Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Finally!  I have been able to bake bread without the middle sinking.  I always blamed this on altitude and now I know that altitude really had something to do with it.  With all the fresh fruit around our house this summer it’s been tough keeping up with eating it all, so we’ve made banana bread several times.  I even tried to get all fancy by adding chocolate chips!   If you live in high country try it out and let me know how it turns out for you.

Banana Bread at High Altitude

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup sugar +3 tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• Handful of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease the bottom of a 9x5 in loaf pan.  In a bowl stir together flour, salt, baking soda.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and bananas; mix 30 strokes with a spoon or 30 seconds with a mixer on low speed.  Mix flour mixture into egg mixture, using about 30 strokes, or 30 seconds at low speed.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake for 65-70 min.  Remove bread from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove bread from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack.  Slice it up and enjoy!

High Altitude Baking

The craziness began when Kellee and the girls came over the week before last.  First we made this zucchini bread.  Looks good doesn’t it?  Well there’s more…

Next we made these mouth watering cupcakes.  I had to prove my theory that the last cupcakes I had made from scratch didn’t turn out because of the altitude. All the bread I have tried baking out here always sinks in the middle and is mushy.  I blamed that on altitude also.  I think my theory was correct. We adjusted a few things for the bread and the cupcakes.  Look how they turned out!  No mushy center on the bread and the cupcakes didn’t over flow into my oven.  Yay!

As hard as we tried to keep things cleaned up as we went it didn’t really work too well.  I do think, however, that we did an amazing job juggling everything we did.  We kind of forgot about the kids after we kicked them out of the kitchen.  Then they showed up again wanting to eat.  I guess it was lunch time.  We were right in the middle of baking or measuring something.  We got lunches made and things in the oven only to remember that we hadn’t eaten either.  Oops!  Can you believe that two pregnant women would forget to eat lunch?  I think we forgot because we were waiting for these cupcakes!  You’re looking at this photo and you want one now don’t you? 

Soon after we gave the kids some cupcakes Jared’s family was knocking at the door.  Stay tuned for a fun filled week.  I know that Mike and Laurel are patiently waiting for photos on the slip and slide.

Caught

We go through bread way too fast around here, so I have been making bread every once in awhile. David couldn't wait to have it. I am pretty sure he concocted this plan:

1.Get chair from kitchen table

2. Push chair across kitchen to counter where bread is sitting.

3. Climb onto chair.

4. Reach out and grab several chunks of bread.

5. Enjoy.

And enjoy he did until he was caught. It was well calculated, wasn't it? I guess I will be baking more bread really soon. This loaf didn't last too long.