Posted on by Annika

Banana Bread

Banana bread is a classic comfort food, especially in the U.S. Now with the corona virus slowing down all public life and confining families to their homes, it has made a spectacular comeback. The sweet taste is certainly soothing, and baking does bring people together, turning it into a stabilizing tradition. Sharing food is a great way to connect with loved ones, so I thought I would post my favorite recipe for banana bread here as well. This is a recipe friends kindly shared with me years ago and that is also why the ingredients are listed in American measures.

Banana bread is a staple comfort food.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup walnuts or pecan nuts
  • 1¾ cups flour (basic wheat flour will do)
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • 3-4 really ripe bananas
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

How to Make It

  • Preheat the oven to 180° C.
  • Take a bowl and mix the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, the baking soda, the salt, and the cinnamon.
  • Chop the nuts and add them to the flour-sugar mix.
  • Squash the bananas with a fork.
  • Take a second bowl and mix the squashed bananas, the eggs, the melted butter, and the vanilla.
  • Carefully fold in the liquid contents of the second bowl into the dry ingredients of the first bowl. You want to make sure that the dough is thick and chunky.
  • Butter a baking tin and pour the dough into it.
  • Bake for 50-60 minutes at 180° C until the banana bread is golden brown on top. Let it cool down.
  • (You can freeze it easily as well.)
Posted on by Annika

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These easy and quick chocolate oatmeal cookies are one of my all-time favorites and one of the first recipes my grandmother shared with me. I like that they are a bit crunchy and even though they contain chocolate, they are not too sweet. Needless to say, a batch of these cookies never lasts long in my house.

Ingredients

  • 125 g of butter
  • 100 g of sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 115 g of oatmeal
  • 160 g of flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 100 g of chocolate chips (I prefer dark chocolate)

How to Make Them

  • Preheat the oven to 150° C.
  • In one bowl, mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg and mix again until creamy.
  • In another bowl, add the oatmeal, the flour, and the baking powder. Mix carefully.
  • Add the flour mix to the butter mix and stir carefully together.
  • Add the chocolate chips and mix carefully.
  • Take a baking tray and line it with baking parchment. With a small spoon, put small heaps of cookie dough onto the tray. The dough should be enough for about 40-45 cookies. Make sure to leave enough space between the heaps because the dough will melt a bit in the oven. Wet the spoon and flatten the heaps a bit.
  • Bake the cookies in the oven at 150° C for 10-15 minutes. They should be still a little soft in the middle.
  • Take them out of the oven and let them cool down.
We ate them so fast, there was no time to take a nicer picture…

Have fun baking these and let me know in the comments below or on Instagram and Twitter how you like them. I would love to hear from you!