Giveaways | Our Favorite Recipes
Banana Bread. It means a lot to me. And based on the popularity of our October issue, it means a lot to you, too. Banana bread is one of those Cooking Light favorites that remains on top: top-requested from readers, top-searched on our site, top-rated by our editors. In October, the editors added to our collection of great banana bread recipes with such wonders as Peanut Butter Banana Bread and, dare I mention it, Bananas Foster Bread. Yum.
Maybe it's karma, but banana bread holds a special place for me as well. My grandmother made the most amazing banana bread (OK, based on the recipe, it was more like cake than bread). I would go to great lengths to make sure the required 3 almost-black bananas were left behind in the fruit bowl. When I came home from school, the aromas of baked banana bread smacking me in the face as I came in the door made me, well, bananas.
The day before my first child was born, I was in the mood for that banana bread. So I pulled 3 overly-ripe bananas from my stash in the freezer, mashed them with the wet ingredients, stirred in the dry with a fork as my grandmother did, and proceeded to eat the entire pan while standing in my kitchen. A moderation moment it was not. A memory I cherish, for sure.
At Cooking Light, we take special care to create baking recipes that 1) work 2) taste delicious 3) are lighter than your grandmother's version. Does that mean you should eat an entire batch in one sitting? Absolutely not. Does it mean you have new recipes you can pass to your kids? Yep.
In honor of my favorite quick baking treat, we're giving away a copy of our Special Edition, Cooking Light Quick Baking, on sale now through November 5th on news-stand. It's full of our best quick-baking recipes. Here's how it works:
Step 2: Describe for us here in 50 words or less your favorite quick-baking recipe. Entries should be typed into the comments field of this blog post. Entries are due by Monday, October 18 at 11:59 a.m. EST.
Editors will select their favorite based on originality, creativity, and how well you address our question. Winner will be notified via email by October 25, 2010. For full contest rules, click here.
See our collection of Best Banana Bread Recipes for quick-baking inspiration.
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This unfortunately isn’t light, but my favorite quick baking recipe is Apricot Nectar Cake. It uses a lemon cake mix for the base. Then you add apricot nectar, oil, sugar and eggs. Bake in a well greased bundt pan and glaze with a lemon juice and powdered sugar glaze. Amazing!
My family's favorite quick bread recipe is CL's Banana-Oatmeal Loaf. My kids swear they hate oatmeal, but little do they know that it's in their favorite snack. My kids will go out of their way to not eat the last two bananas so that I'll make this bread for them.
My favorite healthy baking recipe is a basic cookie dough that I doctored a bit. It uses unsweetened applesauce, whole wheat flour, and you can use any dried fruit, chocolate chip, and nut combination you choose. Every time I make it, I can make a different flavor cookie!
Dump cake - without a doubt! "Dump" a can of pineapple, cherry pie filling, yellow cake mix, butter, and nuts into a baking dish and bake at 350 for 40 mins. No mixing or measuring, and best of all: only one dirtied dish – the one the cake is in!
My mom's Rhubarb desert recipe for sure! you can whip it up in the time it takes to preheat the oven, it uses a white cake mix, rhubarb, sugar free strawberry jello, splenda, shredded coconut and sliced almonds and a drizzle of water and your all set! You wouldn't believe how easy it is!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE sour cream, cheddar, and green onion drop biscuits. The add-ins make it so they don't taste light at all, and are a great alternative to cornbread with chili. They go great with any type of soup, and I even served them for Thanksgiving one year. YUM!
I love whole wheat peanut butter banana bread with brown sugar oat topping. I bake with bananas, applesauce, wheat germ, and powdered peanut butter- less fat and still super tasty! :)
Absolutely adore the "6 week bran muffin" recipe from "Cooking from Quilt Country". You mix it up, stick it in a big tupperware thing, and can have fresh muffins whenever you want without really even being awake enough to know what you're doing. Batter really does last 6 weeks - gets better with time.
My favorite quick baking recipe is zuchinni bread. My youngest son is a picky eater, but he loves this bread. I love that it uses whole wheat flour, egg whites, and lots of grated zuchinni. Cinnamon and honey add sweetness, and the house smells sooooo good while it bakes!
I love the Cooking Light recipe for Fresh Thyme Popovers. Just a few ingredients to mix and they go with almost any dinner we like in our house. Plus leftovers for breakfast are yummy!
My grandmother would say anything with poppy seed is a great recipe and I would have to agree with her. Though my favorite would be her recipe for Banana Cake w/cooked fudge frosting... amazing!
My favorite quick baking recipe is a zucchini carrot muffin that includes whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oatmeal, plain yogurt, honey and lots and lots of shredded carrots & zukes. So tasty and healthy!
I absolutely love the Cinnamon Apple Cake from Cooking Light. I have made it for breakfast, treats at different functions, and dessert. It's light but always gets rave reviews! The apples and the cream cheese make the cake sweet and moist. Plus it's very easy! My husband always requests that I make a second cake to keep around the house, which I usually do. This is a favorite for my family and friends!
My favorite quick bread is Martha Stewart's banana bread... It has coconut in it and is so good!
I've been making banana bread for more than 25 years, starting back when I was a teen. Obviously, it's a great way to get rid of over ripe bananas, but it's also a healthy snack or quick breakfast. My then boyfriend, now husband,loves it, and so do our children!
My favorite recipe is not that healthy but it's Paula Deen's (now you know why it isn't so healthy!) chocolate chip zucchini bread. Hubby thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread. Begs for it sometimes. And with the back log of zucchini from the garden, I'm happy to oblige!
Spice cake mix with 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree. Add nothing else. Mix on medium for 2 minutes. Bake as directed on box. Easy. Healthy. Can be used as cupcakes or muffins.
For a quick fix I love using a low fat brownie, and instead of the normal wet mix-ins I use 1 part applesauce and 1 part Sugar Free Raspberry Jam. It's like you are biting into the most decadent Raspberry Fudge ever eaten. Now imagine it a la mode. Mmmmm.
Spoon Chocolate Jello Pudding into a wine glass, add a layer of crumbled chocolate cookies, walnuts and choc chips, a layer of vanilla Jello pudding, and keep layering! MMM good.
I didn't learn to cook or bake until I was an adult. The first quick-bread I made was a banana bread with chocolate chips and a peanut butter frosting. It was more dessert than banana bread, but oh, so yummy. Cooking Light has helped me learn to cook and bake over the years--along with some trial and error!
A simple scone. Well ... not all that simple. I like topping them (before baking) with some powdered candied ginger. Served warm ... slathered with butter ... a very easy to make breakfast treat.
My favorite is a twist on a classic "dump" cake - I tweaked the original recipe and made it a lighter version by using splenda in place of the sugar, applesauce in place of the vegetable oil along with the other ingredients (flour, cocoa, vanilla, vinegar, water, salt, baking soda) dump the ingredients and bake 30 min or so to make a cake that's moist enough to need no frosting, and comes out as a brownie-flavor with a cake-texture. Delicious!
I wanted to share with you how much my family loves the new banana bread recipe. I couldn't find where to tell you, so I'm writing you here. Right now it's our favorite because it's healthy, lowfat and it's home baked!
My grandma’s “Ingwerbrot”, a long-lasting low-fat quick bread loaded with candied ginger and spices. We bake it in November and, wrapped in foil, it lasts until Christmas - and gets moister and spicier. Every Sunday afternoon in December we have tea, Christmas cookies and a slice of Ingwerbrot with butter.
There is an orange Banana bread that CL put out in a September issue about 7 years ago...it is my go to banana bread as as every one loves it and you would never know it was a healthy
