Banana Bread

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

After some testing I landed on this as my perfect banana bread, my wife will affirm. I use brown sugar to give it a deeper and richer flavor as well as plenty of flavors and spices to bring out the flavor the banana.

How to make Perfect Banana Bread

In a large bowl I start with my 2 very ripe banana’s, mix those down with a fork until smooth, then add in 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of Rhum extract (if you have it, not required) and 1/3 cup of melt butter and mix that up with a fork.

Once that is together we now need to add the rest of our dry ingredients and mix as minimal as possible. I do not use a power mixer for this but hand mix with a rubber spatula. Add in 1 1/2 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and a pinch of salt. You can also add in some nuts at this time as well, chopped walnuts work well, I use what I have typically 1/2 – 1 cup. Gently combine by folding this into the rest of the mixture until it just comes together, some lumps are ok but flour should be combined.

You’ll bake this at 350 degrees in a bread loaf pan for 60 minutes.

Banana Bread Ingredients

  • 2 Very Ripe Banana’s (should be mostly brown)
  • 3/4 Cups Brown Sugar
  • 1/3 Cup Melt Unsalted Butter
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 TBSP Rhum Extract
  • 1 1/2 Cups Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
  • Nuts to Taste. Walnuts work great.
  • Bake at 350 for 90 minutes

Oatmeal Cookies

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

I started making these for my wife after she gave birth to our first born son. The oatmeal is supposed to be very good for the producing of milk and they are also just very tasty, not too sweet and a great oatmeal taste. I actually make my less sweet than other recipes, I don’t think these need to be too sweet as they have plenty of flavor without a ton of sugar.

How to Make Awesome Oatmeal Cookies

Get your oven preheated to 350 degrees. Whip the butter in a larger bowl. Start by getting 1/2 cup of unsalted butter softened, I always forget to set it out enough to soften so I will typically set it on my stove while pre-heating. To that add in your 1/2 cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar, you could probably even remove the white sugar if you want to remove even more sugar but I have not tried that, this is about 50% less sugar than I saw in other recipes. With a power mixer, whisk up the butter and sugar until very smooth and butter is well integrated.

Add 2 eggs and 1 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, blend until combined. Now add in our dry ingredients of 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder,1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. You should probably add the flour 1/2 cup at a time, or yolo and add it all at once. This mixture will get very thick, mix until just combined.

You’ll need to do the rest by hand with a strong mixing spoon, I use a wooden one so it doesn’t bend on me. Mix in your 3 cups of oats (do not use instant oats), 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of chopped walnuts or try other nuts. The chocolate chips and nuts are of course optional but I find they really add to flavor and texture and is why I use less sugar. Once all mixed together scoop out small balls, about an inch, they will not expand much so they can be closer to each other than you would with regular cookies but give it some space about an inch. It will be sticky so I find spraying my hands with cooking spray helps handle the batter. Bake these for 14 minutes in your 350 degree preheated oven, if they seem too soft try another 1-2 minutes, this may be needed if they are too thick. But they will thicken up as they cool.

Oatmeal Cookie Ingredients

  • Dry Ingredients
    • 1 1/2 Cups Flour
    • 1 tsp Cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
    • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
    • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • Wet Ingredients
    • 1/2 Cup Softened Unsalted Butter
    • 1/2 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
    • 1/2 Cup White Sugar
    • 2 Large Eggs
    • 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • Oats and Other Ingredients
    • 3 Cups Oats
    • 1 Cup Chocolate Chips or other sweet chip
    • 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts or other nuts
  • Bake at 350 for 14 minutes

Butterscotch

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

I forget what brought me to making this my first time, I think it may of been trying to create a butter beer but what I found was a delicious home made butter scotch. We’ve all probably had it before in some kind of candy or desert but wow making it home made and enjoying it hot right from the pan was an experience.

How to Make Butterscotch

Melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a pan, I used a stainless steel and didn’t have issues but non-stick may be easier to deal with, especially if you burn it first time around. After that melts mix in 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. Boil this for about 4 to 5 minutes until it thickens and comes together. Remove it from the heat and add in 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (no cheap stuff). You can also add if desired 1 to 2 tablespoons of preferred whiskey at the end. Enjoy! If you refrigerate this it will harden and need warmed up again to use as a syrup.

Butterscotch Ingredients

  • 4 TBSP Unsalted Butter
  • 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1-2 TBSP Whiskey (optional)