My “Secret” Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Banana Bread Recipe

Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Back in February I posted my recipe for Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, which me and my daughter just love…but not as much as we love this bread!  For goodness sakes, it’s double chocolate we’re talking about here!  So what’s the big secret?  Well, for one thing I am still debating wheather or not to add it to our line-up of goodies in our Bliss Candies shop, but I’m so busy right now I can’t even think about that until next year.  Don’t tell my husband though, he says I should never give out “secret” recipes, lol.   For another thing, this is almost all whole wheat but it doesn’t taste like it is, so the kids will never know unless you tell them!  And the last secret is, this moist and fluffy bread is made with the buttermilk/sour cream substitution I always use, and it comes out perfect every time.

The recipe I use is an adaptation of the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Banana Bread recipe from recipezaar.com.

Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Banana Bread Recipe-1 loaf:

• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter or vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 ripe bananas-mashed

• scant 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 TBLS white flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 1/2-2/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 8 x 4.5 bread pan, set aside.
• Mix the vinegar and milk together in a small bowl, set aside.
• In a large bowl cream the butter/oil, sugar, and vanilla together.  Add in the eggs, mashed bananas, and milk and blend well.
• In a separate bowl mix all of the dry ingredients, including the chocolate chips.
• Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
• Pour the batter into the bread pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Ultra-cheap Ribbon for Crafting, Weddings, etc…

My last post on Holiday Baking on a Budget got me to thinking about ribbon, and how the perfect kind/color just makes gift really stand out.  I mean, you could pack something in a regular ol’ brown kraft box and it would look spectacular with a fancy ribbon encasing it.   I remember a couple years back for Christmas wanting to put the perfect bow on every package and going out to find the perfect ribbon…which was spendy, but at the time I felt it was worth it.  In any case, I do have a cheap source for ribbon already, but wanted to see if there was another place out there with a wider/different variety, what the heck, right?

In my search I stumbled upon www.bbcrafts.com, which has TONS of ribbon, tulle, and wedding favors.  It’s really geared for the wedding crowd, but really, anyone looking for good ribbon at a cheap price will love this site!  I haven’t ordered from them yet, but plan too in the near future, as I love ribbon and like having a variety of colors on hand for wedding favor requests and such.  Looking for a great gift for the crafter on your list?  Try getting them a variety of gorgeous ribbons, they will love it, promise.

Holiday Baking on a Budget and Where to get Supplies

No, it is NOT to early to think about the holiday baking season coming up and I’ve got a lot to say on this topic, so I’m getting right down to it!

Now don’t be fooled, “homemade” doesn’t always mean always “cheap”, but there are ways to cut down on costs. Since I’m a baker by trade now, I’m often considering the costs of materials and supplies, as it all affects my bottom line. The best way to keep things affordable is to A) pick affordable items to make, and B) buys supplies and ingredients in bulk, including the packaging.

A) PICKING AFFORDABLE RECIPES. If you want to make an affordable and tasty “baked” good, I definitely think that sweet breads are the way to go. The main ingredient is flour, which is fairly inexpensive (comparatively speaking), especially if you can get it in bulk. Most sweet breads (like pumpkin, gingerbread, banana bread, zucchini, chocolate chip, etc…) use canola/vegetable oil, which is more affordable then butter. Plus, you can make “mini” loaves and bake up multiples at a time, which helps if you are watching your energy costs Wrapped tightly they freeze well, stay moist for days (even weeks), and they ship really well.

My second pick, and really what I personally prefer, are cookies! Though they use butter, which costs more then oil, I like them because the dough can be pre-made and frozen and then baked up at my convenience. There’s also something to be said about giving a delicious gift in quantity, something that can be easily passed around and shared. Cookies do however need a little more care as far as packing goes, and not all cookies are good past a few days. So if you plan on doing cookies, I highly suggest making a hard/snappy cookie (like the traditional gingersnaps or butter spritz cookies), or one that you know will stay moist for a long while and will survive shipment. My #1 source for good recipes is recipezaar.com, just make sure to read all of the comments and reviews for tips or changes others made to make it even better

October NIBBLER Sampler-Fall Favorites

October NIBBLER Sampler from Blisscandies.com

We just put up our October NIBBLER Sampler, packed with goodies for the Fall/Holiday season! This one has quite a few of our newest offerings, plus our #1 selling caramel flavor, Fleur de sel (Sea Salt). This would make a great gift for a loved one and is scheduled to ship out on Monday, October 5th!

