider than the pan it will be baked in. Use the softened butter to cover the entire rectangle. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle all over the dough. Roll the dough into a tight loaf (This is very important, because once baked you don't want any gaps in the bread where the swirl of cinnamon is!). Make sure the seam is pinched together and then place the dough into a well greased loaf pan. 

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise for 2 hours. (Yes, this bread requires time!!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and brush the egg/milk mixture over the top of the loaf. Bake in for 40 minutes on a rack just below the middle level. 

Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing. 

*To follow the recipe without a bread maker: Find it here!

(Poor image -- from my phone)

Toast this bread and spread a little butter or peanut butter, or one of my faves, NUTELLA -- heaven. 

I'm going to need more counter space!

I sure am racking up the kitchen appliances this year, lucky me though! For my birthday in August, my boyfriend Chris, gave me a KitchenAid mixer.  He is the best! He definitely knows how much I love to bake, but I have a slight suspicion he also knew the things he would benefit from in this gift (ahem, obsessed with chocolate chip cookies). That thing has seen a lot of action in the past 4 months, let me tell ya. My mother even gave me an ice cream attachment to go along with it. But my most recent kitchen appliance would be a Cuisinart Bread Maker from my parents this Christmas! Homemade bread? And all you do is just put the ingredients in the machine? Yep, sounds pretty good to me! Oh, and it is… You really can’t beat homemade bread.

 Now, onto my first recipe posting, which is something not found at the top of the food pyramid, strangely enough!

Foccacia Bread, all thanks to my lovely bread maker. I used the basic recipe that came along with the Cuisinart book, and only slightly tweaked the herbs on top of the bread and crust. The bread turned out absolutely perfect! We had it tonight with my dad’s slow cooker pork shoulder and a squash and spinach casserole. It would pair well with pasta, or any Italian dish obviously, but it went well with tonight’s dinner. Just like any bread recipe, you don’t have to rely on a bread maker. But for me, I don’t want to hurt it’s feelings. It’s not like it’s one of the best things ever… I probably won’t use it to make cinnamon bread tomorrow…

Although I just had to put the ingredients into the bread maker, select the correct setting, and press start, here's what all went in it:

Crust:
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. water, room temperature
2 tbsp. plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 1/4 teaspoons Italian herb blend
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups plus 3 tbsp. bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast (I used bread machine yeast)
*(I also added a small amount of garlic powder to the crust mixture, about 1 teaspoon)


Topping:
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Italian herbs, about 1/4 cup of any combination (I used basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme)

The dough had to knead and rise for a total of 1 hour 30 minutes in the machine, then I was able to roll it onto a jelly roll pan, put on the toppings, and let her bake. I think that's about as easy as it gets. Oh, the things I can make with this bread maker now...