TLC In The Kitchen » chocolate chips

Over-ripe Bananas – What to do?

Tina — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:11:52 +0000

Do your bananas ever look like this? Surprisingly, it happens in our house quite often. I have a hard time understanding it, though. My daughter likes them almost totally green. The little ones like them just barely yellow and I like them just before they turn brown. How is it that some of them get to the point of being over-ripe?

I definitely don’t have the answer to how they get to that point, but I do have several ideas of what to do with them when they do. I buy lots of bananas, because each of the six of us eats one almost every day. So sometimes, one or two slip through and are past the fresh eating stage. Try some of these ideas.

Make Banana Bread. Make Banana Pancakes, all you have to do is mash the bananas and add to your regular pancake mix or recipe. Or you could make Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Cookies! My daughter found this recipe and these cookies are delicious!

Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup room temperature butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup mashed bananas

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh grated if possible)

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas and mix with the soda. Let sit for two minutes. The soda will be activated and this will produce light cookies. Add the banana mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the spices and salt. Add in the flour and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a non-stick baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 11 – 13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Makes about 30 cookies.

What if you only have one over-ripe banana? My mom taught me this trick. Peel the banana and drop into a large freezer bag and freeze. The next time you have one or two over ripe bananas, peel and add them to the bag. Soon you will have enough for a recipe and nothing will go to waste!

More Holiday Cookie Recipes!

Tina — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:02:33 +0000

I have started my holiday baking. Mmmm, mmmm, do I love cookies? Yes, I do. We’ve been baking off and on for several days in between Christmas concert performances and Christmas parties with our family and friends. Here are a few more great Christmas cookies recipes with pictures.

CRANBERRY ALMOND BISCOTTI yield 24 cookies

Ingredients:

1-1/2 toasted almonds chopped

1 cup dried cranberries

1 teaspoon baking powder

2-1/2 cups flour

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon anise extract

zest of one orange zest

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt, orange zest and anise extract. Stir in the flour. Add almonds and cranberries. Dough will be sticky. Turn out onto well-floured board and knead adding flour until the dough is workable and not sticky. Form into two logs about 9 inches long and 3-1/2 inches wide. Place on floured cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes until slightly browned. Reduce oven temperature to 275°F. Cool for 10 minutes. Slice logs into 1 inch pieces. Place on cookie sheets and bake 15 minutes. Flip cookies and bake another 15 minutes or until slightly brown. Cool and store in an air-tight container.

FOOLPROOF FUDGE yield 36 pieces

Ingredients:

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

½ teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In a microwave safe bowl add all ingredients except walnuts. Working at 30 second intervals, heat the mix then stir. Repeat heating and stirring until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Add in walnuts and spread in a 9 x 9 inch pan. Cool completely and cut into 1 inch squares. You can also try mixing different types of chips (peanut butter, milk chocolate, mint) and different nuts (almonds, cashews or peanuts) to create various types of fudge.

If you are giving cookies and candies as gifts, a fun and easy to way to present them is to get a new gift box. Line the box with either foil or parchment papers and then add your cookies. Tie off with a big bow and your gift is ready to go.