Bourbon Banana Bread (yep.)

Last weekend I volunteered with Rebuilding Together. About 30 volunteers from my office got together and helped do repairs on a house inhabited by three mentally and physically disabled residents. Tasks ranged from rebuilding the wheel chair ramp, landscaping, rebuilding a fence, and my new expertise: repainting the house! I had a lot of fun, it was a beautiful day to spend outside helping others.

At the end of the day there was a ton of leftover food that was provided for the volunteers, so I snagged a bunch of bananas to take home. I've been patiently waiting for these bananas to brown so I could make banana bread. I began my banana bread recipe search at Smitten Kitchen of course. My search ended as soon as I saw bourbon listed as an ingredient. Sold!

Bourbon Banana Bread

4 bananas, smashed

1/3 C butter

3/4 C brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp bourbon

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Pinch of cloves

1 1/2 C flour

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan. In a large bowl, mix together the banana and butter. Add the sugar, egg, vanilla, and bourbon and stir to combine. Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, and spices and stir to combine. Finally, stir in the flour. Turn the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a tester comes out clean (I had to bake for at least 60).

Bread and Butter

I saw this post on Smitten Kitchen the other day and knew I wanted to make it immediately. I actually tried to convince myself to wait (I'm not sure why... an exercise in restraint?). I lasted one day... I had everything on hand! But who cares, this bread, and most importantly, this bread with honey brown butter spread, is AMAZING. It's like eating a hug. And who doesn't want a hug?

Sally Lunn Bread


2 C all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 + 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 C milk
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 large egg and 1 egg yolk


In a mixer, combine 3/4 C of flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast. In a sauce pan, heat the milk and butter together until the butter is just melted, it's ok if there are still some pieces. Add the milk to the flour and beat for 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1/2 C more flour and beat for two more minutes. Add the remaining flour (3/4 C), and mix until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. Turn the dough into a greased and floured loaf pan, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let rise for another 1/2 hour. During this time, preheat the oven to 375. Bake for about 35 minutes, until crust is golden and a tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Honey Brown Butter Spread


1 Stick of butter, divided
2 tbsp of honey
Pinch of sea salt


Melt half of the butter in a pan over medium heat. As soon as the butter is all liquid, turn the heat down to medium low. Continue heating, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom (that's the good part), until the butter smells nutty. Take off of the heat and cool. Whip the rest of the butter with an electric mixer. Slowly pour in the honey and browned butter and continue whipping until combined. Add a pinch of salt and mix to combine. Refrigerate this while your bread is rising/baking and it should be good to go by serving time.

Just Bread.

A note about bread machines: I love my bread machine. I know it's kind of an obscure appliance and this recipe will be irrelevant to most of you. I was fortunate enough to inherit a long forgotten bread machine from my parent's kitchen, and I've made a promise to myself to take better advantage of it. A few weeks ago I made some Italian bread loaves, which came out great, and this time I wanted to make just a standard loaf of white bread. I used this recipe from All Recipes.

(Please take note of my BEAUTIFUL new Henkels knife... thanks Dad!)

(Also, please don't take note that I can't cut a straight line...)

Basic White Bread

1 cup of warm water

2 tbsp white sugar

1 package - or 2 1/4 tsp - yeast

1/4 C vegetable oil

3 C bread flour

1 tsp salt

Place the water, sugar and yeast in the bottom of the bread machine pan, and allow the yeast to foam for about 10 minutes (BTW - this is very different from standard bread machine yeast placement practices). Set the bread machine to the basic or white bread setting.

Do something else for a few hours.

Enjoy the smell.

Done, eat.

Bread machine's are that easy!

To be honest, I didn't love this recipe. I was lured by all of the comments on All Recipes stating that this was everyone's "go to" bread machine bread. However, after making and eating it, I remembered that I don't really eat white bread. That being said, it does have a really good soft texture and firm crust.

Hoping to have more exciting bread machine recipes to review and post soon!