Sour Cream Banana Bread

I found this recipe on line a few years ago on allrecipes.com and it is absolutely divine. I usually find recipes and then change them to my taste. This recipe is perfect, I changed absolutely nothing.

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 6 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 300*. Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.

In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. 


Divide into prepared pans.

Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Best Banana Pudding Ever

This banana pudding is not for the light of heart or those watching their weight. It probably has your entire daily allowance of fat and calories in one serving, but it is oh so good.

Best Banana Pudding Ever



• 2 14oz Can Sweeten Condensed Milk
• 2 1/2 Cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• 4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 - 4 serving packages Vanilla Instant Pudding
• 4 Cups Heavy Cream
• 1 Box Vanilla Wafers
• 6 Ripe Bananas
• 8 oz Cool Whip Topping

Line a large serving bowl with vanilla wafers and set aside. With an electric mixer whip heavy cream until soft peaks form and set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add the sour cream, milk and instant pudding. Beat until well incorporated. With a spatula, fold in the whipped cream. Slice the bananas and fold in to pudding mixture. Pour half of the pudding in to the vanilla wafer lined large serving bowl. Then add more vanilla wafers on top of the pudding and up the sides of the serving bowl. Add the remaining pudding and top with cool whip and crushed vanilla wafers for decoration.

Aunt Joyce's Chocolate Cake

This cake has been in my husband's family forever. It is a deliciously thick and dense cake. I would say it's somewhere between a brownie and a cake. The secret to this cake's dense texture......NOT USING A  MIXER.  Make this cake and the icing with a wooden spoon and good ol' elbow grease (ie....stir by hand for those not familiar with "elbow grease"). Oh so yummy!

Aunt Joyce's Chocolate Cake

Cake

• 2 Cups Sugar
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1/2 t Salt
• 2 Sticks Salted Butter
• 3 T Cocoa
• 1 Cup Water
• 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
• 1 t Baking Soda
• 2 Eggs
• 1 t Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*. Sift  together sugar, flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a sauce pan over medium heat bring the butter, cocoa, and water to a boil. Pour chocolate mixture from the sauce pan over dry ingredients and stir by hand with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are smooth and well incorporated. In a separate small bowl mix the buttermilk and baking soda (it will bubble and thicken some). Then, add the buttermilk/baking soda, eggs, and vanilla to the batter in the large bowl and mix until all ingredients are combined well. Pour into buttered 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake starts to pull away from the edge of the pan and an inserted tooth pick to the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Icing

You will prepare this icing while the cake is in the oven because as soon as the cake comes out of the oven you will pour the icing over the cake.

• 1 Stick Salted Butter, melted
• 3 T Cocoa
• 6 T Milk
• 1 Box Powdered Sugar
• 1 t Vanilla

In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients and mix until smooth with a wooden spoon. When the cake comes out of the oven spoon the icing over the cake evenly, making sure not to dump all the icing in the middle of the cake (this will cause the middle of the cake to sink). Then, spread the icing evenly over the cake with the back of a spoon. Cool completely and serve.

Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

These little cupcake-sized cheesecakes are pretty and delicious. They are the perfect ending to a big meal, along side a cup of hot coffee.

* This recipe will make 16 cupcake-sized cheesecakes

Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

• 1 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 2 T Butter, melted
• 1/2 Cup Sugar + 4 T Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 - 8 oz Packages of Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 1/2 t Vanilla
• 1/8 t Cinnamon
• 12 oz Sour Cream
• 16 paper cupcake liners
• 2 cupcake pans
• 1/2 cup Strawberry Preserves, warmed

Preheat oven to 375*. Line cupcake pans with liners. Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter and 1 T sugar together. Press one tablespoon of the graham cracker mixture in each liner. Then, beat 1/2 cup sugar and the cream cheese in a medium size mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon to mixture and beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Divide the cream cheese mixture among the 16 liners (about 3/4 full). Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops of the cheesecakes have a dull finish on the tops. You do not want the cheesecakes to brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Meanwhile, mix the sour cream, 3 T sugar, and 1 t vanilla until the sugar is dissolved and the sour cream is smooth. After the cheesecakes are cool, top with about 1 teaspoon of the sour cream mixture. Place the cheesecakes back in the oven and bake at 350* for 5 minutes (the sour cream does a wonderful job of covering up any cracks or imperfections in the cream cheese layer).  Cool completely. Warm preserves in microwave for 30 seconds. This makes the preserves easier to spread thin on top of the cheesecakes. Place a dollop of preserves on top of each cheesecake and spread to coat the top of each. Refrigerate in pans for at least 12 hours.

~ yum!