Originally posted posted on November 12, 2005.

This is the recipe I use for banana bread. I’ve always loved banana bread, especially with walnuts. But the walnuts are optional if you have a nut allergy. As usual I used organic ingredients (bananas, eggs, vanilla, walnuts) where possible, but you can use non-organic stuff and make it cheaper.

I usually try to avoid using specialized gadgets for the web recipes, but using a hand mixer makes some of this a bit easier than mixing by hand.

Basic Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300° (use an oven thermometer!)
2. Mash ripe bananas in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix in beaten eggs with a hand mixer until blended.
4. Add sugar in gradually while beating with hand mixer.
5. Add in shortening (in small chunks) and vanilla, and beat some more with hand mixer.
6. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt, then blend into batter.
7. Chop walnuts up some and mix into batter by hand.
8. Bake 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours at 300°.

Now onto the pictures for the rest!

Our basic ingredients are some very ripe bananas, all-purpose flour, baking soda, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, shortening and walnuts.

Note: I bought some organic bananas fresh (the 3 were about ¾ pound) and let them sit on a shelf in my kitchen for about 7 days to let them get as “ripe” as you see here..

To start peel the bananas, break them into smaller chunks, and mash them up in a mixing bowl with a potato masher.

Beat the 2 eggs and add them to the mashed bananas, then beat some with your hand mixer.

Add the 1 ¼ cups of sugar to the mix, and beat some more with the hand mixer.

Then add in the ½ cup of shortening and 1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract, and beat some more with the hand mixer. (Your arm would be pretty tired by now mixing by hand, heh..)

In another bowl whisk together the 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda and ½ tsp of salt.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt combination to the banana puree mixture and blend together with the hand mixer again. (You’re getting your money’s worth from the hand mixer, eh?)

Chop the walnuts with a knife and add them to the batter.. Mix them in a bit by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Pour the whole mess into your favorite greased 9″ x 5″ bread pan.

Place into a 300° pre-heated oven and bake for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours (mine went closer to 1 ½ hours). You’ll know it’s done when a toothpick or sharp knife comes out clean when you poke it.

Note: If you don’t already have one, pick up an oven thermometer. My gas oven is a little old and can be anywhere from 25 to 50 degrees hotter than what the dial reads..

Let the loaf cool on a cooling rack for an hour or so, covered with a dish towel, before cutting into it. Then it’s ready to eat! mMmm.

Originally posted on October 22, 2005.

As as easy as it is to make homemade apple pie I still wonder why people buy a can of filling off the shelf.. It’s easy to make, and the ingredients are pretty simple. The pie crust (click here for pie crust recipe) is the only real work.

This recipe cost a little more to make since I used mostly organic ingredients and apples. It can probably be made quite a bit cheaper if you buy your ingredients at your local major chain supermarket.

Basic Apple Pie Filling Instructions:

1. Peel and cut apples into ¼ inch slices.
2. Drizzle 1 – 2 ounces of lemon juice over apple slices in a bowl and toss to mix.
3. Combine granulated sugar, light brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
4. Pour mixture over the apple slices and toss to mix.
5. Dump apple mixture into pie crust in a 9 inch pie pan.
6. Cut 2 ounces of butter (¼ of a stick) into small chunks and add to pie filling.
7. Cover the pie with the top crust and crimp or flute edges, then make some small cuts in top.
8. Bake at 425° for 40 minutes, until golden brown and filling bubbles out a little.

Now onto the pictures for the rest!

Our basic ingredients are apples, white and light brown sugar, a small amount of flour, a lemon, butter, and some ground cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.

I also added several drops (not too much) of vanilla over the filling before covering with the top crust.

Peel the skin off the apples, quarter, cut out the core and stems, and slice into ¼ inch slices.

Combine the 2/3 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, 3 tbsp flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, dash of nutmeg and allspice in a bowl. Stir it up well, then put it in the mixing cup for use shortly.

Put the apple slices into a mixing bowl and drizzle the 1 – 2 tbsp of lemon juice over them. Then toss to coat the slices.

Note: I used a fresh lemon for this (watch the seeds!), but you could use lemon juice you can buy in those little lemon shaped bottles the stock in the produce department too..

Now add the sugar, flour, spice mixture to the apple slices. Sprinkle it over them and toss a bit again so all of the apple slices are coated well.

You can see here that all of the apple slices are coated with the sugar mixture.. mMmm.

Add the sugared up apple slices to the pie crust in a 9 inch pie pan.

Cut 2 tbsp of butter (¼ of a stick) into chunks and place them around on the top of the filling.

Finally cover the pie with the top crust and crimp or flute the edges so it’s closed up nice. Also remember to cut some small slices in the top for venting (Don’t forget this step!).

Place the pie in the center of your preheated oven and bake at 425° for 40 minutes. Peek in on it 5 or 10 minutes before the end, it should be golden brown when done.

Note 1: It’s a good idea to place a cookie sheet or sheet pan on another rack below the pie to catch any sugar mixture/syrup that may drip down. This is a common thing, so use a sheet pan if you have one so you won’t have to clean the bottom of your oven tomorrow.

Note 2: My oven is gas, but if yours is an electric oven (with a big hot heating element up top) you might want to cover the edges of the crust with some aluminum foil for all but the last 10 minutes of cooking so the edges don’t burn..

And finally it’s done! Place on a cooling rack and cover with a dish towel for 30 minutes or an hour to cool before cutting into it, and it’s ready to eat!