Breads Archives - Simple Brunch Ideas

For a delicious, moist banana bread that is very simple to make, you can’t beat this recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9″x5″ loaf pan.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Banana Bread--Dry Ingredients

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.
Banana Bread--Butter and Brown Sugar

4. Stir eggs and mashed bananas into the butter and brown sugar mixture until well blended. If you are using nuts, add them at this point.
Banana Bread--Wet Ingredients

5. Stir banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.
Banana Bread--Batter

6. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Banana Bread--Ready to Bake

7. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then take out of pan and cool on wire rack.
Banana Bread--Baked

Bacon-anything is a sure hit, but this cheesy bacon monkey bread is sensational.

There are many recipes online for bacon monkey bread, and I tried a few different approaches to see which I like best. By far my favorite is the recipe found in Christmas With Southern Living (there’s an Amazon link to the book below). I’ll give you the step-by-step instructions and then explain the variations I tried.

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons butter
2 sweet onions, sliced thinly
1 32-oz package frozen bread dough, thawed
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Sauté onions over medium heat in 2 tablespoons of butter, stirring often, until onions are a caramel color, about 15 minutes.

2. Roll dough into balls the size of large marbles.

3. Sprinkle ½ cup of bacon and ½ cup of cheese in the bottom of a buttered bundt pan. Arrange one-third of the dough balls over the cheese and brush with melted butter. Layer half the onions, ½ cup of bacon and ½ cup of cheese. Continue layering with the dough balls, onions, bacon and cheese.

4. Cover and let rise in a warm place (80 to 85 degrees) for an hour to an hour and a half or until doubled in bulk. (I left it too long so mine is a little “over the top.”)

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; carefully invert bread onto a serving platter. Serve warm.

VARIATIONS:

The other recipe for this that I like is found on www.dinnerordessert.com. This recipe called for using refrigerated pizza dough instead of frozen bread dough and stuffed the bacon, cheese and onions inside each dough ball.