Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

Imagine for a moment the sweet aroma of freshly baked banana bread wafting through the air. It sounds like heaven, right?  Is your mouth watering? One of my favorite treats growing up, was my mom's banana bread, by far the best banana bread ever and now a breakfast staple in our family. 

This moist and flavorful banana bread recipe was given to my mom many years ago by a little old lady in Hawaii.  My mom's (the little old lady's) original recipe, consisted of shortening and a lot of sugar, which probably is why it was so decadent, but not practical by today's standards.  I substituted butter for the shortening and Cherchies® Apple Butter Spread for some of the sugar, and because I was feeling adventurous, I added chocolate chips. The real question, could my version compete with mom's recipe?  Only our discerning and I quote, "master taster testers" (our kiddos) would soon reveal the truth.

Hot diggity dog! (Okay I am dating myself).  My version passed with flying colors!  Moist, flavorful, just like "Grammy's," music to my ears!  I usually triple this recipe because this decadent treat disappears almost instantaneously, and freezing extra loaves extends the disappearing act by a little.  

So friends, if you are looking for your new favorite banana bread recipe, it is time put your overripe bananas to good use and make this tasty recipe today!  You will not be disappointed:)

Thanks for visiting!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Cherchies Apple Butter Spread
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon (tsp) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (tsp) salt
• 2 cups flour
• 5 Tablespoons (Tbsp) *sour milk 
• 1 teaspoon (tsp) white vinegar
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350.  

To make the *sour milk, add 5 Tablespoons of milk to a small bowl.  Add the white vinegar to the milk, stir and set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and Cherchies Apple Butter Spread together.  Then add eggs, baking soda, salt, flour and measure out 5 Tablespoons of the sour milk.  Discard the remaining sour milk.

Mash the bananas with a fork and add to the batter.  In a small bowl, mix the chocolate chips with 1 Tablespoon of flour.  This helps prevent the chips from sinking to the bottom.  Gently fold the floured chocolate chips into the banana bread batter.

For two loaves, divide the batter evenly into two greased (with cooking spray) loaf pans, or into one greased loaf pan for one loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour or until done.   Enjoy!

Refreshing Fruit Pizza Recipe

Refreshing Fruit Pizza Recipe

This refreshing dessert pizza recipe is a new "twist" on an old classic and is the perfect recipe to take advantage of summer's glorious berries and fruits.  

Growing up, my mother occasionally made this special treat for my sister and me, using whatever fruit was available, and topped it off with a delicious marmalade glaze. (Secretly, I think she made this dessert so her daughters would eat their fruit. We were picky eaters. Clever mom, using a cookie as a disguise).  

This pretty dessert pizza recipe is easy to make; it uses whatever fruit you have on hand (canned or fresh) and is a fun family project for any occasion, any time of year. It features a sugar cookie crust, cream cheese frosting, fresh berries and fruit, and Cherchies® Fig Preserves. I have made this decadent dessert over the years with my babies, with different combinations, and it was a hit every time. Now that my babies are in college, they still like to bake with mom. :) They recently made this dessert for Memorial Day and arranged the strawberries and blueberries to resemble an American flag, but the decorating options are endless. We finished the dessert pizza with a glaze using our Fig Preserves, amping up Mom's original recipe. I did not have time to photograph their creation because it didn't last long.

Are you ready to try this tasty dessert pizza recipe? It is easy and flavorful; it is fun to make and can be made any time of year in whatever design you desire, using whatever fruit is available. 

Thank you for visiting! Stop back again for more tasty recipes!

Comment below if you have made this recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (16.5 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough

• 1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese softened

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon (tsp) vanilla

• 4 cups assorted fruit (blueberries, strawberries, kiwi)

• 1/4 cup Cherchies® Fig Preserves (you could substitute your favorite preserves or marmalade)

• 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp) water

Preparation

Heat oven to 375.  Line a 12-inch pizza pan (or any kid of round sheet) with foil; spray with cooking spray. Press cookie dough into pan to completely cover pan.  

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Bake 14 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool completely.  Invert cookie onto plate.  Gently remove foil. Turn crust over onto plate.  

Meanwhile, while cookie pizza is baking, mix together the cream cheese and the powdered sugar and vanilla, and spread cream cheese mixture onto entire cooled cookie.  Now the fun begins...

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Then load up the pizza with whatever fruit makes you happy.  In this case, I used kiwis, strawberries, and blueberries.  My mother’s recipe called for mandarin oranges, but for some reason my children don’t like them (silly kids).  If I had had Clementine’s on hand, I would have used them.

Arrange the fruit onto the pizza.  The possibilities are endless.  This is a great family or kid’s party activity.  How fun would it be to arrange the fruit into a face?

Wait for it...

Now the "piece de resistance", the glaze!  Mix the Cherchies Fig Preserves with the water, and drizzle over the pizza...

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Yummy goodness!  Dig in:)

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Homemade Pop Tarts Recipe

Happy Valentine's Day, friends! Last year, I posted a recipe for Homemade Toaster Strudels. This morning, before the kiddos went to school, I surprised my favorite valentines with sweet, tasty, fruity, homemade Valentine Pop-Tarts. Sweets for my sweeties:) Needless to say, Mom prevailed a hero (a great way to start the day).

