Have Ripe Bananas? Two Great Recipes for Brown Nanners!

I recently began playing in an ultimate frisbee league and our team name is the Radioactive Bananas.  I am perfectly happy with this team name because
1. I LOVE bananas (I literally eat one every day, usually with breakfast)
2. Bananas have many health benefits
3. Frisbee players are very generous and often bring goodies for team members...meaning banana baked goods for everyone!!

Seeing as my team is named after one of my favorite fruits, I just had to do some banana baking.  I stocked up on bananas so I would have plenty for my morning breakfasts, while still allowing some to ripen enough for my banana baking extravaganza!  I actually went slightly overboard on the banana purchase, so I was able to make not one, but TWO delicious banana dishes.  This actually worked out perfectly because I was able to make a loaf of my great-grandmother's Banana Bread recipe for a camping and hiking trip as well as some Banana Peanut Butter Chip Cookies for the frisbee team!

The Banana Bread recipe is great because it is very simple and doesn't use any obscure ingredients that you may or may not have in your house when the banana urge strikes (like buttermilk, crisco, wheat germ, etc.).  It is a classic banana bread and is moist and delicious, not to mention I baked it at 5,000 feet with no issues!  Ask anyone on my camping trip....this banana bread is proven to be a delightful morning breakfast and it provides enough energy to power you through a mountain hike so you can eat even more banana bread while enjoying a 14,000 foot view (see photo below).

View from the top of Huron Peak - 14,004 feet

The Banana Peanut Butter Chip Cookies also ended up being a huge success and everyone on the frisbee team thoroughly enjoyed the post-game dessert....with the exception of the one person that took a bite and then told me he was allergic to bananas.  Don't worry!  He spit it out before any reactions began.  Phew!
Anyway, this recipe was adapted from Sweet Treats and More, a blog I came across when searching banana recipes on one of my favorite websites: Foodgawker.  I used peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips, because who can resist the peanut butter banana combination?  The recipe is easily halved or doubled and they are sure to please!

Now on to the recipes!:
Banana Bread (Makes 2 loaves.  Easily halved or doubled)

Ingredients

- 2 C all purpose flour
- 1/2 C butter or margarine
- 1 C sugar
- 1/2 t baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/2 t baking powder
- 3-4 bananas mashed
- 1 C chopped nuts (pecan/walnut/mixture), optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit
2. Mix all ingredients well
3. Turn into 2 greased loaf pans
4. Bake for 45 minutes
5. Allow time to cool and serve!

Banana Peanut Butter Chip Cookies (Makes about 4 dozen)
Ingredients
- 1/2 C white sugar
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 1 C butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 2 C all purpose flour
- 1 t baking soda
- 1 t ground cinnammon
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 C rolled oats
- 1 C peanut butter chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit
2. Cream together butter and sugars
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla
4. Mix dry ingredients and pour into creamed mixture.  Mix well.
5. Mix in bananas, oats and peanut butter chips
6. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes (10 minutes makes very soft cookies)
7. Cool on rack and serve.  Store extra cookies (if there are any) in an air tight container.

Bon Appetit!