Here is what will be inside the box:

3 fat Caramel Pumpkin Pie Candy Squares
1 Pumpkin Cake Cookie with Brown Sugar Glaze
1 Mini Apple Pie Caramel Tassie Topped with Pecans
4 Cinnamon & Sugar Snickerdoodle Pinwheel Lil’ Chubbies
2 Mini Pecan Pie Tassies with Chocolate Drizzle
4 Individually Wrapped Spicy Ginger Molasses Caramels
4 Individually Wrapped Apple Pie Caramels
4 Individually Wrapped Fleur de sel Sea Salt Caramels
1 Soft Gingersnap and Lemon Frosting Sandwich Cookie
1 Soft Gingersnap Sandwich Cookie with Autumn Spice Frosting

The Perfect Little Savory Tartlet & Sweet Tassies Shells

Pecan Pie Tassies or Tartlets from Blisscandies.com

I’ve always wanted to try making little tarts, otherwise known as “tassies” or “tartlets”. These mini tarts are most often made into little “pies” during the holiday season, but the possibilities are endless! Among the most popular are of course Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie, but you could fill these with brownie batter, fruit pie filling, cookie dough, lemon curd, caramel, etc. Thinking outside of the box a bit, try putting something savory in it, like a quiche recipe or even something like spinach or artichoke dip, yum! The whole point, really, is that they are delectable little treats right at your finger tips just for YOU. They are like cupcakes…too little to share so everyone else has to go get their own Imagine a platter of these fancy little beauties in assorted flavors, it’ll be the talk of the party!

Oh, so getting back to the the little tarts, why have I never tried them before you ask? Well honestly, they just seem like so much WORK, ugh. I love baking, but I’ve always more of a bars/brownies/cookies type of girl. you know, mix it all up in a bowl and plop into baking pan. This year is different though, as I really wanted to offer something special in Bliss Candies shop for the holiday season. Pecan pie has always been a favorite of mine so I wanted to offer something along those lines, but a regular pie just didn’t seem special enough for those that want something for a party tray or to give as a gift.

I found the perfect crust recipe (below), which is so simple and easy to make! It is easy to work with and turns out buttery with the signature crumble/flakiness of normal pie crust. You will also need a mini cupcake/muffin pan, mini muffin paper cups/liners, a melon baller is nice but not necessary, and the secret tool…the bottom of a tall shot glass or shooter. The shot glass is really the trick to getting the tart crusts to turn out firm/thin and uniform, allowing for maximum space for your yummy filling Baking time once the tarts shells are filled will vary, as it depends on what filling you are using. More often then not though it will not take nearly as long to cook/bake as the original recipe calls for for, so just watch over it carefully. For example, a normal pecan pie needs almost an hour of bake time, but in the little tart shells it only took 17-19 minutes for the filling to be done.

Homemade “Hamburger Helper” or Italian Hamburger & Pasta Hotdish

Italian Hamburger and Pasta hotdish

Now, I’m not a big fan of Hamburger Helper usually, and “hotdish” doesn’t make it’s way to our table often as my husband is just NOT a fan of it….maybe one too many as he was growing up, after all we do live in MN and we ARE known for being “hotdish” people. I never had hotdish growing up, so me it’s still a great comfort food, plus it all gets made in 1 pot and comes together quickly.

Price-wise I wouldn’t necessarily say this version is cheaper then the stores, but probably around the same. Though you are not really saving money, I do think it tastes better plus you can spice it the way you like it, sometimes the boxed versions are too salty for me and there never seems to be enough noodles!! The recipe below is an adaptation of Hamburger Casserole off of recipezaar.com. Don’t be put off by the list of ingredients, half of them are spices. Enjoy!

Italian Hamburger & Pasta Hotdish (feeds3-4 people):

• 1 TBLS cooking oil
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 small onion-diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic-pressed or finely diced
• 1 1/2 TBLS Italian Seasoning
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Emeril or Lawry’s seasoning salt-or similar meat seasoning blend

• 10 oz. of small bowtie pasta, elbow macaroni, or other small pasta shape

• 1 can of condensed tomato soup
• 1 can of diced tomatoes

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Heat the oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Once it is hot, add in the diced onions, pressed garlic, and ground beef. Cook for a couple minutes, add in all of the spices, and cook a few minutes more, until done.
• Reserve the meat mixture in a large bowl and set aside then fill the stock pot with enough water to cook the noodles.
• Bring the heat up a little in order to boil the water, add in the noodles and cook until al-dente/just tender (6-7 minutes).
• Drain the noodles, turn the heat down to med or med-low, and put the pot back on the stove. Put the noodles, and meat back into the pot, then add in the tomato soup and diced tomatoes, mixing well. Cover the pot and allow the dish to gently simmer for a few minutes so the flavors can “meld” together.
• Add in the cheese and stir, cook a few minutes more then salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve while hot.

Sour Cream & Buttermilk Substitution

As a baker I often run into recipes that call for sour cream or buttermilk, as they keep things moist and tender.  Now the sour cream we usually have on hand, but then again we do love it with our chips and baked potatoes, so often time we are out too.  As for buttermilk, I NEVER buy it, as the only time I would ever use it is for baking, and I guess I just don’t make things calling for it often enough to justify buying it.

Of course, that being said who can pass up a buttermilk scone, sour cream banana bread, or buttermilk pancakes??  Surely I’m not going to be held back from trying out these recipes, no way!  So I found a great substitution for both buttermilk and sour cream, and honestly I think it works just as well and use it often, even if there’s sour cream sitting in the fridge, LOL.  Besides, the substitution is healthier and a little cheaper.  So what is it you ask??

