Going Bananas

As the dog days of summer give way to crisp fall mornings, I like to serve something hot for breakfast.  A quick bread, like banana muffins, is a great way to get the family out of bed on a cool morning.  Quick breads can easily be mixed up right before baking, making it easy to get breakfast on the table and everyone out the door on time.

Not only are banana muffins quick and easy to make, they're a great way to use overripe bananas.  The bananas add moisture to the muffins as do the sour cream and brown sugar used in this recipe.  If you use low-fat sour cream like I do, the muffins will still be moist, but they won't be as firm as when you use regular sour cream.

Brown sugar, the combination of white sugar and molasses, is moister than granulated sugar.  The darker the brown sugar, the more molasses it contains.  Unless a recipe specifies otherwise, you can use either light or dark brown sugar.  I prefer the subtle flavor of light brown sugar over the more robust molasses taste of dark brown sugar.

The addition of molasses makes brown sugar moist, but it also makes it clump together which means it isn't pourable like its granulated counterpart. To ensure you're using the right amount of sugar, most directions call for brown sugar to be packed.  This is easy to do.  Put some brown sugar in the appropriate size measuring cup.

Use a spoon to firmly press the brown sugar into the cup.

Repeat the steps until you end up with this.

When the brown sugar is removed, it will retain the shape of the cup.

Although it only takes a few minutes to mix up the batter, it takes 20 to 30 minutes for the muffins to bake.  If you're pressed for time, combine the dry ingredients the night before and store them in a covered container or resealable plastic bag.

The recipe makes 18 muffins so I always have some left over.  It seems to me the muffins get moister with each passing day.  Of course, I don't know how many days that holds true.  With a teenager in the house, the muffins don't stick around long enough to find out!

Banana Muffins

18 Servings

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add sour cream, eggs, bananas and vanilla; mix well.  Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture; mix well. Pour batter into greased muffin cups.  Bake at 350° for 20 to 30 minutes until muffins are golden brown and spring back to the touch.

© Margaret's Morsels

Beat the Heat Dessert

I remember the first -- and only time -- I ever made banana pudding.  It was the early 1990's and my husband and I were newlyweds.  We'd invited some friends over to eat supper and, since it was a hot summer day, I decided to make banana pudding for dessert.  I never liked my mother's recipe which called for the custard to be cooked, so I tried a recipe that started with a package of instant vanilla pudding.  Afterwards, my husband and I realized neither one of us really cared for banana pudding, either the old fashioned kind or the no cook version.

Several years later, a friend gave me the recipe for Banana Cream Supreme.  In some ways, it reminds me of banana pudding, especially the versions made with pudding mix and Cool Whip.  It's also layered like banana pudding, but there's no soggy vanilla wafers!  It's not, like my son used to call it, cheesecake because there's no cream cheese in the recipe.

The dessert is made in a spring-form pan.  If you don't have one, substitute a similar size serving dish.  Depending on what you use, you might not be able to slice the dessert into pieces, but it tastes just as good scooped into bowls.

If you use a spring-form pan, don't use nonfat or low-fat ingredients because the dessert won't be firm enough to cut.  This is also true if you substitute sugar-free pudding because it doesn't have the same consistency and won't set up like regular pudding.  

The recipe starts with a crust made from graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar.  To keep from dirtying another bowl, I mix this up in the spring-form pan and then press it in the bottom of the pan.

The rest of the recipe is pretty straightforward.  Whisk sour cream and milk until blended.  

Add instant vanilla pudding mix and whisk until the pudding is dissolved.

Gently fold in Cool Whip.  

Spread half the mixture over the graham cracker crust.

Slice bananas and dip the pieces in lemon juice.  This keeps the bananas from turning brown.  Arrange the bananas on top of the mixture in the spring-form pan.

Add the remaining mixture covering the bananas completely.

Cover the pan with foil and refrigerate overnight or until firm.


When you're ready to serve dessert, remove the collar from the spring-form pan and slice the dessert into wedges.

For a fancier presentation, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs on top of each serving.

Whether you call it pudding or pie, this is a refreshing summertime dessert. It's also good served in the winter, spring and fall!

Banana Cream Supreme

8 Servings

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream

1/2 cup cold milk

1 (3.4 oz.) pkg. instant vanilla pudding and pie filling

1 (8 oz.) carton Cool Whip, thawed

3 medium bananas, sliced

lemon juice
additional graham cracker crumbs (optional)

Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar in a spring-form pan; press mixture in the bottom of the pan.  In a large bowl, whisk sour cream and milk until blended.  Add pudding mix; whisk until pudding is dissolved. Gently fold Cool Whip into the mixture.  Spread half of mixture over the crust.  Dip banana slices in lemon juice.  Arrange bananas over mixture in the spring-form pan.  Spread remaining mixture over bananas.  Cover the pan with foil and refrigerate overnight or until firm.  To serve, remove collar from spring-form pan; cut into wedges.  For a fancier presentation, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs on top of each serving, if desired.  Refrigerate leftovers.

© Margaret's Morsels

Liven Up the Lunch Box

School may have only been in session a couple of weeks in some parts of the country, but my son's school resumed the beginning of August.  If your child takes lunch everyday, liven up the lunch box by replacing fresh fruit with fruit salad.  The recipe I'm sharing uses fruit most kids love:  apples, bananas and pineapple.

When I was growing up, my mother made a fruit salad that her mother made for her when she was a child.  I make the same salad for my son, the fourth generation to enjoy this salad.  My mother always called it fruit salad but, to distinguish it from my other fruit salad recipes, I call it Lillie's Fruit Salad in honor of my grandmother.

Start by emptying the pineapple with its juice in a mixing bowl.  The pineapple juice will help keep the apples and bananas from turning brown. Now that I own a pineapple slicer, I substitute fresh pineapple when I have one on hand.  If you use fresh pineapple, put some orange juice in the mixing bowl first as a substitute for the pineapple juice.

 Fresh pineapple cut into smaller chunks.

I use a Red Delicious apple, but you can use your favorite variety or pair two different varieties for a contrast of taste and texture.  Peel and core the apple, dice it into bite size pieces and put in the mixing bowl with the pineapple.  Slice the bananas into rounds and add them to the mixing bowl.

Made with fresh pineapple.

To make sure the fruit doesn't turn brown, cover the mixture with orange juice or an orange juice blend, such as orange pineapple or orange pineapple banana.  These blends work well because the juice enhances the fruit used in the salad.

Store the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  To keep the salad cold in a lunch box, pack it in an insulated container.  If you don't have one, put the salad in an airtight container and use an ice pack in the lunch box.  Ice packs like the ones pictured below are inexpensive and reusable.

If you don't have to pack a lunch box, the salad makes a great side dish, snack or dessert.  It's a tasty way to eat a variety of fruit at one time.

Lillie's Fruit Salad

4 to 6 Servings

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple in its own juice (undrained) or desired amount of fresh pineapple, chopped into small pieces

1 or 2 apples, peeled, cored and diced into bite size pieces (I use 1)

2 bananas, peeled and sliced into rounds

orange juice or orange juice blend (enough to cover)

Empty the pineapple and juice into a mixing bowl.  (If using fresh pineapple, put some orange juice in the bowl first.)  Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine.  Keep refrigerated.

© Margaret's Morsels