Beer Bread

I had not heard of beer bread until I ate at the Wunsche Brothers Cafe in Old Town Spring a few months ago. It was so tasty I bought a packaged bread mix from the cafe so I could make my own beer bread at home. And then later I discovered I could make this delicious bread from scratch with just four ingredients! So easy and yummy!

3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz beer
2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and beer and mix well. (Mixture will be sticky.) Pour into prepared pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes (bread should be a nice golden brown color when done). Remove from oven and brush 2 tablespoons of melted butter all over top of bread and bake for an additional 3 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes and then remove from pan and enjoy!

Banana Bread

Oh my. I haven't posted any recipes in a long time. Life has kept me busy with other things. Like moving across the country. But that's another story.

Now here's a simple and delicious banana bread recipe. And a great way to use up those bananas that are turning brown on the counter.

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease an 8x4 (or 9x5) inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, salt, and mashed bananas. Mix in flour and baking soda just until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 45-60 minutes. (I start checking on it after 45 minutes.) Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

I conveniently had all the ingredients to try this bread tonight. It turned out yummy ... definitely a keeper.

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 medium) very ripe banana, mashed
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Combine pumpkin, eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, banana and vegetable oil in large mixer bowl; beat until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

You can view the original recipe here.