I used the same idea as the Toaster Strudels, except this time, I substituted refrigerated pie dough to emulate the Pop-Tarts sold in grocery stores (our kiddos love, but I am not a fan). Yes, I certainly could have made the pie dough from scratch, but considering school mornings are crazy enough, I opted for grocery store refrigerated pie dough.

Since February is Cherry month (didn't know that did you?), I decided to go with our Cherry Butter for the filling (but any of our Butter Spreads or **Preserves (see below) could be used in this recipe).  And, because it is Valentine's Day, I went the extra step and used large heart-shaped cookie cutters to seal the deal.  These "Pop-Tarts" were delicious by themselves, and adding gooey icing and sprinkles made these semi-homemade "Pop-Tarts" irresistible! Hands down, these homemade Pop-Tarts are far better than the grocery store versions and are our children's new favorite. Try our homemade version today. You may never go back to store-bought Pop-Tarts again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thank you for visiting. Comment below if you have tried this recipe and if you have pictures to share.

Ingredients

• 2 rolls of room temperature refrigerated pie dough

• Cherchies® Cherry Butter (or could substitute Cherchies® Strawberry Butter, or Cherchies® Apple Butter, or any of our **delicious preserves, mixed with 1 Tablespoon of corn starch).

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 Tablespoon (or more depending on consistency) heavy cream

• 1 or two drops of food coloring (I actually used 1 Tablespoon of additional Cherry Butter in the icing in lieu of food coloring)

• 1 large heart-shaped cookie cutter- Approx. 4 1/2 inches in diameter (optional)

• Sprinkles (optional)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly flour your prep surface.  Roll out the dough over the counter or prep surface. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes.  If making simple Pop Tarts (not using cookie cutters, cut off rounded ends of pie dough, and cut pie dough into rectangles).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Add about 1-2 Tablespoons (depending on size of cookie cutter) with Cherchies® Cherry Butter Spread to the center of the dough, making sure to leave at least 1/2 inch around the perimeter of the dough for sealing.

Place another piece of dough gently over the filling and crimp the edges with a fork to seal the tart.  Seal well to keep the tasty fruit inside from seeping out. 

Brush the egg over the entire tart, and bake in the oven until the tarts are golden brown.  Allow to cool slightly before icing the tarts.  

While tarts are baking, mix the icing.  In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and food coloring (in my case, I used the Cherry Butter to color the icing).  If icing is too thick, add a couple drops of heavy cream at a time to thin the icing.  Icing should slightly ooze off the spoon.  While tarts are still warm, scoop a large spoonful of icing and drizzle it over the pop tarts.  If desired, add sprinkles and watch them disappear!  

Enjoy!

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Homemade Pop Tarts Recipe

Fig Bars Recipe

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Fig Bars Recipe

Cook Time:  45 Minutes
Difficulty:  Easy

It's here!  We've been anxiously awaiting our newest addition, Fig Preserves! To celebrate its arrival, I couldn't wait to create something yummy! I toyed with a couple of recipes from old cookbooks to come up with this mouth-watering recipe and made these decadent treats for my family.  It wasn't long before the entire pan was devoured, not all in one day I might add, but they went quickly.  More importantly, I can't believe our children ate figs!  My how they've grown.

It's funny how one's tastes can change over the years.  Thank goodness mine did, I would have missed out on figs!  I love figs now!  

So, all you fig lover's out there, this recipe is the perfect dessert, snack, or breakfast treat, and it is sure to tantalize your taste buds.  These fig bars are sweet, buttery, "figgy" goodness, and because WE LOVE YA, we're offering our Fig Preserves at a discounted price for a limited time.  Even if you are not a fig aficionado you may surprise yourself!  Cherchies® Fig Preserves is really tasty!  Life is short, eat figs!

So glad you stopped by!

Ingredients  
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (for a gluten free option, simply substitute Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour)
1 10 oz. jar Cherchies® NEW Fig Preserves with Cinnamon (Feel free to substitute any of our preserves in this recipe, our Blackberry Preserves, Cranberry Preserves with Champagne,  Apricot-Pineapple Preserves).

Topping Ingredients  
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup flour (for a gluten free option, simply substitute Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour)
1 teaspoon (tsp) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (tsp) salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 stick of melted butter
Extra coconut for garnishing (optional)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and gradually add the flour to the butter mixture.  Spread the mixture into a 13 x 9 pan and press down evenly.  Bake for 20 minutes.  

While the crust is cooking, prepare the topping.  In a small bowl (or you can use the same bowl you used to make the bar crust...why dirty more dishes), combine all the ingredients for the topping until crumbly and set aside.

When crust is finished cooking, remove from oven and cool slightly.  Spread Cherchies® Fig Preserves with Cinnamon evenly over the crust.  Sprinkle the topping ingredients over the preserves and return the fig bars to the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes or until bars are lightly browned.

Sprinkle with more coconut to garnish the bars, but this is completely optional.  It makes it look pretty:) Voila! The perfect easy dessert, snack, or breakfast treat.  Enjoy!

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