I have a NYT online subscription, but it seems like cooking requires a separate payment. Do you know if that’s right or is there a workaround?

I believe that is correct.

I’m sure my wife just bought it and it’s great. But there are so many free online recipes and I’ve loved my Moroccan chicken dishes from Kitchn that I would’ve been fine without any paid recipe site. We also have dozens of books with recipes. Either way, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve cooked and baked. Mega fun.

I’m sure that I can copy / paste if you really really want the chocolate chip banana bread. I made it on Friday and feel that I need to make it tomorrow since we are near low! I still want to make blondies with butterscotch because I love love love butterscotch!

Since your word has never been verified by other FTers, and since you couldn't be more than 15 or so miles from my house, you might consider a contactless delivery of samples of these products to my porch, when you can deliver them in a sanitary condition, I can retrieve them from my porch, and I can be the judge of your unverified baking deliciousness. If the products are, indeed, delicious, you might consider making larger quantities and freezing them. This stuff freezes quite well, and I recall reading somewhere that your new freezer full of meat may want some dessert as company.

Just ran out. I’ll make some today.


Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread

This recipe uses four bananas, which is more than is typical for a single loaf. The natural sugars from the ripe, brown bananas keep the bread incredibly moist for up to one week, even sliced. The high moisture of the batter can make it tricky to determine doneness, so take care not to underbake the the loaf. It should have a dry, shiny, cracked surface, and a tester inserted into the thickest portion should come out with a few moist crumbs attached.


INGREDIENTS
Nonstick spray, as needed
4 very ripe medium bananas, peeled
6 tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter, melted
1⁄3 cup/80 milliliters plain Greek yogurt
1 cup/220 grams light or dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups/255 grams all-purpose flour 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup/135 grams finely chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips



Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
Step 2
In a large bowl, mash the bananas coarsely using a fork. They should be fully broken apart, but it’s OK if some larger lumpy pieces remain. Whisk in the melted butter, yogurt, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until well combined.
Step 3
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt to combine. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir to combine using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Scrape the sides and base of the bowl well to make sure the mixture is uniformly combined.
Step 4
Gently stir in the chocolate until combined, then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread into an even layer. If using, sprinkle the surface generously with coarse sugar.
Step 5
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the edges of the loaf start
to pull away from the edge of the pan, and a tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 60 to 75 minutes. If the top of the loaf is becoming too dark before it’s baked through, loosely cover with foil.
Step 6
Transfer from the oven to a cooling rack and run a thin knife around the edge of the banana bread to separate it from the pan. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding and cooling completely.
Tip
To make chocolate chocolate-chip banana bread, reduce the all- purpose flour to 1 3/4 cups/225 grams, and whisk in 1/3 cup/30 grams cocoa powder with the other dry ingredients in Step 3.

Remarkably, I have all of these ingredients. But would have to sub in coconut Greek yogurt. Seems like would be good actually. To accommodate all family members may need to make a GF version too.

Thank you for the recipe!!

it’s really good - i assume you can swap the flour for almond flour. I think blanched almond flour will be fluffier (thus similar to flour) than pure almond flour.
let us know how it is with the coconut yogurt.

I've found the in the banana bread we make, cutting most of the sugar (calls for 140g, we use 40-50g) doesn't materially change the taste, and removes some of the sickly sweetness. If your bananas are very ripe, it is sugar overload.

I cut the brown sugar recipe (in the above-posted recipe) to half and I’m tempted to reduce to 25% from original recipe.
the chocolate chips have adequate sugar as it is :-)

The purpose of sugar in baked goods is not just for sweetness. It also provides moisture.

ooh I didn’t know. What about if it’s brown or white sugar? Cane or powder? I’m still learning about all of this.

Am not sure if any of those will make a difference. But that’s my understanding also - more sugar makes the finished product taste less dry.

Saying that, as someone who is always halving the sugar content of American recipes, it doesn’t usually seem to be much of an issue if you eat whatever it is whilst it is still warm from baking. Also, if you heat it up again later, you get that ‘just baked taste” back again - so my advice when reducing sugar is to eat your project immediately, and if you can’t, then let it cool and put it straight into the freezer. Then heat it up just before you want to eat it.

Another route to reducing sugar in recipes is to stay away from US recipes. Japanese recipes tend to have more of a tendency towards less sweet products (not always though!).
There is a great technique for injecting moisture into baked goods without relying on sugar. It’s called the “water roux” method, sometimes called Tangzhong or tang zhong, sometimes called yudane. It often requires an extra step in the baking process - which you might need to start the night before - but it means that your dough won’t be relying on sugar to lock in moisture.
You’ll find plenty on the net or in YouTube using “water roux” or the other search terms.

Thanks - I still must click your water roux link.
I just never knew that sugar also functioned as a food moisturizer. That’s why I love FT - so many great ideas and lessons, with the big one being our maui ticket refund. Phew.

I think I am better than before isolation.

I used to cook and deep free 20-24 means at a time for about 20 years, since the time I was in grad school and only got paid on the 21st of the month. Back then I was couponing much more too, but that loosened up. Even with a store club card or a BJ's/Costco/Sam's membership depending on where I lived I would use it for basically the same things: chicken breasts (which style was cheapest), chicken thighs, typically sirloin pork chops, and ground turkey. McCormick seasoning packets were a staple of my tackle box of seasonings.

Now, I cook more beef than ever, but I also notice since I also cook for my parents now I have had to adjust to them if not flat out cook for them nightly since outside of lasagna or BBQ, they don't do leftovers. But the freezers are full of proteins and for the most part I do their shopping to the point they are now OK with whole wheat bread, especially dark whole wheat and it's hard to get 78-80 year old black people to like whole grain bread and pastas*

*-The tray of lasagna I made had no boil Durham wheat noodles yet my Mom apparently never knew about them when she watches Rachel Ray for the last X years she has had a syndicated show.

We do once a month cooking where we freeze a bunch of meals for cooking later, because it helps us plan a menu and eliminates the question of what we are having for dinner.

I'm not a huge fan of leftovers, although I'll use them as lunches when I'm working in the office. Since I've been working from home, I usually skip either breakfast or lunch. We ordered sandwiches for take-out last night, and added enough for lunch for today, so I skipped breakfast.

Speaking of all of this, I need to pull out our dinner for tonight.