2 May 2008

Crater Banana Bread for the Bakeoff & and the Arte y Pico Award


The talented Lorraine at Not Quite Nigella is holding an event called the Banana Bread Bakeoff.
Her photography and baking skills are phenomenal.

For this event Lorraine only requests that our recipes be purely banana bread without any frosting.

This is my absolute favourite recipe for banana bread with it's brown sugar and chocolate chip layers. It is just the best way to use up all those dead bananas on your counter top....plain and simple!! Then again when isn't banana bread of any size, shape or colour not THE best!!!


I would like to thank Deeba of Passionate About Baking for giving me the Arte y Pico award. Deeba is a very talented cake decorator and baker blogging from India. I always love to visit her blog for her wonderful baked goods and recipes. Her warmth and genuine love for life, cooking and her family exude with every written word. She says that she "loves baking and churning out delicious stuff from the kitchen." I can attest to that as a follower and admirer of her blog. If you haven't had a chance to visit please do...you will be glad you did!!

As a recipient of this award we are asked to carry on the tradition and give it to 5 deserving bloggers. As always it is hard to choose only 5 people we feel this award should go to

1)You pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award with their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogger community, no matter what language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winning, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the ward itself.
4) Award-winning and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "
Arte y pico"blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

Even though Deeba has already given this award to my adopted blog sister Ivy of Kopiaste I feel that she deserves it again!

But I will choose 5 others:

Nuria, who loves to drink fine wines...wink...wink...seriously she is so much fun to know at Spanish Recipes

Giz & Psychgrad, the dynamic mother and daughter duo and fellow Canadians at Equal Opportunity Kitchen

My old friend and talented wine and food connasieur Deb at Deb's Key West Wine and Garden

Nikki with her wonderful sense of humour at Canarygirl.com who has been having site issues and really deserves an award after all of that.

The giving spirit of HoneyB over at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch
Of course as always there are so many more bloggers to choose. It is so hard to just narrow it down to just 5. I appreciate each and every one of you.

**Crater Banana Bread**

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas (mashed)
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
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Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Add vanilla and bananas. Mix well till smooth. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to banana mixture alternately with sour cream, ending with dry ingredients. Pour half of the batter into 9 x 13-inch pan.
Combine cinnamon and brown sugar. Sprinkle 1/2 of this mixture over batter in pan. Top with 1/2 of the chocolate chips. Repeat layers.

Bake in 350F oven for 45 - 50 minutes.
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27 comments:

  1. Incredible looking banana bread. I can't wait to try it. My banana's are almost there!

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  2. Oh wow - that sounds like one fantastic banana bread recipe!

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  3. Thank you thank you thank you! Our second award. Very cool. I haven't seen this award before. We are very honoured. I'm working on a post now and will pass this award on right away.

    Also - thanks for the heads up about the NQN event. I think Giz has a recipe to enter for the event. Yours looks delicious!

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  4. That looks like one of the best banana bread recipes I have ever seen. I keep clawing at my monitor trying to reach through and grab some of it.

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  5. Val, thank you so much for your kind words! I will be sure to pass this award on very SOON!

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  6. Wow, Val, that is just a scrumptious looking banana bread. This will go in my to-try file for sure. You are so deserving of the award - congratulations.

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  7. AnonymousMay 02, 2008

    Nice twist on an old favourite...the brown sugar topping certainly adds a whole other dimension to this banana bread.

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  8. A well-deserved award, indeed, Val. I agree, Deeba is a gem. :)

    And speaking of gems, that banana bread is incredible! Seriously. I love the layers, the textures, and the ingredients. Now if I could only taste it, I know I'd love the flavor too.

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  9. I love banana bread! Yours looks especially delcious!

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  10. We want a SPEECH! lol

    The bread and that BC backdrop made for a very nice photo!

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  11. I just realized, I'm in serious trouble with all these banana breads out there! This sounds wonderful sweetie and you know I'll be starring it too!

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  12. Val, wow, what a beautiful picture. Absolutely gorgeous with those beautiful leaves on the table. Whenever I saw a banana bread I used to say that I never have bananas because they always eat them before they ripen and this week as the boys were not feeling well I have leftovers of everything I make and I even have some bananas. It's time to make one and this one sounds perfect.
    Thank you so much for passing on the award again to me, although I feel embarrassed as I have not passed it on to you first. I just thought that more friends of ours should receive this award.

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  13. I like the chocolate and cinnamon in your banana bread Val! What a treat. I am now eyeing up the 3, yes 3 fastly ripening bananas in my fruit bowl!

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  14. I am back again Val! Can I ask you something that may sound stupid. How do you measure a cup of butter, I have worried over this! Do you wait until it is soft enough to cram into your cup or am I missing some vital trick?

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  15. Fabulous banana bread, Val. I could dive right into it! It looks so moist and delicious.

    Congrats on the award too. It is well-deserved!

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  16. Whit this fabulous chocolatty twist on the banana bread, it is obvious why you won this award.....you are a wonderful cook, well done.

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  17. AnonymousMay 04, 2008

    DELICIOUS BLOGG

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  18. Gorgeous banana bread. I would love a slice right now.

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  19. Thanks one and all for your kinds comments.
    There are too many deserving bloggers out there Ivy so never worry.
    Holler apparently a cup of butter is 1/2 lb. Our butter comes in pounds whereas in the States it comes in sticks which are a 1/2 cup each or 8 tablespoons....4 sticks would be equivalent to a pound. If you are still confused, because I am, I found this link helpful

    http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/BritishEquiv.htm

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  20. Thanks Val, that is very helpful!

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  21. Hola Beauty!!! Congrats on the Award :D... You deserve all of them!!!

    Thanks for passing it to me! I feel so honored :D Thanks so much Val!!! I'll proudly hang it in my blog :D

    This banana bread is such a good idea for those ripe bananas which sometimes end up where they shouldn't!

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  22. Congrats for the award. Nice choice for the Banana bread. I make banana bread every week. We love it here.

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  23. That cake looks superb, I love the many layers :)

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  24. AnonymousMay 05, 2008

    Aw, Val! Thanks so much for the award! :D Your bread looks amazing...Yum, bananas and chocolate. Congratulations to you as well, my dear! You deserve it! :)

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  25. I love banana bread and that looks fantastic! I buy bananas purely to wait for them to turn brown and I feel like it takes forever!

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  26. Oh Val...you embarass me...such nice words. This award was so you when I saw it...love the banana bread post. Nice & different!

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  27. AnonymousJune 10, 2008

    Made this twice (sour cream version). It's like a brownie, muffin, cake and cookie all in one - soft with a crunchy top. Not as sweet as you might think with 1.5 cups of chocolate and 2.5 cups of sugar. Though consider reducing the chocolate by at least 1/2 cup - full amount overpowers the banana taste. I've made this with half white and half dark chocolate - works well and I think is better. Grease pan to prevent sticking. Foil-tent if baking longer than 45 minutes to prevent burning. The guys love this! And it's so easy to make.

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Welcome to my home. Thank you for choosing to stay a while and for sharing our lives through food. I appreciate all your support, comments, suggestions, and daily encouragement.

Val

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