Simply milk + vinegar OR milk + lemon juice.  I’m not sure where I found this originally, either on the internet or I think a friend told me a while back… In any case, I often use the milk + vinegar (white) combo, as lemon juice is a bit more precious and costly   I’m not sure how other vinegars would work, I’ve always used white as ‘s what we always have.

As for proportions, I never really measure it out, but I’d say it is roughly 1 TBLS of vinegar to 1 cup of milk, and I always use skim as that’s what we drink.  I’ve used this to make my famous scones, IHOP copycat pancakes (so good you don’t even need syrup), double chocolate whole wheat banana bread, and so many other things!! It obviously is thinner then sour cream or buttermilk, so if you need to go ahead and cut down on it just a little compared to what is asked for in the recipe

And for those of you who are wondering….yes, I think you could use buttermilk in place of sour cream for most baked goods, and vice versa.

Wedding Orders, Monthly NIBBLERS & a Few New Items!

WOW, it has been a busy week for me over here and it only seems to be getting busier as the summer winds down!  Not that I’m complaining, but it certainly makes my blog entries a bit sporadic, feast or famine it would seem   This past week I’ve been rolling, rolling, rolling out Snickerdoodle Chubbies for a wedding order, phew!  I made about *800* lil chubbies in all and they turned out beautifully…unfortunately I accidentally deleted the pictures, sigh.  But you should have seen it, a mountain of bagged pinwheel chubbies tied off with navy ribbon, so sweet and cute!  The order took me a few days to complete and once I was done I decided to…

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Orange Blossom & Honey Lil Chubbies

…create a couple new flavors that I’ve been dying to try out, LOL.  Honestly, I am still so surprised that the Snickerdoodle chubbies are the most popular (double lemon will always be my favorite!), and really the lil chubbies overall are one of our best sellers.  Maybe it has to do with the weather, as chocolate melts and chubbies don’t   In any case, after much deliberation, I decided to try out a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and an Orange Blossom with Honey, both which came out great!  The peanut butter one is not overly strong and the mini chocolate chips are a nice compliment.  The orange blossom and honey ones also have lemon zest in them, making it a great citrus cookie!  If you’ve never tried the Lil Chubbies, they are moist sugar cookies that are  mildly flavored and lower in sugar then normal cookies, making it a great option for kids and snacks, or with a hot cup of tea.

And the other thing that kept me busy this past week was putting together our monthly NIBBLER box, which was themed “cookie jar treats” and was a collection of our lil chubbies and other gourmet cookies.  We sent those out on September 1st and have gotten some great feedback already   The NIBBLER’s always seem to sell well, and actually when they are on sale it seem that’s the only thing people buy, which tells me that you guys REALLY like samplers!  Keeping this in mind, I plan on trying to put together some samplers that could be offered at all times, versus just once a month.  Of course, that’s a project for when I have a bit of free time…

Flat Rate Boxes filled with Goodies!

So it occurs to me, if *I* don’t like to pay for shippnig charges, I’m sure others don’t as well!  Unfortunately the post office is not about to deliver things for free anytime soon (or ever), BUT I can take advantage of the flat-rate boxes available!  Now if any of you have shipped baked goods and candy before, you know the weight really adds up to a big shipping bill, yikes!  So the past couple of days I’ve been working on Flat Rate Shipping Care Packages, putting together a combination of some of our most popular items.  They are a bit higher in price then our other listings, but they fit quite a few batches of goods and in the end you really save on shipping, as it is only $10 within the US.

The flat rate care packages are a great gift option for families and college students, as there is plenty to share   It’s also a great idea for those who are throwing parties and get-togethers!  I only have 4 themed boxes created right now, but plan on making a couple more once I get a few more bar and brownie varieties up.  So far we’ve got a Caramel Lovers box, Chocolate Dipped Delights box, Smores & Caramels box, and Lil Chubbies and Caramels box.   And of course I can make a custom mix of your own choosing, just convo me for a private listing

Great finds for Dads and Etsy Gift Guides

a few selections found in the Etsy Gift Guide for Dads

Poor dad…he usually gets socks, ties, or baked goodies for gifts.  Oh, I’m sure they are appreciated, but wouldn’t it be nice to break out of that mold and get him something really unique and different?!?   And what brings this topic to mind anyways, as I’m obviously a bit late for Father’s Day (or REALLY early)?  Well a few weeks ago our PB & J cookie sandwiches made it on to the Etsy gift Guide for Moms, and today I just found out our Peanut Butter and Brownie Smores made it onto the Gift Guide for Dads!

If you’ve never seen the gift guides put together by some of the Etsy admin, I highly suggest you hop over there to browse around.  They make some really great picks for over 20 different themes,  like travel, back to school, wedding, under $20, for Teenagers, etc…  Even if you are not currently shopping for anything in particular, it’s just great to see what’s out there for future purchases plus all of the photos look fantastic!

And of course fellow Etsian don’t want to be left out and have tons of great picks themselves, which they personally theme in their very own “treasury”.  With fall just upon us, many have created tan/brown/chocolate/fall themed treasuries, a few of which we have been honored in being featured in as well!  Sadly the treasuries are only up for 2-3 days, but then again, it means that there is are always fresh and new collections to look at!