Baking With Bananas

Here's a time and money-saving way to bake up some goodness for your family now and to freeze for later.

When we have an over-ripe banana or two, I toss it in a bag in the freezer.  

When I have a collection of 6-8 bananas, I bake up a little banana storm. 
(Let the bananas thaw at room temperature before mixing them into the batter.)

I start by tripling my favorite banana bread recipe.  My current favorite is from this American's Test Kitchen cookbook:

I can fit a triple batch in my mixer - that's its limit.

Then I pour about a third of the batter in a loaf pan for banana bread.

Another third goes in muffin tins for plain banana muffins or banana cupcakes - I always use an ice cream scoop for muffins and cupcakes.  They turn out perfectly shaped and are all the same size.

Then the remaining third of the batter gets some mix-ins.  This could be dried fruit, nuts, grated carrots or zucchini....

I used about a half cup of shredded coconut and a half cup of mini chocolate chips.

So by tripling a recipe for banana bread and adding a little creativity, I bake up goods for the freezer and a little treat for the family.

The banana bread goes in the freezer.

The banana-coconut-chocolate chip and half of the plain banana muffins go in the freezer.

The remaining 6 of the plain banana muffins got a little cream cheese frosting and became cupcakes. 

Yum!

I'm linking up to some parties - check them out!